LANCASTER COUNTY. 323 



generally three overseers, whose duty it was to guard 

 over then* morals, and to guide them in the path of 

 virtue and religion, go with them to church, and during 

 the winter season, to devote three evenings in the 

 week for instructing them in useful services. These 

 boys were partly emplo^^ed in the town, and partly in 

 the Brother House, in Icc.rning various mechanical trades. 

 In the rear of the building, there are several houses, 

 which were formerly occupied as shops for cabinet 

 makers, chair makers, weavers, &c. The shoemakers 

 and tailors Iiad their shops in the house. There also 

 belonged a very extensive farm to it, on which a num- 

 ber were employed. Much attention was paid to fatten- 

 ing cattle, and it was nothing unusual to buy whole droves 

 for that purpose, which when fat were sold to the Lan- 

 caster and Philadelphia butchers. In the year 1817 it 

 was found proper to discontinue the Brother House at 

 Litiz, and after that period, it was for a time occupied by 

 several families, and at present is used for school purposes. 

 During the Revolutionary war, it was for a short period 

 used as a hospital for invalid soldiers, a number of whom 

 died there, and were buried a short distance eastward ly 

 from the village. Although this system did not suit all 

 who resided in this house, yet it must be admitted, that 

 there are numbers, who will ever ascribe their welfare to 

 having been in their younger years an inmate, and under 

 the care and admonition of such, who from experience 

 could guide and instruct them. 



The Sister's House. — This was built A. D. 1758. — 

 It is likewise built of limestone, three stories high, 90 feet 

 in length, and 37 feet in depth. The basement story is, 

 lilie that formerly in the Brother House, used for a kitchen 

 and dining room ; the first as well as part of the second 

 «tory is divided into dwelling rooms; one part of the 



