June 22, 1986
This is an article about the old United Presbyterian Church and the Piper brass pig. In 1898 Fred Stanley built the building we are now in. He had a friend who helped him on the building and who also worked in a foundry. It stood where Shimp’s Service Station stands now on West Braden. This man’s name was Bentley. He wanted to go to Alaska as gold had been discovered there. He tried to talk Stanley into going but couldn’t do so. It was at this time he cast the brass pig as a present to Mr. Stanley. If he came back, he wanted the pig. If he didn’t come back the pig was to stay with the store. It has been at the store for almost one hundred years. The pig is a two-pound paper weight. Bentley struck it rich in Alaska but was greedy and didn’t winterize soon enough and froze to death. A cold wind and rain came and temperatures dropped to sixty below. Dogs and people froze to death where precautions hadn’t been taken. The old saying, there is honor among thieves, was true here. His gold was gathered up and shipped back here. There was an enormous amount. His family lived on it for years.
This pig was stolen several years ago. I called the sheriff and told him who was in the store about the time it disappeared. In two weeks it came back in the mail. Since then I have kept it on the back counter, although it can still be seen. The foundry where the pig was made had a greenhouse in connection. The ingenious owner used the heat from the foundry to warm the greenhouse. The owner was a good friend of the minister of the old United Presbyterian Church, Dr. Findley. Several times when the heat failed at the church, meetings were held at the greenhouse. It seems, where there’s a will there’s a way. One time when the heat at the church and the greenhouse both failed, church was held in the huge lobby of the old Bates House. This building stood where National Bank and Trust stands now. Dr. Homer and Dr. Charles Stewart, veterinarians, worked in his foundry when they were young. Dr. Findley was minister of the church when these things took place.
Later, Dr. Story came. He was a huge single man, not fat but tall and broad. Mother invited him to dinner one Sunday. All went well until he detected the pie was warm. Nothing was to be cooked on Sunday. He mentioned it to Mother and she said it was baked on Saturday but she felt it would be better warmed since it was a cold day. The minister pushed it aside. Nothing more was said but Father was put out so he ate the pie. Mother thought this a little out of place but Father couldn’t have cared less.
George and myself went for a three-and-a-half ride. Went east to the old mining camps of Consul and Haydock. They are between Weller and Hiteman in Monroe County, northwest of Albia. We located Consul two years ago and talked to the lady who lives there now and was born there. She showed us a block tile building in the timber which is all that is left of Consul. The two mines were owned by the Northwestern Railroad. We realized we were standing on the old roadbed of the railroad. Haydock was a mile south. We backed out and went a mile east, a mile south and a mile west. From that point we could see the old roadbed winding up the valley. It crossed the road into a grove of trees. Hills were on three sides and Haydock was right there. Birds were not too much in sight but we heard many. We saw quail, turkeys, indigo buntings and twenty other rather common birds. Flowers are just in-between time. We looked for butterfly weed. Just a little early. Saw one swamp milkweed. It is a beautiful Flower. There will be plenty. We also saw hairy angelica. It was almost inaccessible due to briars, and wet from a shower. Water parsnip was in bloom too. Brown-eyed Susan’s and rose mallow too. Five leaved cinquefoil is a beautiful hearty plant but is definitely a weed due to its great numbers. We saw beautiful luxurious thistle in bloom, big as a large pin cushion
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