The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-11

memory OF the good oil days, loath 10 ieaNe
the place because of its associations Eagle
Harbor can never be anything but an unirn-
portant hamlet, Landmark of earlier and
better days, the Mecca for Pythians curious
to see the schoolhouse wherein Rathbone
wrote the ritual OF the fraternity.
Comparatively Eagle Harbor is as far
removed from civilization in those early
days, for one must make a twenty-five mile
journey by stage from Calumet to reach the
birthplace of Pythianism. The country
through which the traveller passes is pic
turesque but almost deserted. Most of the
old mines have been abandoned many years
as practically worthless, although explora-
tory work has been started on the historic
old Cliff mine. The mining locations, once
teeming with life and activity, are silent and
forsaken. small plat of land on knoll
shows where many lie buried Here is
church where hundreds gathered to worship,
there a school where the children obtained
their education, while around and about are
the dwellings, the stores, the mills, the old
workings, unoccupied, dilapidated, the ref
uge of rats, bats and owls. The absence of
life is depressing.
THE OLD SCHOOLHoUSE.
Since the burning of the Bawden House
years ago. Eagle Harbor has been without
a regular hotel. Miss Hannah Rice, mid
dle-aged, kindly woman, the only pupil of
Rathbone's now living there, conducts an
inn where the traveller may obtain food and
shelter and fodder for his horses. She re-
members Rathbone but vaguely, for she was
very young when she attended his school
with her older sister. To her he always has
been large. feshy young man." but with
that her memory fails her.
Just around the corner from the Rice
dwelling, across sandy street from an
| old blacksmith shop, is the one-story frame
schoolhouse that has so much interest for
| the Pythian and the casual tourist. 1t is a
rough, clap-boarded structure built upon
| piles, its only door in front padlocked
| against relic hunters. The belfry. in which
swung the bell that summoned the children
| to their lessons, is a mere skeleton of what
| it once was, and the bell has been carried
away. Through the many cracks and
crevices and the open windows the sand
and dust have been carried, and have set
| tied over everything.
A peep through one Of the windows is
startling. One wonders how a place SO
sacred to Pythian knighthood could have
been so desecrated. A bar stands where
Rathbone once had his desk; the seats
have been torn out, and in their places are
| sled trucks, saw horses, plowshares, lum-
| Der of all sorts, and a miscellaneous as
| sortment of odds and ends. Along the
wainscoting can be seen the imprints OF
those curious old benches. Wind and rain
have played sad havoc with the ceiling
| and plaster. Against the front wall is
! half of the original blackboard, the other
| half having been carried away to decorate
the lodge-room of some branch of the order
! The board is all chalk marked, but of the
many inscriptions that remain distinct arc
'Laurium Lodge No. POP, Sunday, July 81
- Father" * "a. Hanson" and a
| crude sketch of vessel.
| Until recent years some effort was made
to keep the room free and much as it was
| when Rathbone went to teach the young
idea how to read, write and figure, but
lately no care whatever has been taken OF
| the building, and it has gone from bad to
worse from year to year. Some years age
! a movement was started to buy the school
| house as a permanent memorial but the
| plan failed, partly because the owner, now
dead, named fabulous price for 1t, think
| ing that the sentiment attached to Ii would
| impel Pythians to purchase it at any cost
Though the project did not succeed. the ole
| building still is the object of reverence fol
those who have come to know the princi
pies of the order that was first thought OF
within its walls. and who have enjoyed
| their application in their daily lives.
Time and the elements may destroy the
building. but they cannot blot out the fact
that this homely, ruined little schoolhouss
| was the birthplace of one of the largest
fraternal and benevolent societies in the
| world. HORACE j. STEVENS.