HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                  523

the school just as at other times, making no changes because of his
presence. At the suggestion of the superintendent the school was dis-
missed at noon for the day. At the appointed hour several patrons
assembled who, on being asked to formally submit their cause, selected
Nicholas Miller as their spokesman, who proceeded to do so with a good
deal of feeling, though respectfully, in the main, laying stress on the
point that the patrons of his school district demanded something more
than an incubator in the capacity of teacher. Miss Dillon declined to
make any defense. The superintendent overruled the prayer of the
petitioners on the ground that the question involved was wholly that of
propriety, it being a matter of taste, or choice, and convenience as to
whether a teacher shall stand or be seated in the hearing and conducting
of recitations; furthermore, that no charges had been filed against the
teacher’s competency to instruct nor the efficiency of her instructions.
    In the case of John M. Baker no complaint was filed nor official
action taken. The patrons of this school pursued a course different from
that taken by those of the Posey township school. At some time during
the holiday vacation of a couple of days and the absence of the teacher,
a nest of tow was artistically built on the teacher’s seat back of the desk
in which were placed thirteen eggs. Though out of season, Mr. Baker
did not misapprehend the hit and its suggestion on his return. Though
fifteen miles apart, with no conference nor communication, the patrons
of these two districts, as a coincidence in intuition, conceived that their
schools were being transformed in function from that of the nursery to
that of hatchery.

           Burned to Death at One Hundred and Five Years of Age.
    Mrs. Susan Shepperd, aged one hundred and five years, was burned
to death Monday, October 31, 1892, at the old family homestead, about
four miles south of Bowling Green. The family then consisted of herself
and two grandsons, Tighlman and Kels Straley, who were farming the
place. While out at work in one of the fields, hearing the screams of
their aged grandmother, they rushed to the house, but were too late
to afford relief. She was found lying on the floor, all her clothing
burned off, and in an unconscious condition, so badly burned and charred
that particles of flesh sloughed from the body. She survived several
hours, expiring later in the day. Mrs. Shepperd was an inveterate
smoker and nearly blind. It was thought that she had taken a coal
from the fire-place to light her pipe, when her clothing took fire. Though
the Shepperds lived across the line in the border of Owen county, seven
miles northeast of Clay City, the business affairs of the family, during
her life-time, were transacted, in the main, at Bowling Green. She
was a member of, and regular attendant at, the meetings of the Old
Settlers’ Society of this county.
    About two months before her death, a press correspondent, passing
the family homestead, to gratify his curiosity and see and interview a
woman whose recollections of things antedated the birth of the century,
called on “Aunt Susie,” as she was known, who was found alone, occu-
pying the old arm-chair, the twin grandsons out on the farm at work.
The dwelling was on old-time hewn-log house, with the large outside
stone chimney, standing two hundred yards back from the road-side,
almost hidden from view by fruit trees and a patch of tall corn. The
correspondent was cordially received and entertained. Having taken a
seat and asked her about her nativity, she replied: “I was born in