Section 14:  Hunting & Other Activities

A young man's real wants are few and he readily falls into the habits of those with whom he is thrown, and where he has work and a prospect of a living he soon becomes contented. I wanted to work and looked forward with a keen relish to the time when I could contest with the old lawyers of the adjoining counties and when I would have a standing of my own at the bar. The effect of this was to make me attentive to the business I had and to read and study carefully with a view of taking a higher position in the future.

At that time, when the greater part of the county was in woods, there was great uncertainty in the land titles. Many of the warrant lines had not been run since the original surveys made in the latter part of the previous century, and in laying the Holland and Bingham and some other warrants, the deputy surveyors had frequently run them in blocks, marking only the outside lines, and marking the interior lines on paper -- as it was called "chamber surveys," and not infrequently settlers coming in without any knowledge of survey squatted on what they supposed was vacant land. In this way many controversies grew up about the ownership of lands, and the first year I was here I found that the old lawyers talked familiarly about the land law of Pennsylvania and the rules for finding the true location of warrants. Of our whole system of acquiring titles by warrant survey and patent by settlement and the statute of limitations, I knew little. In the older counties the lines and titles were generally settled, but found that the litigation growing out of land titles was going to be an important branch of the practice. I went to work and read "Smiths Note" which is a history of the land law of Pennsylvania and the reports of cases as far as I had the books. The first case or two I was retained along with one or more older lawyers and made it my business to take notes of testimony and tried to understand the points on controversy, but I was surprised to learn how little I knew about them and how utterly incompetent I was to try a complicated action of ejectment. To one not in the profession it is impossible to realize how much learning has been expended in ascertaining the true lines of a survey from the marks on the ground by the original surveyor who located the warrants. There are volumes of reports on that subject alone and this was but one of the many subjects of controversy in the land law of the State. Time, accident and clearing out and improving the land have effaced and obliterated nearly all the marks of the original surveys; and that branch of legal learning is nearly now, and soon will be altogether obsolete.

I worked faithfully to master this branch of our practice, but it was several years before I felt myself at home in a trial of ejectment. But the first ten or fifteen years I made a good portion of my fees out of the trial of land titles. I had studied the theory of surveying at College and the fall after I graduated I did a little practical surveying, which I found of great use trying land cases in after life.

In the fall of 1841, about the time Hays went away, an old man named Janus Grey came up here from Pittsburgh and rented a store building on what is now covered by the Kribbs block just above the Linsay Pretner house, and brought on a large stock of dry goods -- claimed to be fifteen thousand dollars worth. He was then a gray headed but active business man and was a great talker on almost every subject, principally on speculation and business, but sometimes would preach a sermon on Sunday. He was the owner of six thousand acres of land, mostly pine timber, in the northern part of the county. He also owned a large tract of land in the State of Illinois besides considerable property in Pittsburgh, but he was in debt and was anxious to turn his store goods into money. His advent created some stir in town and to show that he meant business he brought along with the goods two salesmen -- young, good looking fellows.

The older, John Kramer, was married to a step-daughter of his; the younger was a bright-eyed, red-cheeked, curly headed boy just getting a beard on, was quick and smart and well calculated behind a counter to make a good impression on young lady customers. The store soon became a very popular place. Our set got to buying their cigars there and very often in the evening sat in there and smoked them. I don't think while the old man was in the store it was so much resorted to by the young fellows, but he always went to bed early and was an early riser. The young men appeared to have the running of the store.

How long it remained I don't now recollect, but I think over a year and it may have been two, but I don't recollect of it ever being recruited but while it lasted it was a popular place. A good many of the goods were sold on credit and at last the books were put into my hands for collection and I made some money out of it. Old Mr. Grey subsequently sold his land in this County, a part of which is now the land of C. Leeper and Co., and went back to Pittsburgh and is long since dead. Kramer also returned to Pittsburgh, was for a number of years in the banking house of Allen Kramer and Co., afterwards was President or Cashier of the First National Bank of Allegheny City. He too is now dead. The younger salesman's history is so well known that I need only mention that his name was and is J. E. N. Wetherington.

At the time I came out here, balls and dancing parties were popular. I think there were two at the Western the winter after I came. I recollect of the young people from Strattonville, Corsica and Brookville and some from Shippensville and the county being there. The dancing was kept up vigorously till about 12 o'clock when supper was served up and from that till 2 A.M. the company broke up and left. I did not take part in the dancing, but I could not go to bed if I had wanted to, for the house was crowded with people and shaken up with the dances. I, however, managed to make the acquaintance of most of the guests and entertained myself talking to the girls when not dancing. This kind of amusement was more common than in subsequent years.

I recollect in the winter of 1841 and 42 there was a great ball in Brookville and nearly everyone that could procure a conveyance went there. The Western was nearly deserted. Old Mrs. McCalmont and I were left to take care of the Hotel. Lizzie McCalmont and I spent a good part of the evening cracking and eating hickory nuts in the kitchen. I never saw much drunkenness at these parties, but there was a good deal of drinking and it was a common thing, next day, to hear of a good deal of headache.

During my first winter the room back of the barroom was occupied by the boarders and at night nearly all gathered in there. There were many stories told, many discussions on all manner of subjects, and frequently songs sung. "Hail to The Chief" was a favorite in which nearly all would join in the noise, though some did not add much to the music. We frequently played a foolish game of cards called "Bounce" in which any number could take a hand. It was, I think, more like dominoes, but I have forgotten it so entirely that I could not now play it at all. There was no gambling in it, but it was played only for amusement. Judge Myers lived then over at the furnace, but frequently spent an evening at the Western. He and David B. Long always played euchre and frequently ordered in a bottle of liquor. Judge Myers, Long and G. B. Hamilton all drank liquor freely, but I never saw any of them intoxicated. I think nearly all the boarders drank occasionally but not to excess and some of them very little. Col. Coulter, our landlord, was fond of a drink and could take down a tumblerfull at a swallow, but it did not show on him much and it was not till some years after that he became addicted to drunken sprees.

I recollect one day in the fall of 1841 of Hays, Sutton and I going out pheasant hunting. It was a beautiful Indian Summer afternoon -- hazy and smoky, but dry and warm. We got out away beyond the graveyard and for the purpose of covering more ground we scattered, and I got away off by myself out beyond the old field. The day was so pleasant that I wandered on out to the top of the river hill between Russell's dam and where the railroad bridge now is. I sat down on a log to rest myself. The sun had got around by that time and was shining against the hill. The temperature was perfect and there was something inviting in gazing down at the river on over on the opposite bank. While sitting there I discovered that I had a "Saturday Courier" in my pocket that I had got out of the office that morning. I pulled it out and began to read one of the stories and becoming interested and everything seemed so quiet and delightful, that I got down on the dry leaves and read away -- forgot all about Sutton and Hays and when I got through the story which was a long one, I was surprised to notice that it was almost sundown and I was two or three miles in the woods and had only a general idea of the direction back to town. I was not the least alarmed and wondered what had become of my other hunters.

I picked up my gun and started back, was soon at the old field and coming on up towards the graveyard I heard a squirrel barking on a tree up on the ridge to my right. I started up there and soon found the tree he was on but he was an old cunning fellow and dodged round the tree so I could not get a shot at him. I moved around the tree continuously and finally got a shot at him and sent him scampering to the top of the tree, evidently somewhat tickled by a grain of shot. The tree was high and he kept jumping from limb to limb while I gave him two or three more shots, apparently without effect, and it was growing dark. Finally he made a race down the tree, ran out on a limb and jumped off away down the hill and I after him through the bushes, but he kept ahead of me and ran up another chestnut tree and into a hole.

In my haste I had dropped the gun and lost my hat. It was fast growing dark and I had run farther than I was aware of, but after some time I found both and started home. By the time I got to the edge of the town the moon was shining brightly and I met Hays and Sutton coming back to hunt me, thinking I had got lost or met with some accident. They had come home before night and had their supper and we had a laugh over my first hunt in Clarion County.

I don't now recollect whose gun I had, but it was not my own for I was not then able to own a gun. When I got further along I became the owner of both a rifle and double-barreled shotgun and some of the most delightful afternoons of my life were spent on the hills around Clarion shooting pheasants and squirrels. H. M. R. Clark in after years became my general hunting companion and many a bag of small game we brought home. My love for the woods continued till late in life and till my own boys became my hunting companions.

At one time, I think in the fall of 1842, I became ambitious to hunt on a more extended field. George Dall had a sawmill on the Clarion River and one morning he and I got on our horses with rifles slung on our shoulders and started up the Clarion. His mill was three miles above the mouth of Spring Creek and it was a pretty good day's ride up there. The evening I got there we made arrangements with Jim Crow to take me out the next day and have a deer hunt. In the morning I went over to his cabin and we crossed the river and got up on the flat in a hemlock forest and we hunted faithfully all day till about four o'clock and found nothing and had nothing to eat, came back to his cabin with empty bags and empty stomachs and made our dinner and supper together out of a half jerked saddle of venison hung up in his chimney. This about satisfied me with deer hunting and I made up my mind that my vacation was for smaller game.

I stayed around the mill a day or two -- went out and looked at the windfall. It was an interesting sight. It was said the cyclone had passed about forty years before that and for about a quarter of a mile wide not one stick or tree was left standing. The storm had swept from the southwest to the northeast and the timber, half rotten, was piled up in places 15 feet high. It was a gloomy scene of destruction and desolation. It was difficult to get through. I did not try it, but stood on the edge and looked over it and never wanted to look on it again.

Another season of the year -- at that time game was abundant. In the spring from March to May the pigeons flew as thick as autumn leaves -- very often over the town. Generally the morning and evening was the best time to take them on the wing. Some of our sportsmen went out and watched for flocks on the buckwheat fields. I usually stood on the brow of the river hill and fired at flocks crossing from the other side of the river, and I think I have blown away a pound of powder in a single day, some times killing a good many birds and some times when they flew high, gotten very few.

In taking this outdoor exercise and amusement I was not conscious of neglecting my profession. I know I gave careful attention to what business I had and I read a good deal, and we lawyers discussed legal questions very often. A young man's life is a good deal influenced by his surroundings. My bread and butter depended on my success and this was a strong motive to dilligence [sic]. Sutton and Hays were well posted in the general literature of the day. We read and talked about poetry and the popular writers of that time. I know I had read Milton, Young, Pollock, Thompson, Shakespeare, Byron, Homer's Iliad, Burns and a number more of the English poets. Certain kinds of poetry I enjoyed and felt deeply. Sometimes in the woods alone certain lines would come to me like an inspiration, and the words and the rhyme would take shape in my mind in a manner I could not comprehend, for in other moods I could not recall them at all. I thought I could appreciate gems of practical thought and sentiment and sympathy with beautiful descriptions of scenery, yet I could not write a line of poetry and the attempts at it by Sutton and I, which we sometimes indulged in for amusement, invariably resulted in awkward doggerel.