The leader., 1897-02-17

ehe issue OF January 4, 1900. Possibly
1t may be Of interest to your many
modern readers to learn something Of
the contents Of this old time per;odi.
CAL 1t is a copy of weekly paper.
published at Kingston, Ulster county.
New York. This copy now before me
was ushered upon reading public
long before the days of modern i'm
provements and fast manners, TO all of
which its reading matter bears abund-
ant evidence. When it was first put in
the mails Cornelius Vanderbilt, the
great grand father of our present
Duchess of Marlborough, was q six
years old boy, toddling around
his fathers truckgarden house on
Manhattan Island. As for the ances-
tors of such American capitalists as
Jay Gould and Russell Sage, they had
not then arisen out of the rubbish
which had been cast upon our shores
by the over-crowded nations of Europe.
1t came forth at time when such
men as John Jacob Astor were promi-
nent in the fur trade of New York
City, and when such men as Aaron
Burr aud Alexander Hamilton were
prominent figures in New York poll
tics. Across the Atlantic Napoleon
Bonaparte was just beginning his
career of conquest. and the Duke of
Wellington was just thirty-one years
OF age. having not yet carved his name
upon the cap-stone of history. King
ston, the place where this little county
paper was publised, was then boat
landing on the west bank of the Hud-
son, and as for such places as Chicago,
st. Louis and Cleveland, they had not
then been dreamed of. In fact,
bears and wolves, and wildcats
and panthers, then roamed the woods
where these great and denseiy popu-
lated cities now stand.
When l look through the columns of
this old paper find not even trace
of such thing as a railroad and a
time table. 1t was issued and mailed
to its readers before the sages of the
world had begun to think about such
things as railroads and steam cars.
AS before stated, Kingston was boat
landing, but there is not word in the
paper about the days for the arrival
and departure of steamboats,. The
reason for this is patent the paper
was gotten out just at a time when the
world was getting ready to laugh at
Robert Fulton for the folly of his at
tempt to run boats by steam power.
The contents of this old paper are
quaint, amusing and suggestive. Only
a few things in it bear anything like a
resemblance to local news, feature
now so prominent in all of our town
and county papers. In one of its col
umns l learn that the editor had lost
his red bull; that Benjamin Demyer's
three year old heifer, with star in her
forehead, white under her belly and
marked with piece cut off the left ear
cut straight across-had gone from
home that John West was anxious to
recover a gun, which had been taken
from his store one year before and,
also, that James Haibrout had fine
new sleigh for sale. In the same col
umn l also learn that Maths Van
Steenbury was warning all persons
against keeping or harboring his wife,
Hannah, and especially did he caution
them not to sell her goods on credit,
as he was determined to pay no more
of her debts. Poor frail woman; /
guess she has long since gone where she
will need no more goods, either for
winter or summer. In another col
umn l learn that John Schoonmaker
had a saw mill for sale also that he
wished to sell stout, healthy, active
Negro Wench, and that he would give
particulars to any one inclined to buy.
These items, with advertisements and
the notices of Sheriff's sales, about fill
up the local columns. One peculiar
feature of the advertisements is that
the merchants proposed to take ashes
in exchange for their goods. If any of
the ancestors of New York's present
"four hundred" society lived in or
aronnd Kingston they we're considered
Of very little Importance, for the editor
of the Gazette says not word about
their going out or coming in i;
their Sunday devotions or week day
diversions.
| Quite large space is given to the
doings of Congress and to the CORES
pondence between that body and Presi-
dent John Adams. A part of this cor
respondence relates to the death of
Washington and to funeral obsequies
at his burial. Washington had died
on the 14th of the preceding Decem-
Der and the issue of the paper, Satur-
day, January 4th, is in mourning, ex-
pressive of the country's bereavement
; by having a black border around the
margins and through the columns.
In addition to the foregoing the pa
per has quite batch of news from the
Franco-Austrian war, or rather the
war between France and the allied
armies of England, Russia, and Aus
: tria. This news is in the shape Of quo
tations. from London papers and the
latest news dates given are those Of
the 20th of October, nearly thres
: months prior to the date Of the paper
i'm which they are contained. The
battle of Zurich was fought September
25, 26, 1766, yet our editor prints it the
lst of the following January as news
for the American people. just think
of it ! This would now be published in
all of our papers in less than forty
eight hours after it occurred
To look at this old paper furnishes
| much food for thouOhf and reflecfiou