The Rachel Smith Letters — Letter #33

Posted on May 17, 2013 by admin

(One of a series of letters covering the aftermath of Rachel’s death. As usual, offensive terms and attitudes have not been deleted in the interest of historical accuracy.)

[LETTER FROM DAN BAKER]

Clifton Ohio April 30 65

Dear Brother

I seat myself at this time to answer yours of the 22nd, but I do not know that I have anything to write as it was only three days since I did write, and I have not been away from home to know what is going on in the neighborhood.

Mother is still improving. The rest of us, including the children, are as well, except Lettitia. She is grunting around today.

It is raining at present. It has been for two or three days so you see I am not getting along with my work very fast. There is not much corn planted yet. We got a letter from Willie last evening. It was written on the 7th of this month. He was well at that time. He was still at Goldsboro. He said they were preparing for a move to take place in a few days.

Oh, Jack I almost forgot to tell you that Jennie Stevenson is to be married day after tomorrow (Tuesday). She marries a thing by the name of Flaisy, a Christ killer. A Jew, and I think a poor excuse at that. Kate is teaching school here and does a heap of running, and you know about how she does, but she keeps the best order that has been kept here for some time and the children seen to learn pretty well.

I suppose ere you receive this you will have heard of Father’s death as I wrote about it in my letter of the 27th. No more at present, but I remain as ever your brother

Dan Baker

Previous posts in the Rachel Smith letter series: Introduction Letter #1 Letter #2 Letter #3 Letter #4 Letter #5 Letter #6 Letter #7 Letter #8 Letter #9 Letter #10 Letter #11 Letter #12Letter #13 Letter #14 Letter #15 Letter #16 Letter #17 Letter #18 Letter #19 #20 Letter #21 Letter#22 Letter #23 Letter #24 Letter #25 Letter #26 Letter #27 Letter #28 Letters 29  & 30 Letter #31 Letter #32. A link to the Monroe murder trial proceedings may be found in this previous post.

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Yellow Springs Heritage Pursues Early History Further

Posted on May 14, 2013 by admin

Yellow Springs When Young — Part 2

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Harold Igo Ghost Stories — #23 The Eternal Light

Posted on May 11, 2013 by admin

No. 23 The Eternal Light

July 15, 1943

Far away in a little town of northern Japan comes this story of a haunted bamboo house. Or rather an electric light in that house. Here lived the Reverend P.A. Smith, missionary, who now resides with his daughter Mrs. Lemcke at North Center College Street. But let Rev. Smith tell the story:

Frances Lemcke, Antioch professor of psychology, 1943-1979

Photo by Axel Bahnsen, courtesy of Antiochiana. Frances Lemcke, Antioch professor of psychology, 1943-1979

“One morning I came into the living room and noticed the electric light was burning. Well, I supposed I had just gone to bed the night before and forgot to turn it off. I had a bad habit of reading late and becoming so absorbed in my studies that I would forget the small, menial duties of my household. One of them was turning out lights. My electric bill was generally pretty high due to this habit of absent-mindedness.

“So with a grumble I turned off the light. Then I saw that it wouldn’t turn off. Well, that was funny. I tried again but with no results. Must be a loose socket. I pried around but I realized I had bought new fixtures only recently. But one never can be sure of these things in Japan. Of course this [was] years ago before the present war. The Japanese seemed an amiable, not too efficient people then.

Bamboo house“Well, I tried turning off the main switch but it wouldn’t work. That was indeed funny. I had never had any trouble turning off my lights with the master switch. The light burned on and before long I lost my temper. But that didn’t help things. So finally I had to admit I was a failure as an amateur electrician and putting on my hat and coat I trudged down to the office of the electric light company. I will never forget the look on the face of the clerk through the little bamboo cage as he heard me say, ‘I have a ghost in my electric light.’

“In fact he just stared and then ran out the back way. I had a good laugh. But that didn’t turn off my light. When I returned home I found the incident had traveled fast and all the peasants were telling that a new Buddha had come to Japan, that even in my humble bamboo house there was a convincing demonstration of the ‘Eternal Light.’

“Now if I had been sly I might have turned my house into a shrine and, like most Buddhist priests, charged so much to the faithful just to come and [see] the ‘Shrine of the Eternal Light.’ Well, at least enough to pay the light bill which was now running day and night.

Buddha“But of course I was a Christian missionary who had faith in science. Finally I discovered the cause of the ghost. There had been high floods that spring and the electric conduit was filled with moisture. That made a perfect conductor of electricity.”

Previous Igo Ghost Stories blog entry: Introducing Harold #1 Haunted Houses#2 Hiccuping Ghost #3 Cut Throat in the Kitchen#4 The House of Speaking Walls #5 Story of the 7 Dachshunds #6 House of the Fiery Ferns #7 Ohio Sally#8 The Ill-Fated House #9 Walnut Street Terror #10 The Headless Soldier #11 (No Title) #12 The Ghost of the County Jail #13 Hamlet’s Ghost in Osborn #14  Local Ghost Confesses #15 The Ghosts of Frogtown #16 The Earth-Bound Spirit #17 The Jersey Angel #18 The Thunderstorm Ghost #19 The Ghost of the Cemetery #20 The Senator Walks at Midnight #21 The Image in the Garage #22 The Ghost of the Little White Father

Special Note: The 2nd Edition (no longer spiral-bound) of the collected Igo stories published by the Yellow Springs Historical Society will be available at our booth at the Yellow Springs Street Fair on June 8 and is now available at Lulu.com:

Igo book cover page

http://www.lulu.com/shop/harold-igo/haunted-houses-spooky-tales-of-yellow-springs/paperback/product-20463348.html

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Yellow Springs Heritage Discovers the Owenites

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin

Yellow Springs When Young — Part 1

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Bicentennial Pageant Revisited — Scene 4

Posted on May 5, 2013 by admin
Scene 4: Dance card

Synopsis: A humorous and romantic scene written by Kay Reimers. It features Marion Ross as the suitor.

TWO FEMALE ANTIOCH STUDENTS Miss Thomas and Miss Hamilton enter, holding their dance cards, in deep conversation.
MISS HAMILTON
And then, in the middle of the waltz, in mid-stride, My Dear, he informs me with firm purpose in his voice that one might as well teach a dog to whistle as to teach a woman to speak Greek.
MISS THOMAS
And you responded with a logical, precise rebuttal to this claim.
MISS HAMILTON
Of course I did.
MISS THOMAS
In Greek.
MISS HAMILTON
Of course I did.
MISS THOMAS
You are a wicked thing!
(They laugh together. Miss Thomas notices Mr. Ross, another Antioch student, chatting with others. He turns, meets her glance, and their eyes meet before they turn away again.)

MISS HAMILTON
Abigail, you have already danced once with that gentleman, and you have been glancing at him all evening.
MISS THOMAS
We have been formally introduced. He is Mr. Matthew Ross. He is an Antioch student. I attend lecture with him. He just transferred here from Yale, that’s why you think him a summer resident.
MISS HAMILTON
All the same, if you don’t stop being so bold with him, the Dean of the Women will escort you home personally. A report of your improper behavior will be on the President’s desk first thing in the morning! She is looking at you now.
(They turn and wave to the Dean of Women who is sitting nearby, knitting.)

MISS THOMAS
I will give her no grief. She is the most wonderful chaperone in the world!
MISS HAMILTON
Falls asleep in her chair by 9:00, doesn’t wake up until the music stops.
MISS THOMAS
Too proud to admit it, so she writes nothing but positive reports to the President for the time she is asleep.
MISS HAMILTON
Well, she’s not asleep yet, so you and your Mr. Ross had better watch your ps and qs.
(Miss Thomas looks at her dance card.)

MISS HAMILTON
Your dance card is quite full.
MISS THOMAS
But with whom? Don’t judge the quantity, judge the quality. A Mr. Rice, who is he?
MISS HAMILTON
A young gentleman from a souther family. He is escorting his mother for the water treatment.
MISS THOMAS
Probably a slave owner. I’m a strong abolitionist. We will be at blows before the dance is over. The next dance is to Mr. Wolfen.
MISS HAMILTON
I danced with him earlier. An older gentleman. He has seven children, his wife has passed on.
MISS THOMAS
Seven children? His wife hasn’t passed on, she’s hiding!
MISS HAMILTON
Now who is the wicked thing? (waves at the Dean of Women, who doesn’t wave back. She is fast asleep) Look, she is asleep!
(Miss Thomas slips her dance card into the waistband of her dress.)
MISS THOMAS
Oh, dear me! I’ve lost my dance card! I shall swoon.
MISS HAMILTON
It’s in you…(catches her smile, plays along) Yes…your dance card is missing…you won’t know whom to dance with next.
MISS THOMAS
If I don’t find it (raises her voice) I’ll be without an escort for the rest of the evening!
(Mr. Ross turns and comes over.)
MR. ROSS
Excuse me, Miss Thomas. I couldn’t help but notice you were without an escort.
MISS THOMAS
Sadly, yes. My dance card is missing. It may have fallen into the springs and is half-way to the Ohio River by now.
MR. ROSS
What a difficult situation for you. I hope I would not appear too forward if I were to ask for the pleasure of a second dance…I apologize if you were to be offended by such a request.
MISS THOMAS
Not at all, Mr. Ross. You are simply assisting me in a very awkward situation. If there is any sullying of my reputation, I’m sure it is for my absent-mindedness only.
(They begin a romantic dance.) Miss Thomas and Mr. Ross
MISS THOMAS
Excuse me, Mr. Ross, before we begin, may I ask you your opinion about the expression concerning a Greek-speaking woman and a dog that whistles?
MR. ROSS
I’m afraid you have the advantage here, Miss Thomas…I’m completely unfamiliar with that particular expression.
MISS THOMAS
Excellent, Mr. Ross, excellent.
HORACE (waking up and seeing the students dancing…)
Let me take this opportunity to remind us of our mission! Let us remember what we are here to do. Remember…Victories for humanity? Bettering the human condition? Changing the world?
(He nods to Dean of Women who separates the dancing couple.)
Students of Antioch! We are here to get an education, to hold ourselves up as examples of the highest moral good. And so an Antiochian more than any other man…
DEAN OF WOMEN
Woman!
HORACE
Woman…should reserve all his
DEAN OF WOMEN
Her!
HORACE
Her..energy for his…her great work. He…She regulates his…her…diet. He…She abandons company to seek the refreshment of sleep. He…She spurns the temptation of any pleasure whose indulgence may abate one jot of his…her body’s vigor. He…she stands sovereign over himself…herself, holding appetite and sense in subjugation to his…her will.
DEAN OF WOMEN
Hold those appetites! Spurn those temptations!
HORACE
People! Remember! We are here to change the world! For the noble office of improving others, the first step of preparation is self-improvement!
(Dean of Women takes the girl student by the hand, leaving the boy bereft. All fade to chairs.)
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From the Antioch Bookplate Archives — Gilbert Wilson

Posted on May 2, 2013 by admin

The Small from the Great

Antioch Bookplate design F-711

F-711

There is only one bookplate design sold by Antioch Bookplate for which Gilbert Wilson was a contributing artist, F-711 (originally 711), sold between 1950 and the mid-1960s. According to Ernest Morgan’s notes, F-711 was “a symbolic design by Indiana muralist Gilbert Wilson, rendered in line by David Sarvis. The seedling may be taken to represent the unfolding human spirit nurtured by strong hands which, in the very act, endanger the plant and restrict its sunlight.”

The image was taken from what was probably Wilson’s best-known mural in Indiana, but Wilson’s mural work is in evidence in Yellow Springs itself, both the triptych which graces Antioch College’s gymnasium and some smaller murals in a private residence.

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The Rachel Smith Letters — Letter #32

Posted on April 30, 2013 by admin

(One of a series of letters covering the aftermath of Rachel’s death)

[LETTER FROM DAN BAKER]
Clifton Ohio April 27 ‘65
Dear Brother
Yours of the 18th was received last evening. Also, one of the 10th this evening. These being the first word we have had from you since you left [1]. We have been waiting to hear from you so as to know when to write.
Well, Jack, again I have sad news to write you. It is the death of Father. He died on the 17th of this month. He took a relapse about a week before he died. He had been able to ride out and the doctor thinks he took a cold. He then took the inflammatory rheumatism, and from that it turned to the typhoid fever. Mother is improving slowly. She is so that she can set up all day. She rode up to Sarah’s today. The rest of the family are as well as usual. Ed, Ja & Ally are going to school. Ally says to tell Pa “that he is going too, and learning to read” – He has not got so far along yet, but is spelling. Kate says he is the best scholar in school.
There was great rejoicing at the fall of Richmond and surrender of Lee throughout the county, but it was soon turned to sadness by the assassination of the President, the news of which you have heard before this time.
When speaking of the children, I forgot to tell you that Mary is fat as a pig. She often throws a kiss to her Pa.
I am very much behind with my work on account of our afflictions. I finished putting in my oats last Friday. I expect to commence planting corn next week, but I have about fifteen acres yet to break.
It is getting late, so I must close hoping that it will not be long ‘til peace is declared and you will be at home.
I remain as ever
Your brother
Dan Baker
A. J. Smith
PS We have had no word from Will since the 17th of March at which time he was well. He was then at Goldsboro N.C.
DB
[1] Apparently, Jack Smith was permitted to go home on a short furlough after he received word of Rachel’s death.
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Harold Igo Ghost Stories — #22 The Ghost of the Little White Father

Posted on April 27, 2013 by admin

The Ghost of the Little White Father

July 1, 1943

Harbin, China, c. 1945

Harbin, China, c. 1945

Was the czar of Russia killed by the revolutionists in 1917 and his ghost appeared to his faithful followers or did he actually escape to China? According to Mrs. George Townsend of Beattytown, a former Russian subject, she actually saw the czar, or his phantom, months after he was said to have been slain by the Red Guards.

“I was living with my mother in Harbin, China,’ said Mrs. Townsend. “My mother was a dignitary in the Orthodox church and so was often called on by various state officials to perform duties not given to the layman. Although we were in China we had a large loyal Russian colony and a number of noblemen who had exiled themselves even before the revolution broke.

“Well, one day some church officials came to my mother’s home and had long whispered consultations. Then began a furious house cleaning. My mother set aside one room and had it completely redecorated and handsomely furnished. She would not tell us who the guest was to be but we children were breathless with curiosity.“Late one night he arrived, surrounded by several Russian general. For weeks he stayed in his room with the shades drawn. His meals were delivered to him by my mother, herself, as she would not trust even her oldest servants. Around the city the faithful kept the strictest secrecy about my mother’s guest. I tried all manner and means to see our visitor but always I failed. My room was next to his and I could hear him walking up and down but couldn’t see him. I heard him say his prayers at night and every morning. He had a beautiful, soft voice. I began to make pictures of that voice, to try to imagine what kind of a man he was but each time I would tear it up. One morning I was singing under his window and I heard the window shade being raised. I looked up and there was the Czar of Russia smiling in the window. He didn’t speak a word, he just smiled. Then he lowered the shade again.

“The next night he was gone. I quickly went to the room and there was not the slightest sign anyone had occupied it. Even my mother refused to answer any of my questions.

“To this day I wonder whether I really saw the czar or whether it was, as the peasants all believed, ‘the ghost of the Little White Father.’“

"The Little White Father," Tsar Nicholas II

"The Little White Father," Tsar Nicholas II

Previous Igo Ghost Stories blog entry: Introducing Harold #1 Haunted Houses#2 Hiccuping Ghost #3 Cut Throat in the Kitchen#4 The House of Speaking Walls #5 Story of the 7 Dachshunds #6 House of the Fiery Ferns #7 Ohio Sally#8 The Ill-Fated House #9 Walnut Street Terror #10 The Headless Soldier #11 (No Title) #12 The Ghost of the County Jail #13 Hamlet’s Ghost in Osborn #14  Local Ghost Confesses #15 The Ghosts of Frogtown #16 The Earth-Bound Spirit #17 The Jersey Angel #18 The Thunderstorm Ghost #19 The Ghost of the Cemetery #20 The Senator Walks at Midnight #21 The Image in the Garage

Special Note: The 2nd Edition (no longer spiral-bound) of the collected Igo stories published by the Yellow Springs Historical Society is now available at Lulu.com:

Igo book cover page

http://www.lulu.com/shop/harold-igo/haunted-houses-spooky-tales-of-yellow-springs/paperback/product-20463348.html

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Yellow Springs Heritage Is Amazed by John Bryan

Posted on April 22, 2013 by admin

The story of the man behind the building:

John Bryan—The Romantic

John Bryan Community Center, once John Bryan High School

John Bryan Community Center, once John Bryan High School

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Bicentennial Pageant Revisited — Scene 3

Posted on April 20, 2013 by admin

Previous installments: Prologue/Scene 1 — Scene 2

Cabaret Horace

Synopsis

1853 to c. 1921: Antioch College’s first 75 years are marked with great aspirations and numbing fiscal realities. Famed educator Horace Mann is appointed first president. He sets high standards for both academics and morals, but labors under terrible financial problems and dies in office. The college survives bankruptcy and three suspensions before Arthur Morgan is named president. By introducing work and study into the curriculum and fostering a climate of invention on campus, he ultimately revitalizes the sagging institution.

Actor with model of main building Horace enters with a replica of main building.

Horace: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Cabaret House. My name is Horace Mann, and I’m going to be your host for the evening. Welcome to—History as satire. Significant events as theatrical folderol. Actors as teachers, or is it teachers as actors? I never get that right. Adversity as pratfalls. Due process as comedy act. Education as…education as…well, as experience, or is it experience as education? I never get that right either! And so, ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen and ladies…without further ado, we give you…Mr. Antiochiana and the Antiochians to perform for you: the First Hundred and Fifty Years of Antioch!!!

"Horace Mann" and Mr. AntiochianaMr. Antiochiana: Thank you, Horace. It’s great to be here. What year is it?

All: 1853!

Mr. Antiochiana: I can’t hear you! What year is it?

All: 1853.

Mr. Antiochiana: Getting there, but you could be louder!

All: 1853.

Mr. Antiochiana: Now that’s more like it!

The Storytellers count down all the years in a rhythmic dance/movement patter while the historian scrambles to get in all the facts à la the ‘Selective, Perhaps Irreverent View of Antioch College’. The Historian tries to say as much of this history as he can fit in the time frame of the 150-year countdown. He adlibs and skips ahead as needed. By the end the Historian and the Storytellers are exhausted.

Mr. Antiochiana: It was in October 1853 that this man, my hero, the great orator and reformer Horace Mann, delivered a marathon inaugural address of 27,000 words…two hours he spoke, and 3,000 people showed up to hear him speak, twice the entire population of the village at the time! Why the big crowd? We’re talking 1853, here, what else was there to do? The speech was said to have enough inspiration to make a college flourish in the Sahara, but this college needed more than inspiration. Antioch needed cash. The founders (the Christian Church, let’s just call ‘em the Christians) had failed to raise an endowment, and what money they did contribute was eaten up by the construction costs of a campus twice the size they needed. So Antioch opened in debt, but there was plenty of the aforementioned inspiration. Horace set such high standards for admission that only 13 people passed the entrance exam! He held students to a strict code of conduct…no drinking, no smoking, no swearing, no card playing, no girls, no boys, no nothing…who’d want to go to that school? So there was aspiration to go with the inspiration but no money. Not even enough to pay the faculty. Horace went two years without his salary. He went on the lecture tour and put his fees in the till, but the debt got worse. Turned out some of the founders didn’t like this guy anyhow…seems they always wanted a seminary…and Mann proposed teaching Antioch students about all religions…what’s his problem?! So they tried to get him fired. Except that a financial crisis intervened, the college closed, and the plot fell apart. So Horace kept his job but the college? Well, it reopened, but not for long because within a year it closed again, and this time the whole megilla went to the auction block, but since there was only one bidder, Horace got his college back. So in 1859 he told the graduating class to be ashamed to die, and then he died.

1881 already? The college closed again in 1881. There were no graduates in the class of 1880…we had commencement anyhow…force of habit, I guess. But I failed to mention that we closed in 1863 (see, there was a Civil War on) and finally got an endowment in 1865 thanks to the Unitarians who took over for a while and about when our baseball team lost to the Cincinnati Reds 41-7…ouch! Where were we? Oh yes, we were closed. The Christians came back and reopened the college on a shoestring: their new president lasted three months, but Daniel Long came along to be president for 16 years…longer than anyone else. A historian once called those days “the lean period”…compared to what? OK, maybe he was right…no one’s asked the faculty to pay the printing bill from the catalog in exchange for free access to college woodpile recently. Yes, times were hard, but there was always inspiration. Simeon Fess came along, now he had inspiration—the Saturday Evening Post called him the man who put the fess in professor—his annual summer Chautauquas drew 25,000 people a time or two, but not many students. During WWI Antioch needed an Army training unit on campus just to stay open. Then it closed…again. In 1919 the YMCA offered to buy the whole shootin’ match, and the Board said ‘here, take it,’ without seeing a dime. It turned out the Y didn’t have any money either though, so we got our college back…again. Then Arthur Morgan was made president and he saved the school by introducing an alternating plan of work and…

An Alum comes from out of the audience.

Mr. Antiochiana: …yes? Who are you?

Alum: Excuse me?

Mr. Antiochiana: Yes.

Alum: Can I just say something? I’m an alum, from the class of ’67, here for the reunion, and I just want to remind us to accentuate the positive.

Mr. Antiochiana: Of course!

Alum: There’s a lot that has happened that’s positive, you know. Antioch has been an innovator from day one. We had the first woman professor. We admitted African-American students from the beginning. And how about Co-operative Education? The SOPP? Antioch Education Abroad. Activism. Idealism. Optimism. Hope. Hope for the future. Why, if I hadn’t gone to Antioch, I don’t think I would have been who I am today. It was life-changing. I can’t imagine going to any other school.

Mr. Antiochiana: That’s what most people who go here say. It is a very positive place.

Alum: So why didn’t you talk about it? Everything you said is so negative. Debt. Near bankruptcy. Lack of students…

Mr. Antiochiana: I’m an Antiochian. I never talk about the positive. Besides, history tends to repeat itself.

Alum: Well, I know, I mean, I’m not naïve. Antioch has always had a lot of financial…well, its finances haven’t been…Financially it’s a little…

Mr. Antiochiana: You can say that again!

Horace: There it is, folks, democracy at work right before your very eyes! We can agree to not agree. That’s the American way. Or is it not agree to agree. I always mix that up. But as a matter of fact, I think you’re going to love this next act. Talk about accentuating the positive!!! Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you, the Antioch Cheering Squad!

The Antioch Infidels

The Antioch Cheerleaders enter. They are a motley, but energetic crew from different eras.


We are the Antioch infidels

We save the world and raise some hell

We fight for justice and equality

And win our victory for humanity!

We are the Antioch infidels

We’re really smart, and we kind of smell

Listen to our insightful yell

While our name for you we do spell…

A is for Acceptance…

N is for…Never Enough

T is for Total Education

I is for…International? Integration? Inspiring?

O is for…Over the top

C is for…Community

"Horace Mann"H is for…Horace Horace

Horace Mann, he’s the man

He was our first presi-dant

Horace Mann, he’s the one

The guy who got it all begun…….Yeah, Horace!

The cheerleaders surround Horace, and he swoons.

Horace: Oh, my dreams for the college! My dreams for the college! Everybody! It’s time for a dance!

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