USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume II > Part 5
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The first event in the Eleventh month was so sad that the grief and desolation of one stricken family and home spread like a pall over the entire neighbor- hood.
When I speak of Anna L., wife of Joseph T. Moore, . who among us will not vividly recall the beauty of her face, her sweet voice, her cordial, pleasant man- ner and the indescribable, yet perfect charm of her lovely presence ?
Of most humble opinion of herself and unappre- ciative of her own abilities, only her intimate rela- tives and friends knew how much she accomplished in life or were admitted to the inner temple of her cultivated and well-stored mind.
When differences arcse, she was ever the peace- maker, and the safeguard of a tolerant spirit sealed her lips to the faults of others. Gossip and censure were outside the exalted realm of her conscience and character.
The "pure in heart shall see God." A true lover of nature, she saw him always in his wondrous works, and took the keenest delight in the varied pictures presented by the changing seasons.
She had the gift of beholding the good and beau- tiful in all surrounding objects, and how often would she enjoy and comment upon the majestic approach of a storm, the exquisite tints of a fine sunset, the evening glow over the fields and woods.
With undaunted courage she submitted to a danger- ous operation in the early summer, and without one word of repining or impatience, endured the pain and
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discomfort that followed. If the prayers and bless- ings of the gentle Catholic Sisters, who crowded about her, on the morning of her departure from their kindly care, had been answered, we would now be rejoicing in her restoration to health instead of mourning her untimely loss. She seemed to fade with the changing. season and falling leaf, and it was only too apparent that human skill and care and affection were power- less to save her. With unspeakable anguish her hus- band and children, her aged mother and her friends, saw her failing hour by hour. The pale messenger had touched her with icy fingers, and she was rapid- ly passing toward that unknown country, whence none could follow.
Behind the veil of this life, there is a mystery. which she penetrated on the 8th day of Eleventh month, 1885.
The central ornament of a happy home, the devoted wife, the queen mother among her sons and daught- ers, the faithful and loving friend has gone from us forever. Her memory shall exhort, and her example shall encourage and persuade those who come after, to emulate her truth, her purity and her virtues, and to hold in sweet remembrance the fragrance of her stainless life.
"She being dead, yet speaketh, all may hear The message left us, by her lovely life, In deeds that live. in actions that endure. As friend and sister. daughter. mother. wife. Then let not grief persuade us she is dead,
She has but left us for fairer shore,
And though her spirit heavenward may have fled Her influence remains forevermore."
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Her funeral at Norwood on the afternoon of Eleventh month, 10th, was very large, and charac- terized by unusual quiet and solemnity, and on that occasion, Caroline H. Miller offered the following tribute :
It is impossible to give expression to the sense of loss experienced by the community at her death. Our hearts ache with a double sorrow, sorrow for you and for ourselves, nor can we put into words the admira- tion, almost adoration, which her heroism from first to last has inspired. The lesson of her calm courage, hei patient and cheerful endurance, her unselfish con- sideration for others, and her triumphant close will live for generations, as will the gracious memory of her loveliness and charm. Heavy as is the bereave- ment, in view of her suffering and of her speedy re- lease, let us, at least, try to say with our whole hearts
Oh, lovely and fair, we rejoice thou art there
In the kingdom of light. with its treasures untold.
Where the air thrills with joyous hosannas, and where Thou wilt never grow old, sweet, never grow old.
Eleventh month, 17th. Mary Snowden, of Ingle- side, was married in Baltimore, to Charles Warfield, of Howard County.
Christmas weather was fine and clear, and our schoolgirls returning from distant states to spend the holidays, brought their friends with them. Mas- sachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania, and many other sec- tions, were represented in the gay, young parties that gathered round the blazing yule log.
December 25th, Mary Willis, daughter of Granville and Pattie T. Farquhar, was born.
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About Christmas, and for some weeks after, there was much excitement in our midst over the disap- pearance of Philip Haviland, a Friend living some miles away, but belonging to the Orthodox meeting here.
His wagon was found abandoned on the pike, at "Sligo," and it was generally supposed he had been foully dealt with. Numerous persons from here as- sisted in the search for him, which was continued for days without developing anything of a satisfactory nature to clear up the mystery.
First month, Ist, 1886, was so balmy, so bright and so full of golden promises, the first quotation from the "Dickens Calendar," compiled by Mary Bentley Thomas, and published by Wanamaker, of Philadel- phia, was singularly appropriate.
"We are bound by every rule of justice and equity, to give the New Year credit for being a good one un- til he proves himself unworthy the confidence reposed in him."
The annual statement of The Mutual Fire Insurance Company at this time showed an increase in risks of over half a million dollars above the previous year.
The condition of the Sandy Spring Savings Institu- tion was no less prosperous.
First month, 7th. The Fourteenth, and largest Farmers' Convention ever held here, gathered at the Lyceum, with Henry C. Hallowell in the chair, and H. H. Miller and Frank Snowden, Secretaries. Sev- eral committees appointed last year read reports on the subjects of "Railroad Crossings," "Protection of Sheep" and "Creameries." Ex-Governor Hamilton
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made an excellent impression on the meeting, by his speech, and especially pleased the farmers of Mont- gomery by saying that their crops of last year, as re- ported in the Club proceedings, exceeded those of his own county, though in former times, in Washington County, Montgomery was regarded almost as a deso- late waste.
Resolutions were passed, instructing delegates to the "Farmers' Associations" to endeavor to have that body present a memorial to the Legislature, ask- ing the establishment of an Agricultural Experi- ment Station.
First month, 9th. A blizzard and snow-storm oc- curred, which for days necessitated travel through the fields, the roads being impassable. Wagons re- turning from Washington were abandoned on the pike. A large force turned out and opened thorough- fares through huge drifts. With more than enough snow, the sleighing was wretched and hazardous, and the most devoted husband and father thought noth- ing of upsetting his entire family several times in a short ride.
The oldest inhabitant came promptly to the front with reminiscences of the days of his youth, when he sleighed right over fences and other trifling ob- structions, and our storm sank into insignificance in the face of the superior discomforts of those "good old times." There was no difficulty in procuring an ample supply of ice, and it seemed thick enough and cold enough, but it was as nothing compared to the ice seen and remembered by our most ancient inhabi- tant of all, Friend Rebecca Russell, in the latter part
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of the last century, when the Brandywine was frozen to its very bottom.
First month, 19th. The Rev. Frederic D. Powers, of Washington, delivered at the Lyceum a beautiful lecture on "The Life and Character of James A. Gar- field."
Second Month, 24th. Dorothy Brooke, daughter of Charles F. and Corrie M. Brooke, was born.
Through January and February, it was often re- marked, we were having a real old-fashioned season of clouds, storms, and piercing winds. "As the days lengthened, the cold strengthened," and the perfect picture of winter which Shakespeare presents in two verses, in-"Loves Labor Lost," might be quoted here, turned into prose. He tells of icicles hanging from the walls; of Dick, the shepherd, blowing on his hands to warm them with the same breath he blows his porridge to cool it; next, Tom drags huge logs to the great hall fire. Then follows the milkmaid, with her raw, red nose, the milk frozen in the pail; wo- manlike, she pities the poor, shivering birds outside in the snow. Neither do matters mend in church where there is such a noise of coughing as to drown the parson's discourse, one aisle answering to an- other, as if the congregation were playing at catch- ing balls, instead of colds. Several of our friends were housed through the entire winter, some suffered from tedious illness, and there were more accidents than usual in the way of broken bones, and lesser cast- alities, and one narrow escape from a fallen limb, which pinned two young ladies to the earth until, like "truth, they rose again," almost miraculously un-
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hurt. With terrific winds, uprooting many a tree, and scattering unnumbered branches, February blew itself out, and another winter with all its chances for home culture, all its distinctive indoor life, its cosy comforts, its freezing discomforts was over.
"Little fairy snow flakes,
Dancing in the flue, Old Mr. Santa Claus,
What is keeping you?
Twilight and firelight-
Shadows come and go,
Merry chimes of sleigh-bells
Twinkling through the snow;
Mother knitting stockings,
Pussy's got the ball,
Don't you think that Winter's Pleasanter than all?"
In the Third month, the subject of "local option" was again agitated, although it was supposed by all advocates of temperance, law and order, that this im- portant question had been definitely settled at the polls by a majority of fifteen hundred.
The initiatory steps in opposing the reopening of this matter, were taken in Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting Temperance Society, and on the 12th of Third month, a number of our friends, with others from the county, carried to Annapolis petitions sign- ed by three thousand, eight hundred and fifty names. These documents were brought to the notice of the Legislature by our able delegate, Philip D. Laird. of Rockville, in a short and decided speech, that did great credit to his head and heart.
"Reports from the County Board of Health have
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also been presented to the Governor and Legislature, in the past year, and it is gratifying to know, that in our district, public attention to the rules of health has largely increased, and the improvement in the sani- tary condition is very marked. The people seem to be in kindly sympathy with the board, as shown by their ready compliance with official and personal requests, and by applications to the members of the board for advice regarding the surroundings and arrangements of their homes." On several occasions the president, Henry C. Hallowell, has delivered lectures on sani- tary science and rules of health, to large and inter- ested audiences in different localities.
On late February or early March days, attention was attracted to stalwart figures, striding over the fields, bearing a curious tin arrangement, not unlike those used to illuminate the dark and devious ways of politicians in torch light processions. On nearer ap- proach the farmer was seen to be enveloped in a cloud of fine seed, and this newcomer proved to be a patent clover-seed sower, capable of doing, in two hours, by the mere turning of a crank, the day's work of a man.
The corn-planter has also been added to our farm- ing implements, since last year, and this does the work of six men in one day.
With all these labor-saving machines, people seem to be as much pressed for time as ever.
South Carolina Rock has now stood the test of three years' use in our section, and its benefit to the soil is an assured fact; the introduction of it has greatly reduced the price of other fertilizers.
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On the evening of Third month, 30th, Madam Ney- man, of Germany, delivered a lecture at the Lyceum on "Woman's Mission to Humanity." The small audience that braved the inclement weather was well repaid in listening to a very beautiful discourse, most charmingly delivered, and was greatly edified by Caroline H. Miller's introductory remarks.
The Third month completes the circle of our his- torical year, and in lieu of other items, I will note some events of general interest that have been scat- tered through the past months.
While we have had one pleasant addition to our neighborhood in Dr. W. French Green, of Virginia, assistant to Dr. Magruder, we have sustained some losses in the removal of friends to distant states.
Clara Chalfant and family have located in Atlanta, Georgia ; Richard Magruder has gone to Massachu- setts ; Frederic P. and George H. Moore to New York City ; Mary P. Thomas to Denver, Colorado.
Miss Tillum and Miss Pierce have returned from Pennsylvania, and are keeping house near Brighton, and Katherine Stabler, after a brief visit to the far west, has established herself in a home at Ashton.
There have been several transfers of property. Henry C. Hallowell bought from Mary L. Roberts a strip of woodland adjoining Rockland.
Mrs. Mary G. Tyson and daughters are to be con- gratulated on the purchase of "Kentmore," they will soon have a pleasant, new home erected, which is to be rechristened "Marden."
Thomas Lea, senior. has bought land opposite "Springdale," and is preparing to build on it.
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. Admiral James E. Jouett now owns "Fulford."
In extending a welcome to this distinguished officer of the navy, let us hope that when he has "beaten his sword into a plowshare, and his spear into a pruning-hook, he will be as successful in the peace- ful arts of agriculture, as he has heretofore been re- nowned in the sterner duties of war.
Our principal schools, Rockland and Sherwood, have been full and flourishing, our public schools ob- tain their quota, and Edith B. Thomas has a small school at Clifton, which may, perhaps, in the future, compare as the oak to the acorn.
Miss Alice Tyson has calisthenic and dancing classes at Rockland and Fulford. It is evident that while young ideas are taught to shoot,-young mus- cles are to be instructed in the best ways of strength and grace.
It is pleasant to note an improvement every year in various homes, as well as in outbuildings and shelter for stock.
Philip Stabler has built a fine barn. Three houses have gone up on the main avenue, and a new porch at Avon.
Sherwood Mill has been enlarged, a conservatory and other pleasant changes made at "The Cedars."
James P. Stabler has finished a very complete work- shop at Sharon.
Although history should perhaps only deal with ac- complished facts. yet it is rumored that the long-con- templated creamery is actually in process of construc- tion as well as a new dwelling on R. Rowland Moore's farm.
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The ladies at Sunset and Mt. Airy are rejoicing in new conservatories.
Clifton house, like an old Friend with a modern fashionable bonnet on, has been re-roofed, and both it and Bloomfield house are looking through larger spec- tacles than ever before. . The ancient, small panes of glass in the windows having been replaced by large lights, to the great benefit of the livers; and last, but not least, Sandy Spring store has discarded its old doors, honeycombed by nails, that held in place ten thousand notices, and has blossomed out in new glass doors! With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes silk, and somebody may build a new store on to those doors.
It would be interesting, if we could compare a full schedule of old prices with more modern ones. As one instance, I will cite, that when business began at this old store, candy was twelve and a half cents, or a "levy," a stick, and I fear that one stick went a great way in a family. Last Christmas at Sandy Spring and Ashton, about one thousand pounds of candy were sold, some of it not more per pound than was the former single stick.
While some of our citizens have added fine regis- tered Jersey cows to their herds, and have greatly increased the motive power on their farms, we have not, in the aggregate, gained in stock, as the mortality has been great, and among horses, almost unprece- dented, five having died in one week at Alloway, fron a mysterious disease, supposed by some to be diphi- theria.
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CONCLUSION.
While some lives in our midst have been sadly and completely changed in the past year, yet, taken as a whole, it has been a comparatively uneventful period for our neighborhood. Remote from railroads, with no manufacturing interests, it would seem as if the turmoil of the outside world would not quickly effect us, yet, so intricate are the links that bind all people together in the struggle for existence, and so constant is the demand of need and supply, we are more or less dependent upon the extent of city traffic as the citi- zen is undoubtedly dependent upon the prosperity of the farmer.
In common with great corporations, and with mer- chants and shippers, we have felt the effect of the numerous strikes at the north and west, and the wide- spread war beteen labor and capital. A constant fluctuation and depression in prices and a want of se- curity in stocks and investments, has been the re- sult. When millers are boycotted, wheat falls below par. The value of our acres and their cultivation, and produce, is the grand source of national wealth, and a large proportion of the inhabitants of our fair land are tillers of the soil; vet they are most in- adequately represented in Congress and in our Leg- islatures by farmers, which is evidenced by the fact, that a Standing Committee on Agriculture in the House of Representatives has never thought it worth while even to make a report. Why should not a De- partment of Agriculture, with a cabinet officer at its head, be a natural and necessary part of government?
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Why should not a National Agricultural College be established at some central point, where "cadets" from the farm would receive the same advantages of scien- tific training and education that are bestowed on the students at the military and naval academies at West Point and Annapolis ?
It would seem as commendable to teach a certain number of young "husbandmen" the best methods of cultivating the ground, and feeding the world, as to instruct another set of youths in the most efficacious ways of fighting the world. Branch colleges and ex- perimental stations in every state, presided over by the graduates of the "national farm," would give a new dignity and prominence to farmers .. A sheaf of wheat, or a sickle, would look just as well on a brass button, as an eagle or an anchor.
It is a maxim of the Hindoo, that he who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater degree of religion than he could have gained by the repetition of ten thousand prayers.
One of the most immediate effects of agricultural life is, that it imparts a settled disposition, and a greater degree of local attachment ; the very method also of procuring subsistence from the earth renders the spot which is the subject of cultivation familiar, and a kind of natural gratitude for the increase tends to endear it to the mind.
In the early times of the Republic of Rome, when patriotism was more than an empty name, the highest praise that could be given a man was to say of him, that he had "well cultivated his spot of ground."
Let us hope in the historical year we are just en-
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tering upon that not only may our land be well and profitably tilled, but that it be made to support free, of the incubus of debt, those dependent on it.
Too often the farmer is under the harrow of mort- gages, running accounts and interest money, and thus misses the peace of mind only possible to those who live in accordance with Mr. Micawber's immortal re- ceipt for true enjoyment of life.
"Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expendi- tures, nineteen pounds, six ; result, happiness. An- nual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditures, twenty pounds, six ; result, misery.
"The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for," and with all of these, as Tiny Tim observed, "God bless us every one."
CHAPTER IV.
From April, 1886, to April, 18S7.
Rebecca Russell's hundredth birthday-Hall built by Brighton Grange-Poor crops-Large convention of farmers at Lyceum-Library built-Obituaries of Sarah B. Stabler, Patience H. Leggett. James S. Hal- lowell, Mary B. Hall, William Henry Farquhar, Wil- liam L. Kinnard and Benjamin H. Murry.
Our annual meeting, Fourth month, 7th, 1886, was held on a dark and stormy night, and the sensible reso- lution was offered and carried, by a comparatively small assembly, to have the date of all future meet-
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ings governed by the full moon, and thus enable our people to reach the Lyceum with comfort and safety by the aid of nature's universal lantern.
In the several years I have held this unfortunate position, Dame Nature has never before permitted me to chronicle an early spring.
But, very soon in Fourth month, 1886, there was a great awakening.
Out in the orchard, under the coarse bark of the apple trees, over in the woods, beneath the rind of the birch and the maple, the chestnut, and the ash, under the dead leaves, on the hillside, where the arbutus was struggling into life, down in the meadows, where the brown grasses were brightening, out on the lawn, where the emerald was just beginning to assert it- self over winter's wear of sombre gray, without noise or friction, or any visible movement, millions of horse power was at work.
There was a stir in the grave of the crocus, the dead spears of last year's lily began to feel a gentle pres- sure from below : the tufts of yellow grass-green blades thrust up their heads, roots of the dandelion rustled in anticipation of a coming coronation, and in every fibre of the oak and elm a force which no man may number, and no human strength resist, was marching straight upwards. The irresistible force of growth had come back to gladden the world !
The work of its sappers and miners was beginning to appear. They were pushing up their spears in meadow and field, they were climbing to the battle- ments in forest and orchard, they hovered on the hill- sides, and pitched their terits in the valleys. Their leg-
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ions were tramping noiselessly, but constantly, into the treetops-each with its folded banner.
Presently, when all had reached their stations, even to the furthest twig, there was a flutter in the or- chards, and the world awoke to find itself once more possessed with the beauty of the fragrant blossoms of the apple and the peach.
To take advantage of all this early renewal of life, gardening was commenced very soon in the season, but it was too wet to make much progress.
Fourth month, 20th. Francis Miller gave an inter- esting lecture, at the Lyceum, on the "Good Old . Times," which he proved to be quite inferior to the better "New Times" we are now enjoying.
On the afternoon of Fifth month, 18th, the old meeting-house was crowded with people to witness the marriage ceremony between Francis Snowden and Fanny Brooke Stabler. A similar event had not tak- en place within its venerable walls since the bride's mother was married there more than thirty years ago. Immediately after the ceremony the bride and groom left for Niagara, and on returning from their trip set- tled at Ingleside.
In this month, Robert, Isabel and Janet Miller went to Europe, and Lucy Snowden and Lizzie Gil- pin to Minneapolis.
My record of the Fifth month is somewhat like the lament of the "Ancient Mariner," "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink."
Rains continued almost without intermission, and when it occasionally cleared, it seemed only to gather strength for another flood. The theory with some
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persons, that after locust year there is always an un- usual downpour, seemed verified; and enough water sank deep into the earth through the perforations of that industrious seventeen-year-old insect, to insure the rise of streams and springs.
On Fifth month, 25th, our esteemed friend, Sarah B. Stabler, of Sharon, died in her eighty-fifth year. Her . life had been spent "far from the madding crowd," and nearly all of it at Sharon, where she was born, mar- ried and died. Although her school education was all completed within the short limit of seven months, her self-culture was so constant that few, indeed, were so thoroughly educated as she. Of a fine poetic na- ture, a keen sense of humor, and an ever-ready wit, we can all recall the pleasures of her most excellent and improving society.
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