Harmony Lodge Papers

NO. 9

April 23, 1863

Transcribed by Arlene Goodwin

Conclusion of Harmony Lodge Papers
On the 23d of April, 1863, in consequence of ill-health and pressing business cares, Mr. PINCKNEY was compelled to conclude his Sketches, as follows:

HARMONY LODGE PAPERS—When the series of sketches, under the above title, was commenced, it was with the hope that the subject might elicit, from abler hands, more detailed biographies of the old inhabitants of Catskill, that my imperfect recollection and limited sources of information enabled me to furnish. There must be many yet living, who remember well the member of Harmony Lodge, whose names and memories I have sought to revive and perpetuate; and who, being in daily communications with their descendants, might gather a store of reminiscences interesting to the readers of the Recorder. It is a wide and pleasant field in which to labor, and I still hope that some one having more leisure, and enjoying better facilities than myself, may enter upon the task.

As I replace the old papers in the bundle, and seal the package, preparatory to returning it to the archives of the Lodge, I feel as though I was parting again from familiar friends.—Many, yes, most, of those whose names are there recorded, have passed away from earth, and, in a few short years, their memories will have also passed away from the minds of all, save a few who, like me, derive more pleasure in the past than is supplied by the present, or promised in the future of life.

In my crude and incoherent sketches of these worthies of the olden time have afforded one moment’s gratification to any of your readers—if I have called, pleasantly, to the mind of one of my fellow-townsmen the remembrance of a loved and departed relative or friend—if I have carried thoughts back to the careless, happy days of youth, (for we all, I fancy, esteem our youthful days the happiest) or if any one recollecting the virtues of these "forefathers of the hamlet," has resolved to emulate them, I shall be more than satisfied.

The package is sealed—the faded manuscripts are hidden from my sight, probably forever. Commending the materials (which I feel that I have failed to weave into forms either satisfactory to myself, or acceptable to the public,) to the hand of some abler workman, it only remains for me to close with the words of the poet-ploughman—albeit I am not one of the "favored and enlightened few" to whom the arcana of Masonry have been revealed.__

"Adieu! A heart-warm, fond adieu,
Ye brothers of the mystic tie."

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