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^^ Brother Albrecht's Secret 
 f- Chamber 
 
 A Legend of the Ancient Moravian Sun Inn 
 of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 
 
 with Historical Notes Concerning Persons and Events during 
 Colonial and Revolutionary Days 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES B. LAUX 
 
 UTITZ. PENNA. 
 1814 
 
f7 
 
 iic^M^^ 
 
 ^4 
 
 Zi^rr^ ^^*<^'r 
 
JOHN P E 1-T N 
 Colonial GoA^ernor of Pa.. 
 
Brother Albrecht's Secret 
 Chamber 
 
 A Legend of the Ancient Moravian Sun Inn 
 of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES B. LAUX 
 
 Member of The Historical Society' of Pennsylvania : New York State Historical Association; 
 
 American Historical Association : Society of American Authors : 
 
 National Geographic Society, etc. 
 
 Kommt. Briider, trinket froh mit mir, 
 
 Seht wie die Becher schatimen ! 
 Rei A'ollen Glassern wollen wir 
 
 Ein Stiindchen hier vertraiimen ! 
 
 Das Atige flammt, die Wauge gliiht, 
 In kiihnen Tonen rauscht das Lied, 
 
 Schon winl<t der Gottervvein ! 
 
 Schenkt ein ! Schenkt ein ! 
 Schon winkt der Gotterwein ! 
 Schenkt ein I 
 
 Altes Trink Lied. 
 
 LITITZ, PENNA. 
 
 1914 (^ 
 
 \jn 
 
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t^ 
 
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 u- 
 
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 B6 LB'^^ 
 
 A 
 
 r?6f 
 
 Printed by 
 
 The Express Printing Co., Inc. 
 
 Lititz, Pa. 
 
 ■ ' .-' :^ Vi )} 
 
 VI \A-\VMVi\fii\ 
 
Edition of Three Hundred 
 
 _-, _, .... ._ . ._. ,!*»: 
 
VON WATTEVILLE 
 
 (watwyl) 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
VON SCHWEINITZ 
 
"Hail, Lehigh, to who.se woody shores 
 Monockesj' his treasures pours. 
 
 Thro' fertile meadows bro't ; 
 For when he writes the groves and streams 
 Most fill the poet's airy dreams 
 
 And most inspire his thoughts. 
 Else, Bethlehem, had I pictured thee 
 (Surrounding culture raised to see) 
 
 Aly muse's earliest care ; 
 Or told the customs and the rites 
 Each brother boasts (as she indites) 
 
 Or each religion's fair. 
 P'rom German fields the people came 
 O'er stormy seas, with pious aim. 
 
 Nor deemed the risk too much. 
 Irish in troops the same have done, 
 By bondage short their welfare won, 
 
 Scotch, English, French and Dutch." 
 
 John Penn. 
 
 ZINZENDORF 
 
 "Time sped his wing. 
 .And on the Lehigh's solitary banks 
 The Missionary stood. O'er that smooth tide 
 The pensive moon wrote out in pencil'd rays, 
 The same deep language, which his boyhood read 
 Upon the billowy Rhine. Mild evening's breeze. 
 Stirring the interlacing of the elms, 
 And the slight reeds that fring'd the river's brink, 
 Pour'd the same soul-dissolving sigh, that swept 
 PJis own Lusatian forests. 
 
 Serene he mused, '"*'■" now toiled 
 
 As a colonial sire, and thoughtful plann'd 
 ';\Iid shelter'd vallies and aspiring hills, 
 Fit refuge for his brethren. Hence arose 
 Fair Bethlehem, with all its pure retreats 
 And peaceful hearths ; and still its classic dome. 
 Where Education with the plastic mind 
 Of childhood, mingleth holiest elements, 
 Doth \enerate his name." 
 
 Lydia H. Sigourney. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 The writer in the following pages, has 
 endeavored to give definite form, life 
 and color to an ancient tradition concern- 
 ing the famous old Moravian Sun Inn, 
 that has drifted down the stream of 
 time since the perilous days of Indian 
 wars, and the years of stress in the 
 Revolutionary period ; a building in 
 which were enacted many thrilling and 
 impressive events full of moment to the 
 3'oung American Republic. 
 
 The stranger who seeks the shelter of 
 its massive walls soon comes into a 
 knowledge of the old abandoned sub- 
 terranean passageway that leads from the 
 great crypt in the basement to some long 
 forgotten outlet. Many a fine theory has 
 been spun to account for its existence in 
 the cool pleasant atmosphere of the 
 vault by the visitor as he contemplates 
 the narrow entrance from one of the 
 comfortable inviting corners on a hot 
 summer day or evening, but like the 
 bouquet of the fragrant wine he is sip- 
 ping it lingers only as a pleasant in- 
 tangible fancy which soon passes away. 
 
 The writer has accepted the legend of 
 a secret tunnel as an actual fact, and 
 evolved, with perhaps indifferent suc- 
 cess, a not impossible historic background 
 for it, using the license freely granted to 
 romancers. The characters that play 
 their part in it are, with possibly two 
 
 exceptions, actual personages who were 
 at one time guests of the Inn, and closely 
 associated with its fortunes ; characters 
 who would have given the greatest fame 
 and distinction to any of the great his- 
 toric old-world buildings had they been 
 as here, actors in the mighty drama of a 
 new-born nation. 
 
 An inn that can number among its 
 honored guests such men as Washington, 
 Franklin, Lafayette, Greene, Steuben, 
 Hancock, Pulaski, and a host of others 
 of like undying fame, enjoys a distinc- 
 tion unique, unrivalled in the annals of 
 American taverns, and is worthy of all 
 the art that may be bestowed upon the 
 telling of its history by any of the great 
 masters of romance. 
 
 The ample foot-notes, the writer trusts 
 may prove interesting as historic glean- 
 ings to the reader, throwing light as they 
 do on the epoch and region in which the 
 story is laid. 
 
 The writer also asks for the gentle, 
 considerate judgment of the reader, 
 and, moreover, apologizes to the genial 
 landlord of the Sun Inn for the liberties 
 he has taken with him during the explor- 
 ations of the secret tunnel. The situa- 
 tions he created for him were essential 
 to the proper movement and logical end- 
 ing of the legend for without his 
 presence and adventures the story could 
 not have been told as it is given. 
 
JOHN C. MORGAN 
 
Brother Albrecht's Secret Chamber 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ONNER wetter!" ex- 
 claimed the astonished 
 landlord, Colonel John 
 Clarence Morgan. The 
 occasion of this sudden 
 outburst of profanity, for 
 which there was ample 
 reason, and for which 
 transgression we feel sure the reader 
 will grant him absolution is given 
 later on. 
 
 Mine host. Colonel Morgan, land- 
 lord of the ancient "Sun Inn", most fa- 
 mous of American taverns, located in 
 the beautiful old Moravian town of 
 Bethlehem on the Lehigh, is a happy 
 compound of the traditional boniface, 
 antiquarian and politician, for besides 
 dispensing the hospitality of the his- 
 toric hostelry to wandering wayfarers 
 he occupies the dignified position of a 
 
 city father in the making of laws for 
 the governance of his fellow citizens. 
 He is, moreover, a handsome, vigor- 
 ous amalgam of pioneer Welsh blood, 
 as his patronymic indicates, with the 
 proverbial Welsh pedigree reaching 
 back to the siege of Troy or there- 
 abouts, and good old German stocl: 
 from the Valley of the Rhine, where 
 his maternal ancestors came from 
 nearl)- two hundred years agn ; a blenl 
 of Celt and Teuton that is producing 
 one of the finest types of the Ameri- 
 can race today. 
 
 Colonel jMorgan could not well heh) 
 becoming an anticpiarian and local 
 historian of Colonial and Revolution- 
 ary days, even were he not endowetl 
 with a natural love of things reminis- 
 cent of the olden time. The whilom 
 guest of the old Moravian Inn, ho^^•- 
 
 HAVENS OF TRANQUllxrrv 
 
14 
 
 r.ROTKIiR ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 ever brief his stay, inevitably suc- 
 cumbs to the spell that permeates 
 every nook and cranny of the great 
 stone building — "cm fesle burg,' ' a^ 
 well as an inn. He cannot help drink 
 in the atmosphere of romance that 
 envelops the ancient streets and the 
 quiet sequestered spaces, veritable 
 havens of tranquillity, with their gray 
 stone communal buildings, erected by 
 pious hands long since folded in eter- 
 nal rest, hands that truly "wrought in 
 
 formed striking contrasts with the 
 prevailing types that obtained in the 
 English settlements during Colonial 
 days. 
 
 How complete must be, therefore, 
 the surrender to the influences of the 
 place, of a sympathetic landlord in 
 constant association with the eloquent 
 reminders of the stirring days in 
 which the mighty foundations of the 
 inn were laid, and its roof-tree raised 
 in the dark shadows of the unbroken 
 
 BETHLEHEM IN 1784 
 
 a sad sincerity", in their earnest en- 
 deavor to realize the noble ideals of 
 their consecrated lives. The stranger 
 never fails to be impressed with the 
 quaintness and picturesque quality 
 of the architecture of these old build- 
 ings and the air of med'aeval days 
 that clings to their ivy-clad walls. 
 They were reproductions from the 
 Brethren's old Germanic homes, and 
 
 ^"When the Inn was built the immerse stnnc base- 
 ments wore constructed as the casements of a for- 
 tress and an inspection fully satisfies one, tliat they 
 were complete protection ag-ainst the best artillery of 
 that day. There were port holes f: r the guns and 
 tradition tells us of secret outlets and grated dun- 
 ^1- ns." — '//(<■ OhI Mnr ri- n Sun 1 1. r . 1 1/ Ri'r. Wil- 
 linm 0. Rcirhi'l, p. 44. 
 
 wilderness; through whose wide halls 
 and spacious chambers swept a 
 splendid pageantry of illustrious men 
 and women of many races : builders of 
 Commonwealths and founders of a 
 puissant Nation ; patriots and foemen, 
 conquerors and captives ; the dusky 
 Sachems of a race already touched 
 with the virus o^ decay; the gentle but 
 forceful members of the Unitas Fra- 
 trum- — the devoted Brotherhood, who, 
 in the New World, rescued from de- 
 struction an ancient Apostolic Church 
 by planting it anew in freedom's blessed 
 
 "See Bishop Levering's History of Bethlehem, pp. 
 26-81. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAlViBEK 
 
 15 
 
 soil; the proud, brave yeomanry that 
 were transforming vast areas of wilder- 
 ness into the happy abodes of men, iar 
 from the wretched German lands that 
 gave them and their forefathers birth; 
 forever quit of the tyranny and injustice 
 of petty princelings, the despotic rulers 
 of the fragments of a shattered empire'^ ; 
 secure from the famine and pestilence 
 that followed in the wake of the wars of 
 foreign despots*, drunk with the lust -of 
 [xtAver; forever quit of the horrors of 
 religious wars^ and their fearful after- 
 math. 
 
 ^The integrity of the G-erraan Empire was de- 
 stroyed before the close of the "Thirty Years' War'' 
 and thereafter existed only as a loose confederation. 
 "At the breaking out of the French Revolution there 
 were 300 free imperial princes and counts and sev- 
 eral thousand immediate barons * * who exercised 
 almost absolute authority on their petty estates, 
 lording it over their little patches of lands and hand- 
 fuls of bauers." — Bering-Gould's Germany, Present 
 and Past, pp. 21-2. 
 
 * "Unfortunately for the peace of the whole conti- 
 nent the aggressions of Louis XIV in the West which 
 definitely began in 1672 coincided with the atteni;jts 
 of the Turks to dominate Eastern Europe. In 1670 
 Louis had been resolved to win eventually the Im- 
 perial Crown, to secure part of the Spanish posses- 
 sions and to conquer the United Netherlands." — He 
 also invaded the Palatinate and added Alsace to his 
 dominions, but since reconquered by Germany in the 
 Franco-Prussian War of 1870, "Wishing to con- 
 centrate his chief efforts upon Roussillnn, Itah' and 
 the Lower Rhine, L'^uis decided t~ evu-u t*^ '-h ^ 
 Palatinate; and by the advice of Louvois. orders 
 were given in December 1688 to devastate the coun- 
 try. The Rhine district was in great measure 
 ruined." See The Age of Louis XIV by Prof A. 
 J. Grant in the Cambridge Modern History, pp. 41, 
 58. 
 
 ""But the political losses and gains which the Peace 
 of Westphalia entailed upon the Empire and its 
 Princes sink alike into insignificance, and even the 
 undeniable advance towards religious freedom 
 marked by the adoption in that Peace of the princi- 
 ple of equality between the recognized religious con- 
 fessions is obscured, when we turn to consider the 
 general effects of the war now ended upon Germany 
 and the German nation. These effects, either mate- 
 rial or moral cannot be more than faintl/ indicat.'d : 
 but together they furnish perhaps the most appalling 
 demonstration of the consequences of war to be 
 found in history. The mighty impulses which the 
 great movements of the Renaissance and the Refor- 
 mation had imparted to the aspirations and efforts 
 of contemporary German life, were quenched in the 
 century of religious conflict which ended with the 
 exhausting struggle of the Thirty Years' War ; the 
 main spring of the national life was broken, and to 
 all seeming broken forever." — "It was a religious 
 war in which even the most highminded of those who 
 took part in it could not so much as pretend 
 to be guided solely by the inspiration of religious 
 enthusiasm, while the deadliest promptings of reli- 
 gious hatred were designedly fostered and the whole 
 savagery of religious fanaticism was deliberately let 
 loose upon its prey." * * "During the concluding 
 years of the War no other German land underwent 
 more terrible sufferings than Bavaria, where espec 
 iaily in its eastern part — famine and desolation 
 stalked unchecked. Pranconia and Swabia, too, 
 were made desolate by the ravages of war, famine 
 and disease." — The Thirty Years' War. Prof. A. 
 
 Not so long ago, while burrowing 
 among the discarded accumulations of 
 bygone generations stored in a long for- 
 gotten limbo, accidentally discovered in 
 an unfrequented part of the inn. our land- 
 lord found an old oak chest bearing the 
 Zinzendorf armorials, beautifully carved 
 in the ancient Gothic manner, a fine 
 example of the Mediaeval wood-carvers' 
 art, which once adorned the great hall of 
 the ancestral Schloss of Count Zinzen- 
 dorf, at Bertholsdorf, in Saxony, a fact 
 disclosed from the perusal of family 
 papers found therein. It was brought to 
 America, with other precious heirlooms 
 to furnish the stone manor house, 
 
 ZINZENDORF OAK CHEST 
 
 erected for the Count, at Nazareth, in 
 1755-0, now known as Nazareth Hall, 
 the famous Ad^oravian Military School 
 for boys. It was a great discovery, and 
 was the beginning of a long series of 
 thrilling adventures in which Colonel 
 Morgan was destined to play a most 
 important part. 
 
 The chest was filled with relics of the 
 olden time ; quaint garments, vestments, 
 portraits, silver cups and a tea service, 
 the handiwork of Cellini ; also a splendid 
 collection of ancient, illuminated manu- 
 scripts such as ]\Iissals, Gospels, Books 
 of Hours, Latin and Greek classics, the 
 splendid productions of the Monastic 
 Scriptoriums, and rare Incunabula from 
 the presses of the first printers, a collec- 
 tion the sight of which would have 
 tempted a Mazarin or a Rrunet, to break 
 
 W. Ward's Chapter on The Peace of Westphalia, 
 Cambridge Modern History, pp. 417,33. See also 
 Giyidehi's Thirty Yfars' War. 
 
i6 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 
 
 BOOK OF PRAYEES IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 BINDING 
 
 or even pawn the Decalogue if necessary 
 to obtain possession of it; or rob of 
 sleep our own Pennypacker had he but 
 suspected its existence. The sight of it 
 would have been enough to wreck a 
 saint's vow of poverty had he been a 
 Bibliophile as well and the desire for 
 possession strong upon him. Here was 
 a copy of the Biblia Pauperuin, the 
 famous block letter book, not a leaf 
 missing; the Psalter of Faust and 
 Schoffer, printed at Mentz in 1457, one 
 of the first dated books in existence ; a 
 wonderfully well preserved copy of the 
 Bamberg Bible of Pfister, long thought 
 to be the first printed book, older than 
 the famous Mazarin Bible; a unique 
 copy of J^irgil from the press of Aldus. 
 1 501, the first book ever printed in 
 Italics ; a priceless copy of Theocritus in 
 the original Greek from the same hands ; 
 the Naples edition of Horace of 1474 
 called by Dibdin, the "rarest classical 
 \'olume in the world." Flere, too, cheek 
 by jowl, was a copy of the first edition 
 of Lucretius of which only two copies 
 had hitherto been known to have been 
 in existence ; also a superb copy of Virgil 
 1636, from the press of the Ehevirs ; a 
 
 miniature copy of Clement Marot's 
 iTietrical version of Les Psaumes de 
 David, a precious possession of the 
 Huguenots of France in the days of per- 
 secution before and after the revocation 
 of the Edict of Nantes. Flere were also 
 beautiful editions of the classics from 
 the Esticnne press of Paris, and a re- 
 markable copy of the celebrated Bohe- 
 mian Bible of Krahtc. 
 
 All this treasure bore ample testimony 
 to the rare scholastic taste and artistic 
 nature of Count Zinzendorf, who took 
 such pains to have these precious outputs 
 of the ancient monasteries and primitive 
 presses brought, as he fondly imagined, 
 to his new home in the American wilds. 
 The devout churchman, the solicitous 
 bishop of a Church, struggling for con- 
 tinued existence is shown also in the 
 carefully preserved copies of the Ratio 
 Disciplinae Ordinisque in Unitate Fra- 
 trum and the Historia Persecutionum 
 Ecclesiae Bohemicae written by Johann 
 Amos Comenius, the last Bishop of the 
 Moravian line in Bohemia, for the pur- 
 pose of securing against utter destruc- 
 tion, and unforeseen dangers the doc- 
 trines and discipline of this ancient, 
 persecuted Church. The wise, brave old 
 bishop had also taken good care to secure 
 against extinction the Apostolic Succes- 
 sion handed down through the Walden- 
 sian line. These two books therefore" to 
 a faithful Moravian were indeed ""the 
 precious life blood of a master spirit," 
 and were worthy of all the care be- 
 stowed upon them. 
 
 Snugly ensconced in the midst of 
 this wonderful collection. Colonel 
 Morgan also found one of the old ac- 
 count books of the "Sun Inn", a stow- 
 away seemingly anxious to get into 
 good company, in which was recorded 
 an inventory^ of its equipment as it 
 appeared in the month of May, 1762, 
 and among the items that were of 
 
 •""Many n man lives a burden to the earth ; but a 
 good BooJce is the pretious life-blood of a master 
 .f/'/r?7, imlmhn'd and treasur'd up on purpose to a 
 life beyond life." — Milton's Prose Works, Pickering 
 Edition, 1851, Vol. IV, p. 400. 
 
 ''The Old MiirnHiii 
 Reichel. p. 11. 
 
 .S'toi lun, hi/ Rev. William 0. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 17 
 
 [iio6macottt|pp;onem«utt 
 
 fat 
 
 niaufiuigjiuftotumin 
 
 ituCcrproHtm imam mtm 
 fDntmicgtmtwmaaMimtioiif 
 Kmnottf coufajto muinoto 
 nimtcft-oiKit^inca cultttmi 
 
 *^'J:r 
 
 <'^K 
 
 ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT, FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 special interest to him as an innkeeper 
 were the following: 
 
 "20 gallons of Madeira, 10 gallons of 
 TenerifTe, 2 quarter casks of White 
 Lisbon, 109 gallons of Philadelphia rum, 
 8 gallons of Shrub, 40 gallons of Cider 
 Royal, 4 hogsheads of Cider and one 
 barrel of home-brewed beer from Chris- 
 tian's Erunn^ on the Barony;" surely 
 incontestable evidence of good cheer, 
 all snugly stored in the cool vaults of 
 the great cellars, now become a favor- 
 ite Raths-Keller'' on hot summer days 
 
 '^"A i'amous spring; on the ancient farm at Naza- 
 reth near the Whitefield Plouse, natned in honor of 
 Zinzendnrf's son Christian Renatns." — Bishop Lev- 
 fririrf's History of Bethlehem, p. 190. 
 
 "An underground Council Chamber. "The Cham- 
 Ijer has had onlv trifling alterations made from its 
 condition when it came from the hands of the mas- 
 ter mason, nearly a century and a half ago. It is 
 t\venty-two feet long, fourteen feet wide and ten and 
 one-half feet to the center of the arch. The spacious 
 entrance to it from the other casements is the same 
 as originally constructed. .Just outside of this en- 
 
 and nights for oratorical local states- 
 men and captains of industry. He 
 discovered also an enthusiastic pas- 
 sage regarding the inn recorded in a 
 diary of a Lieutenant Anburey, a Bri- 
 tish officer, who spent some days as a 
 prisoner of war within its sheltering 
 walls in the autumn of 1778. 
 
 "You may be sure," said the Lieu- 
 tenant, who is revealed in his book as of 
 a thoughtful, kindly nature,'" "our sur- 
 
 trance is the great iron gate which leads into the 
 dungeon, and inside the chamber are the portholes 
 which furnish a trifle of light. In one corner is 
 the pass^.gewav cut through solid rock, leading to 
 an outlet." — The Old MoraviaTi -S'tni hiri. bn Her. 
 William C. Reichel. 
 
 ^""I could not but reflect, if content was in this 
 life, thev enjoy it, far from the bustle of a troulile- 
 some world, living in perfect liberty, each one pur- 
 suing his own ideas and inclination, and residing in 
 the most delightful situation imaginable: which is so 
 healthy, that they are subject to few, if any diseases. 
 * * * * As want is a stranger, so is vice, * * The\" 
 possess what many are entire strangers to, who sur- 
 rounded with what are termed blessings, those true 
 
i8 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 prise was not a little after having been 
 accustomed to such miserable tare at 
 other ordinaries, to see a larder displayed 
 with plenty of fish, fowl and game. 
 Another matter of surprise, as we have 
 not met with the like in all our travels, 
 was excellent wines of all sorts, which 
 to us was a most delicious treat, not 
 having tasted any since we left Boston, 
 for notwithstanding the splendor and 
 elegance of several families we visited in 
 N^irginia, wine was a stranger to their 
 tables. For every apartment a servant 
 is appointed to attend, whose whole duty 
 it is to wait on the company belonging 
 to it, and who is as much your servant 
 during your stay as one of your own 
 domestics. The accommodations for 
 horses is equal. In short, in planning 
 this tavern they seem solely to have 
 studied the ease, comfort and conveni- 
 ence of the travelers ; and it is built upon 
 such an extensive scale that it can readily 
 accommodate one hundred and sixty 
 persons. "^"^ 
 
 Colonel Morgan gave an impatient 
 grunt as he exclaimed in the patois of 
 the Lehigh Valley : 
 
 "Now, ivas der deihenker did the 
 blithering redcoat expect from a Mora- 
 vian landlord? Didn't he know that the 
 children of the Rhine brought a whole- 
 some love of good eating, and an expert 
 knowledge of wines, along with them 
 when they came to Pennsylvania, and so 
 help me, their descendants haven't lost 
 their inherited appetites since, or the 
 knack of getting up square meals — no ! 
 nor has a Pennsylvania German landlord 
 forgotten the old fashioned courtesy and 
 hospitality due to a guest. Your New 
 Englanders and Virginians were not in 
 the same class with the Pennsylvania 
 Germans when it came to good living, 
 and a lot of other things too. Bethlehem 
 had the first water works in Pennsyl- 
 
 and essential ones — health and tranquillity of mind; 
 and that you may ever enjoy them, thougli no Mora- 
 vian, in a high degree is the sincere wish of 
 yours, etc." — Extract from Observations on the Mo- 
 ravians in a letter to a friend by Thomas Anburey, 
 dated Sept. 2, 1781 in his "Travels Through the In- 
 terior Parts of Ajiicrica, Vol. II, p. 518. 
 
 ^"^Travels through the Interior parts of America. 
 bv an oflficer (Thomas Anburev) London 1789, Vol. 
 II, pp. 509-11. 
 
 vania^-, and the first fire engine in 
 America for instance, as well as the first 
 Female Seminary." 
 
 And more of the same sort in praise 
 of the old inn came to the attention of 
 the Colonel, now become thoroughly 
 absorbed in the reading, but perhaps 
 nothing interested him quite as much 
 as the following flattering passage 
 from the pen of the Marquis de Chas- 
 tellux, a major-general in the army of 
 the Count de Rochambeau in his 
 "Voyages d'ans I' Amerique Septentri- 
 onale" a fine clean copy of which bound 
 in tree calf he found in this amazing 
 library. 
 
 "We had no difficulty," wrote the 
 Marquis, "in finding the tavern for it is 
 precisely at the entrance of the town. 
 The house was built at the expense of 
 the Society of Moravian Brethren to 
 whom it formerly served as a Magazine, 
 and is very handsome and spacious. The 
 person who keeps it is only a cashier, 
 and is obliged to render an account to 
 the administrators." 
 
 In a foot note to this passage the 
 translators^, George Grieve, an Eng- 
 lish gentleman, who resided in Amer- 
 ica at that period, makes this interesting 
 comment : 
 
 "This, inn from its external appear- 
 ance, and ifs interior accommodations is 
 not inferior to the best of the large inns 
 in England, which, indeed, it very much 
 resembles in every respect. The first 
 tim.e I was at Bethlehem we remained 
 there two or three days, and were con- 
 stantly supplied with venison, moor 
 game, the most delicious red and yellow 
 bellied trout, the highest flavored wild 
 strawberries, the most luxuriant aspara- 
 gus, and the best vegetables, in short, I 
 ever saw ; and notwithstanding the diffi- 
 culty of procuring good wines and spirits 
 at that period throughout the Continent 
 we were regaled with wine and brandy 
 
 ^-See Bishop Leveriny's Histori/ of Bethlehem, pp. 
 288-400. 
 
 ^Travels in North America in the years 1780, 
 1781, and 1782, by the Marquis de Chastellux, one 
 of the forty members of the French Academy, and 
 Major-General in the French Army, serving under 
 the Count de Rochambeau." Translated from the 
 French, London, 1787. 
 
I763-I8I6 
 
 THE SUN INN 
 
 Built 1758-60 
 
 1816-1851 
 
23 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 of the best quality and exquisite old Port 
 and Madeira." 
 
 ■ "Now, that reads well;" commented 
 the Colonel, "this Englishman was 
 evidently an honest-minded chap, and 
 had, too, a delicate taste as well as a 
 trained appetite, and, moreover, ap- 
 preciated good fare whenever he 
 found it. However after his confessed 
 experience elsewhere he would be an 
 ungrateful, cold-blooded cuss not to 
 praise fare like this. Think of it! no 
 refrigerated commissary here ! Every- 
 thing just as the Almighty made it. 
 W'hat ! Deer shot within a hundred 
 yards of your own dining-room, 
 grouse and quail from your own mea- 
 dows, live trout from the Monocasy 
 every morning, and fresh shad'* daily 
 from the Lehigh when in "running," 
 with strawberries'^ growing wild close 
 at hand, to say nothing of bear 
 meat"^, and all he had to pay was six 
 pence for breakfast, a shilling'^ for 
 dinner, and six pence for supper, with 
 a glass of good rum thrown in, and the 
 best wine for only a shilling a pint ! 
 and I guess our Pennsylvania German 
 great-granddaddies knew a thing or 
 two about good wines. A thousand 
 3'ears among the vineyards of the 
 Rhine Palatinate ought to tell on a 
 race! A regular Waldorf-Stratford 
 bill of fare for half a dollar a day! I'd 
 like to see Mr. Grieve wake up some 
 fine day. and order the same lay-out at 
 one of George Boldt's palatial taverns, 
 and watch his blooming countenance 
 when his lordship, the waiter, pre- 
 
 ^■^"Before the erection of wing-dams, walls, and 
 flood-gates in tlie river, * * * * the Lehigh was a 
 resort of the shad, which in the spring season found 
 their way from the ocean far up into its fresh 
 waters, there to deposit their spawn. The shad fisher- 
 ies were followed annually until the early part of 
 this '19th) century. — May 18, 1785, 900 shad were 
 caught at Bethlehem by the Brethren." — History of 
 the Moravian Seminary by Rev. William C. Reichel 
 — See foot notes, pages 111-2. 
 
 ^''"After two o'clock the inhabitants of the house 
 ffreat and small, went to a plantation over the Le- 
 high about two miles from Bethlehem, to pick straw- 
 berries." Extract from the Jo^irnal of Daily Events, 
 kept by the voung pupils of the Moravian Seminary, 
 June 20, 1789. 
 
 i^"Der Lecha Berg" was a favorite resort of 
 bears in Colonial days. 
 
 "See '*The Old Moravian Sun Inn" by Rev. Wil- 
 liam 0. Reichel, n. 13. 
 
 sented his little check. He'd be so 
 
 grieve-d at sight of it that he would 
 want to hurry back to where he came 
 from without delay. Half a dollar a 
 day! Thunder! It wouldn't pay the 
 tip for a luncheon in Hellertown !" 
 
 The most interesting find of all, as 
 v/ell as the most momentous moreover, 
 was discovered in a curious old Ger- 
 man manuscript journal, bound in 
 pigskin, and fastened with a quaintly 
 embossed silver clasp, with the ini- 
 
 3 A A 
 
 tials — — - engraved thereon. 
 
 17B7 
 On page 187, appeared this entry, 
 which translated reads thus : 
 
 "I, Johan Andreas Albrecht, have this 
 day, the seventeenth of May, 1768, stored 
 in one of the chambers midway in thp 
 secret tunnel that leads from the cellr-'r 
 of the inn to the thicket on the banks of 
 the Monnokasy the following belongings 
 of the Brethren, — inasmuch as there is 
 information brought from beyond the 
 Blue Mountains of bands of Iroquois 
 Indians on a warlike and marauding 
 expedition. This is done for the sake of 
 insuring their safety, and in case of ne;ed, 
 should our peaceful community be so 
 unhappy as to have the savages assault 
 it : Two barrels of Madeira, three cask-3 
 of Teneriflfe, one cask Canary, one half 
 cask of White Lisbon, ninety-eight gal- 
 lons of West India Rum, a quarter cask 
 of Shrub, one barrel of Cider Royal, four 
 barrels of Beer from Christian's Brunn, 
 and one hundred and twenty bottles 
 containing various wines and liquors, 
 besides one barrel of bear meat, forty 
 smoked hams, twenty haunches of dried 
 venison, two barrels of salted shad, and 
 one barrel of smoked pigeons.'^" 
 In a postscript this also appeared: 
 "There is likewise concealed in the 
 hidden vault of the chamber, the place 
 
 ^^"The wild pigeon (Goluniha migratoria) is of an 
 ash grey color. In Spring they take their passage 
 to the North and in Autumn return to the South. 
 In some years they ilock together in such numljers, 
 that the air is darkened by their flight. Wherever 
 thev alight they make as much havock among the 
 trees and garden fruits as the locusts * * * Their 
 flesh has a good taste and is eaten by the Indians 
 either fresh, smoked or dried." — LosMeVs History of 
 the Mission of the United Brethren Among the 
 Indians of North America, pp. 92-3. 
 
ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF COUNT ZINZENDORF 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 thereof known only to the iiishop, th^ 
 Scliatzmeister and myself, the breth- 
 ren's strong n-on hox containing £3172 
 in gold, English money, with 2150 silver 
 riorins irom Germany." 
 
 The reading of this greatly aston- 
 ished Colonel Alorgan, for here at last, 
 was confirmation of the truth of an 
 old tradition, that had been handed 
 down from generation to generation, 
 that there existed a secret passage'" 
 from the inn to a refuge of saiety 
 somewhere in the impenetrable forest 
 growth that lined the banks of the 
 Alonocas}' in ancient days. The 
 thought that it was reserved for him, 
 John ]\Iorgan, to discover this old 
 subterranean passageway, and per- 
 haps in the secret chamber described 
 by Albrecht, the innkeeper, find some, 
 if not all of the precious vintages, and 
 bre\^'s, ^\'ith the gold and silver, now 
 surely become treasure-trove, stored 
 away in that far off time for safety 
 gave him such a thrill he hadn't ex- 
 perienced the like of in many a day, 
 not since the summer evening he 
 kissed his first sweetheart down in the 
 Saucon Valley. 
 
 With such possibilties staring him 
 in the face, you may be assured that 
 the mysterious gallery leading from 
 the Rathskeller, which had always 
 been a profound problem to the pa- 
 trons of the inn, was to be explored 
 forthwith, and the next day the 
 Colonel, \\'ith an air of great inioort- 
 ance and mystery about him, disap- 
 peared along with a pick, shovel and 
 crowbar, and was not seen again by 
 his friends until several days had passed. 
 His good wife and boy found it difficult 
 to recognize him as late each night he 
 sneaked softly up the stairway from the 
 vaults looking like a gigantic mole, be- 
 grimed and covered with dust. Pie 
 succeeded however late one afternoon, 
 after strenuous labor amid great clouds 
 of dust, with sorel}' blistered hands in 
 breaking through a large body of earth 
 
 COUNT ZINZEXDOEF 
 
 that had been tightly packed in an in- 
 genious turn of the tunnel, made at 
 an acute angle, closing it eft'ectually, 
 and giving it the appearance of a natural 
 barrier, at a distance of about fifty feet 
 from the entrance to the Ivaths-keller. 
 The tunnel was evidently planned by 
 someone who had intimate knowledge of 
 and experience in military matters, for 
 an enemy could be held at bay with the 
 greatest ease from the vantage secured 
 by the peculiar plan followed in its con- 
 struction. At a distance of about forty 
 feet from the point of the angle, the 
 tunnel here assuming a labyrinthian 
 character, was constructed a miniature 
 fortress and armory. I.-eaning against 
 the wall of the armory behind a stone 
 ledge from which an advancing enemy 
 could be fired on were a dozen or more 
 old rifles of the famous -"Henry make, 
 several blunderbusses and half a dozen 
 heavy sabres. The tunnel was so re- 
 cessed at this point that a relay of men 
 could be loading rifles while their com- 
 ])anions were fighting the invaders. It 
 
 ^^'Tltf Old Morarifj)! Sim Iriti by Rev. William C. -""William Henry of Laiicastev and Nazareth the 
 
 Rpichel, author of 'M Red Eo.^e from the Olden most celebrated gunmaker of his time." Sawjicr's 
 Time." Firearms in American History. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 took time to load the old flint lock rifles 
 and muskets, and an alert, enterprising 
 enemy might rush the defenders if un- 
 prepared. He found at a few feet to the 
 left of this firing ledge a doorway lead- 
 ing to a steep flight of steps, roughly 
 hewn out of the rock from the foot of 
 which ran a long unobstructed passage- 
 way at a sharp incline towards the 
 Monocasy, and in a southerly direction. 
 At a distance of about a hundred feet 
 
 the passage widened suddenly, on either 
 side of which at that point he saw two 
 stout oaken doors swung on enormous 
 iron hinges, which, after a vigorous 
 assault with a crowbar, he succeeded in 
 opening, disclosing two large irregular 
 shaped chambers formed by nature in 
 the limestone rock — the two halves of 
 what was once in a remote geological 
 age, a great single cave, but which in the 
 course of time was curiously divided by 
 
 ^CSSS-^^'SJan!^^^^^^^^^'^ 
 
 
 .3 
 
 H- 
 
 i 
 
 Scale : i-io inch to foot 
 
 PtAN OF LABYRINTHIAN TUNNEL 
 
 A. Entrance to Tunnel 
 
 B. Obstruction of Clay 
 
 C. Tunnel 
 
 D. Earth and Brolten Stone 
 
 E. Tunnel 
 
 P. Stone Firing Ledge 
 
 G. Armory 
 
 H. Doorway 
 
 I. Stone Stairway 
 
 J. Tunnel Way to Cave 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 23 
 
 the formation of a stalagmite wall, 
 which the builders of the \unnel dis- 
 covered so many generations ago. The 
 roofs and sides were composed of a 
 dazzling white sulphate of lime with 
 stalactites in an endless variety of form, 
 size and color, all translucent, and when 
 lighted up producing a most brilliant and 
 beautiful effect, as if encrusted with 
 magnificent rubies, emeralds and dia- 
 monds. No masonry could compare with 
 the walls in strength or beauty. The 
 floors of the chambers were even and 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 hard, a kind of concrete, evidently con- 
 structed by the master builders of the 
 Brethren. Disposed in an orderly fash- 
 ion Colonel Morgan beheld to his great 
 astonishment in a chapel-like recess of 
 one of the chambers, a score or more of 
 barrels and casks, all stoutly bound with 
 iron hoops, apparently containing wines 
 and liquors as the lettering burnt into 
 them indicated, with a great number of 
 bottles filled with some kind of unknown 
 liquor, the labels having disappeared 
 generations ago. 
 
 "Doiiiicr zuettcr," exclaimed the 
 Colonel, greatly excited. "This find 
 beats the Rheingold!" Like every 
 Bethlehemite our landlord was a lover 
 of good music, as well as a clever 
 classical scholar, and he instinctively 
 thought of the Nibelungen hoard-'^ in 
 A^^agner's immortal composition. He 
 had moreover a thorough appreciation 
 of rare old wines. ITe cried out with 
 great enthusiasm : 
 
 "Every drop in those barrels and 
 bottles is worth its weight in gold ; there 
 is nothing like it in America, perhaps in 
 the world I One hundred and forty-two 
 years ! How much older the Lord' only 
 knows ! A'oTi' Zinll ich (jcwiss verdammt 
 sci! Ach, but it will be a fine throat that 
 makes the acquaintance of the least of 
 this precious stufi^. Only the elect, and 
 I think I'll do the electing, will get a 
 taste of it, beginning 'right away quick,' 
 as Sam Druckamiller would say, with 
 your humble servant, John Morgan, 
 landlord of the "Sun Inn" successor and 
 heir to wise old Brother Albrecht, just 
 now of blessed memory." 
 
 As the Colonel came prepared for 
 any emergency he had no difficulty 
 with the aid of a bung starter, and 
 accessories in gaining access to the 
 contents of the barrels. The ubiqui- 
 tous corkscrew, which every citizen of 
 the Lehigh A^alley is said to carry 
 along with his jack-knife, a wicked 
 slander no doubt, spread bv some jeal- 
 ous, unregenerate outlander, presently 
 enabled him also to determine the 
 character of what the bottles con- 
 tained. Slowly making the circuit of 
 the cave — which in time of danger 
 might have served as a sanctuary, now 
 lighted by an old swinging iron lamp, 
 a relic of the oioneer days of the 
 Brotherhood, which the Colonel found 
 almost filled with oil, and speedily 
 
 -^"A mvthit'al iti;i.ss nf s*M and precious stonps. 
 which Siefffred {Sefie-freed) , prince of tlie Nether- 
 lands, took from NibelunKenland and gave to his 
 wife as a dowrv. The hoard filled thirty-six wagons. 
 After the murder of .Sie.£;fried, Hagan seized the 
 hoard, and for concealment sank it in the 'Rhine at 
 Lockham,' intending to recover it at a future period, 
 but Hagan was assassinated and the hoard was lost 
 forever." — Nibelungen hied, XIX. 
 
24 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 utilized — and critically surveying the 
 formidable array of barrels and casks 
 he exclaimed with sudden energy: 
 
 "They say that the 'proof of the 
 pudding is in the eating,' and by the same 
 token if I am to arrive at a knowledge 
 of the wines and liquors which Brother 
 Albrecht undoubtedly bequeathed to me, 
 I readily see that there will be some mul- 
 titudinous drinking going on here, and 
 I may as well start in at once, for as 
 Macbeth remarked, when he put up that 
 horrible job on poor old Duncan--, 'if it 
 were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere 
 well it were done quickly.' So here goes 
 for this barrel of old Madeira !" 
 
 Tapping it gently, almost affection- 
 ately, he soon found his way to its im- 
 prisoned simshine and cheer, and fill- 
 ing a wineglass he held it to the light, 
 watching and admiring its rich color 
 as he passed it to and fro ; then inhal- 
 ing its aroma in the most approved 
 fashion of the connoisseur, as if it 
 were the fragrance of some rar^ and 
 delicate flower ; and also inclining his 
 ear as if listening to some song or 
 message from the vineyards that gave 
 it birth on some fair Madeiran hill- 
 side. Like a true lover of good wine, 
 he abhorred haste in its drinking. He 
 would not drown its flavor, in a mur- 
 derous, -vulgar gulp, in the mann'er of 
 a boisterous swashbuckler swallowing 
 stale beer. He would as lief swallow 
 a cup of weak Rio coffee in a Bowery 
 restaurant. On the contrary he 
 touched almost imperceptibly the 
 brimming glass with his lips. Clos- 
 ing his eyes softly, and moving his 
 lips, ever so gently, he seemed to have 
 fallen into a deep revery from which 
 he quickly awoke to take a sip with 
 an expression that was almost ecsta- 
 tic. Then another sip and another, 
 and then a smack of the lips that 
 sounded like the crack of a rifle, which 
 volleyed and echoed in the cave like 
 the firing of a platoon. Then came a 
 discourse on wines that displayed a 
 most remarkable acquaintance with 
 
 "^Shakespe 11'' s Macbeth — Act I Scene YIl. 
 
 the history and virtues of that much 
 abused drink of the Patriarchs, ^^ a 
 talk that would have delighted Ana- 
 creon-"* and Tom Moore-^- 
 
 "They call Madeira an old-fashioned 
 wine, no longer cared for"; he said, "let 
 me tell you though that Sherry, the rival 
 that fashion every now and then puts in 
 its place can't hold a candle to it. 
 Madeira possesses rare inalienable vir- 
 tues, and will always come into its own 
 again no matter what whims for a time 
 may set it aside. Now, here is a gen- 
 uine wine, rich in natural flavor and 
 color ; no counterfeit almond concoction ; 
 none of 3'our muslin Madeira, but with a 
 splendid body and matured to perfection. 
 Himmel! It didn't have to hurry to do 
 that in all these long years. Old wine 
 drinkers tell us that Madeira has not yet 
 been drunk too old. I'll bet the old roan 
 mare that this is the oldest vintage in 
 the world today ; a glass of it would 
 almost raise the dead. So here's to 
 Brother Albrecht ! most loyal of land- 
 lords and most faithful of the Brethren. 
 May his memory never grow cobw ebbed 
 in this good old Moravian House of 
 Entertainment." 
 
 The neighbor to the Madeira was a 
 cask of Malmsey that appealed 
 strongly to our now thoroughly ani- 
 mated landlord. Going through 
 much of the same ceremonious han- 
 dling of the fine old wine that made 
 his introduction to the Madeira so im- 
 pressive he continued : 
 
 "This old Malmsey has a bouquet like 
 a ripe pineapple ; a sort of first cousin 
 to Madeira, I should say. This is the 
 wine they call Tenerift'e, a New York 
 bon vivant. named Peter Marie, once 
 told me. And come to think of it one of 
 the Lehigh University professors re- 
 
 -■'"And Melchizedek King of Salem brought forth 
 bread and wine, and he was the priest of the most 
 high God." — Genesis, 18(7i chapter. 19th rerse. 
 
 "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for 
 tlrv stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. — / 
 Timothy, 5th chapter, 23d verse. 
 
 -^"Today is mv business: who knows what tomor- 
 row will bring forth? While, therefore, it is fair 
 weather, drink, play and offer libations to Bacchus." 
 Anacreon XV, 9. 
 
 -^'"Press the grape, and let it pour 
 
 Around the board its purple shower." — Moore'ft 
 •Tuvenile Poems, p. 63. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 minded me a year or so ago that Richard 
 the hunchback king of England, the chap 
 who was afraid of his looking-glass, 
 drowned his nephew, a half name-sake 
 of mine, in a hogshead of this same old 
 Malmsey. Now, that beats having a 
 knife put into your 'innards,' or having 
 your head cut off before breakfast, to 
 which some less favored royal celebrities 
 could testify. Now, if by some unhappy 
 decree of fate I am to die by drowning, 
 let it be by all means in a tank of 
 Malmsey, for this is beginning to make 
 me feel mighty good, and that is what 
 we all should be, good and happy, said 
 my preacher last Sunday. What a grand 
 missionary old Malmsey would make." 
 
 "These barrels and casks are not as 
 full as they once were, if old Albrecht 
 told the truth in his inventory, but what 
 has been lost in quantity I allow has 
 been more than made up in quality. Old 
 Father Time has a habit of taking toll 
 from wines and spirits. This is surely 
 an enticing wine, and I guess I can 
 hazard another glass ; so here's to the 
 jolly good fellows, past and gone, who 
 once passed the flowing bowl in this good 
 old inn. Jch! if I only had them 
 around me now, we would make a night 
 of it." 
 
 Coming to a curious bit of cooper- 
 age stamped "White Lisbon" he cried 
 out; 
 
 "Now, was der teufel! White Lisbon? 
 From the taste of it, it reminds me of 
 Port, and by cracky, that's just what it 
 is ! A white Port made ■ from white 
 grapes grown near Lisbon, and mighty 
 good stuff it is, too. A bumper of it 
 wouldn't hurt a baby! So here's to 
 Bacchus, the God ■ of the Vineyard, 
 'that first from out the purple grape 
 crushed the sweet poison of misused 
 wine.' I swiped that toast from a blind 
 man.-" It's classical too. Lucky thing 
 I am alone, for people hearing me might 
 think I was a Pagan, one of those cusses 
 we used to read about, when I went to 
 school at Nazareth Hall. They say they 
 used to make Rome howl, when a thirst 
 overtook them. Do you know these old 
 
 ^Sae Milton's Comus. Line 46. 
 
 wines are the greatest thing in the world 
 for a treacherous memory. My school- 
 ing is all coming back to me. I'll be 
 talking Greek, the next thing you know, 
 John Morgan, you old- reprobate !" 
 
 "And what have we here, in this dwarf 
 of a cask with a Spanish name? MAN- 
 ZANILLA. Himmel! I'll be quite a lin- 
 guist if drinking these foreign wines is 
 a short cut to the mastery of their lan- 
 guages. I'll be a fine polyglot, or per- 
 haps something more extraordinary, if 
 there is much more of this. Lord, what 
 a School of Languages I could establish, 
 if the only teachers were wineglasses, 
 and the curriculum, these grand old 
 wines. Lehigh University and Lafayette 
 College wouldn't be in it with me ; not 
 for a minute. I'd make Doctors of Lan- 
 guages in short order. This cave would 
 make a great recitation room." 
 
 Filling a glass, and sipping it gent- 
 ly, and then executing a graceful pas 
 seul that would have done credit to a 
 West Point dancing master, he ex- 
 claimed, 
 
 "Caramba! But this is delicious! — I 
 should.call this an absolutely perfect wine 
 with surpassing delicacy and flavor, and 
 dry as punk! And what a fine straw- 
 color ! Great thing for the stomach ! 
 Finest thing in all Spain ! Julius Caesar 
 must have had this for a table wine when 
 he was galavanting around the Spanish 
 peninsula. Another glass of this, and I'll 
 feel like charging windmills, like our old 
 friend Don Quixote, or fighting Spanish 
 bulls in our back yard. Another little 
 nip can't hurt, and it's good, too, you 
 know," winking both eyes, "for the 
 languages. So here's to Sancho Panza, 
 and the prancing Rosanante!" 
 
 'Gaily the troubadour touched his guitar, 
 As he was hastening home from the war.' " 
 
 Colonel Morgan had arrived at that 
 stage where his exuberance of spirits 
 began to find expression in song and 
 poetry, with a decided inclination of 
 his feet to shuffle accompaniments. 
 
 "Great Scott! But there's something 
 exhilarating about these spirits come to 
 life again. No, hang it, I mean come to 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 light again. I don't mean spooks, John 
 Alorgan, though I am beginning to see 
 strange, odd looking things that make 
 faces at you, and to hear queer noises. 
 You can't tell what unearthly things 
 moved into these caves and tunnels dur- 
 ing the last one hundred and forty years 
 and living here rent free ever since ; but 
 I am going to see this thing through, no 
 matter what the devil I see, or what 
 happens, 'be it goblins damn'd or blasts 
 from hell.' So move on, John, and keep 
 your eyes peeled." 
 
 Just then, as if in defiant contempt 
 of the Colonel's courageous manifesto, 
 two enormous bats just grazed his 
 head as they went whirring by with a 
 mighty sweep of wings. In no wise 
 alarmed he shook his fists at their dis- 
 appearing shapes, crying out : "wait 
 until I get my hands on you, you in- 
 fernal interlopers." 
 
 Stooping over a small cask he found 
 modestly reclining in a niche of the 
 stalagmite wall, he exclaimed, "Here we 
 have something stamped : SHRUB. Well, 
 I'll be hornswaggled ! Shrubs ! I never 
 knew before that you could drink shrubs. 
 We always make button hole bouquets 
 of them around here. But, let us taste it 
 anyway. Pshaw," turning up his nose, 
 "that's a sweet weak made-up^' sort of 
 drink — something, I should say, express- 
 ly concocted for the ladies — God bless 
 them ! However we won't linger over 
 that ; it isn't a man's drink, but a Nancy 
 boy's beverage ! Your little dudes that 
 lisp when they talk." 
 
 Picking up a demure little keg, and 
 tossing it in the air, he exclaimed : 
 
 "What a diminutive affair, and so 
 snugly bound ? It has an air of great re- 
 spectability about it though, and its name 
 is, let me see, LACRYMA CHRISTI 
 NAPOLI. No wonder it is put in so 
 small a package, for this is one of the 
 rarest wines in the world, and none but 
 a 'sonrbred,' as my old gringo friend 
 Major Horn facetiously would say ; none 
 but a gentleman and a scholar, should 
 ever be allowed to drink it. It is a 
 
 sweet luscious Italian wine with an ex- 
 quisite flavor, reserved for the most 
 exacting palates, and we have a few of 
 them right here in Bethlehem. It is said 
 that this is the old Falernian, with which 
 Plorace^* was wont to regale his dear 
 friend, the good knight Maecenas," and 
 the young blades of Rome, on the 
 famous Sabine farm ; and man}' of the 
 famous Odes, I have no doubt owe their 
 existence to it. It's full of inspiration. 
 I'll be sworn, this was religiously re- 
 served for the sole use of distingu'shed 
 guests, possibly Count Zinzendorf, who, 
 good pious bishop that he was, yet 
 believed with the Brethren, in sunshine, 
 music and good cheer. I would no-, loi 
 the world miss a taste of this most 
 exclusive of aristocratic wines — the joy 
 and solace of many a prince of the old 
 church. Bonum vinum laetificat cor 
 homanis! as some convivial old Abbot 
 would say. These wines are certainly 
 conclusive evidence as to the character, 
 requirements and accomplishments of 
 both hosts and guests of the old Sun 
 Inn, in the early days of its history." 
 
 Assuming a rather strained, up- 
 right bearing, decidedly military, al- 
 beit with considerable effort. Colonel 
 Morgan solemnly exclaimed, pointing 
 to a big barrel to his right : 
 
 "We have come to real trouble now, I 
 am afraid. Here, is some genuine old 
 West India rum, nearly one hundred and 
 fifty years old, and as fiery and vindic- 
 tive as the Old Nick ! These old piratical 
 spirits never would mix with your aris- 
 tocratic wines ; they're full of hurricanes 
 if you provoke them, and nothing irritates 
 them more than an introduction to polite 
 society, and when }-ou turn your stomach 
 into a drawing-room the devil may be to 
 pay when the introductions begin, for 
 mixed society has its drawbacks. It's a 
 school for scandal, I tell vou. I am game 
 
 ="A liquor composed of vegetable acid, especially 
 lemon juice and sugar, with spirits to preserve it. 
 
 =*"My friends, let us seize the moment as it flies, 
 and while our strength is fresh and it becomes our 
 youth, let the clouded brow of sadness be far away. 
 Bring forth the wine cask stored in the year of my 
 friend Consul Torquatus. Cease to tali: of other 
 things; perhaps the Deity will benignly change this 
 gloomy hour and bring back to vou the joys of 
 former days. Wine that is mighty to inspire new 
 hopes and able to wash away the bitters of care." 
 Soratii Opera. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 2/ 
 
 though, so here's for better or for 
 worse." Fining a glass, and holding it 
 rather timorously, he continued: "My 
 aristocratic friends, let me introduce my 
 old acquaintance, Jamaica Rum, but for 
 Heaven's sake, don't rile him — he's a 
 cantankerous old cuss ! The older they 
 grow, the worse they are,, you know. 
 Whew ! Wow ! Steady, John Morgan ! 
 you've got your hands full now, for you 
 have turned your stomach into a Donny- 
 brook Fair. There's something wrong 
 too with the law of gravitation in this 
 old cave the way the floor keeps moving 
 up and down." 
 
 "Now, for the plebeian beer from 
 Christian's Brunn ! I can't go back on 
 this honest old Moravian brew." 
 
 "This is truly lager beer — something 
 you don't get nowadays, for it has lain 
 here nearly one hundred and fifty years 
 as well as the wine which is a lager wine 
 for the same reason." 
 
 "Jetst schwmgen ivir den Hut 
 Das Bter, das Bier, war gut!" 
 
 "In its long sleep it has acquired many 
 genuine old fashioned virtues, and talk- 
 ing of sleep I am beginning to feel as if 
 I were being 'rocked in the cradle of the 
 deep,' the way this old cave is rocking. 
 Next thing I'll know, some outlandish 
 creature will be singing a lullaby to me, 
 one of those gnomes we used to read 
 about in German story books." 
 
 "Himmel! Here's another barrel to 
 sample, and then for the bottles. This 
 cave is like a Merry-go-round, the way 
 it's whirling about, and the barrels and 
 casks looking like wooden horses, camels 
 and ostriches; the durned thing won't 
 stop long enough to give a feller a 
 chance to get on board, so there's noth- 
 ing left but to jump for it. Blitzen! I 
 missed it that time! Wart a bissel du 
 Rmds-fieh! I'll get you next time," and 
 he did, plus a scratch or two. 
 
 *"Cider Royal !" he exclaimed, "that's a 
 new one on me,. but as Brother Albrecht 
 
 *"Cyder Royal is so called, when some quarts of 
 brandy are thrown into a barrel of cider, along with 
 several pounds of Muscavado sugar, whereby it be- 
 comes stronger and tastes better. It is' then left alone 
 for a year or so, or taken over the sea, then thrown 
 ofE into bottles, with some raisins put in; it may then 
 
 brought you here, I'll see what you're 
 made of," and a right good drink he 
 found it — better than much of the so- 
 called champagne of today. "Now for the 
 bottles ! If I can only catch them ; the>' 
 seem to be playing leapfrog and having 
 a good time. Whoever saw the like? 
 Watch me get one of 'em. Eins! zzvei! 
 fier! Mished them all ! Guesh I'll crouch 
 behind one of these pillars and inter- 
 chept 'em ! Lx)ok a here, John Morgan, 
 I want yoush to understand that I'm not 
 doin' all this hard drinking becaush I 
 like it. I guesh I know when I have 
 enough, be gosh ! I want yoush to know 
 that I'm taking an inventory, and musht 
 drink to keep the accounts straight. 
 Can't trusht nobody else to do thish. 
 No, not even my brosher. They'd all 
 get drunk. Hie ! Hie ! It ish a solemn 
 duty, and I'd be an ungrateful dog not 
 to drink to the helsh of old Albrecht, 
 and all his frents. There's nothing 
 mean about me, and don't you forgesh 
 it, John Morgan, you old Buccaneer." 
 
 The reader must not assume that 
 the Colonel was in the habit of tarry- 
 ing unduly over the wine cup — -on the 
 contrary, he was a very Prince of 
 Sobriety, and not given to hilarity. 
 He had extraordinary duties imposed 
 upon him in this adventure, and most 
 manfully and faithfully did he per- 
 form them. 
 
 The Colonel now began to see 
 things double and treble, and to hear 
 voices. He thought some one was 
 crying out : "Speech ! speech !" Roll- 
 ing a barrel of Canary, which some- 
 how he had overlooked, into the mid- 
 dle of the cave, he succeeded in 
 mounting it after considerable effort, 
 and making a profound bow, began 
 the following oration : 
 
 'Mr. Shairman, and fellow citishens, I 
 feel very proud, Hie! Hie! to be per- 
 mitted to addresh this august asshembly 
 on this suspicious oocashion. I desire to 
 expresh my appreschiation of the great 
 
 deserve the name of apple wine. Cyder Royal of 
 another kind is made, of which one-half is cider, and 
 the other mead, both freshly fermented together." 
 Ei/le's Nntc.s cmd Queries, Vol II, 3rd Series, p. 424. 
 
28 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 honor, Hie ! Hie ! you have imposhed 
 upon me by inaking me the orator of the 
 evening. Now, my dear breshren, I 
 musht asshure you that makin' speeches 
 is not quite in my line. I am devilish sly. 
 Hie! Hie! when it comesh to putting 
 up a politischal job, and I am no slouch 
 at shampling old wines and sphirishs ash 
 you all will bear me witnesh, neverthe- 
 less, Hie ! Hie !" — 
 
 And then the barrel began to wab- 
 ble violently, and John Morgan incon- 
 tinently was forced to abdicate. 
 
 "Look a here, John Morgan, you've 
 absorbed about enough of thish inherish- 
 tanee of yoursh ; don't be a prodigal, 
 leave a little for — well — anosher oecash- 
 ion. Hie ! Hie ! You must take the resh 
 of the asshets on trust, or you'll get as 
 full ash Sehinnerhannes' goat. I am a 
 little drowshy, too, and I am going to 
 quit, with jush one more drink. Hie ! Hie ! 
 I'm going to make a poosh cafe, one of 
 them hifalutin things they drinshs down 
 in Ashbury Park, one of thosh things 
 thash look like hokey-pokey isheream." 
 
 No French boulevardier could have 
 done better ; the pousse cafe was 
 beautifully constructed, but it proved a 
 night cap for Colonel Morgan, who soon 
 found himself peacefully reclining full 
 length in the midst of Brother Albreeht's 
 ancient hoard, oblivious to war, or to the 
 rumors of war, or to any other disturb- 
 ing element, even to the gold and silver- 
 in the Brethren's strong box, the quest 
 for which he had reserved as a finale. 
 
 Through his brain now floated gor- 
 geous dreams, pictures of the days when 
 these vintages were quaffed by lords and 
 ladies, famous soldiers and statesmen, 
 and carried away by his enthusiasm he 
 swore a mighty oath, that he would cele- 
 brate the one hundred and fiftieth anni- 
 versary of the ''^opening of the inn by 
 giving a grand reception to which he 
 would invite all the celebrated people 
 who were ever sheltered beneath its roof. 
 
 "Of course," said the Colonel, "all 
 
 "■'"On the twenty-fourth day of September of the 
 aforementioned year 1760 (this day marks an 
 epoch) the first travellers were entertained under 
 its hospitable roof." — The Old Moravian Sun Inn by 
 Rev. William C. Beichel. 
 
 my Beslehem friends will be there too, 
 to meet the illushtrious guests." It 
 is wonderful what effect a little wine 
 will have on some people's diction and 
 pronunciation, even when taken for the 
 stomach's sake. 
 
 Invitations engraved in the best man- 
 ner of the art and couched in the most 
 punctilious form were sent out at once 
 to all the great folk whose addresses the 
 Colonel could find. Now that he had 
 shot his bolt, so to speak, to which there 
 was no recall, plans for the celebration 
 on a scale worthy of the occasion, and of 
 the guests of honor whom he felt certain 
 would grace it by their presence began to 
 pass in almost endless procession through 
 his brain. That it must be unique, and 
 in good taste withal he insisted at once, 
 and moreover it must be in all particu- 
 lars an affair in which distinction was the 
 keynote. Colonel Morgan would have 
 nothing commonplace ; he was a true 
 Moravian in that resolve ; he would re- 
 produce the ancient environment, the 
 social atmosphere and manners that were 
 in vogue when the ancient Moravian 
 landlords welcomed the coming, and 
 sped the departing guests, with a hearty 
 "adieu'' and "komme bald zvieder," 
 which sentiment still obtains, to which 
 the inscription over the arched entrance 
 to the Inn bears testimony. 
 
 Very quickly Colonel Morgan had 
 matured elaborate plans out of the mul- 
 titude that clamored for recognition, and 
 on that eventful day, the greatest ever 
 known in the Lehigh Valley, the old Inn 
 was resplendent without and within. The 
 ancient weather-beaten sign of the Sun, 
 which long had hung on the outer wall 
 eclipsed in the dust of generations, was 
 brilliant in fresh colors, shedding its 
 cheerful rays^ with a glow and warmth 
 that turned the temper of the town into 
 the most amiable of moods. 
 
 The distinguished guests began to 
 arrive early in the morning and continued 
 all through the day. Some had come the 
 day before. Many came by the old- 
 fashioned stage, drawn by four horses ; 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 2() 
 
 some arrived in Windsor chairs''" ; others 
 in Curricles^' ; again, some in Jersey 
 wagons ; some in Sopus wagons ; and a 
 goodh- number of gentlemen on horse- 
 back accompanied by their grooms and 
 valets ; while others again travelled in 
 great state in coaches drawn by four 
 horses with outriders, and postillions. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S BT,AT3 COACH. 
 
 The arrival of so many noted peopk' 
 soon set the quaint old town into tremors 
 of excitement. The appearance on its 
 streets of so many strangers, appareled 
 in the picturesque costume of Colonial 
 and Revolutionary days occasioned open- 
 eyed wonder among the citizens. The 
 courtly fashion, the bowing and scrap- 
 ing, the snuff-taking, the complimenting, 
 and the stately demeanor of the ■ new- 
 comers was in such striking contrast 
 with the curt, bluff way of the modern 
 
 ="A sort of low wheeled csa-riage. "In the vear 
 1746, Mr. Abraham Carpenter, a cooper, in Dock 
 street, near the Golden Fleece, makes his advertise- 
 ment, to hire two chairs * * to this eifect to wit: 
 "Two handsome chairs, 
 With Tery good geers, 
 With horses or without, 
 To carrv his friends about." 
 — TVatsor'i Annals of Philadelphia, p. 188. 
 Arrived at the Inn AufjvM. 12, 1801. — "A 
 gentleman in a Windsor chair." See Register of the 
 Sun Inn. 
 
 "'A chaise or carriage with two wheels drawn b- 
 two horses abreast. "A very short trial convinced 
 lier that a curricle was the prettiest equipment in 
 the world." Jane Austin, Northanger Abbey p. 124. 
 •The splendid carriage of the wealthier guest, 
 The ready chase and driver smartly dress'd; 
 Whiskeys and gigs and curricles are there. 
 And high-fed prancers, many a raw boned pair." 
 
 — Crabbe. 
 
 Arrived at the Inn, -luly 15, 1801. "Two gentle- 
 men in a curricle, three horses and one servant." 
 See Register of the Sun Inn. 
 
 town, it was not surprising that it was 
 looked upon as a sort of gala occasion ; 
 a masquerade affair — or meschiaiiM 
 fete;'- such as was once held in Philadel- 
 phia in Revolutionary days during the 
 British occupation. The citizens had 
 forgotten that this was the daily fashion 
 of their forefathers which had passed 
 away, and unhappily with it much of the 
 old-fashioned charm and formality of 
 manner, the lack of which has made our 
 modern life very commonplace indeed. 
 
 Great, too, was the marvel of the town 
 when twilight fell upon it to see emerg- 
 ing from the old Moravian burial- 
 ground — where bi.shops and laymen. 
 
 ANCIENT MORAVl.AN WATCHMAN 
 
 Indian converts and devout sisters, rich 
 and poor, the forefathers of Bethlehem 
 sleep in true democratic fashion, each 
 under a simple slab of stone, in no order 
 
 ■-"Howe's farewell was made the occasion of a 
 fete chanipetre, which, a splendid folly in itself, has 
 been about as notorious in American history as the 
 Field of the Cloth of Gold used to be in the annals 
 of the three monarchs, — Henry, Charles and 
 Francis. The ileschianza was as the word implies, 
 a medley, but the most salient features were imi- 
 tated from the Masques, such for instance, as Ben 
 Jonson used to get up for the amusement of James 
 I's Court at Hampton Court." The idea of such 
 a fete emanated from the brain and fancy of Ma,ior 
 Andre a friend and admirer of Lord Howe, 
 Commander of the British Army in Philadelphia. 
 The fete took place May 18. 1778. See Scharf and 
 Westcott's History of Philadelphia, Vol. I, pp. 377 
 82-88. 
 
30 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 of precedence, giving but the sleeper's 
 name, birth and death, no more; brothers 
 and sisters, truly, — the form of one of 
 its ancient watchmen, garbed in the 
 raiment worn before the war of Inde- 
 pendence, and armed with a long spear, 
 swinging a quaint old lantern, and sing- 
 ing the while, ancient Moravian hymns.''' 
 As he approached the old Inn, the clock 
 in the church tower, began striking the 
 hour. Quitting for the moment, his sing- 
 ing, he cried out, "Die Glocke hat sehn 
 geschlagen, und alles ist zvohl. Gott 
 sei Dank!" and then proceeded slowly to 
 make the circuit of the town, which on 
 this night the venerable Brother found a 
 fatiguing, as well as a bewildering and 
 terrifying task. The town was no longer 
 the village he knew in the old days, when 
 the watchman's beat was no great affair 
 and when a glass of wine, or ale, in the 
 evening, and another at dawn, at the old 
 inn, was the custom, the gift of the 
 Unitas Fratrmn. The custom held good 
 this night too, and Brother Felsenbach 
 was served with the best landlord Mor- 
 gan could boast, which was no better, 
 however, than the beverages the ancient 
 watchman was accustomed to, as mine 
 host would willingly admit. 
 
 \\^ell it was for the old man to be for- 
 tified with spirits for he wot not of the 
 unearthly ordeal awaiting him on his 
 
 ■'"'The "vvatchmen would also sing verses comuosed 
 specially for them in old Herrnhut, Saxony by Count 
 Zinzendorf. 
 
 9 o'clock. 
 "Hear, Brethren, hear! the hour of nine is come; 
 Keep pure each heart and chasten every hour." 
 10 o'clock, 
 
 "Hear, Brethren, hearl now ten the hour-hand 
 
 shows : 
 They only rest, who long for night's repose." 
 1 o'clock. 
 "The hour is one I through darkness steals the 
 
 day: 
 Shines in your hearts the morning star's first 
 ray!" 
 4 o'clock. 
 The clock is four [ wher'er on earth are three. 
 The Lord has promised He the fourth would be." 
 
 6 o'clock. 
 
 The clock is six! and from the watch I'm free, 
 And every one may his own watchman be." 
 
 — James Henry's Sketches of Moravian Life and 
 Character, pp. 50-1. 
 
 nocturnal rounds, for as he approached 
 the rear of the town, in the neighborhood 
 of Nisky Hill, along the bluff overlook- 
 ing the Lehigh, he caught sight of the 
 great steel works across the river, vomit- 
 ing myriads of brilliant sparks of incan- 
 descent fire, falling like the stars of 
 heaven from autumnal skies ; belching 
 forth huge volumes of smoke, inter- 
 mingled with blazing tongues of flame, 
 colored with all the hues of the solar 
 spectrum, while over the shining waters 
 of the swiftly flowing river, came the 
 mighty clangor of gigantic hammers ; the 
 rumbling and rattling of machinery ; the 
 puffing of steam engines ; where he saw, 
 too, the forms of busy workmen running 
 to and fro in the light of the furnaces, 
 who he thought were imps of Satan, 
 intent on some hellish task, and hastily 
 concluded that he was in the neighbor- 
 hood of the bottomless pit. He was 
 more than ever convinced of this fact, 
 when, in the midst of his terror, one of 
 the night express trains, with its flaming 
 headlight, spitting fire and sulphurous 
 breath from the engine's smokestack ; its 
 long sinuous line of coaches brilliant 
 with hgbt went dashing up the valley, 
 with a deafening roar and thunder ; its 
 whistle shrieking and howling as if in 
 titanic pain and rage ; sights and sounds 
 alien to his simple life and generation. 
 Dropping his spear and lantern, and lift- 
 ing his outstretched hands to heaven, 
 the devout old brother exclaimed, "All- 
 maechticjer Gott iniHunincl! The great 
 dragon of the Apocalypse, Apollyon,'the 
 old serpent has broken down the gates 
 of hell, and escaped, to wreak destruction 
 on the faithful. Woe is me, O my be- 
 loved Bethlehem ! What fate is thine, 
 O home of the Brethren !" 
 
 Then hurrying and stumbling in the 
 utmost terror, he fled to the old church 
 he knew so well, to rouse the citizens 
 with the ringing of the great bell, and to 
 apprise the Brethren of a great and 
 imminent danger, whose presence he had 
 just discovered. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 31 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 HE old inn brilliant with 
 lights shining from every 
 casement with the rich fa- 
 miliar music of the famous 
 Trombone band pouring 
 its sweet, almost human 
 notes upon the summer air 
 wrought such a change that 
 one soon lost sight and sense of time and 
 generation, and was not surprised there- 
 fore wlien ushered into the great draw- 
 
 ing-room with a grand ceremon)' by 
 Brother Albrecht, who, by the grace of 
 Colonel Morgan became the major-domo 
 of the evening. 
 
 The beauty, culture and refinement of 
 all the Bethlehems and other points in 
 the Lehigh Valley, decked in its most 
 becoming fashion, had already gathered 
 in the spacious dining-room convertcfl 
 for the evening into a grand salon, anil 
 the hum of conversation was at the 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 liighest pitch when a sudden hush came 
 upon the company as Brother AUjrecht, 
 with a low olieisance, and in a trembling 
 tone of voice announced: "His Majes- 
 Excellency, General George Washington, 
 President of the United States, and Lady 
 Washington." Brother Albrecht had al- 
 most said: "His Majesty!" for which he 
 could well be pardoned for no King who 
 ever sat on a throne could compare with 
 General \\'ashington in majesty of figure, 
 or in stately bearing. Most kings would 
 look like footmen in his company. "His 
 was a form indeed, where every god did 
 seem to set his seal to give the world 
 assurance of a man." He possessed in 
 an eminent degree a native dignity and 
 nobility of manner that required no 
 adventitious ornament, or studied pose 
 to make his presence imposing. There 
 was no mark of the fictitious, tailor- 
 made dignity of bearing about him as 
 there was about Louis XIV , Ic grand 
 monarqnc. whose high French heels were 
 relied upon to give bin: increased stature 
 and roval carriage, or even as there was 
 a certain assumed, studied air of majesty 
 about an immeasurably greater French 
 ruler, the might}' Napoleon, who studied 
 dignity and pose under Talma, the cele- 
 brated French tragedian. Washington 
 towered above ordinary men with his six 
 feet and two inches, and was as straight 
 as an Lidian's arrov\', and when he 
 walked was grace personified. 
 
 In a \i>ice of great dignity of ex])res- 
 sion mingled with much kindliness of 
 nianner and courtes\- he acknowledged 
 the '•rilutations of the cnnii)an\'. No one 
 win: has e\'er read any of \\'a'^hingt(in's 
 letters, or .State j^ajjers, can fail to be 
 impressed with these qualities even when 
 addressing people who merited his wrath 
 and indignation. He was as dignified in 
 his ex])ressir)ns of contempt for his 
 enemies as he was in Ihrise of fricndslii|i. 
 
 He said: "It is a great pleasure tn be 
 once more in your town ; to acknowledge 
 again to a later generation the great ser- 
 vices rendered the cause of liberty by the 
 devoted Moravian brethren and their 
 neighbors, during the dark days of the 
 struggle for inflepcndcnce. I can nc\-er 
 
 forget the kindness bestowed upon my 
 wounded and sick soldiers who found an 
 asylum here among their most cherished 
 possessions and sacred associations, nor 
 the succor of food and raiment so cheer- 
 fully sent to those who hungered and 
 suffered in the dreadful winter at Valley 
 Forge. These services were inestimable 
 and patriotic in the highest degree for 
 thev were self-sacrificing, the kind of 
 service acceptable to the Most High." 
 
 Ladv Washington, whose gentle de- 
 meanor captivated the hearts of all who 
 came into her presence, leaning on the 
 General's arm received the respectful 
 greetings of the assembly, with a graceful 
 inclination of the head, and smiling 
 gravely ; a most fitting consort for so 
 great a man. 
 
 L>v an intuitive sense the company at 
 once assigned to these two the place of 
 honor, creating, as it were, "the pres- 
 
 BliNJAMIN FR.VNKLIN 
 
 encc" to which homage must be given by 
 all who entered. None refused that 
 token of respect to Washington, not even 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 33 
 
 those who were his enemies, for even a 
 number of those by some miserable con- 
 tretemps were later in the evening found 
 to be present. 
 
 But a few moments elapsed after the 
 remarks of Washington when "His 
 Excellency, Doctor Benjamin Franklin" 
 was announced by Brother Albrecht. A 
 short thickset man, with a great round 
 head covered with a profusion of hair 
 silvered with age nestling in great curls 
 about his sturdy neck, out of whose 
 smooth-shaven face beamed two large 
 eloquent eyes, stepped into the room, and 
 made haste to reach the side of Washing- 
 ton, who met him with outstretched 
 hand, greeting him most heartily and ex- 
 claiming : 
 
 "To what kind Providence am I in- 
 debted for this happy meeting, my dear 
 old friend and philosopher, Poor Rich- 
 ard, without whose shrewd judgment 
 and diplomacy our long struggle for in- 
 dependence would have been a failure. 
 Ah, my friend, it was the French money 
 and the French alliance you secured that 
 gave us the victory." 
 
 "Nay, nay," cried Franklin, "neither 
 French gold or the French alliance 
 would have availed wiithout the master 
 mind. It was you and your great genius 
 and fortitude in war that alone made it 
 possible for me to obtain either gold or 
 the much needed alliance." 
 
 And so these two illustrious men con- 
 tinued to remind each other of the great 
 trials of the colonists in the building of 
 the Nation, both disclaiming any special 
 credit for the part they took in the great 
 struggle, all of which conversation com- 
 manded the greatest attention from the 
 listeners. 
 
 The friendly debate was interrupted 
 by the entrance of the Marquis de La- 
 fayette, whom Brother Albrecht had just 
 announced. 
 
 "Your presence is most opportune to 
 settle a difference of opinion"; cried 
 Franklin, "our honored General will 
 have it that to me is due the credit for 
 bringing about the loan of French gold 
 and the French alliance during the great 
 war, and thus securing our independence, 
 while I as firmly insist that but for his 
 
 generalship in the war, as well as his 
 great firmness, I would have failed in my 
 mission. I leave it to you, dear Marquis, 
 to say who is right." 
 
 After a most cordial greeting from 
 Washington, Lafayette replied : 
 
 "Alas, my dear Doctor, I was too 
 long a member of General Washing- 
 ton's military family ; was too closely 
 identified with his plans, his struggles, 
 and disappointments ; knew too well 
 his supreme courage in the midst of 
 the most discouraging circumstances 
 to say that he is right, and that you 
 are wrong in your contentions. I do 
 most heartily agree with you. But for 
 his splendid leadership, patriotism, the 
 French would never have come to 
 your assistance. It was victories like 
 that of Trenton, that won -for you the 
 aid of France." 
 
 The conversation now began to wax 
 warm and animated ; Washington 
 showed his delight in meeting La- 
 fayette again. The young French sol- 
 dier twenty-five years his junior, the 
 same age as Hamilton's another of his 
 proteges, had from the first day they 
 met at the beginning of the war, won 
 his heart, and never was man more 
 true or loyal than Lafayette to Wash- 
 ington. After inquiring after the health 
 of the Marquise de Lafayette, Wash- 
 ington asked : "And how is my name- 
 sake, your son?" Lafayette had named 
 his only son after his American 
 friend. It was a custom begun long 
 before the close of the Revolution, 
 and is likely to continue to the end of 
 time. 
 
 LTnlike most men of the French na- 
 tion Lafayette was tall and powerfully 
 built, with broad shoulders and deep 
 chest. His features were large and 
 strongly marked.* He had much dig- 
 nity of manner, and was of a quiet and 
 self-possessed disposition. It has been 
 said of him: "among all the eminent 
 Frenchmen of the French Revolution- 
 ary period, he was perhaps the only 
 one in whose career there is nothing 
 to be really ashamed of." Of his abso- 
 lute devotion to the American cause 
 
 *See Thatchrr'K Uilitary Journal, p. 186. 
 
34 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 and fidelity to Washington there can 
 be no question whatever, and history 
 records no nobler friendship than that 
 which existed between these eminent 
 men. 
 "Le Chevalier le Marquis de Chastel- 
 lux !" came from the lips of Brother 
 Albrecht. The attention of all in the 
 assembly was drawn to the notable 
 figure that now stepped up to General 
 and Lady Washington to whom he 
 seemed to be well-known and from 
 both of whom he received a warm wel- 
 come. The amiable qualities of the 
 Chevalier, aside from his services in 
 Rochambeau's army, endeared him to 
 Washington, for that great man was 
 not all austerity. He had a taste, in 
 fact, a longing for the lighter touches 
 of human 'intercourse, the diversions 
 that made him for the moment forget 
 the weight of the grievous burden he 
 was bearing. Many of his letters and 
 the anecdotes of him 'that have come 
 down to us show the intensely human 
 side of his character. The chat with 
 de Chastellux was much of this order, 
 notwithstanding the fact that the 
 Chevalier was a close observer and 
 grave student of the institutions with 
 which he came in contact. Washington 
 often rallied him on his falling in love 
 and becoming a ^^narried man as he had 
 frequently said that he would never be 
 other than a bachelor. 
 
 The greeting from Franklin was no 
 less warm. It soon transpired that he 
 and the Chevalier had been for years 
 on the most intimate terms, Franklin 
 corresponding with him in the French 
 language. In complimenting him on the 
 publication of Voyages dans rAmcriquc 
 Scptentrionale one of his recent works, 
 Franklin laughingly took occasion to 
 say : "the portrait you have made of our 
 country and people is what in painting 
 is called a handsome likeness for which 
 
 we are much obliged to you."^° Then 
 Franklin slipping his arm through that 
 of the Chevalier drew him aside some 
 little distance from the company 
 where they were quickly engaged in a 
 whispered conversation in which much 
 quiet laughter found a place, the char- 
 acter of which may be suspected from 
 the following words from the lips of 
 Franklin overheard by a passer-by : 
 
 "Chevalier, dare I confess to you that 
 
 I am your rival, with Madame G ? 
 
 I need not tell you that I am not a 
 dangerous one. I perceive that she loves 
 you very much and so does my dear 
 friend, your humble servant." 
 
 Vice-President, John Adams, who had 
 been announced soon after Washington's 
 entrance, found himself close to Franklin 
 and de Chastellux, one of whom had 
 been his colleague in France. He was 
 conversant with Franklin's popularity 
 with the ladies of France, and created a 
 ripple of amusement as he maliciously 
 inquired after the health of '"Madame 
 Helvetius, for everyone knew how Ma- 
 dame Helvetius threw her arms about 
 the neck of ce cher Franklin at Passy. 
 Adam's extreme vanity and coldblooded 
 temperament was never agreeable to 
 Franklin, and he never forgave him for 
 the manner in which he was ignored in 
 the negotiations for the Treaty of Peace 
 with England in 1783. Franklin retorted 
 by asking him if he was still taken for 
 his cousin Samuel Adams, who was re- 
 garded as a hero by the French Court 
 for his Cato-like demand upon the 
 Pifitish to get out of Boston in 1770. 
 French society immediately lost interest 
 
 "'"In reading your friendly and acceptable letter,.. 
 I was as Ave may well suppose, not less delighted 
 than surprised to meet the plain American words: 
 my wife! a wife! well my dear Marquis. I can 
 hardly refrain from smiling to find we are caught at 
 last. . . .So your day has at length come. I am glad 
 of it, with all my heart and soul. It is quite good 
 enough for you." 
 
 Ford'.i: The True Georr/e Washinf/ton, p. 103. 
 
 "^See Letter to de Chastellux : Franldin's Works, 
 Vol. 9, p. 373, Bigelow's Edition. 
 
 ™"This lady I dined with at Dr. Franklin's. She 
 entered the room with a careless, jaunty air; upon 
 seeing ladies who were strangers to her, she bawled 
 out, "Ahf Hon dieu, where is Franklin? Why did 
 you not tell me there were ladies here? How I 
 look!" She ran out of the room! when she returned, 
 the Doctor entered at one door, she at the other ; 
 upon which she ran forward to him, caught him bv 
 the hand, "Eelas! Franklin;" then gave him a double 
 kiss, one upon each cheek and another upon his fore- 
 head. When we went into the room to dine, she was 
 placed between the Doctor and Mr. Adams. She 
 carried on the chief of the conversation at dinner, 
 frequently locking her hand into the Doctor's and 
 sometimes spreading her arms upon the backs of both 
 the gentlemen's chairs, then throwing her arm care- 
 lessly upon the Doctor's neck." 
 
 Letters (if Mrs. John Adams, pp. 252-3. 
 
s;^,;ti>^i^e^ t^^^X^X^^'7^ 
 
 Engrmed for lirakes Uiilory nf Bo'.u.ii. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 35 
 
 in John Adams when it discovered that 
 he was not "the great rebel," Samuel 
 Ad^ms. It will be remembered that 
 Franklin won distinction as a gallant at 
 the Court of \'ersailles as well as a 
 diplomat. He was ever a great admirer 
 of the ladies. 
 
 Just then Joseph Reed, President of 
 Pennsylvania, who had entered the room 
 a few moments before, after [)aying his 
 respects to Washington, came straight- 
 way to where the two were standing. 
 Franklin presented the Chevalier'" as "a 
 
 than in the matter of the attempted 
 negotiations by the British Admiral 
 Howe in July 1776, who was appointed 
 a special commissioner to treat with the 
 Americans. Colonel Reed represented 
 \A'ashington at the meeting, which took 
 place under a flag of truce, but ina.smuch 
 as the communication from Howe was 
 addressed to "George Wa.shington. 
 Esquire" he declined to receive it. His 
 reply also to the British Peace Commis- 
 sioners when they attempted to bribe him 
 with an ofTer of £10,000, together with 
 
 B,M-!ON RIEDESEL 
 
 soldier, a gentleman, and a man of let- 
 ters" — one who had discovered the 
 secret of public happiness which he con- 
 tided to the world that it might be bene- 
 fitted by his benefaction. Reed at one 
 time was a great favorite of Washington, 
 which meant a great deal ; honor, merit, 
 patriotic service — all these it took to be- 
 come beloved of Washington. He be- 
 came his military secretary after he was 
 appointed to the command of the Conti- 
 nental army. Perhaps his devotion to 
 Washington was nowhere better shown 
 
 "".See LftlPi- to J.meiih Bred: Franldin's Worl:x 
 Viil. 7, p. -11, Bigelow's Edition. 
 
 any office in the Colonies in the gift of 
 King George shows the stuff he was 
 made of. He said: "I am not worth pur- 
 chasing, but such as I am, the King of 
 Great liritain is not rich enough to do 
 it." Every schoolboy in former (la}'S 
 knew this incident by heart. Hciw many 
 of the boys and girls are as familiar 
 with it now in this Age of Graft? 
 
 There was a note of real downright 
 pleasure in the next announcement as 
 Brother Albrecht gave it in sonorous 
 German: "Der Freiherr Friedrich 
 Adolph von Riedesel und die Freiherrin." 
 This addition to the company was of 
 
36 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 rather a remarkable character as they 
 were the first of the Inn's invokintary 
 guests to accept the invitation to Colonel 
 Morgan's reception. They were heartily 
 welcome for their own sake ; the Baron 
 for his admirable traits of character, and 
 the Baroness for her charming person- 
 ality and great goodness of heart and 
 charity as well as for her beauty. Both 
 had been guests of the Inn, as prisoners 
 of war after Burgoyne's surrender at 
 Saratoga. They were favorably known to 
 many that were present this evening. 
 The Baron after paying his respects to 
 Washington and Lady Washington, 
 was introduced to the rest of the com- 
 pany, among them to Franklin, when 
 this interesting conversation took 
 place. The Baron addressing Franklin 
 began : 
 
 "I have often wished for an oppor- 
 tunity like this that I might have 
 speech with you. First, let me say, 
 now that the war in which I was your 
 enemy has long been over, I am hearti- 
 ly glad that you were victorious for 
 I became convinced before I left 
 America that the war was an unjust 
 one and the position I was in, an 
 ignoble one — that of a mere merce- 
 nary — the creature of a Prince, who 
 had sold my services and the lives of 
 the soldiers under me to a foreign 
 ruler. I have rejoiced therefore many 
 times that the illustrious soldier whom 
 I have the great honor to meet here 
 tonight, succeeded in defeating the 
 English armies." "Nevertheless," he 
 continued, assuming a grave air of in- 
 jury, "I want to remind you Doctor 
 Franklin, that you made my life mis- 
 erable for a time with your ingenious 
 and I must confess successful at- 
 tempts to disorganize my *Hessian 
 regiments in inducing them to desert 
 with your confounded, cleverly worded 
 and printed messages in the German, 
 which you managed to scatter through- 
 out my camp. They did desert for they 
 had no heart in the war to begin with, 
 
 *See: Letter from Franklin to Crates, August 28, 
 1776. Works of Fravldiii, Vol. 6, p. 16. Bigelow's 
 Edition. 
 
 Also: Writings of Washington, Vol. 4, pp. 370-71. 
 Ford's Edition. 
 
 and less when they discovered that 
 they were fighting fellow Hessians, for 
 many of your Pennsylvania and Mar.y- 
 land Germans were of Hessian blood, 
 and moreover when they learned that 
 the old Baron von Steuben, Frederick 
 the Great's aide-de-camp, was drilling 
 your army it was "Zum Teufel mit 
 Koenig Georg dem Dritten" after that. I 
 wouldn't b€ surprised to find de- 
 scendants of these same deserting 
 Hessians present here tonight, for 1 
 am told that they and their sons be- 
 came influential citizens, and acquired 
 substantial wealth. I desire to congrat- 
 ulate them in spite of the sleepless nights 
 they occasioned me." 
 
 A hearty laugh followed this outburst 
 of the Baron von Riedesel in which 
 Washington quietly joined for he had a 
 hand in this scheme of Franklin's when 
 it was first proposed. The merriment 
 increased when the Baroness turned to 
 Landlord Morgan, who had just come in 
 from an adjoining room with an armfull 
 of beautiful flowers which he had com- 
 menced to distribute among the ladies. 
 Lady Washington being the first to re- 
 ceive this delicate compliment. 
 
 ■'Herr Colonel Morgan," cried the 
 Baroness, "will you do me the favor to 
 tell me what the charges are at this Inn, 
 at the present day? I ask this out of a 
 pardonable curiosity, I am sure, for the 
 last time I was a guest here in company 
 with my husband and children, besides 
 General Phillips, and a small entourage 
 we had to pay $32,000 for six weeks' 
 board and lodging. I have heard so much 
 of the enormous increase in the cost of 
 living at the present day that I am 
 anxious to learn whether you have ad- 
 vanced the prices for accommodations 
 here in proportion. I shall never forget 
 the Sun Inn board bill presented by Herr 
 Just Jansen,'* and I thought him such a 
 nice man too, and a Moravian as well. 
 What has become of him?" 
 
 Unexpected as this sally of the 
 Baroness was. Colonel Morgan was not 
 at a loss for a reply. 
 
 ■■"See Letters and Journals of Madame Riedesel, 
 Munsell's Edition, pp. 165-6. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'3 SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 Z1 
 
 "Gnaedige Frcihcrrin," he said pre- 
 senting her with a beautiful bouquet of 
 roses, "if I were permitted to charge one- 
 half as much as old Jansen made you 
 pay, I would own one-half of Bethlehem, 
 and be buying back some of my ancestral 
 acres, and a castle on the banks of the 
 Rhine. My charges, I assure you, are 
 quite reasonable as you shall see if you 
 will honor this ancient inn with your 
 presence again." "Perhaps," replied the 
 Baroness, "we may be tempted to spend 
 a summer here in the future. Aside from 
 the schrccklichc boardbill, my recollec- 
 tions of Bethlehem are most pleasant. 
 
 by them in his honor. Like Washington 
 of whom he was a close rival in manly 
 dignity he was over six feet in height and 
 weighed over two hundred pounds and 
 possessed of magnificent strength and 
 endurance, while in beauty of features 
 and expression he was equalled by few 
 n^en of his time. His manners were quiet 
 and refined; his bearing was noble, and 
 his temper sweet, though his wrath was 
 easily aroused by the sight of injustice. 
 His conduct throughout life, like that of 
 Washington, was regulated by the most 
 rigid code of honor. It was not sur- 
 prising, therefore, that he was a man 
 
 ^fO^ 
 
 V • 
 
 BARONESS RIEDESEL 
 
 The eating and drinking were all that the 
 most fastidious could ask for, and you 
 know we Germans insist upon having 
 good food, and plenty of it.' 
 
 "Major-General Daniel Morgan" came 
 in stentorian notes the announcement of 
 the arrival of the famous rifleman of the 
 Revolution. The entrance of General 
 ]\Iorgan created something of a sensa- 
 tion, particularly among the ladies, who 
 always adore a hero, and when that hero 
 is also one of the handsomest of men 
 there is no limit to the incense burned 
 
 after Washington's own heart, and that 
 the welcome he received from him was 
 something far above the perfunctory 
 greeting usual at gatherings of this sort. 
 Thotigh born in New Jersey, he became 
 a A'irginian by adoption, and made the 
 acquaintance of Washington, during the 
 ill-fated Braddock expedition, where he 
 assisted greatly in bringing away the 
 wounded from the terrible disaster that 
 overtook the British Commander. The 
 acquaintance then begun ripened into the 
 deepest friendship during the Revolu- 
 
38 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 tionary war by reason of Morgan's quick 
 march with his famous riflemen to the 
 succor of Washington, at Boston; the 
 splendid part he took in the battles of 
 Freeman's Farm and Bemis Height, the 
 counterpart of the services rendered by 
 the heroic Herkimer at Oriskany, result- 
 ing in the surrender of Burgoyne at 
 Saratoga, and the crowing glory of his 
 career at the battle of the Cowpens, 
 which enabled General Greene to drive 
 Cornwallis to bay at Guilford Court 
 House, leading finally to the coup de 
 grace by Washington at Yorktown. 
 
 There was a note of affection as 
 grasping with both hands the extended 
 hand of Morgan, Washington exclaimed : 
 
 "You are most welcome my gallant, 
 loyal friend. I ani rejoiced to see you 
 here tonight, to have again the oppor- 
 tunity after many years to recount in 
 your presence the inestimable services 
 you rendered the cause of liberty. Be- 
 lieve -me the memory of Bemis Heights 
 and the Cowpens has never faded from 
 my heart. You and Herkimer and 
 Stark, and poor Arnold first reversed the 
 gloomy scene in the opening years of the ■ 
 Revolution." 
 
 Morgan's fine face flushed like a boy's 
 at such praise, and in a low tone of 
 voice he replied : 
 
 "You give me overmuch credit ; I did 
 but my duty which God vouchsafed me 
 to see clearly and to do fully. The 
 humblest of my riflemen did as much and 
 loved his country in no smaller measure. 
 I am grateful, believe me, my venerated 
 Commander, for this expression of your 
 friendship. No reward was ever so 
 coveted as your word of commendation. 
 Believe me, I shall cherish forever the 
 m.emory of this meeting here in this 
 quiet, beautiful Moravian town." 
 
 While this unusual greeting by Wash- 
 ington was going on, the company 
 crowded close about these two splendid 
 figures. Admiration shone from every 
 eye while hearts swelled with pride at 
 the thought that these two were the em- 
 bodiment of the spirit that revolted 
 against tyranny and finally achieved in- 
 dependence. Many and eager were the 
 
 hands that touched with warmest grasp 
 those of the famous rifleman, and with 
 it many a fine, sincere word of welcome. 
 
 But now, as if to cap the climax of this 
 ovation to General Morgan, Brother 
 Albrecht announced the name of Mor- 
 gan's old commander in the southern 
 campaign : 
 
 "Major-General Nathaniel Greene, 
 Lady Greene, and the Misses Greene." 
 
 Then there was a commotion, for 
 Greene was very popular and ranked 
 in military ability and achievement 
 next to Washington, and has even 
 been considered by some as his super- 
 ior in the higher qualities of military 
 genius. His campaigns have been 
 compared with those of Turenne and 
 Wellington for the masterly strategy 
 he displayed in forcing the movements 
 of Cornwallis's army. Of Quaker pa- 
 rentage his career as one of the great- 
 est fighters in the Revolutionary army 
 was an anomaly, and excited heated 
 comment in Quaker circles resulting 
 eventually in his withdrawal from the 
 Quaker Society. Like Weir Mitchell's 
 "Hugh Wynne," he was a "fighting- 
 Quaker" as were many others at that 
 time, and as many Moravians have be- 
 come since the days when they were 
 non-combatants. The militant spirit 
 became pronounced in our Civil War 
 when many of the Pennsylvania regi- 
 ments were recruited from among the 
 Moravians-''^ and officered by them, 
 many winning great distinction. The 
 meeting between Greene and Wash- 
 ington was most impressive, and more 
 so that it was in the company of Mor- 
 gan. The pleasure of Washington at 
 such a reunion of his generals was un- 
 mistakable, and the way they talked 
 and listened and gesticulated, an on- 
 looker would have thought that a coun- 
 cil of war was in session debating 
 some strategic movement of the ut- 
 most importance. 
 
 "I have just expressed my great 
 pleasure in meeting the hero of the 
 Cowpens again," said Washington to 
 
 ■'""General William E. Doster and others." See 
 Binliop Lererino's History of Bethlehem, pp. 742-50. 
 
BARON FRIEDRICH WILHELM VON STEUBEN 
 
 VON STEUBEN 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 39 
 
 General Greene, "and I am sure all I 
 said in praise of that brilliant victory 
 and the subsequent forced marching to 
 effect a junction with your forces 
 would have been fully seconded by 
 you. Our friend is as modest as he is 
 brave." 
 
 Greene putting his arm about Mor- 
 gan replied. "Nothing, General, that 
 you can say in the highest praise of 
 of this my old and trusted friend and 
 comrade can be otherwise than de- 
 served, and would meet with my 
 
 A GENTLEMAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL 
 
 warmest endorsement. He and his 
 riflemen were Paladins. You remem- 
 ber what Burgoyne said to him at 
 Saratoga after the surrender: "My 
 dear sir, you command the finest regi- 
 ment in the world." 
 
 He had good reason to say all of 
 that. Then Washington turning to 
 where Lady \A'ashington was deep in 
 conversation with Lady Greene and 
 
 her daughters he expressed his delight 
 at meeting her again, and that she had 
 not forgotten to bring her beautiful 
 daughters with her." 
 
 "And which one is Martha, and 
 which Cornelia?" One of General 
 Greene's daughters was named after 
 Lady Washington, and both were pu- 
 pils at the Moravian seminary after 
 the close of the Revolution as were 
 other daughters of Revolutionary sol- 
 diers and statesmen.^" 
 
 Lady Greene was tall and "of a state- 
 ly dignity" and dressed in rich brocade 
 and lace with a long sweeping train, 
 making a striking figure ; she was, as 
 she was once described by one who saw 
 her in the old days of liethlehem, "a 
 pattern lady" of the old school," a fit 
 companion for a "gentleman of the old 
 school." 
 
 It seemed as if Colonel Morgan, our 
 hospitable landlord, had in mind to 
 give Washington one of the most 
 ])leasurable evenings of his life, and 
 most admirably did he succeed, for 
 nothing could have given the old Com- 
 mander-in-Chief S(i much enjoyment as 
 this reunion of his old comrades in 
 arms. It was the antipodes of the sad 
 parting at Fraunces Tavern, in New 
 York City, so many years ago, the only 
 Inn, by the way, that can in any way 
 be regarded as a rival in historic in- 
 terest and associations to the Sun 
 Inn. 
 
 There was a broad smile on the hon- 
 est German countenance of Brother 
 Albrecht as in his finest German accent 
 he announced; "der Freiherr und Gen- 
 eral, Friedrich Wilhelm von .Steuben." 
 It seemed to do the old Thuringian 
 Seneschal a world of good to usher in 
 men of the old high-born German race. 
 There was strong within him the old 
 Teutonic pride of blood and birth, a 
 trait that is dominant to this day in 
 descendants of the forefathers of this 
 interesting localitv. ]\Ianv of the lead- 
 
 '""Tjee, SuiTiter, Hugei-, AUton, Bayai-d, Heisttr, 
 Morton, Butler, Sergeant, Bleecker, Lansing, Livings- 
 ton, Roosevelt, etc." Mnrartrin ,S'c/*n>inr// Souvenir. 
 p. 188. 
 
 '^Morarifni SriiinKiri/ Sonrt'tfir. t). 51. 
 
40 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 ing men in the Pennsylvania German 
 churches and communities were men 
 of gentle birth and culture — the peers 
 of the best in other Colonial settle- 
 ments, a fact that is slowly making its 
 way to the knowledge of presetit-day 
 historians of the United States. The 
 horizon of American history has been 
 vastly enlarged since the days of Ban- 
 croft and Hildreth. The discov- 
 ery has been made of the existence of 
 other races than that of the English 
 who played as great a part in the mak- 
 ing of the Nation, a part that any race 
 
 events during the Revolutionary period 
 is the familiar one seen in the reproduc- 
 tions of the historic painting: "Steuben 
 at Valley Forge." In the midst of a 
 dreary, snowclad landscape, dotted with 
 the soldiers' rude log huts is seen 
 Steuben before a detachment of half- 
 clad and half-starved soldiers with rifle 
 in hand exemplifying the manual of 
 arms. In that awful winter began a 
 systematic course of drilling and tactics, 
 something quite unknown previous to his 
 advent, that v,'as eventually extended 
 
 THE DAUGHTERS OF BARONESS RIEDESEL 
 
 may be proud of, and one worthy of 
 emulation in the centuries to come. 
 
 (Jf all the foreign military men who 
 offered their services to the struggling 
 revfilutionists, Baron von Steuben was 
 by far the ablest, and the services he 
 rendered of the greatest value to the 
 American cause. In a spirit of grand 
 self-abnegation, and an unselfish love 
 of liberty he assumed the thankless 
 temper-trying task of a drill sergeant of 
 the American army. One of the most 
 inspiring sights in the whole series of 
 
 throughout the entire American forces 
 and which bore ample fruit in futvire 
 campaigns as at the Battle of Monmouth, 
 where Steuben rallied the retreating and 
 disorganized troops of the blatherskite 
 (ieneral, Charles Lee. 
 
 Hamilton who witnessed the steady 
 action of the troops under Steuben said : 
 "He had never known till that day the 
 value of discipline." 
 
 In spite of Steuben's choleric temper 
 often provoked to the explosive point by 
 the awkwardness of the recruits, he was 
 beloved by the soldiers for his kindness 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 41 
 
 towards them and the s_vmpathy he 
 showed for them in caring for them in 
 their sufiferings. As Carnot was Napol- 
 eon's great organizer of victory so was 
 Steuben, Washington's great organizer 
 and disciplinarian. "*- 
 
 Steuben wrote the first Manual for the 
 order and regulation of the United States 
 army, and subsequent manuals are an 
 evolution from this work of the old drill 
 master. 
 
 profoundest respect for each other's 
 great ability ; both of noble nature and 
 given more to deeds than to speech. The 
 conversation that ensued was carried on 
 in subdued tones by both ; the Baron in 
 his broken English expressing his great 
 pleasure at meeting his old Commander 
 again, and Washington in no wise be- 
 hind him in showing his own delight. 
 One may be assured that in the long 
 winter at Valley Forge Washington and 
 
 SISTER BENADE 
 
 The meeting of Washington and 
 Steuben was a sight long remembered by 
 the guests of that memorable evening. 
 There was a long,silent hand grasp with 
 deep emotion plainly visible on their 
 strong impassive countenances. There 
 was ever between these two soldiers the 
 
 ^-"Sensible, sober and brave: well acquainted with 
 tactics and with the arrangement and discipline of 
 an array. High in his ideas of subordination and 
 impetuous in his temper, ambitious." Note on 
 Steuben, Wavhini/ton'a Writin,rj,fy Vol. XII, p. 507. 
 
 Steuben had many confidential hours. 
 A seasoned veteran of the great Freder- 
 ick was too valuable an acquisition not 
 to be made the most of, and Washing- 
 ton was never reluctant to learn of any- 
 one where his own knowledge could be 
 bettered. 
 
 General Greene also showed his 
 pleasure at meeting the old Baron for 
 Steuben was one of his greatest lieuten- 
 ants in the great Southern campaign. He 
 
42 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 exclaimed : "Baron, it does my soul good 
 to meet you again ; it seems like the old 
 days in the trenches before Yorktown, 
 when so many of us here who are 
 present tonight were making the last 
 victorious fight for this beloved land : 
 Lafayette, Morgan, and the rest. We 
 must fight the battles all over again to- 
 night," he laughingly continued. 
 
 Steuben replied, "I would have been 
 better satisfied with aught else than 
 keeping that scoundrel Arnold in check, 
 with my handful of riflemen, while you 
 were carrying out 'ein grosses Kriegs- 
 SpieV — in which I had some experience 
 while serving under the great Frederick." 
 
 "Believe me, my dear Baron," replied 
 Greene, "no other man could have done 
 what you did in aiding me, in playing 
 as you call it, the grand game of war for 
 it meant the close of the great struggle 
 and the glory of it was as much yours as 
 mine ; the glory is everlasting for all who 
 did their duty in the part assigned them 
 in those heroic days. You never failed, 
 dear Baron, in doing yours, never!" 
 
 General Greene had hardly finished 
 speaking when Brother Albrecht was 
 heard announcing: "The Count Casimir 
 Pulaski." There was a real thrill of 
 excitement as the picturesque looking 
 figure of the young Polish nobleman 
 stepped up to General Washington. He 
 was another of Washington's young 
 proteges, a distinction earned by the most 
 brilliant service. His experience abroad 
 had been of the most varied kind. A 
 revolutionist in Poland, and failing in his 
 eflforts to free his country from the 
 thralldom of Russia, and after wander- 
 ing about Europe, his estates confiscated, 
 and himself declared an outlaw, he 
 found himself in 1777, at the early age 
 of twenty-nine, on American soil where 
 he at once attached himself to the 
 American cause becoming a member of 
 Washington's staiif, taking part soon 
 after in the Battle of Brandywine, where 
 he quickly proved his ability as a soldier. 
 His military capacity and swift action fa- 
 cilitated the retreat of the American 
 forces for which service he' was re- 
 warded with a Brigadier-General's 
 
 commission, and placed in charge of the 
 cavalry. 
 
 His Legion formed some time after 
 this, became famous during the short 
 period he was permitted to fight in the 
 cause of liberty. He died from the re- 
 sults of a wound received in the siege 
 of Savannah in 1779, mourned by all 
 who knew his worth as a soldier and 
 as a man. 
 
 Washington's welcome was of the 
 most flattering nature. He had learned 
 to respect the great ability of the dash- 
 ing young officer, and sympathized 
 with him in the efiforts he had made for 
 the emancipation of his native land. In. 
 the conversation that followed many 
 references were made to the sojourn at 
 Valley Forge. Franklin also joined in 
 giving him a pleasant welcome for it 
 was he who really induced Pulaski, 
 whom he met in Paris, to enroll himself 
 under the banner of the American col- 
 onists. The friendly greetings that 
 were showered upon him on every 
 side gave the young Polish soldier a 
 delightful experience. 
 
 In the midst of these greetings the 
 sound of low, sweet music was heard 
 as if at a great distance, but becoming 
 more distinct every moment, and 
 swelling in volume when the music 
 began to be accompanied by singing. 
 
 As Brother Albrecht stepped aside at 
 the entrance of the salon, a procession 
 of Moravian Sisters led by the Sister 
 Benade entered, carrying a crimson 
 silk banner beautifully embroidered, 
 and singing as they approached Pu- 
 laski the following hymii»: 
 
 "Take thy banner ! May it wave 
 Proudly o'er the good and brave, 
 When the battle's distant wail 
 Breaks the Sabbath of our vale, 
 When the clarion's music thrills 
 To the hearts of these heroic hills, 
 When the spear in conflict shakes, 
 And the strong lance shivering breaks. 
 
 Take thy banner ! and beneath 
 The battle-cloud's encircling wreath, 
 Guard it. till our homes are free! 
 Guard it ! God will prosper thee ! 
 In the dark and trying hour, 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 43 
 
 In the breaking forth of power, 
 
 In the rush of steeds arid men, 
 
 His right hand will shield you then. "^3 
 
 The sensation this entry of the 
 Moravian Sisters made was most in- 
 tense. All recognized the crimson 
 banner as the one embroidered by the 
 Aloravian Sisters during Pulaski's so- 
 
 ■•^Composed by Henry W. Longfellow. 
 
 journ at Bethlehem, while he was plan- 
 ning the formation of his famous Le- 
 gion and where he was also visiting La- 
 fayette, who lay there wounded. The 
 quaint garb of the Sisters was most 
 impressive in the midst of the gay and 
 fashionably dressed assembly, making a 
 picture and a contrast never to be forgot- 
 ten. 
 
 The Sun Inn as it appears at the present 
 day. Entrance seen through the archway. 
 
44 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 with 
 
 ISHOP Ettwein, the fa- 
 mous Moravian Brother 
 oa whose shoulders rested 
 the bulk of the burdens 
 and responsibilities of the 
 Community during the 
 Revolutionary period,who 
 had entered the drawing 
 the Sisters now stepped 
 forward and after paying his respects 
 to Washington and Lady Washington 
 who greeted him most warmly for 
 they were friends of long standing 
 spoke as follows : "Your Excellency 
 and friends : I canriot refrain from 
 adding something to the sentiment of 
 the beautiful hymn sung in honor of 
 the valiant soldier, the Count Pulaski, 
 whom we learned to love and to ad- 
 mire during his stay with us in the sad 
 days of the Revolution. We Moravi- 
 ans can never forget his chivalric 
 treatment of the Sisters in the spring 
 of 1778; the protection he afforded 
 them, surrounded as they were by a 
 rough and uncouth soldiery, some- 
 times forgetful of the courtesy and re- 
 spect due to womanhood, and how he 
 himself often in person shared the 
 duties of the sentinel he had appointed 
 as a special guard around the precincts 
 of their House ; nor the May day he at- 
 tended divine worship in our chape! 
 with his Legion in martial array. In 
 spite of our creed which forbade a 
 warlike spirit we could not feel other- 
 wise than thankful that there was 
 stationed in our community so gal- 
 lant a soldier and so redoubtable a 
 body of followers.'''' Right worthily 
 did he bear himself during his stay and 
 with much sadness we saw him depart 
 on that long journey south to the home 
 of our dear friend Henry Laurens the 
 honored President of Congress, where 
 he was to win great glory and lasting 
 fame." 
 
 The reception accorded the Sisters, 
 whose spokesman' the beloved Bishop 
 
 *^Moravian 8p.minary Souvenir, p. 39. 
 
 Ettwein had become, was an enthusi- 
 astic one, for all in that assembly had 
 intimate knowledge of their devoted 
 lives, and their services to the cause of 
 liberty, which many like Washing- 
 ton, Greene, Ethan Allen, the Bayards 
 Livingstons, and Lee family showed 
 their appreciation of, after the close of 
 the Revolution by sending them their 
 daughters or relatives to be educated. 
 The training young ladies received in 
 those far of? days fitted them for the 
 most exalted spheres of life and was in 
 no wise impaired by the note of sim- 
 plicity and utilitarianism that was 
 dominant throughout. 
 
 The useful arts as well as the orna- 
 mental branches were taught by the 
 Sisters and were specially pleasing to 
 Washington who hated sham and idle- 
 ness, as any one may discover who will 
 read his homilies to his nephew and 
 niece. Spinning, knitting and weav- 
 ing were among the accomplishments 
 of the Sisters and it is said that Wash- 
 ington supplied himself with domestic 
 goods from the "first domestic manu- 
 factories of the land" as he styled the 
 weaving department carried on in the 
 Sisters' House. ''^ Here he made selec- 
 tion of "blue stripes" for his lady and 
 "stout woolen hose" for himself. 
 
 Bishop Ettwein's reference to 
 Henry Laurens brings to mind the 
 close friendship that was formed be- 
 tween them at Bethlehem and which 
 continued unbroken to their lives' end. 
 The intimacy thus formed became on 
 many occasions of the greatest service 
 to the Moravian Community, notably 
 so in the month of September, I777- 
 While Brother Ettwein was conduct- 
 ing the lately arrived Delegates to Con- 
 gress through the Widows' and Sis- 
 ters' Houses, he took occasion to plead 
 for their inmates, whose removal from 
 their homes had been urged by the 
 surgeons in charge to meet the grow- 
 
 ^Hioravian Seminary Souvenir. Foot note, p. 
 
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 'f«i«i<^ 
 
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 JUtbilime^ 
 
 
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 3? 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 ing wants of the army hospital which 
 had been established here. The ap- 
 peal resulted in Laurens, as President of 
 Congress, authorizing Richard Henry 
 I^ee to make the following order which 
 was signed by the Delegates to Congress 
 present at Bethlehem, all of whom were 
 the guests of the Sun Inn, where a fac- 
 simile reproduction of the original order 
 and autographs of the signers can be seen 
 at the present day.*'' 
 
 Bethlehem, 22d, Sept., 1777. 
 
 "Having here observed a diligent atten- 
 tion to the sick and wounded, and a benevo- 
 lent desire to make the necessary provision 
 for the relief of the distressed as far as the 
 povi'er of the Brethren enables them. 
 
 "We desire that all Continental officers 
 may refrain from disturbing the persons or 
 property of the Moravians in Bethlehem; 
 and, particularly, that they do not disturb 
 or molest the houses where the women are 
 assembled." 
 
 "Der Baron und General, Johann 
 von Kalb" from the lips of Brother Al- 
 brecht announced the entry of the cel- 
 ebrated German soldier who like Steu- 
 ben became a devoted supporter of the 
 American cause, eventually giving up 
 his life in the Southern campaign un- 
 der Gates. He was in command of the 
 Delaware and Maryland troops at the 
 disastrous battle of Camden in which 
 he received eleven wounds, fighting 
 against overwhelming odds. No more 
 heroic figure ever drew sword in bat- 
 tle. "Bareheaded and dismounted, with 
 sword in hand, he engaged in one per- 
 sonal encounter after another, en- 
 couraging his men with his voice as 
 well as his example." He died three 
 days after the battle and was buried 
 at Camden, where a monument was 
 erected to his memory. 
 
 In passing, attention may be called 
 to the interesting historic fact, that, 
 men of German blood and lineage 
 played a much larger part in the Rev- 
 
 olutionary struggle than is generally 
 known or suspected. German sol- 
 diers, mercenaries, constituted proba- 
 bly a majority of the British forces. 
 The records show that 29,867 Hessian 
 troopers came to America of which 
 number only 17,313 returned." Of the 
 remaining 12,554, more than 5,000 de- 
 serted, either making common cause 
 with the Americans as combatants or 
 identifying themselves with the com- 
 munities in which they found a refuge. 
 Many of their descendants can be 
 
 
 
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 Nathan Brownson, Nathaniel Folsom, Richard Law, 
 Eliphalet Dyer, Henry Marchant, Richard Henry 
 Lee, Henry Laurens, William Duer, Cornelius Har- 
 nett, Benjamin Harrison, Joseph Jones, John Adams, 
 William Williams. 
 
 "Delegates to Congress." 
 
 GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN 
 
 found in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and 
 Maryland today. Over 7,000 were killed, 
 or died of wounds or sickness. 
 
 The greatest number of soldiers under 
 British officers in any one of the Revo- 
 lutionary battles was 20,000 at the battle 
 of I-ong Island August 26, 1776, where 
 so many Pennsylvania Germans were 
 
 ''See Lov.'HVs "Hessians in the Rerolutiim ," pp. 
 399.301. 
 
46 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 present. At the battle of Brandywine 
 Sept. II, 1777 the British forces under 
 Howe numbered 18,000 and 15,000 at 
 Germantown Oct. 4, 1777. 
 
 At Monmouth, June 28, 1778, Sir 
 Henry Clinton's army numbered only 
 11,000, and at Charleston May 12, 1780 
 but 9,000, while Lord Cornwallis com- 
 manded only 7,500 men when he sur- 
 rendered his army at Yorktown Oct. 19, 
 1 781. Burgoyne surrendered with but 
 6,000 men to Gates at Saratoga Oct. 7, 
 1777. 
 
 Generals Knyphausen, von Heister, 
 von Riedesel and Rahl, the commanders 
 of the Hessians were veteran soldiers 
 who were trained in the school of Fred- 
 erick the Great in the Seven Years' War 
 and in military capacity were the super- 
 iors of the English commanders. The 
 service in America was extremely dis- 
 tasteful to the German officers. When 
 Knyphausen returned to Europe in 1782 
 broken in health and minus an eye, he 
 voiced the opinion of the German 
 officers*' when he said he had "achieved 
 neither glory nor advancement." 
 
 The German element in the Conti- 
 nental army was a large and most im- 
 portant one and on several occasions a 
 decisive factor for the American cause. 
 The battle of Oriskany fought under the 
 heroic Herkimer was fought and won by 
 the Germans of the Mohawk valley and 
 Schoharie. The story of the achieve- 
 ments of Morgan's famous riflemen is the 
 recital of the valor of soldiers of Ger- 
 man blood, for more than half of his 
 gallant companies were Germans from 
 Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. 
 The rifle with which his corps was armed 
 was a German weapon brought from 
 Germany by the first settlers, many of 
 whom had been soldiers, and perfected 
 by the Pennsylvania German gunmakers 
 into the firearm that wrought such havoc 
 with British officers during the Revolu- 
 tion and in the war of 1812. 
 
 The muster rolls, of Bucks, Lancaster, 
 York, Berks, Old Northampton, Mont- 
 
 *^Col. von Donop'fi dying words at Red Bank 
 were: "I die the victim of ambition and of tlie 
 avarice of my sovereign." See De Ghastellu.v. Vol. 
 1, r- 223. 
 
 gomery and the border counties as far 
 west as Westmoreland County reveal an 
 overwhelming German element in their 
 makeup, showing not only its numerical 
 preponderance but the intense patriotism 
 of the Pennsylvania German, and devo- 
 tion to the cause of liberty. A list of 
 German officers in our Revolutionary 
 army headed with the jiames of Herki- 
 mer and Muhlenberg to the Captaincies 
 in the militia would present a formidable 
 appearance and prove to be an instructive 
 chapter in the history of the American 
 Revolution. When to these we add the 
 names of Steuben, and Kalb, soldiers 
 who had served under Frederick the 
 Great with distinction, we cannot fail to 
 be impressed with the great part played 
 by men of German blood in our war of 
 Independence and to wonder that so little 
 has been said in American histories in 
 praise of their achievements and patri- 
 otism. Not until the record of their 
 work in the building of the nation shall 
 have been as fully and faithfully set forth 
 as the achievements of men of English 
 blood have been in the past, can it be 
 said that we have a really true and 
 impartial history of the American people. 
 
 In the midst of the festivities now 
 growing more animated with every new 
 arrival a strange hubbub was heard in 
 the hall of the Inn in which raucous 
 sounds, guttural alien speech were 
 mingled with the energetic protests of 
 Brother Albrecht in his half English and 
 half German accents finally ending in the 
 announcement by the faithful Albrecht 
 of "die heidnischen unmenschlichen In- 
 dianer der wildniss" with several mut- 
 tered side remarks in German not intend- 
 ed for the ears of the company assembled 
 — among them expressions like: "die 
 schandlich niedertrachtig Hunde" etc. 
 
 Now took place the most imposing 
 spectacle that had yet been enacted this 
 memorable evening. Fifty-one chiefs 
 and warriors of the Iroquois Confeder- 
 acy or Six Nations entered the drawing 
 room much to the disgust of Brother 
 Albrecht who had attempted to limit the 
 number to the Chiefs, but withoat avail 
 and who had moreover vivid recollections 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 of the visit long since, of the celebrated 
 Teedyuscung and his unwashed follow- 
 ers, across the Lehigh at "The Crown," 
 the ancient predecessor of the "Sun Inn" 
 and of the rejoicings of Ephraim Colver, 
 the long suffering publican, when they 
 had departed for the lands of the Wyo- 
 ming and he could sleep in peace and 
 cleanliness once more. 
 
 The Indian visitors were headed by 
 Red Jacket or Sa-go-ye-wat-ha ( He 
 keeps them awake) the famous warrior 
 and orator of the Seneca nation fre- 
 quently called the Indian Demosthenes. 
 
 RED JACKET 
 
 With him was the noted Cornplanter, the 
 first temperance lecturer in the United 
 States, the uncompromising foe of strong 
 drink in the Indian nations. 
 
 There were also Good Peter or Dom- 
 inie Peter, Big Tree, Farmer's Brother, 
 Little Billy, Captain Shanks, the Infant, 
 or Hanangaikhon, the tallest warrior in 
 the Six Nations, measuring fully six feet 
 
 and four inches, and Pierre Jaquette or 
 Otsiquette the young and intelligent 
 Oneida chief who had been adopted into 
 the family of Lafayette and taken to 
 France at the close of the Revolution to 
 be educated. 
 
 Red Jacket in spite of his antagonism 
 to the arts of civilized life appeared 
 this evening wearing the richly em- 
 broidered scarlet jacket which had 
 been presented to him by an English 
 officer soon after the Revolution as a 
 reward for his fleetness of foot in a 
 running" contest, and which gave him 
 the nickname by which he is best 
 known to the American people. He 
 also wore the medal of solid silver 
 which Washington gave him on the 
 conclusion of a treaty of peace between 
 the Lhiited States and the Six Na- 
 tions in 1792. His tall erect form and 
 dignit}' of manner in walking made 
 him an impressi\'e figure, wdrile his ad- 
 dress when speaking at Council meet- 
 ings has never been surpassed for ma- 
 jesty by an}' of the great orators of the 
 white race. In spite of his implacable 
 hostility to Christianity he was most 
 friendly to the Aloravian lirethren 
 whose unselfish devotion to the Indian 
 race he had long been cognizant of anij 
 reluctantly ackncjwledged. "The nia- 
 jorit}' of the party were dressed in 
 white linen shirts, short woolen coats, 
 Indian leggins, consisting of a piece of 
 cloth bound around the calf of the leg 
 with thongs, and snugly fitting moc- 
 casins of deerskin, which latter the 
 wearer is wont to dip into cold water 
 in winter before going abroad in order 
 to protect the feet from frost. A num- 
 ber had the sleeves of their coats adorn- 
 ed with large plates of silver, or wore 
 trinkets of the same material on their 
 bosoms. Some had sih-er rings and 
 pendants inserted through the cartilage 
 of the nose ; m(.)St of them wore mas- 
 si^'e ear-rings of silver or copper, which 
 by their weight drcAv do\\n the extrem- 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 ity of the ear and lengthened the slit 
 through which they were passed. 
 Their faces were curiously painted in 
 red, and vermilion was strewed on the 
 lock of hair left on the crown. A few 
 carried rifles, the rest were equipped 
 with tomahawk, knife, tobacco pouch, 
 and the trusty bow and arrows. The 
 more civilized were dressed somewhat 
 after the manner of the whites, wear- 
 ing in place of cloaks, the favorite 
 blanket around the shoulders, and on 
 their head uncouth caps of fur."'"' 
 
 No guest in the Assembly was more 
 astonished at the entrance of the dusky 
 procession than Landlord Morgan who 
 began to say things that were more 
 forcible than poetical, and particularly 
 so when he expressed himself in the 
 Pennsylvania German patois. "IVass is 
 loss da!" he exclaimed "ivass fa dumnia 
 socha sin do?" Ich hud sie net all einge- 
 lauten; usht en halb dutzen oder so und 
 do kumma finfzig oder sechssig — wass 
 muss der- Washington denkaf" It was 
 not until he had seen Washington shake 
 hands with Red Jacket and his followers 
 and had been assured by the Rev. Samuel 
 Kirkland the Presbyterian clergyman and 
 missionary who had accompanied 
 them that they were all sober, that he 
 became reconciled to their presence in 
 the midst of the grand company he 
 had brought together. Even then he 
 was seen to shake his head vigorously 
 during the rest of the evening and to 
 hold confidential talk with Brother 
 Albrecht, much to that worthy's dis- 
 comfort and evident annoyance. 
 
 The entrance of Sir AVilliam John- 
 son still further mollified Landlord 
 Morgan when he noticed the effect his 
 presence produced upon the Indians. 
 The moment they caught sight of his 
 dignified and pleasing figure they be- 
 
 ■'""The day after their arrival (March 9, 1792) 
 the Brethren gave them a formal reception in the 
 chapel. The pupils of the Seminary, at their 
 special request were among the spectators, and par- 
 ticipated in the ceremonies of the occasion. The 
 Indians -were seated across the length of the Iiall in 
 two semicircular rows facing the minister's table, 
 which stood against the west wall of the building. 
 After the performance of an anthem with full ac- 
 companiment by the choir, Bishop Ettwein made 
 them an address, to which Red -lacket responded." 
 Moravian Seminary Souvenir, p. 102. 
 
 gan to cry out: "Wariaghejaghe ! War- 
 iaghejaghe !" the name given him when 
 he was adopted by the Mohawk nation. 
 After paying his respects to Washing- 
 ton and Lady Washington, whom he 
 reached with much difficulty, so enthu- 
 siastic was the reception given him by 
 the Indian chiefs and warriors, he be- 
 gan to converse with them in the In- 
 dian tongue which he spoke fluently. 
 It is said that no white man that ever 
 lived possessed so great an influence 
 over the Indian tribes as Sir William 
 Johnson. 
 
 He cultivated their friendship by ac- 
 commodating himself to their manners 
 
 SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON 
 
 and sometimes to their dress and by his 
 unfailing justice and honesty in his deal- 
 ings with them he won their entire con- 
 fidence and became the most powerful 
 personality on the Indian borders. His 
 marriage to Catharine Wiesenberg, 
 daughter of one of the German Palatines 
 of the Livingston Manor who subse- 
 quently settled in the Mohawk Valley 
 gave him additional standing and influ- 
 ence among the Germans of that region. 
 The proverbial fidelity of the Indian 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 49 
 
 character when once their friendship has 
 been given was amply shown on this 
 evening. The delight and demonstrative 
 pleasure manifested by these stern im- 
 passive warriors was a remarkable 
 exhibition and long remembered by the 
 guests of the evening. 
 
 Even Brother Albrecht began to think 
 that he had been perhaps too harsh in 
 his judgment of the Indian guests when 
 he saw how amiably and decently they 
 behaved during the evening after the 
 advent of Sir William Johnson, and how- 
 great was the interest shown by Wa.shing- 
 ton in Red Jacket and his fellow chief- 
 tains. He had no knowledge of the in- 
 vitation from Washington to Red Jacket 
 to meet him at Philadelphia to discuss a 
 treaty with the Six Nations, or he might 
 have understood something of the assur- 
 ance with which these sons of the forest 
 forced their way into the drawing room. ' 
 No place in their estimation was too 
 sacred in which to meet the great White 
 Father and particularly so on Moravian 
 soil which to the Indian was always a 
 refuge of safety or comfort in case of 
 need. The Moravians were not behind 
 the Jesuits in their friendly, kindly treat- 
 ment of the Indians. 
 
 Attention was diverted from the In- 
 dian chiefs by the entry of General 
 Thomas Gage, the Commander of the 
 British forces at Bunker Hill. In meet- 
 ing Washington he renewed an old ac- 
 quaintance formed in the first instance 
 in the Braddock Expedition in which he 
 was wounded. While Washington was 
 covering the retreat of Braddock's panic 
 stricken soldiers, Gage, then a Lieut. 
 Colonel, rallied a few of his troopers and 
 succeeded in taking the mortally 
 wounded Braddock to a place of safety. 
 Gage in the course of his conversation 
 with Washington recalled the events of 
 that disastrous venture to the Forks of 
 the Ohio, as being the occasion that first 
 gave the English government some idea 
 of his military capacity and energy, the 
 full extent of which was to be realized 
 on many a hard fought battle field in the 
 Revolution. 
 
 Referring to the defeat of the British 
 arms in that great struggle Gage frankly 
 acknowledged that Washington's role as 
 a peacemaker between the Colonies and 
 the Mother Country was infinitely more 
 successful than his own part when he 
 attempted in Boston in the year 1774 to 
 adjust the difl^erences that divided the 
 two countries. In calling Washington 
 "a peacemaker," he meant, the success- 
 ful general after a successful campaign. 
 He realized, he said, that mere talk and 
 threats such as he indulged in before the 
 battle of Bunker Hill made no impres- 
 sion on a people who felt the justice of 
 their cause and were prepared to battle 
 and die for it if need be. 
 
 During this conversation John ' Han- 
 cock and Samuel Adams had joined the 
 group that surrounded Washington and 
 by whom they were introduced to Gage 
 who immediately recognized them as old 
 Boston acquaintances whom alone he 
 had exempted from pardon in his procla- 
 mation promising clemency to all rebel- 
 lious New Englanders. He intended to 
 hang Hancock and Samuel Adams. 
 Laughing he shook hands cordially with 
 them expressing his great pleasure at 
 meeting them again and reminding them 
 that "it was one of the attributes of 
 humanity to be at fault occasionally in 
 its judgment of men and things, and that 
 he had become convinced long since that 
 the Colonists had just cause for griev- 
 ance at the ill treatment of the home 
 governm.ent. The narrow nature ot 
 George III and his fatuous advisers was 
 responsible for the loss of the American 
 Colonies to the English Crown, an irre- 
 parable loss, but he believed best though 
 for mankind," a sentiment heartily 
 applauded by Hancock and Adams, who 
 had long ago forgiven him his vindictive 
 manifesto. Franklin who overheard the 
 conversation quietly smiled in that saga- 
 cious manner of his that became famous 
 on two continents. It was truly a great 
 gathering of old time friends now re- 
 joicing in the blessings of peace and in 
 the success of whilom rebels. 
 
 The announcement by Brother Al- 
 brecht of the arrival of General Richard 
 
50 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 Montgomery and General John Sullivan 
 added greatly to the stir and interest that 
 was manifested in the now crowded 
 drawing room. It will be remembered 
 that Montgomery and Sullivan received 
 their commissions as Brigadier Generals 
 in the Continental Army on the same 
 day ; both young men and in the prime 
 of life. Both were figures of surpassing 
 interest to the company — Montgomery 
 for his gallant ill fated invasion of Can- 
 ada and Sullivan for his successful 
 expedition against the Indians of the 
 Six Nations, and both were welcomed 
 with every evidence of respect and ad- 
 miration — Sullivan receiving quite an 
 ovation from Red Jacket and his fellow 
 chiefs and followers. The Indian nature 
 is generous in its recognition of a brave 
 and talented foeman and Sullivan re- 
 ceived a proof of it this evening. 
 
 Montgomery was a most attractive 
 figure; he was "tall, of fine military 
 presence, of graceful address, with a 
 bright, magnetic face, winning manners 
 and had the bearing of a prince." So 
 he was described on the eve of his de- 
 parture from Saratoga on his Canadian 
 Campaign. 
 
 General Gage had reason to study the 
 personality of Montgomery with more 
 than ordinary interest inasmuch as his 
 own exploits at Boston were contrasted 
 with those of Montgomery's in Canada 
 and to his disadvantage. Montgomery's 
 untimely death was mourned by friends 
 and enemies alike, both paying tribute 
 to his valor. In the British parliament, 
 Edmund Burke, contrasted the condition 
 of "the 8,000 men, starved, disgraced 
 and shut up within the single town of 
 Boston, with the movements of the hero 
 who in one campaign had conquered 
 two thirds of Canada-" To which Lx)rd 
 North replied : "I cannot join in lament- 
 ing the death of Montgomery as a public 
 loss. Curse on his virtues ! they've un- 
 done his country. He was brave ; he was 
 able ; he was humane ; he was generous, 
 but still he was only a brave, able, 
 humane, and generous rebel." "The 
 term rebel," retorted Fox, "is no certain 
 mark of disgrace. The great asserters 
 
 of liberty, the saviors of their country, 
 the benefactors of mankind in all ages, 
 have been called rebels." 
 
 Of a sudden in the midst of the fes- 
 tivities, above the lively hum of conver- 
 sation, the hearty salutations and good 
 natured laughter was heard the distant 
 sound of muffled drums and fifes, play- 
 ing a stirring war-like march that made 
 all comrades in arms present, stand at 
 attention. Hurried steps were heard 
 coming through the hall and a messenger 
 hastily entering the drawing rcom quick- 
 ly elbowed his way to Washington with 
 whom he held a whispered conversation 
 at the end of which Washington strange- 
 ly moved, turned to Generals Greene, 
 Morgan, Steuben and Kalb and in a 
 voice that almost trembled with emo- 
 tion addressed them: "My old com- 
 rades : I have but this moment received 
 a message that may well disturb the 
 poise of the strongest man. Dear as 
 is the memory of this beautiful town 
 to me by reason of the many splendid 
 services and loyalty shown the cause 
 of liberty in many a dark hour of our 
 great struggle for Independence by 
 the Brethren here, yet I have been 
 often saddened by the thought of the 
 hundreds of my brave soldiers who 
 have bivouacked these many years on the 
 hospitable Moravian soil ; who suc- 
 cumbed to disease and to wounds not- 
 withstanding the skill and tender 
 nursing of the Sisters and Brethren, to 
 the faithfulness of which you will, I 
 am sure, bear glad testimony my old 
 friend," turning to Lafayette who had 
 joined the little group of Generals. 
 Continuing W^ashington said : "Among 
 these were many Virginians, some of 
 whom were members of your corps of 
 riflemen. General Morgan; most of 
 them gallant young men, choice snirits, 
 too young to die. In some strange 
 mysterious way they have learned of 
 my presence here tonight and have 
 begged me to grant them the favor of 
 a review as at Valley Forge and at 
 Brandywine. They will be on the 
 march presently and I request you and 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 51 
 
 those assembled here to share with me 
 the honor of their sakites." 
 
 Then was witnessed another strange 
 sight on this memorable night of won- 
 derful experiences. The spectral forms 
 of nearl_y a thousand Continental sol- 
 diers""' and Riflemen in the well known 
 Continental bufT and blue uniforms and 
 the Riflemen's buckskin jackets and 
 leggins came marching up the street 
 toward the old Inn, where stood Wash- 
 ington surrounded by the Generals and 
 
 i!'W5^»'^W!^p^ip»By!!;'5y" 
 
 DE LAFAYETTE (after Houdon) 
 
 ofificers present, marching in solid 
 ranks and in perfect alignment with 
 arms at a carry. As they neared their 
 commander the command of "Platoons 
 right, present arms!" was heard and 
 platoon after platoon of the long pro- 
 cession wheeled with beautiful preci- 
 sion, facing AA^ashington and present- 
 
 •^""The hou.se of the single men \vu.s turned into a 
 hospital — Tt is incredible how many perished for want 
 of proper care and attention and the hospital being 
 unsupplied with drugs. Pointing to an ad,ioining 
 field the head of the Society said: "There lie buried 
 seven or eight hundred of the American soldiers who 
 died hei'e during the winter.' " Aiibiirci/'n Trards, 
 Vol. 11, pp. .512-13. 
 
 ing arms wheeling again at the com- 
 mand of 'TMatoons right! carry arms!"'" 
 
 This incident affected Washington 
 profoundly as well as General Morgan 
 who recognized among the Riflemen 
 many of his young Virginia back- 
 woods friends. Steuben too, was filled 
 with strong emotion when he noticed 
 among the Continental soldiers num- 
 bers of the recruits he had drilled at 
 Valley Forge, and Lafayette also when 
 he saw some whom he had met whi-le 
 he himself lay wounded at Bethlehem. 
 The sight of these old veterans of the 
 Revolutionary armies brought back in- 
 numerable incidents of the war to the 
 memory of the officers assembled. The 
 dangers of battle, the pangs of hunger 
 and fatigue on the long and lonelv 
 marches were realized again by them 
 all as they looked upon the marching- 
 columns. The silent salutes impressed 
 them more than salvos of artillery or 
 loud huzzas. 
 
 During the excitement created by 
 the passing of the Continental soldiers 
 and Riflemen several announcements 
 were made by Brother Albrecht, and 
 when AA'ashington with his escort of 
 rifflcers returned to the drawing room 
 quite an accession to the number of 
 guests was apparent. Conspicuous 
 among them were a number of officers 
 who seemed to gravitate to each other 
 by some mysterious influence. Their 
 presence created much surprise and 
 embarrassment b}" reason of their well 
 known antagonism to Washington in 
 the early days of the Revolution. The 
 two most prominent in the group were 
 Generals Gates and Conway the lead- 
 ers of the famous "Conway cabal" 
 which for a brief time came near con- 
 trolling the deliberations of the Conti- 
 nental Congress in their endeavor to 
 displace Washington as Commander- 
 in-Chief and putting Gates into his 
 place. The capture of Burgoyne at 
 Saratoga proved too much for the van- 
 ity of General Gates. He developed 
 
 ^''The writer fears that he lias been guilty of an 
 anachronism here, and trusts that his army friends 
 will forgive him. 
 
52 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 very quickly a "swelled head" in the 
 parlance of the present day, which only 
 attained normal proportions after his 
 defeat at Camden in the disastrous 
 Southern campaign where he was super- 
 seded by Greene. 
 
 Landlord Morgan in his generous in- 
 vitations to the old guests of the fa- 
 mous Inn overlooked the fact that per- 
 haps some of the guests might be 
 persona non grata to Washington 
 vvhieh was the case so far as Gates and 
 Conway were concerned, notwithstand- 
 ing that Conway in a letter to Wash- 
 ington acknowledged the great wrong 
 he had done him. Generals Sullivan 
 and Schuyler were seen to scowl fu- 
 riously when they saw Gates in close 
 conversation with Conway — while the 
 New Englanders present avoided meet- 
 ing them. A number of these worthies 
 were involved in the beginning of the 
 Cabal with Gates in the effort to de- 
 prive Washington of the chief com- 
 mand. Washington's exposure o f 
 Gates however as a liar and the author 
 o f certain dishonorable correspon- 
 dence made the New England mem- 
 bers of the Continental Congress 
 ashamed of their conduct, the memory 
 of which they sought to keep in the 
 background this night^^ by avoiding 
 anything like cordiality in a meeting 
 with Gates or Conway.^- Sullivan 
 and Schuyler had ample reason to 
 dislike Gates. His treatment of Schuy- 
 ler and of Arnold before and after the 
 battle of Saratoga was contemptible 
 and was productive of great harm to 
 the American cause. Sullivan's gen- 
 erous Irish blood asserted itself when 
 he exclaimed to Schuyler : "There's the 
 coward responsible for Arnold's undo- 
 ing." Arnold's brilliant Vvork at Sara- 
 toga and at Freeman's Farm and the 
 cowardly conduct of Gates were so 
 well known to the army officers that 
 there was always more or less sym- 
 pathetic feeling for Arnold among 
 them, in spite of his treason. 
 
 By a strange coincidence just as Sul- 
 livan made his reference to Arnold, 
 the announcement was heard : "Major 
 John Andre !" There was possibly no 
 incident during the eventful evening 
 that so fully marked the extraordinary 
 character of Landlord Morgan's recep- 
 tion as the entry of Andre, represent- 
 ing as he did the most tragic event in 
 the Revolutionary struggle. The en- 
 gaging personality of the handsome 
 young officer at once won for him the 
 warm friendly sentiments of the as- 
 sembly. Even Washington's kindly 
 regard, was shown in the manner in 
 which he welcomed him. During the 
 evening not the least reference was 
 made by anyone in conversation with 
 him to any of the unhappy incidents 
 that so tragically closed his career. It 
 was the refined, polished gentleman 
 who was recognized, ancr graciously 
 received and entertained. . 
 
 In a conversation Andre had with 
 Landlord Morgan he expressed his 
 pleasure at again being a guest of the 
 Sun Inn. ■'''^Many years before, while 
 passing through Nazareth and Bethle- 
 hem on his way to Philadelphia he said 
 he had enjoyed its hospitality, a fact 
 not generally known. Our landlord 
 was greatly pleased with Andre's ref- 
 erence to his first visit to Bethlehem 
 and with the compliments he paid him 
 on the brilliant gathering he had so 
 successfully brought together. 
 
 That the reception was a success 
 was evident; there was no lack of 
 movement or conversation among the 
 guests, who very soon formed them- 
 selves into groups drawn together by 
 the memory of old ties of friendship or 
 of service in Colonial or Revolution- 
 ary days or b}' reason of kindred tastes 
 and pursuits. This was shown in a 
 little coterie aloof from the crowded 
 space about ^Vashington that was en- 
 gaged in an animated and evidently en- 
 joyalile conversation. The character 
 of the topics discussed may readily be 
 
 ''-"A secret enemy, or in other "words, a dangerous 
 incendiary: in wliieh eliaracter sooner or later this 
 country will know General Conway." Wtifilnitiitoit'fi 
 htter to Galea, Javuary 4, 1773. 
 
 '■■'■A MSS. Journal in the possession of the Penn- 
 sylvania Historical Society makes mention of An- 
 dre's journey through this section. 
 
MAJOR JOHN ANDRE 
 
 From the original painting by Andre 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 53 
 
 guessed when we learn the personality 
 of those composing the group. The 
 most eminent of these was the astron- 
 omer and philosopher David Ritten- 
 house, and the others were Peter S. 
 Du Ponceau for a long time the Presi- 
 dent of the American Philosophical 
 Society ; the Abbe Correa de Serra, 
 Minister to the United States from 
 Portugal, a member of the Royal So- 
 city of Lisbon and distinguished as a 
 naturalist and linguist; Dr. John 
 Schopf the celebrated traveler and 
 naturalist; Baron Hermelin the Swed- 
 ish mineralogist; the Rev. Johan Au- 
 gustus Milius, Chaplain to the Baron 
 von Riedesel, a scholar with scientific 
 tastes ; the Chevalier Conrad Alexandre 
 Gerard, the Minister from France to 
 the United States, who was honored 
 with the degree of LL. D. by Yale 
 College; Don Juan de Miralles.a Span- 
 ish gentleman, a friend of the Chevalier 
 Gerard ; the Right Reverend John Ett- 
 wein, the Moravian Bishop ; Joseph J. 
 Mickley, the Antiquarian and First 
 President of the American Numismatic 
 Society; several of the professors from 
 Lehigh University and Lafayette Col- 
 lege ; Asa Packer, builder of the Lehigh 
 Valley Railroad and founder of the Le- 
 high University ; President Joseph Wil- 
 lard of Harvard University ; the Rev. 
 William C. Reichel, the Moravian his- 
 torian, and David Thomas, of Catasau- 
 qua, the founder of the iron industry in 
 the Laiited States with anthracite coal 
 for fuel and the use of the hot blast for 
 smelting iron ores. 
 
 The conversation was learned and 
 manifestly of the greatest interest and 
 withal interspersed with suggestions 
 of trade and commerce. Dr. Schopf 
 was particularly anxious for informa- 
 tion concerning the "pearl fisheries" of 
 the Lehigh river, while Baron Herme- 
 lin had a great deal to say about the 
 silver ores near Nazareth. Dr. Schopf 
 was ver.y persistent in his inquiries af- 
 ter a deposit of agates, cornelians and 
 other varieties of the mocco stone he 
 had tried to locate many years before, 
 
 which he believed would be found in 
 the Blue Mountains. The only thing 
 that the Doctor could locate with defi- 
 nite certainty however was a rock on 
 the other side of the Lehigh, cavities 
 in which were filled with a fine yellow 
 powder," which was used in Bethlehem 
 in lieu of "writing sand." When in- 
 formed by the professors from Lehigh 
 University that blotting paper had 
 taken the place of writing-sand he was 
 quite astonished and seemingly disap- 
 pointed. He examined with great 
 curiosity some of the blotters that 
 Landlord Morgan presented him with 
 later in the evening. The Baron and 
 Dr. Schopf were amazed when told 
 that the iron ore, cement rock, and 
 slate found in the Lehigh A'alley had 
 brought greater wealth to it than all 
 the pearl fisheries of Ceylon ever pro- 
 duced or half the silver mines in the 
 world. They were convinced of the 
 truth of this statement the following 
 day when Landlord Morgan took them 
 o\'er the Lehigh \"alley in his airship. 
 Charles M. Schwab, President of the 
 Bethlehem Steel and Iron Company, who 
 had been announced a few minutes be- 
 fore, was introduced to the scientific 
 group by Mr. Albert Brodhead, the pro- 
 prietor of the Sun Inn, and experienced 
 the busiest half hour in his busy life, 
 answering innumerable questions from 
 all sides concerning iron, steel, arrnor 
 plates, vanadium, manganese and zinc 
 ores, bessemer processes, hot blasts, 
 magnets and railroads. They were great- 
 ly impressed with the description given 
 of the process of hardening steel armor 
 plates by Messrs. George and Charles E. 
 Pettinos of Bethlehem, who discovered 
 and are supplying the material used in 
 the operation. 
 
 While ]\Ir. Schwab was explaining the 
 technical processes of making steel 
 armor plates, his audience was increased 
 by the presence of Commodore John 
 Barry, the Commander of the old Frig- 
 ate, "United States," ranking officer of 
 
 ■"''See: "Iri'-ithiits of Travel through some of lie 
 Middle and Hinitli.ern United States, etr.. 1783 n/id 
 1784by Dr. John Schoepf. Bayreiith. 1788.' Vol. 1. 
 p. 143. 
 
54 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 the old Navy, who at once began another 
 series of searching questions. It will be 
 remembered that ilie Commodore super- 
 intended the building of his flagship of 
 which he was very proud. He seemed 
 quite skeptical for a time when told that 
 battleships built entirely of steel plates a 
 foot thick and weighing from 20,000 to 
 30,000 tons could float in sea water, 
 carrying cannon, firing balls weighing 
 half a ton and over to a distance of three 
 miles and farther. He looked very 
 quizzically at the Messrs. Schwab and 
 Pettinos, when with an amused smile he 
 inquired whether the Blarney stone had 
 been stolen by some enterprising Penn- 
 sylvania German in recent times and set 
 up in Bethlehem. A midnight ride in 
 I\Ir. Schwab's automobile, (in itself a 
 marvel to the ancient Commodore) to 
 the steel works after the reception was 
 over, quickly convinced him that naval 
 architecture had undergone a decided 
 change since he built the "United 
 States" and that he would not have much 
 show in a fight with a modern battleship. 
 He was very quiet on the way back to 
 the Inn ; he realized that times had 
 changed and that he belonged to another 
 age — as he confidentially informed 
 ^Vashington whom he met on his return 
 to the Inn. "Plorseless carriages and 
 ships without sails propelled with hot 
 water " he said "are too much for my 
 simple brain. Today while getting out 
 of the way of a chap riding between two 
 wheels hitched tandem fashion I was 
 nearly demolished by an airship that 
 came sailing down the street at the same 
 time. I was told too that they talk now 
 through solid wires for a hundred miles 
 or more, and bottle up music like wine. 
 ^'ou take out the cork and the music 
 flows out in any tune you want. It is 
 too much for me Vour Excellency." 
 
 A.n incident of unusual interest was 
 the greeting given by Washington to 
 
 '^Sir: Brigadier flciiHriil Mcintosh having requested 
 from Congress leave to retire from the command to 
 the Westward, they have, by resolve of the 20th 
 February, granted his request, and directed me to 
 appoint an oflicer to .^lucceed him. From my opinion 
 of your abilities, your former acquaintance with the 
 Itaclc countrv, and the knowledge you must have ac- 
 quired upon this last tour of dutv, I have appointed 
 vnu to the command in preference to a stranger. * 
 * * * * * As soon as Congress had vested me 
 
 Surveyor General Daniel Brodhead, 
 brother of Garret Brodhead, the ancestor 
 ■>f Mr. Albert Brodhead, the proprietor 
 of the Sun Inn. General Brodhead was 
 among the most trusted of Washington's 
 officers. The confidence he reposed in 
 his ability and discretion was shown'' in 
 a conspicious manner when he appointed 
 him to succeed General Lachlan Mc- 
 intosh as Commandant of Fort Pitt in 
 1778 and to undertake the chastisement 
 of the Indians in the Western Country 
 who had become a source of great annoy- 
 ance, their hostility interfering great- 
 ly with his plans of operation in the 
 east and south. 
 
 After a hearty handshake Washington 
 said : "This is the most wonderful social 
 atifair of my life. I cannot turn in any 
 direction without seeing some cherished 
 friend, some officer whose ability and 
 loyalty were of such vast service to their 
 country in aiding me in my trying posi- 
 ton as Commander-in-Chief of the 
 army. Here I meet you most unexpected- 
 ly my dear General, also my valiant Sul- 
 livan and the faithful meritorious Mc- 
 intosh, three of my besit Indian fighters." 
 Turning again to General Brodhead he 
 continued: "I would have been in sore 
 straights had you not so thoroughly 
 chastised the Mingo and Muncy tribes 
 on the Ohio giving them a lesson they 
 did not forget during the rest of the war. 
 My dear friend Sullivan here gave the 
 same thorough punishment to the Six 
 Nations, the memory of which their 
 tribes will never forget. I needed every 
 soldier in my operations against the 
 British forces and could not aflford to 
 have them doing duty on the Indian 
 frontiers. I have never forgotten your 
 
 with the superintendence and direction of affairs to 
 the westward, I gave General Mcintosh orders to 
 make preparations. ***** Had General 
 Mcintosh come down, you would have been fully 
 competent to carry on the preparations, but if you 
 quit the post, I apprehend there will be no officer 
 left of sufficient weight and ability. This is an opin- 
 ion which J would wish you to keep to yourself, be- 
 cause T might give offence to officers in all other re- 
 spects very worthy of the stations they fill." 
 
 Extracts from letter to Colonel Brodhead, from 
 General Washington dated: Headquarters, Middle 
 Brook, 5th March, 1779. This letter does not ap- 
 pear in any of the collected writings of Washington, 
 and is in the possession of a descendant of General 
 Brodhead. 
 
 See History of Northumberland Co.. Pa. by Everts 
 and Stewart, Philadelphia, 1876. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 55 
 
 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 
 
 Reprinted with permission, from the Life of Johann Sebastian Bach, by 
 Sir Hubert Parry. Copyright, 1909. by G, P. Putnam's Sons, Xew ^'ork.'''' 
 
 brilliant and effective services — and am 
 very happy this night in being permitted 
 to thank you again for all you accomp- 
 lished and that I meet you here in cotn- 
 pany with Sullivan and Mcintosh under 
 the same roof. This is truly a wonderful 
 affair — to me at least, meeting at I do so 
 inany of you gentlemen of the army. 
 Here comes also my old friend Knox, 
 good soldier and sound statesman as I 
 always found him. Lewis too and Max- 
 well, and Armstrong and Woodford and 
 the worthy Mifflin, veterans all. It 
 makes my heart glad to see you all here 
 together.'' 
 
 Attention was called to a distinguished 
 looking group surrounding Uenjamin 
 Franklin engaged in spirited conversa- 
 tion. It was a reunion of the signers oi 
 the Declaration present this evening, 
 among them George A\'alton, Lyman 
 Hall, 'William Ellery, William Whipi)le, 
 John Hancock and Charles Thomson 
 "the Samuel Adams of Philadelphia" 
 who should have been a signer, so great 
 and patriotic were his services. 
 
 "'The portrait of Baclx in this sketch is a veprodm^ 
 tion of a recently discovered painting in the pos- 
 session of Doctfir Fritz Volbacli, of (Tcrniany. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 A startling interruption of the ani- 
 mated conversation took place in the 
 midst of the group surrounding Major 
 Andre as General Morgan suddenly grip- 
 ping hard the arm of General Schuyler, 
 exclaimed in awe stricken tones : "Good 
 God ! General ! Look ! Look ! See that 
 face at the window! — It is Arnold! — by 
 all that is holy! What in Heaven's 
 name has brought him here ! The last 
 place in all this great world to visit ! Is 
 he mad !" 
 
 There, true enough, was Benedict 
 Arnold standing like a wraith close to 
 the window wearing the uniform of a 
 Major General in the Continental Army, 
 his pallid face wearing such a look of 
 sadness as but few men in all the cen- 
 turies have worn ; his eyes filled with an 
 expression of intense suffering and long- 
 ing. If ever remorse was seen personi- 
 fied, it was so in that silent figure at the 
 window looking in upon the gallant com- 
 pany — many of whom in days gone by 
 he had numbered among his warmest 
 friends — chief of whom was Washing- 
 ton whose loyal faith and trust he so 
 foully betrayed at West Point. He be- 
 held here, not only former comrades 
 whose friendship and admiration he had 
 enjoyed, while battling for his native 
 land, but also military foes whom he had 
 opposed in gallant fashion, honored 
 guests here this night, but who he knew 
 would have spurned him had he claimed 
 their fellowship in his new service. Of 
 all mankind, he was the one man with- 
 out a country — the one man denied the 
 privilege of rejoicing in the success of 
 the nation he had so freely shed his blood 
 to found in the beginning of his career. 
 Had he but suspected the great secret 
 that lay in the womb of Time, the world 
 would have been spared the reading of 
 one of the saddest chapters of American 
 historv. 
 
 General Morgan in a voice filled with 
 the accents of the deepest regret broke 
 the stillness that had fallen like a spell 
 ui'iin the gathering as he exclaimed: 
 ''Had he but died at Saratoga all would 
 have been well with him." Arnold, who 
 setmed to have heard Morgan, turned to 
 
 him with grateful eyes whose flashes 
 bore the same thought. With a great 
 sigh that was heard by all he then faced 
 Washington who had watched him with 
 evident emotion, saluting him in the old 
 way with the profoundest respect, and 
 then wheeling quickly he vanished from 
 the gaze of the astonished company. 
 
 The tremendous tension was broken, 
 and the guests once more began to move 
 about and converse. The subject of 
 conversation for a long time however 
 was the strange unheralded appearance 
 of Arnold. Only two of all the company 
 refrained from comments and these 
 were General Gates and Major Andre, 
 both linked for all time to the story of 
 Arnold's shame — the one to a certain 
 decree responsible for it, and the other 
 the unhappy victim of it. 
 
 Much curiosity was evinced when 
 Brother Albrecht announced in his most 
 formal manner and with evident pride: 
 "His Highness Maximilian, Fiirst 
 (Prince) von Wied ; Bernhard, Herzog 
 (Duke) Zu Sachsen-^^'eimar-Eisenach ; 
 die Grafin (Countess) Benigna von 
 Wattville ; die Baronin ( Baroness) Anna 
 Dorothea von ^Vattville, und der hoch- 
 geborene Herr Pfarrer (Pastor) Johan- 
 nes Christian Alexander von Schwein- 
 itz ; also der Baron von Repsdorff." 
 These were guests whose social standing 
 appealed strongly to Brother Albrecht, 
 who was something of an aristocrat. 
 Once in a great while, when the occasion 
 excused the reference, he would quietly 
 speak of ancestors who dwelt in castles 
 in the German land and who rode out 
 to battle at the head of warlike retain- 
 ers. Moravian that he was — a man of 
 peace and humility — yet he could not 
 quiet divest himself of family pride any 
 more than could Count Zinzendorf. Fine 
 family traditions are possessions worth 
 having and living up to. 
 
 This accession to the company after 
 paying their respects to Washington soon 
 were heard earnestly conversing in the 
 German tongue with Steuben, Kalb, the 
 Riedesels, Dr. Schoepf, Heckewelder, 
 the missionary, the Baron von Plermelin, 
 and Captain David Ziegler, who had 
 

 
 CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM ALLEN 
 Founder of Allentown, Penna. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 57 
 
 hastened to give them a cordial German 
 heimath greeting. 
 
 As if to sihow in the strongest possible 
 light the cosmopolitan character of this 
 wonderful gathering Brother Albrecht 
 was heard announcing in the French 
 tongue: "le Chevalier de La Neuville; 
 M. de La Balm; M. de Montmorenci 
 le Marquis de Laval ; la Comte de Cus- 
 tine de Sarreck ; le Comte de St. Maine ; 
 le Comte de St. Victor ; M. de Liancourt, 
 le Due de la Rochefoucauld," and, to cap 
 the climax as well as to illustrate the 
 revolutionary character of the age, the 
 rise and fall of individual families as 
 well as that of nations, he finished by 
 announcing: "His Majesty Joseph Bona- 
 parte, King of Spain." 
 
 The reception given to the German 
 nobles was a mild affair when compared 
 with that given to these illustrious 
 Frenchmen. Several had served in the 
 Revolution under Rochambeau — and all 
 were intimately known to Lafayette who 
 gave them the warmest greeting possible. 
 In the Comte de Custine, the Baron 
 Steuben recognized an old comrade in 
 arms, who had served with him under 
 Frederick the Great. They had much to 
 say to each other — and many a thrilling 
 incident of the Seven Years' War did 
 they recount during the evening. Much 
 tragic interest was attached to the career 
 of Comte Custine as he was one of those 
 who suffered on the guillotine during the 
 Reign of Terror. 
 
 Barely had the distinguished French- 
 men mingled with the assembly when 
 another Frenchman's name was an- 
 nounced, that of the Huguenot refugee 
 from Picardy: Anthony Benezet — the in- 
 timate friend and confidant of Count 
 Zinzendorf — of whom was said as he 
 lay in his coffin in Philadelphia on the 
 day of his funeral, b_y a Continental of- 
 ficer : "I would rather be Anthony Ben- 
 ezet in that coffin than General Wash- 
 ington with all his fame." The friend- 
 less and oppressed always found a friend 
 and helper in Anthony Benezet, and it 
 was not surprising therefore that he re- 
 ceived the warmest greetings from all 
 assembled. The French nobles were 
 
 proud of one who had brought fresh 
 lustre and honor to the French name 
 even though by one who had been exiled 
 because of his religious belief differing 
 from their own. Happier days had 
 dawned for France ; the curse of relig- 
 ious intolerance had been lifted forever, 
 and exiles like Benezet were now hon- 
 ored as among the most distinguished of 
 her sons. Washington and Lafayette 
 showed him the greatest attention — for 
 they had known him well in the days of 
 travail and remembered many a gener- 
 ous deed. 
 
 The arrival was announced of Lord 
 Montague, Royal Governor of South 
 Carolina, and Lady Montague, accom- 
 panied by Sir John Sinclair, John Gard- 
 ner, Esquire, Attorney General of St. 
 Kitts in the West Indies and John Penii! 
 the poet, son of Thomas Penn, whose 
 affable, gentle nature made him a wel- 
 come guest wherever he went. Penn's 
 poetical lines to Bethlehem and the 
 Lehigh written many years before were 
 recalled by the Sister Benade who asked 
 him whether he still wooed the muse as 
 of old. 
 
 There seemed no end to the arrival of 
 noted guests — Brother Albrecht just 
 having announced Benjamin Rush, Sur- 
 geon General ; John Dickenson, whose 
 timidity prevented him from signing the 
 Declaration of Independence ; Chancellor 
 Robert Livingston, Minister to France, 
 favorite of Napoleon, and to whom is 
 due the cession of Louisiana ; Bushrod 
 Washington ; Edmund Pendleton of Vir- 
 giania, one of the ablest statesmen of 
 the Revolutionary and Formative period 
 of the nation, whose masterly arguments 
 in favor of the adoption of the Constitu- 
 tion it would be well for some of our 
 latter day statesmen to study. He said, 
 it will be remembered, among other not- 
 able sayings : "There is no quarrel 
 between government and liberty" and 
 again : "It is a government of laws, and 
 not of men.'' Sentiments like these ex- 
 pressed by him today would make him 
 unpopular with a certain school of poli- 
 ticians who are busy in the endeavor to 
 discredit our ancient charter of liberties. 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 Still later arrivals were the U. S. 
 Senator Richard Brodhead, Governor 
 Morris and Samuel Wharton, Esquire, 
 the Philadelphia merchant who barely 
 escaped hanging at the hands of the Eng- 
 lish authorities in England because of 
 his friendship for Benjamin Franklin. 
 ''That was a close call your neck had old 
 friend," exclaimed Franklin when they 
 met later in the evening. "I shudder 
 whenever I think of it." 
 
 Brother Albrecht had announced so 
 many military officers during the even- 
 ing that unconsciously he had assumed a 
 military bearing which was observed by 
 many of his old friends with much quiet 
 amusement. It was quite pronounced as 
 he ushered in General John Glover, Lord 
 Sterling, Colonel William Augustine 
 Washington, and the old veteran, Gen- 
 eral Edward "Hand. 
 
 An announcement that created the 
 greatest interest was that of Commodore 
 Paul Jones, founder of the American 
 Navy, who stepped into the drawing 
 room leaning on the arm of Mr. John 
 Fritz, of Bethlehem, one of the pioneer 
 makers of armor plates for the great 
 modern battleships. There was un- 
 doubted fitness and propriety in this 
 escort of the great naval hero of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 The revolt against England was un- 
 questionably successful because of the 
 victories on land by the military forces 
 under Washington, and not because of 
 any decisive naval battles. The victories 
 on the seas of Barry and Jones however 
 were briUiant exploits and" no doubt did 
 much to put heart into the struggling 
 colonists in their long drawn out contest. 
 The victories of Barry and Jones showed 
 too the daring qualities of the American 
 sailor and sea fighter and what might be 
 expected of future generations of 
 American seamen in time of war — a 
 |)romise amply fulfilled in the War of 
 1812; in the war with the pirates of 
 Tripoli ; in our own Civil War, and the 
 epoch making Spanish War. 
 
 .So gallant a figure, one so truly a 
 national hero could not long remain iso- 
 lated in such a company where all were 
 
 familiar with his brilliant exploits on the 
 high seas. None were more cordial in 
 their greetings than Commodore Barry, 
 whose generous Irish nature prompted 
 him also to say: "Commodore, you have 
 no doubt heard of the attempt that is 
 being made at the present time to make 
 me figure in American history as the 
 founder of the American Navy, by a lot 
 of belated Irishmen — recent arrivals — 
 who are busy painting our history a 
 bright Irish green. I have been confi- 
 dentially informed that General Wash- 
 ington himself is to receive a thick coat 
 of emerald. Some conchologist has dis- 
 covered I hear that he had an Irish an- 
 cestress four or five thousand years ago. 
 Just because I resigned as master of a 
 trading ship in 1776 and accepted the 
 command of the 'Lexington,' a bit of a 
 cruiser, and was lucky enough to cap- 
 ture a British cockle-shell — the tender 
 'Edward,' a lot of wild Irishmen are try- 
 ing to make me figure as a Napoleon in 
 naval history. Nelson and Drake are 
 'not ill it' with me as they say in this 
 lively town of Bethlehem. Now I don't 
 want you for a second to think that I 
 approve of such talk. No sane man 
 would say that any exploit of mine was 
 at all comparable with the capture of the 
 'Serapis.' Now if I had commanded the 
 'Bon Homme Richard' I would have felt 
 like pluming myself with feathers 
 plucked from the bird of fame. I have 
 always said that Congress did a shabby 
 thing in not establishing the rank of a 
 Rear Admiral and conferring that honor 
 upon you — as they talked of doing — but 
 Congress was guilty of some very pecu- 
 liar things you know. You remember 
 how near it came to taking the chief 
 command away from Washington. Luck- 
 ily a public man's reputation and achieve- 
 ments can with entire safety be left to 
 the avenger Time." 
 
 Paul Jones, with that winning smile 
 and courteous manner that made Inim 
 such an enviable figure at the Court of 
 Louis X\T replied with a laugh : "Com- 
 modore, you are taking these matters too 
 seriously. In the language of a well 
 known naval commander of the recent 
 
HOUDON BUST OF JOHN PAUL JONES 
 From plaster cast in the Trocadero Museum, Paris 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 59 
 
 Spanish War : 'there is glory enough for 
 everybody.' You accomplished great 
 things — nothing that I know of was finer 
 than your capture of the 'Atalanta' and 
 the 'Trepassy.' By the way have you 
 fully recovered from the wound you re- 
 ceived on that occasion?" 
 
 Barry changed the subject by saying: 
 "Come this way Commodore, I want you 
 to hear about the wonderful new battle- 
 ships built of steel with steel cannon tir- 
 ing steel balls weighing a thousand 
 pounds a distance of five miles. With 
 one ship like that either one of us could 
 have sunk or captured every ship in the 
 British Navy." Very quickly Charles 
 M. Schwab, and John Fritz were seen 
 busily drawing sketches and making ex- 
 planations to these two redoubtable nava^ 
 heroes — on whose faces amazement 
 could be plainly seen. 
 
 The surgeons of the Continental Hos- 
 pital also had their little gathering to 
 recount their sad experiences at Bethle- 
 hem and elsewhere : Dr. William Ship- 
 pen, Dr. John Morgan, Dr. Jackson, Dr. 
 John Duffield, Dr. John Warren, brother 
 of General Joseph Warren, the hero of 
 Bunker Hill, and Dr. James Houston. 
 
 The chief magistrates of Pennsylvania 
 were well represented in the persons of 
 Governors James Hamilton, Richard and 
 John Penn, and Thomas Mifflin and had 
 much to discuss when they found them- 
 selves in unexpected convention. They 
 were joined by Governor Davis of North 
 Carolina, and by James Allen the found- 
 er of Allentown and the Huguenot, John 
 Bayard a distinguished patriot of the 
 Revolution. Colonel William Polk of 
 North Carolina, Colonel Eliot, Col. 
 John Bannister and Colonel HorsfieM 
 and James LoA'ell of Boston, member of 
 the Continental Congress, and who was 
 imprisoned by General Gage the British 
 Commander at Boston in I77S' were 
 among the belated guests of the evening 
 but were received nevertheless right 
 cordially. General Gage later in the 
 evening apologized to Congressman 
 Lovell for sending him to Halifax ; "but 
 vou must blame your passionate devotion 
 to the idea of "Independence" which 
 
 you were aware I was sent to America 
 to combat" he explained. 
 
 Among the guests who seemed ner- 
 vous and discontented was the restless 
 Frenchman, Brigadier General Roche de 
 Fermoy who somehow proved unsuccess- 
 ful as a soldier by reason of insubordi- 
 nation, and became much disliked by 
 Washington in consequence. He was 
 really responsible for St. Clair's unhappy 
 experience at Ticonderoga. 
 
 When the evening had been far spent 
 and the flow of conversation in the gal- 
 lant company was at flood-tide and 
 all invited guests had long since ar- 
 rived, Brother Albrecht was heard 
 above the babble as with a beaming 
 countenance he announced in a ringing 
 voice : "The worthy and venerable 
 Herr Johann Sebastian Bach, Koenig 
 von Musikland." There then stepped 
 into the room, a blind old man, his 
 head covered with a great wig, much 
 like that of an English Chief Justice, — 
 a face which once beheld never after 
 forgotten ; massive, noble features, al- 
 most stern, eyes in which shone the 
 light of genius and about him the un- 
 mistakeable air of a master. Piowing 
 gracefully to the company, he ad- 
 dressed it with much dignity of speech 
 and manner: "My friends" he said, 
 "you will forgive I am sure the intru- 
 sion of an uninvited guest — a poor old 
 musician whose whole life has been de- 
 voted to music, the composing of it as 
 much as its interpretation, and who 
 was simple enough to believe that he 
 had written something- that expressed, 
 as nothing ever before by man, the 
 glorious mission of music, when he 
 composed his '"B Minor Mass ; who had 
 hoped and prayed that he might be 
 privileged to hear it sung as he had con- 
 ceived it should be sung, before he had 
 passed beyond this mortal life ; to hear 
 the 'Sanctus' sung by a devout and 
 worthy chorus." 
 
 "That happiness was denied him in his 
 old home in Germany, but not so in this 
 
 r,T'"pijg mightiest Choral work 
 P'lrry's Life of Bach, p. 307, G. P, 
 New Yoi'k. 
 
 ever written," 
 Putnam's Sons. 
 
60 
 
 BROTHER ALBRECHTS SECRET CHAJMBER 
 
 new and wonderful land where music is 
 regarded as a rare gift of the Almighty 
 and singers and composers are not 
 treaited as if they were '-beggars, but as 
 princes. We dwellers in the realm be- 
 vond the grave, know and hear things 
 you dream not of. A great English 
 master, one of the Immortals, whom I 
 have met and who calls me 'brother' 
 once said, as you will remember : 'there 
 are more things in heaven and earth 
 than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' 
 'Tis true ! the blind see, the deaf hear ; 
 we live the life denied to us on earth; 
 the soul expands and is in harmony with 
 the majestic order of the universe. 
 Think you that you can send a message 
 across the seas on the winds of heaven 
 ;is men do now and question our ability 
 to hear such messages too ; aye, and to 
 send them also ? Can you doubt our 
 faculty to hear the music of mortals 
 when our souls are attuned to the music 
 of the spheres? 'There's not the smallest 
 orl) which thou beholdest, but in his 
 motion like an angel sings, still quiring 
 to the young eyed cherubins ; such har- 
 mony is in immortal souls ; but while this 
 muddy vesture of decay doth grossl) 
 close it in we cannot hear." " 
 
 "Ah, can you conceive with what emo- 
 tion I have heard sung in this beautiful 
 l)urg in your May Festivals, the music I 
 composed when the A'loravian Pirethren 
 lirst made this their home in the wilder- 
 ness, a Pennsylvania Germany, where 
 men are born free and equal. The sing- 
 ing was more than even I dared hoped 
 for ; your singers gave it qualities I 
 dreamt not of. Your great ''"critic ex- 
 pressed all that I felt when he said: 
 'anything more ins])iring than the de- 
 livery of Cum Saticto Sf^irifii in the R 
 Minor Mass it would be impossible to 
 conceive. It was magnificent in the vital 
 thmbbing of its beat, in the growth of 
 its tone from beginning to end and in 
 the breadth of its style. .Sucli choral 
 singing is indeed a ])rivilege. It was a 
 performance in which the sublimity of 
 the music was ])erfectly disclosed.' 
 
 ■••I'ni-ni's Life ../ l!ii,-li, pp. .i67-S. It 1>. rutlliuirs 
 
 lis. New Y(irk. 
 
 ■"^V. -J. HciuU-rsDii ill llu- Xew Yovlc Times. 
 
 Mi;?. JDH-f^ .-\D.-\MS 
 
 Believe me it brought tears of joy to 
 my poor old blind eyes. I felt repaid 
 for all my labor and its lack of appre- 
 ciation in my own day. And this is 
 why I am here tonight, that I might 
 greet you all and thank you for the great 
 honor you have done my memory in 
 your splendid May Festivals and to wish, 
 you God speed in your devotion to 
 music, for believe me it is the speech of 
 ha]5py souls on earth and in Heaven." 
 
 The commotion the presence and 
 remarks of liach created it is impossible 
 to describe. To have among them the 
 King of J^Iusic, the master, but for 
 whose genius the famous May Musical 
 Festivals of liethlehem would be un- 
 heard of, was conceived to be almost as 
 great an honor as the jiresence of 
 Washington. To place the stamp of the 
 greatest distinction upon the occasion, a 
 memory to be treasured as a precious 
 
BROTHER ALBRECHT'S SECRET CHAMBER 
 
 6i 
 
 thing, Professor J. Frederick Wolle the 
 genius of the '\la.y Festivals approached 
 Bach with the greatest reverence and 
 begged him to play some of his favorite 
 clavier compositions, sonatas, and arias 
 for the company. Consenting most gra- 
 ciously Bach was escorted, leaning on the 
 arm of Professor Wolle, to the grand 
 piano, which excited his boundless 
 wonder and admiration. All his work 
 of this nature had been done on the 
 ancient clavier with its primitive key- 
 board and other limitations, but such 
 as it was, it did not hinder him from 
 becoming the greatest pianist of his 
 time. 
 
 This night he played as never be- 
 fore. The flood gates of music seemed 
 to have opened and glorious melodies 
 deluged player and listeners alike. 
 Not only did he play his favorites of 
 the long ago, but he improvised as he 
 only could do, on theme after theme; 
 one in particular holding the company's 
 rapt attention. He caught the spirit 
 of 1776, a most appropriate theme on 
 such an evening and in the midst of 
 such a gathering of the heroes of the 
 Revolutionary struggle. He expressed 
 in magnificent phrasing the pangs of a 
 new born nation and its triumphant 
 career to the present time. 
 
 The playing of Bach created an al- 
 most startling ef¥ect on the company, 
 particularly so upon Washington and 
 his old officers, who notwithstanding 
 their lack of musical culture recog- 
 nized the marvellous genius of the 
 great composer. The German and 
 French officers present were in rap- 
 tures as they had more or less ac- 
 quaintance with Bach's compositions, 
 having received musical training in 
 their younger days. The Baroness 
 von Riedesel seemed transformed. 
 She had approached the blind old 
 master during his playing and hung on 
 every note with intense emotion. 
 While Bach was resting for a moment 
 the Baroness whispered a request 
 which brought a succession of smiles 
 to his face, as nodding he at once gra- 
 ciously complied with it. 
 
 The atmosphere of the Inn began to 
 thrill with music that brought every 
 lady and gentleman to their feet; old 
 and young, were quickly in the de- 
 lightful mazes of the waltz, treading 
 measures such as mortals never trod 
 before, Washington dancing with the 
 Baroness von Riedesel and Lafayette 
 with Lady Washington. The poetry 
 of motion was never before so beauti- 
 fully demonstrated by so distin- 
 gtiished a company and surely never 
 before under the spell of music such as 
 that which Bach gave in unstinted 
 measure and in the most wonderful 
 rhythmic movements. 
 
 Landlord ^Morgan showed himself 
 a paragon of the Terpsichorian art 
 with I^ady Greene as his first partner 
 and with many others before the 
 music ceased. The dancing ended 
 with the stately minuet, a French 
 dance very popular during the Coloni- 
 al period in Europe and America, and 
 frequently indulged in at the Court of 
 Versailles during the reign of Louis 
 XIV, that monarch often taking part 
 in it. It is doubtful if the Court of 
 Louis ever witnessed so noble a pre- 
 sentation of this aristocratic dance, 
 led as it was by Washington in his 
 grandest manner with Lady Schuyler 
 as a partner. There too in the same 
 company were General Morgan and 
 Lady Washington, Lafayette and the 
 Baroness von Riedesel, Richard 
 Henry Lee and Lady Greene. In 
 other sets were John Hancock and 
 Lady Penn, Governor John Penn, and 
 Mrs. Morgan, the mistress of the Sun 
 Inn, Colonel Ethan Allen and Mrs. 
 John Adams, Governor Morris and 
 Mrs. Wade Hampton, Baron von 
 Steuben and INIiss Martha Washington 
 Greene, General Brodhead and Lady 
 Mifflin, destined- to become the Gener- 
 al's second wife, Albert Brodhead and 
 Lady Allen. 
 
 Never before was the minuet danced 
 to such music as given by Bach ac- 
 companied by the famous Trombone 
 band, and never before or since was 
 the minuet danced so gracefully or so 
 naturally. "Ach Gott! die Ameri- 
 
ANCIENT SEAL OF THE UNITAS FRATRUM