A second Enoch-Arden-like case occurred in the early history of this county. One day in 1829 Timothy Wilkins, an honest, enterprising man, living opposite the town, came over to Athens, transacted some business, and was supposed to have returned home, but did not. Next morning the boat in which he usually crossed the river was found floating down the stream and his hat with it. The river was dragged and cannon fired over the water to recover the body, but it was not found. He was a very popular man, and his wife and family were in great distress. Time passed; Timothy Wilkins went out of people's minds, and Mrs. Wilkins married a Mr. Goodrich. In 1834 a vague rumor came that Mr. Wilkins was alive, and finally a letter from him to a neighbor announcing his approach. Fearing to shock his wife by a sudden appearance, he had himself originated the rumors of his safety, and now announced that he would soon be in Athens. He knew of his wife's second marriage, and in friendly

spirit proposed to meet her and Mr. Goodrich. Much excitement ensued. The conference was held, and Messrs. Wilkins and Goodrich left to the choice of the wife of their rivalship to decide between them. She turned to the husband of her first love. Mr. Goodrich acquiesced sadly but kindly, took up his hat and walked.

Mr. Wilkins' disappearance was a ruse to escape his creditors. In that day to fail was an awful thing. A man could be imprisoned for a debt of ten dollars. Wilkins was honest, but almost insane from his misfortunes. He had gone to New Orleans to resuscitate his broken fortunes, made money in boating, and now on his return paid his debts, and then with his reunited wife left those scenes forever, going South.

A Long Dive.-To abscond for fear of creditors was common in the early part of this century. A gentleman whom I knew in youth was about the year 1800 a merchant in Middletown, Conn. His affairs became des

perate, and one day he disappeared. His hat and clothes being found on the banks of the Connecticut, it was supposed he had committed suicide. A year or more passed, when some person who knew him and had been to the far-away settlement of Marietta, reported that he had seen him in that place, whereupon a wag remarked: "Jeremiah, then, did not drown himself; he simply took a long dive-went down in the Connecticut and came up in the Ohio." This underground swimmer eventually returned to the East, and became mayor of my native city.

THE COON-SKIN LIBRARY. The settlement of Ames township was about a year after that of Athens. The county was at that time divided into four townships, and it comprised more than double its present area, and Ames that of ten townships now in Athens, Morgan, and Hocking counties. The settlers were an intellectual body of men. Entirely isolated and remote from schools

and libraries, they felt keenly the absence of means for mental improvement. At a public meeting in 1803 the subject of a library was discussed, but the scarcity of money was a stumbling-block. There was next to none in the county. The little transactions between the settlers were almost wholly by barter. Very little more was raised than each family could produce, and there was no market for any surplus.

"So scarce was money," said Judge A. G. Brown, "that I can hardly remember ever seeing a piece of coin till I was a well-grown boy. It was with great difficulty we obtained enough to pay our taxes with and buy tea for mother."

However, by scrimping and ingenious devices a little money was saved for this object. As cash could be obtained by selling skins and furs at the East, some of the settlers who were good hunters made forays upon the wild animals. Esquire Samuel Brown, going on a business trip to Boston, took their skins

with him-bears, wolves, and coons-and sold them to agents of John Jacob Astor.

The Rev. Dr. Cutler, who accompanied him, selected from a part of the avails a valuable collection of books. In the original record it is called the "Western Library Association," founded at Ames, February 2, 1804. In common parlance it went under the name of "Coon-Skin Library.

At a meeting of the shareholders, held at the house of Silvanus Ames, December 17, 1804, Ephraim Cutler was elected librarian; it was also voted to accept fifty-one books, purchased by Samuel Brown.' In his autobiography, Thomas Ewing makes acknowl

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edgment of benefit of the library to him personally. 'All his accumulated wealth," says he, ten coon-skins, went into it."

"This," says Walker, was the first public library formed in the Northwestern Territory, though not the first incorporated." This statement is erroneous. On March 6, 1802, a public library went into operation in Cincinnati, with L. Kerr, librarian. $340 had been raised by subscription; thirty-four shares, at $10 each. Arthur St. Clair, Jacob Burnet, Martin Baum, and Griffin Yeatman were among the subscribers. Its final fate is unknown. Earlier still, "Belpre Farmers' Library" was established at Belpre in 1796.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS

EWING.

My father settled in what is now Ames township, Athens county, early in April, 1798. He removed from the mouth of Olive Green creek, on the Muskingum river, and the nearest neighbor with whom he had association was in that direction, distant about eighteen miles. There were a few families settled about the same time on or near the present site of the town of Athens, but no road or even pathway led to them; the distance was about twelve miles. There was an old pioneer hunter camped at the mouth of Federal creek, distant about ten miles. This, as far as I know, comprised the population statistics of what is now Athens county. I do not know the date of the settlement in what was called No. 5-Cooley's settlementit was early.

Journey to Ohio.-At the time of my father's removal I was with my aunt, Mrs. Morgan, near West Liberty, Va., going to school. I was a few months in my ninth year. Early in the year 1798, I think in May, my uncle brought me home. We descended the Ohio river in a flat-boat to the mouth of the Little Hocking, and crossed a bottom and a pine hill, along a dim footpath, some ten or fifteen miles, and took quarters for the night at Daily's camp. I was tired, an 1 slept well on the bear-skin bed which the rough old dame spread for me, and in the morning my uncle engaged a son of our host, a boy of eighteen, who had seen my father's cabin, to pilot us.

Poneer Living-I was now at home, and fairly an inceptive citizen of the future Athens county. The young savage, our pilot, was much struck with some of the rude implements of civilization which he saw my

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brother using, especially the auger, and expressed the opinion that with an axe and auger a man could make everything he wanted except a gun and bullet-molds. My brother was engaged in making some bedsteads. He had already finished a table, in the manufacture of which he had also used an adze to smooth the plank, which he split in good width from straight-grained trees. Transportation was exceedingly difficult, and our furniture of the rudest kind, composed of articles of the first necessity. Our kitchen utensils were "the big kettle," the little kettle," the bake-oven, frying-pan, and pot; the latter had a small hole in the bottom, which was mended with a button, keyed with a nail through the eye on the outside of the pot. We had no table furniture that would break-little of any kind. Our meat -bear meat, or raccoon, with venison or turkey, cooked together and seasoned to the taste (a most savory dish)-was cut up in morsels and placed in the centre of the table, and the younger members of the family, armed with sharpened sticks, helped themselves about as well as with four-tined forks; great care was taken in selecting wholesome sticks-as sassafras, spice-bush, hazel, or hickory. Sometimes the children were allowed by way of picnic to cut with the butcher-knife from the fresh bear-meat and venison their slices, and stick them, alternately, on a sharpened spit, and roast before a fine hickory fire. This made a royal dish. Bears, deer, and raccoons remained in abundance until replaced by swine. The great West would have settled slowly without corn and hogs. A bushel of seed wheat will produce at the end of ten months fifteen or twenty bushels; a bushel of corn at the end of five months 400 bushels, and it is used to

much advantage the last two months. Our horned cattle do not double in a year; hogs in the same time increase twenty-fold. It was deemed almost a sacrilege to kill a sheep, and I remember well the first beef I tasted. I thought it coarse and stringy compared with venison. We had wild fruits of several varieties, very abundant, and some of them exceedingly fine. There was a sharp ridge quite near my father's house on which I had selected four or five service or juneberry bushes that I could easily climb, and kept an eye on them until they should get fully ripe. At the proper time I went with one of my sisters to gather them, but a bear had been in advance of me. The limbs of all of the bushes were brought down to the trunk like a folded umbrella, and the berries all gone: there were plenty still in the woods for children and bears, but few so choice or easy of access as these. We had a great variety of wild plums, some exceedingly fine; better, to my taste, than the tame varieties. I have not seen any of the choice varieties within the last thirty years.

We, of course, had no mills. The nearest was on Wolf creek, about fourteen miles distant; from this we brought our first summer's supply of breadstuffs. After we gathered our first crop of corn my father instituted a hand mill, which as a kind of common property supplied the neighborhood, after we had neighbors, for several years, until Christopher Herrold set up a horse mill on the ridge, and Henry Barrows a water mill near the mouth of Federal creek.

A Lonely Boy-For the first year I was a lonely boy. My brother George, eleven years older than I, was too much of a man to be my companion, and my sisters could not be with me, generally, in the woods and among the rocks and caves; but a small spaniel dog, almost as intelligent as a boy, was always with me.

His First Books.-I was the reader of the family, but we had few books! I remember but one beside" Watts' Psalms and Hymns" that a child could read-"The Vicar of Wakefield," which was almost committed to memory; the poetry which it contained entirely. Our first neighbor was Capt. Benj. Brown, who had been an officer in the Revolutionary war. He was a man of strong intellect, without much culture. He told me many anecdotes of the war which interested me, gave me an account of Dr. Jenner's then recent discovery of the kine pox as a preventive of the small pox, better than I have ever yet read in any written treatise, and I remember it better than any account I have since read. He lent me a book-one number of a periodical called the "Athenian Oracle "-something like our modern "Notes and Queries,' from which, however, I learned but little. I found, too, a companion in his son John, four years my senior, still enjoying sound health in his ripe old age.

In 1801 some one of my father's family being ill, Dr. Baker, who lived at Waterford, some eighteen miles distant, was called in.

He took notice of me as a reading boy, and told me he had a book he would lend me if I would come for it. I got leave of my father and went, the little spaniel being my travelling companion.

The book was a translation of Virgil, the Bucolics and Georgics torn out, but the Æneid perfect. I have not happened to meet with the translation since, and do not know whose it was. The opening lines, as I remember them, were

"Arms and the man I sing who first from Troy

Came to the Italian and Lavinian shores, Exiled by fate, much tossed by land and sea, By power divine and cruel Juno's rage; Much, too, in war he suffered, till he reared A city, and to the Latium brought his godsHence sprung his Latin progeny, the kings Of Alba, and the walls of towering Rome.'

At

When I returned home with my book, and for some weeks after, my father had hands employed in clearing a new field. On Sundays and at leisure hours I read to them, and never had a more attentive audience. that point in the narrative where Æneas discloses to Dido his purpose of leaving her, and tells her of the vision of Mercury bearing the mandate of Jove, one of the men sprang to his feet, declared he did not believe a word of that he had got tired of her, and it was all a made up story as an excuse to be off, and it was a shame after what she had done for him. So the reputation of Æneas suffered by that day's reading.

Our next neighbors were Ephraim Cutler. Silvanus Ames, William Brown, a married son of the Captain; and four or five miles distant, Nathan Woodbury, George Wolf and Christopher Herrold; and about the same time, or a little later, Silas Dean, a rich old bachelor, Martin Boyles, and John and Samuel McCune. Mr. Cutler and my father purchased Morse's Geography," the first edition, about 1800, for his oldest son Charles and myself; it in effect became my book, as Charles never used it, and I studied it most intently. By this, with such explanations as my father gave me, I acquired quite a competent knowledge of geography, and something of general history.

The Coon-Skin Library.—About this time the neighbors in our and the surrounding settlements met and agreed to purchase books and to make a common library. They were all poor and subscriptions small, but they raised in all about $100. All my accumulated wealth, ten coon-skins, went into the fund, and Squire Sam Brown, of Sunday creek, who was going to Boston, was charged with the purchase. After an absence of many weeks he brought the books to Capt. Ben Brown's in a sack on a pack-horse. I was present at the untying of the sack and pouring out of the treasure. There were about sixty volumes, I think, and well selected; the library of the Vatican was nothing to it, and there never was a library better

read. This with occasional additions furnished me with reading while I remained at home.

Early Teachers.—We were quite fortunate in our schools. Moses Everitt, a graduate of Yale, but an intemperate young man, who had been banished by his friends, was our first teacher; after him, Charles Cutler, a brother of Ephraim, and also a graduate of Yale. They were learned young men and faithful to their vocation. They boarded alternate weeks with their scholars, and made the winter evenings pleasant and instructive. After Barrows' mill was built at the mouth of Federal creek, I, being the mill boy, used to take my twohorse loads of grain in the evening, have my grist ground, and take it home in the morning. There was an eccentric person living near the mill whose name was Jones-we called him Doctor; he was always dressed in deerskin, his principal vocation being hunting, and I always found him in the evening, in cool weather, lying with his feet to the fire. He was a scholar, banished no doubt for intemperance; he had books, and finding my fancy for them had me read to him while he lay drying his feet. He was fond of poetry, and did something to correct my pronunciation and prosody. Thus the excessive use of alcohol was the indirect means of furnishing me with school-teachers.

My father

Works in the Kanawha Salines. entertained the impression that I would one day be a scholar, though quite unable to lend me any pecuniary aid. I grew up with the same impression until, in my nineteenth year, I almost abandoned hope. On reflection, however, I determined to make one effort to earn the means to procure an education. Having got the summer's work well disposed of, I asked of my father leave to go for a few months and try my fortune. He consented and I set out on foot the next morning, made my way through the woods to the Ohio, got on a keel boat as a hand at small wages, and in about a week landed at Kanawha salines. I engaged and went to work at once, and in three months satisfied myself that I could earn money slowly but surely, and on my return home in December, 1809, I went to Athens and spent three months there as a student, by way of testing my capacity. I left the academy in the spring with a sufficiently high opinion of myself, and returned to Kanawha to earn money to complete my education. This year I was successful, paid off some debts which troubled my father, and returned home and spent the winter with some new books which had accumulated in the library, which, with my father's aid, I read to much advantage.

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Enters College.-I went to Kanawha the third year, and after a severe summer's labor I returned home with about $600 in money, but sick and exhausted. Instead, however, of sending for a physician, I got Don Quixote" from the library and laughed myself well in about ten days. I then went to Athens, entered as a regular student and continued my studies there till the spring of 1815,

when I left, a pretty good though irregular scholar. During my academic term I went to Gallipolis and taught school a quarter and studied French. I found my funds likely to fall short and went a fourth time to Kanawha, where in six weeks I earned $150, which I thought would suffice, and returned to my studies; after two years rest the severe labor in the salines went hard with me.

Studies Law.-After finishing my studies at Athens I read "Blackstone's Commentaries' at home, and in July, 1815, went to Lancaster to study law. A. B. Walker, then a boy of about fifteen years, accompanied me to Lancaster to bring back my horse, and I remained and studied law with Gen. Beecher. I was admitted to the bar in August, 1816, after fourteen months very diligent studythe first six months about sixteen hours a day.

Law Experiences.-I made my first speech at Circleville the November following. Gen. Beecher first gave me a slander case to prepare and study; I spent much time with it, but time wasted, as the cause was continued the first day of court. He then gave me a case of contract, chiefly in depositions, which I studied diligently, but that was also continued; a few minutes afterward a case was called, and Gen. Beecher told me that was ready-the jury was sworn, witnesses called, and the cause went on. In the examination of one of the witnesses I thought I discovered an important fact not noticed by either counsel, and I asked leave to cross-examine further. I elicited the fact which was decisive of the case. This gave me confidence. I argued the cause closely and well, and was abundantly congratulated by the members of the bar present.

My next attempt was in Lancaster. Mr. Sherman, father of the General, asked me to argue a cause of his which gave room for some discussion. I had short notice, but was quite successful, and the cause being appealed Mr. Sherman sent his client to employ me with him. I had as yet got no fees, and my funds were very low. This November I attended the Athens court. I had nothing to do there, but met an old neighbor, Elisha Alderman, who wanted me to go to Marietta to defend his brother, a boy, who was to be tried for larceny. It was out of my intended beat, but I wanted business and fees and agreed to go for $25, of which I received $10 in hand. I have had several fees since of $10,000 and upwards, but never one of which I felt the value, or in truth as valuable to me, as this. I went, tried my boy, and he was convicted, but the court granted me a new trial. On my way to Marietta at the next term I thought of a ground of excluding the evidence, which had escaped me on the first trial. It was not obvious, but sound. I took it, excluded the evidence and acquitted my client. This caused a sensation. I was employed at once in twelve penitentiary cases, under indictment at that term, for making and passing counterfeit money, horse-stealing and perjury. As a professional man, my fortune was thus briefly made.