Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/47

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIUS

cents, at which sum it remained fo r many ^'cars, until within (he recollection o f many It w as reduced to two cents. The only bank in this section of the State was at Northumberland, and William McKclv)-, a resident o f Bloomsburg. who was one of the directors, drove down ever)' Monday mom* in g to a tlcn d a m e c tin g o f thcboard. Mr. Harti ^ n remembers going down on horseback one time and making a dctwsit o f $500 for his em­ ployers. E y e r Hemey, relum ing the same day. T he merchants did but little bank busi­ ness— scarcely any at a l l T he principal busi­ ness w as the making o f deposits fo r safe keeping. In the "good old days of the past” few of the present conveniences were even dreamed of. A s a rebuttal lo the claims of the surviv­ ors o f those limes that the old days were the best, let us review some of the details o f life in those times. In the g o ^ old times of the early years of the eighteenth century ever)* gentleman wore a queue and p o w d e r^ his hair. H is clothes were more elaborate than now, more unsan­ itary, and o f brilliant colors which often faded badly. There w as only one hat factory in Am erica, and that made "cocked” hats. D ry goods consisted o f “ men's stuff” and “ women’s stuff.” and w as limited in character and quality. Stoves were unknown and all cooking was done before open fireplaces. China plates were a great luxur>', and were generally objected to because they dulled the knives. It seems that the only habit left us from the past Is the one prevalent in .some classes o f society o f eating with the knife. A girl was not permitted to m arry till she could bake a lo af o f bread and cut it while warm into even slices. W ^en a person had enough tea the spoon w as placed across the cup. Pewter spoons and steel knives were highly prized and were handed down from one generation to the other. Wooden bowls, platters and trenchers were the usual table utensils. Books were very expensive, many small vol­ umes costing S 15 each. There w as not a pub­ lic library in Am erica, and most of the b ^ k s in private libraries came from Europe. Virginia contained one fifth of the popula­ tion of the United Stales, and the Mississippi valley w as not as well known as the heart o f A frica is now. T w o staeecoachcs bore all of the travel between N ew Y o rk and Boston, and the trip required six day.s. T w o days were occupied in the trip from New Y o rk to Phila­

delphia, while the journey from N ew Y o rk to Charleston by land occupied twenty days. In those good old days there w as no regu­ lar post office department, all letters being car­ ried by private post, the cost of the letter vary­ ing from one to three shillings. There was not a mile o f railroad in the country, no steamboats, no street cars, no telephones, no t e l ^ a p h lines, and the news in the papers w as usually about ninety days old when it was printed. There were then no kerosene lamps, no elec­ tric liglits. and (he chief method of illumination w as by tallow candles. Matches had not come into general use, so flint and steel were car­ ried by all who went on a journey, while the housekeeper kept a coal o f fire lit all the time. Sometimes when the fire went out it would be necessary to mount a horse and go to the near­ est neighbor for a tight, the coals being carried in a woixlcn bucket filled with ashes. T he church collections were taken by means o f a bag on the end o f a pole, with a bell at­ tached to awaken the sleepers whom the par­ son's prosy and long-drawn-out sermons Iiad lulled into slumber. I f the sermon did not suit the hearer he dare not criticise it lest he be heavily fined. Imprisonment for debt was a common prac­ tice, and the whipping post and pillory were means o f punishment. A n old copper mine in Connecticut w as then used as a prison, and many of the inmates died from the effects of their incarceration in it. Y es, these were the "good old days" we sometimes hear about. Another important event in those days w as court week. T he county seat was at Danville, subsequently removed to Bloomsburg. and peo­ ple from all over the county attended. T he hotels fo r days were busy making preparations for the entertainment of the crowd, and as newspapers were scarce it w as a time when information w as exchanged a s well as the busi­ ness which brought them transacted. Mr. I. W. H artnun frequently saw men walking from the upper end of the county at the present loca­ tion o f Jam ison City, to Danville to attend court, l i i c first day they would walk as fa r as Orangeville, stay over night, and finish their walk the next day. T h is w as necessary, as there w as no other w ay o f getting there except by driving down and many did not keep a horse. There were no bridges to cross the river and the only one along Fishing crcck w as at the site of the present double bridge at the f^ zaru s farm below toKm. A t that time it w as a single track affair and very primitive in its construc­ tion. There was a foot bridge over the crcck