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e armed Pennsylvania mountain man, from the frontier days until later and more prosaic times ensued. While many of the arms listed are in imperfect condition and some of the more important ones are lacking, they give the idea of his times. Other pieces of later periods, and a few of foreign use, are included for purposes of comparison. To these are added Mr. Piper's catalogue of his own collection, all in perfect order, to show similar types of weapons at their best. While, as stated, there are many specimens missing, these vacancies emphasize the wide range of weapons used by the old-time Pennsylvanians. The frequent wars kept bringing new types of arms into the wilderness and new ideas for weapons among the woodsmen themselves, and this was most noteworthy after the Civil War, which was also the end of the grand romantic period of the Pennsylvania wilderness. The mountaineer of Pennsylvania was of martial blood, his ancestors had fought in every state of Continental Europe--and the science of armorer was his birthright. David Lewis, the "Galloping Jack" or highwayman of Central Pennsylvania, used new pistols every year, and weapons which he is said to have carried are as plentiful as Ole Bull's violins. The frontiersmen of British origins always named their favorite rifles "My Friend," "My Brother," "Sure Shot," "Confidence," "Never Fail," "Carry My Wish," "Kill Deer," and "Kill Buck," and cherished them almost as living things. Many of them camped out at the wayside gunshops until a specially ordered weapon was begun and finished, so as to supervise every detail of its fabrication. Quaint and full of historic lore were these mystic wayside shrines of arms, which are alas with a few exceptions no more. Billy de Shera's on Larry's Creek near Jersey Shore instilled the love of arms in several generations of mountain boys, and the last gunshops in existence, those of Seth Nelson, Jr., near Round Island, Clinton County, and David C. Busler, near Collomsville, Lycoming County, have had arms loving pilgrims of note f
Catalogue of Early Pennsylvania and Other Firearms and Edged Weapons at ''Restless Oaks'', page 2
by Henry W. Shoemaker