OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 878 



•considerable, because the town is still too near to Philadelpliia. It has a haiulsonie 

 Lutheran Church and a Latin School.! 



"But the greatest attraction which Lancaster presented to mo, was the pleasure I de- 

 rived from the acquaintance with the Rev. Henry IVIuhlenberg. pastoi- of the Luthei-an 

 •Church, and now Principal of the College there. 



"This excellent man, by his own diligence, has made considiMahlo attainments in na- 

 tural science and is indefatigable in his investigations of the animals, jilants and min- 

 erals of his neighborhood. I have great reason to regret the circmnstaiue that I made 

 his acquaintance so late and for too short a time; l)ut it was the more jjrecious and I 

 shall cherish my recollection of him the more, because he is the onhi natire Americnu 

 with whom I became acquainted, who is a lover of science and of whom I was able to 

 make scientitic inquiries. If his exemplary diligence and search of knowledge were 

 more generally found among his countrymen, America would soon become lietter 

 acquainted with her own products, and natural science become greatly em-iched. His 

 cabinet of home minerals, though small, is nevertheless remarkable, l)ecause a Iwttor 

 one is not found elsewhere." 



" The same author furnishes some curious specimens of the peculiar idiom, known as 

 Pennsylvania Dutch, which .seems to have been eighty years ago as rii'hly developed as 

 it is at this day; tlie reader, familiar with this indigenous dialect, will have no ditliculty 

 to understand the following extracts from conversations had by Schopf, with Pennsyl- 

 vania farmers in 1783: 



Ich hab' wollen mit my nachljar tshinen and a shtick geclart land pnnliasen. Wir 

 batten no doubt a goote bargain gmacht und hatten kenne goot drauf ausmache. Ich 

 ■war aber net capable so'ne summe Geld aufzumache, und konnt nicht liinger expecten. 

 Das thiit my nachbar net gleiche, und fing an mich eebel zu u.sen; .so dacht ich 's ist 

 besser du toost mitaus." 



"Mine stallion iss ivverde Fens getshumpt and hat dem Xachbar sei wheat abscheu- 

 lich gedamatsht." 



Subjoined is an interesting account of Lancaster in 1833, originally written for the 

 Commercial Herald, and preserved in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, vol. 12: 



"From Paradise, where our last sketch was made, we resume our journey on the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad, and in about nine miles enter the city of Lancaster. In this 

 distance we cross Mill creek by a viaduct 550 feet long and 40 feet high, and Concstoga 

 creek by a viaduct 1,413 feet long, and 60 feet high. The latter is among the noblest 

 structures in the State, perhaps on the Continent. Its great length is occasioned by 

 the width of the Conestoga valley, at this point requiring a large proportion of land 

 bridge. It is built upon the Town patent or Lattice plan, difleringin this respect from 

 the other bridges upon the road, in which Burr's model has been pursued. Tlie con- 

 tractor was Amos Campbell, of New Jersey, who constructed the present bridge at the 

 falls of Schuylkill, several on the Germantown Railroad; and who is engaged to build 

 all the important bridges on the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad. The Pennsylvania 

 Railroad crosses the Conestoga about half a mile above the tuinpike bridge, which lat- 



1 Lancaster has now also a Clleire. "In the Interest of the Germans, who, from various i.reju.ilces. 

 have hitherto failed to unite with their Enalish fellow citi/.ens in the establishment of an e.lucatlonal 

 institution, the Assembly granted in the fall of 17SG, a charter and 10,000 acres of land, for the eree- 

 tion of a College at Lancaster. This College is to bear the name of Dr. Franklin, who has ma-lc 

 munificent donations to it. The Germans arc greatly rejoiced with this undertaking. The 7.e«l and 

 liberality with which thev enter into every good work which contemphues the prosperity of their 

 religion and nation, warrants the hope that this College will speedily ciuiil in wealth and reputation 

 the oldest Colleges in Americy." (Extract from a letter from I'hiludelphla, 1787.) IheHev. .Mr. 

 Muhlenberg states in a letter, dated .Tune 6. 1787,that this College has gone int.. operation with five 

 tutors. Kev. Mr. Muhlenberg is President ; Kev. -Mr. Hendel, Vice-1'rincipal : the Kev. Mr. Melz- 

 iaimer, Professor of German, Latin and Greek; Mr. Reichenbach, Professor ..f Mathematics, and 

 the English minister, the Kev. Mr. Hutchins, teaches English and the Helles-Lcttres. 



