Original Document

"The German-Town, of which I spoke before,
Which is, at least in length one Mile or more,
Where lives High-German People, and Low-Dutch,
Whose Trade in weaving Linen Cloth is much.
There grows the Flax, as also you may know,
That from the same they do divide the Tow;
Their trade fits well within this Habitation,
We find Convenience for their Occasion.
One Trade brings in imployment for another,
So that we may suppose each Trade a Brother;
From Linen Rags good Paper doth derive,
The first Trade keeps the second Trade alive;
Without the first, the second cannot be,
Therefore since these two can so well agree,
Convenience doth appear to place them nigh,
One in German-Town, t'other hard by.
A Paper-Mill near German-Town doth stand,
So that the Flax, which first springs from the Land,
First Flax, then Yarn, and then they must begin
To weave the same, which they took pains to spin.
Also, when on our backs it is well worn,
Some of the same remains Ragged and Torn;
Then of the Rags our Paper is made,
Which in process of time dost waste and fade:
So, what comes from the Earth, appeareth plain,
The same in Time, returns to Earth again."


Credit: Richard Frame, “A Short Description of Pennsilvania,” reprinted in Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, The Settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: William J.; Campbell, 1899), 164.