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- Title
- Saturday jaunts one-day holidays spent near the city by the Ledger Monastery
- Description
- Volume composed of reprinted "Saturday Jaunts" columns (spring and summer 1891) and 25 photographs documenting the one-day excursions of the "Saturday Jaunters," employees of the Public Ledger in Philadelphia. Saturday Jaunters (identified with "monkish" pseudonyms) referenced in and authors of the columns include Bonifacius (William E. Meehan), Benedict (Addison B. Burk), Chrysostum (Joel Cook), Angelo (John J. Mckenna), Damon (Charles S. Spangler), Photius (Edmund Stirling), Friar Tuck (Edward Robinson), Constantius (Stephen J. Burke), Pius (Israel F. Sheppard), Sacristan (C. Johann), Fabian (Dr. William H. Burk), Medicus, Ananias (Collins W. Walton), Titian (John A. Johann), Cephas (Peter J. Heborn), and Brother Alban (Captain Robert C. Clipperton). Contains the columns: I. Marble Hall and Spring Mill. II. A Visit to the Coal Fields of Pottsville. III. A Trip along Cresheim Creek and the "Happy Valley." IV. A Roundabout Journey to Edge Hill. V. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir. VI. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir (Continued). VII. A Pleasant Pilgrimage into New Jersey. VIII. A. Walk Up the Wissahickon Valley. IX. A Trip to Reading and Its Grand Environs. X. The Soapstone Quarries and Rockdale. XI. Villanova and Its Vicinity. XII. Glimpses from a Car window of a Picturesque Country. XIII. A Trip to Mount Gretna and the Cornwall Ore Banks., Columns, signed by the author, reference the attending jaunters; describe their routes taken by foot, train (Reading Railroad), elevated rail, and coal cars; and provide stories, myths, and histories of the botany, geology, fauna, and architecture of the locales and sites visited. Specific sites and landmarks described in detail include Marble Hall marble pit; Spring Mill (Schuylkill Valley); Reading Coal and Iron Company; Livezey's meadow and Devil's Glenn (Wissahickon Valley); the "Great Valley," i.e., Chester, Plymouth, and Whitemarsh valleys; George Bullock's former land and mill (Gulf Creek); Plymouth Quaker Meeting House; Belvoir Estate on the summit of Sandy Hill; "Crystal" and Cold springs (Laurel Springs, Camden County, N.J.); Norristown Railroad Bridge; John Kelpius's log cabin and caves (Germantown); Rittenhouse Mill on Monoshone Creek; McKinney’s Quarry (Wissahickon); Neversink Mountain; Bear Inn (Reading); Rockdale picnic grounds; Barren Hill; Augustinian College (i.e., Villanova University); monastery and church of the Augustinian Fathers at Villanova; Berks, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Columbia, Northumberland and Union counties; Port Carbon; and Cornwall Ore Bank Company. Columns also report about the railroad and industrial officials who provided tours and served as guides; "Photius"'s photographs; jaunter's scientific, philosophical, and literary discussions, including the plant life, flora, and fauna of the Wissahickon, the geology and landscapes of the Schuylkill and Lebanon valleys, and Potsdam sandstone; and jaunter's activities including fishing, collecting arrowheads, and playing baseball. Columns also report about the jaunters more colloquial conversations, including the three different Indian Rock hotels and Joseph “Rooty” Smith root museum on the Wissahickon and the Mt. Gretna Farmer’s Encampment Association annual encampment (August 16-22, 1891)., Photographs taken by "Photius," (i.e., Edmund Stirling) a photographer by avocation, depict group portraits of the "jaunters" and their families during excursions; a summer home in Chestnut Hill; a Marble Hall pit; Pottsville coal mine; a tree in the Plymouth Meetinghouse yard; a Germantown cave where Johann Kelpius or his followers resided; cascades, creeks, and streams in "Happy Valley," Laurel Springs, and the Wissahickon; Mt. Gretna train station; and a portrait of "jaunter" Alban, i.e., Robert C. Clipperton, attired in walking gaiters, and a handkerchief under his hat during the Villanova jaunt., Tan leather binding stamped "Saturday Jaunts" on spine., Includes illustrated title page containing the figure of a plump monk, in his robes, and holding a pipe., Names of jaunters supplied from unillustrated edition in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Vd. 503)., Photographs annotated: H [number]., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Edmund Stirling, born September 13, 1861 in Philadelphia, began his career in the newspaper trade as a reporter in his later teens. By the 1890s, he started his avocation of photography and worked as an editor at the Public Ledger. Stirling was also active in the Photo-Secession Movement and a member of several other clubs in addition to the "jaunters," including the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, the Pen and Pencil Club, and Manufacturer's Club. He was married to Anne J. Biddle, who also practiced photography. The couple had one son, Charles Biddle, who died in infancy.
- Date
- [MDCCCXCVIII. [1898]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Saturday [79214.O]