USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > Local sketches and legends pertaining to Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania > Part 13
USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Local sketches and legends pertaining to Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania > Part 13
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
Hatboro in 1770 was more commonly called Crooked Billet, contained about fifteen or sixteen houses and its vicinity of course had become tolerably settled, but at places extensive forests still prevailed, this was particularly the case along the Pennepack, east of the old York road. Bears would still be occa- sionally seen or shot in remoter neighborhoods, but they were now becoming scarce owing to the in- crease in population. A report having got out that a large one was seen in the woods near the present Ful- mor's mill, created an unusual excitement in conse- quence among the sporting fraternity, as to who should have the honor of his capture, no such thing having been done for years in this immediate vicinity. The news fled rapidly, and for weeks by day and night numbers kept on the most eager pursuit and search for so noble a game.
The sensation had just subsided, when lo ! it got out again that the bear was seen near the aforesaid place early in the evening. A large party at once turned out, bringing into requisition nearly every dog and gun in the neighborhood. It was a beautiful night in the fall of the year, and a pack of dogs by their yelping and loud cries soon announced that something unusual had turned up. The excited huntsmen started for the spot, which proved to be at a large and tall white oak standing by itself, at the foot of which some thirty dogs had gathered into a circle looking up and continuing their howling. It was not long before a goodly number had collected to
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EXCITEMENT ABOUT A BEAR.
give the tree a close inspection, About sixty feet from the ground where its branches were the closest, a large black object was discerned and a bear thereby distinctly recognized, looking down at the bewildered dogs.
Now commenced such a shooting at the devoted animal as had never been heard in that peaceful neighborhood before, and kept up for a number of minutes. At last the bear was seen to move, and down he tumbled riddled with balls and shot from his elevated position to the ground. Now there was a scampering of men and dogs, some of the former to secure their safety, stopping little short of their homes. . One or two of the nearest dogs not seeing him stir approached and ventured to sieze on him, when the whole pack pitched in to give assistance to what might prove a desperate encounter. Our hunters amazed in this struggle at the unusual quantity of fragments and litter that filled the air and lay over the battle ground, ventured closer, when one a little bolder than the rest with the muzzle of his extremely long gun turned the
. bear over to ascertain whether he was indeed lifeless, when it proved to be but the skin of one ingeniously stuffed with straw and the occasion of all this noise.
It turned out that a wag in the neighborhood to bring this to pass had been at all the trouble and ex- pense. According to Mr. Hallowell's account, one explanation is yet necessary to render all clear ; that is immediately after the stuffed skin had been duly placed in its position, a fish from the stream, several
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
1 days old had been dragged by a string over the ground from several directions to the foot of the tree, which by its scent had brought the dogs hither and together to cause such an alarm. As may be sup- posed vengeance was vowed from some of the num- bers on the author of the plot, but by keeping for a short time out of harm's way the matter quietly settled down but not so soon to be forgotten from the inge- nuity exhibited in bringing it about.
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The Old Haycock Run School-house.
In my earlier days I find few spots more endeared to me by happier associations than the aforesaid school-house and its surroundings. I am almost cer- tain to a stranger or traveler, passing by this out of the way place, he could have possibly found but little to draw his attention towards it for he may have seen a hundred very much like it, and every bit to him as interesting. But not so to me though long and far removed from its neighborhood; its memories still linger in my imagination like some poetic dream. It is situated in the southeast corner of Springfield town- ship, close to the Haycock and Nockamixon line, and on the highway leading from the Durham road at Stony Point to Applebachsville, about one mile southwest of the former place. The Haycock run, from whence its name, has its source in two branches a mile and a half northwards and flows but a few yards off when after a journey of several miles emp- ties into the Tohickon. It is a small stone building standing on a bank by the roadside, plastered without and of humble appearance within, the desks were placed against the three sides of the wall while to- wards the front was the master's table and the door.
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
In the centre was a large old fashioned stove for burn- ing wood, around which were placed in the form of a parallelogram four benches designed especially for the accommodation of the smaller children who did not stand in need of desks for writing.
Unlike too many of our present commodious school- houses, its natural surroundings were highly attrac- tive. The stream abounded in fish, particularly chubs, redfins and eels, therefore in summer it would afford angling and bathing, and in the winter excellent slid- ing. The meadows and thickets in the vicinity abounded in an abundance of May apples, whortle berries, blackberries, mulberries, fox and chicken grapes, hazel nuts and shellbarks. A short distance down the stream was a dam where we would often amuse ourselves by skipping stones over its surface, and the best fellow was he who could make his stone skip the oftenest. On one occasion a companion caused his to leap twenty-three successive times and this was enough in our estimation to make him a hero. We would sometimes also make up parties to visit the Rocks, Stony Garden, and early in the spring sugar camps for maple sugar and molasses. Through the winter many teams would pass by here from the Hay- cock, loaded with firewood or rails.' At the flaxhole in the roadside bank we would often stand at noon to witness the operations performed in breaking and swingling the flax by the people of the vicinity now no longer to be observed.
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THE OLD HAYCOCK RUN SCHOOL-HOUSE.
Half way between the school-house and the run stood a gigantic red maple with a hollow trunk; be- neath its shade during noon and recess we often played. Half way up an owl would occasionally protrude his head to stare with wonder at what was going on below. When in blossom thousands of bees would emit their buzzing sounds, and those agrecable harbingers of spring and frequenters of meadows, the red-wing blackbirds, would perch in numbers about its lofty top and chant all day their gleeful notes. Back of the school-house, under the cornice, a pewee would annually repair to his nest and which perhaps was tenanted to near this day by his descendants.
The people of this section are chiefly of German descent and the language, manners and customs of the Fatherland prevailed, though the English branches were chiefly taught. They are here generally small farmers and the owners of the land they till, a tough, honest, hard-working people. Modern pride and lux- ury have here made yet little innovation, having few cares or longings beyond their quiet country homes. Public life, extravagant speculations and great riches seldom affect the even tenor of their way or the tran- quillity of their slumbers. Here then in simplicity and rural felicity are their days as calmly spent as they were begun, with but few or no interruptions through life's journey. Their companions are health, content and cheerfulness, while indolence and pride are left to linger around a denser population. As I have gone
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
in my time to various schools, I think in nothing can I speak higher of the people than in the morals of the pupils that attended here. I have more than once re- flected why this was so, the principal reasons I assign to the absence of towns and villages.
At five years of age I received here my first school experience and strange that I should so well remem- ber it? A near neighbor's son, Robert Keiple, in the summer of 1830 came to accompany me, I went along furnished by my parents with a new primer ; as we came near the school-house, the door being open and hearing the hum of busy voices from within I began to linger behind reluctant to enter, and only after re- peated coaxings I mustered sufficient courage to fol- low in the room. "Old Billy Smith," as he was familiarly called, was the teacher. I can well remem- ber in repeating the alphabet, that at the letter G, I paused, but could not think of its name. When he asked if I knew what farmers sometimes called to their horses in plowing, I still could not tell, when he said " gee." After only about two weeks' attend- ance I ceased going, perhaps on account of my youth or the distance, being about a mile. Mr. Smith after instructing hundreds became an inmate of the Bucks county poor-house, where he died of the cholera in 1849 at the age of nearly ninety years.
After this in the following summer I went to a pri- vate school nearer home, but in the spring of 1832, a stranger came into the neighborhood seeking a school which he taught here. He was a man perhaps sixty
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THE OLD HAYCOCK RUN SCHOOL-HOUSE.
years of age and a native of the state of New York. All I recollect of his name was " Old Davie, " his common cognomen among the scholars. I shall always gratefully remember him as among the best of my early teachers. With him I learned to read and commenced writing. He had the rare quality so essential to the success of a skillful teacher, I mean an even temper. He loved his pupils and they ven- erated and respected him ; they could not have loved him more if he had been the grandfather of the flock. He seemed to have taken a fancy to me, perhaps in part from my position, as the only student he had who was the son of a merchant and who had secured for him this school. Nothing appeared too much labor for him. In our walks he would call my attention to divers curious natural objects we would accidently meet with. Being often at my father's house, he would offer me assistance whenever I desired it to aid, me in my studies. It was about this time that Hazen's Symbolical Reader came out for schools, and he would sometimes spend an hour giving explana- tions concerning the illustrations. I think I can yet fancy what he told me about the Laplanders and the reindeer. Late in the fall to my great regret " Davie " gave up the school and thus with the leaves, flowers and birds took his departure. This is my last knowl- edge respecting him. I afterwards continued to go with two brief exceptions till in the spring of 1836. In this interval it was conducted successively by four young men reared within a circuit of five miles. My
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total time in going to school here must have been about two and a half years.
Sometimes it happened in coming to this school during rainy or stormy mornings that the door had not been unlocked, and as it was some distance to the nearest house, I was tempted, though past my seventh year, to enter through the sash of the window, where an eight by ten pane of glass had been broken out and succeeded in the experiment. The master and myself, shortly after, came one rainy morning and as the boy from the neighboring house had not yet ar- rived, to his great dissatisfaction, with the key, I stated that I could open the door for him as I had once done before. On expressing his willingness I took him to the broken light and told that by creeping through it I could get in. This he thought was impossible, but I soon satisfied him on that point. This was accomplished by first putting my hat there- . in, next my arms and head and then by half turning my body at last drew myself entirely through, after which I could easily unfasten the door. This must prove that I was very slender for my age. This cir- cumstance occasioned the master for greater security to have a glass placed in the sash.
A trifling circumstance occurred in this school which no doubt proved of importance to me. It was the general practice to conclude our daily studies by spelling out of a book. For this purpose the more advanced of the pupils would be placed in one class. It was my fortune through spelling a word to come
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THE OLD HAYCOCK RUN SCHOOL-HOUSE.
from near the end to the head of the same. In this position several of the trustees came in and I had the success to maintain my place until the close. As the school was now dismissed, to get my hat and basket, I had to pass by a trustee who said to me that he was much gratified at beholding the smallest boy at the head of the class and hoped I would continue to re- tain it. This remark awoke in me a latent spark of ambition, and it is almost needless to add that there- after I was never seen very far from that place.
Business requiring me in this vicinity in Septem- ber, 1856, I came by the old school-house. To in- dulge my reflections I drove leisurely along, and when I arrived opposite halted to survey the scene. It looked old and dilapidated, and in consequence of others having recently been built more conveniently situated to the wants of the district, this had been left to neglect. The red maple had long ago disap- peared, not even the sign of a stump remained to in- dicate the spot. I glanced at those places where I had helped to play many a game of bat and corner ball; now not even the print of a little foot was to be seen in the dust. I was surprised, however, to still see the red mulberry by the roadside, from which we had so often gathered fruit. It looked as if it had not grown the least. The stream appeared to be smaller and to have scarcely a current. The foot-log that had been so long here had two years before been supplanted by a substantial stone bridge of two arches, built at the expense of the county, proving a great ac-
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
commodation, especially during ice in the winter and high freshets. Blackbirds, red-headed woodpeckers and flickers abounded as of yore. Farms and farm buildings in whatever direction I looked had been generally much improved, and near the roadside sev- eral new dwellings had been erected. On inquiry I learned that during my absence of twenty years near- ly half of my former companions had died, and out of six teachers but one only was known to survive.
After another long interval I renewed a more ex- tended visit in September, 1879, to observe the changes that time had since made. I had the satis- faction of being accompanied here by William Mum- bower, a former school-mate, now residing about a half mile distant on a farm that had formerly belonged to a relative. The old mulberry, now nearly two feet in diameter, was almost dead, and had borne fruit, I was informed, to within the last three years. The flaxhole though composed of dry wall still remained in good preservation and had been used by several neighbors during the late rebellion. The old school- house was now roofless and the floor gone. The raft- ers and the window frames remained, and to my sur- prise the interior was still nicely plastered and white- washed. In dimensions it was found to be twenty-two feet square, with walls sixteen inches in thickness, and supposed to have been erected about 1822. As I passed over the sill to the interior, where I had not been for forty-three years, while gazing at the now vacant scene, I will leave the reader to judge my im- pressions.
Lost in the Night.
Mention has been made of people being lost or be- wildered, and under such circumstances to travel in repeated circles, while they were imagining that they were in the meantime proceeding in a direct or straight line on their contemplated but pathless route. Little did I suppose that some day I should be put to this test, and now attempt to give the result of my personal experience and observations as derived there- from. In all my reading I have no recollection of ever having seen any statement of this kind, hence my reason for writing on something I would other- wise deem as of little importance. Dr. Franklin in his voyage across the ocean mentions interesting dis- coveries through his observations, which no doubt had previously escaped the attention of thousands who may have had just fully as good opportunities. The mere crossing an ocean or getting lost I know is nothing new or extraordinary, but the discoveries made on the way are what interest me, and, as I hope, shall also my readers.
On the afternoon of March 8, 1863, particular busi- ness demanded of me to go and see a neighbor resid- ing a short mile across the fields in a western direc-
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
tion from my home in Willow Grove. The day was cloudy and dull, and the walking bad from the ground being muddy and soft through the effects of a recent thaw. On arriving at the house of my friend, I learned to my regret from his family that he was absent but expected to return every moment. With this impression I concluded to await his arrival which, however, did not take place till sunset. Before our business was despatched the lamp was lit and when through I immediately meant to return, but on open- ing the door to my surprise it was completely dark, everything enveloped in a heavy gloom for not even a star could be seen. As I thus stood reflecting on my position, tea was announced as ready, and that I certainly would not want to go through such dark- ness, and that in an hour or so the moon would rise and I could much better see my way. With this in view, I accepted the proffered hospitality to which I knew I was most kindly welcome. Eating at our leisure and interested in conversation, as we left the table the clock struck nine, so speedily had the moments fled. Again opening the door it appeared as dark as before and not a particle of the moon could be seen !
I asked whether a lantern could be loaned me which was procured, and with a candle therein of several inches in length burning, I confidently started on my journey, though strongly urged to remain for the night. My light fortunately enabled me to select the best part of the road on which I proceeded
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LOST IN THE NIGHT.
about two hundred yards when I concluded to strike in a direct line across the fields, as the walking was there much the best. I had not now advanced far before I became sensibly aware of the darkness in which I was surrounded. So heavy was the mist and gloom of the atmosphere, that my light could not penetrate its mysteries beyond a few yards. As I had traveled hundreds of times on this route within the past twenty years I had no appre- hensions of getting lost. After having nearly passed the second field I came on a piece of newly cleared land, over which lay scattered several logs. One of these for some unaccountable reason I stopped to sur- vey, and here as it afterwards appeared was the be- ginning of my getting astray.
As it now commenced to rain, hence the unusual darkness, I hurried onward and crossing some two or three fences what was my astonishment to find myself again at the same log. I now set forth and kept by a fence I knew, which I followed near a quarter of a mile, till I came to a lane, when I again determined on a short cut across the fields. For the first quarter of a mile I made a direct course, for I recognized with my light the trunks of two large walnut trees, and from which I set my course but had not proceeded far when my candle was consumed, and I was now alone here in the darkness and rain without an umbrella, but fortunately with a good great coat, but not a light was to be seen from farm- house or cottage window to help guide me. Luckily
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
I had not gone far before I came in contact with a barrack. I at once imagined where I was, but I was now determined, however, to be sure. Stepping back a few paces. I looked up to the sky and I could just discern through my knowledge the outline of a barn and the top of a large tree. I now knew where I was, being the farm then in the tenure of Ben- jamin Taylor and now owned by George R. Berrell, about a quarter of a mile from my home.
I became conscious when I struck the barrack that I was again making a circle, but on a much larger scale, and at that very time I was actually going op- posite from my proper course. I could now direct my way, though ever so dark, by the aid of the deep- ly cut ruts in the lane leading to the Doylestown turn- pike, making it, however, the worst kind of walking to thus feel my way, but for which I had no other remedy. On reaching the main road I had still to de- pend chiefly on my knowledge of the bed of the pike to keep thereon, and thus at last arrived safely at home, being nearly ten and a half o'clock, having absolutely taken me fully one and a quarter hours to make the said one mile's distance, whereon I must have made no less than three and a half to accomplish the journey. I arrived wet nearly to the skin, but fortunately the night was not cold. The rain kept increasing, and I had not been back twenty minutes before it began to fall in torrents accompanied by a violent storm, and so continued till well into the forenoon of the next day. The re-
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LOST IN THE NIGHT.
sult to me was a severe cold under which I labored for several weeks; but on the whole I could not but regard it as a very fortunate escape, that might have proved to me a very serious matter.
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At my next convenient opportunity I walked over the same ground, and I feel confident had I not struck the barrack or the barn as I did I would not have been enabled to have reached home that night as I was then going on a much larger circle whose diameter was not less than a quarter of a mile, and which was calculated to have led me much more astray. With- out the use of a lantern it was difficult in some cases to know what I touched, and above all I could not proceed fast for fear I would come in contact with large stones, trees, fences and what was still worse ditches and water courses.
I estimated the circle I made at the log about a third of a mile, which would give a diameter of nearly two hundred yards, or half this distance to strike its centre. The ground fortunately was level, but still 'it seems strange that though in dark- ness that one should unconsciously make so small a circle under the impression all the time of going on a direct or straight course. As my experience verifies the fact of thus making exact circles, I would now ask our philosophers what under such circum- stances occasions us to make them? This question has now come before me for the first time, and I have no doubt can be explained by some natural law. It is certainly deserving the attention of men of science.
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
This from a boy was my first experienee in being lost, and proves the correctness of the common belief that to get astray on any tractless route is to fol- low a circle. The reader may wonder what my feelings were on the occasion. Dread I had none, though I came several times near injuring myself by coming in contact with stones, stumps, ditches, as well as trees and fences. Hope seemed to inspire me with sufficient reliance as to keep away appre- hension. While on this strange journey I had some occasion to be amused at several little incidents. Birds of several kinds I would now and then arouse from their slumbers in the greatest alarm from among the weeds and bushes, almost from under my feet. While I had the use of the light, moles and mice also appeared panic-stricken at so unexpected an in- vasion, judging from the way I would see them scamper in many directions. Taken collectively from the novelty attending my experiences I will have oc- casion to long remember this night's journey, but without any desire that it should be repeated.
The above was written in 1881 for the " Local His- torian" series. Since, in reading John J. Audubon's " Birds of America," I found therein an account taken down by him of a person being lost in Florida about 1828 while engaged there in cutting live oak timber. He had left his wife and children at his cabin on the St. John's river in the morning, with his axe on his shoulder, to'proceed to his daily labor in a swamp not eight miles distant. Mr. A. states that "he was found
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LOST IN THE NIGHT.
thirty-eight miles from his house. Calculating his daily wanderings at ten miles, we may believe that they amounted in all to four hundred. He must therefore have rambled in a circuitous direction, which people generally do in such circumstances. Nothing but the great strength of his constitution could have supported him for so long a time."
A few years ago I observed a brief article in a news- paper stating that the cause of making circles in the dark or when lost was owing to a person making shorter steps with one foot than the other. . In this case I bore to the right. According to the foregoing I must have made the shortest steps with my right foot. This could be readily experimented upon in a large, level field, covered with about two inches of snow, blindfolded, the steps measured, and thus deter- mine whether the circles are invariably to the right or left. This matter at least is well worthy further in- 'vestigation, and might lead to some important dis- covery.
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