The Log house club

Preface

ONE half century has elapsed since Fort Sumter was fired upon and the Civil War began. This war closed four years thereafter with the surrender of the Confederate forces to the Union, and with the assurance of the complete expulsion of slavery from the United States.

The North and the South paid dearly for the verification of the principle that liberty and slavery cannot exist at the same time in one and the same nation; and that the existence of the one is the death of the other.

The recollection of the magnitude of the price paid is still fresh in the minds of those steadily decreasing old veterans who, once a year, decorate the graves of their comrades. The last of those veter-

PREFACE ans must soon join the grand army of the dead, while the present generation, in their chase after the golden calf, are apt to forget the sacrifices their fathers made in order to cut out slavery from the body politic and, for the first time in the history of the world, to establish a republic in which complete liberty, freed from caste, rules supreme.

The civilized world was amazed that from the purely artisan and farming population of the North such vast armies could have been created as were necessary to suppress the most formidable revolution known to history.

From the foregoing facts sprang a desire on the part of several old veterans to retain from that creative period of our nation a few episodes which would portray the methods that had been pursued, describe the actors who had aided to shift the scenery in that bloody drama, honor the dead that had fallen on the ramparts,

PREFACE

and send to the present generation the watchword of the old guard: —

"Slavery in a different form has since shown its murderous instincts; Tyranny has shot down among us, without the remotest right or excuse for the murder, the peace-loving, law-abiding citizen who had lawfully sold his labor to an employer against whom a self -constituted court of employees had pronounced the ban, now called the 'boycott.' Tyranny has further destroyed, unlawfully and viciously, the property of the boycotted as punishment for having exercised his constitutional right of hiring labor where he could lawfully find it. Attention! Haul down that flag of modern slavery and its associates, and guard well the Goddess of Liberty whose purple has been cleansed with the blood of your fathers !"

The following narrative, based on facts, which has been written by one who has personally drawn from reliable sources

PREFACE the events that are portrayed therein, may serve the young as a reminder of the time when the Union was convulsed in her death-struggle; of the truth that history will repeat itself, and of the principle that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty!

The Author.

August 10, 1911.

Table Of Contents

Preface 3

CHAPTER PAQB

I. The Parting 9

Chapter I THE PARTING

IN the fall of 1860, at a street corner in Buffalo, New York, a young man of about twenty years and a girl, three years his junior, were engaged in animated conversation. Below them, toward the west, stretched out Lake Erie, covered with vessels of many kinds, that, with their white sails flopping in the wind, resembled huge vultures of the sea. Suddenly the shrill whistle of a steamboat was heard; whereupon the young man embraced and kissed his companion and tearfully hastened away in the direction from which the disturbing messenger had come.

A person's action is but the indication of his mind. To understand this action we must penetrate the marvellous folds of that mind, and there detect the source from which issue the mysterious messages that kindle the eye in the joy of meeting and crush the heart in the anguish of parting. Applying this method of discovery to the incident which has been related in the foregoing lines, necessitates the giving of a brief history of the young persons who have been introduced.

Albert and Ruth Burdett were brother and sister; they were born and brought up in the city in which we met them. Their father, who died about five years previous, had been a successful merchant, possessed of genial nature, fond of social gatherings and fond of the treacherous beverage, whiskey, which was then retailed at twenty cents a gallon, and which, by its worshippers, was lauded as a medicine. The result was inevitable. Slowly, but with an unfailing

THE PARTING accuracy, this medicine did its work. The steady use for years made the formerly vigorous man a palsied wreck. The prayers and tears of his wife could not arrest the tragical end, the premature death and the drunkard's grave. Upon Albert, then but fourteen years old, fell the main burden of providing for the destitute family. A life-insurance policy was found among the deceased's private papers; the policy, however, had been long since forfeited for the non-payment of dues.

The mother, once the enthusiastic and able teacher in the public schools of Buffalo, had accepted her lover's offer of marriage without the precaution of investigating his former habits. She was entirely ignorant, at the time of her marriage, of his fondness for liquor.

Before the birth of her oldest child, however, she had noticed, with deadly fear, her husband's growing passion for tin strong drink. Dreading the results that might ensue to her posterity, the chief task of her life was henceforth to counteract the hereditary tendencies of nature by teaching her children that self-control and those high ideals of virtue which, like a talisman, guard their possessor against the vices of this life and insure for him a happy old age.

Although the payment of the expenses of her husband's last sickness and death had necessitated the sale of every available means of future support, the mother was determined to keep her family together. Albert's scanty earnings proved insufficient to provide for the necessaries of life, therefore the frail mother was compelled to take in sewing and other light work in order to make a living. Thus unremitting work, depressing care and tantalizing fear of the future were slowly draining her life. Five years after her husband's death, the

THE PARTING mother was also summoned. She died in her son's arms, with an indescribable expression of love and tenderness in her eyes, after her darling boy had pledged to remain ever true to her teachings.

The memory of that moment overcame Albert when, in the painful hurry of another parting, he saw, or seemed to see, in his sister's eyes the reflection of his angel-mother's last look.

With a small sum of money that was left from the proceeds of a public sale, Albert purchased a steamboat ticket for Milwaukee, and a valise for his clothes. These, together with a few school books that he had refused to sell, constituted his entire wealth, all of which he had left on board the steamer on the evening before he was to leave Buffalo. His sister had found a home with a friend of the family, by whom she was welcomed as a daughter. Thus freed from present care, brother and sister had, on the morning of Albert's departure for the West, once more visited their mother's grave and those other places to which the heart-strings will cling most firmly when leaving the old home.

Westward! W T hat a word then and now! Like magic arose before Albert's view endless prairies, gigantic streams, sparkling lakes, primeval forests, towering mountains, eternal snow, eternal spring, wealth, power, and freedom from social rank and social vice! Whose pulse would not beat quicker, and whose eyes would not shine brighter, at the thought of the glorious West?

Chapter II

IN those gloomy days of political unrest and grim signs of an approaching storm, that was steadily fanned by the friends of free trade and slavery, business was almost at a standstill; public and private improvements were not even considered; consequently, the demand for labor was stagnant in the East as well as in the West. Money was scarce; interest thereon and the prices of all commodities were high; whereas the prices of labor and produce were low.

Albert's ambition, from early boyhood, had been to go West; now that his mother had died and his sister had been provided with a pleasant home, there was nothing to keep him from carrying out his wish.

The whistle, which caused the young persons' abrupt parting, had been the last signal prior to the departure of the steamboat on which Albert had secured passage. Although running as fast as he could, he was too late; the boat had just started. Through the captain's kindness, however, who had noticed the boy's frantic efforts to be taken along, the steamer was stopped and a rope was thrown to the belated boy, with the help of which he got on board.

This incident taught Albert, in the most practical manner, the importance of punctuality. He, then, for the first time, comprehended fully the wisdom and magnitude of his mother's gentle rebukes, which had been caused by his occasional acts of carelessness in that direction.

The boat was a large one, with side wheels that were driven by two gigantic steam engines. The steam was generated by wood, since wood was then a far cheaper fuel and was more easily obtained than coal. A large majority of the passengers were emigrants from Europe who had landed at New York, thence they had been taken by rail to Buffalo and from that city they were sent by steamers to the various states adjoining the lakes.

As soon as Albert was on board, he thanked the captain for his kindness and asked whether in return he could do anything for him. The captain, with an approving smile, said, "All right, my boy!" and then turned to a uniformed officer and whispered a few words which Albert failed to understand. Commingling with the passengers, Albert was surprised at the various languages spoken and the different costumes worn. He marvelled why Europe did not simplify intercourse among her nations by adopting one language, instead of clinging to a score or more, which he heard spoken among the passengers, and which only the few chosen ones were able to understand. His first acquaintance was a young Dane, whom he aided in removing a heavy trunk from the passage-way. The Dane, desirous of thanking Albert, addressed him in Danish, which language Albert could understand no more than he could understand the language of the birds.

Upon inquiry Albert ascertained that Denmark with her two million inhabitants, Norway with about the same number and Sweden with a few millions more, had each a separate language, although the entire population of those three countries was but a trifle more than that of the State of New York. Young as our friend was, he comprehended keenly what obstacles to a universal education these different languages must offer in those three countries, which by nature and ancestry should be but one. This young reasoner, in whom was instilled the love of meditation, which had hitherto been encouraged and guided by his mother, had very little time to ponder over the languages and nations of Europe, since the officer to whom the captain had spoken, requested him to sweep the deck and thereafter to report to him. Albert at once went to work with an enthusiasm which could not fail of recognition by his superiors.

From that time to the landing at Milwaukee, Albert was steadily employed under the direction of this officer, who was the ship's steward, and who proved to be a kind friend and master. During the few days of the journey Albert assisted the cook and the machinists; helped at the different stations to take in the cord wood that was used as fuel under those large boilers ; polished the windows of the different cabins, and in fact made himself so useful that he became the favorite of all. He was also one of nature's favorites ; slender and a trifle taller than the average man, with deep-set gray eyes and broad forehead, and with features that expressed the honesty of his actions and his desire to please, he appeared like a sunbeam among the anxious and careworn faces of the strangers on board.

At the end of the journey the steward handed him a five-dollar bill and invited him to remain in service on board the ship at a corresponding rate of wages. Albert was amazed to receive pay for services that by agreement he had rendered free of charge, and to receive an offer of employment when he had feared that his work had been so insignificant and poorly done as not to meet approval, nor had he ever thought of a permanent occupation on board of any ship. He reluctantly took the money, but excused himself for not accepting the offer of further employment. Albert was unable to express his longing for the West and for the realization of his dreams of independence, which had chiefly prevented him from accepting the steward's kind offer; or else he would have added an explanation to his excuse, thus lessening, if not entirely disarming, the chagrin that the steward felt upon Albert's flat refusal.

Albert left the ship's crew with a heavy heart, fully appreciating the value of such an offer when labor everywhere went begging and enterprise seemed to be extinct. The steward's chilly good-bye and his refusal to shake hands with Albert upon parting, tormented the boy with the kind heart; and if he had not accidentally heard that the captain's interest in him had been chiefly caused by the fact that Albert's mother, whose history the captain well knew, had been for years the teacher of his children, and that her unwise marriage and its fatal results had been known and freely commented upon, especially by the parents of her scholars, Albert would have immediately returned and would have accepted the offer of employment with thanks. While Albert appreciated the captain's kindness, he instinctively shrunk from being pitied, preferring to choose the path carved out by himself, no matter how difficult of ascent, to the easy, well trodden path prepared by others.

Who is going to blame the boy? Is not the man's ideal likewise his heaven, no matter whether it leads him to fame or to death?

Milwaukee was then, as it is now, one of the prettiest cities in the West. Upon Albert's arrival the rays of the setting sun were reflected by the scrupulously clean windows of its buildings. Delighted with the sombre beauty of the city and landscape, he searched for a modest, but clean, hotel, in which the charges would be in accordance with the condition of his purse. He made these arrangements in anticipation of finding something to do in order to enjoy the beauties of the city and its surroundings before going further west.

For five days he searched for employment, being ready and willing to do any honest work for any reasonable compensation. A farmer, living about five miles from the city, offered him work on his farm for the entire fall and winter, agreeing to pay him five dollars a month with board and lodging until December first of that year and thereafter board and lodging only. Albert was very reluctant to accept that offer and asked the friendly farmer for three days' time in order to find a better job, if possible, to which request the farmer cheerfully assented.

Albert had never worked on a farm; he understood nothing about that work; the wages were so low as scarcely to enable him to purchase the necessary clothing during the approaching winter. With such thoughts, he walked anxiously through the streets of Milwaukee on the last day before he would be bound. He had striven hard to obtain some better paying and more congenial employment, but all in vain; every employer whom he had asked for work had promised somebody else the place if a vacancy should occur. His courage was tested sorely; his glowing picture of the West was rapidly displaced by scenes of ghastly poverty; he even censured himself for having rejected the ship steward's generous offer, and as a partial consolation he resolved to act more wisely in the future.

While wrapped up in such gloomy thoughts, and in the very act of returning to his hotel, resolved to accept the farmer's offer, he observed a man posting on a billboard a placard containing the following announcement :

MEN WANTED! Wages 85 Cents a day! Free

Transportation ! Enquire at the office of

Railroad Company.

Agent.

This timely information kindled a ray of hope and confidence in Albert's downcast mood. He thought of his mother's steadfast belief, often expressed by her, that the darker the night the nearer and brighter would be the morning. No brighter morning had ever dawned for her; disappointment and anguish had ever been her lot; or was her last look, so full of love and confidence, despite the death struggle, the dawning of that brighter morning?

With clenched teeth he fought down the tears and went to work. He searched for the railroad company's agent; ascertained the condition and the kind of the future employment; stipulated with the agent about the time of leaving for his new field of labor; sent notice to his farmer friend; settled with his landlord, whose bill balanced Albert's cash, and on the next morning he entered the cars for the unknown West.

Chapter III

THE journey by rail proved very interesting to Albert. The railroad was but recently built; the roadbed was still rough; the speed of the train was rapid and the motion of the cars was correspondingly jolting. The varying panorama of the landscape was, on the other hand, so beautifully strange and pleasing that Albert's attention was continually riveted upon those scenes of passing forests that had never been disturbed by man; of endless prairies that were covered with strange flowers; of glittering lakes that resembled sparkling diadems in Queen Nature's crown, and of rivulets that seemed to be the silvery paths of nymphs. These pictures were now and then interrupted only by a lonely building or some little hamlet or town. Albert's imagination was aroused to the utmost, notwithstanding the occasional bumps that he received from the refractory car nor the pangs of hunger caused by an empty stomach and an empty purse.

About an hour before sunset Albert noticed every now and then, far in the west between a chain of hills, what appeared to be a white cloud, upon which the rays of the sun were reflected with an unusual brilliancy. While his whole attention was directed to that phenomenon, the train was rounding a curve; what had hitherto appeared like a cloud to Albert's searching eyes, revealed itself now to be in fact the Mississippi, the "Father of Waters," stretching his gigantic arms toward both poles, encircling large islands, carrying majestic ships and silently, but irresistibly, gliding onward to his destination. Albert gazed, with folded hands, upon that stupendous sight, of which no description had ever given him even a faint idea, and of which no picture had ever been a remote resemblance of its grandeur.

Upon arrival at the terminus of that branch of the railroad, an official directed the passengers who desired to continue their journey on that evening, to a landing on the bank of the river. A small ferry boat, driven by steam, awaited the travelers, among whom was Albert, who, wearied from the day's exciting scenes, penniless and hungry, wondered what the next developments would bring.

A twenty minutes' ride among some islands landed them at dusk on the desired shore. The outlook was discouraging; no buildings of any kind were visible; the boat was tied to a rude platform that was fastened on logs; while as far as the eye could reach nothing but willows could be seen. A farmer with his ox-team and wagon, a few boys and a tall man with a lantern, received the newcomers; no other being was in sight and Albert felt as if he were entering a new and unexplored world.

The man with the lantern turned out to be the postmaster of the next village, Albert's destination, and its sole hotelkeeper. However pleasant the meeting of Uncle Sam's protecting arm in the shape of a postmaster and a dispenser of the daily bread in one and the same person might have been to the other travelers, the dualistic nature of the officer indicated to Albert the size of the settlement which was to be his next home, and reduced his expectations in proportion which his picture of the great West bore to the picture of the supposed village beyond the willows.

The captain of the little craft handed a mail-bag to the postmaster and also introduced him to Albert and the other two passengers as Mr. Henry who would thereafter take care of them. Mr. Henry's invitation to follow him was gladly accepted. A mile's tramp on a poorly kept road brought them to a small village where they halted before a dimly lighted frame house. The landlord entered with his three followers and invited them to sit down and make themselves at home, while he would be distributing the mail in the next room. Albert smiled at the suggestion of making himself at home in the dingy room that was filled with rough pine tables and benches, interspersed with a few indifferent looking chairs. One wall was decorated with some plain pine shelving upon which stood a large assortment of half-filled bottles containing a variety of whiskies and brandies. The air was still dense with tobacco smoke instead with the fragrance of a tasty supper, and Albert was penniless, tired and hungry!

His traveling companions were an

Irishman and a German; both middle aged, and neither showed any signs of discomfort; on the contrary, they searched for their tobacco, filled and lighted their pipes, leaned back in their chairs and smoked, filling the room denser and denser with smoke and compelling Albert, who had never used tobacco, to go outdoors in order to keep from choking.

In the meantime the landlord was busy with sorting and handing out the mail to several callers, some of whom entered the so-called barroom and from there reached the small room in which the mail w T as distributed and which was called the post office. This latter room was also accessible from the street.

As soon as the postmaster was alone,. Albert entered and asked him whether there would be any show of obtaining supper and a night's lodging without present payment; explaining further that he had been sent by the railroad company to work in the neighborhood, and that he would soon be able to pay his debt; yet, in order to secure the payment, he would pledge his valise and its contents with the landlord. The latter looked amused and kindly answered the conscientious boy that a supper for the three guests was ready to be served in the dining-room; that Albert could stay over night without pledging his property; that the railroad company had sent him notice of the arrival of the three new men and that the company would be holden to him for the payment of their first night's lodging and one day's board. How little is sufficient to throw the human mind from gloom into exultation! The prospect of supper and the riddance of his immediate financial troubles, cast a ray of light over Albert's features that caused the landlord to lay his hand en Albert's shoulder and direct him into the dining-room, where, behind a large table, which was covered with a neat cloth, stood the landlord's pretty daughter who pleasantly invited him to sit down and help himself. She then called the other two men, who were still smoking, to get ready and come to supper. They reluctantly put up their pipes and obeyed the order. During the meal Albert heard the daughter whisper to her mother in the adjoining kitchen: "See, mamma, what a contrast there is between the clean face of that boy and the smoked, grimy faces of the two men!"

Early the next morning the guests were called to breakfast and told that the "boss" had sent for them, and for that purpose had entrusted his own light wagon and spirited horse to the messenger who was waiting for them outside. The news was gladly received by the three guests who, immediately after breakfast, mounted the boss's two-seated light wagon. Albert seated himself beside the driver, a boy of his own age, after the two smokers had instinctively chosen one and the same seat, much to Albert's relief, who inwardly repeated the old saying, "Birds of a feather flock together."

It was a beautiful morning as they drove through the little village; the sun had dispersed a light fog and was rapidly warming the chill morning air; the few stores were slowly opened and the smoke issuing from the chimneys, went straight up to heaven.

The two boys were visibly touched by the majestic splendor around them, whereas the two men were lighting their pipes and bemoaning that their supply of tobacco would not last them until evening. A two-mile drive landed them in front of a large cabin, before which a group of laboring men was apparently waiting for the arrival of the re-enforcement from the village. The newcomers were subjected to a close inspection by these men who were destined to become their co-workers. Albert was the first to dismount. With his valise in hand he bade a cheerful "good-morning" to the bystanders, who, without responding to his salute in any way, stared at him as if his appearance among them was a mistake, whereas the two men were welcomed with such ease and cordiality that invariably create in the stranger a home-like feeling and take from him, in the very beginning, the peculiar unpleasant sensation of being among strangers.

The boss, a man of middle age, tall, broad-shouldered, red-faced, with a light moustache and sharp gray eyes, welcomed the newcomers with a hearty shaking of hands and directed them to put their bundles in certain parts of the cabin and then, if they were ready, to commence the work with the others. His directions were readily obeyed, especially by Albert, who had been longing for a kind word from any one with whom he had to associate thereafter.

The laborers formed two gangs; the two men were detailed to the one and Albert became a member of the other that was under the direct supervision of the boss himself. The cabin was built on the side of a high hill and was protected from the north and west winds by a thicket of jack oaks and underbrush. In a few minutes' walk toward the river the men reached their field of labor, namely, a roadbed at the foot of the hill, which was to be raised by the removal of earth from the adjoining hill, until the required grade was reached. The wheelbarrows used for that purpose were run on planks that were supported by devices made of scantlings. These devices were of different heights in order to conform to the varying elevations between the hill and the grade. Each gang was subdivided into diggers and wheelers; Albert, who had the choice of the two occupations, chose the wheeling.

At noon, the two gangs met at the cabin; the practice of washing hands and face at noon seemed not to exist among them, consequently Albert had to shift as well as he could in order to yield to that lifelong habit of washing himself at noon, without letting his violation of the prevailing fashion be noticed by the company. Upon entering the cabin, Albert observed at a glance the frowzy red hair of the woman and the streaky hands of her spouse, with which he gave the finishing touches to the knives, forks and spoons that were scattered upon the two tables.

Stationary wooden benches served as chairs. A baby, apparently six months old, was lying upon a couch near the cooking stove, kicking and yelling lustily. The whole scene had a depressing influence upon Albert, which was considerably enhanced after he had fished from the soup one of those red hairs; and after the husband, with his streaky hands, had cut a special large piece of bread that he handed to Albert, and after the baby kept on yelling notwithstanding its mother's boisterous scolding. Albert's appetite and hunger, although keen at first, fled, and after excusing himself, he, too, fled from the untouched dinner into the clean atmosphere outside where, throwing himself down among the trees, he wondered why man himself should be his greatest foe.

Still faint from hunger, the disenchanted boy stood his ground with heroic courage during the afternoon's work. His Irish friends, who loved to joke with the greenhorn, as they called Albert, took special pains to load his wheelbarrow the heaviest in order to test his strength and make him ask for a change. Toward evening Albert's hands were blistered, his back was almost broken and his limbs trembled from the unusual work; he was in the act of demanding a rest when luckily a loud whistle gave the sign that the day's labor was ended.

The shovels were then cleaned, as they had been at noon, with such unusual care that Albert wished that the same care would thereafter be applied to the victuals and dishes of the culinary department. All hands then gathered in front of the cabin around two barrels of water and a few benches on which were scattered several wash-basins and pieces of soap. Each gang used one barrel, one bench and one towel. When Albert's turn came to use the towel, which in the beginning had been of questionable cleanliness, but which now had the color of the soil they had handled all day, he, whose mother had taught him to observe the utmost cleanliness, shrank from touching it, but preferred to let the wind do the drying part.