The herald., 1895-07-13
HALSTEAD'S PADDY'S RUN PAPERS

he kept paper, ink and pens and an as
sortment of flutes. 1t could be told with
out going near the house when he was
playing solo whether it was favorable
time to call. He wrote an Introductory
pamphlet of a great revolutionary work,
expounding his ideas about the Trinity,
and the manuscript was placed in the
hands of an Indiana printer-not Tizzard
of Philometh, but some other euphonious
citizen of Brookville--and the first edition
arrived one day in a heavy package. 1t
was opened in the vicinity of large fire
place in which logs were blazing, and the
author glanced at the title page. 1t seemed
to be satisfactory at first, but suddenly the
whole bundle was hurled into the fire ex-
cepting three or four copies that fell out
in the haste of handling, and two of these
the youngest daughter snatched, but was
caught and gently gave up one, saving
one, into which, when quite alone, she
peeped and discovered the source Of trou-
BILE. The printer had taken the liberty Of
adding words SO that the page road, By
the Rev. John Halstead." The best of the
joke was that the printer did not mean to
be humorous. I forget whether he ever
you Ills INOIcy. IL hc ultl, III was au tDe
end of the law" The first edition of the
Rev" John Halsteads S pamphlet was the
last, and the last copy disappeared half a
century ago. This discouraged the under
taking of the greater work and nipped a
literary career in tho bud.
The Currituck style of dress and wear
ing the hair was regarded on Paddy's Run
as peculiar and was not always deferen-
;.IJ,. TI,o ;,N, N
dress coat with high collar and narrow tails
and plain fiat brass buttons. One of those
coats was expected to last from two to
four years, and there were two Of them al
ways on hand. 1t was necessary to put on
with the best blue coat fair topped boots,
and the hair was long behind and worn
in n cue. The overcoat was gray, with a
cape and rather short waisted The gov
ernor of tho state of Ohio, the Hon. Will
liam Bebb, was O Paddy's Run boy, and
during his term was riding to sec his
mother, a venerable figure in our valley,
when in the big road he encountered my
grandfather and opened q political CON-
vv=zrs-,.,, -=-=..o ior wing to
do They did not agree, and the governor
remarked: why, you must be Whig
You have got the badge of the party hang
ing down your back" referring of course
to the cue There was close approach to
serious consequences, and the governor of
the sovereign state did well to dismount to
explain the matter, for it was not an ex-
PLANTATION that was wanted, but satisfao-
tion.
John Halstead of Currituck was not an
enthusiast about the improvement of the
mind" He evon went SO far as to say
that there were very few people on Pad
dy's Run, or anywhere else, for that mat
ter who did not waste their time when
going to school after they had got reading
and writing and arithmetic so far as the
double rule of three He flew right into
the face Of public opinion, which was q
pleasure to him. He had never seen a
newspaper until he was Is years old, he
said, and he thought he was none the
worse for that. and, whilG he liked The
Congressional Globe, there was no other
newspaper that seemed to amount to
much. He was afraid 1 would not be true
to the old farm if did not spend less time
in reading books and going around the
noighborhood borrowing books.
My irregular activities were against his
principles. He did not like the way his
land was worked, as he casually remarked,
having thought the thing well over, and
so called mo during the winter when
was studying surveying and walking two
miles through the snowy woods every day
to find a competent teacher and said You
are not going to run away from home to
school in tho summer, are you? And
said l was afraid not. Well, wouldn't
like to work some of his fieldsp He had
not rented them to anybody. And l asked
the terms They were SO favorable that
saw the intention was to fix me as farm
er and accepted them as soon as | could
SEQ my father and make arrangements
about horses for plowing and horse feed
and other agricultural formalities.
L began work early in the spring, being
among tho first in the neighborhood to
stick plow in the ground" l lost no
time and whirled over the rich land, turn
ing in the stubble and tho trash-all ex-
ceptlng the cornstalks, which were horse
raked into rows and burned at night to
enjoy the great light of the oonflagration.
1t was long, hard summer, but very en-
joyable, for was doing something that
promised woll, and from the buds of spring
to the fruit of fail, from the green wheat
and barley and oats to the stacks, l read
every change of the earth and sky with a
feeling that was taking leave of ''the old
place" 1t was my goodby summer, and
l felt suro of it, while my grandfather
thought it was settled that was to be a
farmer, the most independent and honor
able OF all occupations, he said l knew
no was mistaken about my destiny and
was sorry he was to be disappointed.
When boys affections and also his
ambition are enlisted and the home influ-
ences as we'll as the batteries of friends are
all urging in one direction--and that is
called progress, elevation, education-he
will have to be an uncommon creature If