Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-08-23

and thoroly competent to talk on the
subject assigned to him. He referred
! in a general way to the school of the
pioneer day, as compared with that
of the present time. The former with
its puncheon floor and slab seats and
the latter a monument of modern ar
chitecture. Forty years ago he said
/ the teacher taught readin' and writin'
and ciphern little and kept order
good deal and had plenty of time to
read the papers during school hours.
Forty years ago arithmetic was taught
by the craming process, in other words
the teacher solved the problem while
LIE pupil was an inattentive listener.
Forty years ago licking was the rule,
but all that has been superseded by
the more lenient methods of repri-
mand. Senator McIntire then general
| lied on the subject aud closed one of
the most interesting talks of the day.
Capt. S. B. Evans.
Captain Evans spoke on the subject
of THE Departed" referring especial
ly to Dr. II. ]. Douglass, o. P. Bier,
w. S. Coen, r. II. Warden and Judge
H. C. Hendershott, not with view of
making any distinction, but referred in
detail to their long residence in the
state and as representative men OF
their different professions and avoca-
lions. He referred to the reading of
the roll of the departed which was
read during the day, stating that it re-
minded the survivors how brief is life
how transitory, and to illustrate it
quoted two stanzas from that remark
able poem:
"Why should the Spirit of mortal be
proud;
Like a swift fleeing meteor, a fast
flying cloud;
"a flash of the lightning, break of
Man passes from life to his rest in
"The leaves of the oak and the willow
shall fade,
BE scattered around and together be
| laid;
"And the young and the old, and the
low and the high,
"Shall moulder to dust and together
shall lie"
Continuing the captain said: "Yet
why should we mourn these departed
friends. They lived the allotted time,
all or nearly all of them were three
score years and ten. We loved them,
they loved us. Their memory remains
a precious possession that death itself
cannot take away.
"They were the sturdy knights who
established civilization west of the
Mississippi river. 1t can be said OF
them as it was said of the crusaders OF
old:
"The knights are dust,
Their swords are rust;
"Their souls are with the saints we
trust.
"They are new settlers in another
country, the happy recipients of the
| tender mercies of Divine Father"
Rev. j. r. Simmons.
, Rev. ]. T. Simmons said he was ex
ceedingly glad to meet so many old
: friends on the occasion of the annual
{ reunion of the old settlers of Wapellc
, county Twenty-four years ago with
Rev. HILL Rev. Simmons held the first
, camp meeting that was ever held or
| the grounds where the reunion was
Y celebrated yesterday. After referring
briefly to that subject he made com
f parison of some of the manners ant
/ customs Of that day and the presen
; time He said he liked some of thu
n modernisms and some he did not HI
said there are some things that WI
Q cannot afford to relegate to the rear
o Obedience, steadfastness of purpose
! and truthfulness he named as some
of these.
! "Without respect for law and AL
), thority there is no making good citi
! zens to say nothing of good Christians
: Our fore-fathers," he said, looked tn
devil in the face and told the truth
We want men and women to tell tn
;, truth and men and women who's
: word is as good as their bond. Me
6 who are true enough to form their cor
= victions and tell them. We wan
more moral conviction and truth i
!. the homes today"
n Major A. H. Hamilton.
/: Major A. H. Hamilton, of this cit,
r said that he came to Iowa forty-si
y years ago and that when he stopped
r reflect over the time that has inte
I. venea he saw most wonderful chang
One hundred years ago his father lei
$ the old Massachusetts home and EN-
IS grated on horseback with his father
l, Cleveland, Ohio, journey of loo
d miles, and now it is possible to Amos
cross the continent in one-tenth tn
time that that journey occupied.
n Major Hamilton said that when h
o came to Iowa, Agency was competin
- with Ottumwa as the principal city
p the county, and he was told to stop {
" the former as it was bound to be tn
:, metropolis, and that he would die if b
=. ventured into the swamps of the latte
! "Ottumwa was then about the dirtie'
- hole ever got into" continued tn
:, major, "and it remained so for sewers
~ years after l located here. | was raj
y ed on Lake Erie, where malaria
never known, but when came to Q
tumwa I became victim of the di
ease and for three consecutive veal
shook with it."
The Major also related an amusin
I. hi m