The record-union., 1892-12-03
Special oorrespohdence REcoRD-UNIox.l

Especial Correspondence RECoRD-USIoN.7
"Oh, for thousand tongues" as the
boy said when he crawled into an empty
molasses hogshead. I am here. I have
not mentioned it before, but possibly in
the tumult preceding election the valu-
able readers of your regular paper have
not noticed the DEPRESSION.
York, the county seat Of York County,
is a little city of some 10000 souls, in
GLIDING, Of course, the suburban popula-
ton. 1t is at once a mixture of the
quaint and the modern. On every hand
are evidences of the good old Dutch
Colonial days that dawned and waned
when the Western wild oat was wasting
its tallness on the desert air. The city is
located on tho banks Of Codorus Greek.
Now do not, / pray you, get the accent
in the wrong place, as 1 did, but call it
CoDo-rus. You see, when it runs low in
summer it does not give forth an odor as
sweet as wild roses. and | naturally
thought "Odorous" was entirely proper,
with the "C'' tackled on merely for looks.
Workers do not love you when you say
their creek smells bad, so it would be as
well to observe profound secrecy in this
matter. So far, so good.
At the crossing OF every street over the
said stream there is a very fine iron
bridge-iye in number. Even the names
OF the principal streets have Continen-
tai twang that savoTs of cooked hats, yell
low wesketS," knee-breeches and pow
dered wigs. The most conservative are
King, Queen, Duke, Princess, George,
Penn, and ii funny old thoroughfare that
comes staggering into Market Street,
seeming to be jOyously singing, "EV-ry
body's got a Jag on but me-" is named
Salem Road. Lafayette is reported as
saying that y oTk was the seat of the
American Union in our most gloomy
times" He had reference to the fact that
the Continental Congress convened in
York nine months after being driven
from Philadelphia by the British.
The first stone house erected in York
County stands near Wrightsville and is
now nearly 100 years old. The Conunen-
tai Congress during its escape from Phil
adelphia on horseback stopped at this
house for rest and refreshment. l re-
member the occasion well. On its walls
is inscribed in German the following:
g. In the year 1874 John Schultz and his
wife, Christini, built this house."
History records that Washington Wis
tied the town of York July ,, 1871, on his
return from tour through other States.
Forty-one pounds OF candles at a cost
of e lSs. were used to illuminate the
town on this occasion, and there were
other demonstrations OF respect.
York is situated in a productive agri-
cultural district. There are many manu-
featuring enterprises and there is consid-
erable wholesaling done. There is an
elegant seven-story hotel just completed
in Market Square, but it is not yet
opened. This square is a large plateau in
the center Of the town, just at the cross
ing of the main thoroughfares and is
.I,.,1t
five large market-hOu5cS, and, by the
way, this going to market is a new
phase in the Backwoods Bellies exist
ence. Some day | VIII tell you the
modus operandi. Haven't time now.
There are many beautiful residences
and grounds, as beautiful as they can be
made with a lack of sweet flowers. The
houses, with few exceptions, are built
after one pattern-it seems to have been
borrowed back and forth like BASQUE
pattern, until, verify, it must be sadly
tattered. The houses are built III long
rows. and all notions of giddy orna-
mentatiOn are sCorned. They are solid,
stolid, warm and hideously ugly. The
pattern was even lent into the country dis
tricts, for in Pennsylvania you see
scarcely any other kind. They are long,
have Just so many windows and so many
doors, no verandaS, solid wooden shut
ters and two chimneys. If they have
COM DlDOulNtu bllGlA uN GL4AH any inherent
from that prescription it is because they
had 10 build from memory. The houses
are not like those in the w eSt-haShed up
in hurry to speculate on, but they are
built for a mans family to live in, take
root and vegetate there. There are few
residences that possess the quirks and
gingerbread that characterize the West
ern architecture, and the people in gem
eral regard them with doubt and distrust.
They are too abrupt a departure from the
somber and substantial abode their an
cCstOrs cherished.
Some OF the houses are a million years
old more or lessl and right interesting
they are. The oldest are OF uneven gray
stone with the inevitable two chimneys,
and are still in the heydey of youth,
though built in the seventeen hundreds.
a part Of the premises Of the suburban
abode is the immense red barn-"bank
barns" They cover a few acres, more or
less, and are constructed so the heavy
wagons can be driven in from the upper
most side onto the upper floor. One side
overhangs and forms place for stock.
Many are of stone and brick, and are
planted there with an eye to staying there.
They are roomy, and warm in the widest
weather. Another Of the appurtenances
/ have not seen outside Of my Sunday
school library picture-book is the queer
old woodenpumps, higher than your head,
boxed up, with a straight lever for a
handle and painted green-always green,
never sky-blue, PINK, goblin, egg-blue
or stale muIhn brown, but always green,
just green.
1t should be called the City of Brick,
for while nearly all the houses are of
brick, even The payements and cutters
are also of brick. They are not as even
as Christians temper, either, and YOU
90 hobbling along in an inelegant style
until you have learned their tricks and
manners" 1 can now cover distance
of i've squares without measuring nv
classical length but twice on the duIl-red
cubes, and have even been known to 90 il
with once falling, but that time / carried
lantern and cane. If the York pave
ments are a drawback to the pedestrian.
the California board pavements are a
hold hack. Isn't it lovely. gentle reader
to catch your toe under the end OF q loose
plank and fall with disgusting thump
like a dressed beef on its cold and un-
sympathetic upward side? and isn't il
loveiier far TO be sailing along admirine
your own grace of motion and catch your
skirt braid on Il teupenny nail, to be
called back with jerk or leave yard OF
tcrchon lace chat cost ten cents a yard
1uttering there like a distress sign?
The sidewalks merge INTO shallow un-
covered cutters and constant stream of
water meanders along, swelled as the
housewives contribute their sOapsuds
On a hot summer day you look down the
long shady streets, and at most any hour
there is to be seen an army OF barefoOted
youngsters padding in the water in front
OF their doors.
York is the cleanest, tidiest little city
1t has ever been my pleasure to see. 1t IS
not enforced cleanliness but II IS 1ndlYld-
ual neatness. The cobweb and the pretty
hy with gauze and silver-wing are the
housewives especial abomination. The
pavements aud the little front steps. and
al,A strnc.e ko.I ln