USA > Pennsylvania > Montour County > Danville > Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania : a collection of historical and biographical sketches > Part 24
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277
WEALTH, ITS USE.
some period-unchanged forever-the one pure and hallowed spot in life's uncertain way-the star of a darksome world-the earth type of joys to come.
Wealth, its use.
The highest degree of happiness wealth can bestow on its posses- sor is derived from the happiness conferred upon others. This is a proposition susceptible of proof, strong and clear as words of Holy Writ. The man who so administers his estate, and so conducts his stewardship as to do the most good to others, alone enjoys the means bestowed upon him. The man who hords up his gains, like a greedy dog that hides his bone, never enjoys a single moment of happiness, though he may count his wealth by thousands or millions of dollars. He never realizes a single feeling of contentment, which is better than gold. He gropes his way through the world like a miserable coward, suspicious of all around him, and almost afraid to sleep lest a sixpence might slip from his grasp or take wings and fly away. He is opposed to all improvements that tend to the comfort or con- venience of those around him, for the enjoyment of the poor is a real annoyance to him. He frowns a cold and chilling frown on the children of want. The sob of anguish is music to him. The tears of sorrow and the cry of the hungry find no responsive chord in his callous heart. Dead to every ennobling sentiment of humanity, and wrapt in the mantle of supreme selfishness, he drags his soulless car- cass through the world, down to the grave, still grasping his gold and clutching for more, until the palsy of death unlocks his iron fingers. When he sees the sure approach of death, in his desper- ation he hides his treasures in the earth, or resolves to give his thou- sands to the church or some worthy cause, in the hope of appeasing the Almighty. And this is called "giving to the Lord,"-given alas, because the poor mortal could hold it no longer. For him no tears are shed. No flowers strewn by the hands of those he blest deck the mound where he sleeps. The cold marble may mark the spot and remind the world that his death was the only blessing he ever conferred on the community in which he lived.
See the wealthy miser in the marts of trade. Note his wary and
278
HISTORY OF DANVILLE.
suspicious eye. His character is stamped upon his brow. Mark the nervous twitching of his fingers. You can not mistake the miser. His features are almost as cold and unimpressible as the molten god he worships. See him again as he stealthily counts his gold. With a grim delight he clutches the shining metal. Transformed to a demon he gloats over his hidden treasures and prostitutes all sem- blance of manhood to the senseless idol on whose polluted shrine he lays the sacrifice of his soul, yielding all the hopes and the aspira- tions of an immortal life to the tyrant power of his unhallowed passion. Nay more, to swell the sum he would coin his heart and drop his blood for dimes.
But there are rich men in our own community who have made a noble record for themselves-who have ever lent a willing heart and an open hand to every movement designed to advance the phys- ical, mental and moral welfare of the community ; nay more, who have ministered to the wants of the poor and gladdened the hearts of the needy. the poor, from the inner shrine of whose greatful hearts the incense of gratitude ascends to heaven to-day. Would you en- joy the benedictions of the FATHER above, send up the blessings of his children below !
That Old Book-The Bible. " I also will show mine opinion."
We are not a theologian, nor do we make any special pretension to a knowledge of metaphysical science, claiming only the philoso- phy of common sense as applied to manifest truth. We leave at present the wide realm of speculation and the fairy world of imagi- nation, as well as the various systems of religious faith based on hu- man creeds. But all this, with the errors of its adherents in works or in weakness of faith, does not affect the truth itself. Alike im- potent is the power of the learned skeptic who wields the pen of treason against the royal Truth in whose light he " lives and moves and has his being." Nay more, the power that nurtured him-that shields him and crowns his life with the blessings of civilization.
What, then, is Truth ? How shall we find it? What are our re- lations to the past, the present, and the future ? How shall we best prepare to meet our responsibilities as reasonable beings? These
279
THAT OLD BOOK-THE BIBLE.
are questions a thousand fold more important to us than the rise and fall of all the creeds that human wisdom ever devised, or all the speculations that ever sprang from the brain of the metaphysician.
We may have been taught in childhood that the Scriptures are of Divine origin. Not in a general sense like the works of creation, but the result of special revelation, given as a rule of life, directly from God to man. The child accepts this faith implicitly, not as a conclusion drawn from the merits of the Book or the facts in the case, but on the guarantee of its parents or religious teachers. The truth of the volume is accepted as a matter of history, its teachings as a rule of life and as a chart to guide the way to heaven. As the child grows up and comes in contact with the world, and finds that practically this rule is the exception, and as he meets the conflicting ideas of men and the various shades of religious faith-all profess- edly based on the Bible-as he meets the subtle insinuations of the skeptic or the bold assertions of the atheist, he begins to look for the foundations that support the faith of his childhood. On the as . sumption that man is a reasonable being, he begins to reason : " Here am I, an atom in the wide universe. From whence am I, and where am I going? All around me such as I are sinking into the grave, beyond which is the land of the unknown. Reason tells me that I, too, must shortly go down to the city of the dead. And what then ? Will I lose my identity and mingle with the senseless clods ? Will the spirit that animates me go out forever in darkness, like the blaze of a rocket or the flash of a meteor? Can it be that this atom of matchless mechanism, with all its wonderful powers, was designed only for the brief space of human life ?- that the powers of mind so vast in their range, with the principle of vitality, shall pass away with the breath of mortal life ? No, it can not be. Nature recoils from the thought, and reason, in view of the known laws of being, declares it impossible. Then, if I am to live here- after, and if our brief existence here is but passing through the ves- tibule that leads to a life beyond, the Bible must be true. For reason, linking these teachings with that which is known of life and death, logically leads to the conclusion that this is not all of life. Reason travels with revelation to the confines of earth and sanctions its truths as far as the finite mind can go, and from known facts im- plies the truth of those that lie beyond."
280
HISTORY OF DANVILLE.
But it must not be forgotten that with the faith, gratuitously ac- cepted in childhood, conscience was also educated and prepared to pilot the way when the hand of parental guidance was withdrawn, or when reason failed. And here is a jewel of untold wealth in- herited by the child of instruction-an inherent power to judge the true and the right from error and wrong. Not, indeed, an innate principle of competent judgment without religious culture or the knowledge of Divine law, as revealed in the Bible. Conscience is a faculty of the human mind, capable of development, and will prove quick and sure to judge right and wrong only as it is rightly edu- cated. St. Paul persecuted the saints "in all good conscience," for so his conscience had been educated, but when enlightened he found that its judgment nad been erroneous. Its rightful culture is there- fore a great advantage to the child of religious training when called to meet the sharp corners of the world and to retain a foothold on the rock of Truth.
It is true, the power of reason is limited ; it can no more deny than affirm that which is unknown, but it can infer much of the future from the known of the past. Reason can comprehend the principle of righteousness taught in the Bible-and in the Bible alone-and their redeeming influence in the world. Reason can comprehend its match- less system of morals, as the light and life of every age and the source of every law of justice, mercy and truth. Point out a spot on the map of the wide world where the teachings of the Bible are unknown, and reason will point out to you a place of intellectual and moral darkness, destitute of all the peaceful and ennobling qualities of mind and heart that render life and society desirable. This fact alone irresistibly leads to the conclusion that the Bible is true.
There are men in our own community, too, who doubt or affect to doubt the truth of revelation. As the boy with his first cigar im- gines himself " a man," so do men appear, who are " wise above what is written." The geologist will point to a rock and make the truth of science a lie. The speculator will picture a dream'ess sleep or a world of fancy, beautiful but delusive as the mirage of the desert. The philosopher will light a taper, and in its feeble shimmer deny the light of the noonday sun, and with finite reason attempt to measure the mysteries, the powers and the transcendant glories of the eternal world. But take away, if you please, all books, all
281
NIGHT.
science, all philosophy-leave but the BIBLE-and by that unerring chart the Christian pilgrim will solve the problem of life.
Night.
What a comprehensive theme is night ! Grand, peculiar and sublime are its inspirations ! Who can measure its influence on our physical, mental or moral nature ? Who can fathom the wonders of sleep or solve the mystery of its dreams ? There lies the body, un- conscious as its kindred clods of the field, and yet allied to a living soul-an immortal mind-that by the power of a strange enchant- ment, creates and peoples a world of its own-a mystic world of shadowy dreams that dissolve like the mists of the morning.
" How beautiful is Death ! Death and his brother Sleep- One pale as yonder waning moon, With lips of lurid blue ; The other rosy as the morn, When throned on ocean's wave, She sheds her blushes o'er the world."
And how the wierd voices of the night stir the deep waters of the soul as they float on the breeze like the far-off notes of dying melody. Ah ! yes ; the most wonderful achievements of science, the most brilliant gems of poetry, and the most profound teachings of the metaphysician and theologian, have been the result of thoughts in the night. When the curtain of darkness shuts the outer world from view, we turn within to explore the world of mind. Freed from the thousand distractions of the day, we seek a more intimate acquaint- ance with ourselves. The past, the present and the future are all before us. Memory brings her treasures up from the storehouse of the past and imagination essays to unfold the future. Though darkness surrounds us, yet all the world is before us, and from the shadows we may look up and count the jewels of the skies as they sparkle in the azure drapery of heaven-but vision finds a limit there. Imagination may travel on-pass the burning zone of far Saturn to the outer pathway of more distant Uranus-but imagin- ation, too, must pause on the threshhold of a universe unknown, the mighty space that science never trod. No peaceful vales nor misty mountains mark the far beyond. No voice or sound, even to fancy's
282
HISTORY OF DANVILLE.
ear, ever broke the dead, eternal solitude that lies beyond the tele- scopic power of science. Faith alone can pierce the gloom and pass beyond the outer range where science halts and fancy dies. The faith of the Christian, guided by the chart of revelation, leaves planets, stars and worlds behind, as it sweeps across the mighty chasm up to the home of the immortals, where doubt never enters, where night never comes. Weary mortal, groping amid the deeper shadows of moral darkness, do you long for the morning dawn ? Do you long to know what undiscovered country lies in the far be- yond? The geologist would point to a rock and make the truth of sci- ence a lie. The speculator would picture a dream, beautiful in fancy, but wild and baseless as the mirage of the desert. The philosopher would light a taper, and in its feeble shimmer, deny the light of the noonday sun, and with finite reason attempt to measure the mysteries, the powers and the transcendant glories of the eternal world.
Take away, if you please, all books, all science, all philosophy ; leave but the Bible, and by that unerring chart, the Christian pil- grim will solve the problem of life-" the only star that rose upon the night of Time, by which man could navigate the sea of life and gain the coast of bliss "-the shores of a land, where day is eternal, and whose sunshine is the glory of the LORD.
The Peroration.
List ! oh, mortal, to the voices of the past ! Realize the living present ! Forget not the swift-coming future ! What a multitude of thoughts come crowding upon us, as we muse on the certainties gone, and glance at the probabilities-nay, the certainties before us ! Nor are they limited to our history as a nation, but we launch out on the wide ocean of time itself, invade the land of eternity, and strive to grasp the finished past and give shape to the dark, uncertain future. But, however far we may travel back over the ages, or forward on the pinions of imagination, philosophy or religion, ever and anon we come home to ourselves and pause to read our personal relations to the Past, the Present and the eternal years to come-to read the lessons before us, in the handwriting of the Almighty, through the innate power conferred when man became a living soul. Here we are to-day, a single generation, rushing on, close in the wake of thou-
283
THE PERORATION.
sands gone, and crowded by coming millions. One by one, the countless ages come and go, and one generation succeeds another, as they rapidly march across a narrow plain, and then pass away forever.
To-day we are here-to-morrow a new generation will carelessly tread the earth above our heads nor care to know that the clods be- neath their feet once lived and exulted in the warm sunshine of life, and that they, too, in a little while must yield to another.
An hundred years ! And every heart that beats with rapture to- day, rejoicing in the triumphs of a finished century, will be cold and still. Every voice that joins the million-toned shout of joy to hail our grand Centennial year, or swells the glad hallelujahs of praise to our Fathers' God for the blessings of an hundred years, will be hushed in the everlasting silence of the grave. Not one of all the millions who bring the tributes of affection, or the garlands of honor to the shrine of the dead to-day-not one of all the millions that eagerly press the gates to see the gathered wonders of the world, will see the dawn of another Centennial anniversary. Long ere then, all those busy managers and stately actors in the imposing ceremon- ies,-the speakers, the Emperors, the Presidents, the musicians, the singers, and the tired policemen-with all the thronging millions, will lie down and die. The high and the low, the rich and the poor- all will find a common abode, down in a lone, narrow house. The lordly millionaire, who rides in stately grandeur through the lovely avenues of the most magnificent park in the world, will lie down at last and sleep beside the poor, who can only catch a glance of its splendors through the open gates. Centuries may roll away. Other Centennials of '76 may come and go, but they shall heed no more the wild huzzas the waving banners of assembled nations, the thunders of artillery, nor the pomp and show of a world combined.
A century hence, and all will have passed away forever ! The in- ventors will crumble to dust and mingle with the moldering work of their hands. The mighty achievments of " hand and brain " that mark the age will pale before the more stupendous triumphs of the era to come, and the dust of oblivion will settle forever on the pride of skill and the glory of man, nor leave a memorial of the great Centennial Exposition.
We, too, shall mingle with the vast caravan marching down to
284
HISTORY OF DANVILLE.
the gates of Death, to join the generations gone before. The march goes silently on-not to the inspiring notes of the musicians before me, but to the noiseless beat of the pulse, silent as rose leaves fall from the stem, but the end is sure. The generations come and go, but they never return ! Our march will soon be over. Where, oh ! where shall our next encampment be ?
Statesmen.
Distance does not always lend enchantment to the view. In look- ing at the daily proceedings of Congress, and noting the chicanery of the'cunning politician, we are forced to the conclusion that no distance, however remote, can ever magnify our present public men into the semblance of statesmen. Our own State, Pennsylvania, in days gone by, has contributed more than one star to the galaxy that will ever illume our national history. Who have we now to arouse the ambition of the American boy and to command the admiration of the world ? We sometimes hope that Senator Cameron, or some other son of Pennsylvania, may yet rise above the level of mere party politics and on the higher plane of statesmanship stand beside the immortal founders of the State, with all of the past, who have given luster to the American name.
We know there are seasons of depression in the elements of na- tional greatness, as well as in the financial world. Such is the his- tory of nations, and we are not an exception. England had her golden " age," when the powers of genius kindled a glory whose radiance will never die. Her philosophers, poets and statesmen are still the pride and boast of her sons and daughters, at home and abroad, as they exultingly point to the brilliant galaxy of immortal names that adorn her history-an age when the statesmen laid the massive foundations of her greatness, when philosophers reared the fair superstructure of her national institutions, around which her poets wove the garlands of unfading beauty.
We too have had a " golden age." It dawned upon us in the gathering storm that preceded the revolution, and illuminated with a new-born glory our pathway through the Red sea and the wilder- ness, until we rose to the very pinnacle of national greatness. " There were giants in those days." Not comparatively great, nor yet be-
285
STATESMEN.
cause they have passed beyond the reach of envy or green-eyed jeal- ousy, nor yet because we have been taught to worship at the shrines of the dead ; but they were great in their endowments, great in the work they accomplished, in the monuments they reared and in the priceless legacy they bequeathed to their countrymen and the world. " Distance " does not always lend enchantment to the view." The founders of our government and our early statesmen were no less great in their own day. They were no less revered by the wise and good of every civilized nation on the globe, when grappling with the mighty problems of popular government, no less than now, when they are embalmed in the grateful memory of their countrymen. Passing over the founders of the Republic, where are the peers of Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Cass, Benton and all the sons of Anak of less than half a century ago? They were men of ideas. In their view, party was nothing, only the shallow device of demagogues. They were above the plane of party politics. They were in the higher region of substantial ideas, where reason prompted thought, and judgment, divorced from party bias, impelled to action. Sharp contests they had-but not on party differences, for that belongs to the pigmy tribe-but on constitutional questions as they rose in the progress of the grand political experiment. Even now, no living man can claim a higher honor than an approach to the character of these statesmen whose intellectual power, solid worth, sterling pa- triotism and practical wisdom mark the golden age of America.
1
INDEX.
Introduction,
5
Location,
9
General William Montgomery, .
I3
The Indians,
14
The Post Office,
I5
Water Works,
150
Music,
152
The First Bank,
156
Editorial Association,
158
Now and Then,
161
Brick Making,
163
Hospital for the Insane,
164
Simon P. Kase,
I66
The Israelites,
I70
Y. M. C. A., .
I72
Revere House, .
I73
Michael Kessler,
I73
The Consumptives,
175
Col. A. J. Frick,
I76
Col. Charles W. Eckman, I77
William Keiner,
177
George B. Brown,
178
First National Bank,
178
Population,
64
The Opera House,
I79
Random Items,
65
Montgomery Building,
67
Journalism,
68
Newspapers,
70
St. Paul's M. E. Church,
77
War Record,
83
First Sunday School,
I22
The Old Log House,
I29
Old School Days,
I 30
Incidents,
I33
Going to Black Rock,
I36
Evangelical Lutheran Church, . 136
J. B. Moore,
I42
Dr. Joseph Parry, .
I42
The Academy,
143
Among the Dead,
I44
Grove Presbyterian Church, .
17
Mahoning Presbyterian Church, . 20
Climate and Longevity,
22
Prominent Men, .
23
Master Gibson and the Mahoning
School,
25
Fifty Years Ago,
30
Union Hall Hotel, .
30
Susquehanna Floods,
44
Old Habits and Customs,
45
Christ Episcopal Church,
49
Indiantown,
5I
Robert C. Grier,
52
Rev. W. B. Montgomery,
52
Orchards,
57
General Daniel Montgomery,
61
Items of Yore,
62
The Old Blockhouse,
63
Montour House,
18I
Market,
182
Danville,
183
Fire Department, .
184
Shilo German Reformed Church, . 185
John C. Millhouse,
I86
M. S. Ridgway,
190
The Court House,
191
J. P. Leisenring,
19I
David N. Kownover,
192
Public School,
193
288
INDEX.
Mystery of the Mine, 194
Peter Baldy, Sr., . 194
The Company Store, 230
National Iron Foundry,
231
Railroads,
232
Dr. William H. Magill, 235
Glendower Iron Works, 235
Manufactories,
198
Danville Iron Works, 241
Montour Iron and Steel Works, 199
Danville Gas Company, 242
Marble and Stone Cutting, 203
County Officers for 1881,
243
Columbia Furnaces,
204
Dan Morgan, 243
Early Schools,
205
Capt. George Lovett, 244
Insurance Companies,
206
Jacob Sechler, 245
Great Day,
246
Dennis Bright,
208
Emanuel Evangelical Church, 249
Catholic Church,
209
Random Notes, 249
Oddities,
2II
Progressing,
251
Our School Houses,
214
Peter Yerrick,
. 215
Nonsense, 258
-
Michael Sanders,
218
Danville Institute,
262
Twenty- five Years Ago,
218
Business,
266
Mount Lebanon,
219
Conclusion,
271
The Oil Works,
220
Home,
276
South Danville,
221
Heart Memories,
277
Telegraphing, 22I
Danville Foundry,
222
Trinity M. E. Church,
223
City Hotel,
224
A Peroration,
282
Statesmen,
284
Prominent Citizens,
226
Baptist Church, . . 229
Co-operative Iron and Steel Works, 195
Eagle Foundry,
195
M. B. Goodrich, .
196
Danville Bridge, 196
Planing Mills,
198
Local Government,
237
H. B. Strickland,
208
The Maus Family, 252
Noted Murder Trials,
213
Caste, . .
. 253
Iron Ores of Danville, 255
Agricultural Societies,
216
Danville House, 218
Riverside,
261
Enterprise Works, .
212
Old Towns,
259
Wealth,
278
That Old Book-the Bible, 279
Night,
28I
Dr. R. S. Simington,
225
J.
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