Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-11
MAKING UP HISTORY.
The Oldest Inhabitant With His
Wealth of Gossip a Great Help.
VETERANS HOME FROM THE WAR.
The scotch-lrish People of Pittsburg and
Stories About Them.
HENRY CLAY AND THE LONG Boards


full company, if one had time to listen to
them, for your genuine ripe old timer is moi
cynical and captious. He enjoys the present
even more, perhaps. than the children of the
present, because he has seen it grow and
helped plant the seeds from which it mas
sprung.
I remember one such who stood at my
elbow one day in 1865. That was good
while ago, when you come to think OF it.
Matters were going on then which are
utterly forgotten now. But this old citizen
remembered still other matters which other,
had already forgotten then. On the dav 7
speak of grand military demonstration
had filled the streets of Pittsburg and ALLIE
gheny with great crowds of excited and en-
thusiastic people; for the war was vet verv
near to US, not having fallen into perspective
as it has now. The smoke of its battles was
SILL IN the air; the ferVor of its passions
still in peoples hearts.
Inc BOYS IN Blue We're having a notable
parade. Does anybody TO-DAY remember
that such an organization ever existed? It
was the predecessor of the Grand Army of
the Republic, and like that. was made up
OF men who had been in the recently dis
oanded army; and who had not yet been
oollged to buy new uniforms, so lately had
they worn their old ones home.
The men who marched in the peaceful
ranks this day were veterans who had
marched to much more serious purpose at
the front. There was an absence of perfect
balance in the matter Of legs and arms, and
the flags they carried were not so handsome
as they had been before battle had torn
them into shapes of inspiring beauty. But
with what splendid vim and spirit the boys
marched to the familiar army tunesl And
how the blood OF every man and woman
thrilled and danced as each tattered flag
came into sight!
The occasion was made still more signifi-
cant by the presence of many men whom the
war had made famous. Sheridan, I think,
was there, as he was at many another reunion
of veterans in Pittsburg; Hooker also
Fighting Joe, of Lookout Mountain"-and
General Butler, who made a speech which
reused the crowd to great enthus:asm-and
General Howard, who believe also made
speech. Others, too, there were; and alto
gether the event was one that stirred the
blood of the two cities.
The old-timer beside me was as enthusias-
tic as anybody; but his fervor was tempered
by the recollection of earlier enthusiasms.
It was glorious, he said, and he wished
every officer and every private who had
worn the blue in the service could have been
there to receive such a welcome as Pitts
burg always knew how to give. He remem-
bered other men who had been received with
just as much enthusiasm-not so much
demonstration, of course, because there had
been fewer people in the community then,
but just the same hearty spirit.
THE VISIT OF GENERAL WOOL.
Seeing all these generals and soldiers re-
minded him of the arrival of another gen.
eral in Pittsburg long, long before any of
these had made any noise in the world
His journey to the Iron City was made in q
very different fashion from theirs, but he
undoubtedly enjoyed it more. The visitor
was General Wool; and he came before
there was any railroad to render the journey
swift and easy. At the time OF his coming
there were two lines of communication be-
tween PIttsburg and the East. One was by
stage coach over the mountains to PhiIa-
delphia. The other was by boat to Browns
vile, and thence by stage to Baltimore or
Philadelphia. 1t was by the latter route |
that General Wool made the journey, and
nv informant was on the boat with him |
coming down from Brownsville.
The weather was cold, but the distin- |
of the scenery that be could |
not be induced to leave his vantage point in |
the pilot house and the companionship of |
Pilot Sam Hendrickson for the warm COM
forts of the cabin. At Braddock's Fields,
very naturally, his interest was unbounded.
The place was not a manufacturing town
then, but a mere barren spot with only an
interest attaching to it, and the
questions General Wool asked about it
made Sam Hendrickson fairly dizzy, but he
them all
A PITTSBURG RECEPTION.
Well, the reception the honored veteran
met on his arrival at Pittsburg was pleas
ant one to remember, both for him and the
citizens. There was no grand parade, like
his, for there were no soldiers then, and
not so very many people. But 1t gave the
visitor delightful idea of Pittsburg hospi-
ality. And there were plenty of other dis
,inguished visitors about whom my friend
became talkative; and he wa1ed especially
eloquent, as did all OF his generation, about
he tervently cordial reception of Henry
Clay when he came and changed the ad-
niration of the community to enthusiasm.
1t is by intimacy with these pleasantly
'eminiscent citizens that the true life and
history of a community can be best known.
Statistics tell far less about city than the
.ossip of its white-haired people, and tell it
ar less effectively. Like many another /
made visits from time to time to the settle
nent of the Economics and collected quite
little volume of facts and figures about the
of those peculiar people, so that
hought knew the history pretty we'll. One
lay an old Pittsburger chanced to tell me
hat his father, in 1925, sold to George Rapp,
he founder of the sect, one of the three
arms constituting the Economic posses
ions; the other two farms having been pur-
hased from the father of James G. Blaine,
ow Secretary OF State, and from Mr.. Haz-
EFT. And then he told me of his own boy
sh visits to the place, putting IN some an
cdotes about the thrifty and hospitable peo-
lie. Then, for the first time, felt that I
,as somewhat acquainted with the place. 1
his gossip about it, but 1 have for
often every figure of the statistics gath
red.
FARMS ON PENN AVENUE. I
Visitors to Pittsburg become well ac-
tainted with Penn avenue. They can see 6
,r themselves that it is fine thoroughfare, !
nd that the cable cars runs through pop
lous and weil-built-up portion oi the city. !
That else is there for either visitor or resi- q
ent to know about Penn avenue? Well,
ne of these pleasant people who remember I
lings told me that his grandfather WAS
nee offered farm lying on that great city J
rect, in the portion that used to be Bay I
rdstown, in exchange for horse and
agon. OF course, everybody knows in /
eneral way that the entire site OF Pittsburg !
as once part of the primeval wilderness; e
ut this bit of personal Renaissance, run
ing back only generation or two brought
lie wilderness into startlingly close neigh
'rhood, and vividly demonstrated how
oung, after all, is the CITY we call Pitts
1rg. \
Again, everybody knows that the Scotch
'ish element was nredo,p;n,nt l., tho aor1v |