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Posted 02-03-2006 THREE News-Bits of Reading-Berks historical interest…. ========= =============== ============== ========= =============== ============== ========= =============== ============== 1- Boots Fehr’s BEN FRANKLIN program drew big audience 2- Groundhog “Pagoda Patty” appeared at Pagoda at 7 a.m. 3- Jason Brudereck’s Eagle article on Groundhog Day a masterpiece ========= ============== =============== ========= ============== =============== ========= ============== =============== 1- Society trustee and 2nd Vice-President Beulah (Boots) Fehr’s talk on “Ben Franklin’s Reading and Berks Connections” drew a crowd to the Society’s auditorium yesterday morning at 9. Her 36-minute presentation was recorded and has been transferred to CD format. Her fact-filled talk was a revelation to the full-house gathering, particularly in regard to the locals who regularly met with Franklin at Philadelphia. Those who made the then-arduous journey are names many of you reading this note would readily recognize. They were the Reading-Berks “movers” of the period. ============== ============== ================ 2- Dressed in black garb and black hats, a group of “interested parties” appeared on the 1st balcony of the Pagoda to conduct exercises relative to “Reading’s First Annual Groundhog Day” observance---yesterday (Thursday, Feb. 2nd). At the appropriate time….a few minutes after 7 a.m. ….. Pagoda Patty—the biggest Ground Hog you’ve ever seen--- appeared to the on-lookers below, led on by (Society trustee and board secretary) Sandra Stief, who carried a basket containing “Baby Ground Hog.” MC Mike Reinert is the gentleman at left with the mike. < Channel 69’s Mike Reinert, a member of our Society, served as MC, in which capacity he introduced number of local early-rising dignitaries, including Mayor Tom McMahon… Representatives Mike O’ Pake and Dante Santoni…County Commissioner Tom Gajewski…and Reading Council-person Marsha Goodman-Hinnershitz. Unlike that lesser critter, Punxsutawney Phil, Pagoda Patty did NOT see her shadow. Accordingly, it was declared that Spring is on its way! Mayor McMahon reads the proclamation.... Time will tell….. ================= ============== ============= 3- Thursday’s Eagle carried a front-page story titled “It’s Groundhog Day…and we had it first,” researched and written by Jason Brudereck. It’s a fine piece of work and the best reason for purchasing a copy of the Eagle’s Thursday, Feb. 2nd edition…if you haven’t seen the story. It’s a keeper! (Back issues can be purchased at the Eagle office on Penn Street.) Fascinating reports of all kinds, relative to Groundhog Day, fill the better part of pages one and two in Section A of the paper. I repeat….this edition is a keeper, if this sort of local lore appeals to you as much as it does to yours truly. In greatly extracted form, the piece informed us that the earliest reference to Groundhog Day in America comes from a Feb. 4, 1841, diary entry written by Morgantown storekeeper James Morris, who kept a diary worth its weight in gold, which reposes in the Historical Society of Berks County’s archives---locked away in the rare book room. The Morris diary states: “Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks’ nap. But if the day be cloudy he remains out, as is weather is to be moderate.” Mr. Brudereck also informs readers that, according to Society member Irvin Rathman who regularly conducts historical research using old local newspapers, that in the edition of Feb. 2, 1876, the Reading Daily Eagle printed an account titled ‘A Chat with a Ground Hog.” In this article, the reporter of yesteryear stated…. “I was passing an orchard, and through the leafless bushes alongside the fence, judge of my surprise when I looked through, I saw a woodchuck. “In an instant I realized that this day is “ground hog’ day, when the animal comes out of his hole, and if he sees his shadow in the sun we shall have six weeks of very bad weather. “I thought of an interview with the underground lobbyist, and I stopped for a talk.” The groundhog reportedly then told the correspondent he was going back to bed for six more weeks, even though groundhogs’ predictions had been wrong in recent years. =============== ============== ============= =============== gmmix === ===== END =====

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