The social life in Mansfield, while I was a student, was very
pleasant and instructive. The freedom, and yet propriety of
intercourse among the young people, was notable. We had social
meetings, parties, dances, and an occasional ball during the winter,
but in summer, riding in carriages and on horseback was the recreation
of the day. Fleming's Ravine, about five miles from Mansfield,
was the general gathering place for young and old. A small stream
had cut a deep ravine with rocky banks on either side. An old mill
with its overshot wheel spanned the ravine and filled it with noisy
rattle. The adjacent woods, where the fire was lit and the coffee
made, and the farm lands stretching beyond, made a picturesque
scene often described and always admired. Here we had dances,
frolics, speeches and fun, with healthy exercise in the open air.
These frolics were often made the subject of description in the
newspapers. On a notable occasion of one of these visits to
Fleming's Ravine, Mr. Franklin Barker, a law student, wrote for
one of the local papers a pleasing description of the scene under
the name of "The Fairy's Tale." He paraphrased Byron as follows:

"There was a sound of revelry by _day_
And Richland's capital gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry and fair eyes
Looked love to eyes that spoke again."

Many of the persons present were named, or so described as to be
recognized. There was a good deal of egotism and assumption in
the narrative which created much feeling among those who had not
the good fortune to attend. Though I was present, and greatly
enjoyed the picnic, I thought it was a good opportunity to prick
the bubble of self esteem assumed by Barker, and wrote for the
rival newspaper a counter description signed "A Looker On." This
excited a good deal of interest at the time, but it has probably
faded, after half a century, from the memory of the few who survive;
it then created a rivalry and left its mark upon the future. The
destruction of the mill by a flood, the cutting away of the wood
and other causes, have changed this, so that the gathering place
of the young of my day is a thing of the past.

During my study of law, the bar at Mansfield was considered a very
able one, including among its members James Stewart, Thomas W.
Bartley, Jacob Brinkerhoff, Charles Sherman and others. All of
those named became judges, either of the courts of Ohio or of the
United States. During