On the bluff, near the old fort, and afterwards at Manville Hollow, for many years, there lived an individual whose peculiarities were so strongly marked as to demand a notice in this work.--His name was John Myers, but more familiarly known, among the early settlers, as the "stallion painter." He was a fair specimen of the frontier man--a type of which is attempted to be described in this chapter. In fact, he served as a model for that description. But justice was not done to his moral qualities. His rough garb and uncouth manners concealed a noble and true heart. He was brave, impulsive and generous, and scorned and loathed subterfuge, evasion, and chicanery as only a noble and true heart can. He liked whisky, as all frontier men do, but he seldom lost his bodily or mental equilibrium.--He was never in a condition when all his native coolness and resources would not have been at command in an instant, had he been assailed by any of his old familiar foes, whether man or beast. He was never quarrelsome, even in his cups, but the wronged or weaker party in any conflict, was sure to find in him a champion as chivalrous as ever raised a shield or poised a lance. His exhilaration was generally manifested in yells, such as no human throat ever uttered before. The most ambitious steam whistle might have been envious of his screams. These he called his blessings. He sometimes indulged in songs. Such unearthly notes were never heard out of Pandemonium. He would have made the fortune of Spalding & Rogers by singing an accompaniment to the calliope. Many of the present citizens of Peru will recollect his vocal performances as he pursued his way homewards across the bottom above the town. On the occasion of the first opening of a court at Ottawa, he went up to witness that novel performance. Having imbibed a few draughts of whisky, and being rather unfamiliar with the etiquette and decorum of courts, he indulged in exercises not very gratifying to judicial dignity or favorable to the progress of business.--Being frequently reprimanded he became somewhat incensed, whereupon he gave vent to his indignation in one of the most remarkable efforts of the lungs that ever electrified a court of Justice. Judges, lawyers and spectators recoiled in dismay, and it is believed that the pins and tenons which confined the roof were seriously strained.