USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume 1 > Part 10
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It is not necessary, and, as I think, not beneficial. ta dwell on the dark side; but after reading over several of the preceding chapters, I am impressed with the conviction that variety (not to mention any other motive) requires :
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sort of description somewhat different from the eulogies which filled several pages ; in short, neither praise nor dis- praise, but simple Arcadian truth. Your historian, as he has been called from the beginning, is not going to shoot a Parthian arrow, firing and then running away, but will try to avoid an excess of sentiment, and bear in mind that we are all a set of plain, simple farmers, making no claims to any other title than this.
It is altogether natural that an agricultural community, in reviewing the year just past, should first direct their at- tention to that great fact upon which so much of their prosperity depends, namely, the weather. This subject is generally considered commonplace, and yet a very popu- lar one amongst people of all classes. When we rightly examine it, we find abundant reason for the general inter- est, in the infinite variety therein perceived. No two years of the past ten have resembled each other, and the last is especially distinct. While the chief facts belonging to the weather are duly reported to us from the proper quarter, there are always other and more general considerations connected with the influences of the seasons, that also claim a place here. In the year now closing, the dry, the hot, the cold, and (throughout last month) the windy, have all been distinguishing characteristics. The dry in- fluence prevailed in the spring and carly summer, in a de- gree really alarming. When a dry April was followed by a dryer May, with very little improvement in June, it was all up with the grass crop. Ilay was put down in the esti- mate at one-fourth to a third of the average yield. The springs, the wells and streams failed in corresponding de- gree. My own spring, which had kept up a fair flow for the previous 34 years, ceased running for some days; the Patuxent had but one-fourth its usual summer current
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(as Thomas Lea informed me), and some of the oldest in- habitants said it would require to go back at least half a century, indeed even to 1806, to find a year when the streams were so low. The greatest inconvenience was sustained from the failure of the wells. Then was the digging of wells and the lengthening of pumps the liveliest business going on. It was during the first half of June that the word " famine " came to be frequently mentioned.
Now, mark what followed. Our farmers were surprised to find on harvesting and threshing their wheat, that the amount of grain bore an extraordinary disproportion to the meagre straw; in fact, that it was a superior crop. The great corn crop was still better, being generally above the average. Fruit was abundant, and of better quality than usual. In short, the apprehended famine did not come. It is well to recall these unrealized fears, and with the recollection confirm our faith, that "while the carth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
The deficiency in the two other important productions, hay and potatoes, not fully compensated by their increased price, . still left the season, pecuniarily speaking, with a balance on the wrong side. Then in the fall there fell upon us, as it was were from the clouds-well, we don't know how it'did come, certainly in a mysterious, unprecedented way- that calamity of the horse influenza, or Epizootic, with its other unpronounceable names. We heard rumors of the pestilence through October, as first appearing in Canada, then crossing the border (without regard to the tariff'). swooping down upon town and country, disturbing trade more than farming, and at last reaching us at the close of the month. Wherever there was a horse, a mule, or a don- key, there was the disease .. There were comparatively few
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fatal cases, but the suspension of work was almost total. Then did some folks recover an accomplishment little used since they were infants, finding they could actually walk miles. On one meeting day (First-day, too), there were in the stalls so few horses (only two or three), we would scarcely have known that any were there if it had not been for the cough. A lady was drawn in her carriage a couple of miles to church, by man, or rather, boy-power. For- tunately the disease came at the most favorable season for the farmer. It still remains to be proved whether its con- sequences have yet entirely disappeared.
A pretty hard year, on the whole, for the agricultural interest. The worst of it is, that our young people show increasing signs of restlessness under the condition of things, and fresh doubts are being started on the important question, whether farming at Sandy Spring is a profitable business. Grave and settled men are discussing the ques- tion, " How does farming pay ?" A big question, involving many considerations, going deep into political economy, and still deeper into other economies, not to be settled with- out reference to the highest principles. In order to start from the solid basis of statistics, I have taken some pains to estimate the amount of land possessed by the 65 or 70 families who constitute " our neighborhood," as included in these annals. I find between 10,000 and 10,500 acres, which gives an average of full 150 acres to each family- a very fair farm.
Now let us consider there are different systems of farm- ing. There was (and it still exists) the old Maryland sys- tem. I need not take up space here to describe it, being too well known to need description. Without using harsh language, it may be justly claimed that that system has no proper place now in judicious agriculture, but
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belongs to a state of things gone by, as we hope, forever. A new era has come; new men, new ideas require a new system, and whether we like it or not, we have got to conform to it, or be dropped out of the agricultural circle. What is the course going on in Sandy Spring ? Let us refer to statistics. One of the principles insisted upon by many, though not by all, is that farming ope- rations require to be concentrated upon fewer acres. Our average of 150 acres to a farm would be regarded, ac- cording to the notions of olden times, as quite too moder- ate ; but a different conclusion will be formed when we take into view the changed circumstances in regard to the market for farm products, the labor by which they are produced, and, I venture to add, the probable future means of conveyance to market. There is surely room for a greater concentration yet. When this fact comes to be properly realized, the talk about the necessity of our Sandy Spring youth having to swarm and leave the native hive-where honey does so abound, and prevented from cloying by the stings always inseparable-that sort of talk will be regarded as absurd. Plenty of room for a century yet ! What is required in order to make a place for every figure in the multiplication table, and to put plenty on the table for every figure that comes, is a simple conformity to facts. Our two great and growing cities want all that we can produce; but we cannot produce profitably all the sorts of things which they want. We must be smart enough to find out what articles it will pay us best to direct our attention to.
The stern logic of facts may require something ohy than knowing what to sell. We must see and judy. calinly and intelligently, what we ought, and what we ought not, to buy. There is one very plain fact which
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some persons find it difficult to learn, namely, never to buy what you cannot pay for. As we are dealing with facts (which are the special province of history), there is another one, not unconnected with political and domestic economy, which may be put into the following aphorism : " If young people insist on beginning where their parents left off, they may have to leave off where their parents began." Very good, but perhaps not wholly original.
Leaving the suggestions pertaining to economy, which is the least popular, and perhaps least lovable of all the greater virtues in proportion to its real value, it is not amiss to refer to another fact, which the whirligig of time has made conspicuous, and is yearly making more so in all places, and even at Sandy Spring. The desire to get rich, always too strong, is continually growing stronger; and the worst part about it is, people want to get rich without working for it. They want the results without the labor by which alone it can be legitimately obtained. It is a horrible confession, but too true: we want some- thing without giving its equivalent. Is this honest? If not, then we all know that it can never really and truly suc- ceed. And as we are all honest in intention at least, there must be some awful blunder made in the lessons we learn regarding the true purposes of life. If education means what the best authorities in unison with common sense declare that it does mean, namely, the fitting of boys and girls to fulfil the duties of a useful, noble life, when they become men and women, then it must be very far from having attained as yet to anything like a perfect system. Most true is it that one effect of the great work called ulucation is to diminish taste for labor; I mean for hard work.
But this is a repulsive subject. We leave it with
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expressing the hope and expectation, as you know I am a devout believer in progress, that the grand improvements in machinery will ultimately render hard work on a farm unnecessary. In the meantime it is not the worst thing we have to do.
I have dwelt so long upon this branch of my annual sketch, that there is but little room left for remarks upon a subject that has become of vital concern-the labor question. Yet would the annals of the year be very in- perfect if our experience in relation to this matter were wholly left out. Taken altogether, the experience is less satisfactory this year than usual ; especially is this the case in the female department, wherein the troubles seem to portend, if they have not reached, a crisis. The difficul- ties with respect to field labor appear to find a reasonable explanation in the extraordinary demand for workmen created by the magnificent enterprises going on within the District of Columbia. The high wages offered there would necessarily tend to draw away our regular hands ; but this inconvenience is probably only temporary. Our neighborhood had been favored, owing to the operation of moral causes, beyond the adjacent communities, good labor being generally abundant. It is reasonable to anticipate that the men will return. But this explanation does not promise relief from the difficulties connected with a scarcity of female help, which shows no very hopeful signs of improvement. However, we may indulge the expectation that affairs being in a transition state, are likely to settle down in some agreeable way. They almost always do.
Efforts are being made in neighboring communities of our county and state, to introduce foreign labor to cure the prevalent evils. The proceeding demands our serious attention. After looking all around its probable influ-
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ences, we may come to the conclusion that " it is better to bear the ills we have (trying to cure them) than fly to others that we know not of." Having lately met with the best article I ever saw on this subject, I transcribe a small portion, which clearly points out the high ground that can alone be successfully maintained.
"It seems that civilized society is on the verge of very grave experiences in what is called the 'question of labor.' The relations between employers and employed, between rich and poor, are everywhere coming up for read- justment. In what direction and how far the changes will go, how profoundly they will affect the whole status of civilized life, are questions which thoughtful men are beginning to ponder very seriously. We must not be de- ceived by general phrases and big words into supposing that the 'Labor Question' is something vague and far off; something for the editors and writers and politicians to settle, as being a matter which we, the common people, cannot understand, and in which, therefore, we have no duty. Of all subjects, it belongs to us-to us, the whole people of the land, to our everyday lives, our business, our families. The great danger and difficulty of the whole matter lies in one word-selfishness. The way, and the only way, to a just, peaceful and happy issue lies through each man's caring for others as well as for himself. There is great talk about Human Rights, but rights without duties mean sheer failure and wretchedness. So long as every one is intent solely on his own rights, or exacting from others what he believes his due, the world is simply a great battlefield of selfish passions. When I pay my hands for their work, does that end my obligation to them ? No! they are your fellow-beings as well as your workmen. There are thousands of women who live under the same
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roof with their servants for months and years and never exchange a word with them, except about work. We must come to the simple doctrine, 'Do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you.' Without that there is no solution of the 'labor problem'; with it, there can be no failure." Such is the whole simple truth, and all adverse doctrines of business interests or political economy are the feeblest outcome of a science which excludes the . most important data of the case.
From " female help" to summer boarders is quite a natural transition. That institution, now so much in- creased in numbers and magnitude, may be regarded as a success. Some apprehensions in respect to the influence on the social tone of the rural neighborhood produced by so large an influx from the city, are still occasionally expressed ; but, " whether for good, or whether for ill," summer boarders are an institution fixed and likely to go on, at least while it continues to pour the vitalizing stream of a thousand dollars.a weck into the current of neigh- borhood business. And then you know it gives such a polish to rustic youth ! You may say, " Polish is a thing merely on the surface"; but I have always noticed that a mineral must have a good grain all through to be sus- ceptible of fine polish ; you can not polish chalk, but you may marble and the precious metals. May our young men be firm as marble ! Our young women are sure to be precious !
It is a fact not to be called in question that our sum- mer guests are often as solid and as little frivolous as our- selves; men and women whose friendship is a real and Lasting acquisition. And sometimes they undergo har- barous treatment amongst us when fierce animals ch- danger life and limb. A brief entry on my notes is
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headed "Bulis on the rampage!" which recalls two cases that excited so lively an interest in the neighborhood last summer, as to claim a space among the annals of the season, Those wild beasts threw mad dogs quite into the shade. It would not canse regret to some persons if mad dogs and those bulls could be thrown into the same inclosure, provided a strong, high wall shut them in.
The only " unfinished business" which I find coming up from last year relates to the Ashton turnpike. The . energetic and practical gentlemen who first stirred up the interest to undertake the work have the honor of com- pleting it, in a way that cannot fail to be satisfactory after the two finishing essentials for these roads, time and travel, shall have done their duty.
Another piece of " unfinished business" came near be- ing forgotten-such is the frailty of human memory ! That railroad, our standing excitement, now in danger of becoming a standing joke, was "to be in running order by Christmas." It may be recollected that the Christ- mas of what year was not stated. Indeed, some proceed- ings occurred which were calculated to cast a doubt upon the desirability of having any railroad at all. When it was seen that, in the near future, "the sacred soil of Sandy Spring" was about to be profaned by the inva- sion, then rose the spirit of the Old Dominion, and like a lion prepared to bar the way. It seemed dreadful that a farm must be bisected, that the old arrangements of fields must be altered; the loss of time by the field- hands looking up every hour or two from their work at the passing trains bogan to be estimated; and more serious results inseparable from those rapid, rushing rail- ways loomed up in the future distance. What influence upon the carly construction of the road may be produced
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by these expressions of adverse feelings it is impossible to say; but rating the effect at the lowest point, there remains this fact, which (as having had some experience in railroad works) I consider unquestionable; that, as railroads are planned and constructed by men, a kindly and liberal course pursued toward those who administer them is sure to have a favorable influence in securing important advantages.
If it were not that a historian is essentially an imper- sonal being, I should feel some delicacy in throwing out these remarks; but, as Carlyle says, "history is a looking before and after"; and I should be very neglectful of that latter outlook if I failed to suggest that for those who come after us, the objections as to " the new ar- rangement of fences," "the cutting off of corners of fields," and such changes as a railroad would now require, will seem to them of very much less importance than they do to us now; and, if securing the greatest of material advantages shall have been put in jeopardy by us for objections no stronger than these, there will be small thanks awarded by our posterity.
Looking down upon our neighborhood as if it were spread before our mental eyes, the most prominent feature that it now presents is, the extent to which the principle (and practice) of association bas extended among us. It is very rare to meet an individual who has not been drawn in. Close and near together come the meetings of clubs. of societies with various objects, and some with nouc at all. except present gratification. This is certainly an interest- ing and important fact in the progressive career of the community. In this very book, line upon line bas boa written, claiming the highest utility for these social and business gatherings. Among them all, none has been
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more successful than the attempt to get up a meeting of the meetings, a club of the clubs, an Annual Convention of the Farmers. Widening out the objects of the growing agricultural clubs, this Convention held a preliminary meeting in November, and assembling about the middle of January in large numbers, laid the foundations for an or- ganization which holds out the prospect of extensive future usefulness. Its projectors may do well to remember there is always some danger that a band which binds beautifully a limited number of homogeneous threads, may possibly break if stretched too far; but when strengthened by the golden thread of unselfish motive and true desire for im- provement, there is nothing to fear.
That other large enterprise, the Horticultural Fair, has proved that an association may be conducted so as to deal successfully with a number of heterogeneous elements. Each Fair seems better than the last, even despite inclem- ent weather.
Seeing the rapid spread of these societies, the cautious observer of frail human nature must put the serious question, whether they may not be carried to extremes and so "run into the ground." Experience shows there may be too much of a good thing. Let us pause a moment and regard the several associations, simply on rational grounds. The Farmers' Clubs are not mere pleasure gath- erings; to carry them out rightly includes considerable labor. When you have to work there is not much danger of going too far in one direction.
Of the Ladies' Association, I must say, though extremely averse to flattery, that mischief and such as they cannot possibly go together ; their gatherings are unmixed good.
I doubt not the same, or very nearly the same, may be said of " the Home Interests." when their members shall
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have passed beyond the giddy verge of youth. The Horti- cultural comes next, and now we begin to mix things ; perhaps all the better for that; the members are certain!v nice, mingling both sexes and all ages, from 10 to 70 years. The interesting and able Debating Society more than sustains ite credit. The Sociable is surely endowed with the faculty of perpetual existence, from its name and nature.
We have summoned to the bar of History a number of our Associations, and find them not guilty of "going to extremes."
It was stated that another, with the sweet title of the "Innocents," had organized, with no special object save to enjoy themselves and " have a good time." Neither is any charge laid against these, so far as your historian has heard. All seem to keep within the limits wherein alone pleasure has any real cxistence.
A friend to true enjoyment says,
"Oh watch ye well in pleasure ! for pleasure off betray s."
And another and nobler bard, with deep pathos, ex- claims :
" Lives there the man who has not tried How mirth can into folly glide, And folly into sin ?"
While I should be the last person to disparage the hete- ficial influences exerted in so many directions by the multitudinous associations that have started up vigor- ously amongst us, I must be excused for expressing regrets at the diminished interest shown toward the Lyceum and its peculiar exercises. I think this circumstance, in part. attributable to the recent multiplication of social engage- ments; but the fact is evident, whatsoever the cause. The
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Annual Course of Lectures designed for the past winter, has not been well sustained. I know it may be said that the officers of the Lyceum have not furnished as many opportunities to attend lectures as usual ; but there is not where the difficulty lies. In the first address ever de- livered in this building, some fourteen years ago, the prom- ise was confidently made, that if audiences were properly kept up, lecturers would not be wanting, And it was so, and always will be so. Now, how has it been this winter ? The directors proposed a course of literary and scientific Jec- tures which cannot be said to have succeeded; though there is no place in the country (I say it deliberately) where just such lectures are more wanted than at Sandy Spring,-thorough information, such as the times and our reputation demand, in regard to the fundamental prin- ciples on which depends all correct practice in the me- chanical and agricultural arts, in finance, in true economy, and in the best way of living.
Passing over the neglected lectures, one of which at least deserved a better fate, your historian is bound to refer slightly to a circumstance which a number of our most interested auditors, our most concerned members, were pained to observe, namely, a gradual deterioration of that quiet and attentive deportment that marked our carly meetings. Lecturers of that day spoke admiringly of the good order of the audience. Some of the best in recent times have received quite a different impression. It might be a mitigation of the complaint if we could lay the fault upon the youthful pupils of the schools, who often helped out our numbers; but not justly could we "lay that flattering metion to our souls."
Every one must see that the Lyceum proper cannot be kept up without the observance of good order. The old
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charge, "a word to the wise," is all that is needed at Sandy Spring !
It is true that Sandy Spring got along a good while without a Lyceum; it might, doubtless, continue to exist were the hall to become a ruin. But would there not be left a void which few of us in this stirring age might like to see ?
Since the above lines were written, a meeting was held at the Lyceum, the third in the regular course, which was ยท very numerously attended. No falling off in numbers or diminution of interest could be complained of on that occasion. And yet your historian, although much grati- fied at this evidence of life among us, does not see reason for taking back any of the remarks previously made. The entertainment spoken of being dramatic in its character, was so different from the old-fashioned Lyceum exercises that it is not to be judged by the same rules. The intro- duction of this species of amusement is something new ; probably it is the commencement of a gratification which in all ages and quarters of the world has produced the most lively pleasure among the people who have witnessed it. Now, although we all desire that the entertainment; at this hall shall continue to be of the highest and best quality, it is very certain that neither sage nor saint can edify people who fail to come and hear. Allow me to propose this compromise: let those who incline to come here chiefly for entertainment, attend and feel interested in the lectures for instruction ; and let those who consider instruction the main object, not fail to countenance by their presence, restraining within proper limits, these meetings where innocent amusement is the attraction. So will all be lovely !
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