The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-03-10
PER HAPS LOAN EXHIBIT
The Subject of a Collection
of Colonial Relics
Talked About.
ANCESTORS AND THEIR USES.
Arguments for aud Aga inst the
scheme-Social Notes of
Interest.
ANCESTORS AND THEIR USES

Specially Written for the JERSEY City Neps.
At the close of a meeting held one day
| this week where some thirty of the repre-
sentative women of the city were as
sembled, the conversation turned on the
the interest recently manifested III the
subject of colonial and Revolutionary
relics, and the long list that the COM
mittee in charge of this department had
prepared for the Chicago Fair.
Finally it was suggested that with all
this material. there should be enough to
form a loan collection, more properly a
| loan exhibit, whose historic and anti
| quarian value would be inestimable. II
was only a suggestion, given in a tenta-
tiv g manner. and discussed with no view
to immediate action, and in mentioning
it here. it is not intended as a news item.
yet IL this idea should ultimately reach q
| fulfillment, there Is no question Oh lCs
usefulness.
THE PROPER CHOICE OF ANCESTORS.
For there is 40 manner of use In de-
claiming against ancestors. Everyone
| has had some sometime, whether they can
| be located or not. Aud since they cannot
be avoided, they should be selected with
care. The virtues OF properly selected
ancestors, though they may not descend
even unto the third fourth genera
lions, certainly do a man no harm. cer-
tainly do him a great deal OF good, even
ii the virtue itself has been. so to speak,
lost in the shuttle, and only the tradition
| left to be told in the family.
Now. the ancestors who are responsible
| for tue ''old families" of Jersey City were
| eminently useful citizens. They Traded
with the Injun instead of killing
| him. They were Industrious, they
made a practice of being honest,
| and wars were not to their taste.
II they did not come to this country for
freedom to worship God" they certainly
| did not come to burn witches or whip
| Ouakers. They were Dutchmen, in a
word. And while we go making beautt-
| full speeches about posterity, it might be
| lust as well to think a little Uit about this
| ancestry of ours, for it won't be very
! long before we shall be occupying that
position ourselves.
Well, il such a collection were mace,
and thrown open for a limited time, even
| these departed generations might have a
chance to say Look at our records-We
| went before q cleared The way-it was
| with such rude tools as these, that we De-
| gan what you are doing this day" The
| picture of the old Edge windmill with
Grand street stretching down to the river
"a green lane bordered with Willows
and all around the unbroken placidity OF
| A country landscape, tells not only the
| changes that have accompanied one hun-
| bred years, but the foundation principle
| of sturdy thrift that brought about those
| changes. Thu silver hat9kfchard stock
| ton buried in the woods, 9 OF british
| reach. now owned by Mrs. All. McGill,
| the portrait through which O British
| bavouet pierced, in spite of not finding
| the sIgner himself, nav u power to bring
| the days of '76 out of the history book as
| no amount of talking will do. And the
| relics OF Col. Richard Varick, aide-de-camp
| 70 WashAuoton now in possession of his
| lineal descendants, speak or the early
| DAYS of the Republic, When a position OF
| honor in the councils of the nation was
vet something to desire by the best men
| of the country.
PRO AND CON.
This is beginning to sound like a prose
poem. So IL might be as well to turn the
| subject to the difficulties in the way.
! First. owners will not lend. That is,
| ewners would not lend to he Chicago
| Fair: whether they would to this remains
| 10 be seen. If they did, there should GER
| tainly be a system of insurance like that
Guaranteed by the Chicago authorities.
| Second, there Is no place to- hold it,. Now
| with all the halls and church parlOrs in
| this city, there ought to be room enough.
I Third aud worst. there is no one to take
ie up.
It's a responsibility, tneEeS no uouos "
that. Fancy having George Washfngton's
walking.stick and Aaron Bnrr's marble
| tor table and the authentic autograph
of Peter Stuyvesant on ones mind! But
| such things have been done before, al
| though by churches at Wasblngtonss
Birthday affairs, generally in a shipshod
| way, always on d small scale. Wherever
cantre of interest, always well attended
| Then imagine a large room with the
| varjous ANTIQUES arrayed along its four
| walls. the most fragile under glass. per-
| haps. the documents certainly SO; every
| thing to be viewed from the other side OF
| tures at the Metropolitan Museum.
| Tvery article accompanied by q card, tel
| iing its name. uses, history, age and
owner. china all togeGher, so with glass,
| 90 with furniture. In one department all
| the by-gone gowns-brocades.. white
| muslin worked with silver threads even
| linsey woolsey, homespun by the wearer
Mand all .sg~randfather's hats' and faced
| regimenrals.
Oh what a premium there would be on
| ancsstorsi and how one could see how
the population of this city is gathered
| from everywhere, some having the last
| relics of exiled Huguenot progenitors.
| others. quorum par fui, secretly con-
| yinced that while etner peoples ances-
| tors NAV be well enough, there are no
forefathers like the ola fellows who
stepped on Plymouth Rock, and no relics
! quite like those brought from New Eng
Why. eyen writing about this loan col
| lection. that is as yet the shadow OF a
| dream. is enough to set one wishing to
| see it q reality. Won't some one please
| think about it. and not rest content with
| thinking. but bring it to pass before the
| relic fever has quite passed awayF
SOCIAL CHAT.