A 1959 Mirror - the Palmerton High School newspaper, was received by the Palmerton Area Historical Society. President Jane Borbe was reading it before the April 11 meeting. She read a few pieces of trivia to those gathered for the meeting, such as: The 1908 class was so small the school considered not having a graduation ceremony, and Mr. Winn Evans counts his toes as well as his fingers when he computes grades.

Secretary Betsy Burnhauser said treasurer Nancy Hertzog received a Courage Award the previous week.George Ashman, acquisitions committee, said the photo of Zinc Company employees he had brought to the March meeting has now had all but three of the people identified.He introduced a person, Rob Moyer, who had a puzzle for the Society. The man is from Bowmanstown and had a drawer he found in a cabinet in his garage left by a previous owner. It is covered inside and outside with signatures, some dated, some with locations.The oldest date is 1875 and they run into the 1900s. The cabinet was at the Roth House at Mill and Lime Streets. The garage had been built in the 1950s."Was it a cabinet used by a fraternal organization?" he wondered. He can be reached at 610-852-2381 if anyone knows or has an educated guess.An additional 35 historical throws have been ordered in expectation of more visitors when class reunions are held and vacationers come to town in the summer.The quilt display at the Heritage Center will be replaced with other quilts in early May. All quilts are 50 years old or more.The rock stabilization on the east side of the Gap is expected to be finished by June.The May meeting is the annual mystery trip. Meet at the borough parking lot at 6:15 p.m. Car pooling is available.The planned speaker for the night, George Petrole, did not expect to arrive back in Palmerton until 10 p.m. so Burnhauser came up with a last minute Civil War program.She said Samuel Yehl, her great-grandfather, was an ordinary volunteer. His married brother was drafted, but Yehl, 16, went in his place. At that age he needed his father's permission to replace Tilman Yehl.In 1862 he joined the 176th Regiment, Co. G, and was discharged in 1863 after serving his nine-month enlistment.He re-entered the military as a volunteer recruit joining the 28th Regiment in 1865. The war ended shortly thereafter.Yehl suffered bouts of sunstroke and developed a hernia that was bad enough that he received a pension when he was mustered out.He was serving picket duty at Beaufort, S.C., in 1863 and became sick. He was hospitalized and moved to Port Royal where he injured his left side when he was unloading supplies from ships. A hernia was the result of the injury.Yehl had to prove his disability by means of first-person affidavits from people who saw the incident that led to disability. They began with "I saw" or "I was a comrade of."Yehl became a railroad worker and lived in Slatington after his military service.In 1887 he developed rheumatism and asked for an increase in his pension. When a neighbor wanted help he was unable to provide it and his wife Rebecca had to go to work.After his death Rebecca applied for an increase of her $12 a month pension and was denied because she was already considered a pensioner.Burnhauser said at the battle of Antietam alone there were 113,507 wounded in one day of fighting.At the Andersonville prison in Georgia men were so desperate for food that they mixed cornmeal with mud. All of them died - part of the 13,000 prisoners who died at the camp."It's sad to think of brothers killing brothers," said Burnhauser.She went to the National Archives to get information about her family, and said, "That was an experience in itself."She was required to leave everything in a locker. A man was watching the researchers all the time. When she wanted to print some materials, she was told she had too much and it had to go to the bulk copy section. A man carried the material she wanted to copy and was to have returned it. When she returned it herself, unaware that it was a no-no, the person in the archive section asked who brought the material. He was unhappy when she said she had.A video of First Ladies of the period was shown. James Buchanan, president before the war, had a niece, Harriet, who served as his first lady. The life of Abraham Lincoln's first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, was also shown.