ABANDONED TOWN SITES
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     The pioneer idea of a town site was a desirable location as to the ground, with springs of running water adjacent.  But it is different now.  A town locates itself, as it were, at a place convenient for traffic or for other commercial reasons.  The springs of water with their copious flows determined the location of Richland's county seat, but those springs are now but little used, and some of our people do not even known of them.  But Mansfield would not have grown after the "spring period" was passed had not other conditions favorable to its growth and prosperity been developed.
     Then, too, there was the centrifugal theory that the marts of trade, like the dews of heaven, should be distributed over the country. Later came the centripetal idea of a tendency to the center, to the county seat, to the commercial and political metropolis.  Therefore, as Mansfield grew and prospered the country towns went the other way.
     There were exceptions, however, to this rule, and the town of Shelby is one of them from local causes; first, on account of its railroad facilities and advantages, and, secondly, by reason of its public-spirited and enterprising citizens.  Bellville, another exception, was selected as a town site for its admirable location and natural advantages, and being on the State road between central Ohio and the lakes had advantages, and being on the State road between central Ohio and the lakes had advantages as a stage town, which drew it sufficient trade to foster its growth until the railroad came that way, after which its continued prosperity as assured.
     There are other towns that are more or less prosperous, but it is the purpose of this chapter to treat of the other class.
     The first town founded in Richland county was at Beam's Mills, on the Rockyfork of the Mohican, three miles southeast of Mansfield.  this town was intended for the county seat of the newly-to-be formed county, but within a year or two the Beam site was abandoned and a new site selected further up the Rocky fork.  That is the site of the present town of Mansfield.  The change of location was made principally on account of the famous springs where Colonel Crawford's army rested in 1782.  There is a tradition that Major Rogers and his Rangers also bivouacked at these springs in December, 1760.  It was the water of the springs that the pioneers considered that caused the county-seat site to be permanently located here.  The site of Richland county's first town and settlement is now a part of the Mentzer farm, and a farmhouse and a Grange hall mark the place of the town site of 1807.
     Winchester was once a promising little village in Worthington township, this county, but its site is now cultivated as fields.  The county records show

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that Winchester was platted Mar. 31, 1845, but otherwise the town exists only as a memory.  Winchester was situated on the west bank of the Clearfork of the Mohican river, half way between Butler and Newville.
     There were several reasons why Winchester was founded, the principal one perhaps being on account of the large grist mill at that point.  Another reason was that Newville, the only other town then in Worthington, was situated within a half mile of the north line of the township, which made it inconvenient as a township seat, as some men had to go nearly six miles to vote on election days.  The town of Winchester was within a half mile of the township center.
     The mills - then known as Calhoun's - consisted of a grist mill, a sawmill and a carding and fulling mill, around which several dwellings clustered, but the land in that immediate vicinity was too rough and uneven for a town site.  Therefore the plat was made and the town founded upon a more eligible location on the opposite side of the river, where a half dozen or more houses were subsequently built, and the business of the place, in addition to the mills, increased and soon included a store of general merchandise, a blacksmith shop, a cooper shop, a shoe shop and a weaver's shop, and the village bid fair for the future.
     But soon that great revolutionize of affairs and annihilator of time and distance - the railroad - went that way and the old-time calculations of the town were upset.  The Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad, when extended from Mansfield to Newark, went within two miles of Winchester, and that sealed the fate of that village.
     A new town was laid out along the railroad in January, 1848,and was locally known as Spohntown, because the town was platted on Spohn's land.  The town, however, was called Independence, perhaps in defiance to Bellville, six miles distant, which was supposed to be unfriendly to the new town.  When the postoffice was established at Independence it was called Butler, and the first postmaster was Thomas B. Andrews.  Mr. Andrews was a Democrat and he called the postoffice Butler in honor of General William O. Butler, of Kentucky, who was the candidate for vice president on the ticket with General Lewis Cass in 1848.  The name of the town has since been changed to "Butler" to agree with the name of the post office.  Butler now is a thriving village of good size and is an important shipping point on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. 
     Winchester was named for Winchester, Virginia, where the Hammon Family emigrated from.  Winchester almost "died a bornin'," for Independence, the railroad town, grew and prospered, while the little mill hamlet went to the wall.
     The second grist mill in Richland county (Beam's being the first) was built by John Frederick Herring on the Clearfork in Perry township, afterwards known as the Hanawalt mills.  Later Herring sought a new location farther down the stream in Worthington township, where he built another grist mill and founded the town of Newville in 1823.
     David Herring, John Frederick Herring's youngest son, built the Winchester mills in 1840.  The building was forty by sixty feet, three full stories high above the basement, and was for many years the largest frame building

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in Richland county.  its glebe comprised three hundred and twenty acres of section 9.  Herring  operated these mills successfully for a number of years, and shipped part of the products of the same by flatboats from Newville and Loudonville to New Orleans under his personal supervision.  After selling his cargo in the Crescent City Herring would sail for New York, where he would buy a stock of goods; then return home via the Erie canal, the lake and stage of Mansfield.
     But in years financial misfortune came to Mr. Herring.  Having signed papers as security for a friend for a considerable amount he had to pay the same, and when he saw the disaster coming he shipped flour to a firm in Detroit and let the purchase price remain with them until the final shipment, so that he could draw the whole amount at once to pay the claim for which he was surety.  But a few weeks before the stay on the paper became due the Detroit firm failed, and on account of this double misfortune Herring had to incumber his property and finally lost it all.
     The Winchester grist mill building was converted into a woolen factory in about 1856, but as time was then relegating woolen mills to the past it only had a run as such a few years, and the building now stands as a relic of change and of passing time.  The head-race was quite long.  After leaving the dam some distance it widened into a reservoir, at the lower end of which was a "spill," and between that and the mill the race resumed a canal-like channel.  Between the reservoir and the river there is an island field of about five acres, and it was from this island that persons had to be rescued in canoes at the time of the Victoria flood in 1838.
     The Hammon family, whose lands adjoin the site of old Winchester, owns broad acres and is wealthy and prosperous.
     The old-time settlers of that locality, like those of other places, have passed away, and old-time affairs are held in bad repute by the "smart sets" of today.  It is a pleasant relief to turn at times from the styles of today to the old-fashioned ways of former years.  Old-fashioned women!  God bless them; yes, He has always blessed them.  They never attempted to improve upon the teachings of St. Paul.  They never clamored to vote, not even for members of the school board.  It was "woman" and "wife" then; it is "lady" now.
     An old English story states that the wife of a bishop once called at the rectory of a country parish.  The servant announced that "The bishop's lady has called."  The vicar innocently inquired.  "Is she the bishop's lady or the bishop's wife?
     A girl once called at a house in answer to a want ad and inquired, "Are you the women who advertised for a lady to do housework?"  Innovations are sometimes made at the expense of good taste.
     It is said that the eyes of the pioneer maiden were like those of a child, being expressive of satisfaction of home life.  Cynics claim that now women lose that child-like expression after they get into society:  that social artifice, affectation and insatiate vanity that modern life encourages soon do away with the pellucid clearness and steadfastness of the eye:  that that beautiful expression which, though so rare nowadays, is infinitely more bewitching than all the bright arrows of coquetry that flash from the glances of even well-bred

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women of society, who have taken more care to train their eyes than to cultivate their hearts.
     OCTORORO was once a promising little village in Monroe township, with a church, a grist mill, a store and a hotel, and a number of residences, but a rival town (LUCAS) was platted up the Rockyfork, scarcely a mile distant, and Octororo quietly passed away, leaving only a little cemetery to mark the locality where the town once stood.
     SIX CORNERS, locally called "PINHOOK' was another little town which bid fair in the early '50s to make a place of some importance.  Its site was also in Monroe township on the road leading from Lucas to Perrysville.  It was situated at the crossing of three roads, making six corners.  The town in 1852 contained a Masonic temple, a church, a store, a wagon shop, a blacksmith shop, a shoe shop and a number of dwellings, and also had a postoffice.  The Masonic lodge, however, for which the Masonic building was erected was never instituted and the building was used for other purposes.  After a few years' existence some of the buildings today on the old town site.  The location is a commanding one, affording a good view of the Blackfork valley and the Mifflin hills, and upon a fair day the old village of Petersburg, now called Mifflin, can be seen nestling upon the Ruffner plateau, six miles away.
     SALEM, in Cass township, was founded in 1830.  Two churches were built and a store and shops were opened.  But the place never succeeded as a town, as the Cleveland & Columbus railroad was soon built through the township, but the road ran too far west of Salem to be of any benefit to the town, but it had the opposite effect and caused a new town to be platted a mile west of the original Salem.  The new site was called SALEM STATION.  Later it was decided that the location of Salem Station was too low and swampy, and another site was selected farther south, where a fine village now called SHILOH was soon built up.  The Salem of old is a town no more.  A church building is still on the old site, and several farmhouses are near.  The location being at the crossing of the road leading from Planktown to Huron, running north and south, with the section line road running east and west; also a third road which obliques to the northwest.
     LONDON, in the south part of Cass township, has an admirable location - but whether the verb should be used in the present or past tense is an open question.  The town was platted at the crossing of the Mansfield-Plymouth road with one running east and west.  A few houses cluster around the corners of the old village site, but the town plat was vacated years ago.
     Richland, locally called Planktown, also in Cass township, did a thriving business in the stage-day period, being situated at the junction of the stage roads leading from Mansfield to Huron and from Wooster to Tiffin.  Only a few of the buildings remain.  Here is where Return J. M. Ward committed two murders, the baneful influence of which seems to hang over the town.
     NEWCASTLE and MILLSBOROUGH, in Springfield township, were aspiring villages sixty years ago, but have ceased to exist as towns.
     CRESTLINE is situated in both Crawford and Richland counties, more largely in the former.  Crestline's predecessor was Livingston, nearly a mile north of

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the railroad crossing; but Crestline, in its prosperity, has extended so far to the north that the old site of Livingston is now a northern suburb of Crestline.
     When the Ohio & Pennsylvania railroad was being built, the Cincinnati, Cleveland & Chicago road did not want the Pennsylvania road to cross its line and bought land to control the situation.  This necessitated a curve to be made in the survey of the Pennsylvania road, and later the town of Crestline was laid out at the junction.  The Cleveland road yielded to the inevitable and made Crestline its station also.
     It is not the purpose of this sketch to consider causes which led to changes of the towns mentioned but to simply state that conditions work wonders for the prosperity or adversity of a town.  Take Kaskaskia, once the capital of the Illinois territory and the metropolis of the West - a town that has been so reduced in population that the government a few years since abolished its postoffice, claiming that the place was not of sufficient importance to maintain an office there.  The case of Kaskaskia is cited to show that towns elsewhere as well as in Richland county sometimes fall into decay or ruins.  The fundamental maxim in the dynamics of progress is everywhere the same - that the weaker goes to the wall - and the same rules apply to towns.

MANSFIELD BANKS

     From the earliest institutions to the present concerns.  A strong financial showing.  History of the first bank and the subsequent banking institutions.  Founders of the Farmers Bank.  The banking concerns of the present day.  Clearing house association.
     The material business and industrial wealth of Mansfield is fairly indicated by those great arteries of finance - the banks of the city, whose resources are nearly three millions of dollars, and the clearing house representing four of the six banks shows a business of $4,982,040 02, for the year 1898.
     With banks, as in other cases, it is interesting to go back and consider their founding and subsequent history, intertwining the past with the present, and note the growth and development of the city by reviewing her financial institutions.

THE FIRST BANK.

     The first bank in Mansfield was opened for business in 1816, and was located where the Purdy building now stands.  The Hon. Mordecai Bartley, who then represented Richland county in the general assembly, endeavored to obtain a charter for this bank, but failed to do so by one vote, on account of a rural sentiment inimical to such institutions.  John Garrison was president of this bank and Mr. Elliott cashier.

ANOTHER BANK.

     In 1846 another bank was started by James Patterson & Co. A few years later, Mr. Patterson died and his interest was bought by (Judge) Charles T. Sherman and Andrew Conn, and was conducted by the latter until his removal to New York, in 1854, when its business was closed.  These were private banks and were convenient in a commercial way in their day.

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FARMERS NATIONAL.

     The first really permanent bank was started July 27, 1847, as a branch of the State Bank of Ohio, under the law of 1846.  This was called the Farmers Bank, and was reorganized as a national in 1867, and is the oldest bank in the city, having been in existence over fifty years.  At the comparatively early period at which this bank was organized but few men were wealthy and a canvass had to be made of the county to raise the required capital ($30,000) to obtain a charter.  The following is a list of the first stockholders:
     The Farmers Bank was reorganized in 1864, and a few years ago was again reorganized as The Farmers Savings and Trust Company, with the following officers: Burton Preston, president; E. S. Nail, 1st vice president; L. Hautzenroeder, 2d vice president; S. S. Brioker, 3d vice president; J. B. Bindley, secretary and treasurer; H. J. W. Smith, assistant secretary and treasurer.

MANSFIELD SAVINGS

     The Mansfield Savings Bank was organized in 1873 and after the erection of its banking house on the corner of Fourth and Main streets, opened its doors for business on the 15th of October of that year.
     Its officers were Barnabas Burns, president; Michael D. Harter, vice president, and R. Brinkerhoff, cashier.  Its present officers are: R. Brinkerhoff, president; J. E. Brown, vice president; C. F. Ackerman, cashier; F. M. Marquis, assistant cashier; R. S. Gibson, teller.  The Savings Bank owns its own building, with safety vaults and other modern equipments.

CITIZENS NATIONAL.

     The Citizens National Bank organized Nov. 1, 1881, with G. F. Carpenter as president and S. A. Jennings as cashier. W. H. Rebuck was the first depositor.  G. F. Carpenter, H . P. Davis, E. J. Forney, A. Scattergood, R. Smith and J. W. Wagner constitute the board of directors.  Capital stock paid in $100,000; surplus fund, $40,000; resources, $364,454.48.

BANK OF MANSFIELD

     The Bank of Mansfield was incorporated Jan. 3, 1893, under the act of Mar. 21, 1851, and commenced business Jan. 1, 1893.  Capital stock paid in, $100,000; surplus fund, $30,000; resources, $379,126.24.
     The directors were: E. D. Baxter, S. S. Balliet, J. W. Brown, Lewis Brucker, William Dow, John Krause, C. N. Gaumer, W. M. Hahn, J. P. Seward.  W. M. Hahn, president; John Krause, vice president; M. D. Ward cashier; W. G. Patterson, teller; M. Dale Ward, bookkeeper; Albert Krause, collector

RICHLAND SAVINGS.

     The Richland Savings Bank company was incorporated Apr. 8, 1898, and commenced business July 16 of that year.  Capital stock, $50,000; resources, $180,914.80.  A comparative statement of the business of this bank shows an increase of deposits that must be satisfactory to the management, having increased from July 16 to January 1 from $2,094.69 to $82,278.56 and its loans during the same period from $6,113 to $107,807.35. Its officers

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are W. W. Stark, president; J. Anderson Barton, cashier, and Fred M. Bushnell, treasurer.
     Banks are indicators of the business of a city and when the “Farmers” was organized, in 1847, it was sufficient for that period.  Mansfield was then a village, but in the half century that has intervened between then and now it has become a city and in compliance with the law of demand and supply, other banks were required and came to meet the needs of trade and the banking facilities of Mansfield show the growth and prosperity of the city.

RICHLAND STATISTICS.

     Gathered from the Agricultural Districts by the Various Assessors. 
     The agricultural statistics have been made up for Richland county for 1908 at the county auditor’s office, the same being based on the returns made by the assessors and the following is taken from the report:
Wheat - Number of acres sown, 32,984; bushels produced in 1907, 582,535; acres sown for 1908, 32,090.
Rye - Acres sown for 1907, 263; bushels produced in 1907, 4149; acres sown for 1908, 381.
Buckwheat - Acres sown in 1907, 24; bushels produced in 1907, 283,
Oats - Acres sown in 1907, 25,633; bushels produced in 1907, 576,299; acres (estimated) for 1908, 23,715.
Winter Barley - Acres sown in 1907, 51; bushels produced in 1907, 1446; acres (estimated) for 108, 62
Spring Barley - Acres sown in 1907, 5; bushels produced in 107, 50; acres sown in 1908, 2.
Corn - Acres planted in 1907, 28,713; bushels (shelled) produced in 1907, 780,285; acres planted (estimated) for 1907, 29,553.
Ensilage Corn - Acres planted in 1907, 188; acres planted (estimated) for 108, 157.
Sugar Corn - Acres planted in 1907, 11; tons produced in 1907, 7.
Tomatoes - Acrs planted in 1907, 4; bushels produced in 1907, 460.
Peas - Acres planted in 1907, 11; pounds produced in 1907, 14,000.
Irish Potatoes - Acres planted in 1907, 2,076; bushels produced in 1907, 1999,095; acres (estimated) for 1908, 2,181.
Meadoooow - Acers in grass (other than clover) 1907, 33,172; tons of hay produced 1907, 41,683.
Clover - Acres grown 1907, 11,276; tons of hay produced 1907, 14,639; bushels of seed produced 1907, 2,793; acres ploughed under for manure, 108.
Alfalfa - Acres grown in 1907, 5; tons of hay in 1907, 8.
Milk - Gallons sold for family use in 1907, 553,458.
Butter - Pounds made in home dairies in 1907, 755,408; pounds made in creameries in 1907, 9,500.
Cheese - Pounds made in home dairies in 1907, 3,900.
Eggs - Number of dozens produced   1907,, 861,259.
Maple Products - Number of trees from which sugar was made in 19098.

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     76,513; pounds of sugar in 1908, 4,281; gallons of syrup in 1908, 22,843.
Honey - Pounds of honey in 1907, 448.
Bees - Number of hives in 1907, 137.

THE MANSFIELD WATER WORKS AND FIRE DEPARTMENT.

     About the year 1829 the matter of organizing a fire department began to be discussed in Mansfield, but there was no way of raising funds for such a purpose at that time, and Dr. William Bushnell carried around a paper and obtained subscriptions to the amount of $150, with which a small hand engine was purchased.  A fire company was then organized composed of Dr. Bushnell, Dr. Miller, Jacob Lindley, Hugh McFall, James Smart, and others.  Mr. Lindley was the foreman of the company, and the engine was kept in his cabinet shop, on the site of the present Baptist church.
     In 1848 the council authorized P. P. Hull to purchase a fire engine of a more recent make and six hundred feet of hose.  At the same time the council authorized the following persons, and such others as they chose to associate with them to organize a fire company, viz.: Levi Zimmerman, A. L. Grimes, R. C. Smith, S. J. Kirkwood, H. L. Baker, Peter Arbaugh, Samuel Au, Michael Linder, Thomas McEwen, John Rickets, Adam Heldman, Abraham Emminger, P. P. Hull, Alexander Mcllvain, David Bushey and James A. Cook. They were to have the use of this new engine, “Ohio,” hose, etc.  The same date a committee was appointed to procure a hose cart and a proper place to keep the engine, and P. P. Hull was appointed the first engineer by the council.
     In July, 1852, a second fire company was organized, called Torrent No. 2.  Its engine was purchased by subscription.  The charter members of this com pany were: George F. Carpenter, Echels McCoy, Barnabas Burns, M. L. Miller, E. McFall, T. B. Dodd, J. H. Cook, H. R. Smith, G. McFall, John U. Wiler, I. C. Fair, J. Christofel, James Dickson, John Y. Glessner, John C. Ritter, D. C. Connell, James Hoy and S. B. Sturges.  The engine was pur chased at Seneca Falls, N. Y.
     Subsequently other companies were organized from time to time, much machinery and apparatus purchased, and the fire department became an institution of much importance.
     In 1854 an assistant engineer was appointed by the council for each organization; the old engine and apparatus of No. 1 was turned over to “Young America Fire Company No. 3,” and a new engine was purchased for No. 1, called “Deluge.”
     In 1867 a steam engine was purchased by the fire department at a cost of $5,500.
     The subject of building water works for the city was first discussed in 1848, but did not materialize until 1871, when the people decided by a decisive vote at the spring election of that year that the long-felt want should be supplied, and H. R. Smith, A. C. Cummins and S. B. Sturges were appointed trustees with plenary power to proceed with the work of installing a water work plant and ground was broken for the same May 15, 1871.  The

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council voted a bond issue of $175,000, and E. McCoy was appointed fore man of the work.  The Holly system was decided upon and the water was taken out of the Rockyfork creek, four hundred and fifty feet above the works, six acres of ground having been purchased for the works. 
     The work was pushed with such energy that on the 20th of August, 1872, the works were in operation.  After a few years’ experience, much complaint having been made about the quality of the Rockyfork water, it was decided to take water from the Laird and the Johns springs, within easy reach of the works, thus giving the city pure spring water. 
The present fire department was organized in June, 1884, and is considered one of the most proficient of the kind in the state, and is equipped with the Gamewell fire alarm system.  There are three fire stations, one in the central part of the city, one in the northern part and one in the southern part.  The department is equipped with everything that is modern in the fire department line.  The number of fire alarms run from seventy-five to a hundred a year.
     The firemen’s “helpers,” as the horses of the fire department are called, are appreciated and given much consideration by the firemen.  Numerous incidents might be cited showing the intelligence of a horse, its conception of its duties and his willingness to perform them.
     The Arab recognizes the intelligence of the horse, talks to him and treats him almost like a companion.  The better knowledge a man has of a horse the more he recognizes his mental capability and gets better service from him.  The intelligence of animals is too little known and too lightly treated.  The thoughts and feelings of the boy whose guinea pig had died are worthy of consideration. One night his mother heard him sobbing and inquired: “What’s the matter, Sammy?”
     “Oh, mamma, has a great big elephant a soul?”
     “No, child,” the mother replied.
     “Have horses souls, mamma?”
     “No, Sammy.”
     The child’s sobs increased as he came down the scale to smaller animals without getting a comforting reply.  The mother saw the trend of the questioning and pitying the poor boy who was so heart-broken over the loss of his pet, that she concluded to comfort him somewhat, and to the question:
     “Mamma, hadn’t my nice, dear little guinea pig a soul?” the mother replied, “Perhaps it had, my child.”
     The pets that answer our call, look intelligently into our eyes, under stand our words, and obey our bidding, who shall gainsay that they shall live again.
     The firemen have their horses; Cowper had his hares; Luther his dogs, and a sentimental belief in their immortality, that in the illimitable beyond we shall have our own again, may not be creditable to the head but it is commendable to the heart.

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THE MANSFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

     The enrollment of the Mansfield public schools for the year 1908 is 4,966. Males, 2,499; females, 2,487.  There are 116 teachers employed. Mansfield has a fine high school building which cost $150,000, and there are eight ward school buildings.  In the foregoing enumerations the pupils of the parochial schools are not included.
     The first graduating class was in 1862, and consisted of four girls.  The total numb er of graduates to the present time is 560 - 426 girls and 134 boys.  The largest class numbered 28, but the class of the present year, it is thought, will be larger.
     In addition to the advantages of the graded schools in acquiring an education there is the public library, free for all.
     Another important auxiliary in the educational line is the Mansfield museum.
     The first school house in Mansfield was paid for by subscription and cost $200.
     In no other way has the growth of the city been better shown than in the progress of her schools, in the increased number of her scholars and in the addition of school buildings.  The village of the past quietly and hopefully plodded along and without the misfortune of a boom passed through the transition, stages that intervned between the past and the present until we now have a city whose healthful growth will continue and increase, and our population reach 50,000, the number the league aims to secure ere Mansfield celebrates its centennial.
     The present school system was organized under the law of 1852, soon after its passage, and the late J. H. Cook, A. L. Grimes and Isaac Gass were the members of the first school board in Mansfield.  Alexander Bartlett was appointed principal of the high school and superintendent of instruction.
     In 1859 the enrollment of scholars was 925.
     Among the men who, as boys, attended the public schools of Mansfield, the Days and Woods have become distinguished in the army and navy, and Frank G. Carpenter in the field of literature.  In the newspaper line, Peter Trumpler and Henry G. McKnight have won success in other states.  Many others might be mentioned who have been successful in life at home and abroad.
     And there are those who had not the advantages of the graded system, but who, as country lads, had to attend the often-sneered-at “deestrict” school, and among that number was Judge Geddes, who served fifteen years on the bench, eight years in congress and as a lawyer was the peer of the best men of

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his time.  Judge Geddes received his early education in Monroe township, as did also Congressman Kerr, Judge Douglass and Judge Wolfe at a later period.
     Many of America’s greatest statesmen, most brilliant lawyers, profound thinkers and popular orators have been reared on farms.  While some were self-taught, others worked their ways from the country school to academies' and colleges, where they learned the beauties of poetic imagery from the Iliad and the Aeneid, the strong declamatory invective from Cicero’s orations against Catiline, and the spirit and genius of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations from the standard classical authors.
     In the development of schools, in the growth of systems of teaching, two ideas have hitherto pervaded in reference to education.  One side claiming it should be a “crowding” process, or, at best, a nourishing one.  Under this system the pupil is made to amass particulars “ad infinitum.”  The second lays stress upon the word “discipline” - that man is a muscle generally, and that the mind grows by gymnastic training.
     But whether teaching should be merely a training of the sensuous element of the mind - a presentation of thought through the senses; or whether it should seize the whole matter formally or abstractedly and discipline the mind by developing the muscles and by studying things not valuable in them selves; whether we should have the object lesson or the discipline system, it is not the purpose of this article to discuss or to consider, but to infer that in the public schools of Mansfield there is that judicious blending of the twain that best promotes and enhances the education of the pupils of today.

COMPANY I. FIRST REGIMENT O. V. I.

     Special mention should be made of the first military company that left Mansfield for the Civil war.  It was Company I, First Regiment, O. V. I., and William McLaughlin was its captain.  The regiment was organized at Colum bus, Ap.l 18, 1861, and was ordered to Washington City at once, leaving Columbus on the morning of April 19.  It was mustered into service at Lancaster, Pa., April 29, and upon its arrival at Washington was assigned to General Schenek’s brigade of General Tyler’s division, then a part of the force in defense of the capital. It was engaged in the battle of Bull Run and was mustered out of service ten days later.

BANQUET TO COMPANY M.

     Upon the return of Company M, Eighth Regiment, O. N. G., from the Cuban war a reception and banquet was given the “boys” by the citizens of Mansfield on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 30th, 1898, followed by a benefit entertainment at the Opera House that evening. |
     The festivities began at Purdy’s hall at 3 o’clock.  The beautiful suite of rooms on the third floor consisting of reception room, dancing hall, banquet room, smoking room and cloak rooms were all thrown open at the hour men

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tioned above.  The floor of the dancing hall was covered with canvas.  All the rooms and doorways were beautifully decorated with flags and bunting.  The opera house orchestra, which was stationed overhead in the box in the dancing hall rendered a number of inspiring selections between the hours of 3 o’clock and 5 o’clock.  A reception committee of ladies and gentlemen was on duty to make the boys feel at home.  Apparently nothing had been over looked to make this feature of the day a success.  In addition to the committee there was present quite a number of people, special friends of the boys.  Some of them were old soldiers of the war of the rebellion and the latter talked over war experiences with the later day heroes.  Outside of the building the weather was stormy, but this did not deter the friends of the boys from being present to extend the glad hand of welcome.  The young soldiers showed their appreciation of the efforts put forth in their behalf by being there with few exceptions.  It was through no fault of their own that some of the members of the company were absent.

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