216 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK. 



Swanville. I had long since learned that in a case 

 of this kind, the charms of hospitality, like those of 

 Circe, were fatal to the interests of him who heeded. 

 Made the eight and a half miles to Swanville in fair 

 time, and was soon settled for the night at the home 

 of John Joseph Swan, an old resident and pioneer, 

 after whom the hamlet is named. 



Farm House, 

 Swanville, Pennsylvania, 

 July First. 



Was compelled to remain in this place two days on 

 account of my lecture appointment for Girard, and 

 was singularly fortunate in having cast my lot with 

 the Swans, who were untiring in their efforts to make 

 my stay agreeable. The head of the family was 

 eighty-three years old and quite patriarchal in 

 appearance. From him I learned something of 

 their military record, which reaches over quite an ex- 

 tended period of our country^s history, and which 

 makes a noble background for the peace and comfort 

 they now enjoy. Mr. Swanks father was a captain 

 of militia in pioneer days, and his son Andrew was 

 a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry during the late war. 

 He was a participant himself in the war of 1812, and 

 both he and his father were pensioners. In fact they 

 have grown up with the country, having shared its 

 trials and its triumphs. Mr. Swan was one of the 

 earliest settlers in Erie County, and although more 

 than half a century had passed since he had settled 

 there, this veteran still remembered and vividly de- 



