South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-10-22
"REMINISCENCES DAY.

/ 0hFC WAACn AC anu LII "a CdhAPH~Ai
q. S. ~, used to play they were sail
ing the dark blue sea down in Camp
bells yard on Park av. Their shiI
| was an old catalpa tree-which, by
the way, still Stands-and Dudley
says Ed used 10 climb out on the
| branches and make believe he wa:
furling sails but at that time ever
in his highest flights OF fancy &c
didn't imagine he would ever be com
mander Of ship-and battleshiI
at that.
Ed Witwer tens about the slow mule
races he used TO see when he was a
! boy in Missouri Missouri. you
| know. raises the finest mules in the
| country" Ed relates, but once in a
| while they turn out some mighty poor
| ones. At the county fairs down there
they always finished up the days
| horse races with a slow mule race.
and they were the Funniest sights you
ever saw. The contestants would fetch
| the sorriest, boniest. most decrepit
mules they could find and then each
would ride his opponents mule. sThe
object was to be the last one to cross
the tape. and the riders were allowed
owhip up their rivals mount. One
time one of the mules threw his
jockey right at the start and thinking
the owner of the mule had put up a
trick on him. he started out to muss
up the owner and made a first class
job of IT, too"
Jim Camper remembers the time
there used TO be locks in the east
race to permit steamers from below
to get up past the dam. Some Of
these boats carried freight from St
joe up 10 Nishawaka and even to
E-fIrharf 10 al Rob
Hardy's sawmill boat. which Uncle
Bob pilOted up and down stream in
search Of logs and worked them up
into lumber right on the spot
At this point we beg TO state that it
is impossible TO sidestep Cap. Shuey,
VIM. Knoblock, Alex Staples. and Doe
Garrison on "Reminiscences day. These
gentlemen are so charged with inter
esting stories of the misty past that
their every day conversation is gen
erously interlarded with Il recollect,"
and When / was Il boy" and Forty
years ago tomorrow" and it would
be a sin TO leave them out OF this
consignment
Cap. Shuey, in his regular morning
session of the Alley Rats, told of a
little steam runabout he sold To To-
connective engineer over in Elkhart
trolley cars. 81 got up steam and
drove down there one fine day" Cap.
recited. and took my prospect out
for a ride. He had been tellin me
how much nc knew about steam en-
giEes and said he didn't need any in
stTuctiCn on driving. but before we
had gone very far his eye happened
To catch the steam gauge. and then
he nearly threw a fit. My lord he
yelped. look at that gauge-30G
pounds of steam-On the railroad if
We go over so and the pop valve don't
blow Off we jump, and we jump
quick But / told him not TO be
scared. that the hiler on the machine
couldn't blow up because it was made
of copper and when the pressure got
too stiff the biler just swelled up like
a balloon and then contracted again
when it cooled off some. And / sold
him the car. too" 49,
Alex Staples followed with a rem
iniScence of the first capstan he ever
saw. In the early days" he said.
I'VE didn't know what a capstan was.
When we wanted 10 move a house W"
hooked on about 40 yoke of oxen and
just truRdled the house along, and
when some Frenchman introduced a
capstan, about the anne thing we use
now, ii created quite a sensation. II
was Il CTuue affair out at Inde quite
an improvement over the old method.
though at first VIC didn't know enough
TO hitch horses to it-simply pushed
il around by band"
Uncle William KnOblOck was the
next contributor. He had been pa
tiently waiting in silence while the
others told their stories and then af-
ter a hush had settled over the as
sembled Alley Rats. he leaned forward
in his chair and inquired. do any of
you know what kind of a lantern they
first used in this country" And then
peering through his gold trimmed
spectacles at each one in turn TO SAT-
isfy himself that no one did know
and prefacing his remarks with tap
OF his cane upon the cement floor. he
continued: Well, when / came from
Ohio with my father a great many
years ago the gave the exact date
but We do not recall il now we didn't
have any candles, and the only light
we got was from an old tin lantern
with holes punched in ii. Not having
any candles we used lard in a little
tin cup with a bit of twisted rag for
a wick. But that lamp didn't give
much light through those small holes
and the wind kept blowing il out, and
IL was pretty unsatisfactory. all
around. Then father got TO figuring
out some way to remedy the trouble