The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-06-20

nations of dress. They would often
laugh in the very face of the sturdy old
Knickerbocker--
His old three-cornered hat,
And his breeches and all that
Were so queer.
But the old gentleman was queer in
other ways than matters of dress. His
notions on the currency were queer.
He had no faith in banks or in Wall
street speculations. He would some
times discount short papers with I'M
doubted indorsers, and he owned some
real estate; but the bulk of his property
consisted in sundry fat little kegs solid
ly filled with gold and silver, which he
kept in his sitting room upstairs, 'front.'
ing the street. Then he was queer in
other things; and he had queer ways Of
helping poor people anonymously, and
absurd notions that charity should be-
gin at home, and only expand outward
ly in proportion as every necessity with
in its immediate sphere had been re-
lieved. So that, putting all these things
together, the good man passed for being
a little cracked, and heads with nothing
at all in them were gravely shaken, like
empty poor-boxes, when his name was
mentioned.
The old fellow viewed with annoy
ance and disgust the changes that took
place in his native village. He only
smiled when the stages from Patchogue
and Babylon and Islip disgorged at Car
mann their loads of antiqued figures
that looked as if they might have step
ped down from the canvasses of Flem-
ish gallery of the seventh century. He
didn't recognize as fellow creatures
men and women attired in the modern
Partisan mode.
At length the wise men of Brooklyn
pronounced Schooenoyer' house nui-
sance. 1t was shabby, it was tumble
down, it destroyed the alignment of the
street. 1t must come down. The cor
ooration offered him handsome price
for it. He rejected it with disdain. He
was told that he must abandon his man
sion-the homestead of his fathers
will ye mill ye. He dared them to vio-
late the sanctity of his castle. He was
notified to vacate, he scorned the sum
mons. The whole town became inter
ested.
The old man was non-resistant, like
Father Lamson. He shut himself up
with his money-bags and doggedly
awaited the result. Workmen We're sent
to pull down the house. The whole
vicinity was thronged with curious
spectators as at a ship launch. Merrily
rang the axes and the hammers and
saws, and the 'yo-heay-ho" of sturdy
ellows pulling and hauling at cables.
At last the end of the house was torn
lway-shaming the legal fiction that a
mans house is his castle-and there sat
Cd Harmanus in his elbow chair, with
his cooked hat on his head and his inn
mortal breeches on his sturdy legs, sui
lime in his martyrdom, and smoking
tranqnilly his old clay pipe. His family
had been removed TO another one of his
houses. Hewas invited to join them.
But he declined, with majestic wave
of the hand and a graceful emission of
tobacco smoke. Then he lifted careful
ly,arm-chair and all, carried them down
the staircase, and deposited them on the
opposite sidewalk. His goods and chat
ties were sent to his wife; but even
his money-llegs departed he refused to
accompany them, but sat all through
that day silent spectator OF the ee-
molition of his venerable house. At
night he joined his family.
The removal of this old landmark
marked the merging OF one era into an
other, and had the significance of an
historical event. The corporation paid
tie old man large sum, but he did not
long survive the destruction of his
house. His son lives in palace and
drives. .blooded-horses, but few beyond
the family remember, in the heady cur
rent of life, the Last of the Leather
Rraacbaa - of Naw York