Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-01-02
Down in Berks County.

lt was { U ClOCk Ou CaeuU UoS o'Oh
ING. the 22nd day of December last,
when we stood on the railroad, near
the station, at Kutztown, Berks
county. Pa, and looked through the
darkness at the lights in the town
southwark of the depot. A ray of
reflected light cleaned on water be
tween where We stood and the village,
and we asked of man close by,
.What body of water is that 2 He
said, THAT is Sauconey creek, AN
Indian name, but no one there knows
what it means. To our inquiry for
a hotel. an answer was given that the
borough contains five, all good ones,
but still the speaker would prefer the
Kutz House, or the hotel known to
the natives by that name, but the
name of which, as per sign, is the
Pennsylvania House, and to accom-
modate us he would walk into the
town and point out the hotel of his
choice. It was kind in the Berks |
county man who so proposed to a
stranger. and so did on dark night, |
and it is a source Of regret that We
have not his name to mention here. |
A strange thrill possessed us all the
way as we traversed the short dis
tance from the railroad to the hotel, |
for we knew that We were passing
through a street that was as familiar |
to our first American ancestor of a
century and quarter ago, as are the
streets of Alitfiintown to us, and it Is
possible that with such conscious
ness actively at play in our mind, we
were not as genial to the man who
was 50 kindly guiding us, as under
other circumstances we might have
been. In a time. that seemed short,
the hotel was reached Our guide did
not enter. Good byes" were ex-
changed in The dark, and he went
his way, and for the darkness We
could not tell what he looked like.
The hotel is kept" by E. NJ. Sickle,
but that evening was in charge of an
old gentleman named Kutz, who is
descendant of the man Kutz who
founded the town. He WAS Just the
quality of citizen suited to answer
our inquiries, and he answered them
cheerfully. To our inquiry relative
to church records he directed us to
REV. ]. S. HARM,N,
of the German Reformed church, he
being the preacher of the oldest
church organization Ill the town, an
organization over a century old. Mr..
Harman has preached there all his
life, and his father preached there be-
fore him for period of fifty years.
His appearance reminds one Of Mr..
John Motzer, Of this county. The
next call was that made on
DIR. a. ]. HoTrESsTINE
Definite direction to the Doctors
place was received from a man in the
, street, who insisted in walking with
us to the door of Hottenstine's house
; A knock at the door brought hearty
response, Come in" OF course we
| entered, and there found the Doctor
, alone He did not move from his seat.
We sat down in a chair by his side
He sat in an arm chair by table,
and had his feet resting on a chair
that stood by the stove. Indeed he
more reclined than sat. He was in
uudress, barefooted, aud had no cloth
Ing on excepting pants and shirt. He
had been reading the Reading Eagle,
which he held in his hand, and had
been making himself comfortable at
his own fire ID manner of abandon
that is not often met with in these
days of superficial finish The con-
versatiOn had not progressed far till
the Doctor got out of his easy, half
reclining position, and went to book
case and got cut a number of old
papers, chiefly relative to the
HorTESsrINE FAMILY.
The family settled in what is now Max
atawny township, Berks county, as
early as the year 1129, but they have a
record that antedates that date many
years in Europe. He had an appoint
ment for a consultation over 4 case in
Lehigh county for the next morning
Sabbath morning-but with all that, he
expected to meet US at bis fsther's-Mr.
William Hottenstine-two and a half
miles from town in the direction of
Easton, at Two o'clock z. NJ, on Sab
bath. The Hottenstlne family is
large now and spread in many counties
With such an appointment made, we
bade the Doctor good evening, went to
the Kutz House, and retired for the
night.
SUNDAY MORNING.
We were awakened on Sunday morn
ing BY the ringing of a church bell. 1t
was scarcely daylight, and we had not
got the wonder out Of our mind why it
should ring so early, when it ceased
ringing, and began to strike like a
clock. Alb that's it the time will
be announced now. l, 2,3, 4, 5,6,7,
s, 9,-Gracious So late as that aud
We sprang out of bed but the bell
tolled oL.--lG, ii, II, l3, IL. Non-
sense. the clock is out of fix, We said,
but it continued striking, and We count
ed till it had tol!ed 80 at that figure
we stopped, but it rang on . while
longer, and we concluded the clock
needed repairing. At the breakfast
table our host was asked what mishap
bad overtaken the towr clock, when be
said "Tne place has no such clock"
but the tolling Of the bell was the an
uouncement Of the age of citizen who
had died the previous night. The name
of the deceased was Daniel Say6er,
aged SO years. The bell had tolled 83
times. Such is the custom in Kutz-
town. When a church-member dies,
his death, and age is announced by the
ringing aud tolling Of the church bell
the morning after death.
KUTZTowN
vas settled in 1T23 hu Garm,ns and q