by Smith, Robert H.

See previous entry: Little Home Histories, Part 68 -- The Smith Homestead, 1813-.

One day Robert H. Smith was out in a field by the road when a man came along and called out: "Well Robert you are cutting a wide swath." "Yes, we cut 42 feet wide", he replied. The boys were in the field with their scythes, cutting grass.

One field on the farm was largely timbered with chestnut. In the lower corner of the field was a cabin where a charcoal burner named Joab lived. Nearby was a wonderful spring, which went by the name of "Joab's spring" for three generations.

The boys were sent to Mt. Pleasant Friends Boarding school. One night in the chamber some of the boys noticed a tall Smith boy setting up in bed. "What's the trouble Joel?" they asked. Joel replied, "The bed is too short for all of me to sleep at once, so I'm giving the lower part of me a chance."

One hot day -- as some of the boys were out mowing -- and as they came around to the starting point and stopped for a rest, one of them said: "Fellows, I can't stand this, I'm not going to stand it, I am going to Westtown, then marry some girl over there and live in Philadelphia." That came to pass.

One time when the Friends in the neighborhood were cleaning the meeting house, some of the younger ones threw a bucket of scrub water out the door which struck Robert Sr. in a way to bedraggle him very much. Some altercation issued, which was not very pleasant. Next morning, Robert saddled his horse early and was gone, being back at breakfast time. It was found out later that he had been to each one of the young people to apologize for being too hasty. He was stern, but had a fine sense of justice.

Source: Written by: Robert H. Smith, Barnesville, Ohio, Grandson of Robert H. and Elizabeth (Williams) Smith.

See next entry: Little Home Histories, Part 70 -- The Old Log House of Eli Stanton, 1812-.

For the table of contents and first entry in this series, please see: Little Home Histories, Part 01 -- Table of Contents and Introduction.

This entry is adapted from Little Home Histories in Our Early Homes, Belmont County, Ohio, which was published in 1942. Its publication was coordinated by Robert D. and Beulah Patten McDonald. This entry has been reedited for inclusion in the Pierian Press Fulltext eBooks database, and is included on the Stratton House Inn Website by special permission. This entry is licensed for use ONLY on this Website. It may be used for educational purposes and personal pleasure under fair-use provisions via this Website. Please note that the Stratton House Inn iteration of this entry does NOT include the subject headings assigned each chapter for use in the Fulltext eBooks database.

DATABASE: Fulltext eBooks: Copyright (c) 2002 The Pierian Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved
ENTRY NUMBER: EBK30013769

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