The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-04-28

o. right road and soon after this
found the Center school house, nm
ebaaged except for i new coat Of paint,
| To my. great pleasure school was in
session and on entering l found the
same furuiture of my day with the sim
gle exception of new stove, And
even here, rustiug in the school-house
yard. found the old stove ia which |
am almost ashamed to say / built the
first fire l had ever made.
The class in the spring term was of
course much smaller and younger than
my fail school term had been. | re-
member my scholars ranged in age
1 from little four year ODDS, whom now
believe their mothers sent TO school in
order to gain little rest abthe expense
of the teacher up to one young lady
OF twenty-five, engaged to be married,
and DESTROYS of adding a few finishing
touches to her education. l remember
her as my most earnest and least
troublesome pupil, and only hope l
was able to give her some instruction
which may have proved worth while in
her after life. To my surprise the
/ teacher proved to be an old acQuaint-
ance who had in 1884 attended the
three weeks Normal course with me
and boarded at the same house in Den
| ison, The little faces of the scholars
looked as bright and interesting as
they had in my time but the poor little
children were overwhelmed with
bashfulness at the sudden advent of
one so strange to them and while L
watched them for few moments with
heartfull OF pleasant memories | felt
that | was disturbing the even current
of this school day and took my depart
ure.
Across the street, the little hou e
where had boarded was vacated and
falling to pieces but this did not mar
my enjoyment for the good people with
whom had lived. Mr., j, B, Archerd
and his family had moved on to Neb-
raska before left Denison.
Then [. took up my journey aud I'M
aided found my way to Vail and looked
at the little railway station in the
Office OF which l sat up all night to
hear the election returns of 1884 and
afterward walked to my school, feeling
that the end of the world must be near
with Blaine defeated and democrat
elected president.
Returning to Denison felt as l look
ed back over the events of the after
noon that I had never more thor
: oughly satisfactory day. The remainder
of nv visit was full of the pleasures Of
: reunions with friends of old days and
once more received many fresh proofs
! of the cordial hospitality which is sc
t notably a characteristic of the western
/ spirit, 1t would be in questionable
: taste to refer by name to these friends
i of other days and some of the meetings
d we're too sacred for mention in an &C
y count like this, But feel moved tt
e utter in this place my deep appreciation
L of all the hearty welcomes extended t,
e the returned wanderer and to Civ
| some expression to the preserved low,
e for Denison and pride in feeling my
q self accepted as a Denisonire will
q which this visit has filled my heart
e After all the longer we live in thi
: world the more fully we must realiz'
It that the friends we gain are most worth
IS while of all Creator Sights and it make
l little difference in friendships whethe
| the parties there to be of the east or O.
IS the west, of the great city or of th
II little town, free of the culture o
e schools or what Whitman has called
d ''forcefuls uneducated persons
J. There was touch OF sadness ia thu
q experience at finding that few of thu
IT dearest friends Of the Old days hat
$ passed onto the silent home on tn
e hillside facing the town, but tool
u JOY in the memory of their life and il
the recollections OF their kindness t.
e me. But these memories, also, are to-
d sacred for EXPERIMENTATION.
d AS | have said before, found Den
J. ison greatly improved and but it'll
y changed. And was glad that the BIO
d mogenlty of the place was stron!
% enough to absorb all the wooden i'm
| provements without the sacrifice of it
h coentity. | was also glad to observ,
y the quiet good taste of the new home
n and public buildings, the nosabl
d growth of the public educational build
= ings and the Improvements in tn
n streets. | heard some apologies mad
c that the business places were not NOR
1t pretentious and substantial but surel,
IS this is cause for congratulation rattle