bronze forks were used by the Egyptians in presenting offerings to the gods. It is unpleasant to represent the tables of our ancestors of a few centuries back as without forks, yet this certainly was the fact. The silver table fork, which also had its evolution from two to four prongs, was first manufactured in 1662 by Heylin. The small knife, formerly worn by gentlemen at their girdles, was used by them, not only as a weapon of defense, but also as an article of convenience in cutting their meat. However, the ancient custom of serving food at table was to have a servant cut meats and other food into small morsels before distributing it to guests. The wealthy employed a person whose special duty it was to carve the meats into proper and convenient pieces and his was the only knife in the dining hall. When the fork was first introduced into England, its employment was ridiculed as an effeminate practice, as may be seen in the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, and others where the persons using it are referred to as "your fork-carving-traveler."] Sunday 27^{th} Travell'd over to y. South Branch attended with y. Esqr to Henry Vanmetriss[27] in order to go about Intended Work of Lots[28] [Footnote 27: Henry Van Metre or Meter.--There was a numerous family of the Van Meters in Virginia and they were among the earliest settlers in the valley of the Shenandoah, on the South Branch and along the upper Potomac. Kercheval, in his History of the Valley of Virginia, says this family came from New York and New Jersey. It is evident that they were people of energy and thrift, judges of good land. At a period antedating the settlements in the valley, it is stated by this historian that a John Van Meter, a sort of wandering Indian trader, of New York, accompanied the Delaware Indians in a war party against the Catawbas; but the Catawbas anticipating the attack, surprised and defeated the Delawares in a battle fought near where the present court-house of Pendleton stands. John Van Meter escaped and returned to New York, but he was so impressed with the beauty and fertility of the lands on the South Branch bottom in Hardy county, that he advised his sons to secure lands and locate there. Of these sons, Isaac became a man of note and frequently represented Hardy county in the House of Delegates of Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia Convention of 1788 which ratified the Federal Constitution. In 1730, it is a matter of history that John and Isaac Van Metre, brothers, obtained from Gov. Gooch, of Virginia, a warrant for 40,000 acres of land to be located west of the mountains. This warrant, or a part of it, they sold to Joist Hite. A number of tracts on the original warrant were surveyed in the vicinity of Shepherdstown. The name of Van Meter is still frequently met with throughout West Virginia and has its monument in a stream forming the north-western boundary line of Jefferson county and emptying