THE OLD "TAUFSCHIEN."
[Illustration: BIRTH AND CHRISTENING CERTIFICATE
OLD TAUFSCHIEN]
Aunt Sarah had long promised to show Mary her Grandmother's
"Taufschien," and she reverently handled the large old family Bible,
which contained between its sacred pages the yellowed paper, being the
birth and christening certificate of her grandmother, whom we read was
born in 1785, in Nockamixon Township, was confirmed in 1802, and was
married in 1805 to the man who was later Aunt Sarah's grandfather. The
old certificate was signed by a German Reformed minister named Wack,
who history tells us was the first young man of that denomination to
be ordained to the ministry in America. Folded with this "Taufschien"
is another which has never been filled out. This is printed in German.
Pictures of women, perhaps they are intended to represent angels, with
golden wings, clothed in loose-flowing crimson drapery and holding
harps in their hands; birds with gayly-colored plumage of bluish
green, crimson and yellow, perched on branches of what presumably
represent cherry trees, also decorate the page. Religious hymns
printed on the "Taufschiens," encircled with gay stripes of light blue
and yellow, dotted with green, further embellish them. On one we read:
"Infinite joy or endless woe,
Attend on every breath;
And yet, how unconcerned we go
Upon the brink of death."
"Mary, this old 'Taufschien' of my grandmother's is one of my most
cherished possessions. Would you like to see your Uncle's old deed,
which he came into possession of when he inherited the farm from his
father?"
Carefully unfolding the stiff old parchment or pigskin deed, yellowed
and brown spotted with age, Mary could faintly decipher the writing
wherein, beautifully written, old-fashioned penmanship of two hundred
years ago stated that a certain piece of land in Bucks County,
Beginning at a Chestnut Oak, North to a post; then East to a large
rock, and on the South unsettled land, which in later years was
conveyed to John Landis.
"This deed," said Mary's Aunt, "was given in 1738, nearly two hundred
years ago, by John, Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn by
his second marriage, which occurred in America. His eldest son, John
Penn, you have no doubt heard, was called 'The American,' he having
been born in this country before William Penn's return to Europe,
where he remained fifteen years, as you've no doubt heard."
At the bottom of the deed a blue ribbon has been slipped through cuts
in the parchment, forming a diamond which incloses what is supposed to
be the signature of Thomas Penn.
"Aunt Sarah, I am not surprised that you value this old deed of the
farm and these 'Taufschiens' of your grandmother I should frame them,
so they may be preserved by future generations."