USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume II > Part 16
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One bachelor, considered invulnerable, has caused some comment and anxiety among his friends by go- ing twice from home in the past year and remaining over night, once as far as Hagerstown. This is re- garded as very suspicious, and unless means are taken to secure a reciprocity treaty with Hagerstown, should not be allowed by interested sisters. While a commodity is abundant and of excellent quality in our midst, importations should be discouraged until the demand outweighs home consumption. On the other hand an unmarried lady traveling beyond the
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Mississippi has written home to secure a copy of tha. touching song, "Thou hast wounded the spirit th .: loved thee !" This is considered encouraging, a' there may be a western market for some of our sur. plus riches.
The measles broke out early in the season in a fam- ily that for three generations, certainly, and perhar- further back, has had its engagements and marriag. s emphasized by this eruptive disease; indeed, it is a mooted question in this family, whether Cupid brings the measles, or that malady hastens the appearance of the rosy god.
Without going into details on this delicate and in- teresting subject either from the fact that four will divide evenly into 1892, or from other causes, your his- torian is encouraged to believe that marriage bells will ring merrily in the coming months, and that orange-blossoms will be the favorite flower, though it is still a well-known fact that in this otherwise richly endowed neighborhood,
"Our saddest words of tongue or pen-
There are so many women, and so few men."
On the afternoon of Fourth month, 5th, the first meeting of the horticultural was held at Rockland and members reported the least possible work done in their gardens, and a very backward season.
On the evening of Fourth month, 7th, the distin- guished traveler and author. George Kennan. gay" us a most charming lecture on the subject of "Vaga- bond Life in Eastern Europe." Even standing-roon was at a premium in the Lyceum, and it was pleasant
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to be told by the lecturer after he had finished that while he had many larger audiences elsewhere, he never had any "as keenly attentive, and as quick of perception as in this neighborhood."
There has been but little building during the year ; a tenant-house at Alloway, additional rooms at Amersley, the Marden barn enlarged, a tenant-house rebuilt at Belmont, a windmill, with the accompany- ing conveniences of water upstairs and down, at Pen-y- Bryn.
The most important improvements have been made to Charles E. Bond's bone mill, which doubles its former size, and to Brighton store, in the shape of a beautiful drug department, fitted up in tasteful style, with hard-wood counters, a fretted-iron ceiling and plastic-work screen.
Fourth month, Ioth. After long illness and suffer- ing Elizabeth J. Holland passed away in her seventy- first year. Our esteemed friend had long been the sister-mother in a household of brothers and sisters, and had pursued the even tenor of her way, finding her chief happiness in that routine of domestic duties so essential to the comforts of home.
She frequently attended our meeting, and was in sympathy with us, although not a member, and had belonged for many years to the "Association for mu- tual improvement." welcoming her friends to a gath- ering of this kind with her accustomed hospitality Even after she was attacked by a fatal disease. When such a useful and honorable life is closed the family circle knows the void cannot be filled.
A Turkish proverb says, "Before you go in find a
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way out," and in drawing this record to a close, it seems as if the sentence one wishes most ardently to utter, because it is the last, is after all the most diffi- cult to frame.
This past year has been one of many blessings in abundant crops of every kind, and in immunity from those disasters by storm and flood that have laid waste many sections of our land. But it has been a period of much sickness, of many deaths, of a great sense of anguish and bereavement for those we could so illy spare, and who have entered into the higher life.
Many families have passed "under the rod," and have been sorely stricken; all have been bowed with grief and tender sympathy. It is a merciful provision of an all-wise providence that "times of sorrow" do not stand still; existence must go on; the sun shines, though we would fain sit in darkness, flowers bloom and birds sing, the hourly duty must be per- formed. The scars are still there, but after a while the healing touch of time gently closes the open wound.
· As the sculptor chips away the marble and evolves from the block the form of perfect beauty and pro- portion, so every experience, every joy, every heart- ache carves the character, and should mould us to- wards a better and higher standard, and as the years roll on we can hope and believe,
"No thought or thing can ever die, But change incessant governs all; So atoms from the crumbling rock, Move upward in the forest tree, And every act. for good or ill, Casts light and shade eternally."
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CHAPTER X.
From Fourth Month, 1892, to Fourth Month, 1893.
Prof. E. J. Loomis and President Gilman, of the Johns Hopkins University, lectured-Bicycles appeared- Golden. Wedding of Charles G. and Jane T. Porter- Large excursion to Sugar Loaf Mountain-Philip Stab- ler's barn burned-Obituaries of Mary M. Miller, Sarah Ann Gilpin, Cornelia Strain, B. Gilpin Stabler, Samuel Hopkins, Richard T. Kirk and Mary H. Chandlee.
At the annual meeting of the Lyceum Company, Fourth month, 11th, 1892, all the officers of the preced- ing year were continued, with no change of directors.
Frances Stabler was appointed to take charge of the meteorological report, and Charles Iddings was re- quested to assist her. The weather for some years had been left entirely to the tender mercies of the his- torian, who still feels at liberty to round up a sentence with a shower, separate paragraphs by a blizzard, or finish off a page in a blaze of sunshine. There has been no monopoly of heat, cold, winds and snows in the past twelve months, but enough and to spare for all.
Fourth month, 15th, Good Friday, was a misnomer, as sleet and rain came on, but it cleared beautifully for Easter Sunday.
Olney was made a money-order office about this
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time. It seems as if a multiplicity of offices and addi- tional facilities have increased rather than diminished the amount of postal matter at old Sandy Spring since those far-away days when the mail came once a week and supplied the whole surrounding country.
The quarterly meeting of our Orthodox Friends was held at Ashton, on the 16th, 17th and 18th of Fourth month. The attendance was rather smaller than usual; as some of the resident members are a long distance from the meeting-house, several took possession of a cosy, unoccupied dwelling in the vil- lage, and moving enough furniture from home for the purpose, had comfortable quarters and saved them- selves and visitors long rides.
Prof. E. J. Loomis, of the nautical almanac office, Washington, delivered a deeply-interesting lecture on the 23rd, at the Lyceum. The subject was "From Cape Town to Kimberley, the Diamond City." Mr. Loomis exhibited specimens of the pebbles among which the gems are often found, and showed the audi- · ence some handsome diamonds embedded in their native blue matrix.
Granville Farquhar, Dr. Charles Farquhar, Amos Holland and Dr. Francis Thomas have introduced novel water-works on their respective farms. This new device is known as the Davis hydraulic motor. and is a cheap, simple and effective method of supply- ing houses and barns with water.
Fifth month, 5th. M. Edith Farquhar transferred to Charles H. Brooke, her place c lled "Avery Lo.lge."
On the evening of the 9th our democratic friends held a mass-meeting at the lyceum. This nearly ad-
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journed before it began, from the fact that one of the republican sisters had borrowed the key, and they were locked out. Not willing to submit to despotism of this kind they entered through the windows, and very nearly raised the roof and burst open the door with enthusiasm.
Fifth month, IIth. There was a severe hail-storm, which fortunately spent its fury ere reaching our im- mediate vicinity, and happily the "clouds rolled by" before night, and did not interfere with the marriage of Dr. Charles Farquhar and Cornelia H. Strain, at her home by Episcopal ceremony. The next evening a large reception, generally attended by friends from far and near was given by the bride and groom at their home. "Mendon," beyond Olney.
Severe hail-storms, accompanied by thunder and lightning, in the Fifth month, greatly damaged the growing fruit and injured the foliage ; several trees and dwellings were struck by the electric fluid, fortunately without loss of life. This noticeable activity and com- motion of the elements was attributed by many to the approach of the planet Mars, which grew more and more brilliant as he sped on his fiery path towards us, and outshone in grandeur all the other stars.
Fifth month, 21st. Quite a party braved a high wind and pouring deluge, and spent the day at Mt. Vernon. On the 28th most of the Sherwood scholars and others made the same trip under more favorable circumstances, and auspicious skies.
Sixth month, 3rd and 4th, increasingly warm wea- ther, and not the slightest doubt remained in anyone's mind that the summer was upon us.
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Sixth month, 12th and 13th were perfect days for the quarterly meeting, which, although smaller than usual, was of great interest. A large meeting was convened First day evening in the interest of philan- thropic work.
Sixth month, 10th, Rockland school had its final closing exercises. The proprietor, Henry C. Hallo- well, furnished me with the following statistics :
"Rockland school was the successor to Stanmore school for girls, which followed Stanmore school for boys. It succeeded the Alexandria school for boys, founded by Benjamin Hallowell, in Alexandria, Va., in: 1824. Benjamin Hallowell began teaching in 1818, and members of his family have been continuously engaged in educational work from that date to the present. There have been at Rockland during its fourteen years of existence as a school an average of thirty-seven scholars each year, or a total of five hun- dred and twenty. The number of different girls is two hundred and thirty-nine; the average duration of school life has been two years; the average age at entrance fourteen and a-half years, and the number of graduates fifty-two.
"The pupils have been from twelve states, the Dis- trict of Columbia and Bermuda; from New York to Louisiana, and as far west as California." It is a mat- ter of great regret that such a prominent feature of our neighborhood as this institution should be closed and become a thing of the past, instead of a living pres- ence among us.
Its reputation has spread far abroad. and the beau- tiful home life, as exemplified by Henry C. and
.
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Sarah M. Hallowell, and their children, has doubtless been of lasting benefit to the many young girls shel- tered with such kindly, loving and conscientious care beneath that roof, and who went forth by devious paths to carry through maturer years and wider experiences the advice and influence of their school days."
The following tribute to Mary M. Miller was pre- pared soon after her death by the historian for the "woman's association," of which she had been a member :
"To us who loved and admired Mary M. Miller, who felt that her presence, whether in the social circle or the sick chamber, or even the casual meeting, was ever a pleasure and an inspiration, the tidings of her death, Sixth month, 17th, came as a shock and heart- felt sorrow, and the entire community was saddened by this calamity. She had mingled with her friends apparently in her accustomed good health, on the first and second days of quarterly meeting, but was stricken down by a sudden and violent attack on the night of the 13th.
"When hope seemed vanishing, she submitted with calmness and fortitude to a dangerous operation, which she did not survive. It is perhaps the happiest fate to pass from earth in the full tide of a vigorous, useful existence, before age has withered the intellect or impaired the physical powers, or infirmity brought suffering and weariness of life. She had never wished to grow old, and although past sixty-four, advancing years had left her young in heart, ardent and enthusi- astic in disposition, stately and handsome in person.
"The only surviving daughter in a family of five
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brothers, she was born and reared in our neighbor- hood in that more primitive time when it was diffi- cult to wrench from the land the necessities of life, and luxuries were almost unknown.
"Those who recall her as a child and in her girlhood remember her remarkable energy and industry, char- acteristics that endured to the last. In the declining years of her parents, Caleb and Ann M. Stabler, it was her delight to bring them to her lovely home (her devoted husband and children cordially aiding her), and give them all the comforts that affection could suggest.
"Never prominently identified with public functions, few have exercised a wider influence through right living and high thinking, and a devotion to the 'good, the true, the beautiful."
She had been permitted to realize her most cher- ished hopes, and the dreams and aspirations of her youth were more than fulfilled in maturer years. Happy in a most congenial marriage, she had watched her children grow into honorable men and women around her. She had travelled extensively in her own land. and in far countries beyond the sea (and cherished relatives and friends of all ages, for she seemed the contemporary of young and old), who gathered in her refined and beautiful home to enjoy the hospitality she constantly dispensed.
"In her prosperity she did not forget the poor and . struggling, and while few knew the extent of her wise and helpful giving, her bounty was limited by no ties of relationship, race or creed.
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"A 'birth-right' member of the Society of Friends, she ever retained a deep interest in its affairs ; to all the neighborhood organizations and charities she ex- tended the helping hand, and of the horticultural and woman's association she was an active and valued member. Of strong intellect, excellent judgment and a varied experience, cheerful and enthusiastic in all her occupations, she moved along her pathway, enjoy- ing the blessings of her full-rounded life, and scatter- ing benefits as she passed.
"Her queenly form and stately grace,
. Matched well the beauty of her face, In her warm heart and cultured mind, Compassion dwelt for all mankind; Perfect the works her willing hands could do, Her charity fell around her noiseless as the dew, And still one virtue crowning all the rest, Her strict integrity was truest, noblest, best."
"On the afternoon of the 19th one of the largest as- semblages ever gathered here on a similar occasion met at Alloway, and she was laid to rest under the grand old trees on the lawn, within the limits of the home her energy and taste had done so much to beau- tify. From many appropriate and touching words offered by sorrowing friends and neighbors on that occasion I select some extracts :
"At such a time as this we are made to feel what are the important things of life. She whose mortal re- mains are here, was not devoted by profession to any form of life that is generally called holy, nor did she hold any conspicuous place in the public eye. but for how many of those who did would we feel the grief
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and bereavement that we do for her! The centre of a household, the mother of a virtuous family, reared by her in goodness, usefulness, refinement, cultivation. what is there in this world that can be better than this. or more deeply missed, when taken from us ?
" 'When we consider faithfully what it is that chiefly marks our recollections of her, I believe it is found to be as a doer of good, as a practical and ef- fective worker of charity. But in a finer and higher sense than this, all who knew her felt that influence.
" 'Who was so ready as she to welcome any new movement toward better things, to second any well- meant endeavor, to encourage the beginner or the toil- er in all upward aims? For many a day the best, the brightest, the most cheering things will seem to us to be said by her voice, or not so well said, because that voice is missed. Beyond all the personal attractions which made her presence such an object of desire everywhere, this inspiration to all good work was her gift.
"Now, my friends, all these beautiful things are none the less lovely, because we have no measure of them, except anguish, and the irreparable sense of loss. We have them now in possession, which no time, no change can take away. The impression which we have of such things has nothing to do with those which death can affect.
Fair as that earthly form may have been while it moved among us, these were not of its nature. or we would not now be mourning over that form. It is for us to look up through all this cloud and dark- ness toward enduring light in the track of so much ex-
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cellence. Therefore it is said, 'Blessed be they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' Hard and long as the way of comfort may be, it is the way to the gate of heaven.
"They who feel the bereavement at its very deepest through the impress which they bear of such a char- acter, not only by nearest and most constant associa- tion, but directly in their frames by inheritance from it. They, who of all others, feel the loss as most im- possible to restore, these are the ones most fitted to renew that excellence.
"Now, it must seem to them as if their best were but poor to what is gone, but such is the condition of all highest attainment it must not seem too much our own. They have each their several advantages derived in their birth, not only from this noble woman, but from a companion worthy of her, and the time will doubtless come when their own children will faithfully render equal homage to themselves."
About this time George L. Stabler and family re- turned from the state of Oregon, where they had re- sided about a year, and again took up their abode at Ashton, where George entered into the butchering business. Frances R. Kirk, after long absence in Philadelphia, returned to her home, Woodburn, to live.
Robert M. Stabler gathered from about one acre of ground thirty-nine hundred quarts of strawberries, a profitable crop, although involving a vast amount of labor.
Sixth month, 20th. After thirteen days of intense heat cooling breezes mitigated our sufferings. Many
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severe storms delayed the harvest, but neither seed- time nor harvest, heat nor cold, can stem the tide of boarders and visitors which sets hitherward in this month; people and trunks were daily cast upon our shores, and our season, which never entirely closes, had fairly opened by this summer influx.
At the home of hier son-in-law and daughter, Thomas J. and Anna G. Lea, on the morning of Sev- enth month, 2nd, Sarah Ann, wife of Joshua Gilpin, died in her 87th year. She was buried at Sandy Spring meeting-house on the 4th. This aged friend had spent many years of her earlier life in this neigh- borhood, but after her daughters married and settled in Rockville, she and her husband made their home there, returning frequently to visit relatives in our midst. She was a woman of sterling qualities, much intelligence and a social disposition, and although her latter years were clouded by infirmities, including par- tial loss of sight, she took great interest in meeting her old friends and neighbors, and attending the "As- sociation for mutual improvement," of which she had long been a member.
Almost a hurricane of wind and rain damaged the shade trees and the growing corn Seventh month. 3d. This was succeeded by dry, sweltering days and nights nearly as hard to bear. The grass turned brown and sere, and the earth parched under the too ardent rays of the sun. Cloudless skies afforded astronomers ample opportunity to watch the glorious planet Mars that was now, comparatively speaking, within signal- ing distance.
A numerous body of Sandy Spring people went to
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Ocean City, and others fled to the mountains, but were not able to escape entirely the intense heat even in resorts warranted to keep cool.
Seventh month, 27th. Admiral James E. Jouett sold "The Anchorage" to Mr. Harvey Page, of Wash- ington, and became again a citizen of the world. The admiral declared he was thrown in for good measure with the purchase of the farm, and did not propose to entirely desert us.
Eighth month, 6th. Mary Brooke, daughter of Ulric and Mary Janney Hutton, was born.
Fanny Pierce, of Brighton, out of many hundred competitors, received the prize from an agricultural paper for the following poem, called
"THE FARMER'S WIFE."
"Ten years today, Jack, I have lived This blessed country life- Since first I left my city home To be a farmer's wife.
"I thought that I should miss it so- The tramp of busy feet. The ceaseless throb of rushing life- The faces in the street. .
"I thought the country would be tame, It's interests mean and small;
But then, I could not say you 'No!' And so I left it all.
"I thought of all I loved and left, As I came down the aisle;
My thoughts went backward with a sigh, And forward with a smile.
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"And now, the sun sees every day, Earth's misery and bliss, And nowhere does he shine upon A happier lot than this.
"There are no walls to hem us in, All's open to the sky, Here I have learned to love the stars, And watch the clouds go by.
"I watch the birds and squirrels, too, And claim them for my own,
Aud trees and grass-how could I live Where all is brick and stone?
"I love them still, those toil-worn streets, Where many feet have trod,
The city brings us close to man, The country near to God.
"To think I ever should have paused Uncertain-'twixt the two!
I am so thankful that I chose The country, Jack-and you.
"This dear old farm! I would not give One downy peeping brood Of day-old chicks for all the wealth Of cities-if I could.
"I love my homely household tasks, I love the fields of grain, I love the flowers that lift their heads To drink the summer rain.
"I love the orchard crowned with fruit, My garden fair to see; I love the horses and the cows- I know that they love me.
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"And, yet, perhaps, it's something else That lends my life its charm,
You see I love the farmer, Jack- And so, I love the farm."
It is pleasant to know that this bright, young woman finds a constant demand for her fancies in verse, which are well paid for.
Mary Bentley Thomas, in our past historical year, has also been compensated for her weekly letters to the county press, and later on to the Washington Star.
There can be no reason why Sandy Spring brains should not have a marketable value, and perhaps if we wait long enough, the great American novel, which is yet to be written, will emanate from some secluded farmhouse in our midst.
Eighth month, 19th. Joseph Stanley, son of Sam- uel B. and Florence M. Wetherald, was born.
Ida Sullivan, the first woman bicyclist, appeared on our roads, followed soon by others. To some of us who have not entirely forgotten the delights of riding on four wheels in a buggy with a congenial compan- ion, the bicycle and the tricycle seem lonesome and melancholy innovations. The young man in these progressive days mounts his wheel and speeds away solitary and alone; the young woman spins along so swiftly that only a very ardent and industrious youth could ever overtake her. Unless Cupid in contradic- tion to all past experiences and tradition can learn to ride a "Columbia" or a "Victor." every state, like Massachusetts, will soon have seventy-five thousand unmarried women within her borders. However, this may be the happier fate, as Dickens pertinently re-
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marked, "It would be a jolly good thing for a great many couples on their way to be married if they could be stopped in time and brought back separately."
There was a sale on Eighth month, 29th, of farming implements and household effects at Mt. Olney, t !. c home of Granville and Pattie T. Farquhar, prepara- tory to their removal to Washington to live.
Ninth month, Ist. Tarlton Brooke Stabler and Re- becca Thomas, daughter of William W. and Mary E. Moore, were married by Friends' ceremony, at Plain- field. This beautiful floral wedding was largely att.n !. ed by relatives and friends, many coming from a dis- tance. The young couple went immediately to their home, "Amersley," which had been most comfortably prepared for their occupation.
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