A REMINISCENT REVIEW.

Rev. Dr. N. G. Parke and the Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre in 1844. [Evening Leader.]

The services in the First Presbyterian Church Feb. 12 were the last to be held in that edifice, now to be given up to the Osterhout Free Library. The next Sunday the congregation took possession of its new Sunday school building, the first services being the administration of the Lord's Supper. Rev. Dr. Hodge preached in the morning, but the evening service was devoted to an informal farewell service. Capt. Calvin Parsons, the oldest elder, related some intensely interesting reminiscences of the church life as he remembered it from the time he was converted under the preach ing of Mr. Baker, the evangelist. nearly 50 years ago. Rev. Dr. Parke also gave his recollections of the 42 years spent by him in Wyoming Valley. Rev. H. H. Welles was the last speaker, and mentioned that he was converted under the same evangelist as was Mr. Parsons.

The following interesting paper was read by Dr. N. G. Parke, of Pittston, at the farewell service in the Presbyterian church, this city, Sunday evening, to a congregation that crowded the edifice to its fullest capacity:

With the invitation to be with you in these services, the last you expect to hold in this house, came the request that I should be prepared to contribute a brief chapter of reminiscencs. Nothing was said as to the character of these reminiscencs. I assume that they may be of men, or women, or churches, so that they relate to Wilkes-Barre. I heard of a colored preacher who said he preferred exhorting to preaching, because in exhorting he was not confined to a text, he had liberty. And that is just my position this evening. I have not the tether of a text.

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes in a book of reminiscencs of England as he found it fifty years ago, tells us that he hesitated to give the book to the press because of its personal character. In attempting to speak to you of Wilkes-Barre as I saw it forty three years ago, I am made to sympathize with the Au tocrat of the Breakfast Table. It necessitates the making prominent the ego.

I reached Wilkes-Barre on the Saturday before the first Sabbath of May, 1844, having ridden on horseback during the week, something over 200 miles from my home in the southern part of the state. This was before the days of railroads in northern Pennsylvania. I stopped at the house of the Rev. Dr. Dorrance where I expected to spend the Sabbath. The doctor was absent attending the meeting of the general assembly and his wife was out making pastoral calls. I was

obliged to look for another resting place for myself and my horse. I found one at Denis' tavern which stood where the Second National Bank now stands. It was not an expensive place to stay and that suited my finnancial condition at that time. Shortly after my arrangements for the night

were made, I had a call from a Princeton class mate, Solomon McNair, who had come from Berwick to supply Mr. Dorrance's pulpit. He was temporarily supplying the pulpit of Dr. Hand who was in New Jersey collecting funds to pay for a new church. This good brother McNair had come to Wilkes-Barre expecting to be entertained over Sabbath at the house of Judge Collins, but found the ladies of the house in the midst of that annual turning over of things known as house cleaning, and there was no room in the prophet's chamber for the young prophet.

Ou Sabbath morning we found the Presbyterian sanctuary. I preached in the morning and McNair in the evening. The congregation impressed us pleasingly. When I rose to speak I comforted myself with the thought that if I failed there was no one in the congregation that knew me. But 1 had only announced my text when looking over the congregation I saw Dr. Samuel Hammel prepared to hear what I had to say. I had been in his school in Lawrenceville and would as soon have preached before Dr. McCosh as before him. I subsequently learned that he was here visiting his cousin, Mr. McClintock. The house in which we worshiped was a plain frame building, very plain as compared with this beautiful house, and stood where this house stands. It argued "a frugal mind" on the part of the people, as was the salary of $500 promised the pastor. The pulpit was in the front of the building. It had an organ loft in which there was a very sweet toned organ. There was but one church bell in the town or in the county, and that was in the tower of the church on the Square, then occupied by the Methodists. Old Michael was the sexton of the Presbyterian church and my impression is that besides ringing the "Curfew" bell every evening and tolling it for all funerals, he rang it for all the churches. Mr. Calvin Parsons led the singing. The Rev. Dr. Dorrance was the pastor of the church, and Judge Oristus Collins, who is represented as having stood, on one occasion, between the great apostle of temperance and the devil, not to protect the apostle but to protect the devil, was the Senior Elder. My impression is that John O. Baker, Nathaniel Rutter, John Fell and Alexander Gray were also Elders. It was in this frame house that Dr. Baker, the Evangelist, preached so successfully before 1844. The pastor of the Episcopal church was Dr. Claxton, the suc

were

cessor to Dr. May. The pastor of the Methodist churca was the Rev. David Holmes. The Rev. John Lescher, a young man from Easton, served the German reformed churches of Newport, Hanover, WilkesBarre and Ransom, and gave instruction in vocal music. The Baptists may have had an organization in Wilkes Barre, but they were without a sanctuary and without a pastor. There was a first-class school in the old Academy, taught by Mr. Samuel Strong, a graduate of Yale College. He was the successor in the academy of Horton, Owen and Sterling, Drs. Miner, Boyd, Jones nnd Day the physicians of Wilkes-Barre. The lawyers with whom it was my privilege to become acquainted very soon after coming here were Mr. Hendrick Wright and his brother Harrison Wright, Henry M, Fuller, Warren Woodward, Judge Woodward, Judge Dana, Volney Maxwell, Andrew McClintock, Chester Butler and L. D. Shoemaker. Mr. Kutz sat at the bridge the receiver of tolls, and the only mistake I knew him to make was his failure to recognize me as a preacher-I had not been a preacher very long Sharp D. Lewis was the editor and proprietor of the Record of the Times Messrs. Bennett, Gildersleeve, Rutter and Flick were among the merchants. Wilkes Barre in 1844 was a quiet agricultural village with a canal to tide water and a gravity road to White Haven. The Baltimore Coal Company under the superintendency of Mr. Gray, was the only company disposed to develop the rich coal deposit around Wilkes Barre.

It has been often said that letters of introduction amount to but little. I did not find it so, but my letters of introduction were to ladies not to gentlemen It may be true that letters of introduction to gentlemen amount to very little. I had in my pocket from John W. Sterling, at whose solicitation I came here, letters to Mrs. George M. Hollenback, Mrs. Chester Butler, Mrs. John L. Butler and Mrs. John Dorrance. They were all grand women and they were all helpful to me in my mission work in Lackawanna valley, but my Wilkes Barre home was with Mrs John L. Butler. She adopted me. Everybody loved her. I loved her as a mother.

It has been my privilege to know personally all the men who have been the pastors of this old church since 1830. The exalted position these brethren have occupied in the Presbyterian church I have referred to when addressing you on a former occasion. That your present pastor, called into this line of distinguished preachers is not unworthy of the place he occupies, and has occupied for a score of years, we may infer not only from the place he has secured in your hearts, and the hearts of his brethren, but from the fact that the eyes of one of the first Presby

terian churches in our land have been turned wistfully towards him. Under his lead you are going out from this house that you entered with joy under the lead of Dr. Dorrance, to enter your new and beautiful temple. May the angel of the covenant go with you, and this new temple be to you the House of God and the gate of Heaven.

Dr. Craft, of Wyalusing, Owns It. Some time ago a passenger on train No. 9, on the Lehigh Valley RR., disembarked at Wyalusing, and left in his seat in the car an old book, entitled, "A defence of the Church Government, faith, worship and spirit of the Presbyterians, in answer to a late book intitled 'An Apology for Mr. Thomas Rhind, or an account of the manner bow, and the reasons for which he separated from the Presbyterian Party and embraced the communion of the Church." The book was from the pen of John Anderson, M. A. minister of the gospel in Durnbarton, and was printed in Glasgow by Hugh Brown, in 1714. The relic was sent to the general baggage office of the Lehigh Valley RR., at this place, and is now in the possession of A. S. Smock, baggage master at the Union Depot, who will send it to the owner. On a fly-leaf in the book is the inscription, "Presented Rev. David Craft by his friend and fellow-digger, S. Hayden, Sayre, Pa., Jan. 27, 1888. Although the book is 174 years old, it is still in an excellent state of preservation. The print is very plain and can be easily read. The leaves are yellow with age, but are intact.-South Bethlehem Star, Feb. 2, 1888.

Historical Books Wanted.

Anyone having a copy of "The Life of Moses Van Campen" for sale, can hear of a purchaser by applying at the office of the Historical Record, Wilkes-Barre. Please state condition and price wanted.

Rev. H. E. Hayden wants to buy a copy of "The Lost Sister of Wyoming, by Rev. J. Todd, Northampton, Mass., 1842," and "The Frontier Mail, or a Tale of Wyoming, by Joseph McCoy, 1819."

The first number of the second volume of Dr. Egle's Notes and Queries, Harrisburg, Pa., is at hand. It is not issued at stated periods but whenever the matter accumulates to the extent of 88 pages. The matter first appears in the Harrisburg Telegraph as its historical column and it embraces a vast deal of interesting and valuable history.

VOL. II.

SHYLOCK DEFENDED.

A Legal Luminary Sheds a New Light Upon the "Phantom of Fiction." Y.M.H.A. hall was well filled Sunday, Jan. 22, by an audience gathered to listen to a lecture by Mr. Henry A. Fuller, it being the third in the course given before that society. The audience was late in assembling and was nearly 8:30 when it was announced that Mrs. Williams would first entertain the company with a selection on the piano. The lady performed her part in charming manner and was warmly applauded. Mr. Fuller was then introduced, and prefaced his lecture with a scattering volley of witticisms. He announced his subject as one of convenient ambiguity, "A Celebrated Case."

His subject proved to refer to the case of Shylock, who, he held, was a much abused individual. As a member of the WilkesBarre Shakespearean Society he had recently been engaged in the study of this celebrated case, and his original feeling of abhorrence had changed to one of indignation at the injustices heaped upon the unfortunate money lender. Mr. Fuller pointed out the fact that while Shakespeare had painted Shylock as a Jew he had not intended him as typical of his race, but as an extraordinary individual regardless of surroundings. The great characters of fiction are none of them natural. The stage is a world in miniature, and the concentration necessary in creating stage characters must produce distortion.

In considering this celebrated case Mr. Fuller proposed to take the part of attorney for the defendant, and drew a graphic picture of the bent and bearded figure of the sorrowing old man, bereft of wife, child and hoarded ducats; stung to the quick by his daughter's ungrateful conduct, and reviled and spit upon by the irrevent public.

His daughter to whom he had played the part of both father and mother, leaving him for a spend thrift, taking the turquois ring, his only memento of the lost wife, Leah. The lecturer waxed funny in following a vein of thought suggested by the name, Leah, meaning tired, and vented some rather sarcastic remarks on Jessica as the typical, flirting young woman. The treatment of the unfortunate Jew by Antonio and his fellows was declared but an exhibition of an unfortunate disposition still extant, to knock

No. 2.

a man into the ditch and then berate him for being down. The characters of Antoneo and Bassanio were put in rather unfavorable light, one borrowing money on the strength of his future wife's fortune; the other loaning money free of interest, as spite work and to break the money market.

Mr. Fuller maintained that Shylock could not have expected the forfeiture and enforcement of his bond, at the time it was drawn. Neither Antonio nor his friend anticipated the remotest possibility of such an event, and Shylock had no gift of prophecy which foretold the evil about to befall his victim.

scene

Shylock's bond, he declared, was no worse than the hundreds of cut-throat leases being daily signed. Shylock's vengeance contained no feature of anarchy but was to be enforced by legal process. The trial W88 humorously and vigorously treated. Portia spoken of as talking bad law and actually persuading the courts to believe it, something which modern lawyers failed to do even when they talked sense. Shylock's greatest error was in not taking his pound of flesh when awarded regardless of consequences, which could not have been more disastrous than they were.

The injustice of the judgment which robbed Shylock of his estate and divided it between his enemies was strongly made out, and the lecturer closed his remarks by a happy quotation of the last words uttered by the character he was defending.

The lecture was well received and the applause at its close was long and loud.

A Hale Couple at Eighty-four. In the course of a business letter to the RECORD, Dilton Yarington writes:

CARBONDALE, March 1, 1888 -Sixty-three years ago yesterday morning I left my home in Wilkes-Barre and walked to Dandaff. Worked a year at my trade for Col. Gould Phinny; then started in business for myself. Was 21 years and 4 months old when I left home. Stopped in Dundaff 22 years and 8 months, and then moved to Carbondale April 1, 1847. Was married Dec. 23, 1827, and we both are yet enjoying very fair health. I was 84 on the 8th of October last, and my wife was 84 on the 20th of January last.

HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Proceedings at the Annual Meeting-All the Old Officers Re-elected-Some Suggestions Which Ought to stir the Society Up.

The annual meeting of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society was held on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 11 am. Present, Hon. E. L. Dana, Pierce Butler, Edward Welles, G. B. Kulp, Calvin Parsons, Rev. H. E. Hayden, R. Sharpe, E. S. Loop, S. Reynolds, H. H. Harvey, J. D. Coons, C. J. Loug, Rev. A, L. Jones, C. B. Johnson, Dr. C. F. Ingham, Hon. Steuben Jenkins and A. H. McClintock. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted thus:

President-Hon. E. L. Dana.

Vice Presidents-Dr. C. F. Ingham, Rev. H. L. Joues, Capt. Calvin Parsons, Hon. Eokley B. Coxe.

Recording Secretary-S C. Struthers.
Corresponding Secretary-S. Reynolds.
Librarian-Hon. J. R. Wright.
Assistant Librarian-G. Mortimer Lewis.
Treasurer-A. H. McClintock.

Curators-Dr. C. F. Ingham, conchology and mineralogy; S. Reynolds, archaeology; Rev. H. E. Hayden, numismatics; R. D. Lacoe, palaeontology.

Meteorologist-Hou. E. L. Dana. Historiographer-George B. Kulp. Trustees-Dr. Charles F. Ingham, Edward P. Darling, Ralph D. Lacoe, Edward Welles, Hon. Charles A. Miner.

Judge Dana read the meterological reports for December and January. December rain fall, 2.96 inches; average temperature 23.27 degrees. January, rain fall, 3 81 inches; average temperature 17% degress, 10 inches of snow during January, mercury was below zero on four days-10 below on the 221.

George B. Kulp read biographical sketches of three members deceased during year— Major Jacob Wælder, James P. Dennis and Frederick Mercur.

The following contributed to the library or cabinet since December meeting:

C. W. Darling, Oneida Historical Society; American Philosophical Society; Dr. D. G. Brinton, Bureau of Education, Mrs. H. Brownscombe, Wilkes Barre RECORD, B. H. Pratt, Amherst College, Yale University, United States Catholic Historical Society, Commissioners of State Geological Survey, Department of Interior, Middlebury Historical Society, I. A Stearus, G. B. Kulp, H. R Jackson, American Geographical Society, Iowa Historical Society, Anthropological Society of Wisconsin, J. Reichard, Jr., Chicago Historical Society, Historical Society of lowa, Bureau of Ethnology, R. D Lacoe, Astor Library, Hon. J. A. Scranton, G. M. Reynolds.

Mr. Reynolds read a report of the additions to the library and cabinet during the year and other matters of interest. Additions to the library during the last 12 months: Bound volumes, 270; pamphlets, 205; besides newspapers, maps, broadsides and a bundle of drafts and surveys. Additions to numismatic cabinet: 2 medals, 4 coins. Additions to conchological cabinet none. The receipts have been (including balance) $1,041, and the disbursements $894. The report was rather a plea for activity than a recital of accomplishments. Mr. Reynolds bemoaned the fact that in a learned society of over 150 members only 4 or 5 could be found who showed any interest in its active work. Credit was given Dr. Ingham and Mr. Lacoe for work in the coal collection, and by Mr. Hayden in the numismatic collection, and it was hoped that others would be found willing to devote a little time each week to some cabinet or other. There is abundant material for the publication of Vol. VI of Transactions, but the failure of members to pay dues precludes the giving of the work to the printer. The last volume appeared in July, 1886. Since 1880 40 papers have been read before the society, and only one member in 13 has contributed any paper. Daring the last year only one paper was read. The secretary urgently recommended increasing the number of life members as 8 source of permanent revenue. There are now only five life members-Dr. Ingham, J. H. Swoyer, W. L. Conyngham, F. V. Rockafellow and Edward Welles. Notwithstanding present unpromising condition the society had done much meritorious work during the last eight years, and it has taken rank among kindred institutions of the land. Its library contains 5,000 volumes and as many pamphlets, and the same will be maintained separate from the Osterhout Free Library. The society is in correspondence with 77 domestic and ten foreign 80cieties. It has furnished information to many National and State bodies, besides aocomplishing satisfactory results in exploration and original research in geology, archeology and local history. One of its publications lately served to establish the validity of a will disposing of an estate valued at $35,000.

The local papers furnish their files, which form a valuable acquisition. The society has 265 volumes of local papers, mainly covering the period from 1810 to the present, 1833 and 1834 excepted. The more valusble are kept in a fire proof vault.

At the conclusion of the report the matter of life membership was discussed by Rev. Mr. Jones and others, and Richard Sharpe expressed his desire to become a life mem

ber, and tendered Mr. Reynolds his check for $100.

On motion it was resolved that a committee of three be appointed to solicit life memberships, and that 200 copies of the report of the corresponding secretary be printed for distribution.

Hon. Steuben Jenkins read a paper on "Water Fall," suggested by Gen. Dana's report of the rain fall in Wyoming Valley, which is from 36 to 40 inches annually. The paper gave some highly interesting statistics on the rain fall along the great streams of the world, and the force necessary to take this amount of water up into the atmosphere and transport it long distances to deposit it upon the earth again.

Rev. H. E. Hayden read a letter on the early discovery of coal in Pennsylvania in 1766, from William J. Buck. The letter was followed by remarks by Mr. Jenkins, Dr. Ingham and Mr. Kulp, showing that coal was known in Pennsylvania prior to that date.

Incident in Charles Miner's Life. In an old memorandum left by Charles Miner occurs the following curious account of his recognition through the similarity of his voice to his brother Asher's, 50 miles from home on a dark night, by an entire stranger. He was going to Philadelphia, over the mountain, in company with Judge Hollenback and Ebenezer Bowman, Esqs., when on the evening of the second day, below the Blue Mountain, he had to turn off the road "to visit Mr. Levan, our papermaker, and pay him some money. fect stranger, never having seen the man in my life or been within fifty miles of the place. The darkness became so intense that I could only perceive there were buildings of some sort near, so I called out lustily: 'Hello, hello, the house. Does Mr. Levan live here?'

A per

'Your mother was an honest woman,' was the reply in a strong German accent. 'How do you know that?'

'I know you are a Miner by your voice.' He knew brother Asher, well-perceived the marked similarity, and yet, not identity, of the voice; and although he could not have distinguished my form from that of my horse, he knew me as Asher's brother. It has always appeared to me remarkable.

At Levan's every thing wore the appearance of comfort, and I was treated with true German hospitality. I did not overtake my company until late next day."

Perhaps the Yankee twang was strong in early days and the paper maker was looking for money from the Wyoming Miners. Are those paper mills now running below the Blue Mountain?

The Fugitive Stanza Identified. EDITOR RECORD: That is a pretty selection of yours in Saturday's social column, credited to the Nanticoke Tribune, and entitled "Ode to Wyoming," showing that editors are men of taste, who know good things when they see them in print, even though they are not capable of originating matter for their columns. The poem of which your selection is the opening stanza, was greatly admired and highly complimented by the President of the United States and an appreciative audience of 40,000 citizens, when, as Mrs. Mary Richart's production, it was so charmingly read by Miss Essie Hopkins, at the 100th anniversary exercises of the battle and massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1878. The entire poem is given on page 196 of the Wyoming Memorial volume, only a small number of copies of which yet remain in the hands of the secretary for distribution to the sudents of history and such other persons as can appreciate works of that kind. I am glad to know that the editor of the Tribune has access to a copy of the book to select from, as it is replete with original articles of rare literary merit; but would it not be well for him in future to give credit and not attempt to pass off even by implication as original matter that has been in print for years.

Ode to Wyoming.

Beauteous vale! in by-gone times

W. J.

I oft have rov'd where tuneful chimes
Pealed merrily in distant climes-
Yet, wheresoe'er I have sojourned,
Or wheresoe'er my feet have turned,
One thought on mem'ry's shrine has burned
In all my roaming;

This thought in many a heaving swell
Has bound me in its magic spell
To thee, sweet vale, beloved so well-
Wyoming!

-Extract from Mrs. Mary B. Richart's Centennial poem.

A Mercantile Change.

The firm of Hillards is dissolved, their successor being Lewis Brown, who has been in the Hillard employ for over 30 years-since Oct. 5, 1857. The firm was organized in 1847 as Hillard & Mordecai, Mr. Mordecai retiring a year or two later, when the business was carried on by T. S. Hillard's father as O. B. Hillard. From 1852 to 1855 it was Hillards & Co., and for the next three years it was O. B. Hillard & Sons. Since 1858 it has been Hillards, the firm comprising T. S. Hillard and his brother, the late W. S. Hillard. Mr. Brown has been an invaluable man, and his friends unite in wishing him great success as proprietor in the house where he has been a clerk so many years. Mr. Hillard retires for the purpose of giving his undivided attention to his milling busi

ness.