« ———— _ -
Deusorraiic, Watdmo,
_ Bellefonte, Pa, February 4, 1921.
P. GRAY MEEK, - - Editor
“me Correspondents—No communications
published unless accompanied by the real
name of the writer.
Terms of Subscription.—Until further
notice this paper will be furnished to sub-
scribers at the following rates:
Paid strictly in advance - - $1.50
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A Brief Historical Sketch of the Fi-
nances of the Bellefonte Cemetery
Association by One Who Kept
the Accounts for Twenty-
five Years.
The Bellefonte Cemetery Associa-
tion was organized in 1856. The ear-
liest records show that in May of that
year a meeting of citizens was called
to devise means for enlarging the old
Bellefonte Graveyard (what we call
the Old Ground). Hon. James Burn-
side, Mr. Edward C. Humes, Hon.
James T. Hale and Hon. H. N. McAl-
lister were the incorporators. The
money to buy the land, lay it out in
lots, fence it, construct driveways,
erect a house for the care-taker, and
for all other improvements was ad-
vanced by them, with the express un-
derstanding that it was to be re-paid
to them, with interest, from the sales
of lots, and that, when this was done,
every lot-owner who had paid fifty
dollars for a lot should become a mem-
ber of the Association and be entitled
to vote at the annual meeting.
The Association, therefore, started
on borrowed capital. If lots had been
rapidly sold for cash, this would soon
have been re-paid, but only a limited
number of lots were sold in each year,
many of them on the installment plan
—=$5.00 down and the balance in pay-
ments as suited the convenience of the
purchaser. Collections were not
sharply enforced and it was a long
time before sufficient was accumulated
from lot sales to re-pay, with interest,
the money advanced. As a matter of
fact, some of those. old lots never
were paid for in full by the purchas-
ers.
Meanwhile the property had to be
kept up—the fences, the drives, and
the house—all of which took money.
In time additional ground was needed
and the Derr Addition was purchased
and laid out. Being town lots, it was
more expensive than farm land would
have been.
The only source of income the Cem-
etery Association ever had was from
the sale of lots. What was received
for permits of graves and care of lots
was required to pay the labor and in
many of the earlier years was not suf-
ficient for that, the deficit being made
up from the money received from sale
of lots. The Care-taker received the
house at the gate for a residence, rent
free; and, in case he preferred to live
elsewhere, the rent of this house went
to him as part of his compensation.
In ordinary years not more than
ten or twelve lots, at $40.00 or $50.00,
each, were sold, so that the average
annual income was about $500.00.
In 1904, when I became secretary
and treasurer, there were $810.00 in
the treasury and the ground was
about all sold. The New Addition was
then purchased, the ground costing
about $3,000.00. To pay for this
ground, have it laid out by Mr. Wet-
zel, build fences and grade the ave-
nues (the grading alone cost over
$500.00, as it was necessay to cut in-
to the hillside), the Association was
obliged to borrow money from the
bank on notes. As lots were sold, the
money received was applied to the re-
duction of these notes, until finally
all were paid, but the receipts of sev-
eral years were required to do it.
In the year 1907, over $700.00 was
expended on the Care-taker’s house
for a new roof, painting, plumbing,
papering and other improvements. A
boardwalk, nine hundred feet in
length, . was maintained for years
along’ the cemetery property on east
High street. This has been replaced
by a substantial concrete walk cost-
ing between $300.00 and $400.00. We
have also acquired two small proper-
ties on east High street, costing over
$2,000.00. The gardens have been
converted into cemetery lots and: the
houses rented which has added some-
what to our income for the last few
years. In 1919 and 1920 a new iron
and wire fence, costing over $1500.00
was erected along High and Howard
streets. All of these improvements
have ben paid for from the sale of
lots, and at present the Association
has not one cent of indebtedness,
everything having been paid in full.
In nearly every instance where ad-
ditional ground was purchased or an
extensive improvement made, it was
necessary to borrow the money, or a
large part of it, from the bank, and
re-pay it as lots were sold. There
never was sufficient money in the
treasury at one time in the last thirty
years (and I feel sure from an exam-
ination of the records that the income
has been larger during this period
than in the earlier years) to buy prop-
* erty and pay cash outright. Thus the
receipts were mortgaged ahead and
it required time to get out of debt.
Neither the president nor any mem-
ber of the Board of Managers ever
received a cent of salary. The only
salary paid, except that to the Care-
taker, was $100.00 a year to the secre-
tary and treasurer, who sold the lots,
issued all permits for graves, collect«
ed the money, kept the books and
records, wrote the deeds, paid the
bills; looked after repairs and im-
provements to the property and had
TE ———————————————
WILL OLD CENTRE LET HER LITTLE ONES STARVE?
We Have Never Been a Shirker Before and We Will
Not Now. Everybody Must Help.
Last year Centre county gave over nine thousand dollars toward
feeding the starving children of Armenia. This year we are asked io
give eighty-seven hundred and sixty dollars and more, if possible.
One hundred and forty-six children have been given us to feed and
it will require $60 to keep each one of the little folks alive for the next
year. If you can imagine yourself trying to subsist on five dollars a
month you will understand that in this great call we are not asked to
provide a bed of roses for the tot of the Near East. If ever there was
an appeal to the heart of humanity this seems to be it, for where is the
man or woman who can see a child suffer without flinching. Millions
of starving little ones are stretching out puny arms and looking from
sunken eyes to us.
Iet’s go, people. Let's send them bread.
If you heard the story told here week before last by Lady Anne
Azgapetian you know something of the horrors that have followed in
the wake of war, but not near all of them. They are inconceiveable to
any mind that has not been in the field.
Lady Anne is the daughter of an Armenian nobleman, who in 1895
was banished from Armenia by its Turkish rulers on account of his lib--
eral “American” ideas, at the beginning of the war as soon as passports
were obtainable, with her husband, General Mezrop N. Azgapetian, she
went to Russia—the General joined the Russian army of the Caucasus,
Lady Anne immediately attaching herself to a Red Cross unit in the
same army. For two years she worked with superhuman energy, often
being on duty thirty-six hours. She worked until the night her daughter
was born, a little, very red, cross baby, as'she said it had a right to be,
born of a Red Cross mother, in a Red Cross hut behind the firing line.
After the collapse of the Russian Imperial Army, deserted by every one
these devoted Armenians against fearful odds, often seven to one, fought
desperately and kept the enemy from getting the oil fields of Baku, the
possession of which would have been such a tremendous advantage to
Germany and Turkey that many think it would have decided the issue
of the war. Later in Bolshevist Russia, with her little baby, she spent
ten horrible months of starvation, finally reaching America by way of
Ireland.
But Lady Année did not leave her home and come to Centre county
to tell us her own adventures. Her friends say to her, “Lady Anne, you
have worked enough, you have suffered enough, you must stay with your
little children and have rest and comfort,” to which she answers : “There
is nothing I love more than to be with my own babies, but when I think:
of those other little children in Armenia I cannot stay, I must tell Amer-
ica about them.”
~~ She came to show the Armenian in his true light, not as the peddler,
not as the “spineless” man who could not defend his own, but as the
statesman, the artist, the industrious farmer, and the soldier. She came
to tell us‘'what America and the other Allies owe to that Armenian sol-
dier. After six hundred years of servitude at the beginning of the war
Armenia‘ was promised a free Republic by the Turk on condition that
they remained neutral. This they refused, declaring the ideals of the
Allies were theirs and for this they were massacred by the hundred
thousands. Armenia, out of a population of four million, furnished two
hundred and fifty thousand soldiers for allied armies. It was Armenian
soldiers who, by filling a breach at a crucial moment coming out of the.
battle only thirty-six of them remaining from one thousand, stood among
the first in preventing the passing at Verdun. ;
After the Armistice, forgotten by the Allies and the government of
America, the remnant of Armenia surviving the massacres and tortures,
has lived only through the gifts of the American people.
She came not only to tell of the suffering, some of which she had
actually experienced, but much more that she had felt in her soul as a
daughter of Armenia, not only to tell the desperate need for help for the
women and children—the little suffering children, the only hope of Ar-
menia-—but she came to thank us as part of the Armenian people for
what we have done. shane,
“You Americans,” she says, “are the ideal of the people of Arme-
nia. You are the model after which they have planned to form their
country. - At the foot of Mt. Ararat, when I saw two thousand refugees
being fed through the grace of the dear God and the Near Fast Relief,
the women especially, wanted me to take a message; that the people of
Armenia every hour of the day and every day of the week prayed God
to bless you.”
Without Lady Azgapetian’s personality it is impossible to get the
force of her message. Her simple faith, her freedom from bitterness,
her friendliness and charm of manner, her keen sense of humor and ut-
ter unconsciousness of self, as well as the master mind behind it all com-
bined to make her a very remarkable woman, both on and off the plat-
form. Her task is a hard one, she has lived through the years of+hor-
ror and now traveling over the country day after day she lives it all over
again in the telling of the story—often twice through the day.
Last year Centre county gave more than it was asked to carry on
the work for which Lady Anne is giving her life. This year we are
asked to feed one hundred and forty-six of the orphans, at sixty dollars
a piece. Surely with such an appeal ringing in our ears we ought not
only to feed but give housing and education to many of these one hun-
dred and forty-six children,
Charles M. McCurdy, of the First National bank, Bellefonte, is
terasurer for the Centre county Near East Relief committee, and all con-
tributions sent to him will be credited to the individual or to any organ-
ization mentioned.
The drive is on now. Let's go, people. Let's feed our one hundred
and forty-six children and more, too.
eats ee Steet ep emene
bonds and the income is required to
care for those lots for which the mon-
ey has been paid, and, of course, can-
not be used for any other purpose.
OLIVE B. MITCHELL.
general oversight of the work. An
itemized" statement of receipts .and
expenditures has been exhibited each
year to the Board of Managers and
approved by them. These statements
for the last sixteen years are on file
and can be examined by any person
interested.
Millions Asked for Charities,
The State Board of Charities has
As to the care of the lots,seach lot--
owner was a law unto himself. They
either cared for them or neglected
them, as they saw fit. Some purchas-
ed lots, buried relatives and then re-
moved from town; paying no further
attention to the lots. There are some
old families, whose members are now
all dead, with no one to look after the
lots. Had the lots been sold for cash
down, at a price. sufficiently high to
warrant setting aside a portion of the
purchase money for their perpetual
care, there would not be the present
large number of uncared-for lots; but,
of course, that would have been a
hardship to poor persons who could
scarcely pay for their lots, without
anything additional for perpetual
care.
Several years ago, the Cemetery
Association inaugurated the plan of
perpetual care of individual lots, up-
on receipt of a certain sum from the
owners. This has been very success-
ful, about fifty-five lots now being
cared for in this way.
The perpetual care funds are kept
entirely separate and apart from the.
general funds of the Association.
This money is all invested in first
mortgages - and © registered Liberty
made its report and recommendations
for the benefit of the State Legisla-
ture in appropriating. money to the
various charitable institutions of the
State and the total of its recommen-
dation = aggregate $19,231,318, as
against $16,644,577 appropriated two
years ago. In the list of recommen-
dations the Bellefonte hospital is
down for $22,000, which is $2,000 more
than it received two years ago; the
Lock Haven hospital $54,000, as
against $40,000 received two years
ago, and the Cottage State hospital
at Philipsburg $180,000, as against
$564,000 the amount of the last appro-
priation.
Notice to Income Taxpayers!
February 14th to February 18th,
inclusive, W. H. Klepper, a deputy
revenue collector, will be in Belle- |
fonte, at the ‘court house to assist in-
come tax payers make returns and
collect tax.
——1In the list of marriage licenses
granted at Cumberland, Md., this
week appeared the names of Harry
Lincoln Shutt and Miss Hannah Eliz-
abeth’ Tressler, both ‘of Bellefonte.
WILLIAMS.—Mrs. Sara Z. Wil-
liams, wife of John R. Williams, died
at her home at Lemont last Friday
morning as the result of an attack of
pneumonia, aged 76 years, 1 month
and 18 days.
husband and the following children:
G. W. R. Williams, Nelson, Martin and
Edward, all of Lemont; Mrs. George
Fike, of Hunter’s Park; David, of Tot-
tenville, N. Y., and Frank, of Perth
Amboy, N. J. She also leaves one sis-
ter, Mrs. Mary Brouse, of Pine Grove
Mills. She was a member of the
United Brethren church for many
years and Rev. L. McHenry had
charge of the funeral services which
were held on Monday morning, burial
being made in the Houserville ceme-
tery.
i il
ECKLEY.—Mrs. Katherine Rhoads
Eckley, wife of Austin Eckley, of
Snow Shoe, died at twelve o’clock on
Friday night at the home of her niece,
Mrs. William Jodon, in Bellefonte,
after a lingering illness. She spent
eight weeks in the Bellefonte hospital
undergoing treatment but a week pri-
or to her death was removed to the
home of her niece. She was about
seventy-six years old and is survived |
by her husband but no children. Fun-
eral services were held at the Jodon
home at 10:30 o’clock on Monday
morning, by Rev. Alexander Scott, of
the Methodist church, of which she
was a member, after which burial was
made in the Union cemetery.
SHOLTER.—Irs. Benjamin Shol-
ter, of Weikert, Union county, died
very suddenly on Tuesday afternoon
at the home of her son, W. D. Sholter,
in the Krader building, corner of Al-
legheny and Howard streets, as the
result of a stroke of paralysis sustain-
ed the same morning. She came to |
Bellefonte on Saturday for a few
day’s visit which culminated with such
tragic results. She was sixty-four |
years old and in addition to her son |
living in Bellefonte, leaves another ; man” presents to its readers four gen.
son, Harry, of Harrisburg. The re-
mains were taken to Weikert on Wed-
nesday for burial.
i il
DEY. Katherine Dry, a na-
tive of Bellefonte, died at her home
at Tyrone Forge last Friday as the
result of a stroke of paralysis. She
was a daughter’ of Abram and Mary
Rine and was born in Bellefonte in
1861. At the age of sixteen years she
was married to Amos Dry and most
of her life since had been spent in
Blair county. In addition to her hus-
band she leaves seven children and
two brothers, the latter being James
and Morris Rine, of Bellefonte. Bur-
She is survived by her |
|
i
i
(Photo by Mallory Studios, Bellefonte, Pa)
FOUR GENERATIONS IN THE
Generations. of the
, Family,
Four Arney
In the above picture the “Watch-
erations of the well known Arney
family, of Centre Hall. Sitting at the
left of the picture is the patriarch of
the family, J. J. Arney, who is now
82 years of age. Standing is his son,
I. Mervin’ Arney, 53 years of age.
t Sitting at the right is Mervin Arney’s
son, J. Bruce Arney, 30 years of age,
who is holding his four month’s old
son, Ralph M. Arney. And one rath-
ly is that they all live in the large and
very comfortable home on the Arney
farm adjoining Centre Hall, so that
the family includes J. J. Arney, (his
wife having died a number of years
ial was made in the Grandview ceme- !
tery, Tyrone, on Monday. i
" ig |
HARRIS.—George Harris, a Civil
war veteran who made his home witi
his only daughter, Mrs. Ella Freder- |
icks, on south Allegheny street, died |
on Sunday afternoon of general debil- |
ity, aged 85 years. During the Civil |
{
war, in which he served as a member |
he |
of Company C, 148th regiment,
was wounded in the shoulder, at the
battle of Petersburg. Mrs. Fredericks
is his only surviving child. Burial
was made in the Union cemetery on |
Wednesday afternoon.
H i
WALZ.—Fred C. Walz, a native of
Bellefonte, died at the Altoona hos-
pital on Saturday morning following |
a week’s illness with pneumonia. He
was born in BelleZonte on May 15th,
1883, hence was in his thirty-eighth
year. He has made his home in Al-
toona for a number of years past,
where he worked as a drayman. Fun-
eral services were held at ten o’clock
on Tuesday morning after which
{ burial was made in the Oak Ridge |
cemetery.
He Makes Red-e-serve.
Few of the people who have attend-
ed Centre county’s first motor show
know that the gentlman, Maj. Eugene
H. Lederer, who conceived and
has promoted the project to such a
successful culmination, is the arigina-
tor of Red-e-serve.
Red-e-serve is a prepared potato
chip that has been on the market for
some time and differs from the com-
mercial Saratoga chip in that it is cut
to resemble a small waffle. Maj. Led-
erer started making Red-e-serve in a
very small way at State College. The
product met with instant demand and
from a small beginning on a kitchen
stove at home the business grew to
such proportions that he was compel-
led to secure larger facilities for its
production. The cutting and cooking
was all done by hand and the business
so modestly started kept growing un-
til it became apparent that machines
ago); Mervin Arney, his wife, who be-
: fore her marriage was Ella B. Lingle,
and their two children, Pearl and
Bruce, and the latter’s wife and four
month’s old son. It is a very unusu-
al thing for even two families to live
under the same roof but here are rep-
resentatives of four generations dwell-
ing together in peace and harmony
and all devoting their energies to cul-
tivating the old home farm, which is
one of the best in that section. Of
course, the great-grandfather has
been relieved from all manual labor
by his son and grandson, though his
counsel and advice are still followed
in operating the farm. For years he
was one of the leading figures in the
Centre county Pomona Grange, and
especially in the Grange encampments
and picnics at Centre Hall, but now
that he has passed the four score year
mark he has turned over his part of
the work to younger and more active
hands, though he still manifests a
keen ‘interest in the picnic every year.
Bellefonte Man Appointed Receiver of
Ohio Railways.
The entire system of Ohio interur-
ban electric railways, controlling over
five hundred miles of tracks, went in-
to the hands of receivers last week ow-
ing to default in the payment of in-
terest on $12,000,000 first mortgage
bonds. J. Harvey McClure, of Belle-
fonte, who has been vice president of
the system since last April, was ap-
pointed receiver for a portion of the
system, which includes the Lima-De-
fiance line, Lima-Springfield, Spring-
field-Columbus, Springfield-Dayton,
Dayton-Union City, Columbus, New-
ark and Zanesville, the city lines at
Newark and Zanesville, the light and
power plant in Zanesville, and the
Columbus and Orient line. Two oth-
portions of the system.
Clure went to the Ohio system from
Oil City less than a year ago after the
property was taken over by the Day
& Zimmerman interests in the hope
must be devised to handle the cutting
in greater volume. Accordingly the
Major set to work to design a cutting
machine and we understand that it is
about completed and as soon as it is
ready for operation he expects to go
into the business of manufacturing
his dainty table commodity on a large
scale.
BIRTHS.
Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Reiter, of the
Bellefonte Academy, are Fei ivine |
congratulations on the birth of their
first child, a daughter, who was born
Monday. The little Miss has been
named Jean Eleanor.
A little daughter was born to Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Brachbill, Monday,
at their home on Allegheny street.
Monday being the Stork’s day for
baby girls, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Don-
ovan, of Axe Mann, and Mr. and Mrs.
Hartle, of Spring creek, wef included
in its list.
——Subseribe for the “Watchman.”
that they would be able to pull it out
{ of its financial difficulty, but various
| detrimental interests conspired against
| putting the finances of the system in
shape to meet its interest obligations.
property interests is a position of
| great responsibility but Mr. McClure
| is possessed of the nerve and business
ability to tackle the job, and his Belle-
est the outcome of the situation.
Well Baby Clinic.
A free . clinic, to be known as a
| “well baby clinic,” will be opened
| February 9th, from 2 to 3 p. m., at
{ Red Cross headquarters in Petrikin
hall. This health service, which will
be in charge of the community nurse,
Miss Mae Peterman, will include the
periodic weighing and measuring of
babies as well as consultation with
mothers on the care, feeding, and gen-
eral hygiene of their children. For
further information call Miss Peter-
man, on Bell phone 2-J.
ARNEY FAMILY, CENTRE HALL.
th New President for State College,
Dr. John Martin Thomas, for twelve
* years president of the Middlebury, Vt.,
er remarkable thing about the fami-
college, has accepted the call of the
board of trustees to become president
of The Pennsylvania State College
and as now planned will take up the
work about July first. Since Dr.
Sparks’ resignation a year ago the
college has been without an active ex-
ecutive, the trustees postponing the
selection of a man until they found
one in whom they had entire confi-
dence. When Dr. Thomas loomed up-
on the horizon they had confidence in
“him as the right person and at their
t lege trustees te Doctor Thomas.
er receivers were appointed for other i
i
“Watchman” readers will probably
recall the fact that J. Harvey Me-"
To be made receiver for such vast:
: the county for the sessions;
recent meeting in Harrisburg the
board unanimously voted to extend
him a call.
It now develops that Dr. Thomas
made a flying visit to State College
oa January 8th and 9th, looked over
the institution, conferred with the
deans and trustees and addressed the
Sunday morning chapel exercises,
where he made a deep impression.
Few realized at that time that he was
being considered as a prezidential can-
didate. He was graduated from Mid-
d.ebury in 1890 and vas called to the
presidency there in 1908, after serv-
ing fourteen years as pastor of the
leading Presbyterian church of East
Orange, N. J.
Middlcbury is an old college, with a
present student body of about 300.
Doctor Thomas was successful in
building up the institution, which con-
sisted of three buildings when he took
charge, to thirteen, and instituted a
summer session, which has an attend-
ance of more than 200 specializing in
languages. He was virtually head of
the state cducational department in
Vermont from 1910 to 1914.
It is his ability as a business ad-
ministrator as well as an educational
executive that attracted the State Col-
He
has been characterized as a “builder”
and is considered by prominent State
as well as college officials as being
entirely capable of handling Penn
State’s future. He is fifty-one years
old, is a director in a national insur-
ance company and one of the promi-
nent New England banks. He was
a delegate to the Republican national
convention last year.
Judge H. Walton Mitchell, of Pitts-
burgh, president of the Penn State
trustees, gives high praise to the
president-elect, saying: “He is one
of the big figures in American col-
lege life today and has been promi-
nent for years at all national educa-
tional gatherings. His record at Mid-
dlebury is impressive.”
rr ene pepe ere.
Farmers’ Institutes.
Farmers’ institute meetings under
the direction of C. L. Goodling, coun-
ty chairman, in co-operation with
county farm agent, J. N. Robinson,
will be held in Centre county three
days, beginning next week. The
schedule of the institute meetings
follows: Hublersburg, February 11:
Pine Grove Mills, February 12, and
Spring Mills, February 14.
The State Department of Agricul-
ture has assigned three speakers to
these
people being particularly selected as
| filling the needs of Centre county.
fonte friends will watch with inter-:
Particular attenfion will be given at
the meetings to the discussion of dai-
rying, potato culture, seeds and in-
jurious weeds, and the speakers as-
signed by the State are L. N. Morley,
Charles F. Preston and Dr. E. M.
Dress.
Bre’er Groundhog most em-
phatically did not see his shadow in
this section of the State on Tuesday,
and now if the old saw works we
should have fairly nice weather the
balance of the winter, although this
week has not been a very good sam-
ple.
— Subscribe for the “Watchman.”
oll