that strangely picturesque
period of the Civil War, when the sharp-shooting Pennsylvania mountain
boys (and older ones) went forth to snip; for did not Jake Karstetter,
of Sugar Valley, Clinton County, enlist as 37 when he was 57 and
compass the death of seven Confederate general officers? Notched on
the walnut stock of his favorite weapon, the work of Henry Barner, a
wayside Sugar Valley gunsmith, were seven sets of minute carvings in
the form of collar insignias in all the grades from a Lieutenant
General to a Lieutenant Colonel. And when they led him haltered
through the streets of Richmond they labelled him "a wild Yankee from
the North," because of his unshorn hair and beard, which he swore he
would not cut until he had "set Jeff Davis cold." It is a pity that
the science of ancient arms is not more popular in inland
Pennsylvania, and that more of the curious specimens of arms have not
been retained, but were allowed to be shipped away to collectors
elsewhere before their local value was recognized. It is with a hope
that it may stimulate other collectors at home to assemble ancient
weapons before it is too late that this catalogue has been published.
It is as a fragment, and not as a complete collection, but it puts
before the reader the picture of an arms loving race, in the glorious
ante-mollycoddle age, which was the golden age of Pennsylvania
manhood. But in truth there has been very little, if any, decline,
when one thinks of the valor of the boys of the 28th, the 79th and
other outfits where Pennsylvanians were most in evidence in the World
War. Many of these had old Civil War grandfathers, who could tell of
Fredericksburg or Petersburg, of how earlier they barked squirrels on
tall hardwood trees, or shot into the flocks of wild pigeons "which
darkened the sun" in their great flights. And to welcome in the
"apostolic succession" of arms new lovers among our boys, even the
least of them, this collection stands catalogued, thanks to Mr.
Piper's perseverance. It is an invitation and appeal to carry on all
that is boldest, bravest and best of that fearless company that bore
their spears along the dark warpaths of obscurity, and stacked them on
the campgrounds of eternal night.

HENRY W. SHOEMAKER.
"Restless Oaks,"
McElhattan, Pa., July 30, 1927.

[Illustration]

THE SHOEMAKER COLLECTION OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA
AND OTHER FIREARMS AND EDGED WEAPONS.
RIFLES, MUSKETS AND OTHER SHOULDER WEAPONS.