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Life of Isaiah V. Williamson

brought up to him from Philadelphia, with other goods in proportion.^[1]

Young Williamson threw himself, with heart and soul, into this whirl of country trading life, and everything goes to show that in Mr. Gillingham he had a splendid teacher and that he was an apt, enthusiastic scholar. The boy soon did a man's work, was never tired, never absent, never idle and, of course, earned and received more wages.

At the store he was known not as a dandy, but as a fine, attentive lad. His quick, manly ways pleased the far-seeing, solid Broadbrims. They recognized merit, integrity and industry in him, and their wives found him alert

↑ A visit to Fallsington in 1927, nearly twenty years after this MS was written, and more than a hundred years after Isaiah Williamson worked there, reveals a very small place, with virtually no business. Fallsington is not far from the thriving cities of Trenton and Bristol. But it is off the railroad and Wheat Sheaf Station on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which used to serve it, and where trains still stopped in John Wanamaker's day, has now been given up. Fallsington, although only a few hundred yards distant, is not on the Lincoln Highway, and could easily be missed by motorists passing on the Philadelphia-New York road. But in the days of Isaiah Williamson's clerking, roads were few and difficult, and farmers depended on the local store not only as their market for supplies but as their middleman to dispose of what they raised. It is interesting to remember that less than fifteen years before Williamson went to clerk in the Gillingham Store, Fallsington was seriously considered as the site of the national capital, and came very nearly being chosen for that great destiny.

[1] A visit to Fallsington in 1927, nearly twenty years after this MS was written, and more than a hundred years after Isaiah Williamson worked there, reveals a very small place, with virtually no business. Fallsington is not far from the thriving cities of Trenton and Bristol. But it is off the railroad and Wheat Sheaf Station on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which used to serve it, and where trains still stopped in John Wanamaker's day, has now been given up. Fallsington, although only a few hundred yards distant, is not on the Lincoln Highway, and could easily be missed by motorists passing on the Philadelphia-New York road. But in the days of Isaiah Williamson's clerking, roads were few and difficult, and farmers depended on the local store not only as their market for supplies but as their middleman to dispose of what they raised. It is interesting to remember that less than fifteen years before Williamson went to clerk in the Gillingham Store, Fallsington was seriously considered as the site of the national capital, and came very nearly being chosen for that great destiny.

[1]