Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-03-11
FROM TRENTON.

FROM TREN HON.
Early Times fIa Delaware County.
Interesltng "Reminiscences OF Pioneer
Lifs.-sehOOIs, Churches, Improve
ments, &C.
Eds. Gasetts Our big sisters with
their grandeur had wei nigh awed US to
silence, Late as it may seem, we would
timidly elevate our frowZy heads a little
above the debris of the beech forest, and
with a sensation about the knees akin to
that experienced by Belshazzer, just in
innate that our beloved little Trenton
lies between Porter and Harlem, with
her eastern line touching the aIluvial
soil of famous Old Licking.
We have our pioneers of whom we are
justly proud. One who came here in the
year 1877, but 10 years of age, and with
nothing but the clothes he wore, is now
worth not less than $4,000. We had our
landlords from New Jersey who knew
Just how to keep a tavern, and later
quite a colony settled in the northern
part of the Township from the little Blue
State where they had eked out a scanty
subsistence by carting wood from the
mountain. Many the tardy villager
whose morning nap has been cut short
by their ''gee whoe I" They imported
those habits of industry, and many of
them now count their acres by the hun
dreds and their dollars by the thousand.
We had a colony from Ithica, New York
who settled in the south, and one from
Pennsylvania in the west part of the
| Township, all stalwart men well calcula-
lated to cope with a gigantic wilderness.
We would not forget TO mention among
the early settlers IN our neck the woods
4
breeches full of stiches, whose large
and generous heart beat beneatha fawn-
| skin vest and whose head was adorned
with coon-skin cap. There was one
farmer who ran two large asheries and
supplied the town Of Delaware with salt
and window glass for more that II years.
Those articles were Wagoned from Zanes-
YilIe.
In those days of primitive loveliness,
when the young people of Delaware and
vicinity were married, they did not take
the cars to cleveland or Cincinnati, but
theirs was n bridal party indeed and in
truth They were mounted on horses,
bride in hand. and often journeyed
along bride paths. We necollect such a
party from Delaware en- EO1Eke for Gran
/ vile, which stopped at the wayside inn
| for rest and refreshment. One mirthful
young lady wished some bread and milk;
the land-lady, a delicate woman with
sweet blue eyes, whohad seen but twenty
summers. produced the lacteal fluid in a
china bowl accompanied by a bright
silver spoon and slices Of snowy bread.
This was not the tin cup and corn bread
the fair bride expected to find in the will
derness, hence she ate her lunch in
silence tostlie great amusement of the
l ho s-Ff fb,+ = r.,
resident of this county, as beautiful an
old lady as she was then charming
bride.
A little light hath shone in dark places.
We have sent forth ministers and law
yers, and more recently a missionary of
the New Order to the benighted people
of our State Capital. We have a Chris
tan church, one Methodist, one United
Brethren, one Presbyterian, with a neat
parsonage, and two of the New Dispen-
sation where the faithful Nasby might
have found a pleasant retreat when so
unceremoniously elected from Pepper S
Tavern. Here could he sip his punch
in peace on a salary of not less than
thirty dollars a year, with but one draw
back to his felicity-he must needs buy
his whisky in the village of Sunburv, as
none of that inhammable beverage is
sold within our borders.
Many of US are fully persuaded that
there is for our Republic no surer founda-
ton than education, and there are those
IN our midst who can see no necessity of
educating more than one person in every
ten. Full well does that party whose
emblem IS the most poisonous reptile
known wherein is their strong tower, the
very foundation of which is ignorance.
In passing many Of our plain substan-
tial farm houses we have heard the hum
of the spinning wheel and the click of
the sewing machine blended with the
sweet notes of the piano, combining
the useful with the ornamental.
Our institutions of learning are all very
plain and were we in possession of one
three stories high surmounted by dome
and historical bird we would not wish to
place it before your minds eye'until that
delicate organ become irritated. The
coming season c. Murphy Esq, will
erect a splendid brick residence upon a
hill Of mountainous proportions in this
land of dead level. Since our farmers
have been relieved of wool on the brain
and the erection of the cheese factory
within few steps of our western line
many of them are violently attacked with
kline pox which threatens to assume a
chronic form. With this exception we
are healthy people We have been
readers OF your excellent paper since we
were able to climb upon a beloved par
ent's knee, and with difficulty make out
the large letters, therefore We hope YOU
will have patience with an
OLD SUBSCRIBER.