BIO: Nicholas Mervine, Tillard Pen Pictures, 1911, Blair County, PA Contributed April 2003 for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _________________________________________ Pen Pictures of Friends and Reminiscent Sketches by J. N. Tillard Altoona, PA: William F. Gable & Co., Mirror Press, 1911 Wrought Righteously and Well World Is Better Because of The Physical Performances of Venerable NICHOLAS J. MERVINE FOR some thousands of years at least of the world's history, the allotted life of man has been three score years and ten, with an added decade for the unusually strong. But fifty-two years ago there came to Altoona a man who had already lived out more than half this time, and he is living yet, in the enjoyment of most of his faculties, and glad he is alive. A half century of these years were spent as a blacksmith, and when he retired twenty-one years ago, at the age of seventy, he felt that he had rounded out an active life and would soon go hence. But he still lingers on the shores of time, with his interest in life undiminished and his activities in social and religious matters about as great as when he thought to lay down the burdens. Nicholas J. Mervine has been a remarkable man. In his own person he has intimately touched the lives of five generations. When he was born, the fathers of the country, those who had been present at its birth-throes and had helped to make it a nation, were still in the flesh, and those who were born while the Revolutionary War was still in progress were but in middle life. The second war with England was the current topic of conversation in his neighborhood and the oldest citizen present at the Fourth of July Celebration had been a subject of George the III. There were still living men who had been with Colonel Washington in the French wars, and stories of Indian atrocities were familiar fireside tales told by eye-witnesses. The great forests of Central Pennsylvania were still in their primitive condition and the boundless prairies of the west were scarcely explored. The swiftest methods of travel were the stage coach and the canal, and the citizens of the country were chiefly east of the Alleghanies. It is a marvellous age in which he has lived. Had not the methods of transportation been transformed by the introduction of steam as a motor, almost annihilating time and space, the country would doubtless yet be in a crude state of development. Never was there another epoch of material progress such as this venerable man has witnessed. As compared with the march of his century, all the other ages of the world have been halting and lame. The growth of the cities of the old world were the work of centuries and they were separated and isolated, the progress of commerce being measured by the plodding caravan, the rowed galley and finally the vessel with sails that feared to quit the sight of land. After all, the chief factor in civilization was that of transportation and communication, which was to bring the peoples of the earth together, and the ninety years of Mr. Mervine's pilgrimage has done more than all the unnumbered years that preceded them in producing results. Truly a marvelous time he has lived in and through. And while he has not acquired renown, or had his name recorded in the halls of fame, he has none the less been a factor in the results. He has been an effective unit in the mass, and has stood in his place performing the work that came to his hand. He has wrought righteously, faithfully and well. The world and his community are the better because of his physical performances in his more than half-century of active life, and his attitude toward his fellows, his precept and example, have all made for good. When the skeins of human influence are gathered up in the warp and woof of time, and the pattern brought into view in the white light of eternity, it will be found that his steady, patient endeavor has not been without results. No man ever lives the steady, consistent, upright life that this man has lived without radiating an influence that will produce ripened sheaves in the harvest fields of endeavor. While, in common with his toiling fellows, some of his efforts may have been disappointing and he did not always see the fruition of his hopes, none of his efforts has been lost and the example of his virtuous life has not been without its effect. For seventy-two years he has been a faithful, consistent member of the Baptist Church, a rounded half century and more of that time in the First Church of this city. He has seen it grow from a very small society of worshippers to a mother of churches, and all this time he has been one of its pillars. He has welcomed at its threshold the grandsires of present members of its congregation; and a great host have passed under his eyes from the cradle to the grave. He has held up the hands of a succession of pastors, and his wise counsel and helping hand have brought aid and comfort in many a crisis and his cheerful smile has lightened many a weary day. When he first lent his aid to the little congregation in the straggling village, he was already in the full and matured strength of middle life, having faced as many of the serious struggles of existence as the average man encounters in all of his earthly pilgrimage, and was therefore qualified to assume the responsibilities of the master workman. And he shirked nothing, but met every duty and shouldered every responsibility that confronted him with willingness and ability. Always sincere and upright, without ostentation or hope of acclaim, he has performed the duties of his position with that thoroughness and conscientious devotion to duty that was inherently a part of his moral fibre. It goes without saying that he has always been a good citizen. He could not have been anything else. His civic virtue was essentially a part of his staple and rock-bound character. Perhaps more than anything else, his evenly balanced disposition has been conducive to longevity. He is a well-rounded man, who believed always in "rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." While in civic life, as in religious association, he never cried aloud in the market place or proclaimed his virtues from the housetops, and was too busy doing other things to spend any time in seeking public office, he has always been interested very deeply in the affairs of government, and has cast his ballot after careful and conscientious reflection for the man or measure that he thought would be the most conducive to the public good. He never had any axes to grind and could, therefore, afford to be honest with himself and his fellows. In the early days he was a member of the Borough Council, and you may be sure that every action of his was prompted by an honest purpose to serve the best interests of his fellows and advance the well-being of the community. That he is loved by those with whom he has been so long intimately associated was proven by the fact that when he celebrated the ninetieth anniversary of his birth, more than a year ago, four hundred people went out to the home of Dr. James, at Eldorado, where the reverend gentleman had invited the nonagenarian, in order to shake his hand and bid him God-speed. The aged shoulders are bowed, the venerable head is bent and the touch of time has whitened the locks, but nothing earthly has had power to warp the fine character, or take the kindly glint from the dim eyes. He is looking out into that unknown future toward which his feet have been traveling for so many years with the same fearless glance that characterized his youth, and his courage and strength may carry him to the end of the last decade that he has entered upon. #