USA > Pennsylvania > Berks County > School history of Berks County in Pennsylvania : by Morton L. Montgomery > Part 6
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mannisch, * the Pfälzischend the Schwäbisch, * and some from the German proper. Its preservation to such a marked degree is due mostly to the German Bible. Martin Luther performed a great service to one of the strongest and most prolific nations of the earth in translating the Latin Bible into the German language, for through it he made its use here persistent and continuous. Their Ger- man hymn-books and prayer-books, and Arndt's Wahres Christenthum (True Christianity) assisted greatly in this behalf. The use of the English language in courts of justice, and in legal docu- ments of all kinds, did not, and apparently could not, interfere with its preservation. And even English teaching, through a general system of school education, has not disturbed it much, though fifty years have elapsed since its introduction. This system has caused the introduction of numerous English, mixed, and contracted words, and caused the language to be called " Pennsylvania German " -or "Pennsylvania Dutch." These remarks are particularly applicable to the country districts. The German people have also occasioned the introduc- tion of a considerable number, through an earnest desire to succeed in their business relations with the citizens of Reading.
The English language, both written and spoken, has been in use from the time of the earliest settle- ments by the English in the county, and it is natu- ral to suppose that, in all these years, through judi- cial proceedings, business transactions, and general
* After localities in Prussia.
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education, it should have made considerable pro- gress, especially during the last twenty years ; but frequent visits to churches and schools, stores and families in this time enable me to say that the Ger- man language is still predominant. Another gene- ration will have to pass away before the English language can take its place. The circulation of Eng- lish newspapers is increasing gradually ; but their total circulation is still small compared with our pop- ulation. They are a strong agency in effecting a change from the German to the English; in reality, they are a stronger agency in this respect than the common schools. This is particularly apparent in Reading. Before the daily English newspaper was established here, the German language was com- monly used by the major part of its inhabitants in their daily affairs ; but now the English has its place, and principally through the more general in- troduction of the newspaper. The convenience of distribution facilitates its growth. The situation, however, is not much improved in our boroughs, and towns, and townships, especially in the latter, notwithstanding the encouragement of common schools. In those, the newspapers are not generally read as they are in Reading, for they are not so con- veniently distributed. But in them, as in Reading, the English language will become more generally used according to the more general introduction of English newspapers. The National government is contributing much aid by extending and increasing the postal facilities and the delivery of mail matter throughout the county.
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MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
The buildings and improvements throughout the county are mostly the result of German thrift and energy. Profits from labor have been mostly appro- priated toward increasing the value of land rather than towards enlightenment. Fine barns, dwellings, and fields are prominent in every locality. They are superior to those which existed in the previous cen- tury. Practical affairs show a decided advance beyond their condition fifty years ago. This is ap- parent in live stock, in the cultivation of fruit, in the possession of improved implements and machinery, besides a better class of dwellings and barns. A higher order of taste in the adornment of persons and places has made its way through increasing liberal- ity. These are signs which indicate the develop- ment of the people out of their previous condition.
Domestic habits, in respect to home-made articles, have changed. Spinning and weaving have been abandoned. The loom and the factory supply all the materials required. A change began to be made about 1840. Before that time spinning was com- mon everywhere in the county. It was one of the necessary acquirements of mothers and daughters. Sales of reels and spinning-wheels then declined gra- dually at the stores, and within twenty years after- ward there was no demand at all for these articles.
The life of the farmer is comparatively little beyond hard, earnest labor, and rigid economy through- out each succeeding year. His daily reflection is upon his stock and crops. All the improved imple- ments and labor-saving machinery are devised and
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introduced by others for his benefit. He would con- tinue in the same manner of conducting his farming operations which had been practiced last century, and even this century until 1850, if inventive genius had not created them for him. The farmer of our own county has not produced anything to improve his situation in respect to labor. He adopts what is brought to him. This singular inactivity keeps him back of the advancing times. Through it, the products of his labor are permitted to be drained to populous places. One of the chief consequences is little remuneration. The men of thought and energy in cities absorb the greater proportion of the profits. If his daily habits were not simple and his expenses small, he could not keep what he has, much less accumulate more. His net income from actual labor is limited.
Compared with the income of business men, agents, officers, and clerks in cities, it is insignifi- cant. His manners are the same in this respect as in others. If we examine them closely and com- pare them with the condition of things one hundred years ago, we find little progress. His household furniture, bedding, clothing, table-ware, social hab- its, and general customs are generally the same. His walls are not decorated with costly paintings ; his floors are not covered with fine, soft carpets ; his beds are not composed of easy springs and hair or wire mattresses ; his table does not glisten with polished silver or sparkle with cut glass ; his dwell- ing is not after the modern style, with arrange- ments for health and convenience; and he himself
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is not a patron of art, literature, or amusements. But in towns and cities we find all these things, not only in the dwellings of bankers, lawyers, and merchants, but also of industrious mechanics, agents, and clerks ; and art, literature, and various amuse- ments are largely patronized and encouraged.
This great difference is caused by the spirit of progress which obtains more in populous places, where the people are led in numerous ways to inter- mingle daily with one another. Association creates the laudable ambition to develop improvement in the various departments of domestic and social life ; and it relieves the monotony of daily labor by amusements, -literary, musical, and dramatic. In carrying on amusements successfully, this spirit is converting night more and more into day, and de- vising new methods for social pleasure and excite- ment. Improved light facilitates and encourages it in the night-time. And traveling is a great agency in stimulating it. In certain respects, it is like steam on the one hand and electricity on the other, -active and energetic in moving about from place to place, and brilliant and powerful in providing the necessary light to accommodate its conceptions. Horse-power, and the locomotion afforded by it, may suffice for the people in the country districts ; but steam and railroads afford locomotion which is not too rapid for the people in the towns and cities. The genius that thrives in the very midst of the most populous places, and of the pleasures and ex- citements which they produce, is struggling with the mysteries of the world for a motive-power
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stronger and quicker than steam; and hopes of realizing victory are highly entertained. Restless energy is introducing wonderful changes in the * manners and customs of the people.
In the mountainous and farming districts, where distance separates the inhabitants, and where means for rapid intermingling are impracticable, if not impossible, the changes are imperceptible. Their situation does not warrant changes, especially such as are constantly going on in the cities, for it could not support them. The profits of labor and the investments in them are too slow and too small. Hence, their manners and customs, their dwellings and churches, their roads and movements, their speech and actions, their dress and associations are the same or nearly the same as they were a hun- dred years ago. Their energy is inseparable from the plow and the hoe and muscular exertion. But the cities produce and support these changes, and in them energy partakes more of the mind than of the body. And these changes and this mental energy are more active amongst their inhabitants. In comparing the situation of the people of Albany and Caernarvon townships-districts located at the extreme northern and southern ends of our county, thirty miles apart; also of Hereford and Bethel townships-districts located at the extreme east- ern and western ends, forty miles apart, with the situation of the people of Reading, the county-seat, the difference is apparent at a glance. One hun- dred years ago they were alike or nearly so. But just as Reading is in advance of the districts men-
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tioned, so is New York, the great metropolis of our vast country, in advance of Reading.
By contrasting the two extremes, our mountain- ous districts with the great metropolis, the differ- ence in the manners and customs of the respective inhabitants is wonderful. And yet the forefathers of each, as immigrants, started alike. In the one, oil and tallow are still used, and even the open fire- place for the production of light in a simple and inexpensive way; in the other, these have long passed away, especially for public purposes, and the people have light from electricity. In the one, thousands of inhabitants are scattered over miles of territory ; in the other, thousands are concentrated upon a few acres. In the one, a few hundred dol- lars suffice to make the inhabitants contented and happy ; in the other, millions of dollars are invested and expended to carry on successfully the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and such changes as ambition and competition produce. Content- inent would seem to be the co-partner of slowness, if not of stillness ; but discontentment, of energy and activity. In the one, the expense of a few extra dollars in travel or in entertainment is looked upon as luxury, if not extravagance ; in the other, thousands of dollars are expended as a matter of necessity for the same purpose. These strong con- trasts enable us to see our own manners and customs in the county of Berks as they are, or were, or as they will be, especially in our more populous places, the nearer steam and electricity come to be connected with our material progress.
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CHAPTER VII.
LABOR AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
LABOR.
Agriculture .- When the first settlers entered this territory they found it entirely without cultivation or improvement of any kind. The land along the Schuylkill and its tributaries was in a primitive state in every respect ; but it was in a good condi- tion for farming purposes. Its location was fine ; its irrigation was superior ; therefore it was very in- viting to them. Labor stood out prominently as the one thing neces- sary to cause it to become fruit- ful. Fortunate- ly for them, they possessed this personal quality in the highest degree ; and with this quality they also possessed other qualities equally important in taking hold of an uncultivated country,-perse- verance, patience, and economy. Driven from home by religious persecution, they must have rejoiced in finding such a pleasing situation, such inviting con- ditions. After the beginning of emigration had been made, can we wonder that emigrants came by
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. the thousand ? They knew their sufferings and their uncertain conditions at home ; and their sense of well-being induced them to leave. But in leav- ing their native valleys and hills, they came to pos- sess and enjoy a country equally favored for beauty, for health, and for profit; but more highly favored in respect to a condition which was to them more important than all the others combined-freedom.
It is surprising to find in the course of time and government in one country the development of a condition for mankind so unfortunate, so objection- able, so discouraging ; but it is equally surprising to find in the same course of time and government, in another country far removed, over a thousand miles across a dreaded sea, a condition ex- actly opposite, fortunate, ac- ceptable, and encouraging. The condition of the settlers was encouraging, not only in respect to an acceptable country, but also in respect to their own constitution, -physically, men- tally, and morally. They were strong and enduring in physical development ; they were sensible and practical in thought and feeling ; they were sound, hopeful, and trustful in religious convictions. These fitted them admirably for their vocation.
The land was then cultivated as it is now-by manuring and enriching the soil, by turning the sod, by sowing and planting seeds, by rotating crops ;
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but the manner was more laborious. Every act was performed by muscular exertion and endurance, with the assistance of horse-power. The plow, the harrow, the scythe, the sickle, and the rake were important then. By comparing the past with the present, we can readily appreciate the vast differ- ence. The farming implements were rude and sim- ple in construction, and they continued so for many years. The whole of the eighteenth century passed away without any improvement. The farmer la- bored on earnestly and faithfully year after year, and decade after decade, with the same muscular exertion. These rude implements required him to be at his place all the time, but his devotion was equal to the task. He was up with the sun in the morn- ing ; and he was up with the moon in season. He was never behind ; he could not be, without great loss and inconvenience. His imple- ments were satisfactory to him, because he gave them no thought beyond the assistance which they afforded ; and his sons followed in his footsteps-by imitation. Half of the nineteenth century passed away without any material progress in this vi- cinity beyond the days of 1700, of 1750, and of 1800. Labor-saving machinery had begun to be in- troduced within a score of years before 1850, and this naturally led to an improvement in farming imple- ments. The mower came to be substituted for the scythe, the reaper for the sickle, and the drill for
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the hand. Improved plows of various patterns were introduced. And now we have the combined reaper and binder-a machine truly ingenious.
The same slowness, simplicity, and earnest labor followed the threshing of grain after it had been harvested. The flail and the walking of horses on the barn-floor were continued for a hundred and fifty years ; indeed, some of the poorer, non-pro- gressive farmers in districts removed from railroads and prominent highways still carry on this labor- ious performance. For long straw the flail is still indispensable. The threshing-machine was intro- duced about 1836, and also the horse-power ma- chine for running it with speed and success. Pat- ent hay-rakes, hay-forks, corn-shellers, and imple- ments and machines of various kinds are also used
All these things in every section of our county. were developed from the manufacture of iron into every conceivable shape. Accordingly, the model and the foundry played an im- portant part in these im- provements. And at the bottom of all this progress for the farmer we find iron, coal, and steam.
We no longer see from 20 to 40 persons engaged in harvesting crops on our farms, as they were seen in 1800, even in 1860. A farmer and his own family, with the aid of his
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horses and improved farming machinery, can carry on all the work from beginning to end successfully. He has comparatively little hired help to deal with, which is certainly a great consideration to him. His investment in improved machinery is therefore profitable ; and it is always reliable and ready. Since 1860 numerous manufacturing establishments were erected in our country. They caused a great demand for working-people ; and this demand was supplied to a great degree from the farming dis- tricts. The manufacturer paid higher wages than the farmer, and limited the time of daily labor to ten hours. Towns and cities, at which these estab- lishments were almost entirely erected, afforded the working-people more and better advantages and facilities in respect to schools, churches, pleasures, and associations. These naturally inclined them to quit laboring on farms in the country and enter establishments in populous places. Accordingly, farm-laborers began to grow scarce, and farmers be- came alarmed ; but fortunately for farming, whilst enterprise was drawing one way apparently against its welfare, genius was acting with equal force in the other for it. The result has actually come to be beneficial to the farmer, especially in respect to making him more self-dependent.
Industries .- There were many industries in the several districts of the county, in their early his- tory. Blacksmith-shops and wheelwright-shops were conducted in every community, being necessary for the accommodation of the settlers. They were not large, for only a few individuals worked together-
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inostly master-workman and his apprentice. Grist- mills for flour and feed were situated along all the large streams. The Welsh were mechanics who conducted their trades in small factories along the Wyomissing. Rope-makers were common in every section, ropes and cords being largely used in tlie daily affairs of life. This industry was conducted for many years by individuals at their homes ; but improved machinery and steam caused its decline, and small ropewalks were compelled to discontinue. Carpenters and builders were numerous. They were finished workmen, preparing every article out of wood by hand. Some of the old buildings, still in a good state of preservation, attest the excel- lence of their workmanship. Doors, windows, and frames of all kinds used in building operations were hand-made. This custom amongst them continued till the introduction of the planing-inill about 1835, and then it began to pass away.
The country saw-mill, run by water-power, was active then in preparing lumber ; but great steam mills in the lumber regions have caused them to become less and less active. Great rafts of logs are no longer towed down the canals to Reading, es- pecially the Union Canal from the Susquehanna River, to afford employment to saw-mills. The
railroads deliver finished lumber instead. Every community had a weaver, who conducted his busi- ness at his home. He wove carpets and coverlets (plain and fancy) ; and linen and cotton stuffs for domestic use. He did not carry a large stock on hand ; he manufactured articles to order. And so
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it was with the shoemaker and tradesmen of various kinds. Fulling-mills, paper-mills, oil-mills, and distilling-mills were conducted for cloths, paper, oil, and whiskey ; but they were limited in capacity.
Before the Revolution, in each division of the county, there were iron industries, especially in the lower portion. They were scattered many miles from one another. All were located along strong streams which afforded constant water-power, and in the midst of thickly-wooded territory which fur- nished an inexhaustible supply of charcoal. The greater number were east of the Schuylkill. Four forges and two furnaces were carried on in the county before 1752. The first forge was erected in 1717, and the first furnace in 1720; and these are believed to have been the earliest in Pennsylvania.
The iron-masters of the county comprise many inen distinguished for their enterprise, success, and wealth. They extend through the history of the county from its earliest settlements until now. A great proportion of the material prosperity and en- richment of the county has been contributed by them. They have, to a great degree, influenced its social, political, and industrial welfare. In the set- tlement and development of its several sections, they have been pioneers. Though their great and influential industry does not antedate agriculture in the affairs of the county, it has, nevertheless, been a traveling companion ; and, like agriculture, has been transmitted from grandfather to son and grand- son. Their names reveal the fact that the great majority of them have been of German origin.
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INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
The internal improvements of the county relate to the several prominent affairs which have been instituted and carried on for the general develop- ment, convenience, and enrichment of the whole community. They comprise the canals, bridges, roads and turnpikes, stages, railways, county build- ings, post-offices, telegraph, and telephone.
Advantages of River .- In a natural aspect, the Schuylkill River has occupied an important posi- tion in the well-being of the county. We can only appreciate this by realizing the great advantages which it has afforded in leading away successfully enormous quantities of water year after year, from the inountains and valleys to the sea. And in its meandering channel the flowing waters are detained in their onward course to moisten the air and vege- tation, and to proceed with only such speed as not to injure the adjoining country.
In a practical aspect, it has been valuable in vari- otis ways-two especially, fishing and navigation. It respect to fishing, it was a source of profit and subsistence to the early settlers who occupied the adjoining properties. They discovered this imme- diately after settling here; and to facilitate the catching of large quantities of fish with little labor and expense, they erected wears, racks, and dams, into which the fish were driven by the fishermen, who either waded afoot or rode on horseback through the water.
In respect to navigation, it was likewise a source of advantage in enabling them to carry conveniently
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by boats, flats, and canoes, and with little expense, great quantities of grain and goods of all kinds, to the market at Philadelphia. Penn had hardly landed here before he found that navigation in the river was obstructed by fishing wears and dams ; and believing them to be objectionable, he encouraged legislation against them. Various acts were passed, but the wears and dams were not abandoned. Eventually the inconvenience and suffering occa- sioned by them became so burdensome that earnest complaints arose, when they were discontinued ; but not, however, till the assistance of the law had been invoked.
Canals. - Navigation was encouraged by State legislation during a period of 60 years from 1761; and finally the Schuylkill Canal was constructed along the river from Port Carbon through Reading to Philadelphia, and the Union Canal from the Schuylkill at Reading to the Susquehanna at Mid- dletown,-the former having been finished in 1824 and the latter in 1828. The Union Canal was aban- doned in 1884 on account of railroad competition, after having been conducted for over 50 years. The Schuylkill Canal is still maintained, though much affected by competing lines of railroad.
Bridges .- In 1778, there were 18 fords over the river from Reading southward to the county line, a distance of 18 miles. Afterward bridges were constructed at 6 of the fords :
Harrisburg [Penn St.] . . 1816
Birdsboro' 1844
Lancaster [Bingaman St. ] 1831
Monocacy . . I866
Poplar Neck . 1832
Douglassville ,1832
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And above Reading bridges were also constructed:
Bell's. . . 1822
Kissinger's . 1810
Leize's . 1833
Stoudt's- 1857
Althouse's IS35
Mohr's . IS37
Windsor Haven IS62
Hamburg . 1829
All of the bridges named were toll-bridges. The first three and last were constructed by the county ; the otliers by private individuals. Most of them were declared free in 1883, and the others afterward. The county purchased the private bridges at an ap- praised valuation.
Freshets .- Numerous freshets have swept down the river, entailing great losses upon the adjoining property-holders. Those worthy of particular men- tion were in 1757, 1786, 1822, 1839, 1841, 1850, and 1869.
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