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" I will now go back a few years with the occurrences of my boyhood at Wilkes- Barre. When I was ten years old (1813), my father carried on the blacksmith business.

At that time there were no hardware stores in Wilkes-Barre, and no edge tools could be found in either of the four or five stores there, except now and then an old-fashioned one-bladed Barlow knife at a huge price. Such an article as a cast-iron plow or a cut nail was not known, but about the close of the war a man by the name of Francis McShane started a cut-nail machine, a very simple affair indeed, but himself and his helper (Shepard Marble, a Wilkes-Barre young man) could cut and head about twenty pounds daily; this caused a great excitement in town, hundreds of people from town and county came to see the nail factory. The price of wrought iron came down from 20 and 25 cents a pound to the price of 121/2 cents. Cut nails were sold at 10 cents.

The three fires in my father's shop were used as follows: First, at his fire were made all the edge tools, including cradles and scythes, chopping axes and various kinds of carpenter's tools. At another fire nothing but the various kinds of wrought iron nails were made, and the third tire was kept busy at the various kinds of customer's work as it was called for.

During the War of 1812 the great ship "Luzerne" was built on the river bank in front of John W. Robinson's store. I saw the launch. A thousand or more people were present. The war spirit was rampant at that time, and the people of our town expected that the noble "Luzerne" was going to assist in bringing the " flag of Great Britain '' down. A few days after the launch a sufficient flood arose and the ship was manned and started down the river toward the ocean, but in passing the Falls of Conawago she ran on the rocks and lay there till the ice in the river broke up the next spring, when she was totally destroyed.

John P. Arndt was one of the stockholders—probably the largest one—in the vessel. Several others, including my father, had from $3,00 to $500 of the stock.

There was great excitement in Luzerne county about those days. The war spirit prevailed to a great extent. There were two recruiting stations at Wilkes-Barre and the recruiting officers were very busy for one or two years.

Business of every description was brisk, and all kinds of provisions were high—wheat, $2.50 per bushel; corn, $1.25; pork, $18 to $20 per barrel, and everything else in the line of provisions proportionally high."

Old houses like old people have to go: "That historic old residence corner of Franklin and Union streets, once occupied by Chief Justice John Bannister Gibson, is now (1888) in process of demolition to make room for the block of six private residences to occupy the same lot extending from Union street to the old canal, now L. V. railroad track. This is an old structure, so old that perhaps no one living here remembers when it was built or by whom; the frame is yet stanch and sound, but the style of architecture is too antiquated for the present generation, and more than that, land is too scarce to allow a half acre to each dwelling here in the central portion of the city.

The old frame building adjoining the Leader office is about to be removed to make room for two fine wholesale stores, though it may not be considered as among the " old landmarks,'' is not yet of very recent date. It was first used as a public house by Archippus Parrish, after the destruction by fire of his former hotel, which stood on the east side of the public square, about where Josiah Lewis' stores now are.

The old tavern was burned on the night of February 22, about the year 1831. The sleighing was fine on that day, and there was to be a Washington's birthday ball at night. Bright fires had been kindled to warm up some of the upper rooms for the comfort of expected guests during the early evening, when at 9 o'clock a cry of fire was heard on the public square and flames were seen shooting up through the shingles of the roof, and in half an hour the old hostelry was reduced to ashes. The new building was used but a short time, before Mr. Parrish removed to another hotel, corner of the public square and East Market street, which was also destroyed by fire many years ago.