The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1876-07-06
Old Things in PhiladeIphia.

some distance. his head on the ground.
Old Things in Philadelphia.
Correspondence Cincinnati Epquirer.I
In this country of yesterday nothing is
old. We have an antiquity. In the
freshness and bloom of our youth we live
in the present. No old castles crown
our hill-tops, no gray old catbedrals
crown our cities, reaching far back into
the centuries. But we have past and
a few monuments that connect US with it.
One of the most ancient of these is the
Swedes' Church, in this city. One hun
dred and ninety-nine year ago the S%edes
of the small settlement of -WiccacO, on
the Delaware River, being religiously
inclined, built themselves a log church.
1t was fortress and church, place
of defense against the world and the
devil.
Here the simple, earnest missionary
preached to congregation where every
man was armed with knife and gun The
Rev. Jacob Fabritius preached to an
armed assemblage. The last nine years of
his ministration he was totally blind, but
the good man labored faithfully. His
salary was twenty-seven pounds. Toward
the end of the sixteenth century a new
church became absolutely necessary. On
Trinity Sunday, in the year 100, the
present edifce was dedicated. 1t is a
small, neat, brick building, rectangular
in shape, with the corners cut off at the
pulpit end. The roof is hipped and sur
rounded by a bell-tOwer, from whence in
those simple days the curfew foated
through the unbrokeD forest and over the
placid waters. Around the church is the
rustic grave-yard-rustic and quite even
now with its old defaced monuments, its
tall trees, its flowers and roses, its ivy
covered wall and the happy birds twitter-
ing overhead. The outside of the build
ing has never been changed, with the ex-
ception of the addition of a porch, since
that day. The interior has been re-
modelled so as to give more room,
as the old pews occupied too much
space.
1t appears from the records that the
grounds upon which the Swedes' Church
was built, as well as large tract beside,
belonged to the Sven family, the chief
of which was Sven Schultz. What has be-
come of this family, shoot me if / can
tell. They appear to have passed away
entirely; even the name has passed from
the memory. One street alone celebrates
their. fame, end that they would not
recognize, as it is corrupted into Swan
son. This change is traceable to their
own descendants, for we find on tomb
in the yard this epitaph:
"In memory of Peter Swanson,
Who died December is, 1887,
| Aged 81 years.
Reader, stop and self behold
| Thou'st made of ye same mold,
| And shortly must dissolved be;
Make sure Of blest Eternity 20
In those days the country around is
described as covered with trees and
diversified with hills. The shore was
broken by streams and inlets. cit was
deemed so attractive" says the chrOni
cler, Gas pleasant place, that Thomas
Penn, when in Philadelphia, made it his
favorite ramble; so much so that Secre-
tary Peters, in writing to him in
1743, thus complains of its changes,
saying:
Southwark is getting already dis
figured by erecting irregular and mean
houses, thereby so marring its beauty
that when he shall return he will lose his
usual pretty walk to Wiccaeo." In the
early days these lines of Bryant would
describe the spot:
Wandered long, and wandered far,
And never have met,
In all this lovely Western land,
spot so lovely yet"
Now, this speck of green is, as Buzfuz
would say, an oasis in the desert of
Swanson street. Around it, like tall
weeds around lily of the valley, rise
depots, elevators, shipping docks and
warehouses.
To-day the bells ring out merrify,
The interior of the church is decorated
with wreathes of holly and laurel; the
chancel is perfect bower of cedars, pine
and palms. A great bouquet blossoms
in the fount. Over the pulpit, on a
ground of green, in letters of white i'm
mortelles:
"17e.
"1700 ANNIVERSARY. 1876"
The auditorium is crowded, and two
or three hundred are unable to get in.
What would these good old people who
lie beneath these roses and these molder-
ing stones say if they could see all these
bright girls in pull-backs? The organ
sounds, and the same old chants that have
sounded here Sunday after Sunday for
one hundred and seventy-six years are
sung. The service was the simple but
beautiful evening service of the Protest
ant Episcopal Church. But beg you,
when you visit this spot, do not forget
the old graveyard where the fore
fathers of the village lie." Here are a
few epitaphs:
From a stone dated 1721:
Reader Rejoice
Since She Who Lies
Beneath This Stone
With JOY Nav Rise
When All The Just
With Joy Ascend
To Meet Their God
! Savior & Friend"
Every word commences with capital.
Another:
"Tothe memory Of
Erie Gestenbers,-1725.
My glass is run, my work is done,
And lie under ground,
Entombed in clay until ye day,
That ye trumpet sound"
Another about the same time:
Behold and see as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was
As 1 am now, so soon you'll be,
Prepare for death and follow me-"
Here is quite history, a little
ambiguous, probably:
I" Sacred to the memory Of
Miss Sophia Fisher
who departed this life
Sept Sd, 1916,
Aged s. years.
Regretted numerous
Friends and relatives,
Particularly 6y NJ Collin,
Having lived with him
And his wife, her sister,
Eleven years, and since
Her decease, been for
Nineteen prudent,
Neat and trusty manager
OF his household"
This n Collin came to the church as
its pastor in the year 1876, and continued
to discharge the duties of that Office for
forty-fye years, converting by his popu-
larity, earnestness and eiOquence thou
sands. So many came 10 hear him at
times that he was compelled to preach in
the open air. So popular was he through
out the colony that he had a monopoly
of the marriages. 1t was during his
pastsrate that the English was substi-
tuted for the Swedish language: the con-