The following letter from an official expert describes the material of which this ancient casket is made: The wood of your anciently made box is Norway spruce, technically known as picea excelsa. The wood came from a very large old tree as the quality is of the finest produced by this species. This spruce is a native of Europe, where it is one of the most valuable timber trees. As you doubtless know the Norway spruce is very widely cultivated in the United State for ornament. Some of the early established estates in Maryalnd and Virginia have trees considerably over 150 years of age. On account of the even grain of its wood, this spruce has been a very long time used for the front boards of violins. The uniform width of the grain has the peculiar quality of giving out a uniform tone which violin makers find cannot be had from a wood which has a variable grain. You will be interested in knowing that the spruce from which this wood comes was scientifically described for the first time by Linnaeus the elder in 1753, in his species planetarum. This tree, however, appears to have been known to Theophrostus and to Pliny, but Linneaus was the first to describe it from an acceptable scientific point of view. Very truly yours, (Signed) GEO. B. SUDWORTH, "I have taken the AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE since it was started. I found it of invaluable assistance in my work as organizing State Regent, and now as Chapter Regent.-MRS. DE B. RANDOLPH Keim. I find the magazine a most valuable help in my work for our local chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. MRS. FRANCIS TAPPEY. "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." MRS. HARRIETTE KRIDER SCHROETER. The Quaker City Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Philadelphia, Pa., have been deprived by death of their only "Real Daughter," Mrs. Harriette Krider Schroeter, who on Sunday, May 15, 1910, passed to the "Peace, perfect Peace," of a better world, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. Mrs. Schroeter descended maternally from a German family of excellent standing. Her father was Philip Krider, of Swiss ancestry, who was born August 25, 1755. He entered the Revolutionary Army as a private soldier when in his twentieth year, and served a number of terms of enlistment. He was at the Battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776; was taken prisoner at Fort Washington, November 15, 1776; was released on parole, February, 1777, and afterwards exchanged. He was enrolled May 21, 1777, in Captain John Santee's company, Fifth Battalion, Northampton County Volunteers, commanded at that time by Colonel Peter Keichlmer. He re-enlisted June 15, 1780, in Captain Johannes Van Etten's company, Fifth Battalion, Northampton County Volunteers; and he was marked present for duty 1781. He was in the Battle of Germantown, and was with Washington at Valley Forge, where he was at one time obliged to pass three days without food. He was twice married. By his first wife, Elizabeth Gramlich, he had eight children. By his second wife, Harriette Weaver, whom he married in 1806, and whose senior he was. by twenty-six years, he had eight daughters, of whom Harriette, the subject of this notice, was born December 13, 1817, and married to Philip K. Schroeter, December 9, 1841. This dear and honored member of our cherished Society was a consistent, professed Christian from her early days to the end; and in all the relations of life, she gave evidence of the influence of the religious training she had received and to which she had done honor. She possessed a remarkable memory, and it is the unspeakable consolation of those who mourn her loss, that this, with all her other faculties, remained unimpaired to the last. She made her home with her devoted daughter, Mrs. Harriet K. Folwell, who, with the other members of her family, did all in their power to render her declining years peaceful and happy. The Quaker City Chapter took action upon her decease by offering an appropriate floral emblem at her funeral, and by a standing tribute of respect and the reading of a memorial written in her honor at the monthly meeting of the chapter, held a few days after her passing. While we mourn her departure, we are consoled by the thought that she has gone to swell the ranks of those who are enjoying the delights of true MRS. MARY WARD WINCHESTER PARKER. Another one of the few remaining links connecting the present with the glorious history of 1776 was severed when on March 23rd, 1910, occurred the death of Mrs. Mary Ward Winchester Parker, at the advanced age of 91 years 8 months and 18 days, at Wattsburg, Erie county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Parker was the daughter of Samuel Winchester and Hannah Woods, his third wife. Her father was born in Massachusetts, March 11, 1753, and died in Onondaga county, New York, January 11, 1823. He served 23 days at the time of the Lexington Alarm, in Captain Thomas White's company for Brookline, Massachusetts, and his name appears on the bronze tablet erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution chapter of that city in the public library. (A fac-simile of which is given in plate 47, Fifth Report of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution to the Smithsonian Institution for 1901-02.) His wife survived him until August 4, 1859. Mrs. Parker became a member of the Olean Chapter, June 5, 1906, through the solicitation of her great-niece, Mrs. E. L. Nichoson, one of the chapter's members, and became the proud possessor of a gold spoon presented to all "Real Daugh ters" by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her latter days were spent with the relatives, at whose home she passed away. Her long life was useful, and in many ways, a remarkable one. The Olean Chapter mourns the loss of one of its oldest and most honored members.-MAUD D. BROOKS, Historian. MRS. SOPHRONIA STOCKING FOWLER. Mrs. Sophronia Stocking Fowler died at Castalia, Ohio, in June. Mrs. Fowler was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, having joined February 2, 1904. She was a "Real Daughter." Her father was Amos Stocking, who was a private in the war. Had she lived until June 22, Mrs. Fowler would have been ninety-eight years old. Upon the land, upon the sea A beacon glow, with steady light, To show the way, where right is might, The winds of heaven never fanned, The circling sunlight never spanned, The borders of a better land, Than our own Indiana. -Year Book of the Richmond Chapter, Richmond, Indiana. Mrs. Oreal S. Ward, State Regent of Nebraska, reports the formation of a new chapter, at Hastings, named "The John Hart Signer Chapter." The growth of the principles which the Daughters represent finds ready soil and faithful care in that glorious land. |