The Penn's Grove record., 1900-05-11
SOME "REMINISCENCES
OfPenn's Grove IS Years Ago
BY DAVID C. CANN.

D OAv4O
AS our early settlers Of Upper Penns
Neck are passing away and thinning out
it may be well for one amongst the lew
remaining Of the old timers to givesome
of his early recollections OF by gone
days. A few remain who date back to
a period before my time; among my
own relations the Divers and Crispens
and Pedricks, Of PENIS Grove and
Pedricktown, may claim to be amongst
the oldest Of the early settlers OF the
Grove. Mr.. John Diver probably has q
claim prior to them, and is no doubt
the oldest settler in PENIS Grove.
In the spring of the year 1847 ] came
to the Grove to live, along with my par
ents brothers and sisters from Philadel-
phia where / was born March /, 1889.
It was then a small village of about 3U
inhabitants. Some of our farmers COM
plain about roads to-day, and l don't
blame them, but with an early settler
the wonder is that such progress mas
been made, and that u township
shows such marked improvements. IL
| those early days we had to contend Win
winter drifts on our roads. The snow
came deep in the early winter, and was
with us a sure winter road till the
| spring u melted it away. We could
depend upon it staying with us for the
winter months, and even from Novem
| Der till April. We had our Indian sum
mer as regular as any other season.
| Why we now have no certainty Of oul
annual Indian summer, such seasons
are something of the past.
In the early fOrties we had no regu'
lar Sabbeth service in u little village
| of Penn's Grove. I remember one Sab.
beth we had a young preacher visiting
us from one of our colleges. He preach
| ed in the old Emmanuel. We had nc
organ. My father, Augustus Cam lead
the singing in those days. l had a seal
along side one of the side gallery win
dows in view of the Cove road. In the
middle Of the sermon I happened to
look out, and the sight I saw caused
me to laugh outright. much to my
own discontinue and to the annoyance
of the young preacher. What l saw
was two girls, each mounted astraddle
on a good size pig, having hold OF an eal
with each hand. racing for all they
were worth. After services was over !
explained to the preacher the cause Of
my disturbing the service. He said it
was well he could not see it or the dis.
turbance might have been greater. fol-
he was sure he would have broken
down and laughed as loud as l did
Next day curiosity led me to 60 and
see the pigs, and / found the bristles
were worn q little off the back of each
pig in the shape of a saddle with the
girls practising On the race course.
One winter I was annoyed by some
one helping himself to my stove wood,
which was nice and dry and handy on
the road side zeal the undertaken shop.
l was anxious to find out who was do
ing this, as it was somewhere away
from the general character of u com.
munity, honesty being the true trait OF
the settlers in these days. l had resort
ed to a means for detecting the culprit
that even to this day I cannot help
thinking was mean. However, it is
long since past now, and l may as well
relate it. l took one of the sticks and
bored an auger hole in the end OF it,
put some powder in it. and plugged it
up nicely, laying it back on the top of
the pile. Next morning, while getting
my wood ready to make the fire n of
the men I knew came along the road
and said to me, 'David, l have met
with a bad misfortune this morning"
1 inquired what had happened, and he
told me that shortly after he had lit the
fire that morning in the cooking stove
the stove had literally blown to pieces,
and he could not understand it as it
was a good stove. I understood it ex-
actly, and shall l say it felt guilty. but
said nothing. I had no more wood
stolen, but would not resort again to
the same means to catch the thief if /
had.
One more incident of these early day
happenings. One of our regular year
ly visitors was a caller in the employ
of one of the large mill operators of
those by gone days. He was a TYPICAL
son of the Emerald Isle. Ned boarded
at the village hotel. The old brick
building still stands on the same spot.
Mr.. Charles Elkinton was the owner
at that time. Our friend Ned had a
bed to himself. He had no relish for
a bed fellow. One night the landlord
was put to his wits end how to accom-
modate some guests arriving by the late
steamboat, the old Clifton that run be-
tween Philadelphia and Salem. The
landlord said. MED, I don't know
what to do, and can see no other course
open for me than force a bed fellow on
you; he is a respectable farmer from
near Woodstown, and is all right"
Ned said, 81 cannot be helped I sup.
pose, | must put up with it,"
He at once retired to his room. The
stranger was shown up to his room in
due course, and the candle left on the
table for him to see to get to bed. The
bartender bade him good night, after
showing him where to sleep. On being
left alone. Ned who all this time pre-
tended to be asleep, arose upon his ell
bow and asked the stranger, Are you
the man that is going to sleep with
me?n He answered, II suppose 60, as