Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/378

 brought out the edition de luxe and facsimile reproduction of The Chronicles of Nathan Ben Saddi, the satire upon Franklin, Norris, Isaac Wayne and others about the time of the French and Indian War. I may be forgiven for repeating that it is probably the brightest bit of literature the colonies produced, and that for it I wrote the preface, giving such facts concerning its origin as could be ascertained. On the 27th of June I made an address at the laying of the corner-stone of the Homeopathic Insane Asylum at Rittersville, near Allentown, in which Dr. Heysinger was very much interested. It always seemed to me absurd to talk about a homeopathic insanity and there was later much unfavorable comment upon the cost of the building, and the fact that it had not been completed even at the expiration of the term of my successor.

At the close of July I went to the camp of the National Guard at Gettysburg and was again much chattered about by the quidnuncs because I adhered to my rule of review from a barouche, and there again I inspected every member of every regiment and the culinary and other departments. The adjutant general, Stewart, one of the most capable and energetic of men, had it in mind to arrange for a permanent annual encampment there, but I felt called upon to interfere with him and put an end to the plan. Colonel John P. Nicholson, chairman of the Battlefield Commission, was much opposed to it, and my opinion was that we ought not to force any later uses or associations upon the field where the most fateful of American battles was fought.

On the 1st of August Governor Robert E. Pattison died. I knew him well; a tall man, with dark eyes, he had the wonderful fortune to be twice elected as a Democrat to the position of governor of this Republican state. Mentally he was painstaking, but not vigorous, and he was not very successful in the office or financially afterward. He was of the type of men who always meet with mild 362