USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume 1 > Part 11
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The rest of the chapter 'must be told in a few words.
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My respected colleague has furnished a list of events, which forms part of the record-being preserved along with it. We find by reference to that list, while our "Savings Institution" boasts of an increase of $7000, having now in its vaults a solid round sum of over $33,000, that our neighborhood presents a richer increase of a better sort than in any one of the past ten years- little treasures more precious than silver or gold-being eleven babes! The mention of it draws out our poetry -- " As the cradle rocks in the peasant's cot,
So it rocks in the noble's hall ;
And the richest gift of the loftiest lot Is the boon that is given to all."
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(Not quite to all ; there being not a single babe within a mile of the centre of Sandy Spring.)
Referring to babes, it requires to be stated that they had a rough time of it through the winter with the whooping-cough ; which disease was not confined to them, for mothers and even grandmothers were compelled to sympathize personally. Still we have cause to be thank- ful that no vacant chair at home, no little mound in the churchyard, witnesses the visit of the rude disease.
There were two marriages this year:
1. Llewellyn Massey and Emily Thomas, Sth month 8th, 1872.
2. William Parker and Anna M. Bentley, 11th month 12th, 1872.
The deaths properly belonging to the neighborhood were four:
Wilson Scott. Cth month 4th, 18:2. after a suffering illness of several weeks; last of the children of one of our old settlers, the quiet, respected Isaac Scott.
A summer child was born to Charles IL. and Anna F.
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Brooke; his little life was just like a drop of morning dew, that "just as it touches carth, exhales into heaven."
7th month 11th, 1872, Isaac Bond, of consumption, long latent in his system, but wearing him away rapidly at the last. His case is scarcely one which can strictly be included as belonging to Sandy Spring, as he came but to die. Yet neither can he be wholly separated from the community with which he was always most closely con- nected and where all his affections were fastened.
1st month 6th, 1873, Ann Wetherald died at the age of 83, having survived her distinguished husband, Thomas Wetherald, for forty years.
3d month 10th, Virginia F. Moore died in Alexandria, where she and her little daughter had gone to spend the winter. This book contains the record of her youthful husband's death in 1864, and of a little darling in 1866, by which mournful events her young life, before as bright as any we have known, was darkened by a shadow never to be lifted on earth.
Much sympathy is felt for the death of W. H. Bukoff- ski's two only children.
Summary of the marriages, births and deaths of the last ten years :
Marriages, 25; births, 79; deaths, 40,-in a population of about 330.
Several interesting features pertaining to the past year should not be altogether omitted: among these are the flourishing condition of the First-Day School, the close of James S. Hallowell's " Fulford Boarding School," and the establishment of one for boys by Coleman and Mar- shall.
I have found that considerably more space is now re- quired in order to make out anything like an annual skotch than when the task was first undertaken.
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And now the pen, which has recorded the long train of events that have constituted a very imperfect biography of the Sandy Spring neighborhood for the past ten years, drops from the weary hand. Under the decided expecta- tion that the writer has made his last entry in these annals, he asks you to listen to a few closing words-they shall be a prayer: that when the fingers that held the pen are stiff, and the heart that dictated its many utterances is cold in yonder churchyard, may some friendly voice be heard to say of the writer-" He was a sincere wellwisher to his race and a true lover of Sandy Spring." W. H. F.
CHAPTER XI.
FROM FOURTH MONTH, TTH, 1873, TO. FOURTH MONTH, 6TH, 1874. Resumption of the Ilistory- Influence of the age-"10 years ago !"-The solid basis - Former prices - Increase of travel- ling - Also of the use of fresh meats- Country stores - Econo- my and Micawber- Wheat exceeding former products ; 43 bushels per acre - Dairy business extending - Railroad located from Hanover through our farms- Rise of the Grange: its character and influence-Good lectures at the Lyceum, by Rev. J. F. W. Ware, Samuel Stabler, of California, and others -- The " Black Friday " did not weaken the " Savings Institu- tion " ; but the " Mutual Insurance Company " suffered losses by fire of over $40,000-The Rockville and Horticultural Fairs " better than ever before "-The Telegraph established at Olney, and the Metropolitan Railroad by Rockville - No marriage this year, but interesting " golden wedding " of Edward and Ann R. Stabler - " Silver wedding" of Warwick P. and Mary M. Miller -And the "golden wedding " of Robert H. and Anna Miller : all of which occurred within our historical year, from 4th Month, 1823, to 4th Month, 1874.
Since it is your expressed desire this history, commenced ten years ago, should not be suffered to drop yet awhile
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(as was the sincere expectation of the writer), he resumes the pen without making any further explanation of his change of purpose. He would warn you in advance that there is a period in the life of every man, coming at different ages in different persons-some reach it at sixty, some at seventy, others at a still later period-when the individual experiences an honest conviction that he ought to give up responsible business : but if he proceeds beyond that period the conviction leaves him; he gets further and further from perceiving or acknowledging the gather- ing shadows, and clings with nerveless hand to the sceptre, The pen, the gavel, or whatever may be the instrument of his office. An anticipation of this sort is before the mind of your historian. Started again on the course, you may expect a succession of volumes rivalling Bancroft in numbers, or simulating even the Chinese historians. Being now supported by two lady assistants (for he is gratified to announce that Mrs. Mary B. Thomas has con- sented to join the editorial corps), he is quite unable to promise when the undertaking will come to a final close.
In entering upon the second decade it seems entirely consistent with the nature and objects of history to take a retrospective glance at our situation when the last de- cade commenced. The doctrine so frequently uttered that " history is philosophy teaching by example," renders it highly proper to take such view.
Ten years used to scem a long while to me. To some of the audience it doubtless so appears now: (I know; because about forty years ago a young lady sent me a copy of verses -- I have them yet-ontitled " When we went young, ten years ago!") The period seems quite brut now. Yet when we think how much has occurred, if we only refer to the changes which this book records-the
à
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marriages, births, deaths-ah! it scarcely seems the same world !
But in making the comparison of then and now, we must guard against the mistake of regarding as changes in the object, what are in fact only changes in ourselves. We old people are quite liable to this error; which is simply unavoidable, if the subject is viewed as colored by our own feelings. The only way to avoid it is by sticking to facts. Here statistics, figures, come in, to strip the subject of illusions, and render our conclusions of some value and interest. Your historian has been brought to see, partly against his will, certainly in opposition to all his imaginative and poetic instincts, that the prosperity of a community must rest, like all other things, on a solid material basis. It would be disagreeable, and only par- tially true, to say, that in this, as in other material things, money is the`measure of value. Poor indeed, wretchedly poor, is the man or the neighborhood that is not distin- guished for something better than money ; which is of the earth, earthy; like the foundation-stones of a building to be kept out of sight-low down, where it belongs; not to be compared to the beautiful pillars, walls, bay-windows, mantels, &c .; and yet, where are all those valuable and beautiful things when the foundation gives way? These are facts which it is well to face. I return to the figures, with which I shall not detain you, but only present a very meagre specimen to illustrate the point. I find in a - record of nine or ten years back, that agricultural produc- tions stood at prices far beyond the present time: Hay brought $30 a ton, oats were 91 cents a bushel, pork IS cents a pound. Compare these figures with the corres- ponding prices for the last two or three years. Flush times were those, for money came in faster even than it went out. Is this the case now ?
....
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Let us turn away from the grovelling thought, to read a lively passage from the contribution of my new lady assistant. She says : " Our people seem to have done more travelling this year than ffer before ; persons from Sandy Spring have visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Mauch Chunk, Gettysburg, Watkins Glen, Niagara, Ohio, Indiana, Valley of Virginia, Rehoboth Beach, Cape May, St. Louis, Chicago, Quincy, Omaha, St. Paul's, Utah, Colorado, San Francisco, Mammoth Cave, Chatta- nooga, &c." Not to be behind the times, various " Ameri- can citizens of African descent" took advantage of a cheap excursion to Richmond, Virginia. There were also forty-five individuals from this place present at Balti- more Yearly Meeting in the fall. Now here is a go for certain! You couldn't find anything like that ten years ago, or indeed ever before. The most snarling critic can- not deny that travelling has a great effect in expanding the mind, conducing to progress. But when one has ; leading subject weighing on his mind, he is apt to find a connection between it and some other things that appear quite different. That our people should have done so much travelling is a thing to be proud of, but indeed it does cost !
In this connection too let us state another very differ- ent fact, but ending in the same result as to pecuniary gains.
Thomas J. Lea reports a great increase in the con- sumption of fresh beef.
Add to this our other supplies of fresh meats, and there is an amazing total. Of course the summer board. r. are responsible for part of this large consumption, though only for a small part. .
This is really and truly a sign of progress. It shows
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that we are changing our meat diet from the pork and bacon that served as the staple for our forefathers, to the more wholesome mutton and beef. I think it is probably worth all it costs, but (like the travelling business) it does cost. The money in this case stays in the neighborhood too, which is a good thing. It is also a favorable circum- stance that the money spent in our stores, or at least a fair fraction of it, remains among our own people.
The mercantile statistics of the neighborhood, so far as relates to our dealings with the stores, would form an important item of the general prosperity, especially if the review were extended over the period of the past fifteen or sixteen years. I speak only of the collective opera- tions, not of the dealings of particular individual store- keepers. Such review would, I think, refute the remark made recently by one of our prosperous citizens, to the effect that "these stores were the greatest evil of the times"; which was of course a hasty exaggeration. When we reflect on the fact that the three or four stores at which our people mostly deal, receive in cash or promises to pay an amount equivalent to the interest of a million dollars, there is some difficulty in understanding how the amount is made up from the producing capacity of the surrounding estates in addition to other large necessary expenditures. No one can be so unfair as to attach blame for this condition of things to the persons who keep the stores; who are all too well known and too highly esteemed to need any sort of eseuse or explanation. It is probable these gentlemen could enlighten us better than any one else as to the point where the real mischief li's: not so much in the amount of goods bought, as in the amount not paid for.
These are times when, throughout the length and
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breadth of our land, a deeper concern than I have ever known before is felt by all reflecting citizens at the heavy debt which is piling up everywhere by individuals and communities. Our national law-makers are now in the act of relieving the pressure of the debt by increasing its amount. Probably some individuals would like to pursue the same course with their private obligations; a road to ruin which does not very much concern Sandy Spring; at least we will hope so. Still, inasmuch as human nature is much the same everywhere, and as nature allows no exceptions to her laws, it is, perhaps, not a superfinous caution at this time, to direct your attention to that prac- tical principle in the right conduct of life which is nowhere better illustrated than in the words of Micawber: "Income, £20; expenses, £19 19s. 6d .; result, peace and happiness. Income, £20; expenses, £20 10s .; result, misery and ruin ! "
Examine the figures, young people; the magic numerals that comprise such momentous issues! It is a solemn fact requiring no prophetic insight to discern, that all the culture which this neighborhood has attained, all its social advantages, its respect abroad and comfort at home, will be unavailing to prevent a catastrophe, if the groundwork of human prosperity fails: industry directed by intelli- gence, prudence, and the resolve never to incur a debt without rational assurance of being able to pay. (Con- gratulate me on being through with this portion of this year's history ! )
Tokens of energy and improvement during the year are by no means wanting. Agriculture, the foundation-rock on which our chief prosperity must be built, can .1 ..... some considerable successes, while it can scarcely be called a very brilliant year. The wheat crop may be boast d nt.
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One of our farmers (whose initials are S. P. T.) raised 420 bushels on ten acres, a production probably never exceeded in this part of the country. Such a return might be con- sidered exceptional; but I have to add that the Farmers' Club, consisting of a corps that might be excused for showing some falling off, if such a privilege may be claimed for any cause, raised 7000 bushels of wheat last summer. There is no report as yet from the younger clubs ; but if the men whose average years are now just 55? have done thus much, what may we not suppose of the vigorous youth whose age is just about one-half their fathers? Sandy Spring farming is going on all right. When one crop fails there is sure to be success in another. For example, the peach crop this year was one of the worst, but there were some favored exceptions. In con- nection with the dairy business, as yet only begun, a notice of "a most superior milk wagon " was put up; but, unfortunately, the vehicle was forwarded to Philadelphia. Still, it shows the enterprise of an Ashton manufacturer. This is probably a slight forerunner of the new direction which our dairy business will take as soon as that railroad is finished.
We come now to one of the two great incidents that dis- tinguish the year. One day last spring the railroad engi- neers entered the neighborhood. Fire and flame heralded their approach. The mode pursued of getting rid of tin- ber on some 25 acres exhibited the quality of dispatch for which railroads are distinguished ; though the owner of the land thus despoiled probably failed to see the beauty of the operation. No more did some of the landowners through whose farms the location was made, see mach beauty in leveled line and curve. The new location, however, pro- ceeded, greatly to the satisfaction of the engineers on one
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side, and certain gentlemen of the neighborhood, " whose ox was not gored " this time, on the other. The straight line was located from Hanover to Gaithersburg, the engi- neers resting from their labors when summer came, since which the railroad has also rested.
Your historian, reviewing the remarks made a year ago on the subject of railroad incursions and land damages, sees no reason, from the threatened personal injuries of the past year, to recall the sentiments there expressed. A. rail- road is the great want of our neighborhood. Let her come, even if some nervous individuals have to get out of her thundering track. Will Sandy Spring ever have one ? That is the question.
It is scarcely necessary to inform you that the other illustrious incident of the year is the institution amongst us of the new order of the Grange. It comes among us, not like a railroad, bringing public benefit with private in- jury, sacrificing the comfort and sometimes the very home and hearth of the individual to the greater benefit of the community ; but with designed injury to none, and kind- ness and good-will to all. The idea of the Grange is sim- ply an expansion of the principle which underlies all the pleasant and improving associations that distinguish our neighborhood; it may almost be termed a peculiarly Sandy Spring idea; hence the degree of acceptance it has met, sufficient to counterbalance the obstructions with which it had naturally to contend. It was unavoidable that a people trained as ours should shrink somewhat from entering a strange "Secret Order." We are, among our. selves, a united people-more so than most communit! : united, and yet isolated. It might be predicted the i. . Grange would be slow in overcoming these natural ob. structions. Yet we find that already a considerable non :-
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ber, knowing themselves to be farmers, could not refuse their countenance to the first grand combination formed to benefit the farmers; having experienced the pleasure and profit of associating together in so many ways, they readily received the idea, so congenial with their own experience, of trying the principle on a larger scale ; being nurtured and trained in faith in the equality of woman, they were naturally attracted to the first national business association that acknowledged her equality, and the essential require- ment of her presence, her assistance and counsel. Having been continually reminded by their own excellent ritual that social love and kindness are the true fruits of religion, they found it an easy step from the doctrine "becoming their own Christian profession," to the doctrine that these qualities are also most becoming, without distinction of profession, to all.
The Grange proposes for itself all these things. Three orders have been established amongst us, comprising about 150 members. Their permanence will depend on the con- tinued zeal in carrying out the cardinal principles of the Order. I confess to considerable curiosity, not free from some uncertainty, in regard to this part of next year's record. But, in the meantime, whether our friends stand clear or join, there is not the slightest ground for un- pleasant divisions ; he must be a false Granger who desires to throw a stone at any one outside. The question has arisen, whether the new association will interfere with the good old ones. No indications of that sort are apparent vet. The Farmers' Clubs are natural auxiliaries to the Grange; the various associations in which our ladies take either the entire arrangement, or divide the work with their brothers, find a congenial spirit among the Patrons of Husbandry, so that it will be only a question of distinct or
1.
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of combined action in the same direction. Each associa- tion has at present a beneficial purpose ; all may find it true economy, both of time and power, to concentrate.
The literary interests of the neighborhood, as finding expression in the transactions of the Lyceum, have not been neglected ; the lectures not very numerous, but good. Mr. Ware favored us again in the fifth month, but the weather again refused to favor his kind effort for our benefit. We may reasonably hope, since the weather is fully as capricious in its frowns as in its smiles, that when he comes as he has promised to do next month, the bright May season will be on its best behavior. Mr. Ware comes a long distance-all the way from Boston-to entertain and instruct us; but we (just among ourselves, would not have it get out you know !) can understand how naturally a man should revolve first on one and then on the other "hub of the universe !" For the present Lyceum season, science was declared in order, and a very successful exhi- bition of its brilliant and recondite mysteries was had.
Another lecture on a branch of science less brilliant. but not less important nor less interesting, is promised. It is sure to supply deep and needed instruction about common things; always the most valuable. Among the lectures delivered here last season we must not omit the mention of a life-like picture of California, drawn by Samuel Stabler, one of our Sandy Spring boys, who wandered off to that distant region ; one of the few worth keeping whom we have lost in that way.
The lectures spoken of. like the best speeches of all d ... scription, have been "fit, though few." Also the condition of Lyceum Hall has been improved. Ventilation, that. all-important and much neglected feature in public rooms, is ingeniously provided for. Indeed, it may be admitted
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that the younger hands into whose charge the Lyceum has passed, have done their duty " passing well." This transi- tion by which young blood was substituted before the old fluid was quite chilled in the veins, appears to have been a master-stroke, accomplishing more objects than one.
Long live the Lyceum! It has done good service, and has more (and better, I trust) yet to do. The true quality of work is not best seen while being done, at least this is the case in work where the heart of the doer is the active power.
It would never do to pass the year '73, with three months of '74, without any reference to the "Black Friday " of last September. Our people are becoming more and more interested in the financial condition of the country. Al- though there must be ground for apprehension in regard to business affairs, it is to be noted that our Savings In- stitution shows that some people have saved money; its deposits having been increased this year by a full six and and a-half thousand dollars.
The Fire Insurance Company had much the hardest year of its existence, paying for over $40,000 of property destroyed by fire. This rapid agent of destruction was at its work in our very midst : the barn of Wm. II. Stabler, . together with a number of vehicles and farm implements, but fortunately no stock, being consumed in the carly morning of the 1st of June.
It should have been stated among agricultural matters, that the Second Annual Convention of all the Clubs was held at the appointed time, and numerously attended. In the opinion of our new lady historian, the " Rockville Fair and our Horticultural Exhibition " were, if possible, better than ever before. The telegraph recently established at Olney, and the opening of railroad travel through our
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county, (but not alas ! through Sandy Spring) were glori- ous improvements.
The statistical account shows of births, five boys and four girls, total nine. Amongst these new arrivals in our happy community, my younger assistant specifies a boy, making a graceful allusion which I cannot forbear to quote. She writes, " July 20th, '73, at Rockland, a child was born, who received the name of one whose memory is yet green and bright in Sandy Spring, J. Elgar Hallowell."
The list of deaths during the past twelve months, of those who can properly be assigned to our neighborhood. is short but deeply impressed, being in number only two.
May 24th, 1873, Walter Bond, son of Samuel and Sarah A. Bond. By this sad event, the band which had joined two interesting twin brothers was parted. The bereave- ment seems in some way more conspicuous, more constantly brought to mind by the presence of him who was left. They appeared in life to be always so closely united.
October 28th, 1873, died Isaac Briggs. Born at Brooke- ville in 1803, he had just completed the term of the Psalmist, threescore years and ten. His eventful life was closed at the "Church Home" in Baltimore, among strangers, who ministered to his dying hours with the tenderness of true " Sisters," the name they so well deserve to bear. It is their own statement that they were pecu- liarly attracted to the expiring man. And over the wide extent of country through which he wandered, in all the various places and situations into which an eccentric genius led him, he made and left behind him everywhere many warm friends. As the friend who assists me writes,
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