USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume III > Part 12
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Phrenaskeia, Jr., comes in as a kind of a postscript to its older namesake, dating only as far back as 1899, when it was organized at the home of the Shoemaker sisters. Its members have been elected from among the Sherwood students, as were the original Phren- askeians, and they now number twenty-four, one hav- ing resigned. Edith Shoemaker and Mildred Bent- ley were its first officers. Dorothy Brooke now be- ing president and Gladys Brooke secretary.
The Maryland Woman Suffrage Association was formed at Stanmore, January 11, 1889.
The original members were Caroline H. Miller, Margaret E. Miller, George B. Miller, Sarah T. Mil- ler, Rebecca T. Miller, Mary E. Moore, Ellen Far- quhar, James P. Stabler, Jessie B. Stabler, Margaret B. Magruder, Mary Magruder, Hannah B. Brooke and Martha T. Farquhar.
The Association, consisting at first only of Sandy Springers, now has about 130 members in all parts of the State, with several local auxiliaries; the one for Montgomery County numbering forty-two in 1900, with Sarah T. Miller president. Mary Bentley Thomas succeeded Caroline H. Miller as president of the State Association in 1893.
Maryland did more for the Suffrage Bazaar, in New York, in 1900, in proportion to its membership, than any other State society.
The Whist Club can hardly claim to be an organ- ization as it has no officers, keeps no records, and has no stated membership; but it has met pretty regularly where it happens to be invited every other Friday
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evening during the winter since 1889, with an average attendance of about seven tables.
The most original of all our social gatherings, per- haps, is the Pentagon, so called because of its five members-Caroline H. Miller, Hannah B. Brooke, Ellen Farquhar, Frances D. Stabler and Eliza Brooke.
This flower of maturity is an annual, having bloomed recently for the seventh time. The hostess of one meeting is expected to furnish minutes of it for the next session, and all are bound to contribute to the supper.
The last in point of time, though by no means least important in our group of societies is The Neighbors. It entered into life on June 17, 1897, with eighteen members, who are listed in a previous chapter of these annals. This number has since been enlarged to thirty-one.
The Neighbors meets on the third Thursday after- noon in each month at the homes of the members in turn, the host of one meeting presiding over the next. The secretary serves for a year. Charlotte H. Farqu- har was the first to hold the place, and Mary H. Sta- bler fills it now.
Our Fire Insurance Company and our two banks, our Library and our Lyceum Company are also im- portant factors in our neighborhood life, but they have already been noticed here, and they can in no way claim to be social in character.
Each one of us feels the influence of one or more
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of all these forces, but I wonder if we have ever thought how far beyond our boundaries their power extends ? Our Farmers' Clubs have inspired and fur- nished the model for half a dozen or more that we know of in this State; the Home Interest has two namesakes-one in Washington and one at Wood- side; while our business organizations have found numerous imitators.
So much for the living societies ; numerous as they are, they are but a "handful to the throngs that slum- ber" in oblivion! What a long array of ghosts will rise before the eyes, of us who are older when we name the Debating Society, the Draft Club, the Wom- en's Literary Club, the Friends' Circle, the Reading Circle, the Innocents, the Archery, the Triangle, the Better Acquainted, the Sociable, the Protective As- sociation, the Dairyman's Association, the Bicycle Club, the Peace Society ! Even to some of us the images conjured up by some of these names are dim, while to the young people of today they are but names empty of suggestion.
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CHAPTER VII.
1901-1902.
The year just past has brought more radical changes to Sandy Spring than any since the present recorder has held the pen; the usual round of events has repeated itself in the usual way, but as we pass the happenings of the twelvemonth in review, day by day, it will be plainly seen that these have been diversified to a remarkable degree by others far from commonplace.
The Annual Meeting of the Lyceum Company. April 1, 1901, was on the whole, not specially dif- ferent ; though Edith Hallowell's appointment as as- sistant meteorologist was the first new event of the year.
Henry H. Milier, in his weather report, stated that the rainfall record for the past year had shown a short- age of thirteen inches as compared with the average amount, and he consoled us for this with the prophecy that, according to the law of compensations we might look for heavy rains in the year to come. Although proclaimed on All Fool's day, this doctrine has, time and again, proved itself true, beginning on the very next day, when three inches of rain fell inside of twenty-four hours, followed by heavy rains on the 14 and 20 April.
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The season was late and cold, the first spring day being April 17; and there was no sign of green in the woods or of fruit blossoms for another week. The maple trees bloomed very profusely, the color of the flowers was wonderfully deep, and as for the seeds that later matured and sprouted, "their name was Legion."
Between April 28, and May 4 there was a rapid development of vegetation ; all the fruit trees bloomed, and by May 5 the spring tints were beautiful in wood and field. The first thunder storm of the season came on the 11, and by the 22, the foliage was fully developed.
April 12, Meredith Brooke, son of Edith Brooke and W. French Green, was born at The Maples, Brookeville.
About this time Roger Brooke, Jr., took the ex- amination for army surgeon, passing with high hon- ors, being one of the two successful candidates out of sixty competitors. In due time he received his ap- pointment as surgeon, with the rank of Lieutenant, and he was located in Washington to take a course of supplementary special training.
At noon April 24, Elizabeth S. B. Hopkins, daughter of Pattie Smith and the late Samuel Hop- kins, was married at White Hall, the home of her mother, to C. Russell Hinchman, of Philadelphia, where the young couple have made their home.
April 18-19, occurred another new thing: Mrs. Ida A. Elliott, of Chicago, gave a two days' course on
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methods of teaching geography at the Sandy Spring school house. All the public school teachers of the district were present, and a number of others, teach- ers and "plain folk" as well, enjoyed her work as a great treat. Geography became living truth under her treatment, and none of her pupils will ever think of Vermont as a red spot on the map, or accuse the Danube river of running up hill. Her method seemed little short of inspiration, and her training helped her to give it the best expression and applica- tion.
April 28, history repeated itself very sadly, when Frank Snowden's barn was burned, together with four horses, two calves, seventy-five barrels of corn, and some hay and implements. It was the second time that such misfortune has overtaken him, and the third time that a barn has burned on Ingleside farm, The trouble now, as in so many such cases, is thought to have come from a pipe spark, or a match dropped by a smoker.
Only two days later, April 30, the dwelling of Captain Thomas Griffith was totally destroyed by fire. with most of its contents. The next day Caleb Rob- inson, an old colored man, narrowly escaped being cremated alive, while burning brush on Brooke Grove farm, and he died of his injuries a few days later. This series of fires ended May 2 with a small blaze in a tenant-house, on Charles Stabler's place, which was put out before much harm was done.
May 21, the Lyceum Company and Sherwood
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School gave a joint entertainment at the Lyceum for the benefit of their respective piano funds.
The school contributed various songs and drills with the precision and grace we have learned to ex- pect from Sherwood pupils, and the Company gave The Loan of a Lover, in which all the parts were well taken; Faith Farquhar, as leading lady, repeat- ing the success that her mother made in the same role years ago.
At noon on May 25, Edward P. Taylor and Sallie A. Ellicott were married at Avalon by the Rev. E. A. Rankin, and after a wedding trip south, they - came back to live at Cherry Grove.
May 26, Mary Bentley Thomas went as a delagate from Maryland to the N. A. W. S. A., at Minne- apolis, Min., and returned by way of Buffalo, and the Pan-American Exposition, where she was joined by Edward P. Thomas. They were the first Sandy Springers to visit the fair, but during the next few months their example was followed by fifty-five others, two of them colored men.
May 29, Frederick Stabler sold at auction various implements and household goods, and next day he and his wife moved from Drayton to Amersley, where they make their home with their son Tarlton and his wife.
May 30, by the Episcopal ceremony, Samuel S. Bond and Emma L. Estep were married in Washing- ton, at eight o'clock p. m., by Rev. M. Ross Fish- burn, and after a few days in Western Maryland they came to settle at Magnolia.
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The late spring and early summer saw the de- struction of many of our oldest and handsomest land- marks, for the owners of large walnut trees sold them to a dealer for ridiculously low prices, and now there are few walnut trees of any size left within the limits of Sandy Spring. To destroy a noble tree, even when necessary, seems a desecration, but to sell the results of a century's growth and the greatest ornament of its neighborhood for ten dollars seems pitiful. The timber from these trees was much if it intended for export to Germany; and Clarence L. Gilpin shipped a poplar log eighteen feet in circumference at the base, eleven feet at the upper end, and thirty- six feet long to the same destination. It was part of one of the largest trees in this section, which grew in the meadow on Della Brooke farm. It is estimated that three logs from this tree would make 4,000 feet of lumber. Much hickory for spindles and spokes to be used in our northern mills has also been cut from . our woodlands; many cords of dogwood have been felled to go abroad, and hundreds of telephone and telegraph poles have been cut by several of our enter- prising neighbors-Clarence L. Gilpin filling a con- tract for 1,700 poles from thirty to fifty feet long. and from thirty-six to fifty-six inches in circumfer- ence six feet from the ground.
Another industry which has long been established and slowly growing among us took a sudden start this year, and the output of eggs and poultry hereabouts has increased most wonderfully. The successful use of incubators and brooders more scientific and capa-
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cious than the old hen has revolutionized our chicken business.
During the early summer Peyton Brown put up a new house at Alloway corner, and the addition to the house at Edgewood was finished in time to be occul- pied during the warm weather by Albert Stabler's family from Washington.
The new house at the Cedars was begun in May, and was finished by the beginning of winter.
June 1, Russell Stabler's family from Baltimore took part of the house at Eldon for the summer. Mordecai T. Fussell and family came from Brooklyn, N. Y., to Sweetbrier for the season ; and at last they leased the place. Dr. Charles Duck and family spent several months at Cozy Corner.
June 6, William M. Canby raised a fine barn to replace the one burned by lightning last year, and some days later Charles F. Kirk raised a large hay barrack.
The Phrenaskeia Banquet, June 6, was entertained by Nora L. Stabler, at Fair Hill, by the kind per- mission of Charles F., Annie B., and Sarah E. Kirk. Herbert O. Stabler presided, and the affair was fully equal to its six predecessors in beauty and brilliancy. Rose color prevailed in flowers, decorations, viands, and even dresses, not to mention the spectacles worn by the participants and spectators.
Songs, speeches and jokes followed each other in such rapid succession as hardly to allow time for proper enjoyment of the menu; and though it came
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at a somewhat unusual season, a visit from Santa Claus was none the less appreciated on that account, as his gifts were singularly valuable and appropriate, while his remarks were most pointed.
There was nothing at the time to suggest that this was the final meeting of Phrenaskeia. She went down, like a ship in deep water, with all sails set and colors flying, to be seen no more.
June 8-10, came Quarterly Meeting, attended by more Friends from abroad than for several years. The weather was clear, and so cool as to make fires necessary, as they were through much of the month. John J. Cornell, Martha S. Townsend, Sarah R. Matthews, and A. Haviland Hull were the speakers present.
The hottest weather of the season came from June 24, to July 6, the climax being July 1, when the mercury registered 102°.
June 27, wheat harvest began, and the heat was so severe that many farmers lay by during the middle of the day, and worked late at night by moonlight.
The straw was heavy, but from the beginning of harvest, or perhaps before, the moan began over the shortness of the crop and its poor quality. The fre- quent rains during harvest did not at all improve its condition ; so for once the complaints and forebodings of the agriculturists proved to be not without cause, and they began to resent the meteorologist's prophecy !
In July, Augusta N. Thomas took a position in Washington with the Belmont Dairy Company.
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July 1, Katherine, daughter of Minnie R. and Ernest L. Iddings was born at Athlewood.
July 17-24, the Temperance Camp Meeting was held at Washington Grove; as formerly, under the management of three of our energetic Sandy Spring ladies, Elizabeth L. Tatum, Nellie L. Hartshorne, and Sarah T. Miller.
This year brought a perfect August, pleasantly warm, with frequent rains that maintained the fresh- ness of the foliage, which was hardly dusty or wilted once all summer. It was like one long June.
The neighborhood was very full of boarders and visitors, and the Lyceum directory made hay while the sun shone, and had an entertainment August 23, which finished paying for the piano for the hall ..
A notable feature of the program was the piano playing of an infant phenomenon from Washington, Master Kindelberger, aged eleven years; and the Loan of a Lover was repeated with renewed success.
August 8, a little daughter was born to John H. and Sallie R. Janney, and died the same day without receiving a name.
During this month Asa M. and Llewellyn M. Stab- ler returned from a much-enjoyed trip to California and the Yellowstone Park.
The Phrenaskeia, Jr., held its first banquet at Burnside, August 22. Seventeen members were pres- ent, Harry Farquhar was toast-master, and the courses were alternated with speeches by Edith Shoe- maker on "Our Meetings," by William J. T. Thomas
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on "The Sandy Spring Railroad," and by Harry Wetherald on "Our Predecessors."
The table was arranged in a hollow square, prettily decorated with flowers and tasteful menu cards.
August 27-30, the County Fair, at Rockville, was favored with fine weather and large attendance, and Tarlton B. and Caleb Stabler took stock premiums galore.
That the managers of the Fair should have de- cided to hold it in August this year seemed Provi- dential to us here in Sandy Spring, for we had de- signs on the first days of September, and we should have been loath to have the Fair or anything else interfere with us.
The meeting of the Central Committee of Friends' General Conference, which occurred at Sandy Spring Meeting House, September 1, 2 and 3, was one of the new events that have marked the year, for we never had anything like it here before, and it was a revelation to many people.
Plans for these meetings had been under consid- eration for almost a year, for the first official action in the matter was taken by Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting September 30, 1900. A proposition was made at that time to invite the Central Committee to hold its biennial session here in 1901; it was favor- ably received, and a local committee was appointed to take charge of all the necessary arrangements. As finally appointed that Committee consisted of Sarah T. Miller, chairman, Thomas J. Lea, Wm. W. Moore,
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Martha R. Stabler, Roger B. Farquhar, Charles H. Brooke, R. Bentley Thomas, Corrie M. Brooke, Annie F. Brooke, Joseph T. Moore, Samuel S. Bond, and Charles F. Kirk.
The chairman took charge of all the necessary cor- respondence, and letters and postal cards to the num- ber of many hundred were sent out; and the com- mittee was subdivided into sections on transportation, finance, and luncheon.
The whole neighborhood was called on to help make the undertaking a success, and the response was so hearty and helpful that the business was ac- complished without a balk. So many homes offered their hospitality that three times the number of guests who came would hardly have been enough to supply the demand !
The Committee members-about seventy-five of them, were scheduled to arrive at Laurel near three o'clock, on the afternoon of Saturday, August 31, and there they were met by vehicles that brought them to Sandy Spring, and distributed them to their vari- ous homes.
The day smiled upon their arrival, and the dust they brought with them was all they saw during their sojourn among us.
It was a season of unmixed enjoyment to all who participated in it, and the memory will live long in the hearts of all who enjoyed the delightful meetings and the no less pleasant social intercourse of those four days. No description is needed for us, and
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none can give any idea of it to those who had no part in it.
Though the visiting friends attended our regular meeting for worship on Sunday morning, and gave us liberally of their best thought to make it memor- able, the regular sessions of the committee did not begin until that afternoon, followed by two sessions daily on the next two days.
The meeting house grounds had something of a festal look to us home folks, because the homely horse- sheds that so long had stood facing the house, had been moved to each side, thus opening up a view into the woods which is very pleasant. The Lyceum, too, presented special features for the occasion; a tem- porary kitchen graced its southern side, and within, three long tables on the floor, with serving tables, etc .. on the stage, daintily set forth with tempting food, made a welcome interlude every day between the "feasts of reason and flow of soul" offered by the offi- cial program. All comers were made welcome at this noonday luncheon, and it was estimated that about a thousand meals were served during the three days.
A heavy thunder storm came up on Sunday night, and for the rest of the time while the Conference guests were with us there was rain at frequent inter- vals, but mostly during meetings or after we were safely housed at home; and there were also frequent glimpses of sunshine. The special business of the Committee was to decide on the next place of meet- ing for the General Conference, and to outline its program; and the debates, especially on the former
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point, were spirited, interesting and often amusing. Yet the meeting-house walls still stand unshaken, in spite of frequent audible smiles, and even one irre- pressible burst of applause. On the last afternoon the final decision was reached in favor of Asbury Park, N. J. ·
Several able papers were read in the meetings, notably one on The Present Duty of the Society of Friends by Henry W. Wilbur of New York, and not the least impressive feature of the impressive closing hour was Caroline H. Miller's reading of a poem, "In the Silence of the Meeting," written by Hallie J. Bentley.
Rigidly adhering to the official program, on Wed- nesday morning the Central Committee departed in brilliant sunshine, followed by our best wishes, and leaving a blessing behind.
September 7, another new thing occurred, and this time the Lyceum was the scene :- Helen G. Miller, Emma T. Stabler and sisters, and Mary Magruder held a sale of their handiwork in the hall. Their fine needlework, artistic picture frames, etc., candy, potted plants and cut flowers made a pretty show, and the tea table gave a social air to the affair which was enjoyable to the patrons as well as profitable to the promoters of the scheme.
September 10, Helen, daughter of Mary Willson and Luther M. Muncaster, was born at Argyle.
September 11, Elizabeth Edge, daughter of Sarah M. E. and E. W. Haviland, was born at Haviland's Mill.
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Sherwood opened September 16, with Alice V. Farquhar principal, Sallie P. Brooke and Mamie M. Thomas assistants; the number of pupils soon rising above sixty, Faith Farquhar's services were secured.
About February 1, Herbert O. Stabler took a new departure, for a Sandy Springer, along educational lines, going to Cornell for a course in forestry.
It may also be mentioned here that Harold Hop- kins, about this time, bought sixty mule colts to raise.
Sad to say, the chief event of September, not only to Sandy Spring but to the Nation, if not to the world-was no new thing-the murder of a third President of the United States within a generation. At the tidings that on September 6, President Mc- Kinley had been shot at a public reception in the Pan-American Exposition, at Buffalo, the People's pulse seemed to stop, and its blood to run cold with the shock, horror, and grief; then it bounded for- warded to fever heat with impotent rage against the wretch who had inflicted such torture on his inno- cent victim, and such an insult upon the Sovereign People. But during the week of alternating hope and fear, while the President struggled for life, the nation learned such a lesson of meek resignation and Christlike forgiveness from their dying chief as no less an occasion could teach. The impulse that stilled the wheels of traffic, and suspended business activity all over the land while McKinley's body was being lowered into the grave, was of a spirit lifted above revenge and hatred; and the dignified, calm, even
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charitable conduct of the murderer's trial and execu- tion, offers hope that lynch law may soon be abolished throughout our land.
On the morning of September 21, the gathering at Sandy Spring meeting-house tacitly resolved itself into a memorial meeting to the dead President, and these sentences from a beautiful address by Caroline H. Miller seem appropriate here:
"Can we not then try, at least, to emulate the dig- nity and patience of his character ? Can we not draw some tender lessons for our own homes from the fidelity and sweetness of his domestic relations ? Can we not honor, and, to some degree, imitate his patriot- ism and his modesty ? And are we not proud and glad that he has lived in our own day and time, a typical American citizen, adorning the highest place in the gift of his country, and shedding a new and undying light upon her fame? * * * May this sacrifice lift our whole land into a purer patriotism, and I believe it will.
"If we would find peace let us strive to hear, in our inmost hearts, the tender mandate 'Be still, and know that I am God.' Let us try to say with our dying hero, 'It is God's way; His will, not ours, be done.' "
The end of September saw the consummation of one of the most remarkable pieces of building ever done about here; on the 30 Frank Snowden's new barn was raised. It is fifty-two by forty-five feet. and contains nineteen stalls for stock. But the car- penter's work was all done in a little less than nine
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days, and cost $105.00. When the raising bee was over not only was the frame up, but the rafters and most of the weather boarding were on. The builder was Edward Garret Linthicum of Frederick County.
September 29, almost two inches of rain fell within an hour, and this was the last worthy of mention for eight weeks.
The wheat had hardly enough moisture after seed- ing to make it sprout until November 23, and then freezing weather set in, so consequently the fields looked woefully bare all winter.
At Plainfield, the home of the bride's parents, William W. and Mary E. Moore, Sarah T. Moore and Herbert S. Adams were married at noon, October 12, by Friends' Ceremony, and went to Catonsville to live. There was one point in which this wedding differed from any other known: the certificate was read by a woman.
Yearly Meeting, in Baltimore, in October, was at- tended by twenty-nine people from Sandy Spring.
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