COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES other fam iliar floral productions were wont to ornam ent it and make it 'unprofltably gay.' T he boys, after school hours, ottcn reluctantly, tried thcir 'prentice Itands at horticulture, and the m ost onerous part o f thcir labor w as the rem oval of the water-worn stone, rounded by attrition in bygone antediluvian ages, in oceanic currents. T h ey abounded on M arket street lots and other elevated portions of the v ilb g e . Doubtless by this time a succession o f youthful gardeners have removed them all and made horticultural pursuits less la borious. “ Am ongst other amusements the boys en joyed skating, sledding, sleighing, nutting, trapping, fishing, playing ball, bathing in the river and in the M ahoning; in the latter, west of Factory street, hard by a buttonwoo<l or sycamore. tas a fam ous bathing place. F ly ing kite and playing marbles in the spring, were not foi^ottcn. ,M1 these afforded them the needed recreation from study and labor. "B u t I must not omit the muster d ays o f (he militar)*. T h e old K iflc Blues w as one o f (he oldest, i f not the oldest, volunteer military organizations of the county. T h e Light Dragoons, Captain Clarke, were the adm ira tion o f all the boys of the place, and thcir parades were gala days. T he Columbia Guards was a fine company o f infantry, num bering over sixty, commanded by Capt. Janies Carson. T he train band. Captain Y o rk s, w*as also one of the institutions o f that day. The regimental musters were generally heUI at Washingtonville, and <lrcw together crowds o f spectators to witness thcir grand maneuvers, discuss politics and tavern dinners. "The IEQtchman w as then the only news{laper. George Sw eeny, the veteran editor, wa.^ its proprietor. lie had publi>hed the Co* lumbicn Gaxctte in 1 8 1 3, which w as succeeded by the E x p ress, by Jonathan Lodge in 18 15 , and afterw ard by I,odge & Cartilhers. T he lyalchman w as established in 1 8 2 0 . It was >uhlished on M arket street, cast o f F erry, and a sign in front of the oil ice. U(h>ii which i^as painted the head o f I'Tanklin with the legend from Milton, ‘ W here lilKrty dwells, diere is my countr)*.' There were then few I^aintcd s i ^ s in the place, and this one was 'cry conspicuous. Alihm igh the lEatchm an was not h alf the size of the A m erican, it was deem ed a grand jo u n ial, and had great in fluence in the (loiitics o f (he county. It was uutdc up chiefly by copy from other pa|>ers, ^ud seldom contained editorial articles. Readwere not so exacting then as in these httcr days.
3?y
“ T he (>oli(ics o f (he village, like those of the county, were largely Democratic. What Democratic principles were 1 had no very defi nite idea, but had a vague impression that they were just (he reverse o f Federal princi ples, and I suppose that this negative definition quadrated with the ideas of the dominant ])orty. State |K>)itics absorbed the attention o f i>oIiticians and banished from thcir minds national politics to an extent that must have gladdened the hearts o f those stolid politicians, the States* rights men. 1 rcmenilier how a villager pertinaciously urged the nomination o f General Jackson fo r governor, and he hon estly believed that the gubernatorial honor was the highest that could be conferred upon the old hero. “ 'I1ie members of the bar were few in num ber. Kbenezer Greenough had recently re moved to Sunbury. Ju d ge G rier, from his profound legal attainments and fine scholar ship, vstood at the head o f his profession. Alcm M arr, the pioneer law yer, w as a good classical scholar and a graduate o f Princeton, l i e represented the district in Congress in 1829. I^ G ran d Bancroft w as district attor ney. T he other memliers were George A . Frick, W illiam G . H urley, John Cooper, Jam es Carson and Kolicrt M c l M cDowell. A short time subsequently John G . Montgomery, Paul I.cidy and Joshu a W. Com ly were added to the m i m l K T . A ll of them are deceasetl excq it the latter. “ T he medical men were not numerous. T lie first in the place w as D r. Forrest, the grand father o f ^frs. Valentine B e s t; his successor. D r. B a rre tt; his, D rs. Petrikin and Daniels. .'t the period o f which I write there w*erc also Drs. McDowell and M a g ill T h e latter was then a young practitioner in the beginning o f his long and successful career, and now re mains, lieyond the age o f fourscore years, the honored head of the profession, which has in creased fou rfold since he liccamc a member o f it. A nd now Danville b<^.nn to rear med ical men o f her own. Herntan G earhart and A lexander C . Donaldson were initiated into the profession under the tuition o f Dr. Pctrikin. A l the same time Sam uel Montgomery and Matthew Patterson were divinity students. John M artin w as a law student in S ir. M.arr’s oflicc, .md sulisequently practiced in Clearfield county. “ (ien. Daniel Montgomery w as the first merchant, but, having acquired a fortune, was now residing on his fine farm a mile or two above town. H is cousin. Ju d ge W illiam Montgomer)*, an old citizen, w as now the
