The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-11-02

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1900 men at work on the grounds at
one time. Davis Macy coming home
one night showed his family a dollar
he had washed out that day. Twen-
ty or more years afterward the Alex
ander boys and the Macy boys I'M
earthed an old sluice box and found
a miners pick, which is in possession
of w. X. Macy of this place. Another
fact concerning the early history of
High Point is that D. & A. B. Stearns
were some time deciding whether to
locate at High Point or not when they
started their store at Garden Grove,
which was at one time the greatest
retail store in. Iowa, so the CONNER
cial men all admitted.
Now as regards the only church
privileges. Mrs. Macy says that she
attended church for the first time in
High Point at the house of Mr.. Men,
denhall three quarters of mile west
of the Point. Soon afterward a
school house was built and there
were union services held and union
Sunday school organized. Squire
Hamm was the first Sunday school
superintendent. Thos. Chemberlin
taught the bible class. Mary Miller
Mrs. Macy and Mrs. Thos. Chember-
lin were among the first teachers.
The first. school house stood north
about half mile north of where
High Point now is, on the east side
of the road with a dirt floor and an
old fashioned fire place. The first
TO- NIoi To
| others were Fanny Farquhar, Lucy
Hall, Elizabeth Ensign, Jane Miller,
| Mary King, Jane Sanford, Gibson,
Sloan, DR.. Fowler, John Ruffcorn and
| Others
Among the first school teachers
was Thos. Chemberlin. The school
consisted mostly of boys and was a
little hard to manage so they got Mr.
Chemberlin to take it one winter.
Now father Chemberlin was one who
thoroughly believed that order was
Heavens first law and he kept order
l remember talking with Ted Morris,
one of the old timers, who died last
winter, and he told me the winter
that Mr.. Chemberlin taught, one of
the big boys took it in his head not to
| obey the rules and defied father
Thomas. He took a stick of stove
wood and was going to clean Thomas
out. The said young man had the
stick of wood torn from his grasp
and went through the door bodily,
first one end up and then the other.
l can remember Ted chuckle and
laugh. as you remember his manner,
as he related the circumstance.
Thomas was not to be trifled with if
other teachers were.
Now they had their fun in those
days as we'll, mixed in with their
hardships and many an amusing in
cident occurred. One absurd and
ridiculous performance was one time
the school board had hired a lady
teacher. She was good singer and
understood music. She was teach
ing the youngsters to read music by
syllable, do, ra, me, ia, etc. When
one of those notorious bad boys of
the dare devil stripe, came along the
road, he heard the scholars in the
school going through this lingo, stop
ing while then stepped in the door
and commenced to beat time, down,
left, up, one, two, three, sing, then
sang out: "Sally's got her pans full
of buckwheat DO" Imagine the
scene had father Thomas been there,
there would have been something
doing.
AS already stated Sylvanus Smith
was an old timer in that region. He
owned farm and built brick house
which is now occupied by Ralph
Chase. AS the saying goes, you miss
ed a good deal not to have known
Sylvanus. He weighed a little over
two hundred and was perfect spec
linen of physical manhood. A jolly
good natured, fun loving soul. He
could play practical joke to finish.
There was law suit going on at
Garden Grove and Sylvanus was a
witness. Now the case was one
where someone had done a job of
parties and it turned suddenly cold
and froze the plastering, running it,
The man who had done the job
claimed his pay, saying he was not
responsible for the weather. The
other party refused. Solomon Shep-
ard, of Garden Grove, who all old
times knew, was the lawyer for the
man who refused to pay. 1t was a
jury trial and the plasterer tried to
plead his own case. Shepard was
shrewd and undertook to bulldoze as
it were. The jury consisted of pio-
neer men who were disposed to see
fair play and could see that Shepard
was going too far. Shepard had Mr..
Smith as witness to prove that it
hurt plastering to freeze. So he
was the main witness. Shepard call
ed him to the stand and after swear
ing him to tell the truth and nothing
but the truth so help him God, Shep-
ard asked him if in all his experience
as an expert plasterer it hurt plas-
tering to freeze and he answered,
mo, not bit" do you pretend to
say that it don't hurt plastering to
freezer" mo sir, not Bit" Well,
says Shepard, you may take your
seat. Sylvanus, as he took his seat,
managed to pass the jury and as he
did so he schooched down and says
to them in whisper: But it hurts
it like hell to thaw out" The above
narrative is true account, as Buck