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And cloud land is all above him, ever moving between earth and sky, and ever changing in its forms, its lights and its shadows, which it runs over the whole earth; often throwing all around in gloom while the far distant peaks stand out like hope, bright in the light of a heavenly effulgence. Clouds seem as if from the hands of God while dispensing refreshing showers, and by their beauty oft fill the sensitive heart with gratitude in its sense of possessing such an exquisite source of joy; and this sense will sometimes give expression as here in my verse.

SUMMER CLOUDS.

The gorgeous Alps of summer skies
In softest tints oft mass in view,
Where seraph forms in fancies' dreams
Recline beneath the tender blue.

And floating on their beds of fleece,
Those spirits of the azure deep
Look down upon our earthly fields,

Where Time his generous harvests reap.

While we in Fate's remorseless chains

May hapless seem in vales of woe;
Still onward float the beauteous clouds,
Still cheer us with their genial glow.

O summer clouds! our hearts like thee
But take their beauty from on high;
The light that gives the charm to life,
The love that soothes us when we die.

PARTING DAY.

By the patriarch's dying couch
Some angel hand the curtain lifts;
While parting day's celestial tints

Enchanting spread beyond the rifts.

Then grandly glows the mighty dome,
While silence rests on earth below;
Save where the distant tides of life

In dying murmurs faintly flow.

Then soft and sweet, bright isles of bliss
Seem floating in an ocean sky;
A spirit realm of light and love-
The happy immortality.

In mantling night the vision melts,
While worlds afar their glories spread;
And thus alike through mists and stars
The soul of man is upward led.

The wondrous orb, great source of light,
To other lands glad morning brings;
Day never ceases with his work,
Nor Time to speed with aging wings.

Ride with a Doctor.-The next point was to get back to Scio, so I took the ridge road; thought I could, notwithstanding the lameing blow of the mail-bag, manage to walk there. In a few minutes I was overtaken by a gentleman in a buggy, with a little twoyear-old girl on his lap, and I accepted his invitation to a seat beside him. It was Dr. George Lyle, a country physician, educated in Cincinnati, and I found knew some of my medical friends there. He told me he had been a schoolmate of Custer. He described him as an apt scholar, a leader among the boys, mischievous and full of practical jokes; withal very plucky.

One evening, at some lecture where the audience were on the ground floor, a ragamuffin of a boy unable to get in flatted his nose against the window pane and made wry faces at George, whereupon the latter drove his fist through the glass into his face. The next day three boys accosted him, saying they were going to thrash him. He replied by drawing a pocket-knife, saying-"I will fight all three of you with my fists if you will come one at a time, but if you come all at once you shall have this," at the same opening the blade. The boys pursued the topic no farther. "Das Schweigen ist ihr bester

Herold."

Presently the road narrowed to a mere lane, now in the woods and then in the open, when some flies lit behind the horse's ears, when he stopped the vehicle, stood upright, gathered the lash and stock tightly in his hand, and with the tautened curve thus made at the end of the whip, slowly, carefully slid it under the offending insects. They respected the hint for the time, but came again, when he stopped the carriage, got out and gathering twigs of leaves from the woods put them as a defence in the trappings of the horse's head. Then the little one said something in its baby tones, making a request, I did not hear what, when he again went into the woods and returned with flowers in his hands and love in his heart, and taking her in his lap we soon descended a hill, made a turn and then were in Scio.

A TALK WITH JOHN GILES OF SCIO.

After supper in the tavern at Scio, I was enjoying a quiet smoke, when I heard a voice at my side. It was that of an old man of about seventy years of age, who had accosted me. He was in his shirt-sleeves, tall, patriarchal white_beard and hair, blue eyes, fresh complexion and expression of great amiability. It was John Giles, of Scio. He wanted to tell me what he knew about the Custers, and I let him. The original spelling was Kuster. Their first ancestor in this country

was from Hesse-Cassel, came over in the Revolutionary war time and fought "mit de Hessians."

Emanuel Custer, the father of the General, was a blacksmith and justice of the peace. "My wife and Squire Custer are cousins, said he, "and he married us. "I used to keep school, and taught George his A, B, C; his father and myself were always great friends. George was irrepressible as a boy. One thing I recollect. His father and myself were walking by a barn yard, when we heard a child screaming; a moment later little George, then a boy in his frock, appeared bursting through a line of currant bushes, with a huge gander fastened by his talons to his back. George had been attracted by the sight of young goslings, and going for them the gander had alighted on him and was whipping him with his wings.

..

About this time we organized a military company, cornstalk militia,' in New Rumley, and the child followed us about all day. From that moment his passion to become a soldier originated and grew with his years. His family tried in vain to dispel this ambition. He desired to go to West Point, but his father told him as he was personally a Democrat and Mr. Bingham, the member of Congress in whose power it lay to obtain a cadet warrant, a Whig, he would not give it to him. How he obtained it Mr. Bingham had told me only two days before this conversation with Mr. Giles.

"I received," said Mr. Bingham, "a letter from Custer, then at school at Hopedale, in Greene township, asking for the appointment. This was about the year 1857. Its honesty captivated me. It was written in school-boy style. In it he said that he understood it made no difference with me whether he was a Republican boy or a Democrat boy-that he wanted me to understand he was a Democrat_boy. I replied, if his parents consented, I would procure it for him.

"He was at West Point but three years. Such was the want of officers at the beginning of the war, that his class, before graduating, were commissioned; he as Lieutenant of Cavalry in a company commanded by Captain Drummond, son of Rev. Dr. Drummond, of this place (Cadiz). He was in the first battle of Bull Run. The day after I saw a young officer ride up to my door in Washington and dismount. He had long, yellow hair hanging like Absalom's. came up to me and introduced himself as Lieutenant Custer. Up to that moment I had never seen him. In the December before he had passed his twenty-first birthday. He said: Mr. Bingham, I have been in my first battle, and I've come to tell you I've tried not to show the coward."

He

had so

Mr. Giles told me he was a soldier in the Potomac army, and at one time was in camp near the command of Custer. "One evening," said he, "I heard footsteps approaching my tent; a moment later in came General Custer to see me. He inquired why I had not called upon him. I replied, desired, but I thought it would not do; he had now got to be a great man, a General, and I was only a common soldier. "Humph. he rejoined, "I thought you knew me better, that I was above all such nonsense as that, especially with an old friend, and the friend of my father." And then he playfully added: "I expect the old man is the same darned old Copperhead yet, aint he?' I had to acknowledge I thought he

was.

Mr. Giles took me to his cottage, close by, and showed me finely framed and colored portraits of the General's parents. In his simplicity-stranger as I was-he wanted to loan them to me. It seemed like sacrilege to accept his offer-would not take such a responsibility of their safe-keeping, even had I wanted them.

The She

Custer's father had a large, strong-looking face, with a straight, firmly set mouth. On seeing that expression one could easily imagine how, having been born a Democrat, he had set that mouth of his grim and defiant to die one. From him it was that his son got his light golden hair, and the impulse that belongs to that temperament. portrait of the mother was in profile. was a brunette. The whole air of the woman showed a high degree of refinement, with a tinge of sadness resting upon her countenance. "She never had," said Giles, "any especial social opportunities, but she was a born lady, thoughtful, dignified and always inspiring high respect. At the time of the massacre, with Custer was killed his two brothers, Thomas and Boston, both officers, Captain Calhoun, her brother-in-lawthat is, her sister's husband-and Mr. Reed, a civilian, on a visit to the General; also Louis Clem, younger brother of Johnnie Clem, the drummer boy of Shiloh. The mother never rallied from the terrible blow; it broke her heart, and she sank and died. The father is still living in Michigan, and is of a naturally cheerful temperament; but as long as I knew him, on any allusion to the death of his sons, he would swell up and leave the room.

As I pass these notes over to the printer, I copy from a note-book: "Died July 13, 1889, John Giles, of Scio:" that is, three years after this talk with me.

We annex some items, mainly from Whitelaw Reid's "Sketch of Custer," wherein are given some of the brilliant points of his brilliant military career. At the battle of Williamsburg he accompanied the advance as aid-de-camp under

...

...

Gen. Hancock, and captured the first battle-flag ever captured by the army of the Potomac. He was the first person to cross the Chickahominy, which he did by wading up to the armpits in the face of the enemy's pickets. . . . At Gettysburg he held the right of the Union line, and utterly routed Hampton's cavalry. In this battle he had two horses shot under him, and in the course of the war eleven horses. . . . At the battle of Trevillian Station five brigades attacked his one. Against such odds he fought for three hours. His color-bearer was shot, when the flag was only saved by Custer tearing it from its standard and concealing it around his body. . . . At Winchester he took nine battle-flags, and took more prisoners than he had men engaged. . . . When Sheridan arrived at Cedar creek, after his famous ride, he said, "Go in, Custer." Custer went in, drove the enemy for miles, captured a major-general, many prisoners, and forty-five pieces of artillery. For this he was brevetted Major-General of Volunteers. It would be beyond our limits to recapitulate his many successes; but he was the first to receive the white flag from Gen. Lee, and Sheridan presented Mrs. Custer the table on which Lee signed the surrender. . . . He never lost a gun or a color; he captured more guns, flags, and prisoners on the battle-field than any other general not an army commander, and his services throughout were most brilliant.

Gen. Custer was nearly six feet in height, of great strength and endurance, broadshouldered, lithe and active, with a weight never above 170 pounds. His eyes were blue, his hair long and golden. At the age of twenty-three he was made a brigadiergeneral; at twenty-five a major-general, the youngest man of his rank in the army. Reid says: For quick dashes and vigorous spurts of fighting he had no superiors and scarcely an equal. His career was disastrously closed in an attack, on the 25th of June, 1876, on an Indian encampment, on Little Horn river, in Montana, when his command of 277 cavalrymen were overwhelmed by about 1600 Sioux Indians, under Sitting Bull, and massacred to a man-not one spared to tell the tale. The old chief, a year or two later, was asked at a conference the particulars, whereupon Sitting Bull replied, "I do not know where the Yellow Hair died."

Gen. Terry, who commanded the forces of the expedition, in all amounting to about 1,400 infantry and cavalry, and against whose implied orders the attack had been made, arrived with the main body upon the scene a day later. He ordered the burial of the slain, and in 1879 it was made a national cemetery.

MATTHEW SIMPSON, D.D., LL.D., was born in Cadiz, 20th June, 1811, and died in Philadelphia, Pa., 18th June, 1884. His father died when he was two years of age. His uncle, from whom he was named, was a man of literary ability and gave his mind a literary bent. He graduated at what is now Allegheny College, and at eighteen became a tutor. He first began the practice of medicine; and then, at the age of twenty-two, entered the ministry, the Pittsburg Confer

ence.

He preached first on the St. Clairsville Circuit; in 1837 became Vice-President and Professor of Natural Sciences of Allegheny College, and in 1839 was chosen President of Indiana Asbury (now De Pauw)

University, Greencastle, which position he held for nine years and gained great popularity.

Appleton's "Cyclopædia of American Biography" says: His eloquence made him in great demand on the pulpit and on the platform. His personal qualities him gave an extraordinary influence over students, and made him efficient in raising money for the endowment of the college. In 1844 he was elected to the General Conference, and in 1848 he was re-elected. He appeared in 1852 in the conference as the leader of his delegation, and at this conference he was made bishop.

In 1857 he was sent abroad as a delegate to the English and Irish Conference of the Wesleyan connection, and was also a delegate to the World's Evangelical Alliance which met in Berlin.

His preaching and addresses made upon this tour attracted great attention, particularly his sermon before the alliance, which extended his fame as a pulpit orator throughout the world. After its adjournment he travelled through Turkey, Palestine, Egypt and Greece. In 1859 he removed from Pittsburg to Evanston, Ill., and became nominally President of Garrett Biblical Institute. Subsequently he removed to Philadelphia. His powers as an orator were displayed during the civil war in a manner that commanded the admiration and gratitude of the people.

President Lincoln regarded him as the greatest orator he ever heard, and at his funeral in Springfield Bishop Simpson officiated. He made many addresses in behalf of the Christian Commission, and delivered a series of lectures that had much to do with raising the spirit of the people. His official duties took him abroad in 1870 and 1875. In 1874 he visited Mexico. At the Ecumenical Council of Methodists, in London, he was selected by the representatives of all branches to deliver the opening sermon. After the

news of the death of President Garfield he delivered an address at Exeter Hall. He was selected by the faculty of Yale to deliver a series of addresses before the students of the theological department, which were published as Lectures on Preaching' (New York, 1879).

In later years his appearance was patriarchal. His eloquence was simple and natural, but increasing in power from the beginning to the close. It was peculiar to himself and equally attractive to the ignorant and the learned. One of his natural advantages was his remarkable voice. When he was at his best few could resist his pathetic appeals. Though his eloquence is the principal element of his fame, he was a man of unusual soundness of judgment, a parliamentarian of remarkable accuracy and promptitude, and one of the best presiding officers and safest of counsellors. He was present in the General Conference in Philadelphia in 1884. Though broken in health, so as not to be able to sit through the sessions, his mind was clear and his farewell address made a profound impression. Bishop Simpson published "Hundred Years of Methodism (New York, 1876), and Cyclopædia of Methodism" (Philadelphia, 1878, 5th ed. revised 1882). his death a volume of his "Sermons' edited by Rev. Geo. R. Crooks, D.D. (1885). A window in his memory is to be placed by American admirers in City Road Chapel, London, where John Wesley preached.

After

was

JOHN A. BINGHAM, late United States Minister to Japan, sometimes called "the silver-tongued orator," and so long and highly eminent and useful in the councils of the nation, was born January 21, 1815, in Mercer,

Pa. In his childhood he resided four years in Ohio; then passed two years and a half in learning printing in Mercer; was then educated in the Mercer Academy and Franklin College, and in 1840 came to Ohio and followed the practice of the law. In the Harrison campaign he took an active part as a Whig orator, and twice held public discussions with Edwin M. Stanton, having been challenged by him.

In the National Whig Convention of 1848 he proposed a resolution which it was thought too dangerous to adopt, but which was the key-note to his subsequent course, viz. : “No more slave States; no more slave Territories; the maintenance of freedom where freedom is, and the protection of American industry. He was first elected to Congress in 1854, and served in all sixteen years; in 1873 he was appointed by Grant Minister to Japan, where he resided until the advent of Mr. Cleveland's administration.

In the sixteen years of his service in Congress he served on the most important committees. For four years he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was chairman of the managers on behalf of the House on the trial for the impeachment of President Johnson. He was author of the first section to the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, save the introductory clause thereof. He was appointed special judge-advocate for the trial of the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. He was given other important official trusts, spending in all eighteen years in Washington, giving unwearying labor to the nation in its most eventful period. Besides his many speeches in Congress, he has spoken in half the States for the Union and Constitution."

of Cadiz, on the C. L. & W. Railroad, Newspaper: Press, independent, MeChurches: one Methodist Episcopal,

FREEPORT is eighteen miles southwest and on a branch of the Tuscarawas river. Math & Williams, editors and publishers. one Presbyterian, one Friends. Population, 1880, 387. SCIO is on the P. C. & St. L. Railroad, nine miles north of Cadiz. It is the seat of Scio College, E. J. Marsh, president. Newspapers: Herald, independent, Herald Printing Company, editors and publishers; Collegian, students of Scio College, editors and publishers. Churches: one Presbyterian, one United Presbyterian, one Methodist. Bank: Scio (Hogue & Donaldson); R. S. Hogue, cashier. Population, 1880, 509.

BOWERSTON is on the P. C. & St. L. Railroad, eighteen miles northwest of Cadiz. Newspaper: Gazette, independent, Charles G. Addleman, editor and publisher. Churches: one Methodist, one United Brethren, one Lutheran. Population about 500.

JEWETT is on the P. C. & St. L. Railroad, seven miles north of Cadiz. First house was built in 1803, by George Dowell. The village was laid out in 1851, by John Stall, and called Fairview. Name was changed to Jewett in 1881. Churches: one Presbyterian, one Methodist Episcopal, one Lutheran Evangelical. Population about 600.

NEW ATHENS, on the St. Clairsville and Cadiz pike, seven miles south of Cadiz, is the seat of Franklin College. Bank: John Dunlap, Jr. Churches: one Presbyterian, one United Presbyterian, one Protestant Episcopal. School census, 1888, 156.

DEERSVILLE is twelve miles west of Cadiz. School census, 1888, 99.

HOPEDALE is six miles northeast of Cadiz. It is the seat of Hopedale Normal College; president, W. G. Garvey. School census, 1888, 106. HARRISVILLE is ten miles southeast of Cadiz. Churches: one United Presbyterian, one Methodist Episcopal, one Methodist Protestant. 1888, 143.

School census,

HENRY.

HENRY COUNTY was formed April 1, 1820, from old Indian territory, and named from Patrick Henry, the celebrated Virginia orator of the revolutionary era. Area about 430 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 102,558; in pasture, 5,377; woodland, 49,895; lying waste, 1,064; produced in wheat, 487,986 bushels; rye, 80,539; buckwheat, 1,319; oats, 303,186; barley, 14,787; corn, 938,584; broom corn, 275 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 10,945 tons; clover hay, 4,670; potatoes, 59,647 bushels; butter, 435,113 lbs.; sorghum, 6,338 gallons; maple syrup, 1,037; honey, 9,131 lbs. ; eggs, 598,334 dozen; grapes, 2,967 lbs.; sweet potatoes, 17 bushels; apples, 22,883; peaches, 706; pears, 456; wool, 40,811 lbs.; milch cows owned, 5,480. School census, 1888, 8,337; teachers, 225. Miles of railroad track, 80.

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Population in 1840 was 2,492; in 1860, 8,901; in 1880, 20,585; of whom 15,721 were born in Ohio; 712 in Pennsylvania; 457 in New York; 181 in Indiana; 145 in Virginia; 17 in Kentucky; 2,106 in German Empire; 140 in Ireland; 140 in British America; 127 in England and Wales; 116 in France; and 21 in Scotland. Census of 1890, 25,080.

A greater part of this county is covered by the famous "Black Swamp." This tract reaches over an extent of country of one hundred and twenty miles in length, with an average breadth of forty miles, about equalling in area the State of Connecticut. It is at present thinly settled, and has a population of about 50,000; but, probably, in less than a century, when it shall be cleared and drained, it will be the garden of Ohio, and support half a million of people. The surface is generally high and level, and "sustains a dense growth of forest trees, among which beech, ash, elm, and oak, cotton wood and poplar, most abound. The branches and foliage of this magnificent forest are almost impenetrable to the rays of the sun, and its gloomy silence remained unbroken until disturbed by the restless emigrants of the West." It is an interesting country to travel through. The perfect uniformity of the soil, the level surface of the ground, alike retaining and

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