Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 183, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1916 — HERMITS LIVE IN ANCIENT CABIN [ARTICLE]

HERMITS LIVE IN ANCIENT CABIN

Dwelling Is Fast Crumbling as Result of Powder Mill Blasts, BUILT OVER A CENTURY AGO Aged Brothers Born in Shack They Ocoupy—Civil War Pension Paid to Elder Suffices for Their Meager Wants. New York. —Two aged hermit brothers, George W. and Louis C. Lurk, aged eighty-four and seventy-four respectively, are threatened with the loss of their century-old cabin, in which they have spent practically all tjbeir lives. They live in the mountainous region of northern New Jersey, between Kenvil and Lake Hopatcong. There are big powder mills at Kenvil, and the numerous accidental explosions there have almost wrecked the Lurk cabin. The cabin was built in 1807 by their father, William J. Lurk, a farmer. At his death more thau sixty years ago he divided equally his seventy acres between them. The brothers did all their own work until fifteen years .ago, when, enfeebled by age, they were obliged to employ farm hands. Then the powder mills began to pay higher wages than the Lurks could afford, and the farm has since beep allowed to grow wild. The brothers were born in the little old cabin. Louis’ only excursion to the outside world was a trip to Pennsylvania on a canal boat in the summer of 1873. Since then he has not been further than a mile from his home. George-, has traveled a little more extensively. For several summers he was engaged on a canal boat plying from a point near his home to Mauch Chunk, Pa. He served his country for a short time near the close of the Civil war in Company B, Thir-ty-ninth New Jersey volunteers, and was wounded in the shoulder in the battle of Petersburg. His pension enables the brothers to get along. The Old Homestead. There are four rooms on the ground floor of the cabin, the one in front, the largest, being most freely used. Here is the stove, the dining table and an old cot. A room back of this serves as another sleeping quarter. Another front room is used for storing farm utensils, food, wood and unused furniture. In the rear of this is the room where the brothers were born —George on November 29, 1832, and Louis on February 10, 1842. There are three or four frames on the walls which once contained pictures. Stacked in corners are letters, old papers, .magazines, etc., the accumulation of a century. One letter, picked up recently by a visitor was addressed to the father in the penmanship of the early days, and bore a faint postmark of some date in 1821. The upstairs part of the cabin is in an unfinished state. The general room, used for cooking, eating and sleeping, is plastered and has a more habitable look than any of the others. In one corner is a stack of wood, thrown down carelessly alongside an old-fashioned stove, rusted and greased almost beyond recognition. The bedclothing on the little cot and the cloth thrown over the few dishes on the table may have been white once. The chairs are “antiques.” The floors are without covering. George, although older than Louis, is far more spry. Louis is suffering from kidney trouble and is quite fpphlp. Louis' “Gold Mine." As a rule George wears no shoes, only socks. Neither has had a hai# cut or shave within memory. George does the cooking. Their meals consist of milk from a farm in the vicinity, cereals, crackers, fruits and, occasionally, meat and potatoes. They rise with the sun and retire at nightfall. Should light be needed at night candles are used. Both can read, but it is very seldom .that either sees a newspaper or magazine. Louis is looking forward to the time when he will have recovered suffleiently to explore his “gold mine” in the mountain. He insists that there is one on his property, and says that If his health were good he would soon prove it. He talks of going to a hospital, but stfys he hasn’t the price, and he is averse to accepting charity. George has a wonderful collection of Indian relics, including hundreds of arrowheads. Redmen camped in the territory in the early part of the eight* eenth century. George says there is • “knack” in finding arrowheads. “Wait until after a shower,” he advises, “and then walk out into the fields. You’ll see little things glistening in the dirt. These are arrowheads.” George has an old gun which his father picked up over a hundred years ago in the old cabin, but his prize relic is the battered hat he wore in the days of ’65,