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The sale of the reward of merit fraktur at Pook and Pook completed by schoolmaster Johann Conrad Gilbert (1734-1812) who emigrated from Germany in 1757 and settled in Montgomery County Pennsylvania may have sparked an interest to our readers as to how the bunny or rabbit became an indelible symbol of Easter in colonial America. As it turns out so many times you must thank the Pennsylvania Dutch for this great contribution to our country. These are the German immigrants like Heinrich Gudehus who emigrated from Palatinate, Germany in the eighteenth century.

In our first chapter we said that there was little evidence that rushlighting was ever used in Colonial America. The same cannot be said about Betty lamps. The name "Betty lamp" was often used for a type of lamp that included a crusie, Phoebe, or slut lamp. Colonial Sense will make distinction between the different types. The first lamps were brought over from England and Holland with the Pilgrims. Captain John Carver, the first Governor of Plymouth Colony, brought with him a Dutch iron betty lamp purchased in Holland. The simplest form of lamp brought with the colonists was an iron saucer with one or two lips at the edge to hold a wick. The lamp had similar form to the Greek, Roman, and Assyrian versions. There was a need for lighting in the early days of our country. Edward Winslow, the second Governor of the Plymouth Colony, wrote a letter back to the prospective colonists in 1621 stating, "Bring paper and linseed oil for your windows, with cotton yarn for your lamps."

The journal of Jasper Danckaerts may have gone undiscovered if not for the discovery by Henry C. Murphy, founder of the Long Island Historical Society, in 1864. Murphy was an excellent Dutch scholar who translated and published the original manuscript and presented his edition in 1867. Murphy found the original manuscript in an old book store in Amsterdam.