. Life and reminiscences from birth to manhood of Wm. G. Johnston . de him on the mudbanks, and it the only familiar thing; all else strange;while the steamer that brought him—a sort of tempo-rary home—is fast disappearing, and bears away manywhose faces had already begun to wear some appear-ance of acquaintanceship. Scrambling up the bluff clay bank, I made my wayto the principal mansion of the town, fronting the river,and which I learned was the residence of Mr. SolomonSpeers. His beautiful daughter, Diana Speers, answered my rapat the heavy brass knocker ornamenting the door. In-vited in, a
. Life and reminiscences from birth to manhood of Wm. G. Johnston . de him on the mudbanks, and it the only familiar thing; all else strange;while the steamer that brought him—a sort of tempo-rary home—is fast disappearing, and bears away manywhose faces had already begun to wear some appear-ance of acquaintanceship. Scrambling up the bluff clay bank, I made my wayto the principal mansion of the town, fronting the river,and which I learned was the residence of Mr. SolomonSpeers. His beautiful daughter, Diana Speers, answered my rapat the heavy brass knocker ornamenting the door. In-vited in, all thought of loneliness soon vanished, forI was made to feel at home. Presently I was intro-duced to her aged mother, and her only sister, Josephine,a miss somewhat my junior in years. Then began an 142 Speers Family and their Connections. acquaintance pleasantly maintained during the too briefperiod of my residence at the academy, the spire of whichwas pointed out to me by Miss Diana, across the fields,about a quarter of a mile distant, as I set out for LANDING AT BELLE VERNON. The Speers, I early learned, were among the foremostpeople of the region roundabout, its principal land-owners, and socially they were in the front rank. Bymarriage they were connected with the Walkers of Eliz- The Professors. 143 abeth, with the Blaines of Brownsville, and with theEwings of Washington. All these were the descendantsof original settlers, and all were held in high esteem bythe best people of western Pennsylvania. Solomon Speers was the village postmaster, and didsome farming; one brother, Lewis, lived back on thehills; another, Jacob, about half a mile below on theriver bottom, each having extensive farms under cultiva-tion. Noah, the youngest brother, was proprietor of theacademy, and had a farm adjoining. I seldom saw him,for he gave little attention either to the school or thegrain fields. He furnished boarding and lodging for thescholars, employed instructors, and allowed t
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