VOL. XV. NOVEMBER, 1895. No. 11. THE CAMBRIAN, A NATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE, DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE WELSH-AMERICAN PEOPLE. EDITED BY REV. E. C. EVANS, REMSEN, N.. Y. FOR SALE. SUNSET AND EVENING STAR; Cloth binding, Bevelled Edges. Published price, $1.25 Sent by mail, postage free, for Fifty Cents The December number will contain a Sketch of the late Gwilym Gwent, together with a Portrait of him and of the Monument lately unveiled to his memory. CONTENTS. Mr. James R. James, with portrait.. 321 Thanksgiving Day in 1713. Some Wonders of Wales....... Welsh Worthies of Pennsylvania 325 Page. 341 323 331 A Striking Contrast - Christianity Ancient Scriptures in Clay. 335 men.... 344. All communications should be addressed to Remsen, Oneida Co., N. Y. T. J. Griffiths, Printer, 131 Genesee St., Utica. SUBSCRIBERS WHO ARE IN ARREARS will confer a great favor upon us by sending the amount due WITHOUT DELAY, as the money is urgently needed. Byddwn Ddiolchgar AM DAL YN FUAN am Y CAMBRIAN. THE CAMBRIAN is published monthly at the following rates: Single subscription for one year,... $1.25 1.00 Payment for THE CAMBRIAN should be made in a Post Office Money Order, Bank Draft, Express Money Order, or in a Registered Letter. All correspondence, orders and remittances for THE CAMBRIAN should be REV. E. C. EVANS, REMSEN, ONEIDA Co., N. Y. sent to THE CAMBRIAN FOR 1895. We shall be greatly obliged to our subscribers for their continued favors to THE CAMBRIAN, and for their aid in extending its circulation for 1895. And except in cases where it is ordered to be discontinued, THE CAMBRIAN for 1895 will be forwarded to all subscribers of the present year, and their names intered on the list for 1895. DISCONTINUANCES.-When you wish THE CAMBRIAN stopped, notify us by mail. Be sure and do this and thus save yourselves and us annoyance. Of course you will also be sure to pay all arrearages at the same time. The Courts have decided that all subscribers to newspapers are held responsible until all arrearages are paid and their papers are ordered to be discontinued, FOR SALE. English Hall Case 8 feet 4 inches bigh Phases of the Moon. Calander of the Month. Clock strikes every hour Pendulum and weights not exposed. CLOCK CASES in every kind of Fancy Wood. For full particulars apply to WM. D. EVANS, 347 Milton Street, CINCINNATI, OHIO. THE CAMBRIAN. Now go write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for all time to come for ever and ever. MR. JAMES R. JAMES, SCRANTON, PA. Mr. James R. James, whose portrait appears this month in THE CAMBRIAN, is a highly esteemed citizen of Scranton, Pa., and a few years ago was one of the most active and prominent Welsh-Americans in the city and in the Wyoming valley. During the last few years, however, owing to illness and advancing years, he has not been so actively and prominently associated with Welsh social, political and religious movements as formerly yet his deepest sympathies are with his own nationality. For the time being, others may appear to occupy a more prominent place, but that is no reason why the names of former noteworthy Welshmen should disappear from view and their services be forgotten, but rather that they should be all the more esteemed and honored for their work. Mr. James was born on a farm called Penywern, in the parish of Llanelly, South Wales, on February 2d, 1827, and was the second son of Roger and Anne James, who had a family of eight children. Being deprived of his mother when 11 years of age, he was kindly cared for and received his early religicus training by his elder sisters until, by their marriage, he and his father were left alone on the farm. His father sold the farm and, being well to do, had sufficient means to retire from active work and support himself until his death, at the advanced age of 94 years. Leaving the farm at 20 years of age, the son worked for two years for the Llanelly Coal and Iron Co. On March 10th, 1849, Mr. James was married to Miss Abrams, and two weeks afterward he and his wife left for America, and arrived in New York in May, after a rough and tempestuous voyage. From New York they traveled by steamboat to Rondout and thence by stage through Honesdale to Carbondale and Scranton, then called Slocum Hollow, For the first three years he worked at the ore mines of the Scranton Iron and Coal Co., four miles south of the present city. Times were then very hard and money very scarce, so that Mr. James had to apply at the company's offices for the loan of ten cents to pay for the postage of a letter. In 1852 Mr, James, like many others, was seized with the gold fever, and a party of seven Welshmen, consisting of Mr. James, Thomas D. Thomas, David Bowen, William Jones, Morgan Morgans, Noah Morgans and Rees Powell-all of Scranton-started for California. Intending to go by steamer via the Isthmus, they found in New York the rush so great for the gold fields that they could not get a passage for California via the Isthmus without waiting for five weeks. Under the circumstances, they concluded to take their passage on a sailing vessel called Kremlin, via Cape Horn. Leaving New York in February, 1852, they arrived in San Francisco the following June, after a voyage of over five months around the Cape, and after suffering greatly on the voyage for water and provisions. After their arrival they hurried off to the mountains, expecting to find gold in abundance, but found that "all that glitters is not gold," and that gold hunting was hard work. Mr. James returned from California in 1854, having acquired a few thousand dollars and also the fever and ague, of which he was cured by Dr. Roberts, Bradford county, Pa., and found his wife in good health, but to their sorrow their little boy had died during his absence. After his return, Mr. James lived for nine years on a farm near Springbrook Township, where he and the family had a pleasant home, but not content with farm life, he sold out and returned to Scranton in October, 1864. At first he worked for the D. L. & W. Co. at the Oxford mines, but in August, 1865, he accepted a posi tion as assistant foreman under the Mount Pleasant Coal Co., and was promoted four years after to be foreman. While in this position he met with two serious accidents and sustained injuries whose scars still remain. In September, 1887, he resigned his position as foreman of the Mount Pleasant mines and retired to enjoy the remainder of his life in SOME WONDERS OF WALES. peace and quietness at his pleasant home. His wife died May 5th, 1868, his family then consisting of two sons, Thomas E. James and John A. James, both of whom are in comfortable positions in life. On February 16th, 1878, Mr. James was again married to Miss Margaret Thomas. One boy, Walter J. James, was born from this union, which proved, like the first, very happy. In their religious life Mr. James's whole family in Wales have been prominently connected with the C. M. or Welsh Presbyterian church. He became a member of the church at 18 years of age and united with the C. M. church in Scranton in 1849. He was elected elder of the church in November, 1867, and took an active and leading part in all branches of Christian work until 1880, when, for family considerations, he withdrew from the Welsh church to join the English M. E. church. Having, however, spent his best days from boyhood in the Welsh church and Sunday school, and being more familiar with the Welsh Bible and Welsh language, it may be said that his heart is still with the Welsh church of his fathers. Mr. James has been repeatedly honored with tokens of the high esteem in which he is held by his friends and those associated with him. On Jan. 1, 1882, he was presented by the Mount Pleasant Coal Co. with a costly and beautiful bound copy of the Holy Bible, with a suitable inscription. He was also presented by the miners and laborers of the same company with a valuable gold watch as a token of their appreciation of his character and service. His friends also honored him with an elegant goldheaded cane. Mr. James has also held some public positions of trust and honor. He was elected School Controller for two years, and afterward served as Assessor for several 323 terms with general satisfaction. Mr. James also, years ago, took an active and leading part not only in religious and social circles, but also in the Philosophical Society and other Welsh movements which tended to advance the interests and welfare of his fellowmen, and especially of his own nationality. SOME WONDERS OF WALES. I wonder how many of the folks who delight in rambles over the Great and Little Orme's Heads, or lounge about the Happy Valley listening to the niggers, ever realize that they are walking upon an old sea-bottom, filled with countless millions of the creatures that once sported in the sea? These two headlands are composed almost entirely of carboniferous limestone. Many millions of years ago a deep sea entirely covered the spot where Llandudno now stands, swarming with corals, encrinites and a great variety of shell fish. These were so numerous that, as they died, their hard shells or other coverings mingled with other refuse, and gradually formed a sediment at the bottom of the sea, which in millions of years came to be in some places 4,000 feet thick, the bed of the ocean sinking from time to time, and thus allowing the water still to cover this thick deposit. By means of chemical action and the immense pressure of this superincumbent weight, the sediment ultimately hardened into rock, and the gradual upheaval of the earth raised it above the sea level to become weather-worn and grass-covered, as we see it now. In that petrified sediment are locked up the shells and sometimes silicified remains of all those millions of creatures that died in it from time to time; and you only want a good hammer and a keen eye to discover |