Pa

“ You see Pa is a sort of half Englishman. He claims to be an American citizen, when he wants office, but when they talk about a draft he claims to be a subject of Great Brit-tain, and he says they can't touch him. ”

“ You see, Pa likes a joke the best of anybody you ever saw, if it is on somebody else, but he kicks like a steer when it is on him. I asked him this morning if it wouldn’t be a good joke to put some soft soap on the front step, so the letter carrier would slip up and spill his-self, and Pa said it would be elegant. Pa is a Democrat, and he thinks that anything that will make it unpleasant for Republican office holders, is legitimate, and he encouraged me to paralyze the letter-carrier. ”

“ We shall scarcely need any more than this will bring us; for, as pa says, a mere competence in the city is a splendid fortune in the country. You need leisure for books and travel and society, and you shall have it. ”

“ Pa and Ma went into their room, and I guess they anointed themselves with vasaline, and Pond’s extract, and I went and got into my bed, cause it was cold out in the hall, and the cat had warmed my bed as well as it had warmed Pa. It was all I could do to go to sleep, with Pa and Ma talking all night, and this morning I came down the back stairs, and havn’t been to breakfast, cause I don’t want to see Pa when he is vexed. You let the man that carries in the kindling wood have six shillings worth of groceries, and charge them to Pa. ”

“ Examples of the provincialisms of Pennsylvania, which were introduced by the English, Scotch-Irish, and Germans, and in many instances have been carried beyond her borders by emigration, are: after-night, for after candle-light; Aprile, for April (Cumberland Valley) ; barrick, a hill; bealing, suppurating; brickle, brittle; dipsey, the sinker of a fishline; dozy, timber brittle from decay; fouty, trifling; to get shut, to get rid; gums, for overshoes (eastern Pa.) ; horsebeast; to lift, a collection in church, to take up ”

“ Much as I had heard of the fertile regions of Pennsylvania, the vast scale and the uniform luxuriance of this region astonished me. The grazing pastures were so green, the fields were under such perfect culture, the cattle looked so sleek, the houses were so comfortable, the barns so ample, the fences so well kept, that I did not wonder, when I was told that this region was called the England of Pennsylvania. ”

“ The gentleman to whom I am about to allude, although long a resident in this country, has no feelings, no attachments, no sympathies, no principles, in common with our people. Nearly fifty years ago Pennsylvania took him to her bosom, and warmed, and cherished, and honored him ”

“ When we look at the history of Pennsylvania, as exhibited in the various important advances made by her citizens towards meliorating the condition of the oppressed and injured of the human race, and the relief of the miseries which crime has brought upon our species, our recollections are far more exalted and enduring than if we could boast our descent from the most illustrious warriors and heroes whose names have been emblazoned on the historic page. ”

“ Why, the excellent President of your Society has for the last five minutes been looking at me like a man who might be expected, at any moment, to break out in the disconsolate language of Bildad the Shuhite to the patriarch Job, "How long will it be ere ye make an end of words?" Let me say then, in conclusion, that, coming as I do from the unassuming State of Pennsylvania, and standing in the presence of the dazzling genius of New England, I wish to express the same degree of humility that was expressed by a Dutch Pennsylvania farmer in a railroad car, at the breaking out of the war. ”

“ The sincere and universal joy which your arrival has diffused over the nation, is no where more deeply or enthusiastically felt, than in Pennsylvania; whose fields and streams are rendered memorable by your achievements; whose citizens were the followers of your standard, and the witnesses of your sacrifices and toils, in the defence of American liberty. The eventful scenes of your useful life are engraved on our hearts. A nation has rejoiced at your successes, and sympathized with your sorrows. ”

“ Write to the chief consul of Pennsylvania and the chief consul of Ohio—whose addresses are in the Bulletin—and ask each to send you the road-book of his State. You will receive the Pennsylvania book free if you live in Pennsylvania yourself, but you must, of course, pay for the Ohio book. ”

“ The particular condition of Pennsylvania deserves the attention of all the other States. Her military strength must not be estimated by the number of inhabitants. Here are men of all nations, characters, professions and interests. Here are the firmest Whigs, surviving, like sparks in the ocean, unquenched and uncooled in the midst of discouragement and disaffection. Here are men losing their all with cheerfulness, and collecting fire and fortitude from the flames of their own estates. ”

“ The forest rang with the sharp cracking of the rifles and the bang-banging of the heavily charged muzzle-loaders, and within the stockade the women that remained encouraged their warriors with shrill yells.
"Kill them! Eat them!" they screamed, as they waved their shawls and mats. "Fight on, fight on! Let not one escape!"
White men dropped quickly, wounded or shot dead. McDonnell evidently over-estimated the strength of the enemy, for he concluded that it would be impossible to rush the pa or to hold it if it was successfully rushed, for the enemy were now all round him. ”

“ It was the most complete collection of the early literature relating to Pennsylvania which any individual had ever possessed. It is impossible that any man shall ever again have one of like importance. To part with it was to tear up forty years of my life by the roots. I had made a secret covenant with the commonwealth, unknown to the commonwealth, that if my future were provided for by a return to the Bench or otherwise, this record of its life should be preserved intact. ”

“ Index.—The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as established by the General Convention, carefully compared with the original, to which is added a Report of the Committee appointed to enquire, “Whether the Constitution has been preserved inviolate in every Part, and whether the legislative and executive branches of Government, have performed their duty as Guardians of the People, or assumed to themselves or exercised other or greater Powers, than they are entitled to by the Constitution.”—As adopted by the Council of Censors, Published by their Order. ”

“ You will find by the resolution of Congress of the 22d of November, 1777, Pennsylvania is called on to pay, in four quarterly payments, commencing on the 1st day of January, 1778, the sum of six hundred and twenty thousand dollars. By the resolutions of the 3d and 5th of January, 1779, Pennsylvania is called on to pay, during that year, the sum of one million nine hundred thousand dollars. By the resolution of the 21st of May, 1779, Pennsylvania was called on to pay, by the 1st of January, 1780, the sum of five millions seven hundred thousand dollars. ”

“ The Founding of Pennsylvania.—William Penn’s interest in the colonization of West Jersey led to his taking a greater part in American affairs. In 1670 his father, an admiral in the English navy, died, and left him a claim against the government, in compensation for which he induced Charles II. to give him a charter for forty thousand square miles in America (1681) . This region was named Pennsylvania in honor of the admiral, against the modest wishes of the proprietor. ”

“ I could add more names, evidently abstracted by the same principles, but the shortest way of completing the category is by determining the rule general, for I candidly confess I know not an exception among the present political figments of Pennsylvania. Avarice and ambition are the motives, while the cry of patriotism and the interest of the people are used as the ways and means of advancing their private ends. This peculiar malady is not peculiar to Pennsylvania. It is the disease of all popular governments. ”

“ We trust we shall not indulge hopes too sanguine, if we should now anticipate, that by the united labors of our Society, Pennsylvania will receive that illustration of her annals, character, and resources, which has so long been due to a State whose history in many important features is unique, and whose moral conduct exhibits lessons the most instructive, and examples the most encouraging, of active practical benevolence, and the positive application of the principles of Christianity to the administration of human affairs. ”

“ The Quakers were the principal sect, but men of all religions were tolerated, and lived together in harmony. In 1692 Richard Frame published, in what he called verse, a Description of Pennsylvania, in which he alludes to the settlement:--
"The German town of which I spoke before, Which is at least in length one mile or more, Where lives High German people and Low Dutch, Whose trade in weaving linen cloth is much, --There grows the flax, as also you may know That from the same they do divide the tow. Their trade suits well their habitation, We find convenience for their occupation." ”

“ The settlement of the province was confined for a long time to the eastern section. No population was more varied. The Scotch and Irish were mainly in the central portion, the Dutch and Germans in the east and northeast, and the English in the southeastern part of the colony. There are hundreds of people to-day in Pennsylvania, whose ancestors for several generations have been born there, who are unable to speak or understand a word of English. ”

“ The women of Pennsylvania, taken in general, are certainly very worthy characters; it is but justice, as far as I am concerned, for me to say, that I was always well treated both by them and the men, especially the Friends or Quakers, in every part of the State through which I passed, and that was the greater part of what was then inhabited. ”

“ The same earnest solicitude for public education which made itself manifest in the settlement of the New England Colonies in an unusual degree does not run through the early history of Pennsylvania, yet, outside of the Puritan settlements, there was no other colony which paid so much attention as Pennsylvania to the mental training of youth.
During the seventeenth century the general character of the province, as regards the intelligence of its people, stood deservedly high. ”

“ He sought to entertain me with a labored discourse on the greatness of this country, the magnificent resources of the State of Pennsylvania, the excellent character of the Pennsylvania Germans, the intelligence of the new immigrants who had been brought to this country by the revolutionary troubles in Europe, and the virtues of the Democratic party, to which he and, he was glad to know, all the adopted citizens belonged. ”

“ We have many men in public life from Pennsylvania, but they are chiefly of the earth. We have many men who are capable and pure, but they have eaten of the Lotos, and the spear has dropped from their nerveless hands. ”

“ On the 19th of May, 1900, I was elected president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. This venerable institution is the strongest in the United States devoted to its line of investigation and possesses volumes and manuscripts worth two or three millions of dollars. The papers which tell the story of Pennsylvania are within its walls. ”

“ The University of Pennsylvania should be cared for by the state as provided for in the Constitution of 1776.
11. Newspapers ought to be held responsible for the want of reasonable care in what they publish, and to be required to publish the names of their owners with each issue.
12. The state should aid Pittsburgh to unite, in one municipality, the populations at the head waters of the Ohio.
13. The state should aid Philadelphia in opening a way to the sea. ”

“ And lastly, I the said William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Pensilvania, and Territories thereunto belonging, for myself, my Heirs and Assigns, have solemnly declared, granted and confirmed, and do hereby solemnly declare, grant and confirm, That neither I, my Heirs or Assigns, shall procure or do any Thing or Things whereby the Liberties in this Charter contained and expressed, nor any Part thereof, shall be infringed or broken: And if any thing shall be procured or done, by any Person or Persons, contrary to these Presents, it shall be held of no Force or Effect. ”

“ They are at the same time bold and enterprising. The women are educated to housewifery, excellent companions and housekeepers, spending their leisure time in reading books of useful information and rendering themselves not only useful but amiable and pleasing.”
“What is the state of science in New England?”
“It is greatly cultivated and more generally diffused among the inhabitants than in any other part of the world.”
“What is the character of the Pennsylvanians?”
“Pennsylvania is inhabited by a great variety of people. ”

“ The 50th Pennsylvania were Pennsylvania Dutch, descendants of the Germans who settled the central part of the State before the Revolution, and were slower, more heavily moulded than the others, but always steadfast and reliable. The Roundheads came from the western, more mountainous part of the Keystone State, and were of the vigorous Scotch-Irish stock, with many tall, rawboned men. ”

“ The officers and men of the First Pennsylvania were highly elated over their success, and felt proud of themselves, for they were but a handful in comparison with the number they had attacked and driven away. ”