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An Ohio Boy’s Fascinating Trip To The Centennial Exposition In Philadelphia In 1876 – True Story

This story was told by Mr. John Nichols, attorney, of Cincinnati, Ohio, to a group of relatives and friends gathered at the home of his brother, George W. Nichols in Mt. Washington, a suburb of Cincinnati, on the “Fourth of July,” 1926 – the opening day of the Sesquicentennial in Philadelphia.  This transcript of the story was found in the belongings of John’s daughter, Julia, which were divided among relatives when she passed away.  The writer of the transcript is not known.  And so the amazing story begins:

In 1876 I was a boy of fifteen years, living with my mother, grandmother, sister and brother on a farm near Batavia, Ohio, and boys at that time did not travel as they do today, and as this trip to Philadelphia was my first without members of my own family, it was strongly impressed on my memory, and I remember it better than many taken in recent years.

I took this trip with three gentlemen, friends of our family, William Bowman, Jacob Bowman, and James Avey.  Jacob Bowman had been in the employ of my father for many years, and after my father’s death had gone to Nevada and struck it rich in the silver mines.  James Avey had been a neighbor of my father and mother, and had gone to Iowa, and made a fortune there.  William Bowman had been educated by my father, and in June 1876 had graduated from the University of Athens, Ohio.

Jacob Bowman and James Avey had come back East on their way to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and came to see my mother, and requested that she let me, a boy of fifteen, accompany them on their trip East and to the Exposition, to which she consented, and I went with these three men.

We went to Cleveland, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Albany, down the Hudson River to New York, where we stayed several days, and then to Philadelphia, arriving there the morning of July 3rd, 1876.

We left Cincinnati in the morning, about ten o’clock I think, got to Cleveland in the evening and stayed there that night as it was almost impossible to get a sleeper, and we had to travel in day coaches.  I remember that we arrived at Utica, New York, in the morning, and after sitting in a day-coach all night, I was tired and dirty, and when the train stopped there, I got off and went to a horse-trough near by and washed my hands and face.  From Buffalo to Albany I sat in the same seat with John Kelley, famous Tammany leader and prizefighter.

I will never forget our stop at Niagara Falls.  We picked up there a gentleman from the state of Tennessee, who continued from that point on with our party.  He was the editor of a paper in one of the larger towns of Tennessee.  He had red hair, reddish-brown whiskers, wore a plug hat and a long linen duster, carried a carpet bag and an old-fashioned umbrella; and all of the men in our party wore boots.  This editor from Tennessee was out to see everything that was to be seen – and I remember that on going over to the Canadian side, some fellow tackled us to put on rubber coats and hats, and he would take us two or three hundred feet under the Canadian Falls.  None of the party were anxious to go but the Tennessean, but we went, and when we arrived at the bottom, the wind had changed, driving the spray against the Canadian side so that you could not get within one hundred feet of the Falls.  This so enraged the editor from Tennessee, that he started after the guide with his umbrella, and ran him to the top of the steps which we had come down, and across the driveway at the top.  We paid two dollars each for the privilege of getting wet.

In New York City we stopped at the old St. Dennis Hotel – and I remember going to the bar of the St. Dennis the first day we were there and one of the men asking for beer.  The barkeeper asked us if we wanted a “schooner,” and not one of us knew what a schooner was, and to avoid a display of our ignorance, we said “yes,” and each man was handed over the bar a glass as big as a celery-glass of the old style.  Neither were they informed as the places of interest to visit in New York, and I was very much pleased to be able to tell them, owing to the fact that for many years we had had in our home “Harper’s Weekly,” and I had become somewhat familiar with the different places from the illustrations in this weekly paper.  We visited the A.T. Steward Store – it was the greatest store in the world at that time, and is now Wanamaker’s; visited the shipping port, and there were a great many foreign war vessels in the harbor, visited Governor’s Island, and the Bowery, Central Park, and Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  The Brooklyn Bridge at that time was unfinished, but the piers were erected and almost completed.  I think it was in New York that we first learned of the “Custer Massacre.”

In Philadelphia we were fortunate in getting located at a private house, out near Fairmount Park.  The five of us occupied one large room.  I slept on a cot next to a window which opened out on the back yard.  The first night we were there, there was a cat fight in the back yard, which continued for quite a while – the gentleman from Tennessee finally becoming so excited in trying to quiet the cats, threw the boots belonging to Bowman and Avey out the window at them.

We were at Independence Hall on the “Fourth of July,” where the largest crown that I had ever seen had assembled to celebrate the occasion.  The only persons that I recall of distinction who were on the platform were General William T. Sherman and General Sheridan.  I do not recall who made the speeches, as I only stayed there for about an hours, as I had no place to sit down, and being short and fat, I couldn’t see over the heads of the people who were in front of me.

We then went to the “Ohio Building” on the Exposition grounds, and in one of the rooms there was a large book where visitors were requested to register.  Tilden had just been nominated the Democratic party for the presidency.  Boy-like, I registered, gave my address, and in the blank space for remarks I wrote “Hurrah for Tilden.”  A fine looking gentleman was immediately behind me, and said he was glad to see a young man stand up for his party.

From the Ohio Building we went to the building where they had the first telephone on exhibition.  We had to form in line to get to listen over it, and I had dropped behind the gentleman who had spoken to me in the Ohio Building – but when we came to the telephone he very kindly pushed me in front of him, and I put a saucer-like receiver to my ear and heard someone say, “When in the course of human events.”  I then turned the receiver over to this gentleman, who asked me what I had heard, and I told him, and he asked me if I knew from what it was quoted – and I told him the “Declaration of Independence.”  I did not know who this gentleman was until afterward, when I was informed that it was General Rutherford B. Hayes, who had just been nominated by the Republican party for the presidency.  One of the men in our party was very skeptical about the telephone business, and spoke of ventriloquists, and when it came his turn they had taken up another phrase from the Declaration of Independence, and he heard that – the gentleman from Tennessee did not believe in it either, so a day or so after we made a little tour of investigation about that wire business, and we found that the wire was an ordinary one of two miles in length – no question about that.

In Philadelphia we saw the Liberty Bell, and I ran my fingers down the crack in it.  We saw a library chair that at one time had been owned by George Washington – it had a leather seat fastened down with brass tacks, and I pulled out one of the brass tacks and kept it for a souvenir.

I came home before my friends did.  I had gotten homesick, and the crowds were so great everywhere that I wanted to get home.  I remember that when I reached home, they were having an old ladies’ dinner, and the friends of my mother and grandmother were anxious to hear of my trip, and my mother called me in and asked me to tell them some of the interesting things I had seen at the Exposition.  I told them one of the most interesting things that I saw was the statue of a little flower-girl, which had been made in Italy – you could readily distinguish the various flowers in the basket she had on her arm, and she had on little slippers, one of which was unlaced, and had on stockings which had been knitted, and you could see every stitch carved in the marble distinctly.  Then I told them of the telephone, which I have described before.  After I told the telephone story I was given to understand by my mother that I had told enough and was excused.

After the party had left our house, my mother and grandmother called me into the dinning room and told me not to repeat the telephone story, that no would believe you could hear a man’s voice over a wire two miles in length, that little boys sometimes had vivid imaginations – and were apt to tell things that were not only incredible but untrue, and that hereafter I should leave out the telephone story if anyone asked me about the interesting things I saw on my trip.  Of course I was very much crestfallen to think that my mother and grandmother would think me a liar, and so when our friends who had been with me reached home, I had them corroborate my statement – but even that did not satisfy them because we had also told them about the “schooners” in New York and in Philadelphia, and they thought that might have something to do with it.  But years afterward, I got even with my mother.  I had just gotten home, and Henry Myrick had called me on the telephone from Washington D.C., and after I had talked to him, I asked mother if she knew to whom I had been talking, and she said, “no, except his name is Henry,” and I told her it was Henry D. Myrick of Washington City – and said “now mother, do you believe I heard the message over the telephone in Philadelphia,” and she said, “John, I guess I will have to apologize.’

And what George W. Nichols, younger brother, remembers of John’s visit to the Exposition is going with him down the long lane that lead from their house out to the main road, and asking John if he wouldn’t bring him a knife back with him.  Then going George went back to the house, and his mother saying, “well George, I guess you will have to do a little hoeing in the garden today.”  When John returned, the first thing he said to John was, “have you got my knife?”  And John had it.

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How To Find Owls Living Near You

Some common owls in southwestern Ohio are the Barred Owl, the Barn Owl, the Great Horned Owl, and the Screech Owl, and if you’re lucky, and know what to look for, you may have the rare and wonderful experience of seeing one of these mysterious creatures in the wild.  Like any good mystery, the secret to solving it is in the clues, and in the case of discovering owls, you’ll find clues when you know where to look, what to listen for, and how to identify physical evidence.

The Barred Owl
Barred Owls are large, stocky owls with rounded heads, no ear tufts, and medium length, rounded tails.  They are brownish and white overall, with dark brown, almost black, eyes, and are named for the markings on their wings and tail, which are barred brown and white.  Standing 14-25 inches high, with wingspans of 38-49 inches, they weigh from 1.1 to 2.3 pounds

It’s easiest to find a Barred Owl at night when they are most active, and are often easier to hear than to see.  They mainly live in forests near water.  Listen for their distinctive call which sounds like a bark of, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?”  At a great distance, this can sound like the bark of a large dog.

They often fly noiselessly through dense woods or snooze on a tree limb.  During the day, on a quiet walk through the woods, you might find a Barred Owl nesting in a tree cavity.  They hunt small animals and rodents, and can occasionally be heard calling in daylight hours.

Great Horned Owls
With their long, ear-like tufts, large yellow eyes, and deep hooting voice, the Great Horned Owl is the quintessential owl of storybooks. They are a powerful predator who can take down birds and mammals larger than themselves, but also eat tiny scorpions, mice, and frogs.  With a wingspan of 36-60 inches, they are 17-25 inches long, weigh 1.3 to 5.7 pounds, and are grey-brown with reddish faces, and have wings that are broad and rounded.  They are one of the most common owls in North America, and can be found in everything from woods, to evergreen forests, swamps, deserts, tundra edges, as well as cities, orchards, suburbs, and parks.

The call of the Great Horned Owl is also the typical sound one would expect from a storybook owl.  They give voice to deep, soft hoots with a stuttering rhythm, sounding like, “hoo-h’HOO-hoo-hoo.”  This is not to be mistaken for the call of a Mourning Dove, which people often incorrectly identify as the hoots of an owl.

Great Horned Owls are nocturnal, so your best bet at seeing one is at dusk sitting on fence posts or tree limbs at the edges of open areas, or flying across roads or fields with their large rounded wings slowly flapping.

The Screech Owl
If a mysterious high-pitched whinny catches your attention in the night, it may be coming from a Screech Owl that is no bigger than a pint glass.  They are a short, stocky bird, generally 7-10 inches tall with a wingspan of 18-24 inches.  Small and agile, Screech Owls are mostly gray, or can be reddish-brown, with a pattern of complex bands and spots that cause them to blend completely into tree bark.

They are commonly found in woods in suburbs and parks, or wherever trees are found, particularly near water, and are willing to nest in backyard nest boxes, and will visit birdbaths to drink and bathe. Their camouflage markings make it possible for them to hide out in nooks and tree cavities through the day, so train your ears and listen for them at night, when they’re easier to identify.

When looking for a Screech Owl, listen for a shrill then descending whinny, sounding similar to a high-pitched horse whinny.  The call is used by families to keep in touch, or mated pairs singing to each other both day and night.

Because of their camouflage markings, you never know when you might pass one resting silently in a tree cavity.  Look closely to see if there’s the slighted bit of movement on a tree trunk the next time you’re in the woods, and you just might see a small owl magically emerging from the bark.

Barn Owl
Ghostly pale and strictly nocturnal, Barn Owls are silent predators of the night world, and are often known by many other names, such as Demon Owl, Ghost Owl, Night Owl, or Hissing Owl.  They are medium sized, 9.8 – 20 inches long, with a wingspan of 30-43 inches, weighing 6.6 to 28 ounces.  With a whitish face, chest, and belly, this owl roosts in hidden, quiet places during the day, and hunts in open fields and meadows at night.  Although rare in some parts of the country now because of a loss of habitat, they can still be found occasionally in remote areas.

You can find them by listening for their eerie calls, sounding like a long harsh scream that lasts about two seconds.  The calls are made mostly by the male, who often call repeatedly, while females give the call less often. They also make a loud, 3-4 second hiss at intruders or predators who disturb the nest.

Many people’s first sighting of a Barn Owl is while driving through open country at night, and they see a flash of pale wings in the headlights.  They often live up to their name, inhabiting barns and other old, abandoned buildings, so keep an eye out there too.

Other Clues to Finding Owls
Now that you know what various kinds of owls look like, where and when to spot them, and what their calls sound like.  Check tree cavities, barns, and abandoned buildings for nests, and here are other ways to tell if an owl is close by:

Mobbing
A big clue that an owl or hawk is near is the sound and sight of a group of excited songbirds, like Blue Jays, Chickadees, or Titmice, as they swoop around it, alerting other birds to the predator’s presence, and teaching young members of their flock about the danger.

Pellets
Many owls regurgitate the bones, fur, and feathers of their prey in a grey or brown oval fuzzy pellet, usually once or twice a day. The Barn Owl even makes nests with their own shredded pellets.  The ground beneath owl roosts can be littered with pellets, so they make a great clue to find when looking for owls.

Siblicide
Sadly, finding a small dead owl on the ground can also be a sign that an owl roost is nearby.  Owls, hawks, and herons are known to fight fiercely among themselves for food, and sometimes kill their smallest sibling.

So there you have some great clues to finding owls.  If you’re unsure what the calls sound like, pick up a “Birdsong Identiflyer.” study the calls, or take it with you on your search for owls and other birds.  They are battery operated and can easily be carried in a pocket or pouch, and be loaded with the bird calls of your choice simply buy purchasing one of many bird song cards.

If you aren’t fortunate enough to find an owl, and look into those marvelous, magical eyes, it’s comforting to know that, like the eyes of Mother Nature, they are there, strong and silent watching over you.

References:  “All About Birds,” Cornell Laboratory of Ornthology website.   Wikipedia.org.  Interview with Cindy Calverson, director of Raptor, Inc.

 

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¿Yo habla español?

I’ve learned a lot from the Spanish language course I’ve been taking for the past month from Rosetta Stone, although I’m haven’t made much progress in learning to speak Spanish. I’ve learned that I’m a slow learner (possibly because I’m getting old), and that my competitive tendencies make it difficult for me to slow down and actually learn something new.

I thought I was a speedy learner at first, as I sailed through each level of the course, matching words to the pictures they identified, and picking the correct verbs in multiple-choice tests. I pronounced words correctly when prompted and could even write small sentences correctly after hearing them spoken a few times.

Reality finally reared its ugly head, however, when I signed up for live online sessions with instructors. During these sessions, you and the professor can only speak in Spanish, and there are several other students logged on for the course as well. When I did poorly during my first session, I thought it was a fluke, but after being the only student who flat-out did not know the answers in the second session, I knew something was wrong.

I went back to the lessons on level one, and instead of flying through them because I could easily pick the correct answer and wanted to get it right, I thought about the words and sounds, and realized there was more to each course than just a display of words to memorize. The words were carefully arranged so that comparisons could be made between them, teaching the learner patterns and how the language was used. The Spanish language, like the English language, was complicated. I realized I had been approaching it like I was playing a computer game, and I needed to stop looking at it in absolutes, and begin seeing it as it really was, a series of words and sounds that have subtle differences and are used in different ways.

Having spent many years in school learning French, I was also prepared for the possibility that Spanish might have verbs that changed in complicated ways, that there would be accent marks, and gender attached to objects and nouns. You would think this would make it easier to learn, but it did not, as French words soon began fighting with Spanish words in my head. I finally began to learn, however, as I identified my problems, and became aware of some of the words that were causing me confusion. Here are a few of them:

‘Bebe’ means ‘to drink’
‘Bebé’ means ‘a baby’

‘Yo tengo’ means ‘I have’
‘Tengo’ means ‘I have’

‘Nueve’ means ‘nine’
‘Nuevo’ means ‘new’

‘Esta’ means ‘this’
‘Está’ means ‘is’

‘Mañana’ means ‘tomorrow’ and ‘morning’

‘El’ means ‘the’ if the object is masculine
‘Él’means ‘he.’ It’s pronounced ‘el,’ which is the same as ‘elle’ for ‘she’ in French.

‘Hermano’ means ‘brother’
‘Hermana’ means ‘sister’
‘Hermoso’ means ‘lovely’

‘Qué’ means ‘what’
‘Que’ means ‘who’

Even though it is not easy for me to learn to speak Spanish, my lessons are the highlight of my day. Some of my favorite words are:

Boligrafo (pen)
Ferreteria (hardware store)
Juguetes (toys)

I love the language despite my troubles, and am pleased that I am not only learning to speak another language, I am learning about myself, and how I can improve my learning skills and enrich my life. ¡Salud!

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