Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-02-28

80 for many days. We were reduced
to corn meal and mOlasses. l can yet
see my step-mother fixing corn meai
unto every possible shape to try 10
make 1t palatable; it was simply tnac
or nothing-it was root hog or dle.
We boys became proficient water rats,
Water dismayed us no more than dla
the land. My father captured very
fine canoe, in which we used to play
"Injun." In skiffs, fiat boats, on rats,
store boxes, any and every sort of ma
terial that would float, was the man
ner in which we got about town. The
most vivid recollection of store Keep
ing was that Of Herman Graves stand
ing up on the counter, after noatlnS
into the store, measuring out meal ana
molasses mentioned Harrow branch
which reminds me of the Harrow lam.
lily, whose first names have escaped
me with the exception of Frank ana
John, for the latter worked on the
farm just at the upper edge OF Town,
and in hauling brick from the kim OF
who? was it one of the Woods-on
Sugar Creek, with which he built the
elegant residence on Second street.
Albert, who is the son of Frank, the
one who married Harriet Humphreys,
is yet one of your citizens. Nuna-
maker was a photographer. One day
Albert, when quite young, was brought
there to have his picture taken. IN
exuberance of sport devilment,
maybe), l jumped Up while he was sit
ting in the chair and Jerking the cap
off the camera said, I'm going to
~ 4,%
been Abeled right then and there. FOR
that boy was so frightened that notn-
ing could induce MIN to go again be-
fore that camera. I have often won
dered If he ever did have his picture
taken. John Harrow married, think,
Miss Wier, sister of the celebrated
DR.. Wier of Agency. While I'm with
the Harrows there comes up scene
that might have been tragedy. MY
father was appointed administrator OF
the estate of Albert's father: The
3. & NJ. railroad was being built and
ran through the Harrow farm. Father
had made demands for settlement OF
right-of-way, without success. When
the first work train started westward
it met with an obstruction In the
shape OF a panel of rail fence across
the track and sitting on the top rail,
shot gun in his hands, was my
father; who did not stir nor blink al
eye until the locomotive was within
about sixty feet of him, when he de-
liberately brought the gun full cooked
to his shoulder, aimed directly at the
engineer, who brought his engine to
stand still, not more than ten feet
distant. The train was backed to the
depot and satisfactory arrangements
made, when it went to Chillicothe, the
farthest west that any railroad then
run in the United States. Before
leave the Harrows it occurs to me that
Albert was engaged in the company
that manufactured the Allen Johnston
patent ruffle for sewing machines, as
ISOLATED with Lawyers Hutchinson and
Hackworth and Bill Majors (who mar
ried Sallie Gebhar.,. Do the old timers
remember Allen when he was en-
crossed with the idea Of that runler-
how we all poked fun at him. called
him visionary, trifing with gew-
gaw. He had brother who was den
fist: then there was another dentist,
who was lame--oh, what was his
udu1G. cay, w you AStAASA 49,
Dutch doctor, who had his office in the
Gerlach building, over there on Sec.
ond, and the Gerlachs themselves, l
can now distinctly see my father with
a big broad axe knocking in the heao;
of the liquor barrels snaked out OF
Gerlach's while ring of women sang
temperance songs, and old Watcher
the shoe maker who never could say
about, but always pronounced 1t
abol. He was anxious to learn Eng
Iish, but could never make 1t just
right Irecall that one day there was
a yoke of oxen standing in front OF his
shop. He touched the wagon tongue,
asking me what it was. told him 1t
was wagon tongue-"vagon dong ne
repeated corrected him. and ne
went back into his shop muttering,
A day or two afterward he stopped me,
his eyes sparkling and exclaimed
"Pilly, I got int was wagon dong!
precisely as he at first pronounced It.
I laughed and be stopped and picked
up a brick bat and heaved it viciously