. 5"' ft''
The whole art ok Government consists in the art op beino honest. Jefferson.
VOL. 3.
STROUDSB ORG, MONROE COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1843.
N
o. 45.
NOTICE
Or those who arc aliout to build
or repair.
The umdersigncd respectfully informs the
public that he is duly authorised to sell the
Right of the Johnson Re-acting Water wheel,
to the counties of Monroe and Pike, patented
die 22d day of June, A. D. 1840.
The Johnson re-acting wheel is the best now
in use to propel a saw mill; it excels any other
wheel in the United states under a low water
head; under a head from 5 to 7 feet is suffi
cient to cut from 2 to 3000 feet in twclro hours
of inch or any oilier boards with ease. The
wheels require, under a 7 foot head, 140 inches
of water and so in proportion to any other head.
Under a 7 foot head, tho Saw will make from
200 to 250 strokes per minute. The advan
tage which (hose wheels hare over any other
wheels is, that it requires buifour posts to make
the doom or bulk head; the wheels are hung on
ih crank shaft. Two wheels are what is re
quired for a Saw mill, and the posts planked in
side the same as a pen slock. I have built one
of those mills this season, on the Roaring
Brook, in Luzerne county, for Mr. S. P. Tem
plm, tinder about a 7 fool head, which will cut
from 3 lo 4000 in twelve hours of inch boards;
therefore, 1 can recommend them as the best
wheels now in operation. There aro several
more mills in that part, all under low heads,
which answers the same purpose as that of Mr.
Templins. For further information, please call
on the subscriber.
FERDINAND DUTOT. Agent.
Lower Smiihfield, Monroe co., ) -November
9, 1S12 5
Fashionable Tailoring
ESTABLISHMENT.
Would respectfully inform the citizens or
Siroudsburg and county generally, that he is
still exerting himself for their accommodation
at his stand, one door below the office of Vm.
Davis, Esq. on Elizabeth street, and has now
in his possession plates and diagrams of the
Very Latest City Fashions;
from which he is enabled to cm ail kinds of
genilemen's wearing apparel in a manner that
cannot fail to please those who may wish to
dress in sirict accordance with the prevailing
modes. For others whose tastes may not in
cline to the latest fashions, or whoso ages mav
suggest ideas of comfort rather than display, ho
trusts he is equally well prepared; having had
the advantage of many years experience in the
difficult, yet not unsurmountable task of adapt
ing his work to the wishes of many and vari
ous persons. lie is prepared to supply orders
wiih promptness and despatch. With his sin
ccrcst I hanks for the patronage heretofore be
stowed upon him, he respectfully solicits its
continuance determined to neglect no means
of si ving his customers full and ample satisfac
tion. All kinds of cutting neatly executed at the
ihorieet notice, und in the most fashionable
style.
September 14, 1842.
NEW ESTABLISHMENT.
Wholesale asid Retail
TIN AND SHEET IBOS
WARE
MATNTJFACTORY,
At Siroudsburg, Monroe county, Fa.
The subscriber respectfully informs the citi
zens of Siroudsburg and the public generally,
that he has opened a shop on Elizabeth street,
nearly opposite William Eastburn's store, where
he intends keeping constantly on hand, and will
manufacture to order, all articles in his line of
business, such as
TIN-WARE in all its variety,
Stove ?ipis and Drums of all sizes,
Spouts for Dwelling Houses and
other Buildings.
Alsovery superior Russian and
American Sheet Iron,
Which he y-jJJ manufaclure into every shape to
purchasers, &c. &c.
As the subscriber is a mechanic himself, and
(employs, none but first-rate workmen, the pub-
Llic may rest assured that Ins work is clone in
fine best and most workmanlike manner; and he
respectfully solictits a Share of public patron
age.
Come and see for yourselves, before youpur
phase elsewhere.
JET PEWTER and LEAD, taken in ex
change for work, and all kinds of REPAIRING
in the Copper, Tin, and sheet Iron Business
done at the shortest notice;
WANDEL BREMER.
May 4, 1842.-'-tf. ' -
BLANK DEEDS
F?r 50-1 q t 'tliis' office.
Momespsm Yarn.
The "Experience" of the Blacksmith of the Moun
tain Pass.
Chapter I.
At the entranco of one of those gorges, or
gaps in the great Apalachian chain of moun
tains, in their passage across the northern por
tion of Georgii, a blacksmith had erected his
forge, in the early settlement of that region by
the American race, and drove alhrifty trade in
the way of facing axes and pointing ploughs for
the settlers, and shoeing horses for wayfaring
people in ihoir transit through the country to
examine gold mines and land.
As he was no ordinary personage in the af
fairs of his neighborhood, and will make a con
spicuous figure in this narrative, some account
of his peculiarities will not be uninteresting.
Having acted through life on a homely maxim
of his own "pay up as you go up" he had
acquired some money and was out of debt, and
consequently enjoyed "the glorious privilege of
being independent," in a degree that is unknown
to many who occupy a larger portion of the
world's attention than himself. He was burly,
a well looking man of thirty-five, just young
enough to feel that all his faculties, mental and
physical, had reached their greatest develope
tnent, and just old enough to have amassed suf
ficient experience of men and things, to make
the past servo as a finger post to his- future
journey through life. With a shrewd, but open,
bold and honest look, there was a gleeful ex
pression in the corners of hi3 eyes, that spoke
of fun. The "laughing devil in liis eye" was
not a malicious spirit, however. His physical
conformation was that which combined great
strength with agiliiy, and if he liad been fated
to have been a contemporary of his great pro
totype, Vulcan, there can be no doubt but the
Lemnian blacksmith would have allotted to him
a front forge in his establishment, to act as a
sort of pattern card, and lo divert the public
gaze from his own game leg to the fair propor
tions of his foreman.
Now, although Ned Forgeron, for such was
the name he had inherited from some Gallic
ancestor, was a good natured man, yet the pos
session of great muscular strength and courage,
and the admiration which a successful exercise
of these powers never fails to command, had
.somewhat spoiled him. Without meaning to
injure any mortal he had managed, neverthe
less, to try his prowess on sundry of his neigh
bors, and from ihe success which always
crowned his honest efforts in that way, had un
consciously acquired tho character of a bully.
With very few early advantages of elemen
tary education, he had nevertheless, at different
periods, collected a mass of hetorogeneous in
formation, which he was very fond of display
ing on all occasions. He was a sort of politi
cal antiquary, and could tell the opinion of Mr.
Jefferson or Mr. Madison, on any subject, and
was referred to on all disputed points of ihe
theory and history of the government, that arose
among the candidates for the legislature and
country politicians. This ho studied on ac
count of the consequences it invested him with.
But why he had treasured up air old and well
thumbed copy of Paine's "Age of Reason,"
and affected scepticism as to the veracity of the
story of Jonah and the whale, and Balaam and
his ass, would be hard accounting for, unless it
proceeded from the desire of a character for
singularity and erudition. When vanity once
gets the mastery of a man's reason, there is no
telling the absurdities it will lead him into. He
was fond of speaking of Volney, and being
found with a copy of Taylers "Diegesis" in his
hand, although few of his neighbors had hoard
of the author of the "Ruins," or knew what Di-
egeeis meant.
This peculiarity, together with the pertina
city of the missionaries, Worcerter and Butler,
which carried them to the penitentiary, may
account for the great aversion of Mr. Edward
Forgeron lo all preachers of the Gospel. His
dislike for them was bo excessive, that he could
scarcely speak of the "hypocritical scoundrels,"
as he called them, without flying into a passion
and using indecorous language.
But a circumstance occurred which gave his
zeal a distinct and sectarian direction. A Meth
odist preacher over in Tennessee, who was
fond of spicing his discourse with anecdotes,
once made the blacksmith the principal charac
ter in a long sermon. His peculiarities were
dilated on and his heresies dealt with, in be
coming severity. Ho was ridiculed by the
preacher. All this came to the ears of Forge
ron, with such additions and embellishments as
stories usually receive in passing to a third per
son, it would be as useless to describo a
mountain 6torm, as to picture the wrath of this
mountaineer. But if we cannot portray the
storm, the consequences may be easily told.
The blacksmith swore in his wrath he would whip
everu Methodist preacher that passed the gap, in
revenge of his insult.
Forgeron was a man of his word, as the
bruised features of many of John Wesley's dis
ciples could testify. His character soon went
abroad, and the good old matrons of the sur
rounding counties on each side of tho moun
tain, trembled at his name. In short, the moun
tain pass, which was really as romantic a place
as a landscapo painter would seek for a Dicture
and was just the spot to remind a youth fresh
from his classic studies, of the place where
Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans fell
in attempting to defend Greece against tho ar
my of Xerxes; but in despite of the grandeur of
. t If I rr .t.t . V
us oeeiung cutis, ana me beauty of its verdure;
it was associated in the minds of many pious
persons, with the broad gate that leads to de
struction. And Ned Forgeron, the handsome
blacksmith, was invested with the attributes
and hideous aspect of his Satannic majesty, by
many a mountain girl, who would doubtless
have fallen in "love at first sight" with him, un
der any other name.
The preacher whoso circuit lay on either
side of the mountain, at the time Ned's direful
edict was promulgated to the world, was a meek
and lowly man, who approached nearly in his
natural disposition, to willing obedience to the
mandate, relative to turning the cheek to the
smiter. The poor soul passed many sleepless
nights in view of the fate that awaited him at
the mountain pass. In his dreams he saw For
geron with a huge sledge hammer in his hand,
ready to dash out his brains, and would start
with such violence as to wake himself. He
inquired if there was no other place at which
the mountain could bo passed, only to learn his
doom moro certainly. Being a timid man, but
withal devoutly impressed with a sense of du
ty, he resolved lo discharge his duties faithful
ly, bo tho consequences what they might. Like
a lamb going to ihe slaughter did he wend his
way toward the.gap as he came in front of the
shop, the blacksmith was striking the last blow
on a shovel, and singing to the tune of "Clear
the kitchen"
"Old Georgia is a noble State,
Her laws are good and her people great."
On catching a glimpse of the poor parson,
who had flattered himself that he was about to
pass with impunity. Ned sung out "Stop,
there, you eternal shad-bully, and pay the pen
alty of my injured reputation!"
The holy man protested innocence of having
ever intentionally injured him, by word or deed.
The man's subdued looks and earnest voice,
had half dissuaded Ned from his stern purpose,
when the giggling of his striker and the cheer
ing of two or three idlers, nerved him to do
wlial he felt was mean. Let any one pause a
moment, and reflect if he has never been urged
on to acts his conscience smote him for, by the
opinions of others, before Mr. Forgeron is sen
tenced as a devil. The preacher received sev
eral boxes on his ears and heard many denun-ciations-against
his sect before lie was permit
ted lo depart; and when that permission was
received, he was not slow in availing himself
of the privilege.
At tho next annual conference, when circuits
were assigned to tho different preachers, this
one made his appearance punctually, but by
some process of casuistry, convinced himself
ihat his duty did not call for a revelation of his
sufferings. If he was too sensitive of the black
smith's character to expose it to rudo remark,
or if he had a preference that some worthier
brother should occupy that healthy station
among the mountains, is difficult to conjecture.
But Forgeron's reputation had extended beyond
the circuit, and was done ample and severe jus
tice to by others, who had heard of his fame.
It soon became the subject of animated conver
sation, and there was no little wincing, each
one fearing it would be his cruel fate, to be sent
a victim to appease the wrath of this human
minotaur against the Methodist church.
After a time it was decreed that the Reverend
Mr. Stubbleworth was the doomed individual,
nnd when the annunciation came, many an eye
of mingled pity and curiosity was turned on his
ruddy, good-natured face, to seo how the dis
pensation was borne, but not a muscle moved.
With a quiet smile, he professed a perfect wil
lingness to go where he was sent. He was
"clay in tho hands of the potter," he said. If
he piqued himself on a stolid indifference to
the blacksmith's punimelings, or if he relied on
his ample dimensions to protect himself, he
never disclosed, but appeared as self-satisfied
and content as ever. His predecessor looked
for all tho world like a mouse just escaped from
the fangs of some lerrible grimalkin.
Mr. Stubbleworth arranged his few subluna
ry affairs, and bidding his friends adieu, mount-
co. nis old roan and departed for his new home
of trials, with a song of praise oh. his lips. Let
us hope the best for him.
Chapter II.
The ftcv. Mr. Stubbleworth was very much
pleased with his" new situation. Having" been
transferred from a levcl-pine-woods country,
near ihe confines of Florida, the novelty of
mountain scenery and a pure, bracing atmos
phere, Seemed to inspire him with new life.
Complimenting- all the mothers,. on the singular
beauty and intelligence of their children, with
a delicate allusion to their own personal ap
pearance, he soon became a general favorite,
Mr. Stubbleworth "knew which side of his
bread the butter was on."
The time arriving for his departure lo visit
ihe tramontane portion of his pastoral care, he
was warned of the dangers he was about to en
counter, but they were heard with the same
placid smile. The worthy ladies pictured to
him "chimeras dire," sufficient to have abated
the zeal of any other individual. But that gen
tleman quieted their fears, by appealing to the
power that "tempers the wind to the shorn
lamb," with a countenance as lamb-like as could
be imagined. And ho departed singing
"At home or abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy wants may demand, shall thy strength
ever be."
They watched hirn, until his portly person
and horse grew dim in the distance, and turned
away, sighing that such a good man should fall
into the hands of that monster, the blacksmith.
Forgeron had heard of his new victim, and
rejoiced that his size and appearanco furnished
a better subject for his vengeance, than ihe at
tenuated frame of the late parson. Oh, what
nice beating he would have! He had heard
too, that some Methodist preachers were rather
spirited, and hoped this one might prove so,
that he might provoke him to fight. Knowing
the clergyman must pass on Saturday in the
afternoon, he gave his striker holiday, and re
clining on a bench, regaled himself on the
beauties of Tom Paine, awaiting the arrival of
the preacher.
It was not overan hour, before he heard the
words
"How happy are they, who their Saviour obey,
And have laid up their treasures above."
sung in a full clear voice, and soon the vocal
ist, turning the angle of a rock, rode leisurely
up, with a contented smile on his face.
"How are you old slab-sides? Get off your
horse and join in my devotions," said the black
smith. "1 hare many miles to ride," answered the
preacher, "and havn't time, my friend. I'll
call as 1 return."
"Your name is Stubbleworth, and you are
the hypocrite the Methodists have cent here,
eh?"
"My name is Stubbleworth," he replied
meokly.
"Didn't you know my name was Ned For
geron, the blacksmith, what whips every Meth
odist preacher that goes through this gap!" was
asked with an audacious look. "And how dare
you come here?"
The preacher replied that he had heard For
geron name, but presumed that he did not
molest well behaved travellers.
"You presumed so! Yes, you are the most
presumptuous people, you Methodists, that ever
trod shoe-leather, any how. Well, what'JI you
do if I don't whip you this lime, you beef-headed
disciple you?"
Mr. Siubbleworth professed his willingness
to do any thing reasonable to avoid such pen
ance, flt
"Well, there's three things you have to do,
or I'll maul you into a jelly The first is, you
aro to quit preaching; the second is, you must
wear this lasi will and testament of Thomas
Paine, next to your heart, read it every day,
and believe every word you read; and the third
is, you are to curse tho Methodists in every
crowd you gel into."
The preacher looked on during these novel
propositions, without a line of his face being
moved, and at the end replied, that the terms
were unreasonable, and he Would not submit lo
them.
"Well, you have got a whaling to submit to,
then. I'll larrup you like blazes! I'll tear you
into doll rags, corner-ways! Get down you
long' faced hypocrite."
The preacher remonstrated, and Forgeron
walked up lo the horse and threatened to tear
him off, if he did not dismount, whereupon the
worthy man mado a tvirtue of necessity and
alighted.
"I have but one request lo make, my friend,
that is that you wont beat me with this over
coat on. It was a present from the ladies of
mv last circuit, aud I do not wish to have it
torn.
ii
"Off with ii, and lhat suddenly you basin
faced imp, you."
The Methodist preacher slowly drew oft his
surcoatj as the blacksmith continued his tirade
of abuse on himself and his sect, and as he
drew his right hand from ihe sleeve, and threw
the garment behind him, he dealt Mr. Forgefon
a tremendous blow between his eyes, which
laid that person at full length on the ground,
with the testament of Thomas Paine beside him.
Tho Rev. Mr. Stubbleworth with the tact of a
connoisseur in such matters, did not wait for
his adversary to rise, bui mounted him, wiih
tho quickness of a cat and he bestowed his
blows, with a bounteous hand, on the stomach
and face of the blacksmith, continued his song
where ho had loft off, on his arrival at the
smithy-"
"Tongue' cannot express the sweet comfort and
peace,
Of a soul in its earliost love."
Until Mr. Forgeron, from having osperienccd
" first love," or some other sensation equally
new to him responded lustily, "Nough! Noughf
Nough! Take him uff!" But, unfortunately,
there was no one by to perform that kind office,
except ihe old roan and he munched a bunch
of grass, and looked on as quietly as if his mas
ter was ''happy" at a camp-meeting.
"Now," said Mr. Stubbleworthi there are
three thingsou must promise me, befoVe I let
you up."
"What, are they?" asked Forgeron qaggrly.
"The first is, thai you will never nutleat a
Methodist preacher again" Here Ned's pndd
rose; and he hesitaied, and the reverend ne:i
tleman, with his usual benign smile on his face,
renewed his blows and sung
T rode on the sky, freely justified I." "
And the moon it was under my feet."
This oriental language overcame the black
smith! Such bold figures, or something ehrf
caused him to sing out, "Well, I'll do ii I'll
do it!"
?'You are getting on very well," -said-Mr-.
Stubbleworth "I think I can make a decent
man of you yel, and perhaps a christian."
Ned groaned.
"The second thing I require of you, isto gf
to Pumpktnvine Creek Meeting houae, aud hear
me preach to-morrow."
Ned attempted lo stammer some excuse "
1 ,hai i, "
When the divino resumed hi devotional
hymn and kept time with the music, striking
him over the face with the fleshy part of thw
hand
"My soul mounted higher, on a chariot of fire, -Nor
did envy Elijah- his seat."
Ned's promise of punctuality, caused ih
parson's exercise to cease, aud ihe words re
dolent of gorgeous imagery, died away its
echoes from the adjacent ciags.
"Now tho third and last demand I make of'
you is peremptory." Ned was all attention, to
know what was to come next. "You are io
promise to seek religion, day and night, and now
cr rest until you obtain it at the hands of a mer
ciful Redeemer." The fallen man looked at
the declining sun, and then at the parson, and
knew not what lo say, when the latter individ
ual began to raise his voice in song, once more,,
and Ned knew what would come next.
"I'll do my best," ho said, in an humbled
voice.
"Well that's a man," Mr. Stubbleworth said.
"Now get up and go down to ihe spring and
wash your face, and dust your clothes, and tear
up Mr. Paine's testament, and lurn your thoughts
on high."
Ned arose with feelings he had! never expe
rienced before, and went to obey the lavatory
injunction of the preacher, when that gentle
man mounted his horse, took Ned by ihe hand,
and said: "Keep your promise and I'll keep
your counsel. Good evening, Mr. Forgoron
I'll look for you to morrow, and off he rode with
the same imperturbable countenance, singing
so loud as to scare the eaglets from their eyrie,
in tho overhanging rocks.
Well thought Ned, this is a nico business !
What would people say if they knew Edward
Forgeron was w hip't before his own door in
tho gap, and by a Methodist preacher, too? But -his
musings We're " more in sorrow than an
gor." Chapter III.
The disfigured countenance of Forgeronj waa
of course the subject of numerous questions thai
night, among his friends, to which he replied
with a stern look they well understood and ihe
vague remark that he had met with an accident.
Of course, ihey novr dreamed.of the true cause.
Forgeron looked in the glass, and perhaps com
pared tho changing hues of his " black eye
from a recent scuffle," to the rainbow ship
wreck scone "blending every color into one."
Or perhaps he had never read that story and
only muttered to himself, Ned Forgefon whip
ped by a Methodist preacher!"
His dreams that night were of a confused
and disagreeable nature, and waking in tho
morning, he had an indistinct memory of some
thing unpleasant having occurred. At first ho
could not recollect the cause of his feelings,
but the bruises on his face and body, soon
called ihem to mind, as well as the promise.
He mounted his horse in silence, and went to
redeem it.
From that time, his whole conducmanifest
ed a change of feeling. The gossips of tho
neighborhood observed it, and whispered that
Ned was silent and serious, and had gone to
meeting every Sunday since the accident. They
wondered at his burning the books he used i
read so much. Strange stories were circulated
as to this melaphorphose of tho jovial, dare-dovil-blacksmitb,
into a gloomy and taciturn
man. Some supposed, very sagely, that a
"spirit" had enticed him into the mountains, and
after giving him a gliinpsjs into the future, haX
misled him to a crag, where he had fallen and;
bruised his face. Others gave the prince of
darkness the credit to the change;: but nono
suspected the Methodist preacher, and as tho
latter gentleman had no vanity to gratify, tho
secret remained wiih Ned.
This gloomy state of mind continued until
Forgeron visited a camp-meeting. Tho Rer.
Mr. Stubbleworth preached a sermon thai
seemed to enter bis bouI, and relieve it of a
burden, and the song of
"How happy are they, who their Saviour oboy."
was only half through, when he-feJUjke.a,jnew.
Tiian, orgoron,.M'u3 from ijau(m."a stou
r