''^'•"'^^'^«r7-'"-~-"^WPf»ip(R!T?WIW ^"'^4.-ii i.-..mmmm?, NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08181459 6 \V! \^ t Poems and Sketches CONSISTING OP P0E3IS AND LOCAL HISTORY; BIOGRAPHY; NOTES OF TRAVEL; A LONG LIST OF WAYNE COUNTY'S PIONEER DEAD, ALSO MANY NAMES OF THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN DEFENSE OF THEIR COUNTRY, DURING THE LATE REBELLION, AND WHOSE HONORED REMAINS ARE IN- TERRED IN THIS VICINITY; WITH MUCH INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE MISCELLANEOUS MATTER; BY George P. Emswiler. Carefully Collated and Arranged by the Author, 1 h U Richmond, Indiana: Nicholson Printing & Mfg. Co., THE XEW Yonx 340284B A»r-it. LENOX AXD TiLDlN ror.NDAno.Xt Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S1»7, by GEORGE P. EMSWILER, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 'Dedication, Tj/i/s /////e ifo/ume /s /oui'n^/^ ancf rei^eronf/y efec/icafoct to f/io memory o/" fAreo noA/c sou/s, T^artAa .^^nes ^t'n/ej/, ^tii//a ^. Sooc/ri'c/i, ancf m^ c/ear, devoted motAer^ a// /on^ Since ete/jarted /rom tAe con/i'nes o/" t^t's snet ivor/et, t'nto /Ae crAocfes o/" /^ecrce and rest eternat. PREFACE. /TIAHE contents of this volume consist of an hundred J_ and fifty, or more, poems, on a multitude of sub- several on local jects ; also, interesting papers history ; sketches of former citizens of note sundry biographical ; several old and interesting letters written in days " " of auld miscellaneous lang-syne ; some matter, and some brief sketches of pertinent impertinent ; travel and a list of and ; long pioneer names, with age, date of death, directly from the records, whose bearers have passed, in the fullness of time, to the ever-silent shores a list of beyond ; also, partial Wayne county's soldier dead : forming, in the aggregate, an exceed- ingly interesting collection, rare and valuable, to be found nowhere else in print. The material has been collected and wrought out, at various times and inter- vals, to beguile the tedium of an idle hour, and was begun in the author's boyhood days and continued on down to the present time, with no thought, whatever, until recently, of putting the matter into its present form. None of the contents have, therefore, been worked up, mechanically, with the purpose of making \i PREFACE. a book. He has no apology to offer for any defects of composition or arrangement, as we are all human and liable to err, and, besides, in his case, circumstances compelled him to be his own tutor and the architect of his own fortune. He does sincerely wish the offering were more worthy, but, such as it is, he has determined to submit it to an ever-tolerant public, hoping it may at least amuse, should it fail to edif}' or instruct, the reader. The Author. CONTENTS. MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. The World's Columbian Fair 1 The Great Pullman Strike 4 The Stars 8 Musings 9 Garfield School House 11 Life 12 Time 13 His Loving Spirit Fills All Space 15 " " If a Man Die, Shall He Live Again ? 17 Contemplation 19 " *' Be Not Like Dumb-Driven Cattle 20 The Bell at Saint Paul's 22 Niagara 24 Lines to a Late November Butterfly 26 Thoughts Suggested by the Closing Year 29 Robert Burns 31 The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet 33 To a Departed Sister 34 Abandon 35 Indolence 36 Departing Summer 38 The Snow, Dec. 2d, 1893 39 Some Cool Reflections on a Gas Fire 40 Thoughts Suggested at "Fountain Square," Cincinnati, 0. 41 Thanksgiving of the Poor 43 Aimless Thoughts 44 " " Scenes and Reflections at Yearly Meeting 45 49 Musings ( written while the snow was falling ) Pictures of Winter 51 viii CONTEXTS. Some Characteristics of Our City's [servants 53 Lines Suggested by the Recent Death of a Friend ... 55 The Toiler's Lament 57 March L3th and 14th, 185)3 58 Master Willie ISIay 59 Early Spring 60 Creation's Heirs 61 A Puldic Wedding at Old Pearl Street Church 62 When Life is Young 63 A Wail at the Weather. 64 Enigma 65 To One Departed 67 Random Thoughts 68 Lines to a Belated Grasshopper 69 The World a Theatre 70 To Evan Wright 71 Lines a to Strattan . 72 Suggested by' Visit Benj. and Emily Toil On 73 A Doggerel on a Departed Canine 74 Impromptu Lines Suggested by an Old Bonnet .... 75 To an Absent Brother ' 76 The Chase 77 A Sabljath Afternoon in Summer 78 A Fragment 78 Musings 79 Imf>romptu Lines to March 80 To One at Rest 81 Earl}' Autumn 82 Could Prayers Avail 83 The Day We Celebrate 84 March 11th, 1896 85 Passing Away 86 I Know No Misanthropic Hours 87 Old Letters 89 Early Spring 91 My Love and 1 92 Lines to a Butterfly 94 When First AVe Met 96 Retrospection 97 CONTENTS. ix Just as Thy Nature Urges 99 Crinoline 100 Memento Mori 101 Autumnal Musings 102 The Robin 103 Two Translations ' 104 In the Days When I AVent Tipsying 105 Some Reflections in a Country Churchyard 107 The Rose 108 Artlessness in Art 109 Lines to a Late Rosebud 110 Sleeves, and Hoops, and Bustles Ill Passing Away 112 Mary Had a Little Dog 113 Lines Suggested by the Tolling of Pearl Street M. E. Church Bell 115 The Rain — A Protest 116 A Boyish Dream 118 May 19th, 1894 119 To E. J. S 121 To Miss Sarah F y 122 An Humble Tribute to Nelson Stanley 123 To Rachel M. Atherton . .' 124 To Miss Mary Rambo 125 Impromptu Lines to Nellie Smurr 126 To One Who Loved, Not Wisely, but Too Well .... 127 Lines on the Death of a Favorite Cat 128 Apostrophe 128 Seeking Gold 129 Stanzas on the Early "Gold Fever" 131 To Christian Rathfon 132. To Isaac Kline 133 Impromptu Nonsense 133 A New^ Year's Greeting to William L. John 134 Avoid Extremes 134 To William L. John, on His Eighty-eighth Birthday . 135 These Are Weary Days of Waiting 137 To William • . • Parry ., 138 To William L. John, Aged Ninety-one Years 140 X COXTEXTS. To Dr. T. H. Davis 141 Thouglits of Autunin 142 December 8th, 1894 143 The Curfew Bell Will Ring To-Xight 144 I Hate That Drum's Discordant Sound 146 Charles H. Burchenal 147 Henry R. Downing 148 Never Do Thou Stoop to Conquer 149 POETICAL LETTERS. To Claudius Byles 152 To S. F. Smurr 153 To My Sister 156 THE SEASONS. New Year's Morning, 1893 158 A Dav of Gloom — Februarv, 1894 . 159 Winds of March 161 An April Morn 162 A Morning in May 163 Reflections on a Morning in ]\Liy 164 In the Sunny Days of June 165 July 167 In August — The Harvest is Over 169 August 170 September — Summer Wanes 172 Autumn ^— OctoVjer 174 XovemVjer 175 Farewell to December 176 Let Every Tongue Rejoice 178 Summer Salad 180 A Summer's Day 182 Autumnal Leaves 184 To Winter 185 KELKIIOI^S POEMS AND SENTIMENTS. O, Why Should We Mourn? 186 In J.ent 187 At the Last 188 CONTEXTS. xi « Christmas 190 Thanksgiving Day 191 Random Thoughts 193 And This Is True 194 "Be Just, and Fear Not" 195 Some Reflections 195 As I See It 196 Jewels Are Jehovah's Trust 197 Jesus — A Triple Acrostic 198 " " Just as I Am, Without One Plea 199 ALBUM PIECES. To Beauty, for Miss Biles 202 To Miss Mary Mason 203 To Gabriella Newton 204 To Miss Mary Finley 205 ToMaryE. H—t. ." 206 To Mary Ellen Ward 207 To Elmira Basset 208 To Rebecca D. Strattan 209 To Sarah F 210 To Miss Rebecca Meek 211 To Julia A. Brady 211 VALENTINES. To Miss Margaret McCoy 213 To Miss Phoebe C—f—d. 214 To Miss Rebecca D. Strattan 215 To Miss Rebecca Meek 216 To Miss Mary Rambo 216 LOCAL HISTORICAL SKETCHES. My Recollections of Richmond — Paper No. 1 221 My Recollections of Richmond — Paper No. 2 234 My Recollections of Richmond — Paper No. 3 250 xii C0XTEX2U BIOGRAPHICAL. General Sol Meredith 258 Alfred Kayne 259 Judge James Perry 2(33 Irvin Reed 267 Senator John Yaryan . 270 "William Parry 274 William L. John 276 OLD LETTERS OF PIONEER TIMES. Andrew Finley, Jr. (No. 1) 282 Andrew Finley, Jr. (No. 2) 285 Rebecca Bradbury 287 Susan Finley 288 MISCELLANEOUS SKETCHES. Court House Removal 290 How Richmond Met a Crisis 291 Richmond's Postmasters 292 David Hoover's Memoir 295 A Relic of War Times 311 ^ Some County History 321 "^ HISTORICAL. Recollections, Etc 325 A Trip to California 328 WESTERN SKETCHES. An Old Time Elopement 333 Early Railroad History at Richmond, Ind 337 Early Railroading Between Richmond and Anderson . 344 miscellanp:ous selections. Canal-Boat Trains 351 Our Navy During the War 353 War Prices in the North 355 War Prices in the South 359 Cotton Mather and the Friends 361- CONTENTS. xiii The Optimist 363 The Children of the Desert 365 Chronology'&. of Plants 3()9 Shells, Fossils and Flowers 0/-i Travel — Notes by the Way 373 PIONEER DEAD. First Settlers — Place of interment nnknown 400 Earlhani Cemetery 401 Maple Grove Cemetery 412 Friends' Old North Side Cemetery 412 German Lutheran Cemetery 413 German Catholic Cemetery 414 Irish Catholic Cemetery 416 Hoover Burying Grounds 417 McClure Family Cemetery 418 Friends' Ridge Cemetery 419 King's Cemetery 420 Goshen Cemetery 421 Elkhorn Cemetery 423 Chester Cemetery 424 Centerville Cemetery 426 Boston Cemetery 427 Recent Deaths 429 THE SOLDIER DEAD. Maple Grove Cemetery 431 Earlham Cemetery 432 Elkhorn Cemetery 432 Boston Cemetery 432 Lutheran Cemetery 432 German Catholic Cemetery 433 Irish Catholic Cemetery 433 Public Cemetery 433 Old Catholic Cemetery 433 Kennedy's Chapel 433 God Bless Abraham IJncoln 434 Farewell Poem 435 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.