Consul General FEE, from Bombay, India, accompanied by his wife, arrived at Easton, on a visit to Mrs. Ellen SAMPLE, the mother of Mrs. FEE. Last fall Mrs. FEE and her daughter were stricken with the plague from which the daughter died, while Mrs. FEE has not yet fully recovered. It took the consul general and his wife 42 days to make the trip from their far eastern home to Easton.
Mrs. Judith MOYER, who lives in Rockland township, Berks county, when asked to what she attributed her long and healthful life, replied, "I would never have reached my 96th birthday had I not smoked my pipe daily." Mrs. MOYER smokes 24 pipefuls of tobacco daily. "After I am unable to smoke I'll surely die," she remarked.
Daniel RUNKEL, a 14 year old boy of Pottsville, while driving home cows from pasture struck a calf. Its mother turned in defense, giving him several tosses and then gored him until assistance came. The boy has a wound several inches long and is terribly bruised.
F.C. SELAK has started the breeding of gold fish in Cumm as a new Berks County industry.
Dr. Clayton H. SCHWENK, of Philadelphia, but who was raised, near Schwenksville, has entered a subpoena in divorce against his wife. Desertion is given as a cause, although the couple have lived under the same roof, she occupying the third story for the past three years and he paying all her bills for maintenance, while he had the rest of the house to himself. Cruel and barbarous treatment are amongst the charges preferred. The doctor says this state of affairs might have continued but for slanderous stories put into circulation by his wife whereby his character and his practice were injured. The practice he claims has dwindled from $10,000 to $2,000 a year since the stories about him were circulated.
While picking raspberries last week, Mrs. James MILLER, of near Geryville, encountered a monster black snake that was coiled for a fight. On account of the unusual size Mrs. MILLER was afraid to attack it with stones and sticks so she hurried home to get her husband's gun to dispatch the reptile. Hurriedly loading the gun she repaired to the place where his snakeship was holding forth. The plucky woman took deliberate aim and pulled the trigger which put an end to the snake. On being measured it was found to be within a few inches of six feet in length.
During Tuesday's thunder storm, the barn of Frank STOFFLET, of Hoffmansville, used for a wagon shed and hen house, was struck by a bolt of lightning and a lot of broom corn set on fire, but fortunately Mr. STOFFLET was at home at the time and extinguished the flames before they could make any headway, had it not been seen for several minutes the entire building would have been burned down and probably the other barn as it stands just across the street.
B.F. HOLLENBACH, of Reading, has a new variety of dahlia. the plant is considerably larger than the ordinary dahlia and the bloom is almost as large as a small sunflower. It resembles the latter in many ways. The seeds were sent Mr. HOLLENBACH by a friend in New Orleans and planted early in April. Some of the plants are ten feet high. The flowers opened lately and some of them are twelve inches in circumference and have a pleasant odor. The plant is hardy and grows rapidly. It blooms all the year around.
Because J.H. KAPP, of Pottsville, refused to pay a fee of $10 to lawyer L.D. HOUGHAWOUT, he was sent to jail.
While visiting the family of Rev. R.T. ORTT, of Emaus, Mrs. Daniel (Caroline) STAHLER (picture), of Dillingersville, brought her life to a peaceful close last Saturday, aged 89 years, 4 months and 15 days. The aged woman was born and raised at Dillingersville, Lower Milford township, Lehigh county, and spent all her life in the immediate vicinity of her birth. Her entire life was spent on the farm. At the age of 27 she was married to Daniel STAHLER, who preceded her in death in 1893. Since the death of her husband she has made her home with her only daughter, Mrs. Tilghman RITTER, where she was joined by her sister, Mrs. Seth WEBER, who is her junior by five years. Almost 20 years ago Mrs. STAHLER was stricken with blindness but she bore her affliction with remarkable fortitude, and although being unable to see she continued to do farm work, doing corn husking and similar things that could be accomplished without the aid of sight. In the main her health has been good and her hair remained jet black until the day of her death. On Saturday a week ago she left her home of Emaus and was taken ill of bodily infirmities on the same days from which never recovered. Besides her daughter, she is survived by eight grand children and fourteen great-grand-children. The body was removed to her home at Dillingersville, from which the funeral was held on Wednesday, at the Chestnut Hill church.
While driving from his home at Alburtis to Allentown, on Thursday, a farmer by the name of LITZENBERGER, met an automobile on the road. The horse driven by LITZENBERGER which was a spirited one, dashed into a nearby lane leading to a barn, the doors of which stood open. On through the threshing floor the rush was continued and out through the open door of the overshoot where there was a drop of 20 feet. Fortunately there was a heap of straw in front of the barn and the horse fell on this or he would have broken his neck. The buggy with the man in it, almost scared to death, was caught in the door and remained in the barn. Both horse and man escaped without serious injury.
While digging around an old tree on his farm in Cumberland township, Adams county, Althedorf BUSHMAN unearthed a gold watch in a fine state of preservation, even the crystal and hands being in good condition. It was found where the Twelfth and Second Hospital corps were encamped in 1863 and was doubtless the property of some Union officer.
Senator Webster GRIM has purchased the stock of the Doylestown Publishing Company, publishers of the daily and weekly Democrat, and will take charge August 1st. Senator GRIM, it is said, while an admirer of BRYAN, will be an ardent supporter of PARKER in his paper, and expects to put it on a firm basis. It is also said that he will run a morning paper.
Jacob HOFF, the hired man of Josiah WAGNER, of Zieglerville, was found in an unconscious condition in the barn yard on Tuesday, with blood oozing from his head. Dr. C.B. DOTTERER was called who found the left temple with a gash four inches long and the skull fractured. The supposition is that the kick of a horse caused the injury.
At the side of a young man who had been mangled in a mowing machine, Dr. J.B. SHAW, of Delaware Water Gap, fell dead while giving directions to a nurse. The doctor had been practicing at the Gap for twenty-five years and at the time of his death was President of the Monroe County Medical Society.
Willie, the son of C.G. FRIES, of Pennsburg, while passing bare-footed through the yard this week ran a thorn into his foot. Drs. C.T. and Fred WAAGE etherized the boy to remove the thorn which proved to be an inch and a half in length.
Aaron TIMBERS, Jonas SIMS and Wm. AUSTIN, the three colored men who confessed to assaulting and robbing Mrs. Elsie BIDDLE, of Burlington, New Jersey, were on Friday sentenced to 49 years each in the State prison by Judge GASKILL. The three men were brought to Mt. Holly at 1.15 p.m. under guard of Co. A., New Jersey National Guard, which met them at Camden. They were handcuffed to three deputy sheriffs and marched to the court house, followed by several hundred persons. Only a few were admitted to the court room. Judge GASKILL was in waiting, and after the indictments had been read the three men pleaded guilty. The Judge then pronounced sentence of 49 years each, the extreme penalty for the crimes, which was divided as follows: Rape 15 years, robbery 15 years, assaulting officers 12 years, breaking and entering a dwelling 7 years. The men were immediately taken to a train under the escort of the guardsmen and hurried to State prison at Trenton.
The four year old son, of Wm. HACKER, of near town was kicked in the face by a horse on Wednesday of last week. The horse had been grazing in the field when the little boy walked up to him and got him by the tail. The horse kicked the boy in the face, breaking the lower jawbone and knocking out several teeth. He also had a piece of the tongue cut off by getting it between the teeth. The child suffered great pain and Dr. STETLER, of Spinnerstown, was immediately called and made the child as comfortable as possible.
Charles HALDEMAN and wife, of Hamlin, Kansas, are visiting the former's brother Reuben HALDEMAN at Creamery, this county. Mr. HALDEMAN until recently was a progressive farmer at Hamlin, he having disposed of his farm of 160 acres for $12,000 and has retired. He went west a number of years ago when the price of land was very low and was very successful in his undertaking and also cleared a neat profit from his sale recently.
Distric Attorney LICHTENWALNER has exploded a bombshell in the camp of the policy shops of Allentown, giving notice that all persons in any way connected with the business must stop at once or be indicted by the Grand Jury at the September session of Court. He claims that he knows all the places where policy is played and every one of the city and surrounding towns, who is in any way connected with it.
The farmers in the vicinity of Kutztown, have been annoyed for the past few weeks by a chicken thief that could not be apprehended until last Wednesday, when Eugene REINHARD shot one of the largest wild cats ever seen in that section. The cat measured thirty inches in length and had claws almost two inches long.
The two year old son of Adam MECK, of Reading, ate half a box of strychnine pills, enough to kill ten men, on Sunday afternoon. Unconsciousness followed and it was thought the child had died. The parents were about to call an undertaker when a doctor was summoned who saved the child's life.
Before dying at the Allentown Hospital, Alexander KUBOLI, who was run over by a trolley car at Egypt, a few days before declared that he was pushed in front of the approaching car. The coroner is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death.
Mr. and Mrs. Edmund SMITH, of Berwick, Columbia county, are the parents of a child that weighed less than a pound when born two months ago. The child is perfectly developed and appears to be in excellent health. It has gained about a half a pound since its birth.
Daniel AUGSTADT, of Basket, Berks county, picked 1700 quarts of cherries from his trees this year and sold them in the Reading markets.
While feasting on cherries, at Pottsville, Michael ZERB, swallowed stones and all. The stones formed a lump in his bowels from which he died in great agony.
Jacob MOYER, of Bernville, Berks county, who is in his 93 year took a turn at harvesting during the past week.
Eli TRUMP, an old resident, 77 years of age, living at Corning, Lehigh county, who caused an uproar in his family by threatening and attempting to kill his children and then himself, was arrested by Constable JONES and William MARKS. Mr. MARKS was to take the lead. But the arrest was wrong. They found nothing with him except a pocket knife. It was said that he had been armed with a pistol and a double barrel shot gun which is not true. He is back from jail again. They found out that everything said of him was a story. Eli TRUMP will not hurt anybody, if they use him like a man, for we know him for the last thirty years.
The Franconia Alumni, held its regular business meeting last Wednesday evening at the home of Miss Minerva BARNDT. The following officers were elected to serve for the ensuing year. Pres., Alvin GODSHALL; V. Pres., Rein GODSHALL; Treas., Clayton MOYER; Cor. Sec., Minerva BARNDT; Rec. Sec., Verda AUCHY. It was decided to hold the annual picnic on Wednesday, July 27, along the Perkiomen, at Green Lane.
T.S. COOPER, breeder and importer of Jersey cattle at Coopersburg, on Wednesday sailed from New York for England on the White Star Line steamer, "Baltic," the largest steamer in the world, being 725 feet long. Mr. COOPER expects to go direct to the Island of Jersey, and from there to France, to select some Percheron and French coach horses, and intends to return on the White Star steamer "Cymric," on August 4th.
Benjamin BATZ, a freight conductor on the Lebanon division, of the P. & R. Railway, fell from his train on Saturday while running 30 miles an hour, and rolled into a field with a broken ankle. He succeeded in catching the eye of the flagman, the train was stopped and the conductor brought it through to Reading.
The new $50,000 school building to be erected at Norristown, will be known as the James A. WELSH School. This was decided upon at a meeting of the School Board recently. Mr. WELSH has been a member of the board for thirty years, and only recently resigned the chairmanship of the property committee.
Peter W. BEELER, a carpenter and undertaker at Point Pleasant, Bucks county, is the owner of a tame ground hog that he captured several years ago when it was only a mite of an animal, and brought it to his home. It has not lost any of its natural instincts, and although it stays about the house and yard during the summer season, wanders away in the fall, burrows a hole in the ground and hides itself until spring. The ground hog is a household pet, although it sometimes gets into the garden and destroys considerable truck. During the summer it is fed on cakes and other dainties, and is so tame that it will play with Mr. BEALER's hunting dogs and often accompanies them to the fields. It has a fear of strange dogs, and if one comes near it will hide itself and return after the dog has left.
A statement issued by the Bureau of immegation, at Washington, shows that the total number of inmates of the penal institutions, of this country is 44,582. This does not include Hawaii and Porto Rico. 28,939 are males and 15,643 females. There are 23,548 in State institutions, 14,979 in county institutions, 5358 in private institutions and 697 in Federal institutions. There are 24,717 prisoners serving for life.
The 39th annual meeting of the Board of Management of Bethany Orphans' Home was held at that institution last Thursday. There was a very full attendance of the members, as well as the Ladies' Committee. Rev. Thomas M. YUNDT, who retired from the superintendency, rendered his report, which showed most gratifying results. There are 123 children at the home, eight having been admitted at this meeting. Of this number two are from Hanover, two from Bismarck, one from Strasburg, two from Allentown and one from Lancaster County. These officers were elected: President, Rev. Dr. B. BAUSMAN; secretary, Wilson F. MORE; assistant secretary, Rev. Thos. M. YUNDT; treasurer, C.G. GROSS; physician, Dr. H.S. LEVENGOOD. This will be the 39th term for Rev. Dr. BAUSMAN as president of the board. Rev. Wilson F. MORE was installed at 3 p.m., as superintendent of the home. He takes the place of Rev. Mr. YUNDT and will assume charge of his new duties August 1. A number of visitors were present to witness the exercises. Mrs. MORE will be the matron.
On investigation it was found that the stomach, of the 18 months old child, of Obediah MICHEAL, of Summer Hill, Columbia county, was filled with cherry stones. Dr. REGAN, of Bloomsburg, performed two operations, and removed 343 pits. The parents think the child found a basket of cherries and ate them before being discovered. The little girl is recovering.
The cow is still the mainstay of the very earliest settlers. We find that the first cows were introduced into America by Columbus in 1493, but history is silent as to any particular breed, while later during the permanent settlements of Virginia, the fore-mothers of that colony were in time provided with these animals. In 1610, three years after the founding of Jamestown, a few cattle were brought from the West Indies and the penalty of death, for killing them, enacted, and by 1920 five hundred cows were found in Virginia alone, and from this small beginning, the cow has step by step, pushed herself to the front, so that she is to-day the Queen of every farm in the land, particularly so, in this rich Perkiomen Valley, where she has always been the farmer's money maker.
In ye olden times butter making was an art and the woman who could make butter to satisfaction was considered an epicure of the farm, as butter making much depended upon the taste the woman had herself, if she was unable to taste the bad from the good, she was unable to make butter to satisfaction. In those days the number of cows milked depended upon the hay supplying capacity of the meadow land, then the only source of hay for horse or cow. One hundred years ago a typical farmer could keep a dairy of five milkers. From these he produced for the early winter market about eight crocks of butter, of from forty to fifty pounds each. Summer pasturage was no item. Only the meadows and fields under cultivation were fenced in and all the vast acres of unimproved lands were pastured. They were the great common pasture grounds of every farmer in the vicinity. Every farmer marked his cattle, when they were first run loose into the wilds. The mark in vogue was a peculiar cut in the ear and served to identify heads that had strayed into flocks of neighbors. Each herd had a bell cow, or bell sheep, and the farmers knew by the tone of the bell the location of their herd by night-fall. Every boy could relate his adventures while endeavoring to locate the cows and bring them home. From April to Holiday season, butter was salted down for market. Then came the annual trip to Philadelphia, an event of supreme importance and interest. Here we introduce to our readers that old familiar Conestoga wagon, which was used as early as 1775, when one hundred and fifty such vehicles were used in the Braddock expedition. The widely seperated communities scattered over Pennsylvania first suggested the Conestoga wagon. One of its peculiarities was the decided curve in the bottom, of a canoe shape, the object of which, was to prevent freight from slipping too far to the front of the wagon, when going down hill or too far to the rear when going uphill. This wagon received its name from the fact that the horses which hauled the earlliest wagons were bred in the Conestoga Valley of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, as well as, from the fact that the earlier wagons were made there.
The demand for immigration built up the Conestoga wagon industry and during the War of 1812, Conestoga wagons came into very extended use. With such a great canvas covered wagon and four newly-shod horses hitched thereto and being equipped with provisions for man and horses, a bed for the man, etc., the oufit was considered complete. The distance was always estimated at from forty to sixty miles, in accordance with the locality in which the farmer resided, and practically from three to four days were consumed in making the round trip, while weeks however were required to complete the preparations for it. This market load consisted of butter, eggs, poultry, corn, rye, wheat and many other farming commodities, not only from one farm, but from many another neighbors' farm, as the neighbors alternated in making the trips and took one anothers' farm products along, selling them as if they were his own, a neighborly act indeed, which was in vogue prior to the advent of the country huckster. When butter was good it sold readily from a "levy" to fifteen cents per pound. The crocks were tested one by one, by plunging a curved blade to the bottom of the butter, twirling it to inscribe a small circle and lifting out a cylinder of butter.
If so uniform in quality that the different layers in which the butter was put into the crock were scarcely noticeable, it was proclaimed good and commanded the best price, which varied only a few cents during many years. When below the standard quality only from eight to ten cents per pound could be realized.
Happy was that farmer who did not need to offer any Philadelphia dealer, butter which had already been tested. Tested butter was a second hand article. It was worth what the shrewd dealer chose to give. The expenses of the trip were inconsiderable, since all needed provisions were carried. At night shelter was secured at one of the many inns which lined every much used route of travel, and during the early periods, the main thoroughfares had a hotel for every mile of road. Zieglerville, Perkiomen Bridge, Chestnut Hill and Flourtown were a few of the popular resorts for the farmers of the Perkiomen Valley, who made semi-monthly or weekly trips to the Philadelphia markets. The capacity of those hotels was always stated in terms of the space they had to shelter horses for the night. The number of beds for accomodation of travel was no item. Teamsters carried their beds, which they were allowed to throw upon the bar-room floor or elsewheres when that room was filled. Those reminiscences of the frequent bar-room experiences, when those old tillers of the soil came together, would make an interesting volume of reading matter by itself, if still enough of those old heroes could be found to tell the incidents. These journeys afforded the only contact with the outside world, which many experienced, either directly or indirectly, and were the sources of education as well as money. Next came the country huckster and poultry, butter and eggs were about the only products he bought of the farmers. He bought them on the go as you please plan, as was the custom at that time and which in some few localities is still practiced today, where farmers have no direct markets and are not able to sell their farm products direct to the best markets. He relieved the farmer of his commodities, took them to market and turned them into money, and afterwards gave the farmer what he pleased. This has of course been changed since, and farmers are so well posted by the daily newspapers, that they demand cash on delivery or a guarantee of what they are going to get for their products. In the early huckster days the trips were also made by team, while now the goods are all shipped by rail and sold the same day. What followed we all know, as no butter is made anymore to any amount and we now have the community creamery, or else our milk leaves before sunrise for the city of Philadelphia. This has relieved the work of the farmwife, and she no longer has to attend to half a hundred crocks of milk or help to turn the butter churn for several hours. Among the many household duties on a well regulated farm, the baking of the bread and pastry is quite an item, and today the farm house is rare to which an old-fashioned bake-oven is attached, and the old fashioned hearth bread baked by grandmother is no more, neither is rye bread used on the farm as was the custom half a century ago. With the passing of all this, went the cottage cheese, and in its place have come the many fine preserves, delicious cakes and pies, which do not always agree with the hard working farmer. The spinning wheel is stored away on the garret, and most of the old time operators have joined the great majority.
Homespun, made from the wool clipped from the sheep, that were constantly kept in large flocks on the farms half a century ago, cannot be seen anymore and people now buy their clothes ready made, which relieves the wife of another task, and leaves only the mending part to her. Where is the grandmother that can still darn a pair of stockings? No more you say. Yes, nearly all are gone. How we boys used to wear those old blue stockings and how warm our feet were. No frozen ones, then, as now. While the good farm wife is still able to find work, wherever she glances, she however finds moments to spare, and her existence as Queen of the Farm Household is no more a monotonous round of cooking, making and mending clothes, dish-washing and out-door labor, but she can have her summer outings, go to church regularly, attend the social and literary meetings that are constantly held in her immediate community. She is no longer dependent on the horses which have a perverse way of falling lame, or being needed, when she plans to have an outing or visit a friend at some distant place. She however enjoys the privilege of the electric and steam railroads, and soon will ride on an automobile and fully enjoy her much needed day of rest and recreation.
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