Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-10-08
EARLY DAYS IN GLOUCESTER

the tour-score wears OF my boyhood and
manhood, there rises up very wildly to my
visions many facts and circumstances con-
nected with the words onward progress
in every department. of knowledge and
industry, which l think might interest
such of your readers as have not yet got
ten so far along in the journey of life.
And perhaps also, there may be some of
your readers, here and there, still tarry
ing, like myself, after their generations,
waiting their turns to pass over the boun-
Diary, who will not be reluctant to follow
me in my variations and be led back to
mingle again in the scenes of their long
past years.
I know there are those who care but
little for "reminiscences of the olden time,
because they are back numbers of the
books of life. and afford for them only
very dry reading. Old ways, manners and
customs have no hold ON their affections
There are no links in their natures which
bind them to the years and scenes and
circumstances of their grandfathers and
grandmothers They have no desire TO lift
the veil of time which shuts all those from
their view. They have no reverential i'm
pulses which lure from the beaten paths of
toll and traffic to the burial places where
the generations of the past sleep after the
end of life's fitful fever. There are others,
however, for whom these old time memo
rails have an interest, facination strong
and abiding as life itself; who love to visit
the plain, Anticipated mansions yet left as
landmarks here and there at wide inter
walls over the land-who delight to loiter
in the lanes and paths, and by the melan
choly hearth stones, and to stray among
the briar-grown graves, and decipher the
dim Inscriptions of their messy stones, who
will gather with reverential hand a bud or
a blossom or leaf as they pass, and IN so
doing find sweet, recommending solace and
satisfaction for their care. 1t is in the
appreciation and reverence of those accord
For such I am going to write.
The girls and boys now grown or grow
ing up to Yomanhood or manhood-who
played so often in the ''dear old garretts, "
and industriously ransaeked every nook and
corner of their piled up spaces-who read
with wonder and delight the marvellous
stories of s'Gulliyer" and "Munchausen,
or the Arabian Nights" and the accumu-
lated a1manacs they found in the rubbish
barrels, or who had lots Of fun and frolic
masquerading in the quaint, dilapidated
costumes of other days and fashions, which
they resurrected from trunks and boxes,
will, am sure appreciate my object and
give willing attention to my variations.
have to confess myself to fondness
for all lore which deals with the actual
tiles and peculiarities of the generations
by-gone. We who are now actors on the
stage of life are their successors and are
profting by their successes or failures. We
take their places and carry ON their I'M
finished work.
have very pleasant memories of the in
tercourse I used to have with aged persons
around me. l sat at their feet and listened
to them with awe, as if they had been or
acles. revered and had very kindly feel
ings for them because of their years and |
experiences. They handed down the ira
ditions of the families and neighborhoods |
did the stories of the old Con-
tinental soldiers, gray and wrinkled, hob
bling with crutches and SCARED with the |
tokens of war, hold me spell-bound. Here |
and there in almost every neighborhood |
there were still living one or two of these
worthy heroes. listened to their thrill |
ing stories of Lexington, Bunker Hill, |
Saratoga, Yorktown and other famous |
battle places of our American Revolution. |
To behold and talk with living witnesses of |
the marshalling of the Continental armies, |
of the hurrying of the Minute men" and |
of their clashing with the proud Brit
look into the dim eyes which |
had sighted down the barrels of the old
flint lock muskets, loaded with ball and
buckshot, under the gallant lead of Wash
ington, Greene, Morgan, Wayne and La
fayette were chances never to be forgotten. |
| remember hearing from the lips of one of |
the veterans the story of the battle of Fort |
Duquesne in the old French and Indian |
war of 1855, where Washington was
colonel of Virginia troops and General
Braddock was killed. He had heard it
from one of Washington's men when a |
boy.
Though had been taught the religious
faith of the Quakers, which depreciates all
wars and fighting, and inculcates the sub
lime doctrine of "Peace on Earth and
Good Will to all Men, the words of those
patriots kindled within me a military
oV,4l,,,c;oon, opd q docira Tn coo oS fbox1 bod