USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania in American history > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
Camp near Falmouth, Dec. 10, 1862.
Dear Col .:
My resignation has just been returned accepted.
The army moves on the rebel lines tonight unless orders are counter- manded. There will probably be a bloody struggle & I will stay to see it through. Unless knocked on the head I will be with you on Friday or Sat- urday. Respflly and truly yrs
Col. J. H. Puleston.
M. S. Quay
302
MATTHEW STANLEY QUAY
Who is there to-day who cares for the Indian, whether he comes or whether he goes? We hold by an unassailable title the lands that once belonged to him, and his braves in their moccasined feet count for nothing in the marts of commerce or in the conventions of parties. But Pennsylvania, which still looks back to that famous treaty at Shacka- maxon, which was never signed and never broken, may feel her pride stir again when she reflects that the last service of her senator was rendered, not in an effort to gain political advantage or to advance her interests, but in aid of the wronged, the down- trodden and the helpless.
In every village in the state, and in many be- yond it, may be heard the tales of his goodness of heart and his tender and helpful sympathy for the unfortunate. An old and impoverished widow of a soldier in Indiana, who had exhausted, without result, the influence of the politicians of her own state, as a last resort wrote to Mr. Quay, and in a few weeks the pension which gladdened her heart and lessened her miseries was granted. A little Seminole girl in Florida met with an accident which threatened permanent disability. He sent her to a
MATTHEW STANLEY QUAY
3º3
hospital and paid the expenses of the difficult opera- tion necessary for her restoration. In 1886, a political opponent in Lackawanna county was thrown from a carriage and fractured his skull. Learning upon inquiry that his resources were nar- row, Mr. Quay sent the noted surgeon Dr. Agnew from Philadelphia to Scranton upon a special train to minister to him, and through an agent still living who with tears in his eyes discloses the incident, himself met the large expenditure which in all probability saved a life. A great master of English fiction in one of the strongest of his novels with a skill which only comes with long discipline has woven a scene, the deep pathos of which appeals to the sympathies of every reader. An incumbent who has done many kindly deeds, worn with age and seeing that his end is approaching, is called upon by the Archdeacon. At the interview, which ensues, the incumbent tells that he is soon to die and asks not for prayer and absolution, but that the living be given to a clergyman of the neighborhood who has been weighed down with many trials and burdens. The Archdeacon himself somewhat gross and worldly, overcome by the situation, kneels and
304
MATTHEW STANLEY QUAY
kisses the old man's hand in mute recognition of superior worth. What Anthony Trollope devised in romance in an effort to exemplify the most ex- alted spirit of self abnegation was realized in the events of actual life. When the clouds began to settle down over Mr. Quay and their gloom steadily deepened, he sent for his private secretary, who had long been at his side and knew his every want, pre- dicted his own death in the near future, and while he still had the strength, provided for his attendant an employment on which he could depend. The good and brave old heart deliberately denied himself the comfort and assistance which he needed more than ever before and accepted untrained help in order that one who had been near and useful to him should not suffer. Will Pennsylvania ever fully understand how large in character, as well as in strength, was this statesman she has lost! The time has gone by and the harvest we might have garnered, had we only known, will never be ours. The past is rolled up as a scroll. In the legend from Norseland the strange bird which the dull and grubbing flock pecked at and abused one day rose aloft upon strong pinion and soared away to the distant ether to return to
MATTHEW STANLEY QUAY
305
them no more. "It might have been" are the sad- dest of sad words. It is all too late for us to reap, too late even to bend over as did the Archdeacon to kiss his hand and acknowledge our shortcomings, but we still may implore for him that peace for which he uttered his last eloquent prayer and which we ever denied to him while he was upon earth.
THE DEDICATION OF THE CAPITOL
[October 4, 1906.]
T HE capitol is much more than the building in which the Legislature holds its sessions, the courts sit in judgment, and the execu- tive exercises his authority. It is a concrete mani- festation of the importance and power of the state and an expression of its artistic development. In- telligent observers who look upon the structure and examine the proportions, the arrangements and the ornamentation are enabled to divine at what stage in the advance of civilization the people have ar- rived, and to determine with sufficient accuracy what have been their achievements in the past and what are their aspirations in the future.
The commission charged with the duty of erecting this capitol and those who have had re- sponsibility in connection with it have felt that in
THE DEDICATION OF THE CAPITOL 307
architecture and appointments the outcome ought to be worthy of the commonwealth. They have not forgotten the essential and unique relation which Pennsylvania has borne in the development of our national life: that in our first capitol the govern- ment of the United States had its birth; that during ten years of the early and uncertain existence of that government she gave it a home; that since its origin what has ever been accepted as the "Penn- sylvania idea" has been the dominant political prin- ciple of its administration, and that its present unparalleled material prosperity rests finally in large measure upon the outcome of her furnaces and mines.
Nor have they forgotten that the thought of William Penn, enunciated over two centuries ago and rewritten around the dome of this capitol, has become the fundamental principle of our national constitution, acknowledged now by all men as ax- iomatic truth.
There is a sermon which the many Americans who hie hither in the future years to study chaste art expressed in form, as to-day they go to the Parthe- non and St. Peter's, to the cathedrals of Antwerp
308 THE DEDICATION OF THE CAPITOL
and Cologne, will be enabled to read in these stones of polished marble and hewn granite. When Moses set out to build "an altar under the hill and twelve pillars," he beforehand "wrote all the words of the Lord." Let us take comfort in the belief that in like manner this massive and beautiful build- ing, which we have in our late time erected, will be for an example and inspiration to all the people, en- couraging them in pure thoughts, and inciting them to worthy deeds. Let us bear in mind the injunc- tion of the far-seeing founder of the province, which made it indeed, as he hoped, the seed of a nation- " that we may do the thing that is truly wise and just."
On behalf of the commonwealth, as its chief executive, I accept this capitol, and now, with pride, with faith, and with hope, I dedicate it to the pub- lic use and to the purposes for which it was designed and constructed.
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCHMAN
AND WHEREIN HE HAS EXCELLED
[Written for the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, January, 1899.]
T HE following article has purposely been put in definite and succinct phraseology. It is possible that some of the statements may be modified by subsequently ascertained facts, but the effect of the paper cannot be overthrown by mere generalities. If ever Pennsylvania shall receive due credit for her unequalled influence and achievement, it will be when her writers and talkers-historical, literary, and political -shall cease their efforts to belittle that accomplishment in which they think they and theirs have had no part. A wider knowl- edge of themselves and their antecedents may also disclose a nearer relation to events of importance in her history, due to the Pennsylvania Dutchman, than they at present recognize.
310
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCHMAN
1. In 1615 Hendrickson, a Dutchman, first sailed up the Zuydt river and saw the site of Phila- delphia.
2. In 1662 Pieter Cornelius Plockhoy, who subsequently died at Germantown, laid the founda- tion of our literature and history by publishing the first book by a resident concerning the country bor- dering on the Zuydt river, later the Delaware.
3. In 1688 Francis Daniel Pastorius, Dirck op den Graeff, Abraham op den Graeff, and Gerhard Hendricks, by a public protest, made the first effort in America to overthrow the institution of slavery.
4. In 1690 William Rittenhouse built the first paper-mill in America on a branch of the Wissa- hickon creek.
5. In 1692 Francis Daniel Pastorius published his "Four Treatises," the earliest original American scientific work.
6. Among the immigrants to Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution were only two of the Euro- pean nobility, Count Zinzendorf, of Bethlehem, and Baron Stiegel, of Manheim.
7. "The town of Lancaster, a place at that time (1750) remarkable for its wealth, and which
3II
AND WHEREIN HE HAS EXCELLED
had the reputation of possessing the best and most intelligent society in America. It was chiefly in- habited by Germans, who, of all people in the prac- tice of emigrating, carry along with them the greatest stock of knowledge and accomplishments."*
8. The most eminent scholars among the early emigrants to America were Francis Daniel Pastorius, who wrote fluently in eight languages, and Henry Bernhard Koster, who had translated the Bible from the Septuagint Greek version, both of Ger- mantown.
9. On the 24th of September, 1734, the Schwenkfelders established their Gedächtniss Tag, or Memorial day, to commemorate their escape from persecution, and they have observed it ever since, an event without parallel.
10. In 1743 Christopher Saur published his quarto Bible, the first in a European language in America. The Bible was published three times in German in America before it appeared in English. II. In 1744 Saur published his first Testa- ment. The Testament was printed seven times in German in America before it appeared in English. * John Galt's " Life of West," 1816, p. 47.
312
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCHMAN
12. In 1764 Saur began the publication of the "Geistliches Magazien," the first religious mag- azine in America.
13. Saur was the earliest type-founder in America.
14. In 1814 the Bible was first published west of the Alleghenies by Frederick Goeb, of Somerset, in German.
15. In 1749 was published, at Ephrata, Van Braght's " Martyrer Spiegel," historical, biograph- ical, and theological, the most extensive literary production of the colonies.
16. The earliest original American essay upon music is the preface to the "Turtel Taube," printed at Ephrata in 1747.
17. The earliest American work upon peda- gogy was the Schul Ordnung, written by Christo- pher Dock in 1754 and printed in 1770.
18. The earliest American essay upon etiquette was Dock's "Hundert Sitten Regeln," published in 1764.
19. The earliest American bibliography was the catalogue of the works of the Schwenkfelders.
20. The first contribution of real estate to the
313
AND WHEREIN HE HAS EXCELLED
Pennsylvania Hospital was made by Matthias Kop- lin, of Perkiomen.
21. The first approximately accurate calcula- tion of the distance of the earth from the sun was made by David Rittenhouse in 1769. Of him Thomas Jefferson said : " He has not, indeed, made a world, but he has approached nearer its maker than any man who has lived from the creation to this day."
22. The first Continental treasurer was Michael Hillegas.
23. The president of the first national con- gress was Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg.
24. The first force to reach George Washington after he assumed command at Cambridge, in 1775, was a company from York county, Pennsylvania, under Lieutenant Henry Miller, which had marched over five hundred miles.
25. The first force to reach Abraham Lincoln at Washington in 1861 was composed of five companies from Reading, Allentown, Pottsville and Lewistown.
26. George Washington was first called the "Father of his Country" in a German almanac printed at Lancaster in 1779.
314
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCHMAN
27. "The schools for young men and women at Bethlehem and Nazareth, under the direction of the people called Moravians, are upon the best es- tablishment of any schools in America."*
28. The earliest American book on entomol- ogy was published by Frederick V. Melsheimer, at Hanover, York county, Pennsylvania, in 1806. Thomas Say calls him "The parent of entomology in this country."
29. "The first premium for excellency in printing was adjudged by the Pennsylvania Manu- facturing Society to the publishers of a book in the German language in the inland town of Lancaster."+
30. The richest agricultural county in the United States, according to the returns of the last census, is Lancaster county in Pennsylvania.
31. The Wistar parties, the best known of early social events in Philadelphia, were established by Dr. Caspar Wistar.
32. Simon Snyder, Joseph Hiester, John An- drew Shulze, George Wolf, Joseph Ritner, Francis Rahn Shunk, William Bigler, John F. Hartranft
* Payne's " Universal Geography," 1798.
+ Tench Coxe's " View of the United States," 1794.
315
AND WHEREIN HE HAS EXCELLED
and James A. Beaver have been governors of Penn- sylvania.
33. Of the two largest telescopes in the world that in California was erected by James Lick, of Lebanon, Pa., and that in Chicago, by Charles T. Yerkes, of Philadelphia.
34. Leidy in science, Gross in surgery, Pepper in medicine, and Cramp in shipbuilding have reached the highest rank.
35. As a merchant, no American has ever sur- passed John Wanamaker.
36. The Germans "have schools and meet- ing-houses in almost every township through the province, and have more magnificent churches and other places of worship in the city of Philadelphia itself than those of all other persuasions added to- gether."'
37. The earliest Pennsylvania history of the Revolution was written by Colonel Bernard Hubley, and published at Northumberland in 1806.
38. The earliest original Pennsylvania school- book was the primer of Francis Daniel Pastorius, published in 1698.
* Answer to an invidious pamphlet, 1755, P. 73.
316
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCHMAN
39. Our knowledge of the language, manners, and customs of the aborigines of Pennsylvania is mainly due to the Moravians Zeisberger and Hecke- welder.
40. From 1732 to 1760 our relations with the Indians were conducted by Conrad Weiser.
41. The savages who defeated the Englishman Braddock in 1755 were overthrown by the Swiss- German Bouquet in 1764.
42. On the 17th of Ninth month, 1686, be- fore the provincial council, "The Petition of Abra- ham op den Graeff was read for ye Gov'rs promise to him should make the first and finest pece of lin- nen cloath."*
43. Before the Revolutionary war there were more newspapers printed in German in Pennsylvania than in English.
44. The earliest effort in Pennsylvania in be- half of the adoption of the federal constitution was a petition from two hundred and fifty of the resi- dents of Germantown.t
45. Of the nineteen members of the Pennsyl-
* " Colonial Records," Vol. I, p. 193.
+ Lloyd's " Debates," Vol. I, p. 84.
317
AND WHEREIN HE HAS EXCELLED
vania Assembly who voted against the submission of that constitution to a vote of the people, not one was a German, and of the forty-three who voted in favor of it, twelve were Germans .*
46. When Whittier wrote,-
"Thank God for the token! one lip is still free- One spirit untrammel'd-unbending one knee ! Like the oak of the mountain, deep-rooted and firm, Erect, when the multitude bends to the storm ; When traitors to Freedom, and Honor and God, Are bow'd at an Idol polluted with blood ; When the recreant North has forgotten her trust, And the lip of her honor is low in the dust,- Thank God, that one man from the shackle has broken! Thank God, that one man as a freeman, has spoken!"
he referred to Governor Joseph Ritner, of Pennsyl- vania.
47. Whittier's Pennsylvania Pilgrim was Fran- cis Daniel Pastorius.
48. When Thomas Buchanan Read wrote,-
"Then from his patriot tongue of flame The startling words of freedom came. The stirring sentences he spake Compelled the heart to glow or quake,
* Lloyd's " Debates," Vol. I, p. 135.
318 THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCHMAN
And rising on his theme's broad wing, And grasping in his nervous hand The imaginary battle-brand, In face of death he dared to fling Defiance to a tyrant king,"
he referred to General Peter Muhlenberg.
JOHANN GOTTFRIED SEELIG
AND THE
HYMN-BOOK OF THE HERMITS OF THE WISSAHICKON
[Written for the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, October, 1901.]
S UBSTANTIALLY all heretofore known con- cerning the learned enthusiasts who were called the Hermits of the Wissahickon and the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness can be found in the "Settlement of Germantown" and the biography of Hendrick Pannebecker. The sources of information there used were to a large extent the works of Seidensticker and Sachse. So far as known, there was only one manuscript extant in the handwriting of Kelpius, his journal, in the pos- session of the Wistar family, and all of the produc- tions of Seelig had been lost. In the "Vitæ Theo-
320 JOHANN GOTTFRIED SEELIG
logorum Altorphinorum," by Gustave George Zelt- ner, published at Nuremberg in 1722, may be gathered a few additional facts of interest concern- ing the early settlers of Germantown. Pastorius was a student at Altdorf from 1668 to 1670, and it was there that his thesis upon law was printed. In Zeltner's work are portraits and biographies of John Weinman, Luke Frederick Reinhart, John Conrad Durr, and John Conrad Schwaeger, four of the teachers of Pastorius. There is also a reference to a song written by Dr. Johann Wilhelm Petersen, one of the members of the Frankfort Land Com- pany. From it we learn that the book of Kelpius entitled "Scylla Theologica" went through two editions. There are also a portrait and biography of Dr. John Fabricius, whom Kelpius called his master, and under whom he studied.
It was in a letter to Fabricius that Kelpius told the story of William Penn and the Indian chief narrated in the "Settlement of Germantown," page 252. Fabricius had written to Kelpius telling him of the report current in Germany that he had sur- rendered his theological tenets and become a Quaker, in reply to which he wrote a denial in one
JOHANN GOTTFRIED SEELIG
321
of his few letters we possess. Thereupon Fabricius wrote a vindication of him, which appeared in the second edition of the "Scylla Theologica."
A recent discovery made in rather a remark- able manner has added materially to our store of information concerning the Hermits of the Wissa- hickon, and constitutes an interesting bibliographical incident relating to the earliest period of Pennsyl- vania history.
In the summer of 1894 I bought at a public sale at the house of one of the Schwenkfelder people, named Kriebel, on the Skippack creek, in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, a number of ancient books and papers, which were sent to my office in Philadelphia. After all that seemed to be of any importance had been selected, a residuum of what was regarded as rubbish lay exposed upon the top of a box for two years. Among the neglected material was a German manuscript volume about eight inches in length and four in width, whose title and front leaves had been lost, and which con- tained at the end a crude verse in a rude hand, written in 1772. It happened that I gave up my office, and the rubbish was collected by the express-
322
JOHANN GOTTFRIED SEELIG
man and taken to my home, where it lay on a shelf unnoticed for four years longer. One day in 1900 the the words "Der einsamen Turteltauben," the peculiar language of the Dunkers of Ephrata, written on one of the pages of this volume, casually caught my attention and led me to give it a careful study. I found that the turtle-dove was singing "in the silent woods," and, fortunate chance! one of the hymns written in the book was dated in July, 1707, nearly forty years before the establishment of the commu- nity at Ephrata, and was signed "J. G. S." There was only one other set of people in early Pennsylvania life who used this phraseology, and upon a compari- son of the unusual penmanship of the early hymns with that of the journal of Kelpius, the revelation became certain and complete. The hymn-book of the Hermits of the Wissahickon had been happily and strangely recovered.
Kelpius wrote in it nineteen hymns, and at the end of the book made an index of them. Of these there are seven entire, parts of two others, and the first lines of all. Another of the hermits, not iden- tified with certainty, but who may have been Henry Bernhard Koster, the learned translator of the
323
JOHANN GOTTFRIED SEELIG
Septuagint, added thirteen hymns. Then Johann Gottfried Seelig wrote four hymns, and fortunately signed and dated one of them in 1707. They consti- tute the only productions and the only manuscript of Seelig which the ravages of time have spared. The subsequent history of the volume can only be con- jectured. Treasured as long as the community lasted, and then carried away from Germantown and trusted to chance, it fell into the hands of some person who made it the convenient receptacle for the meaningless verses of 1772 which misled me, and was thereafter knocked about the garrets of farm-houses, where it lost its title-page and twelve of its leaves. It is now bound in crushed levant and rests in a morocco case.
One of the hymns written by Seelig is here trans- lated, and, being among the earliest of American poetical productions, is extremely interesting. It has much of the tone of a modern love-song. The dove is cooing for its mate. Christ is a bridegroom who is called to hasten to the awaiting soul. Each stanza suggests one single simple thought, which is emphasized by a descriptive word in the final lengthened line. The attempt has been made to pre- serve the rhyme, measure, and spirit as well as the
324
JOHANN GOTTFRIED SEELIG
ideas of the original, a task rendered more difficult because of the brevity of the lines.
Der einsahmen Turtel-tauben be- wegliches Klag-lied am orte ihrer probirüng im stillen büsche der ge- duld gesüngen von J. G. S.
1. Wo bistu mein Täublein ! Mein süssestes Englein ? Ich sehn mich mit schmertzen, Und ruff dich im hertzen, Wo bistu mein Täublein ? Ach kom doch mein tröstendes Englein.
The moving Song of Complaint of the Solitary Turtle Dove in the place of its trial. Sung in the still woods of patience by J. G. S.
1. My Dovelet, where art thou ? Sweet Angel, why part thou ? My heart is so painful, Oh, be not disdainful. My Dovelet, where art thou ? Come, Angel, consoling my heart now.
2. Sieh wie ich hier walle, Stets nahe dem falle, Ich mercke die tücke, U. sehe die stricke, Wo bistu mein Täublein ? Kom eylend mein rettendes Eng- lein.
2. See how I am heaving, I stand here bereaving, I watch all the threading Of nets that are spreading. My Dovelet, where art thou ? Haste, Angel, deliver my heart now.
3. Hör wie ich dir klage, In eusserster plage, Der Feind mir den glauben Fast alle wil raüben, Wo bistu mein Täublein ? Ach kom doch hertz-starckendes Englein.
4. Im finstern ich sitze In zweiffel-angst schwitze ; Mein weg ist verborgen, Mich quählen viel sorgen ;
3. Oh ! hear me complaining In sharpest of paining, The fiend is me reaving Of faith and believing. My Dovelet, where art thou ? Come, Angel, and strengthen my heart now.
4. In darkness I'm sitting, With doubt I am splitting, My way is all hidden, No care is forbidden.
JOHANN GOTTFRIED SEELIG
325
Wo bistu mein Täublein ? Ach kom doch erleuchtendes Eng- lein.
5. Es lebet die Seele In einsahmer Höhle Ohn freude, ohn friede, Von anfechtung müde, Kom paarendes Täublein, Ach kom doch erfreuendes Eng- lein.
6. Irrleitende lichter, Verstellte gesichter Mich wollen bethören Von warheit abführen Wo bistu mein Täublein ? Ach kom doch warhafttiges Eng- lein
7. Ruch fühl ich die Hiebe, Der fleischlichen Liebe ; Wen die mich verwunden So bistu verschwunden : Wo bistu mein Täublein ? Kom lieb mich reinliebendes Eng- lein
8. Bey alle dem Kummer Fall ich doch in Schlummer Die Trägheit mich drücket Der Schlaff mich berücket ; Wo bistu mein Täublein ? Ach kom doch ermuntrendes Eng- lein.
My Dovelet, where art thou ? Come, Angel, enlighten my heart now.
5. My soul is but living In lonely misgiving, The time is but dreary, With struggles I'm weary. Come, Dovelet, and mate me, Come, Angel, rejoicing to sate me.
6. False beacons misguiding, False faces deriding, Do often bewray me, From true ways betray me. My Dovelet, where art thou ? Come, Angel, the true way im- part now.
7. I feel all the glowing Of lust in me growing ; If fails my endeavor I lose thee forever. My Dovelet, where art thou ? Come, Angel, clean love in thy heart now.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.