USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 34
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The game for shooters much more abounded before the Revolu- tion than since. Fishing and fowling were once subjects of great recreation and success. Wild pigeons used to be innumerable, so
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also black birds, reed birds, and squirrels. As late as the year 1720, an act was passed, fining 5s. for shooting pigeons, doves, or par- tridges, or other fowl, (birds) in the streets of Philadelphia, or the gardens or orchards adjoining any houses within the said city! In Penn's woods, westward of Broad street, used to be excellent pigeon shooting.
The skaters of Philadelphia have long been pre-eminent. Gray- don in his Memoirs has stated his reasons for thinking his country- men are the most expert and graceful in the world! quite surpass- ing the Dutch and English. He thinks them also the best swimmers tc be found in the civilized world !
Mr. George Tyson, a broker of Philadelphia, weighing 180 to 190 pounds, is the greatest swimmer (save a companion, who swims with him) we have ever had, not excepting Doctor Franklin him- self. He and that companion have swum from Philadelphia to Fort Mifflin and back without ever resting, save a little while floating off the fort to see it! He says he never tires with swimming, and that he can float in perfect stillness, with his arms folded, by the hour. He deems his sensations at that time delightful. He went across the Delaware, drawn by a paper kite in the air. He is short and fat-his fat and flesh aid his specific lightness, no doubt, in the water, and cause him readily to swim high out of the water. *
During the old fashioned winters, when, about New Year's day, every one expected to see or hear of an " Ox Roast" on the Dela- ware, upon the thick ribbed ice, the river surface was filled with skaters. Of the very many varieties of skaters of all colours and sizes mingled together, and darting about here and there, "upward and downward, mingled and convolved," a few were at all times dis- cernible as being decidedly superior to the rest for dexterity, power, and grace-namely, William Tharpe, Doctor Foulke, Governor Mifflin, C. W. Peale, George Heyl, "Joe" Claypoole, and some others; not forgetting, by the way, a black Othello, who, from his apparent muscle and powerful movement, might have sprung, as did the noble Moor, from " men of royal siege." In swiftness he had no competitor; he outstripped the wind; the play of his elbows in alternate movement with his "low gutter" skates, while darting forward and uttering occasionally a wild scream peculiar to the African race while in active exertion of body, was very imposing in appearance and effect. Of the gentlemen skaters before enumerated, and others held in general admiration by all, George Heyl took the lead in graceful skating, and in superior dexterity in cutting figures and "High Dutch" within a limited space of smooth ice. On a larger field of glass, among others he might be seen moving about elegantly and at perfect ease, in curve lines, with folded arms, being dressed in red coat (as was the fashion) and buckskin " tights," his bright broad skates in an occasional round turn flashing upon the eye ; then again to be pursued by others, he might be seen suddenly changing to the back and heel forward movement, offering them his
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nand, and at the same time eluding their grasp by his dexterous and instantaneous deviations to the right and left, leaving them to their hard work of " striking out" after him with all their might and main.
The next very best skater, and at the same time the most noted surgeon of the day, was Doctor Foulke, in Front street, opposite Elfreth's alley. Skating "High Dutch," and being able to cut the letters of his own name at one flourish, constituted the Doctor's fame as a skater. In the way of business, the Doctor was off-hand, and quick in his speech and manner, but gentlemanly withal.
C. W. Peale, as a skater, was only remarkable for using a re- markable pair of "gutter skates," with a remarkable prong, capped and curved backwards, with which he moved leisurely about in curve lines. They looked as though they might have been brought to him from somewhere about the German ocean, as a subject for his Museum.
" May-days" were much more regarded formerly than now. All young people went out into the country on foot, to walk and gather flowers. The lads too, when the woods abounded, would put up as many as fifty poles of their own cutting, procured by them with- out any fear of molestation.
The " Belsh Nichel" and St. Nicholas has been a time of Christ- mas amusement from time immemorial among us; brought in, it is supposed, among the sportive frolics of the Germans. It is the same also observed in New York, under the Dutch name of St. Claes. " Belsh Nichel," in high German, expresses "Nicholas in his fur" or sheep-skin clothing. He is always supposed to bring good things at night to good children, and a rod for those who are bad. Every father in his turn remembers the excitements of his youth in Belsh- nichel and Christ-kinkle nights, and his amusements also when a father, at seeing how his own children expressed their feelings on their expectations of gifts from the mysterious visiter! The follow ing fine poetry upon the subject must gratify the reader :
It was the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; When what in the air to my eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer ; With a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment, it must be Saint Nick! Soon, on to the house top, his coursers, they flew, With the sleigh full of toys and Saint Nicholas too- As I roll'd on my bed and was turning around, Down the chimney Saint Nicholas came with a bound! He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot: The stump of a pipe he held fast in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly, That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly; He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work :
Soon filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk ; VOL. I .- 2 L 24*
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And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle And away they all flew like the down of a thistle;
And I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
In my youthful days it was a great sport with the boys to sled down hills in the city, on the snow in winter. Since the population and the wheel-carriages have increased, the danger of being run over more than formerly, and the rarity of the snow, has made boys leave 't off for some years. Thirty to forty boys and sleds could be seen running down each of the streets descending from Front street to the river. There was also much sledding down the streets and hills descending to Pegg's run.
The boys at Friends' school in south Fourth street were formerly (although gravely disciplined) as mischievous and sportive as others. Some still alive may be amused to be reminded of their puerili- ties; when they were taught by Jonah Thompson, who was a man of good military port and aspect, accustomed to walk at the head of his corps of scholars to week-day meetings in a long line of " two and two." On such occasion the town was surprised to see them so marching with wooden guns, (a kind of received Quaker emblem) and having withal a little flag! These they had succeeded to take up as they walked out of school without the knowledge of their chieftain, who had preceded them without deigning to look back on their array. On another occasion, when Robert Proud, the historian, was their teacher, and was remarkable for retaining his large bush-wig, long after others had disused them, they bored a hole through the ceiling over his sitting place, and by suspending a pin- hook to a cord, so attached it to his wig as to draw it up, leaving it suspended as if depending from the ceiling. At another time they combined at night to take to pieces a country wagon which they lifted on to a chimney wall then building, there replacing the wheels, awning, &c., to the astonishment of the owner and the diversion of the populace. Some of those urchins lived, notwithstanding their misapplied talents and ingenuity, to make very grave and exemplary members of society. Youth is the season of levity and mirth, and although we must chide its wanton aberrations, we may yet feel sensations of indulgence, knowing what we ourselves have been, and to what they with ourselves must come,-
" When cherish'd fancies one by one Shall slowly fade from day to day ;- And then from weary sun to sun They will not have the heart to play !"
The time was when the " uptown" and " downtown boys" were rival clans, as well understood in the city precincts as the bigger clans of feds and anti-feds. They used to have, according to the streets, their regular night-battles with sticks and stones, making the
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The City Dancing Assembly.
panes of glass to jingle occasionally. But the appearance of " old Carlisle" and the famous West (the constable) would scatter them into all the hiding-places-peeping out from holes and corners when the coast was clear. Those from the south of Chestnut street were frequently headed by one whose naval exploits, since that time, in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic, have secured to him impe- rishable fame; also by his faithful friend and ardent admirer, well known since throughout the community for his suavity and exqui- sitely polished manners. They were the Achilles and the Patrocles of the " downtowners."
The Northern Liberties about Camptown and Pegg's run used to be in agitation almost every Saturday night by the regular clans of " rough and tumble" fighting, between the ship-carpenters from Kensington, and the butchers from Spring Garden-the public authority not even attempting to hinder them, as it was deemed an affair out of town.
All this spirit of rivalry and fighting was the product of the war of Independence. Their ears, as boys, were filled with the echoes of battles lost or won. They felt their buoyant spirits inspired with martial ardour too, and having no real enemies to encounter, they invented them for the occasion. In this way the academy boys were accoutred as young soldiers, and they much piqued themselves as the rivals of another class of school-boys. Each had their officers, and all of them some emblems a la militaire-all aspiring to the marks and influence of manhood; burning to get through their minority, and to take their chances in the world before them:
" Then passions wild and dark and strong, And hopes and powers and feelings high, Ere manhood's thoughts, a rushing throng, Shall sink the cheek and dim the eye!"
THE CITY DANCING ASSEMBLY.
THIS association in its time-like another Almacks, embodied the exclusives of the day. The elite and fashionables of the city then were far more peculiarly marked by its metes and bounds of separa- tion, than now. It only professed to enroll and retain in its union those who had ancestral bearings and associations.
Some of the original MSS. lists of the day having been put into my hands, it may be curious at this time to here copy the record, and to furnish to sundry of the descendants this roll of remembrance of their ancestors-to wit
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The City Dancing Assembly.
" A list of subscribers for an assembly, appointed under the direc- tion of Joseph Shippen, James Burd, Redmund Conyngham, and Joseph Sims, for the season (the year 1749). Each subscription to be £3-to be paid to any of the Directors at subscribing."
The Governor,
paid.
John Kidd,
paid.
William Allen,
paid.
William Bingham,
paid.
Archibald M'Call,
paid.
Buckridge Sims,
Joseph Turner,
John Swift, JB.
Richard Peters,
paid.
John Kearsley, junr.
Adam Thompson,
paid.
William Plumsted,
paid.
Alexander Steadman,
paid.
James Burd,
paid.
Patrick Baird,
paid.
William Franklin,
paid.
John Sober,
Henry Harrison,
paid.
David Franks,
JB.
Daniel Boyle,
paid.
John Inglis,
paid.
John Lawrence,
James Trotter,
JB
Thomas Græme,
Samson Levy,
JB.
John Maland,
paid.
Linford Lardner,
Alexander Barclay,
paid.
Benjamin Price,
paid.
James Young,
JB.
John Francis.
paid.
Peter Bard,
William Humphreys,
paid.
Alexander Hamilton,
paid.
Thomas Cross,
paid.
Thomas Lawrence, junr.
paid.
Thomas Bond,
paid.
Phineas Bond,
Thomas Willing,
J. Shippen.
Joseph Shippen
John Ross,
paid.
Samuel M.Call, junr.
JB.
Hugh Davey,
paid.
George M.Call,
Daniel Roberdeau,
paid
Edward Jones,
Joseph Marks,
JB.
Samuel M'Call, senr.
paid.
Christopher Carnan,
paid.
Redmund Conyngham,
John Hesselius,
paid.
Joseph Sims,
paid.
Robert Warren,
paid
Thomas Lawrence, senr.
paid.
Lawrence Deniedy,
paid.
David M.Ilvaine,
paid.
William M'Ilvaine,
John Wilcocks,
paid.
John Nelson, JB.
List of Belles and Dames of Philadelphia fashionables, of about the year 1757. An original list for the ball of the City Assembly.
Mrs. Allen,
Mrs. Robertson,
Mrs. Taylor,
Mrs. Francis,
Mrs. Hamilton,
Mrs. Greame,
Mrs. Brotherson,
Mrs. Joseph Shippen,
Mrs. Inglis,
Mrs. Dolgreen,
Mrs. Jeykell,
Mrs. Phineas Bond,
Mrs. Franks,
Mrs. Burd,
Mrs. Lydia M'Call,
Mrs. Charles Steadman,
Mrs. Samuel M'Call, senr.
Mrs. Thomas White,
Mrs. Samuel M'Call, junr.
Mrs. Johnes,
Mrs. Swift,
Mrs. Warren,
Mrs. Sims,
Mrs. Oswald,
Mrs. Willcocks,
Mrs. Thomas Bond,
Mrs. Lawrence, senr.
Mrs. Davey,
Mrs. Lawrence, junr.
Mrs. William Humphreys
paid.
John Wallace,
paid.
Charles Steadman,
paid.
Mr. Venables,
George Smith,
Thomas White,
paid.
William Taylor,
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The City Dancing Assembly.
Mrs. Pennery,
Miss Sophia White,
Mrs. Henry Harrison,
Mrs. Venables,
Miss Hyatt,
Mrs. Bingham, Mrs. Clymer, Mrs. Wallace,
Miss Betty Clifften,
Mrs. Ellis,
Miss Fanny Jeykell,
Mrs. Alexander Steadman,
Miss Fanny Marks,
Mrs. Hopkinson,
Miss Peggy Oswald,
Mrs. Hockley,
Miss Betty Oswald,
Mrs. Marks,
Miss Sally Woodrop,
Miss Molly Francis,
Miss Molly Oswald,
Miss Betty Francis,
Mrs. Willing,
Miss Osburn,
Miss Nancy Willing,
Miss Sober,
Miss Dolly Willing,
Miss Molly Lawrence,
Miss Kitty Lawrence,
Miss Betty Grayden,
Mrs. George Smith,
Miss Sally Fishbourn,
Miss Nancy Hickman,
Miss Furnell,
Miss Sally Hunlock,
Miss Isabella Cairnie,
Miss Peggy Harding,
Miss Pennyfaither,
Miss Molly M'Call,
Miss Jeany Richardson,
Miss Peggy M'Call,
Mrs. Reily,
Mrs. Lardner,
Mrs. Graydon,
Miss Patty Ellis,
Mrs. Ross,
Miss Betty Plumstead,
Mrs. Peter Bard,
Miss Rebecca Davis,
Mrs. Franklin,
Miss Jeany Greame,
Miss Lucy De Normondie,
Miss Nelly M'Call,
Miss Phebe Winecoop,
Miss Randolph,
Mrs. Harkly.
I.have also preserved a card of admission, of the year 1749, addressed to Mrs. Jeykell, a lady of pre-eminent fashion and beauty, the then leading lady of the ton. She was the grand-daughter of the first Edward Shippen, a mayor, merchant, and Quaker. She was married to the brother of Sir Joseph Jeykell, the secretary of Queen Anne ; and when in her glory in Philadelphia, she dwelt in and owned the house next southward of "Edward Shippen's great house" in south Second street, where is now Nicholas Waln's row.
It is worthy of remark, now that we have such elegant devices in the form of visiting and admission cards, that this card, and all the cards of that day, were written or printed upon common playing cards ; this from the circumstance that blank cards were not then in the country, and none but playing cards were imported for sale. I have seen, at least a variety of a dozen in number, addressed to this same lady. One of them, from a leading gentleman of that day, contained on the back, the glaring effigy of a queen of clubs! One of the cards to her of the year 1755, was a printed once upon a playing card, and read thus, to wit :
" The gentlemen of the Army present their compliments to Mrs. Jeykell, and beg the favour of her company to a ball at the State house on Monday next. Saturday, September 20, 1755."
An elderly gentleman informs me that the aristocratic feelings continued to prevail in their full force, down to the time of the
Mrs. M'Ilvaine,
Miss Molly Dick,
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Revolution. And as a case in point he mentions that when squire Hillegas' daughter was married to John A-, an extensive goldsmith and jeweller, in High street, she was no longer admitted to her former place in the " old city assembly." About the same time there was another assembly not so fastidious-and when it so hap- pened that General Washington was invited to both balls on the same night on some special public occasion, he went to the latter and danced with a mechanic's daughter. "I tell the story as it was told to me." At one time, it was proposed to give, (in ill nature, it is presumed,) the genealogy of the old city assembly. The same old gentleman told me that he saw part of it in poetic MSS., and thinks it still exists. It quoted documents and records, to blur, so far as it might, "the vellum of pedigree."
One of the really honourables of the colonial days has told me of his mother (the wife of the chief justice) going to a great ball in Water street, in her youthful days, to Hamilton's stores on the wharf, on Water street next to the drawbridge-she going to the same in her full dress on horseback !
EDUCATION.
"Thus form the mind by use of alphabetic signs."
IT is greatly to the credit of our forefathers, that they showed an early and continued regard to the education of their posterity. They were men of too much practical wisdom not to foresee the abiding advantages of proper instruction to the rising generation. What they aimed to impart was solid and substantial. If it in general bore the plain appellation of " reading, writing and arith metic" only, it gave these so effectively as to make many of their pupils persons of first rate consequence and wisdom in the early annals of our country. With such gifts in their possession, many of them were enabled from suitable books, to become their self-instructers in numerous branches of science and belles-lettres studies. In that day they made no glaring display, under imposing names and high charges, of teaching youth geography, use of maps and globes, dictionary, history, chronology, composition, &c. &c. &c. All these came as matter of course, by mere readings at home, when the mind was matured and the school acquirements were finished. They then learned to read on purpose to be able to pursue such branches of inquiry for themselves ; and having the means in possession, the end as certainly followed without the school bill charge as with it. They thus acquired, when the mind was old enough fondly to enlist
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in the inquiry, all they read " by heart," because, as it was mental treasure of their own seeking and attainment, it was valued in the affection : They therefore did not perplex their youth by " getting" lessons by head or dint of memory-of mere facts, forgotten as fast as learned, because above the capacity of the youthful mind to ap- preciate and keep for future service. All they taught was practical ; and, so far as it went, every lesson was efficient and good. The generation has not yet passed away who never " committed" a page of dictionary learning in their lives, who as readily attained the common sense of words by use and reading, as any of their offspring now possess them by lessons painfully conned memoriter.
It is gratifying to add that the mass of our forefathers were also an instructed and reading community. A letter of Mr. Jefferson's, of the year 1785, well sustains this assertion, saying, "In science the mass of the people in Europe is two centuries behind ours ; their literati is half a dozen years before us. Books, really good, acquire just repu- tation in that time, and so become known to us. In the mean time, we are out of reach of that swarm of nonsense which issues from a thousand presses and perishes almost in issuing." But since then solid reading is less sought after-" the press must be kept going" even as abroad. The ephemera of England flutter across the ocean and breathe once more a short-lived existence ere they finally perish.
As early as 1683, Enoch Flower opened the first English school. The prices were moderate-to read English 4s., to write 6s., and to read, write, and cast accounts 8s., and for teaching, lodging and diet £10 per annum. A curious autograph letter from his ancestor is preserved in my MS. Annals, page 334, in the Historical Society.
In 1689, the Friends originated the Friends' public school in Philadelphia-the same which now stands in Fourth below Chesnut street. It was to be a grammar school, and to teach the learned languages. George Keith, a Scotch Friend and public preacher, (afterwards an Episcopal clergyman and a bitter foe to Friends!) became the first teacher, assisted by Thomas Makin, who in the next year became the principal. This Makin was called "a good latinist ;" we have the remains of his ability in that way in his long latin poem " descriptive of Pennsylvania in 1729." His life was simple, and probably fettered by the "res angusti domi ;" for his death occurred, in 1733, in a manner indicative of his pains-taking domestic concerns. In the Mercury of November, 1733, it is thus announced : "Last Tuesday night Mr. Thomas Makin, a very ancient man, who for many years was a schoolmaster in this city, stooping over a wharf end to get a pail of water, unhappily fell in and was drowned." He appears to have passed Meeting with Sarah Rich, in 1700, the same year in which he became principal to the academy or school. During the same time he served as the clerk of the Assembly.
At this early period of time, so much had the little Lewistown at our southern cape the pre-eminence in female tuition, that Thomas
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Education.
Lloyd, the deputy governor, preferred to send his younger daughters from Philadelphia to that place to finish their education.
Our first most distinguished seminaries of learning began in the country before the academy in Philadelphia was instituted. The Rev. William Tennent, who came from Ireland, arrived at New York in 1718, and in 1721 removed to Bensalem in Bucks county ; soon after he settled in a Presbyterian church, of small consideration, at " the forks of Neshamina," (he had been ordained a churchman) where he opened a school for teaching the languages, &c. There he formed many of the youth of early renown ; and many of the early clergymen of the Presbyterian church, among whom we may name, Rowland, Campbell, Lawrence, Beatty, Robinson, Blair. From its celebrity among us, it received the popular name of the "Log college." He died in 1743, and was buried there. His four sons all became clergymen, well known to most readers, especially his sons Gilbert and William-the former was remarkable for his ardour in Whitfield's cause and the schism he formed in the first Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, which led to the secession and the building of the church on the northwest corner of Third and Arch streets.
In connexion with this subject we are to introduce the name of James Logan, Esq., already so favourably known to the public as the patron of learning in his valuable gift of our public library. As early as 1728, we find him the patron and endower of this "Log college ;" for he then bestows fifty acres of his land there to the above named Rev. William Tennent, his cousin by his mother's sida -this to encourage him to prosecute his views and make his res. dence near us permanent. The early fare of Mr. Tennent accorded with the rude materials of his house and school; for, it appears from the correspondence of James Logan, that he was obliged to procure and send him provisions, at his first settlement, from Phila- delphia. Such was the proper alma mater of the chief scholars of that early day.
The next school of pre-eminence was that of the Rev. Francis Allison, another Irishman, who came to this country in 1735, and in 1741, opened his school at New London, in Chester county, where he taught the languages, &c. Several clergymen, of subsequent reputation, were educated there. He was zealous and benevolent ; and educated some young ministers gratuitously. At one time he resided at Thunder Hill in Maryland, and there educated such men as Charles Thomson, George Reed, Thomas M'Kean, &c .- men who were remarkable in our Revolutionary struggle for their abilities and attachment to the cause of their country. In later life, Mr Allison became the provost of the college of Philadelphia, and was, when there, accustomed to assist his pupil Doctor Ewing, the pastor of the first Presbyterian church in High street, in occasionally serv- ing his pulpit. He died in 1777, " full of honours and full of years."
In 1750, about the time that the Philadelphia academy and college began to excite public interest and attention, the City
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Council expressed some sense of the subject on their minutes, to wit : A committee report on the advantages to be gained by the erection of an academy and public school, saying, " the youth would receive a good education at home, and be also under the eye of their friends ; it would tend to raise able magistrates, &c. It would raise schoolmasters from among the poorer class, to be qualified to serve as such in the country under recommendation from the academy, and thus prevent the employment of unknown characters, who often prove to be vicious imported servants, or concealed papists- often corrupting the morals of the children." Upon the reading of this report, the board decided, unanimously, to present the trustees towards such a school £200, also £50 per annum to charity schools, for the next five years ; also £50 per annum, for five years, for the right of sending one scholar yearly from the charity school to be taught in all the branches of learning taught in said academy.
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