Farming, Saturday, December 10,1988
The DeLongs of Bowers Talk About
BY LOU ANN GOOD
BOWERS (Berks) James
DcLong pushed back his cap and
settled into a kitchen chair. “We
onlv have red cows and red tractors
on this farm. Thai’s all we overbad
and all we ever will,” he said.
It was about 1924, he recalls,
when his father boarded a train to
Wisconsin to bring back the first
set ot red cows (Guernseys) for the
DcLong homestead.
“Back then, there weren’t many
of them around this area,” DeLong
recalled. “In Wisconsin, my dad
loaded 16 cows aboard. When the
tram stopped for refueling, he
filled barrels with water for the
cows’ water trough. At night he
slept on the hay.”
Surprisingly, when the elder
DcLong unloaded his cows at the
local depot, the 16 head had
increased to 18.
That’s only one of the hundreds
of laics that DcLong recounts
about the past. He and his wife,
Mabel, have a whole parcel of his
tory wrapped up on their 360-acrc
homestead that has been in the
family since 1730 when William
Penn deeded the land to Pieter
DcLong.
The present landholder, James,
said, “I’ve still got the original
deed that was recorded on cloth.”
The clolh deed isn’t the only
heirloom treasured by the
DcLongs. Their home is filled with
relies from the past.
DcLong admonishes others,
“Don’t ever throw anything
away.”
ly, Jjoy ig gi y
found at her grandparents’ home, which has been in the
family since 1730. Here, she holds a bookmarker dated 1892
found in the Family Bible with names and dates inscribed
during the 1800 s.
ig >P‘
father’s name Inscribed on them. They now picture the
Delong homestead and the Hawk Mountain Railroad Sta
tion where Delong spends much of his spare time.
“The Way We’ve Always Done It”
Few, perhaps, would discard
things if they had the treasures the
DeLongs have inherited through
out their life. Not only do they
have valuable antiques but they
have the stories that accompany
them.
For example, in one room of
their sprawling 14-room house is a
grandfather clock with the date
1797 inscribed on it.
“It has sat in that corner ever
since the house was built in 1811,”
DeLong said, “and we haven’t
moved it. Every seven days we
wind it and it keeps on running.”
A 10-foot-high comer cupboard
shows detailed workmanship from
centuries past. Recently, the
DeLongs moved it from an
upstairs bedroom to the dining
room.
The 1811 corner cupboard had
been built m a bedroom “so the
Indians couldn’t see the fine things
inside.”
Still setting on the curved
shelves arc the “fine things”
passed down through the genera
tions: an impressive collection of
Fostoria, pewter and silver dishes
and goblets. “We haven’t bought
any of it; it’s all been passed down
to us,” said Mrs. DcLong.
An early 1800 s family Bible
records the names of the DcLongs
anccstory. Most were doctors, den
tists, and teachers. DcLong likes to
tell how his father studied to be a
teacher but taught only one day
because “he decided he liked farm
ing best.”
His love for farming and the
Mabel and James DeLong of Bowers stand in front of their home built in 1811. The
previous buildings from 1730 were torn down before the present one was erected
nostalgic aura that surrounds it has
been passed on through the
generations
“I still remember plowing the
fields with horses back around
1930,” DcLong recalls. “Every
day when the 12 o’clock train
passed by, the horses refused to do
anymore plowing and turned tow
ard the house. They knew it was
dinner lime.”
Back then the trains were so reg
ular that folks set their clocks by
the train pulling into the station.
“We didn’t need clocks,” DcLong
recalls. “We limed everything by
the trains passing through. There
were at least five or six that went
through daily and they were
always on time.”
Now, much to DeLongs dismay,
only one daily train travels the rails
through his fields. “I’m a railroad
fanatic and I miss hearing the train
whistles,” he said.
To satisfy his passion for trains,
DeLong volunteers many hours to
the nearby Hawk Mountain Rail
road and toward helping his son,
Daniel, with his toy train
collection.
“I go up to Hawk Mountain to
get away from the work,” DeLong
said as he glanced toward the barn
that houses his 70 milking cows
plus their young replacements.
“Those red cows,” he muses,
“they don’t give as much milk as
Holstcms, but they’re the best.
Why if you put a 50-ccnt piece in
the bottom of a pail and milk a
Holstein, you can see the 50-ccnt
piece shining through the milk
because it’s so thin. You can’t say
that for Guernsey milk.”
homestead
. jpDoi.. holds Fostoria, pewter
and silver passed down through the generations of
DeLongs.
“James, slop poking fun,”
Mabel admonished her husband. “I
don’t like this business of putting
others down.”
Her husband grinned slyly. “It’s
true,” he persisted.
He tells of past decades when
the rich, yellow milk of Guernseys
was in great demand. He’s con
vinced that, taste-wise, his Guern
sey milk is tops.
“Just the other week, more than
300 people toured our farm during
Farm City week. We served milk
and cookies. Boy, did they ever
drink it. Why one girl drank five
d/Sies
glasses of it!”
He stood up. His weathered
hands fingered the detailed work
manship on the winding stairway
of their home. “You don’t see stuff
like this today,” he said.
His eyes shone with content
ment as he glanced around the
homestead that they have restored
to preserve the past.
“Yep,” he said, “it’s the way
we’ve always done it. My father
always stuck to Guernseys. That’s
all we ever had in the barn and
that’s all we ever will.”
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