The physical sciences, shewing the composition and defects of soils, and the modes of remedying those defects--the natures and properties of minerals and vegetables—the modes in which different bodies affect each other--the mechanical powers--the structure of man's own frame, and the causes which benefit or injure the utility of these cannot escape any mind. description of distant countries, and seen them upon the acquaintance with outlines, and general principles. A map, they conceived an interest in the people who dwelt quack can use the lancet, and knows it to have been there; and entered warmly into the scheme of benefi- successfully employed for severe contusions and excescence, which before had solicited their attention in vain. sive heat; but does not know the general fact, that un"Their new acquirements," observes Neff, "enlarged der extreme exhaustion, indicated by a suspended pulse, their spirit, and made new creatures of them; seeming stimulants, and not depletives, are proper. Seeing a to triple their very existence." Geometry, he remark- man just fallen from a scaffold, or exhausted with heat ed, also "produced a happy moral development:" and fatigue in the harvest field-his pulse gone-the doubtless by the beauty of its unerring march to truth. quack bleeds him, and the patient dies. Again-a Arithmetic it is superfluous to recommend: but its ad- lounger at judicial trials, having picked up a few legal junct, Algebra, deserves cultivation as an exercise to doctrines and phrases-perhaps being master of a "Henthe analyzing faculties; as an implement, indispensable | ing's Justice"-conceives himself a profound jurispruto the prosecution of several other studies; and as open-dent; and besides tiring the ears of all his acquaintance ing a unique and curious field of knowledge to the with technical pedantry, he persuades a credulous neighview. bor, or plunges himself, into a long, expensive, and ruinous law-suit. The worthy Mr. Saddletree, and Poor Peter Peebles,* are masterly pictures of such a personage: pictures, of which few experienced lawyers have not seen originals. The storm so lately (and perhaps even yet) impending from the north, and several it--other conspicuous ebullitions of fanaticism, are clearly traceable to the perversion of a text in our Declaration For books, and tracts, and oral lectures for the people, of Independence and Bills of Rights, detached from its there will be no want of materials or models, or even of natural connexion with kindred and qualifying truths, the actual fabrics themselves. The publications of the by minds uninstructed in the general principles of civil British and American Societies for the Diffusion of and political right. The mind which has been accusKnowledge, are mines, in which selection, compilation, tomed only to a microscopic observation of one subject, and imitation, may work with the richest results to this or one set of subjects, is necessarily contracted, fanatigreat cause. Many of these productions, and still cal, and intolerant: as the wrinkled crone, who, during more eminently, the scientific writings of Dr. Frank- a long life, has never passed the hills environing her lin, afford most happy specimens of the style, suited to cabin, or heard of any land besides her own province, treatises for popular use: no parade of learning; no believes her native hamlet the choicest abode of wisdom long word, where a short will serve the turn; no Latin and goodness, and its humble church the grandest specior Greek derivative, where an Anglo-Saxon is at hand; men of architectural magnificence, in the world; and no technical term, where a popular one can be used. hears with incredulity or horror, of distant countries, By presenting, in a form thus brief, simple, and attrac- containing mountains, rivers, climates, and cities, such tive, subjects which in their accustomed guise of learn- as her thoughts never conceived, and people with comed and costly quartos or octavos, frighten away the plexions, customs, language, and religion, different from common gaze, as from a Gorgon upon which none might all that she has ever known. But the intellect, that has look, and live, you may insinuate them into every surveyed the outlines and observed the relations of many dwelling, and every mind: the school urchin may find various subjects (even though not thoroughly familiar them neither incomprehensible, nor wearisome; and with any,) resembles the man who by travelling, or even the laboring man be detained from the tippling house, on a map, has traced the boundaries and marked the relaand even for an hour, after the day's toil is over, from tive positions of different countries. Knowing that they his pillow, to snatch a few morsels from the banquet of exist, and are peopled, he readily forms distinct ideas of instruction. their surfaces, and their moral traits: their mountains, Many will cavil at the attempt to disseminate gene-rivers, and cities, their arts, commerce, manners, institurally, so extended a round of knowledge: and if, to es- tions, and wars, rise before his imagination, or are graspcape the charge of impracticability, we say, that oured by his knowledge: and whatever he hears, he is preaim is to impart merely a slight and general acquaint-pared rationally to credit or reject, to approve or censure, ance with the proposed subjects,-then, sciolism, and smattering, will be imputed to the plan; and Pope's clever lines, so often misapplied, about the intoxicating effect of shallow draughts from the Pierian Spring, will be quoted upon us. Come the objection in prose or in verse, it is entirely fallacious. Learning, either superficial or profound, intoxicates with vanity, only when it is confined to a few. It is by seeing or fancying himself wiser than those around him, that the pedant is puffed up. But now all the community, male and female, are proposed to be made partakers of knowledge; and cannot be vain, of what all equally possess. Besides-the sort of knowledge that naturally engenders conceit and leads to error, is the partial knowledge of details; not a comprehensive as it comports well or ill with probability and with reason. Now, to counteract the one, and to promote the other, of these two conditions of mind, are precisely what is proposed by the advocates of popular instruction. They propose to teach outlines; and carefully to impress the fact, that only outlines are taught: so as to shew the learner, plainly, the precise extent of his knowledge, and (what is yet more important) of his ignorance. It is thus, that, being not "proud that he hath learned so much," but rather "humble that he knows no more," vanity and self-conceit will be most certainly prevented: *In The Heart of Mid Lothian," and "Redgauntlet." All men are created equal," &c. This principle is, in substance, asserted in the Bill of Rights or Constitution of almost every State in the Union. that a wise doubt of his own infallibility will make him | made her discourse on the daily concerns of human tolerant of dissent from his opinions: that he will be life." prepared at all times to extend his acquisitions easily and judiciously, and to connect them well with previous acquisitions-proving how truly Blackstone has said, in paraphrase of Cicero,* "the sciences are social, and flourish best in the neighborhood of each other:" in short, that he will approach most nearly to that "healthful, well proportioned" expansion of intellect and liberality of character, which Locket terms a large, sound, roundabout sense. In this point of view, it will be found that "a little learning is" not "a dangerous thing." In this whole enterprise, its undertakers should resolve to be convinced by no sneers, daunted by no difficulties, arrested by no obstacles. Difficulties and obstacles enough, indeed, will present themselves to the timid or superficial glance; but they will vanish, before calm scrutiny and brave determination. Even where the means of solving or removing them may not occur before hand to the mind, what was lately said in a worse cause, will prove to be true: "Where there is a wILL, there is a WAY." In such a cause as ours, and in reference to the epithets of "visionary," "impracticable," "chimerical," "Quixotic," and all the other imaginary lions which will be discovered in our path, well may we say, with the generous confidence of Lord Chatham, that we Has not our success, indeed, been already demonstrated? Demonstrated, in the first place, by unnumbered instances of parallel, and more stupendous enter than those which attend our undertaking? Such enterprises as the Reformation of Luther--the settlement of America-her deliverance from a foreign yoke--the teaching of the blind and the dumb* to read and to write? Demonstrated, again, by actual experiment, that sovereign test of practicability--experiment, seven times repeated, with extensive, if not complete success--in New York, in Connecticut, in Massachusetts, in Austria, in Germany, in Prussia, in Scotland? Yes-it is no untried path we are called to tread: scarcely a step of the way, but has been explored and smoothed before us. All that we have to do, is to look around-see what others have done--correct our own procedure by what we perceive defective in theirs--and forthwith open the floodgates of light, and bid the torrent pour. I am deeply sensible, that I have left untouched many topics, even more important and more pertinent to the main theme of my remarks, than some which I have discussed. Indeed, so wide and so varied is that main theme, that I have found myself greatly embarrassed" trample upon impossibilities." in selecting from the numerous particulars which solicited my regard on every hand. I have not presumed to offer any fully rounded plan, of that legislative action which is so imperiously demanded by the public weal,prises, accomplished under circumstances less favorable and soon will be, I trust, by the public voice. A few hints, are all that seemed to become me, or indeed that could well be crowded into my brief share of this day's time. For a plan, both in outline and in detail, I point to our sister states and to the European countries, that have taken the lead of us: and to the virtues and wisdom, by which our statesmen will be able to supply the defects, avoid the errors, and even, I trust, surpass the excellences, of those states and countries. That the Legislature may be wrought up to act, individual influence, and the more powerful influence of associations for the purpose-of whom I deem you, gentlemen, the chief, because the first-must be exerted. You must draw the minds of the constituent body forcibly to the subject. It must be held up in every light; supported by every argument; until the people shall be persuaded but to consider it. Then, half the work will have been done. And in its further progress towards consummation-when the illuminating process shall have fairly begun—still it will be for you, gentlemen, and for those whom your example shall call into this field of usefulness with and after you, to exert, with no slumbering energy, the endowments wherewith you and they, are entrusted. You, and they, must become authors, and the prompters of authors. Books, for use in the schools, and cheap, simplifying tracts as well as books for circulation among the people, must be composed, compiled, and selected. Lectures, plain and cheap, and suitably illustrated, must be delivered through town and country. After the example of the good Watts, and of our own many illustrious contemporaries in Britain and Ame-patriot task of purifying and expanding the minds of rica, learned men must oblige Science to lay aside the starched dignity and grand attire, by which hitherto she has awed away the vulgar; and to render herself universally amiable, by being humbly useful: as the wisest of heathens is said to have "brought Philosophy down from the skies, placed her in human haunts, and -"omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem pertinent, habent quoddam commune vinculum, et quasi cognatione quadam inter sese continentur." Orat. pro Arch. Poet. Conduct of the Understanding. Socrates. "Primus ille Philosophiam devocavit e cœlo, et in urbibus collocavit, et in domus introduxit; et coegit de vita et moribus, rebusque bonis et malis quærere." Cic. Tuscul. 5. Young gentlemen, foster-sons of the venerable institution near us! Some, if not all of you, are destined by your opportunities, and by bosoms glowing with honorable ambition, and beating high with the consciousness of talent, for a conspicuous part in the drama of life. Your eyes, doubtless, have already often glanced around, to see in what field you shall reap the harvest of wealth, respect, and fame, which hope represents as awaiting you. The buzz of notoriety, the palm of eloquence, the gorgeousness of office—those glittering bribes, which have lured onward their tens of thousands to mere splendid misery or to a shameful end after all--have, no doubt, displayed their attractions to you: but permit me to suggest, that if you will devote the powers with which nature and education have gifted you, to the your countrymen-besides enjoying in your latter days that sweetest of earthly thoughts, the thought of a life spent in usefulness-you may have gathered laurels of glory, compared with which, all the chaplets ever won in the tilt-yard of vulgar ambition are paltry weeds. My wealthy fellow citizens! remember, that where * Dr. Johnson, after having witnessed the surprising performances of the pupils in a College for the deaf and dumb at Edinburgh in 1773, concluded that such a triumph over an infirmity apparently irremediable, left nothing hopeless to human resolution. "After having seen the deaf taught arithmetic," says he, "who would be afraid to cultivate the Hebrides?" Journey to the Western Islands. suffrage is nearly universal and the majority rules, if by but a small number of persons, but as it is neither the great body of the people be ignorant or iminoral, found on any map, nor marked in any gazetteer that I property is never secure from assaults, under the dis- have ever examined, there may be some apology af guise of law: either agrarian schemes, or oppressive forded for the indifference to magnificent scenery, maniprotecting systems, or advantages to certain classes, or fested by hundreds and thousands of our citizens, who, some form of unequal taxation; all, the result of ill-though domiciled in its immediate vicinity, have never informed minds, or of depraved dispositions. And if deemed it worthy of a visit. So true it is, that there is lawlessness assume not the garb of legislation, still it is a proneness in human nature to undervalue the gifts of always banded with ignorance in the firing of barns, Providence which are placed within our reach, and to the destruction of labor-saving machinery,* conspiracies | admire and covet those which are located at a distance. to raise wages, and all the terrific outrages that spring Were a fatiguing journey of several hundred miles nefrom the fury of mobs. Thus, by a wise Providence, cessary, in order to enjoy a ramble along the banks of are you, who are the most able to promote the education the Wissahiccon, we should then, without doubt, view of the people, also by far the most interested in doing its placid waters, its sluggish, meandering course, its so. If there can be a case, in which a judicious liberality richly covered banks, and its imposing precipices, with is the truest economy, that case is now yours: and never the admiration and enthusiasm which scenes of this may the ill husbandry of niggardliness be more awfully character never fail to inspire in the minds of those who exemplified, than by your grudging a small particle of passionately love the untouched works of the hand of your wealth, to place the remainder beyond the reach nature. But the delightful little stream courses along of this peril. within a few miles of our doors, and a ride to its most picturesque views, is but an hour's excursion; hence, except to a few, whose researches have discovered, and whose good taste enabled them to appreciate, the beauty, sublimity and majesty of this stream, it is almost unknown. My fellow citizens (if any such are before me) who do not possess wealth, and who have scarcely tasted of the cup of knowledge! You surely need no exhortation to quaff freely of that cup, when it shall come within your grasp but I do exhort you to employ your influence as men, and your constitutional power as voters, in persuading your fellow citizens, and in prompting your public agents, to adopt the requisite measures for dispelling, now and forever, the clouds and darkness in which republican freedom can never long live. And if, at the remotest point of future time, to which we may look forward as witnessing the existence of human government any where, our democratic forms shall still retain, unimpaired, even their present purity, and present fertility of substantial freedom and happiness; much more, if they shall have waxed purer, and stronger, and more fruitful of good, with each revolving century, defying the power or conciliating the love of foreign states---maintaining domestic harmony---oppressing none, protecting all--and so fully realizing the fondest hopes of the most sanguine statesman, that no "despair of the republic” can trouble the faintest heart:—all will be owing (under Providence,) to the hearkening of this generation and the succeeding ones, to that voice-not loud, but solemn and earnest--which, from the shrine of Reason and the tombs of buried commonwealths, reiterates and enforces the momentous precept-" ENLIGHTEN THE PEOPLE!" THE WISSAHICCON. Its bounding crystal frolicked in the ray, And gushed from cleft to crag with saltless spray. Byron. It is probable there are but few individuals residing in the vicinity of Philadelphia, who have not heard, during some interval of business engagements, of Wissahiccon creek, a beautiful and romantic stream that falls into the no less romantic Schuylkill, about five miles above the city. The stream is visited, statedly, No one can have forgotten the ravages committed, a year or two since, by the ignorant poor of Kent, and some others of the southern and middle counties of England, chiefly under the delusive idea, that their sufferings were caused by labor-saving ma. chinery. But there are persons who have not been thus negligent of nature's treasures in this vicinity, and to these a visit to the fascinating Wissahiccon, calls up remembrances and associations of the most delightful character. To those who enjoy Nature in her majesty-free, uncontrolled, undespoiled of her beauty by the effacing efforts of human skill-there is no spot, within a circle of many miles, so rich in imagery, so imposing in ap pearance, so fascinating in attraction, as the banks of the Wissahiccon. The stream takes its rise from several springs in the upper part of Montgomery county, and flows, for a short distance, through a limestone country, remarkable for fertility and a high state of cultivation. Thence it passes, south-westernly, "a sweet smiling stream sleeping on the green sward," into more undulating land, until it reaches the Chesnut ridge, from which it progresses, at times indolently, and at times with an impetuous current, through a narrow valley, hedged in on either side by high hills, steep and craggy cliffs and precipitous mountains, until it strikes the Schuylkill, about a mile above the falls. Along its whole course the scenery of the Wissahiccon is beautiful, but it is the portion lying within six or eight miles of its mouth, that is generally regarded as the most attractive, as it exhibits, in bolder relief than any other portion, the peculiar sublimity and grandeur of the stream, and the imposing and majestic ledge of rock work through which it passes. It is along this distance that I have been accustomed to ramble during leisure moments, for years, and it is under the shade of the forests of brilliant hue that line its banks, that I have often reclined, and enjoyed, undisturbed, the sweet melody of nature, issuing from the bursting green foliage around me. I love nature with enthusiasm, and whether standing on the bank of a running stream and listening to the sweet gushing sound of its waters, or seated on an eminence overlooking the waving fields of golden fruit that bless the labor of the husbandman; whether enchanted by the Siren song of nature's minstrels in the spring, or watching the many-colored leaves of the for est, as they are borne through the air by the whistling | but for the unpoetic noise of a laboring mill, and the winds of autumn-there is, in the scene before me, ab- span of a rude bridge which crosses to a small cavern sorbing attraction, calling forth reflections which never or cleft in the rocky slope, there would be nothing to fail to mellow down the selfish and unkind feelings of betray the presence of man, or to mark the contiguity the heart, and to shed a peaceful, consoling, and happy of human enterprise. Alas! that not one spot-not influence-all-pervading and lasting in its impressions-even the glorious Wissahiccon-bearing the undoubted over the heart. impress of the hand of the God of nature, can escape The carriage road commencing at the mouth of the Wissahiccon, crosses the stream on a covered bridge, about a mile and a half above, winds up a hill of considerable elevation, and passes over to the ridge. From the covered bridge access along the creek is obtained by means of a foot path, on the western side, which is marked The wild and majestic are, however, the scenes to the desolating depredations and officious interference of which I am most strongly attached, and which invaria-the onward march of civilization. bly elicit, to a greater extent than those of a softer character, passionate emotions of wonder and admiration. I love to stand at the base of a mountain whose summit reaches the clouds, and to clamber among rocks and under precipices whose projecting cliffs threaten destruction to the hardy adventurer-I love to explore the dense forests of our bold and beautiful hills, and to bury my-through the forest, over crags and cliffs, rugged rocks and self in the hidden recesses of nature, where the foot of rooted trees, until it reaches a beautiful green lawn, a man has never trod, where the sound of civilization has little parlor in the wilderness, celebrated as the resort of never been heard-I love to stand at the foot of Niaga- occasional pic-nic parties of young ladies and gentlemen ra, and watch the mighty torrent of a mighty inland from the city, and where, on the grassy floor, youth and sea hurling its concentrated power into the gulph below, beauty have often mingled in the graceful dance, and and to gaze deep, deep, into that awful abyss-unfath-joined in the merry song of innocence and gay hilarity. omable, destructive, appalling-I love to see the ele-It is a sweet spot, and surrounded, as it is, by scenery ments at war, to hear the rush of the tornado and of the wildest and most romantic character, may very whirlwind, laying prostrate in their furious course every appropriately be designated the "oasis of the Wissaimpediment to their destructive progress, and to witness hiccon." Near this place, immediately on the water's the fall of the powerful oak and the whirlings of its cleft edge, the ruins of an antiquated stone building are disbranches in the sea of matter above, crushing and over-covered, scattered over the ground, and as no trace of whelming the most formidable obstacles of art. These the original appearance of the edifice can be found, the are scenes in which the spirit of the enthusiast revels, imagination is permitted to enjoy free scope in dwelling and they are scenes which strike the soul with awe, upon the character and pursuits of its ancient founders. speaking trumpet-tongued of the presence of an Al-On the opposite side, the banks rise up, in many places mighty power, of the omnipotence of his authority, of almost perpendicularly, to the height of mountains, and the insignificance of human effort, and the frailty of but few have the temerity to attempt a passage along the course of the stream, as a single false step might hurl them among the dangerous rocks and jutting cliffs below. Here, as well as on the western side, several clefts and caverns in the granite rocks may be found, but it does not appear that they extend to any great depth under the massive structure; and here, upon the edge of a hill, may be seen the point at which it was sometime since proposed to throw a bridge over the human life. The scenery near the mouth of the Wissahiccon is of a wild, romantic, and imposing character, beautiful in its ever-varying aspect, and interesting in its mystic associations. High hills, occasionally assuming the appearance of mountains, rise on either side, covered with a dense and beautifully-variegated foliage. The dogwood, with its beautiful flowers, the chesnut, the locust, the melancholy willow, the sumac, the gum, with its ver-stream, to carry across the rail road from Philadelphia million leaves, and the gloomy hemlock, flourish here in all their native grandeur; and the lofty oak, the father of the forest, stretches out his thickly-covered branches to afford shade and shelter to the weary pedestrian. Wild flowers, in great number and varieties, rivalling each other in loveliness, are found in the underwood, giving effect to the drapery of the verdant trees, by enlivening the dark hues of the thickly-growing and overshadowed forest. Some of these flowers and plants are of rare quality and surpassing beauty, and far eclipse in attraction many that are cultivated with care and pride in our gardens; but here they spring up, year after year, in silence and solitude, being literally to Norristown. The projectors of the scheme reached thus far in their onward progress, but in casting a glance over the precipice into the gulph below, were struck with dismay at the formidable obstacles which appeared, and prudently abandoned the hazardous and wildlyconceived undertaking. Near Garsed's flax mill, the foot-path crosses to the eastern shore of the stream, on a rude log chained to an adjacent stone, and passes up through a forest overhanging the sluggish waters, and through a thick underwood, which, in some places, is almost impenetrable. Occasional openings in the dense foliage, which become more frequent as the pedestrian progresses up the stream, afford highly picturesque and enchanting views of the surrounding hills, such as those who appreciate Nature in her majesty, would journey miles upon miles, and endure pain and fatigue without murmuring, to behold. In every direction the scenes unfolded to the eye are rich and enchanting beyond description, and remind the writer who associates therewith ideas of intellectual pleasure and enjoyment, of the beautiful lines of the In the valley of the stream, along the eastern side of VOL. II.-4 "Dear solitary groves, where peace doth dwell! Beneath the shade of your embracing greens, Tun'd with the gentle murmur of the stream." the heart gladdened in sweet contemplation-where no Converse with nature's charms, and see her stores unroll'd." Two or three miles above the perpendicular rock, on the eastern shore of the stream, and in a spot equally beautiful and romantic, stands an edifice of great antiquity, connected with which there are a number of interesting associations. It is built nearly on the summit of a slope that stretches into a ravine, walled in on three One of the most interesting spots on the Wissahiccon, is in the immediate vicinity of the great perpendicular rock of granite, opposite Rittenhouse's mill. Here the dark shadows of the hill fall, with beautiful effect, upon the gurgling stream, and the rich and deep woodland foliage, the tangled and fragrant shrubbery, the towering cliffs on the one side, and imposing hills and dales on the other, give to the place a charm and fascination, which the reflecting mind may enjoy, but of which it is impossible to convey with the pen, any accurate description. It was near this enchanting place, on the sun side of a high hill, as is cur-sides by elevated hills, thickly covered with foliage. rently believed, that Kelpius and his friend, scholars of The building is of stone, three stories high, with nuGermany, located themselves about the close of the merous windows, four to each chamber, of uniform size, seventeenth century, and where for years they dwelt in and appearance; sixty years ago there was a balcony quiet and religious meditation, awaiting, with anxious around the second story, and the old-fashioned eaves, prayer, the coming of the "Lady of the Wilderness,' plastered in semi-circular form, still to be seen, exhibit and where they died, as we now know, "without the the architectural taste and style of a past century. The sight." It was here, that, at a period long anterior to date of its erection is supposed to be the year 1706, and the arrival of Kelpius, the untamed monarch of these its founders a society of religious Germans, probably wilds came to enjoy the rich treasures of nature, and known as Pietists or Seven day Baptists, who no doubt to worship, in silence, the goodness and bounty of the selected this secluded situation in order to secure peace Great Spirit. It was here, perhaps, on the summit of and quietness in their religious devotions. Many of the this very hill, that the original owners of the soil con-aged inhabitants of the neighborhood remember this vened for the war dance and to make preparations for monastery, as a building of unchanged appearance, a furious and bloody contest; or mayhap it was here even from the days of their boyhood, and some have that the chiefs of different tribes assembled to bury the connected therewith curious traditions of romance and hatchet of war, and to smoke the calumet of amity and legends of mystic tale. Notwithstanding the edifice has peace. Perhaps it was here that the noble young war-lately undergone a thorough alteration, and is now the rior, flushed with the honors of victory, stole silently at permanent residence of a highly respectable and very the midnight hour, to breathe his tale of love and his intelligent family, it still bears the reputation of being vows of devotion, into the ear of his blushing and affi-visited by spirits. anced bride; and surely no spot can be found, in the The fact of this building having been occupied as a whole range of our wide-spread territory, so suitable monastery, by a brotherhood of Germans, is, however, for scenes of this character. Here is the abode of ro-involved in doubt. One tradition alleges, that it was mance, here the spirit of nature holds undisputed sway-tenanted for sometime, by a fraternity of Capuchins, or and here, among these rugged rocks, and in this dense foliage-by the side of this poetic stream, with its associations of woody heights and shady dells, it is fitting that pure and holy vows of love should be uttered, where Heaven, in every leaf of the forest, in every blade of grass, may be called upon to bear witness to their sincerity and truth. White Friars, who took upon themselves vows of abstinence and poverty, and who slept upon wooden or stone pillows, with places scolloped out for the head. In confirmation of this tradition, an ancient burial place near the premises, now under tillage, is pointed out, where repose the remains of many of the brotherhood. Another and more probable story is, that the building was actuBut the Wissahiccon has fallen into other hands. ally erected for a religious society, professing a faith The untutored savage no longer strolls over these silent similar to that of the Seven day Baptists at Ephrata, mountains and vales, for his abode has been removed near Lancaster, but never occupied, as those for whom far away, beyond the western waters. The bones of his it was designed deemed it expedient to leave the neighwarrior fathers lie bleached and neglected in the depths borhood, and join the settlement at Ephrata. The Chroof the valley, for the high-bounding spirit of the son is nica Ephrata expressly states that, previous to the fortamed, by the contaminating influence of his civilized mation of that community, in May, 1733, they had brethren. The active deer no longer bounds over the dwelt in separate places as hermits, and "the hermits hills and dales of the Wissahiccon, for he has been dri- of the ridge" are frequently mentioned. That there ven to more sequestered abodes. The stream is, howe-was a feeling of affection between these hermits and the ver, much the same-its placid waters are still beauti- brotherhood in Ephrata, is beyond all doubt, as the ful as mirrors-its shores are still romantic-its groves Chronica, in another place, speaks of some brothers of are still enchanting-and so may they ever remain, un- single devotedness at Roxborough, "who subsequently disturbed, untouched by the dilapidating hand of man! | fell in with the spirit of the world and married." The place should ever be reserved as a refreshing re- Kelpius, probably the first of the hermits, on the Wistreat, where the soul may be uplifted in devotion, and [ sahiccon, died in the year 1708. He was succeeded by |