Blair County Newspaper Articles
News, obituaries, birth, marriage and death notices, by date.
Items from the Altoona Tribune, Altoona, Pa.,
Wednesday, October 14, 1863
THE ELECTION.
Below we give all the returns of the election, held yesterday, which have passed over the wires up to the hour at which we go to press, 1 o'clock A. M. They are considerably after the jug handle style, and indicate that Curtin has carried the State by 40,000 or 50,000 majority. -
BLAIR COUNTY.
Altoona, West Ward, Woodward 12 maj.; E. Ward, Woodward 62 maj.; North Ward, Curtin 5 maj.
Hollidaysburg, West Ward, Woodward 20 maj. East Ward, Curtin 3 maj.
Antis township, Curtin 177 maj.
Allegheny township, Curtin 34 maj.
Blair township, Woodward 3 maj.
Catharine township, Curtin 24 maj.
Freedom township, Curtin 33 maj.
Frankstown township, Curtin 173 maj. Gaysport, 26 maj. for Woodward.
Greenfield township, 36 maj. for Curtin.
Logan township, 155 maj. for Curtin.
Snyder township, 58 maj. for Curtin.
Tyrone, 46 maj. for Curtin.
N. Woodberry tp., 34 maj. for Woodward.
ALLEGHENY COUNTY
Wilkins tp, Curtin 339 maj., being a Union gain of 150 over last year; Union gain in Pebbles and Collins tps. over last Governor's election 49, - Gain for Curtin in ten districts 400.
Curtin's maj. in Allegheny city is 1815 - a gain of 408 over his maj. in 1860. His maj. in Pittsburgh is 1784 - a gain of 403 since 1860. The county will give about 9,000 maj. for Curtin.
JUNIATA COUNTY.
Curtin has 96 maj. in Delaware tp, six districts heard from Curtin gains 130 over Cochran's vote of last year. Patterson Borough, Woodward 45 maj. Mifflin, Woodward 1 maj.
PHILADELPHIA.
1st, 7th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th Wards give Curtin 6357 maj. 20th ward, Curtin 500 maj. 10th ward Curtin 1275 maj. 24th ward Curtin 400 maj. This is a democratic ward and is a large gain for Curtin.
CAMBRIA COUNTY.
Curtin's majority in Wilmore is 30 - a gain of 15 over the vote of 1860. Washington tp, Woodward 169, Curtin 39, Johnston, Curtin 169 maj. Conemaugh, Woodward 135 maj. Millerville, Curtin 108 maj. Cambria City - Woodward 163 maj. Union gain over last year's vote in Johnston, Conemaugh, Millerville and Cambria city, 175. Summerhill tp, Woodward 30 maj. Union gain 12.
MIFFLIN COUNTY.
Woodward 14 majority in Wayne tp, McVeytown gives Woodward 5 maj. Oliver tp, Woodward 35 maj. Bratton tp, Curtin 21 maj. W. Ward, Lewistown, Curtin 36 maj. Derry tp, Woodward 20 maj. Brown tp, Woodward 35 maj.
WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
New Florence, Curtin 89, Woodward 83, a gain of 12 for Curtin over vote of 1860. Fairfield tp. Curtin's maj., 96, a gain of 52 over Cochran's vote last year. Latrobe, Curtin one maj., being a union gain of 16. Youngstown, Woodward 86 maj., a union gain of 3. North Huntingdon tp., Curtin 74 maj. Greensburg Borough, Hemphill and Ludwick townships give Curtin 81 maj. Derry tp., 29 maj. for Curtin, being a union gain of 19.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Curtin gains 175 in Sunbury as compared with his vote in 1860.
Curtin gains 117 in Valley tp, Chester county, over his vote in 1860.
Erie county gives Curtin 3000 majority.
New Brighton, Beaver county, gives 300 maj. for Curtin.
The probable maj. for Woodward in Westmorland county is 800.
Lancaster county gives about 6,000 maj. for Curtin.
DAUPHIN COUNTY. - Harrisburg gives Woodward 82 maj. The county will give Curtin 1200 maj.
PERRY COUNTY. - Newport borough, and Oliver, Howe and Miller tps. give Curtin 22 maj. Barnett, for the Legislature, 20 maj.
Returns indicate that Curtin will have 2500 maj. in Chester county - a gain of 800 over 1860.
Latest dispatches from Johnstown place Woodward's majority in Cambria at 800.
Curtin's majority in Philadelphia will be about 9,000.
Major Annie E. Jones.
Shortly after the Department of Washington was formed, there appeared at the headquarters of General Stahl, a woman, or rather a girl, who gave her name as Annie E. Jones, and who professed to have just emerged from a boarding-school in the good city of Boston. She was a flippant talker, and ingratiated herself into the favor of the general, and received an honorary appointment as a member of his staff, and rejoiced in the sobriquet of "major," and, as "Major Jones," became an institution in the army. She eat with the general, rode with the general on all his hazardous forays, chatted with the general, nursed the general when he was sick, fought the general's battles when she heard him aspersed by jealous understrappers, and when night drew the starry flag over the heavens, she slept with her beloved colored maid in the neat little tent which the general had assigned to her. She thus lived and flourished. Her orders were wont to be obeyed, because she was recognized as a staff officer. She always had the countersign, and could pass the pickets at pleasure. She was said to be a girl of great dash and daring, and would frequently venture out beyond our out-posts and for days watch the movements of the enemy, and bring in whole budgets of information from the rebel camps as proof of her shrewdness. Every one knew Major Jones; officers would doff their hats, and privates would stand at a full "present" as she rode by in military feminine dignity. - The visiting officers from other commands were introduced to Annie and admired her, and she reigned supreme as the "she major of cavalry."
When General Hooker marched into Maryland, and Stahl was relieved, Miss Major Annie joined her fortunes with the young and gallant Custer, with whom she remained, retaining her rank and title, until a general order from headquarters rendered it necessary for him to dispense with her valuable services, and the major was compelled to search for a field of usefulness elsewhere. For a few days she wandered about the camps, having no particular abiding place until Colonel Sharp, then acting provost marshal general, thought the interest of the services required that she should be removed to Washington.
Accordingly a pass was granted her to travel as far as the military railroad would carry her, and a sergeant of the 93d New York was detailed to accompany her, to guard against any accident on the way. Arriving at Washington she stopped, at the Kirkwood House, where I met her some two weeks ago. I was then en route for New York, whether she said she was going in the same train which was to convey me. She left New York the next day, since which time I had not seen or heard from her until yesterday, when I learned she had again visited the army, and after perambulating about the camps had been brought up at Gen. Patrick's guard house, charged with being a rebel spy, and it is said the proofs against her are most conclusive.
FOREIGNERS IN THE UNITED STATES. - It appears by census tables (not yet printed) that the entire population of the United States, born in foreign countries, was in round numbers, in 1860, four millions one hundred and thirty-six thousand. - This aggregate was distributed in States and territories, in round numbers, as follows: -
Alabama, 12,000; Arkansas, 4,000; California, 146,000; Connecticut, 80,000; Delaware, 9,000; Florida, 3,000; Georgia, 11,000; Illinois, 324,000; Indiana, 118,000; Iowa, 106,000; Kansas, 12,000; Kentucky, 59,000; Louisiana, 81,000; Maine, 37,000; Maryland, 77,000; Massachusetts, 260,000; Michigan, 149,000; Minnesota, 58,000; Mississippi, 8,000; Missouri, 190,000; New Hampshire 20,000, New Jersey, 122,000, New York, 998,000; North Carolina, 3,000; Ohio, 328,000; Oregon, 5,000; Pennsylvania, 430,000, Rhode Island, 37,000; South Carolina, 10,000; Tennessee, 20,000; Texas, 47,000; Vermont, 32,000; Virginia, 35,000; Wisconsin, 276,000; Colorado, 3,000; Dacotah, 2,000: District of Columbia, 12,000; Nebraska, 6,000; Nevada, 2,000; New Mexico, 6,000; Utah, 12,000; Washington Territory, 8,000.
Letter from "August Sontag."
NIAGARA FALLS, Oct. 12, 1863.
Sirious had ascended the Eastern hills and dawned upon us, the temporary residents of the "Forrest City," with a new lustre, while breakfasting at the "Angier House," and contemplating an eight mile drive along the bank of the lake, via Euclid street. Breakfast was disposed of in the manner characteristic of a Mohamoden going to prayer on a "double quick" - and then little "Blossom" donned the Solferina Garabaldi, with her shawl of the Stewart Tartan, while Sontag assumes the garb of the "Grand Sultan," and drew the reins upon a grey-matched team that would do honor to a Penn'a R. R. Fast Line on a down grade.
We visited the Hon. T. W. Morse, escorted by his son, Theo, G. Morse, and his kind and most estimable lady, with whom we have whiled away so many pleasant afternoons in the city of "Brotherly Love," and around whose family board we hope to see the "olive branch" cluster. T. W. Morse owns one of the largest vinyards in the Northwest. He grows, annually, from 40 to 80 tons of grapes, and manufactures Catawba wine which competes with the best brands of Cincinnati wines, or even the famous " Heidsick." His enclosure contains 200 acres, which is beautifully laid out with mounds, arbors and serpentine walks, decorated with evergreens, and a residence in the centre that excels any mansion to be found in the East, in point of architecture and location. We heartily endorse the opinion of our little "Blossom" when she says "it is the Eden of America," and concludes by asserting that she "would not be at all surprised if Sontag would be completely captivated by the grandeur of the suburbs of the "Forest City," and come here, sometime, not far distant, to live out his three score and ten years with she and little "Sunshine."
We now, very reluctantly, bid adieu to this pleasant family and returned to the city by way of the late Commodore Foote's plantation, where his brother still resides, just in time to step on board the good steamer "Morning Star," the evening boat for Detroit. The bells are ringing, passengers hurrying up the gang-plank, luggage being wheeled and trundled on board at the forward gang-way, and the promenade deck was thickly enough scattered over with temporary residents to indicate that come sunshine or storm, moonlight or thick heavy set darkness, the lake is to have a host of admiring travelers skimming over her broad bosom. The "calliope" is sounding - that singing tea-kettle of the Titans - that mad giant of music-playing polkas, schottisches and waltzes with the nimble grace that a polar bear may be supposed to exhibit while dancing to such musical compositions. Back on the promenade the music of a harp is tingling, and marvellously well-handled, sounding the preparatory notes indicative of promenade music while on the passage over the lake. "All aboard! In with the gang-plank!" shouts the Captain, who is a modern Fallstaff in person and somewhat of a wag, and we are off, narrowly missing a barge that comes in at the wrong moment, and that seems to have had an idea of trying conclusions with the steamer, but thought better of it. Only a few turns of the wheel and the North-west wind comes up freshly, and there is occasion for drawing our cloaks and wrappers close around us to shut out the cool breeze, for the boat is springing at once into a flying speed. We feel somewhat anxious to ascertain the age of this steamer, but it being an impertinent question to ask in regard to a lady, it may also be considered impertinent concerning a steamboat, so we will, at present, defer the question; but in the event of this boat blowing up - an occurrence which we do not for a moment anticipate - would I ever be able to obtain the forgiveness of my devoted "Blossom," or that of merry "Sunshine" for my timidity?
Quiet and almost complete loneliness are sometimes necessities to him who would study the language of the waters, and drink in their soothing and sublime influences, yet we prefer our present situation, for isolation is always tiresome as its opposite. The glimpse of a sail vanishing into the distance, and the sensation it causes, is yet more sad and lonely than utter isolation. Then we think of separation from friends and associations, long absence and the hope of return, and the thousands who watch to catch the last glimpse of the white sail as it speeds away, carrying with it the dearest ties of earth, and vanishes into the darkness of the deep. We remember with what perfect fascination we once hung upon the lips of a friend while he related the incidents of a day he had spent upon the rock-bound coast of Terra del Fuego. He had left the boat, in which he landed with his companions, miles away, and wondered on alone until he stood where no human foot had ever before pressed, with the bleak, bare rocks rising three thousand feet above him, a narrow ledge a few feet from the water upon which he kept his perilous footing, a cove of rocks curving around for a mile at his side, with the heavy surge beating around them with a thunder like the basso of an organ upon which the hand of omnipotence had played since the dawn of time.
As we glide around, the bow of what was a stout vessel comes to view, with the waves playing upon it as if in triumph over the wreck they had made months ago. All else of the vessel is burried in the treacherous sand. A fallen warrior on a battle-field is scarcely a sadder sight than a broken wreck on shore. There is the same suggestion of broken pride and ruined strength - the same reminder of a conflict long sustained but given up at last. We feel the same grief over wasted capabilities - the same hopeless pity when we know that they cannot be revived and fill their places as of old; and the man who can pass a shivered wreck, with the waves beating over it in cruel mockery, and plank after plank swept away by succeeding storms, and feel no sensation of sorrow, is heartless, and we should not care to trust him with a hold of the heart strings of those we love, nor wish him a watcher by our bedside when we die.
Daylight has gradually faded while we have been musing upon the wreck and the fatal shore, and when we look again the waves on the horizon and the sky are almost blended into one. It does not grow dark, however, for the stars come out one by one, and as the night has fairly set in, little "Blossom," who has thrown her arms affectionately around my neck, points out a thousand white spectres that start into being and ride in on their ghostly coursers, glimmering through the gloom with a strange weird beauty, and then shatter into thin air with the shock of their coming. How naturally the grand and romantic grows upon us here. All that history has known of the glorious and fascinating - all that has been romantic of our past lives - come back to us. Our conversation loses the frivolity of common life and settles into a deeper channel. We gather the hues that belonged to earlier youth from the winds that have scattered them over a thousand waste places, and they dwell with us for the time, as bright as if they had not faded. And to all this the deep-voiced lake makes undertone, ever harmonious, ever grateful, and the evening breeze bears pleasantly away - where? we neither ask or know.
But another change is coming, the sky that has for some time been so blent with the color of the lake, grows light now, and the dark line looms up almost against it, the stars grow pale as the blue of the sky is tinged with silver, and we know that the moon is coming. Nearer comes the light, and the gloom on the water lightens in the reflection of the silver sky, and the glare dies out beneath it. A little longer and the whole broad lake lies calm beneath the flood of light, bathed in the liquid beauty that belongs to that place and hour. Then comes fitful phosphorescent gleams from the water, and starry eyes, as if myriads of water spirits sparkle up to us. Then the white rider of the wave of an hour before, becomes clothed in a harness of gold. Calmed by that glorious light, soothed by the gentle murmur of the waves, shut out from all the world, and all at peace, what wonder that the sweetest slumber of a lifetime descends upon us, as we sink away to rest with these thoughts lingering on our minds and sealing our lips in a delicious silence.
Six o'clock, and we are landed in Detroit, a beautiful city which presents many attractions to strangers whether on pleasure or on business. The streets are well paved, and shade on each side - not unlike our famous "Quaker City" with elegant and handsome dwellings, cottage style; and on Fort street the gothic residence of Gen. Cass can be seen. The General is now well advanced in years and we notice that he has disposed of his congress wig, which adds much to his personal appearance. He has, for some years, turned his attention to collecting specimens of the fine arts, which have already cost him more than $400,000. One of his most costly specimens of sculpture represents Venus, and was originally taken from the ruins of Pompeii. As a general thing we are well pleased with Detroit. We will not tire your patience, dear reader, with a description of our return over the lake, or say much in regard to the lake shore route from Cleveland to Buffalo, only that it is well managed and the conductors are kind and gentlemanly, and speedy in their attention to passengers.
"I, that should have been Niagara, am Buffalo!" quotes "Sunshine" of the name of the city, as she goes to bed, after horrifying the guests at the American Hotel with a series of performances on a valetudinarian piano. But she had quite forgotten Curtis' fancy of why the waves moan so heavily against the break-waters at the mouth of the harbor, when her morning namesake breaks brightly over the wide streets of the town, and she sallies out, dragging lazy Sontag with her, very much after the manner of Dickens' little human steamtug "Pancks," for a few moments view of the harbor and the commercial part of the town, before nine o'clock sounds and the train on the Central Road steams away toward Niagara. It is indeed but a few minutes, but what views the young eyes catch in that short time, of that part of Buffalo lying at the edge of the lake - of the entrance of the Erie canal, with its wilderness of canal boats lying idly in the basin - of the iron bridges which seem to be scattered hither and thither, and one to be travelled over every two minutes of the high-sided and heavy lake propellers looking so unlike anything on the Eastern waters - of the immense grain elevators, ready to scoop out all the grain from a thousand lake schooners within the next half hour, and transfer it to the holds of the canal boats waiting to bear it away towards tide-water. All these, with glimpses of the blue lake and its light-houses, the young eyes see and the little head stores away for future reference; and then the bell sounds and we hurry to the depot and skim away down the bank of the lake Niagara-wards.
It seems that all the way to Niagara new omens are to be solved and new features of the route to be discovered. "I would not ride this route daily for the revenue of a queen," says "Blossom," with a sad look coming into her eye, and a pout playing upon her arched lip. "And why?" we asked with some eagerness, as we have seen nothing more objectionable than dust and cinders, "Because those dead trees would keep me always out of spirits," answers the little one, pointing to the long, bare white trunks that stud the fields on every side, lifting their splintered and ragged points to the heavens, the ghosts of living trees that once waved their branches in the summer air, and made welcome shade for the earth and pleasant refuge for bird music. "How could one help being melancholy with these tombstones of nature standing all around?" and with a low, sad voice, yet sadly sweet, she murmured this quotation from words long ago breathed over "A Dead Tree in the Graveyard:"
"Above the graveyard, desolate and bare,
It stands a withered monument of death,
Telling a story to the summer air,
Of those who slumber in the graves beneath,
And speaking in a voice of lonely grief,
Of hearts whose bleeding ceases not with years,
Of human bosom and of fallen leaf
Whose cheerless sorrow this lone aspect nears.
There is no blossom at returning spring
Upon the branches, and no summer rain
Comes back our withered memories to bring,
Or bids the perished buds to bloom again.
Yet on the leafless branches at eventide
A lone bird pours its sweet and mellow song,
Such as our hearts sing over those who died
Beneath the world's unkindness and its wrong,
And may we in after years forget
That o'er our naked heads the blast sweeps by,
And like the boughs so sear and leafless yet
Point up through storm and sunshine to the sky."
Right, dear "Blossom;" a dead forrest is not a cheerful thing to look upon, so we will dismiss the thoughts as we glide on down the road, paying little attention to Grand Island, stretching its wooded length in the lake, or to Navy Island, smaller but more important, when the momentous events of the Canadian Rebellion and the burning of the ill-fated steamer Caroline, at Schlosser, are considered. The attraction does not now lay along the dull waters of the lake, but ahead where the great fall thunders; and here, as always and everywhere the one leading attraction dwarfs all others. Half-past ten, and we are in the crowd of carriages and loungers at the Niagara Falls depot, and the Ultima Thule of our pilgrimage is reached. The Cataract House is about full, for who ever knew that portentious rival of the International to be otherwise from May to October. So, when we have washed the dust and cinders from our eyes, we hasten out upon the balcony to muse upon the landscape and the Upper Rapids. Yours truly, AUGUSTUS SONTAG.
The destruction of transport steamers on the Mississippi is increasing at an alarming rate. We have before us a list of eleven already burned by the Rebel incendiaries, viz: - The Imperial, Champion, Chateau, Campbell, Ruth, Majestic, Hope, Post Boy, Courier, Chancellor, Forest Queen and Catahoual. Some of them were large vessels, but the chief loss and damage to the service was in the destruction of their cargoes, amounting to millions. The burning of the Chancellor was not effected until a second attempt was made, and then involved two others, and threatened a large amount of surrounding property afloat and on shore at St. Louis. There is no longer any room to doubt that all this work is done in execution of a Rebel plot, and now that some of the perpetrators are caught, they should be executed, as part of a Union counterplot. It would be a monstrous perversion of clemency to treat such scoundrels as prisoners of war.
Lutheran Church on the Rebellion.
The following preamble and resolutions were passed, without a dissenting voice, by the clergymen and laymen composing the Allegheny Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church recently held in Williamsburg this county:
WHEREAS, Our country is imperiled by armed traitors, whose avowed purpose is to overturn the fabric of free government, bequeathed to us by our Fathers, and, in lieu thereof, rear another whose great statue is that capital shall own labor; and,
WHEREAS, We hold such purpose to be a crusade against God and man - civil and religious liberty, whose success would be barbarism in politics, and atheism in religion; and,
WHEREAS, We believe that to crush this infamous conspiracy is the will of God, and the mission of our nation; the work which, when done, will break yokes and fetters from the necks of slaves and become the terrible argument of the religious Lord against all oligarchies, aristocracies and slave powers - the seed which, under the gospel, is to grow up through the ages into bloom and beauty of millennium; therefore,
Resolved, That we as ministers in Synod assembled, do pledge our hearty support to the President of the United States for the suppression of this most atrocious rebellion, beseeching him to use the whole nation, money and men, blackmen and white, bond and free, for the nation's defence.
Resolved, That, believing Slavery to be the cause, animus and power of this rebellion, we regard the Proclamation of Freedom as the "axe laid to the root of the tree," and rejoice in it not only as a measure of war, but as an act of eternal justice which a Christian nation owes to the slave.
Resolved, That we believe in the use of negroes as soldiers, not from the mean spirit that now obtains, that they shall be employed to save white men, but because, in the divine providence, it educates them into a noble manhood and compels the respect of the nation that has hitherto enslaved them.
Resolved, That much as we deprecate war, we will still pay for the triumph of principle, truth and liberty, though they come through the path of blood; that we despise forever any compromise with an insolent slave power, that we desire the end of this war also to be the end of slavery here, and the knell of its doom in all the world, so that the devil of discord being cast out and destroyed, God may grant us permanent peace - the peace that can only come of justice and mercy and dwell with the people who are willing to be merciful and just.
Altoona Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Wednesday, October 14, 1863, page 2
LOCAL ITEMS.
A. M. L & R. R. A. - Regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Altoona Mechanics' Library and Reading Room Association was held October 5th, 1863. Present, Messrs. Lamborn, Reilly, Keller, Kessler, Savory, Irons, Reibenack, Hofecker and Elder.
The report of the Treasurer showed a balance of $36.43 in the treasury.
On motion, Mr. Isaac Worrell was unanimously elected to fill the office of Librarian, until the next Regular Annual Meeting of the Association.
The following gentlemen were proposed and elected to active membership, viz: Messrs. Daniel Gilchrist, Chas. McCormick, J. N. Postlethwait, J. McKeehan, Samuel Lloyd, J. Pringle and F. G. Moore.
The Corresponding Secretary was instructed to write to the publishers of the Evening Bulletin and order that the sending of the paper to the Library be discontinued.
On motion, it was ordered that the Committee on Library Room be required to furnish the room with spittoons - expenses to be paid out of fund for furnishing room.
On motion of Mr. Keller, an order on the Treasurer, for $20, was granted to the Chairman of Committee on Books and Publications, for the purchase of new books.
On motion, adjourned. - E. ELDER, Secy.
DAN RICE STILL LIVES. - The distinguished traveler, Dan Rice, is to visit Altoona on Saturday, Oct. 24th, with his great show. The reputation of this institution is thoroughly established as the best traveling exhibition in the world. - Dan appears at every performance and introduces the wonder of the age, his Blind Talking Horse, Excelsior, which is admitted by all to be the most remarkable exhibition of animal instinct ever seen. The educated mules still hold a prominent position in the great show. Mr. Rice will appear in his usual happy style, as the American Humorist, and drive dull care away. The great show will be at Tyrone Oct. 23d, Altoona, 24th; Johnstown, 26th; Greensburg, 27th; and close its season for 1863 at Pittsburgh.
A fine lot of ladies' purses, port monaies, photograph albums, pen knives, spectacles, watch guards and all kinds of notions going cheap at Roush's Drug Store.
PROVISION STORE. - We don't like this thing of chronicling the departure of so many of our most enterprising citizens. Of course we desire their prosperity, yet we are sorry that they find it necessary to leave our town to secure it. Among the late departures is that of our old townsman, M. T. Dill, who yesterday morning left for Cleveland, where he goes into the beef and pork packing business. In this he is in company with W. M. Lloyd, of this place. They intend opening a large provision store in Cleveland, and also one in this place, which they will keep supplied with everything in the provision line, and sell at the most reasonable prices.
We acknowledge ourselves under obligations to our Sinking Valley friend, old Joe Metzgar, for several yards of excellent sausage, left with us on Saturday morning last. Such treats are not hard to take. The sausage was excellent, the gravy plenty, and all we lacked was the buckwheat cakes. We hope to secure a supply of this esculent in time to enjoy the next present of this kind. Who's the next customer.
The House that Jeff Built
The Hartford Post perpetrates the following, with an introduction thus:
The following history of the celebrated edifice erected by J. Davis, Esq. is authentic. It was written for the purpose of giving infant politicians a clear concise, and truthful description of the habitations and the fortunes and misfortunes and doings of the inmates:
1. The Southern Confederacy. - This is the house that Jeff built.
II. The Ethiopian. - This is the malt that lay in the house that Jeff built.
III. The Underground Railroad. This is the rat that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jeff built.
IV. The Fugitive Slave Law. - This is the cat that killed the rat that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jeff built.
V. The Personal Liberty Bill. - This is the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jeff built.
VI. CHIEF JUSTICE TANNY. - This is the cow with crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jeff built.
VII. James Buchanan. - This is the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jeff built.
VIII. C. Cesh. - This is the man all tattered and torn that married the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jeff built.
IX. Plunder. - This is the priest all shaven and shorn that married the man all tattered and torn to the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jeff built.
MARRIED.
On the 6th inst., at the residence of the bride's father, near Woodbury, Bedford Co., Pa., by Rev. Jas. H. McGarrah, Mr. I. D. McKee, of Philadelphia to Miss Sallie E. Zook.
"Caught at last." Mac. We can now solve the problem of your frequent trips to Bedford Springs. "The spring of all your joy" had its fountain this side those of sulphurious qualities, and its medicinal properties appear to have been equally as efficacious in the cure of heart disease as are the waters of Bedford in the cure of other human ills. Having obtained the remedy, Mac, you will, of course, keep it always about you, and there will then be no future danger; and so long as you use it properly it will "never leave nor forsake you." But, figures aside, Mac, we truly wish you all the pleasures your imagination has promised you in matrimonial life, and may the fair one who has forsaken home and friends for your affections and protection find that her confidence has not been misplaced; and peacefully and happily may you pass through the hey-day of life, live to a green old age, and when your eyes shall close on a world of care and anxiety may they open in a land of everlasting youth, beauty, plenty and happiness.
Altoona Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Wednesday, October 14, 1863, page 3