Source: William Stahle, The Description of the Borough of Reading, Containing its Population, Institutions, Trade, Manufactures, &c. &c., with a Notice of its First Settlement, and many curious Historical Matters. Reading, PA: Knabb & Boyer Printers, 1841.
The judicious reader reads the preface of a book. He will carry to the perusal of the after pages a mind much better prepared to understand and be profited by the labors of the author, if he has seen his plan unfolded, and obtained an inkling of the process of its execution, in the prefatory address.
The writer of the following pages, who, as is the custom of authors, offers them with diffidence to the public, was prevailed on to undertake the task by the earnest solicitations of numerous friends, and his own conviction that a work of the kind was greatly needed.
It has been my design to render this volume a complete description of Reading, by giving a full and perfect statistical view of the borough at the present time, and introducing such passages from its early and later history as would afford an idea of its growth from infancy up, and also such isolated facts as were interesting in themselves, or by contrast with the present.
That the execution of this design was not free from difficulty, may be inferred from the fact that it was undertaken many months ago, and has-been prosecuted with unremitted diligence to the present moment. The difficulties attending a work of this description far exceed those of ordinary authorship. It is easy to write an essay, or a plausible argument, on almost any subject, but difficult to ascertain facts. It is pleasant to sit at one's ease and write out a tale of fictitious love or woe; not so, to scour the streets, noting the material, and measuring the height of houses, and inquiring into the business of their inmates. It was the gathering of the material for the book that gave me the most trouble, and it is in the fidelity with which this task has been performed, that its principal merit consists. As to the act of composition—that was comparatively a trifling matter; though the exercise of considerable judgment was required in the arrangement; and much discretion, in the remarks which I have found occasion to make on various subjects, as they came up in the course of the work:—these I have always offered with a grave sense of the responsibility resting upon me as an author.
I must return my acknowledgments to several gentlemen who have furnished me with valuable information, without whose kind assistance the book must have been comparatively imperfect. I have also derived no little statistical information from a series of articles printed about two years ago in the Berks and Schuylkill Journal, under the title of "Reading as it is." I have on one or two occasions made short extracts from these, and also from articles published in other papers of the borough—always, however, giving credit to the writers, who, no doubt, will properly appreciate the favor conferred, in elevating them from news-paper obscurity, and redeeming their productions from the tomb of oblivion which had already closed over them, to perennial life in the following pages.
That there are, perhaps, books to be found, more entertaining to the general reader than the one now offered to his perusal, I am not vain enough to deny. Indeed, I am fully sensible that there are some passages in this work, such, for instance, as the lists of houses, the enumeration of trades, vocations, &c., which to many may seem a little dry; still, they are desired not to close the book, or make omissions, but go on. Instruction is not to be slighted merely because incapable of affording entertainment. When, in my youthful days, my venerated grandfather, in his daily reading out of the old family Bible, happened sometimes to hit upon one of those long chapters of names of families, tribes, and kindreds, in the book of Numbers, it didn't do for me to discover impatience, or refuse to listen. Nor was it any more safe to demur, when every new schoolmaster required us, as a first morning's exercise, to read how Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and so on till all were begotten.
If rigid in my requirements of the Reader, I am by no means indifferent to his comfort. I have accordingly interspersed my pages with many pleasant passages, for his special delight and encouragement—thus attaining unto the perfection of authorship, in the union of the utile dulci.
Reading, January, 1841.
Chapter I. Location and first settlement of Reading—Wards—Extent of the Town
Chapter II. The Census of Reading, taken at different times since its first settlement, together with a List of Houses, number of Taxable Citizens, &c., with remarks.
Chapter III. List of Churches, showing their location, dimensions, dates of their erection, Pastors, &c.
Chapter IV. Courts—Judges—Attorneys—County Officers—Justices of the Peace—Surveyors—List of Sheriffs—Physicians and Apothecaries
Chapter V. Merchants and Traders—Mechanics—Business Cards, &c.
Chapter VI. List of Public Hotels and Inns—Streets—Bridges—Markets
Chapter VII. Post Office—Arrival and departure of the Mails, Cars and Stages—Printing Offices—Banks— Public Buildings
Chapter VIII. Manufactures and Public Improvements. Iron Works—Canals and Rail Road—Water Company— Mineral Spring
Chapter IX. Education. Reading Academy—Female Seminary—Private, Infant and FreeSchools—Sunday Schools
Chapter X. Societies, Charitable and Literary—Libraries
Chapter XI. Government of the Borough of Reading—Watchmen—Fire Companies
Chapter XII. Miscellaneous Matters—Conclusion
Page 38, for Chapter VI, read Chapter VII.
Page 38, line 12 from bottom, for Easton read Eastern.
Page 55, line 12 from bottom, for Masonic Fraternity, read Washington Benevolent-Society.
Page 41, line 5 from top, for 1790 read 1770.
Page 53, line 11 from top, before appropriation, insert annual.
Page 45, bottom line, for have, read has.
Page 49, line 14 from the bottom, for adds, read add—and make reasonable corrections, should other errors be found.
Submitted by: Nancy.
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