Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-05-31

In the court House at DoyleStOWn,
Pa, the visitor may see a fine exhibit
ton Of the most primitive nipple
ments of household, farm and gen
eral industrial use in provincial Penn
sylvania. A still more complete col
lection is to be found, however, at
the celebrated home Of the MERGERS,
standing a short distance from the
Court House and surrounded by one
of the finest collections of trees
and shrubbery to be found within the
State 1t is claimed that the Court
House collection of implements was
largely gathered and contributed by
Henry Mercer, and that, while it is
in some respects duplicate of his
studio collection it falls far short in
completeness.
While the name of William Mercer
has been prominently associated with
the manufacture of cement castings
for garden ornamentation, and uni
que experiments along this line, that
Of his brother, Henry Mercer, is
doubtless better known in connection
with his experimentation and novel
achievement along the line of decora-
tive clay products. But the fame of
the latter should be even better
known in connection with his tireless
industry and study and painstaking
effort to collect the most complete
display of early implements to be
found within the State of Pennsyl-
yania
One can scarcely comprehend the
amount of labor involved in collect
ing, labelling and arranging this eX-
hibit, now almost entirely covering
the walls and ceiling of his roomy
studio, which stands back in the
shrubbery in the rear of the Mercer
mansion. And yet, on entering the
building, the visitor is simply over
whelmed by the innumerable nipple
ing his curiosity The studio is a tall
building, having the effect of two
stories and loft when viewed from
the outside The interior, however,
shows a single high-ceiling room, with
| a gallery extending around it. 1t
would require days to carefu4J study
the individual exhibits and learn Of
their history and some of the difficult
ties encountered by Mr.. Mercer in
| securing them, as no expense. time
or trouble has been spared by this
enthusiastic collector in making his
| exhibit the most unique and valuable
to be found in any private museum.
The earliest methods of lighting
comprise a collection especially won
derful becaus of the numerous varie-
ties on ancient contrivances; from
! the fire-sticks and tinder-boNes,
through the various stages Of candle
lighting, with display of quaint
| candlesticks, and the earliest Of cur
ious lamps. Mr.. Mercer will describe
most entertainingly the seemingly
endless samples in this display, the
| fre-stick of Indian days being prob
ably the most ancient. General
George Crook is claimed to have been
one of the first to discover and de-
SSIlUO IuC III C-0l1Ih uoCu ny Tic LII
dams of the Sierra Nevada and Cas-
cade ranges, and the Indians Of the
Eastern sections also displayed a
similar continuance, Pennsylvania
contributing especially to this novelty
among the Indian tribes along the up
| per Delaware River.
On one side OF the museum is a
huge open fireplace, which recalls
wildly the olden days. There lay
within its great NAV a huge backlog,
expected to last a week, or, perchance,
an elongated rock, before and over
which hickory cordwood was piled.
where it cracked and blaZed, while
an imaginative youngster of the
household sat before bedtime in the
corner-seat of the fireplace, listening
to the salamander piping it's plaintive
note in the simmering fire.
But this is only one of many pic
lures that may be called up during
| the study of the old fireplace and
| the innumerable exhibits surround
| ing it, for here we find curious Ian
terms with the light display" and
every possible device for spinning and
carding; every known cOntrivanCe of
the pioneers for cooking, baking and
brewing; every possible household
help known to the provincial house
wife-dishes, pots, pans and kettles
of crudest form, bread and butter
| bowls, homemade basketry in every
form and for every possible use, even
to the contrivances, arranged on the
same order as the basket weaving,
for bee-hives, horse-collars, ETC., etc.
Probably among the most interest
! ing of the exhibits are found remind
ers of the days when ''power-help,"
and even hand implements, except
the plow, harrow, cider mill and some
fax-dressing and spinning contriv-
ances, were unknown on the farm and
| in the household, and when the few
mechanical workshops that, with tho
| tavern, the log church and the store,
made up the crossroads village, were
! of the humblest kind: of the DAYS
when even in the more Dretentious
settlements there were rarely n2re
than the blacksmith, whee1wr' ght,
shoemaker, tailor. and, at the most
important places, the joiner and the
carpenter, with the tanner and sad
| der, all working with rude tools and
almost without any labor-saviEg fix
! lures of any kind-PhiladelpE Re-
! cord.