* Norristown is a thriving manufacturing village, and the capital of Montgomery county. It has entirely grown up since the Revolution. Its name is derived from Isaac Norris, who, with William Trent, the founder of Trenton, purchased the land from William Penn. Swedes' Ford was here. The site of Norristown was owned by a farmer named John Bull. He was a stanch Whig, and for this crime the John Bulls under General Howe, when the British marched toward Philadelphia in 1777, burned his barn. The first house erected at Norristown was framed at Valley Forge, and floated down the Schuylkill. ** The name of Swedes' Ford was given to this passage of the Schuylkill from the fact that the first settlers there were Swedes. The principal characters were Matts Holstein and Mauritz Rambo. The latter was a famous hunter, and his exploits are yet the theme of many an old man's story. It is related that at one time Rambo seized a wounded deer, when the animal made off with the hunter on his back. Rambo finally checked the buck by cutting his throat. [[[Approach to Valley Forge.--"King of Prussia Tavern."--Village of Valley Forge.]]] {331} CHAPTER XIII. ```"The men of seventy-six in their good arm-- ````Sustain'd by Heaven--reposed a manly trust; ```O'er all the land was sounded war's alarm, ````And vict'ry crown'd the valor of the just. ```The fire of liberty fell down from heaven, ```Till from our shores the enemy, was driven; ````And Freedom, with the land's redemption shod, ```Her benison flung o'er every hill and plain. ```Few of that band of noble men remain; ````Their spirits have obey'd the call of God, ````And where they rest is deem'd a hallow'd sod. ```Their perils fearful--measureless their gain! ````While love of home the freeman's breast shall fill, ```Their fame shall cause the freeman's breast to thrill." `````Thomas MacKellar.= [Illustration: 9341] ALLEY FORGE! How dear to the true worshiper at the shrine of Freedom is the name of Valley Forge! There, in the midst of frost and snows, disease and destitution, Liberty erected her altar; and in all the world's history we have no record of purer devotion, holier sincerity, or more pious self-sacrifice, than was there exhibited in the camp of Washington. The courage that nerves the arm on the battle-field, and dazzles by its brilliant but evanescent flashes, pales before the steadier and more intense flame of patient endurance, the sum of the sublime heroism displayed at Valley Forge. And if there is a spot on the face of our broad land whereon Patriotism should delight to pile its highest and most venerated monument, it should be in the bosom of that little vale on the bank of the Schuylkill. Toward its "templed hills," consecrated by the presence and sufferings of those who achieved our independence, we journeyed, filled with the pleasant emotions of a pilgrim approaching the place he most adores.