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Excerpts from Souvenir Submitted by David M. Waid |
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TRIP
TO ATHENS, PENN.,
ELMIRA, N.Y., ETC. DECEMBER, 1888; JANUARY, 1889. "At Christmas, play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year."
Tusser.
In the afternoon of December 24, my brother, George
N., and myself took the train at Meadville for Jamestown, N. Y.,
where we stopped over night with our cousin, Frank
Colt, and family. We
were happy to find them all well, including dear old Aunt
Ann Simmons, now nearly eighty-six years of age, and who is living
with Mr. Colt. My brother and
I had visited relatives in this county in October last, and at the same
time we called on two of our aged aunts--Aunt Phoebe
Goodwill (who was then residing with her son-in-law, Frank
Sturgis, near Centreville) and Aunt Clarinda
Morehead (living with her son, Charles, near Townville).
Although Mrs. Morehead lives so near my brother, yet he had not
seen her for eighteen years. After
buying our tickets at Jamestown, we had a very pleasant time on the train
as we journeyed together, and also in the evening.
On Christmas Eve we arrived at Athens, Bradford Co., Penn., having
enjoyed an exhilarating four-mile walk from Waverly, the train having
failed to connect at that point.
The last time I was in Athens visiting relatives was twenty-four
years ago, in company with my parents and wife.
What a change! How
many had bade adieu to earth! The
loved parents and bosom companions are among the departed, and many we
visited at that time are gone from earth forever.
Wherever we looked change was visible.
The enterprise and energy of the people had constructed railroads. The town of Sayre, two miles from Waverly, had been built,
and the borders of it and the growth of Waverly and Athens had spread
until it seemed one town all the way from Waverly to Athens. Christmas was a fine day to us, and it really meant more than
an ordinary Christmas, for connected with it were the blessed memories of
the past. "Christ died for all; He came to
find the lost, Whether they bide in palaces or
slums-- No matter how their lines of life are
crossed. And they who love Him best will serve
Him most By helping those to whom no Christmas
comes."
My brother and I called on our cousin, Faith
Allen, and his wife, whom my brother had not seen for fifty years,
and whom I had not met since September, 1864, over twenty-four years ago.
Reader, you may imagine the joy on that occasion.
I had the pleasure of introducing my brother and myself to Mrs.
Allen, as her husband was temporarily absent.
I did not recognize her face so readily as I did her voice.
When she opened the door for us I asked: "Is this Mrs. Faith
Allen?" "Yes,"
she replied, and at that moment I knew her.
"My name is Francis C. Waid,"
I said. That was enough;
twenty-four years vanished "like the baseless fabric of a
vision," and we seemed to live not so much in the present as in the
past. I was reminded of the
saying: "A good heart
never changes, but keeps his course truly."
Soon Mr. Allen came along, and as I saw him approaching I said to
our hostess, "That is Faith Allen."
Yes, and then when he came inside the room, such cordial hand
shaking and greeting followed. I introduced him to my brother with whom he had played in
childhood, but had not seen in fifty years; I think Mr. Allen was in his
sixty-fifth year; my brother had entered his fifty-ninth.
Pleasure enough for one Christmas, it might be thought, but it
seemingly had only begun.
After a social chat, consisting chiefly of innumerable questions
and answers, and supper being over, we closed this, to us, memorable day
by all going to a Christmas entertainment in the Universalist Church, Mr.
and Mrs. Allen's place of worship. Thus
ended a day long to be remembered, and somewhat remarkable in our lives;
and yet it was but as a prologue to ten more days equally full of
enjoyment.
On the following morning we informed Mr. Allen of our intentions to
accomplish as much visiting and calling on friends, and looking about
Athens, as we thought could do in the space of two days, so we immediately
commenced, in company with our esteemed friend, that same day.
We visited several places of note in Athens--the Union Bridge
Works, furniture factory, new school building and the Tioga Point
Cemetery. The old cemetery is within the limits of Athens.
In the former my uncle, Faith Allen's father, and other relatives
are interred. On my uncle
Allen's headstone is inscribed the following:
"L. M. Allen, Born June 19, 1793:
Died January 9, 1870." This
new cemetery is highly creditable to Athens.
Among other relatives we called on in Athens was our cousin, Mrs.
Sarah Corby. Mr. and Mrs.
Corby have three sons and two daughters, all living and married.
Faith Allen has one son and one daughter, both married and living
in Athens, and we called on them also.
All our relatives in Athens were in good health when we visited
them, but we were informed by Mr. Allen that
Clarissa Hart, his sister, who was a resident of Williamsport,
Penn., had died September 16, 1888.
Leaving Athens on the 27th my brother and I stayed a short time
with our relative, Charles E. Corby, at
Waverly, N. Y., and took dinner. We shall ever remember with true pleasure our short visit
with the newly-married couple. In
the journey of life there are attractive scenes and places that we would
have indelibly written on the tablets of our memory.
There is nothing, I think, more refreshing than the sight of a
young, happy pair starting out in their newly-married life with a
resolution to DO RIGHT. Oh! young man, young husband and young wife be true to God and
humanity, and enjoy this life as our Heavenly Father designed we should. After this short pleasant visit, our relatives, including
Mr. Allen, accompanied us to the train, and with a farewell shake of the
hand we parted. On arriving
at Elmira, a town some eighteen miles from Waverly, we found we had to
wait till the evening train on the Tioga Branch, in order to reach
Millerton, in Tioga County, Penn., a place some twelve miles distant from
Elmira. Our cousin, Homer
C. Waid, resides at Millerton, and I had written to him to expect
us, but hardly supposed he would come to the train at night, and raining
as it was, yet there he was, lantern in hand in the darkness, patiently
awaiting our arrival and ready to greet us.
We were soon at his home, where we were made welcome by Mrs. Waid
and her son, Roy D., and daughter, Flora.
I had not seen Mrs. Waid since they moved from Blooming Valley,
twelve years ago. Over
twenty-five years ago, she made her home with us, I think, part of two
summers, and from that time our friendship continued, although our visits
had ceased since they left Blooming Valley, Meadville, in 1876, until now.
Well, we had a cordial greeting, with much shaking of hands and
many other tokens of joy, after which I sat down, giving utterance to my
feelings with difficulty, as my emotion was great.
"Dear friends," I said, "I am too full of joy and
gladness for utterance. Let
silence speak; it is certainly golden now."
I had contemplated making this visit with my wife, and a year ago
we were specially invited by them to spend Christmas with them.
We came near going, but on account of Eliza's impaired health we
did not venture on so long a journey.
And to think Providence had permitted me to make this long-expected
visit, even now, with my brother, was joy beyond my expression.
We spent Thursday night, Friday and Friday night at Homer's,
leaving there on Saturday morning. He
accompanied us to Elmira, where we spent Saturday, and called on his
brother-in-law, Mr. Trescott, with whom we
took dinner and had a pleasant retrospective chat.
Years ago, in company with my beloved wife and my mother, I had
visited the Trescotts, and since then Mrs. Lydia
Trescott and daughter, in company with Mr.
and Mrs. Homer Waid, had also called on us when paying their
friends a visit in Crawford County. We also went out to the Guinnip
farm near the city. This name
to me and my family has an attraction, inasmuch as my second son, Guinnip,
was named in honor of merchants of that name who carried on business in
Meadville before the Rebellion of 1861.
Elmira is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants, and has many places
of interest, which we visited, such as Park Church, W.
K. Beecher, pastor, where there was a Christmas entertainment going
on, with Christmas tree, etc. Before
leaving we called on and had supper with our cousin, Clarence Simmons, and
then took the night train for Jamestown.
Sunday we spent with relatives in Frewsburgh, five miles from
Jamestown, and to us it was an unusually pleasant Sabbath.
We found Mr. and Mrs. Burns and their
daughter, Clara, at home, and with them we went to church.
To enjoy two good sermons and attend Sunday-school was enough for
one Christian Sabbath to bring peace and rest to my soul, and I always
thank the Lord for these privileges.
On the morning of Monday, the last day of the year 1888, Mr. Burns
drove us to Busti, a town about eight miles distant, where we passed the
day very pleasantly with our relative, Adelbert
Simmons, who is in the mercantile business.
After a profitable visit with him and his family, we were driven by
his son to the farm of Henry Simmons, about two and one-half miles from
Busti. These two cousins my
brother had never visited.
Henry Simmons' wife died
October 11, 1880, leaving him with the care of a family of three boys and
three girls. My wife and I
had enjoyed the social friendship of their domestic home ere it had been
broken up; and now I fully realized the bereavement and the empty place in
the family circle, for I thought of my own loved home.
I knew what it was to have a wife and mother taken away.
Yet we should not burden our remembrance with a heaviness that's
gone. Mr. Simmons had gone to
Jamestown, and was not yet returned, so we sat there in the evening
chatting with the children; and as I mused on the scene of the motherless
little ones grouped in the room, I thought there was still some happiness
left under the roof. All the
girls were occupied at something, even the youngest child, little Bernice,
only eight or nine years old, sat there quite lady-like, knitting just as
girls used to do in olden times. After
the eldest, Katie, had played the organ, we
retired to rest, and when midnight came we knew that the old year in dying
had given birth to the new. "Once more we stood, with
half-reluctant feet, Upon the threshold of another year; That line where Past and Present
seemed to meet In stronger contrasts than they did
elsewhere."
The early morning of the first day of the year 1889 saw us up and
dressed, and who should be the first one to hail me with a "Happy New
Year," as I entered the sitting room, but Henry
Simmons himself, and glad we were to meet.
Soon after breakfast we took the stage for Jamestown, about eight
miles off, and on our arrival we proceeded to the residence of Mr.
Frank Simmons, where we were met at the door by Mrs. Simmons, who
extended to us the usual greeting, with the announcement that we
"were just in time for a New Year's dinner'' at the home of her
brother, Hezekiah Williams, who lived near
by. Of course it came as a
surprise to us, and as it was a family gathering purely among the
Williamses, held by them for years on such occasions, I hesitated in
accepting the generous invitation. Mrs.
Simmons, however, observing my hesitancy, said:
"Yes, you are going, and here is Frank just coming in."
So there was no refusal; we had to go when they put the crueial
question, "Don't you want to go?"
"Yes," I at once said, "I know your folks so well,
and have been acquainted so long, you can regard us as members of the
family." Just before
leaving for Mr. Williams' a gentleman from Dakota came in, and he also
accepted a similar invitation, so we all went together to the "New
Year's Dinner." I found
I knew nearly all of those present, and especially did I welcome Hezekiah
Williams, our long acquaintance having endeared him to me like a brother.
His aged mother was present, proving a blessing to us all, while
the children cheered and enlivened the company with their merry glee--the
grandmother and the grandchild reminding us of the close of one year
and the opening of another, or of the beginning and the end of life's
journey. After a few
hours of the elixir or good of life, we parted, the banquet and the
friendship we had enjoyed remaining in our hearts, bright mementoes of the
birth of the year 1889.
As the day had not yet dosed, we found we had time to visit other
relatives, so directing our steps toward Harry
Simmons,' some distance off but yet within the city limits, on
Foot's Avenue, we called on Mrs. Simmons and her daughter, who were both
sick, the mother's health having been very indifferent for several years.
Then after yet another call we proceeded to Frank
Colt's (where we stopped December 24), telling him we thought it
was time he was visited again by us, as we "had not been there since
last year!" At this he
laughed, at the same time, in his usual cheery manner, inviting us to
"come in," which we did, and were glad to find Aunt Mary
Ann Simmons "quite well."
In the morning we left their hospitable roof, and after visiting Mr.
Cobb, and my friend William Bowen,
also attending to some business we left Jamestown, stopping, during the
day at Ashville, to see our cousins, the family of the late Leander
Simmons, also our enterprising friend, F.
Fleek, who is engaged in mercantile business, and whom we were glad
to find prospering.
In the evening we came to Union City, Erie Co., Penn., where we
tarried with Augustus Underholt, G. N. Waid's
son-in-law, and after breakfast the following morning, Mr. Underholt took
me to my friend, Mr. Wesley Davidson, who
formerly lived near Blooming Valley; thence we proceeded to the chair
factory where were found some old acquaintainces.
With Mr. Davidson I remained and took dinner, and afterward, while
my brother chose to prolong his visit with his daughter, I returned home
after a ten day's remarkably pleasant, instructive and invigorating trip.
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