Saturday Morning, October 3, 2026
Walking the Plank
The board felt rough underfoot. Splinters and scrapes. Didn't much matter anyway. This was a short walk compared with the daily grind. Emails. Voicemails. Texts. Instagrams. X. YouTube. Phone calls. Opinions. Verbiage and Bloviating. Never relenting. Never a breath. Everyone knew better about everything. All he asked for was a day off this merry-go-round. If only for a brief moment.
Our champion of the week. Herman Macht's boat Rose,
named after his wife seated to the right.
From Log Book of Camp Rose,
or the Silent Four, August 5 to 10, 1917.
The boat would serve several generations of the Macht family, winning the Wissinoming Yacht Club Gold Cup,
June 11, 1932.
One-armed man knife, by the Press Button Knife Co., New York. ca. 1865-1920's. A creation for the soldiers who lost their limbs in the Civil War and then WWI.
But no. Forget it. Minutes turned to hours, days to years. The swirling water below didn't look so menacing. All a matter of perspective. The next move would be a welcome reprieve. Better than a call from the governor. Better than a call from above. He walked to the end of the plank and curled his toes over the edge. Hanging ten. He felt empowered. One deep breath and out he stepped. Freefalling. Never had he felt so emboldened.
Tea for the Tillerman
Left Wissinoming Yacht Club with friends at 9:30 AM, Sunday, August 5, 1917...delightful run to Florence arriving at 12:30 PM [where] we camped for the evening. Meet Philadelphia residents Louis Ahlers, Elmer Mousley, Harold Frederick, and Walter Macht, boatmen and fraternal friends. They leave us a journal and multiple photo postcards documenting their camping trip via the Delaware River, bunking down on White's Island, near Yardley.
Anton Ahlers, 3425 Howell Street, Wissinoming.
Professional cabinet card from a proud business owner.
We have Anton's Masonic certificate, dated June 18, 1920. Image size 7¾" x 9¾"
Arising the next morning at 2:30 AM, they would navigate the fog, arriving in Trenton Landing by 6:10AM. A quick shopping trip for provisions and a side order of smoked necks. We don't have those animals in Trenton, announced the butcher, offering a preferable substitute. With food and ice stowed, they headed out reaching the Trenton Railroad bridge. There, hazardous conditions awaited them.
Cabinet card of a dwarf hunter, name unknown.
Neagley Photographers, North Street Gallery, Millersburg, Pa
A river's lure is magnetic. It comes with a curse and convenant. Risk your life and fulfillment will be yours. Mark Twain noted many boys drowned in the Mississippi River yearly. Despite dangers, lemmings we remain. Adventure. Escape. When floods arrive, dividends are paid. Treasures of wood, broken canoes, human detritous fill the waters. Flotsam and jetsam. Gifts for the recipient brave enough to wade in for retrieval. It is this timeless Huck Finn tradition we have stumbled upon in our 1917 journal.
14k gold Ulysse Nardin watch, a useless object on our timeless rivers.
Up on Cripple Creek
Above the Trenton railroad bridge, two worlds collide. Amid rocks, debris, and mayhem, incoming and outgoing tides meet. Turbulence abounds. Outbound, turbulence is doubled by the Delaware's current. Inbound offers unlimited opportunities for skinned knees.
It was here our mariners played their best hand. On came the bathing suits and into the river they jumped, physically pushing their boats forward. Headway was made ever so slowly, never succumbing to the pushback. On and on they labored, finally breaching the barrier into calmer waters. By 1:30 PM they arrived at White's Island, their anchor for the next week. The terra firma was not totally deserted, just comfortably vacant.
Among the boating and farming photos, this bit of ephemera tumbled out.
Old Nassau sheet music, Princeton University, 1905, Composer's Edition, number 397 signed by Karl A. Langlotz.
Old Nassau is Princeton University's alma mater, written in 1859 by student Harlan Peck. In 1859 Professor Langlotz (1834-1915) composed the melody.
Washington Schlep Here
Days were spent fishing, swimming, and exploring. Lou and Walter took a trip to Taylorsville, a distance of three miles. They also visited Washington's Crossing, and met with amusing incidents, including paying toll for walking across the bridge.
A photo postcard tucked into a family album.
US President Woodrow Wilson, walking in a parade.
Fully exposed, the crowd only feet away.
How much we have lost.
Life's current, like the river's, pushing against us.
In 1917, Washington Crossing was very much intact though the crossing occured in 1776. In 1855 the Methodist Church was constructed along with an adjacent cemetery. It became a gathering for Anti-Slavery and WCTU meetings. The church jelled the community and still stands today though the congregation has moved to higher ground. In 1914, the wooden bridge across the Delaware was replaced with a steel structure, the result of America's industrial period. But the sacred ground surrounding still echoes the men who changed history, their significance felt forever.
Grand Army of the Republic memorial ribbon, Hugh A. Martindell, Post No. 366, Langhorne, Pa. 8½" H.
Saturday's auction is dripping wet with Bucks County history. Also, from the same family line, are a number of photo postcards detailing life on a farm located outside of Harrisburg, Pa, ca. 1900. It is a glimpse into a world now vanished. We see the faces smiling back at us, all dressed in their finest. What we don't see is the remarkable work required to survive and build our country. Much too much is taken for granted today, many behaving as if it could never end. Au Contraire. The comforts our forefathers gifted us is a standard of living never equaled in history.
A Close Shave
Exchanges with the locals prompted an invitation from the belles of Yardley. An evening of song and pinochle, prim and proper followed. The traveler's pact not to shave during the entire trip was broken. After all, these were ladies. Three out of four fell to the urge, arriving ashore in their finest.
Industrial factory photograph. 5" x 6¾"
On the reverse - Pillow factory.
Pillow, Pennsylvania is located in Dauphin County, the spot where the Boyer farm existed, well illustrated in our ephemera category.
It would be a thousand and one nights for them. A warm August evening can be a dangerous place. Much can be said, more can be promised. A good night kiss? Out of the question. Papa was there. Time slipped away. An evening reduced to a memory.
Carved wood figural folding pocket knife, single steel blade.
Carving very similar to the Assyrian stone reliefs.
Sunrise found them back at camp, unscathed and intact, including their honor. The sun rousted them, reminding them of their world waiting back home. Paradiso gained and lost, all in one week. They rode the current down river, slaloming the rapids, stopping at Trenton for dinner. The afternoon spent sailing down to Burlington. On the trip home, everybody was on the deck listening to the Victrola and gazing upon the beautiful scenery, made more radiant by the extremely pretty sun casting its rays upon the waters of the Delaware.
There's No Place like Home
Freefalling until he smacked the water's surface, the sting heightened his senses. He dove deep down into colder waters. The release. Gliding along eventually resurfacing. At least for now, there would be a tomorrow. He headed to shore, leaving the floating platform and diving board. He felt newly baptized. Refreshed. Restored. He would let the world in again. This time, he'd be ready...as we are for you.
Postcard - Oliver Plows & Cultivators,
W. O. Leitzel, Klingerstown, Pa.
Doors open at 8 AM. Auction starts at 9 AM. PA AU 1265L [bb]