Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/418

394 APPENDIX. locks^ in place of the ricli brown curls they wore in my boyhood, or sitting by their fireside, clothed with flannel, and waiting that summons which has already called away their loved ones. My early and kind patrons, the Grazette sends a hearty ^ Grod bless you' to you all. So live, that when thy summons comes to join • The innumerable caravan that moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not like the weary slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon ; but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.' ^^In November, 1819, my then editor, John J. Sappan, issued the first number of the Glazette. It was the first news- paper ever issued in the county. This locality was thinly populated, and the people, then, as now, worshipped many political gods. Mr. Sappan wisely resolved, therefore, that he would not erect a shrine for the deities of any party, and sent me out a neutral in politics. I have not a copy of my initial number to show you, but I can call your attention to some of my numbers of that first year. Referring to them, I find that Isaac Ogden was then J udge of the Common Pleas ; Robert North, of Walton, was Surrogate ; Isaac Burr, still living, an aged and esteemed citizen of Meredith, was sheriff ; Samuel Sherwood, Amasa Parker, Root, and Hobbie, Serinus Monson, Amasa Douglass, Phelps, and Romeyn, John B. Spencer, Henry Ogden, Foote, and Decker, and others, were attorneys ; G-ideon Prisbie, and Robert North, were Loan Commissioners ; and from the post-office advertisement, I learn that Noadiah Johnson, afterwards the popular representative of the district in Congress, was assistant post-master/'