newspapers and books. Their influence was unquestionably great, as we know from the very general circu- �lation of their weekly papers, and from the further fact that there is hardly a family in the county to-day, whose his- tory goes back a hundred years or more, that has not a number of old books printed

EPHRATA COMMUNITY 128 YEARS AGO. The writer of the following letters was the celebrated Jacob Duche, D. D., born in Philadelphia in 1737. He was a man of liberal education, and a graduate of the College of Philadel- phia (now the University of Pennsyl- vania), and he also studied at the Uni

judgment told him he was intended for a wider,is not a more usesul, career. Two years more in the counting house brought his commercial career to a close and at the youthful age os eighteen he be- gan the study of the law. That was in 1794, and three years later he was admitted to the practice os the law

copies made, and these will be laid before you. I have also thought that a bries sketch of the Shippen samily might fitly accompany these letters, inas- much as it was one os the most promi- nent ones in the State for many years, taking a very important part in the affairs os Pennsylvania, both during

articles (new) of wearing apparel or household linen, or a donation of money constitutes membership in a branch. Men, wo- men or children may become members. The Lancaster Branch for the year 1907 collected fifteen hundred and eighty-three garments, a gain of sixty over last year, and distributed them as