USA > Pennsylvania > York County > The Historical Sketch, and Account of the Centennial Celebration at York, PA., July 4, 1876. > Part 9
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Of late years public improvements have notably
Public increased. The Peach Bottom Railway
Improve- ments. company was incorporated in the year 1868.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
This being a narrow gauge road, it has, from its novelty of construction, been an interesting feature of public enterprise. It has gone on steadily to com- pletion, by the energy of the men who have controll- ed it, under some difficulties, and was opened on the 16th of April, in the present year, to Delta, in the ex- treme lower end of the county, a distance of thirty- six miles-the seat of extensive and valuable slate quarries; the road opening facilities for business and travel much needed for that section of country. The only commercial avenue hitherto being the Susque- banna canal. This road will be extended across the Susquehanna, through Lancaster and Chester coun- ties, where it is already partially completed.
In the upper end of the county, the Dillsburg and Mechanicsburg Railroad was finished between those places in 1872, a distance of about seven miles. The company was organized on the first of November, 1871, under the general railroad law of the common- wealth. The Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad, con- necting with the Cumberland Valley Railroad, runs through a portion of the upper end of the county, and within a mile of Dillsburg grading is now in progress to extend the road to Petersburg, Adams county, and ultimately to the Potomac.
The Hanover and York Railroad company was in- corporated in 1873, and within two years the railroad was completed, a distance of eighteen miles-the first train being run on the 29th of May, 1875. This road, known as the "short line," forms a part of the Frederick division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, with
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
the Wrightsville Branch, formerly the Wrightsville, York and Gettysburg Railroad, which was completed between York and the Susquehanna river in April, 1840.
The Borough of Hanover has kept pace with the progress of improvements. Gas was furnished to its people in December, 1870, and water in December, 1873, by incorporated joint stock companies. Han- over is the oldest borough in the county outside of York, having been incorporated in 1815. The other oldest boroughs are, Lewisberry, incorporated 1832, Dillsburg, 1833, Shrewsbury and Wrightsville, 1834. There are now nineteen boroughs in the county, nearly all prominent and wealthy centres of trade and business-many unincorporated towns, and thirty townships.
York is distinguished for the excellence of its pub- lic buildings. Many of the churches are of architec- tural beauty, and the school houses are handsomely built with all modern improvements. The county buildings are model structures. The court house, with its granite front and Corinthian pillars, already mentioned, forms a prominent feature in the main avenue of the borough. A new prison was erected in 1855, at a cost of $62,950.76 under the superinten- dence of Edward Haviland, Esq., architect. It is in the Norman style, built of stone, front and facings of Conewago brown sand stone, with turrets and a lofty tower. The interior arrangements are after the plan of the Eastern penitentiary at Philadelphia. This building was erected with a view to the labor as well
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
as confinement of prisoners. The old jail stood on the north-east corner of George and King streets, a stone building of two stories, and windows barred with iron, erected about 1756, when the old court house was built. It was removed in 1861. A new hospital was built in 1858, at a cost of $48,- 661 63. A large and commodious structure sur- rounded by a large yard, with shade trees and mounds of flowers. The building presenting a fine appear ance, which attracts the eyes of travelers approaching the town by the railways.
The system established in York county for the care and support of the poor, has been in existence since the year 1804, with some improvements, under the control of a board of directors, one of whom is annu- ally elected by the people. They were incorporated on the 6th of February, 1804, under the style of "The Directors of the Poor and House of Employment for . the county of York"-the act authorizing the erect- ing of a house for the employment and support of the poor of the county. This most important branch of the government of every municipality very early re. ceived attention. Originally, on the formation of the county, under the general laws of the commonwealth, modeled after the English Poor Laws, overseers were appointed for each township. It seems that in some instances paupers were kept in the county jail .- When the new system was established, a tract of land known as the Elm Spring farm, of about hundred and thirty-three acres, was purchased, then said to be within a mile of the borough, and another tract of
,00 8 NOSENHOR 7
AGRADA
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about one hundred and fifty-nine acres. The price paid for the land was five thousand pounds. A poor house was erected in 1805, and the poor removed to it from all parts of the county. This building, enlarg- ed and with an additional story, is the present coun- ty alms house. A hospital was built in 1827, of brick, two stories in height, a part of which was used in the erection of the present handsome edifice.
York is not behind any American town in enterprise. Its growth has been natural and steady, not factitious. To the intelligence and industry of the citizens of the county, is due its prosperity. Our farmers are the equal of any-the county one of the richest. At the last census there were 411,341 acres of land under cultivation, estimated at a cash value of $36,358.484, with an annual yield of produce, in the article of wheat alone of 1,129,750 bushels, and other produce in proportion. Its manufactories, of agricultural implements, paper, cars, machinery, and of almost all articles that could be mentioned, number over eleven hundred, with an aggregate capital of about $3,250,000.
It has extensive quarries of slate and limestone and sandstone, and ore banks, some of which yield iron of the finest quality. But the mineral wealth of the county is as yet undeveloped. Very early in its his- tory iron ore was discovered, and furnaces and forges were erected, some of which date before the Revolu- tion. The discovery of the immense deposits of anthracite coal in the Lehigh Valley, and particularly of its use in the reduction of ores, drew to that region
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
the manufacture of iron ; but increasing mechanical facilities, will tend more fully to develop our resour- ces, and place this county upon a high pinnacle of material prosperity.
York county has now on exhibition at the great Cen- tennial Exposition, at Philadelphia, many evidences of the skill of her workmen and of the genius of her mechanics. It takes its part in the celebration of this momentous anniversary with a proud record, and few communities can more acceptably welcome the fourth of July, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
OUR ONE HUNDREDTH BIRTH- DAY.
BY E. NORMAN GUNNISON.
Thank God ! At last the land is peace, A century blossoms here to-day, A hundred years brings its increase Before the nation's feet to lay, Outswept' upon the summer air The flag of stars above us flies. The guerdon of a nation's prayer, The light of glad, immortal eyes.
And bending from their home above, The patriot sires of patriot sons May see the banner of their love, And hear the anthem of the guns Which usher in thy day of birth. Thy natal day, O glorious land ! God keep thee, sacred spot of earth, Within the hollow of His hand.
Not vainly were thy battles fought, On every hill, in every glen, To-day, we see what God hath wrought And wrote upon the hearts of men. To-day before our eyes may wave Unstained by wrong, unsoiled by tears, The glorious banner of the brave, To crown a nation's hundred years.
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THE POEM.
The flag the patriot fathers bore, A cloud by day, by night a flame, Still journeying ever on before And followed by a nation's fame ; A new born nation then, but now Its birth pangs o'er, its perils past, With glory written on its brow, And union, circling it at last.
O gallant men, who fought and bled, And sleep to-day in freedom's soil, The nation's honored, glorious dead, Sweet be your rest from strife and toil. As looking from your home on high Ye see the gift your toil has given, It seems as each immortal eye
Grows brighter with the light of heaven.
Illustrious shades; to-day return,
This birth-day dimmed with no alloy ; And here, where freedom's watch-fires burn, Rejoice with an exceeding joy ! Your phantom ranks are on each plain, Your phantom files are with us still, Your phantom tents are pitched again From Yorktown, back to Bunker Hill.
Your bare-feet track the snow-clad sod, By Princeton's plain, by Valley Forge, Striking for right, ye worship God, In tented field, and mountain gorge. For ye are freedom's every one,
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THE POEM.
Ye may not die, our deathless dead ; Wherever sleeps a patriot son
The tears of heaven are o'er him shed.
Rejoice with us, upon the blast Our flag floats out from sea to sea, Our land's first century is past, And we are still a people free. Far as our wide dominions sweep, Across our valleys, and our plains, No bondman at his task may weep, No ear may catch the clank of chains.
All men are free-the black and white, And as the circling seasons roll All men are equal in his sight, Who colors not a human soul. This be our boast, as here to day We see the stars above us shine, And pause our offerings to pay A sacred debt at freedom's shrine.
A sacred debt one hundred years, No doubts annoy, no cares obtrude, The shadow of no coming fears Shall cloud to-day our gratitude. He made us free, His hand shall keep, And firmly through the cycles hold. He is the shepherd, we the sheep That He has folded in His fold.
O cannon roar ! O flags stream out, Ring on the air a nation's cheers ;
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THE POEM.
Shout, 'tis thy birth-day-Freedom, shout ! The fullness of a hundred years. Usher the century that comes,
Th' undying years, so close at hand Sound forth the trumpets, and the drums, And bid them welcome to the land.
Here shall the Old world's children seek, And find, a shelter from their woes ; And in our valleys, cheek by cheek, The lion and the lamb repose. And He shall lead them ; for his peace Forever rests upon the land ; The marvel of its grand increase Is but the movement of His hand.
Land of our love, to-day each heart Which burns anew with fond desire, Is but an altar set apart
And flaming with thy sacred fire. The fire of freedom, burning bright, Enkindled by the father's hand,
A beacon, through the darkest night To light the glories of the land.
Land of our love, God's circling arm Enfold and guard thee in thy way, His blessing shelter thee from harm, And keep thee glorious, as to-day. Before the century's coming hours Thy cities spring, nor ever cease : Thy blossoms ripen into flowers, And crown thee with perpetual peace.
THE ORATION.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
There is to a certain extent, a sameness and not unfrequently a studied formality in the annual cele- brations of our country's independence. We have the usual complement of stars and stripes, music and banners, and occasionally a booming cannon to fill up the programme, but the spirit of the day, its deep and searching memories, its connection with the past the present and future, and its influence upon the destiny of men and of nations, in all time to come, are seldom made the subject of that calm deliberation which their importance demands.
The fourth of July seventeen hundred and seventy six was the commencement of a new era, in the his- tory of the world. It was the starting point in the great struggle between liberty and despotism. Let no one charge the fathers of our revolution with that narrow, selfish and contracted spirit which would have confined the results and advantages of their achieve- ments to a community of scattered colonies or an as- sembly of thirteen states. Their aim was higher, broader and more comprehensive than this. They embraced in their conceptions, the associated inter- ests of mankind and the benefit of the world at large. Hence the emphatic language of their declaration that "all men are born free and equal and are endow-
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THE ORATION.
ed with certain inalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Less than this could not satisfy the demands of their patriotism and more than this they sought not to exact, either in the deliberations of the council chamber or amid the thunders of battle. The times in which they lived were auspicious for a demonstration in favor of lib- erty, and the men and the patriotism were there to support the enterprise. The star had risen in their horizon which was to be the guide to a political re- demption and under its genial rays the superiority of man's right to self government was to be supported and maintained. That star arose with the first dawn- ing of our revolution, and it continued to shine, with an undiminished lustre, until the termination of it, and to those who toiled and struggled in their country's service, it was the star of hope and promise, encour- aging them in their hours of gloom and despondency and lending additional life and spirit in the days of their victory and rejoicing. Just as the star of Beth- lehem shone over the manger, where was born the leader of a great moral revolution, which was destin- ed to crush the powers of darkness and redeem the world, so the genius of our independence springing up, as it were, in the depths of the untrodden wilder- ness, breathed its redeeming spirit upon the land, and lending its radiance to the great moral light which had culminated to its zenith, blended the power of political and religious glory in assertiug the liberty of the human soul.
The signers of the declaration of American inde-
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THE ORATION.
pendence belong to a generation which is past and gone. The last of that gallant assembly has long since slept with his fathers. There is nothing that survives them now but the memory of their heroic deeds and the splendid system of government they labored to establish. I would never weary in my contemplation of the virtues of these men, and had I a life time to expend for no other purpose, the study of their history and patriotism would amply compen- sate me for my toil.
They were men of no ordinary mould. The rec- ords of other countries are full of examples of self- sacrifice and devotion to chosen and favorite objects. Men have languished in the dungeon and burned at the stake to accomplish some purpose of wild ambi- tion, or to subserve the designs of mistaken zeal or misguided fanaticism. Others for similar purposes, have bared their bosoms to the storms of battle and rushed madly to a doom they could not avert ; but nev- er, not even in the palmy days of the Roman and Gre- cian republics, was there brought together a brother- hood more undivided, less moved by selfish feelings and more earnestly devoted to the great cause they had espoused. They were not only contributors in the ordinary sense, to the cause of freedom, but their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor were thrown into the treasury.
And the character of these men may be said, at least, to have been equal to the great and magnificent sacrifices which they made. Their personal position was no less proud than their patriotism was pure and
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THE ORATION.
attractive. There was the learned and classic Adams , the generous and accomplished Hancock, the vener- ble Stephen Hopkins, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the fiery and impulsive mechanic and farmer hero, Roger Sherman, the patriotic and noble minded Thomas Jefferson, the enterprising and dauntless George Taylor, the warm hearted, but over sensitive Button Guinnette, Hall, Walton, Rutledge, Rush and Livingstone, and their noble compatriots, not forget- ting him of our own beloved commonwealth, who spoke to the thunder and the lightning and they fell harmless at his feet. Had the patriotic enterprise of these signers failed and their lives been forfeited, it would have been the saddest and most painful inci- dent in all human history. It would have been one over which not only men but angels would have wept.
But there was an unseen divinity that presided ov- er their deliberations. Their trust was not alone in the power and potency of human skill and endurance. They had confidence in a higher and more enduring dependence. Uniting the justice of their cause with a firm reliance upon Divine Providence, they pledg- ed their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. What power on earth could withstand a co-operation such as that? If God be for us, who can be against us ?
It was the weak arm of a single commander, cloth - ed with his potent authority from their burning bush, that led the Israelites through their long and perilous journey to the borders of their promised land ; and it was the same authority, derived from the same in-
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THE ORATION.
visible source that brought the men of the revolution, step by step, from the first skirmish at Bunker's Hill to the achievement of the Canaan of their hopes and expectations in the proud and final victory on the plains of Yorktown.
It would be difficult to arrive at any other conclu- sion than that our fathers, in their struggle for inde- pendence, were sustained by a power such as this .- Take a few instances in our early wars and the his- tory of our revolution. For what purpose was George Washington so miraculously preserved even long be- fore he had unsheathed his sword in defence of A- merican liberty? For example, in the French and In- dian war, when the Indian whose rifle never failed him before, fired seventeen fair shots at his body and yet, he who afterward became the leader of our armies escaped unhurt. And then again, during the darkest period of our revolution, when hope had almost died out, that same Washington, piloted his entire force across the river Delaware, in the midst of a furious and pelting snow storm, and amid huge masses of floating ice, and yet landed them safely on the other side and without the loss of a single man. What par- ticular providence was it, think you, on that occasion that sat at the helm and guided the frail craft in the face of the blinding tempest ?
It certainly was no meaningless utterance of words when our fathers embodied in their declaration of in- dependence, "with a firm reliance upon Divine Prov- idence we pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sa- cred honor." If this be not so, then from whence
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THE ORATION.
came the supernatural fire that warmed the breasts of our suffering soldiers, when, on the march to Tren- ton, they left the marks of their bleeding feet upon the frozen ground? And what spirit was it that sus- tained them, when starved with an insufficient sup- ply of food and clothing, they languished through the long winter days and nights among the snow drifts at Valley Forge ? What unseen and invisible divin- ity was it that protected the brave Putnam in his equestrian flight down the rocky ledges that furnish- ed him the only means of escape, or threw its im- penetrable shield before the intrepid Wayne, when in the very front of the belching cannon, charged with grape and cannister, he snatched the sword from the hand of his unresisting adversary and broke it unceremoniously over his head ? Surely, in these remarkable incidents, we see something of the wis- dom displayed by our fathers, when, instead of rely- ing upon their own unaided strength, they sought the protection and anchored all their hopes upon the God of battle.
The causes which led the American revolution are matters of history, with which the most of you are familiar. They did not consist of a single outrage, but a multitude of them, oft repeated, until forbear- ance ceased to be a virtue and the wronged and in- sulted colonists were driven to resistance. Those out- rages are beautifully and forcibly set forth in that Declaration which we have heard read to day. To relieve themselves of these oppressions, it was not the design of our fathers to foster a spirit of hostility,
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THE ORATION.
towards the mother country or to rush recklessly in- to a bloody and unequal war. The measures they employed, at first, were conciliatory and persuasive. But their petitions were disregarded and their ap- peals treated with sovereign contempt
They felt themselves unequal to the task of com- mencing and prosecuting hostilities against the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. They were but few in numbers and but poorly provided with the means of a successful campaign. A million and a half of men, scattered over a vast expanse of terri- tory, unacquainted with the discipline of battle and the arts and the intrigues of war, were to be placed in competition with the well trained and experienced armies of the mother and conqueror of nations. No wonder that they hesitated, considered and delibera- ted before they struck the final blow.
The spirit of the revolution was alive long before the flames of battle had burst forth. The fire had moved in the bosom of the volcano long before the boiling lava had spread itself over the land. The battles of Lexington and of Concord had both been fought before the colonists declared themselves free. Boston was the scene of patriotic commotion and de- cided resistance to British oppression at least a twelve-month before Congress sent forth its unchang- able decree in favor of independence. The fire which British arrogance had fostered in the bosom of the body politic, was slowly, but surely consuming every vestige of loyalty in the men of that day, years before the sword was unsheathed from its scabbard,
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THE ORATION.
and the cannon planted under the broad banner of liberty or death. And when, at length, after years of patient endurance, the clouds of war began to gath- er, the lightning to gleam, the thunder to roll and the ghosts of deadly conflict to stride through the land, every heart among that little band of patriots beat in unison, every lip shouted the same war cry and every tongue spoke the same deep, pervading sentiment-"liberty or death."
In the year 1775, above twelve months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted, George Washington was unanimously chosen by the Conti- nental Congress, Commander in Chief of the Amer- can armies. It may seem strange that surrounded as they were, at that time, by men of years and ex- perience, of irreproachable bravery and pure moral virtue, who ranked among the first in the country ; when Massachussetts could boast of such men as John and Samuel Adams and that arch rebel, as he was called, John Hancock, that the choice should fall upon George Washington, a citizen of a State, not then immediately, connected with the active interest of the conflict. But such was the confidence repos- ed in him that he was elected, without a dissenting voice, to lead the armies of the country, at a time when all the skill, judgment, wisdom, prudence and foresight, which the human mind is capable of com . manding, were necessary for the emergency. And it was not long, after, until the wisdom of the choice began to manifest itself. Having arranged his pri- vate affairs and taken a formal and affectionate far-
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THE ORATION.
well of his family, he leaves them with these most ex- traordinary directions, "Let the hospitality of the house, with respect to the poor, be kept up. Let no one go away hungry. If any of this kind of people should be in need of corn, supply their necessities, provided it does not encourage them to idleness; and I have no objection to your giving my money in charity, to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a year, when you think it well bestowed. What I mean by having objections, is that it is my desire that it should be done." Washington would accept of no salary for his services. They were given without money and without price. All that he could be prevailed upon to receive was the amount of his expenses- beyond that he would not go.
There probably never was an important era in the history of any nation, which did not bring into notor- iety an equally important personage, who attracted much more than an ordinary share of public atten- tion. And in this particular Washington was the man of the revolution. Others were, perhaps, equally brave and skillful, willing to endure privations and encounter danger in the discharge of duty; but Washington seemed to hold in his hand the magic wand by which our armies were directed in the path of victory and triumph. Whether it was upon the plains of Monmouth, stern and determined, riding to the front amid a fierce storm of bullets, with his drawn sword, rallying his broken and disordered columns and restoring his army from the panic of an ill-timed retreat, or in the silence of midnight, upon his bend-
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