Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/268

 there had a grist mill, saw mill, fulling mill and probably a country store. It was the terminus of the Skippack Road, and is referred to in William Bradford's little book published in 1754 as one of the noted places in the province. Washington took the Continental Army there September 26, 1777, and there held the council of war which determined to fight the Battle of Germantown. After the battle he retreated to the same camp, bringing with him his wounded men. Since the time of its purchase by Peter, the property had never been out of the family.

In the fall of 1899 I was nominated by all parties and elected to another term of ten years upon the bench. Said the Evening Bulletin editorially: “The renomination of Judge Pennypacker assures the continuance on the bench for another term of one of the most trusted and sagacious of the common pleas judges. Although among the unostentatious members of the judiciary, Judge Pennypacker's clear-headed, industrious, wise and faithful performance of his duty has long ago earned for him the confidence of all who have occasion either to participate in or to observe the business of the courts.”

As events happened very soon afterward, it did no assure anything of the kind and the play of larger forces gave a very different phase to my career.

The same year Governor William A. Stone appointed me a member of the Valley Forge Park Commission. The state had undertaken some years before to secure the grounds of the camp at Valley Forge and preserve them, but not very much progress had been made. Francis M. Brooke, who was at the head of the commission, was very earnest and zealous, but his energy often provoked antagonism. A. Harry Bowen, the superintendent, was a most efficient person and much credit is due him, but it is difficult to overcome the indifference of distant legislators to such movements, and the appropriations were too limited to permit much progress. I took the place of John Cadwalader, 254