USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume III > Part 16
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istry as a mysterious gift opening a gulf between the minister and his hearers, could not survive in his presence.
The spiritual life was the whole life of the man, embracing, not holding aloof from, the intellectual. His quick and ready interest in what are called "sec- ular affairs" was infused with the calm, cheerful reli- gion that he preached. Never did a man's words and his life harmonize more completely.
He left Sherwood to help to organize the George School, in Pennsylvania, and until a year ago was actively engaged in teaching there. Then failing health made perfect rest necessary, and a change of climate seemed advisable.
His death occurred at Aiken, S. C., on March 30, '03, in his fiftieth year.
His widow, Ida Palmer Stabler, his four little children, his mother and his aunt, Eliza H. Miller, who were a part of his household, will make their home among us. 1
Strictly speaking the inhabitants of Sandy Spring. rooted in the soil many of them, for generations, could hardly be called a "floating population," but in spite of the continued lack of a railroad they seem to move about, among themselves and elsewhere, with remark- able facility. The aggregate number of miles trav- eled by our people in going to meetings of one kind or another, and in the pursuit of business or pleas- ure, within our own limits, would be a thing of wonder if we could arrive at it ; but that is only one.
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and not our largest claim to be called travelers. Are not our trips to Washington and Baltimore beyond computation ? And Philadelphia, New York, Bos- ton, Florida, New Orleans, California, and the Yellowstone Park, not to mention the continent of Europe and the isles of the sea are familiar resorts to residents of Sandy Spring!
But mere travel is not the only form that our move- ment takes ; there has been quite a shifting of habita- tion in the last twelve months. Dr. Tatum and his family have established themselves at Hillside; Mer- ritt and Lydia Haviland are now living at Avoca ; P. Connell has removed his family and the stage stables to Olney. Florence Hoopes and Emma Jack- son, in the early summer, made for themselves a cozy home at Myrtlebank, and for us a pleasant addition to our social circle. In October and November the new house at Alloway grew to completion, and developed into a beautiful home for Annie M. Shoemaker, her father and sisters. The latest accession to our neigh- borhood is the family of Charles D. Warfield and his wife, our old friend and neighbor Mary Snowden. She and her children came to live at Walbrooke about April 1.
Besides the Alloway house, the only building act- ually accomplished this year is the neat dwelling put up by James Johnson, at Ednor, and a new dining room at Falling Green.
Sandy Springers, along with other good citizens of our county, rejoiced in the success which crowned the work of the Anti-Saloon League, of which Asa
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M. Stabler is now president, at the November term of the Circuit Court. The grand jury presented ninety-four indictments for violation of the liquor and gambling laws. Many convictions followed, many of the accused pleaded guilty, and a number prom- ised to quit their business. Fines imposed in cases in which the League was interested amounted to $4,625.00, of which the League received $2,312.50 to continue the fight. At the March term, the grand jury, R. H. Miller, foreman, found fifteen indict- ments in cases worked up by the League; and, both fall and spring the words and action of Judge Hen- derson have been emphatically favorable to law-en- forcement.
March 25, the Judge "explained to members of the grand jury that their discharge at this time would not be final, but that they, as well as the petit jury, would be subject to recall at any time." He referred to the bold and lawless liquor selling and gambling in the County last summer, and "stated that the court had learned that some of the very people who were prosecuted last fall, and who promised the court never to offend again, have laid in a stock of 'wet goods' with the intention of opening up their illegal business again this season. If this proves true, the grand and petit juries will be reassembled and kept in Rockville all summer, if necessary, to suppress such lawbreaking."
Owing to the determined action of Roger B. Far- quhar, the second volume of The Annals of Sandy Spring is an accomplished fact. The time and work
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it cost bim we will never know, but the thanks of the community are added to the usual reward of vir- tue in this case. We all fell a personal pride in the neat volume and its sprightly contents.
This time last year we hoped much from the mis- sion Frank T. Lea had established among the colored people, but the new minister, sent to the Sharp Street church in the spring, proved so hostile to the work for the good of his race that it had to be abandoned.
One event, that was a number of months in hap- pening, I have been at a loss to know how to describe, but the following account of it will, perhaps, an- swer the purpose :
TOLD OF A BELL.
Listen, my friends, while I try to tell,
The tale of the Triadelphia bell,
Which hung in its belfrey in the dell
On the factory roof, as you all know well ;
But it chanced that Miss Farquhar, the Sherwood belle,
Had an idea by accident-thus it befell.
"Why not get the Triadelphia bell
To call the boys," was her brilliant thought,
"If it can, for a moderate sum, be bought ?
"I would be convenient, and in fact,
'T would be a proper pious act
To bring to Sherwood our ancestors' bell."
And then her thoughts began to dwell
On the ancient story we all know well; How Caleb Bentley, and Thomas Moore,
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And Isaac Briggs once built a store, And row upon row of houses galore; And a great big mill-with a bell on top, Around which pigeons their wings did flop- For weaving cloth, and a flowing mill ;- And the ruins of these are standing still. 'Twas in the year eighteen-hundred, ten. That these most enterprising men Built up their mills and things, and then They began to hunt around for a name By which their town should be known to fame. They said : "We don't want anything tame, But something like us, and our project-game." At last to one of the three there came A sudden thought, like a burst of flame: "Just listen a minute, my friends, to me ;- Since we have married sisters three- Sarah, and Hannah and Mary B .- As sure as a gun we brothers be ! So Triadelphia we'll call our town-
'Twill give us three brothers great renoun,- If both of you with me agree !" From that hour forth the breeze did swell The notes of the Triadelphia bell.
*
*
*
In five years Caleb and Isaac and Tom Dissolved their partnership; In the course of time the mill changed hands ; Changed conditions began to strip The place of its trade. Ruin could not be stayed ;
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In chaos now it stands-
And the only life-within or out --- Is the pigeons flying all about.
* * * * * *
Miss Farquhar mused on this legend old, And being given to projects bold,
After having considered the matter well,
Vowed : "Sherwood shall have our Ancestors' bell,
If Mr. Lansdale is willing to sell !"
She asks if he will, and the answer follows-
"You can have that bell for fifty dollars."
Miss Farquhar straight way sets to work
With the energy of the proverbial Turk, And gets the cash
As quick as a flash,
And then the whole neighborhood whoops and hollers !
Why should n't we yell ?
Don't you hear us tell
We've got the Triadelphia Bell ?
We got it; and we hung it high
At the top of a tree reaching toward the sky, All ready to fall on some school child's head, To maim him for life, or to crush him dead. But this great big bell
Was a terrible sell ;
It was not the one that we thought
Was purchased by Bentley, Briggs and Moore And hung in that belfry years before; By our own credulity we were caught.
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This bell was cast in '37,
When two of these men had been long in heaven.
This one we got Mr. Lansdale had bought, And he sold it to us without a thought Of the "old associations"
That fired imaginations Of all the remote relations Of Isaac Briggs and Thomas Moore, And Caleb Bentley, score on score. But nevertheless, 'twas a mighty sell When we bought the Triadelphia Bell !
CHAPTER IX.
1903-1904.
If your historian might look beyond neighborhood limits for material, she could find in abundance. themes for mighty epics and great tragedies. That the past year has been particularly fruitful in these, witness the close of the long struggle over the loca- tion of the Isthmian Canal, the Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago, the Russo-Japanese war, and countless disasters on railroads, in mines, and at sea, not to mention the friction between labor and capital, or the many phases of the race problem that loom dark above our horizon : while the Baltimore conflagration comes close enough home to all of us for it to seem almost to belong to our annals.
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But, however tempting such events may be, her pen is not fitted to cope with them. Or, to change the figure-grand opera is beyond her range, and she must be content to sing the simple lyrics and ballads of our every-day circumscribed life-the same old songs with but slight variations from year to year.
The first number, then, on our program for this recital is, of course, the Annual Meeting, April 13, 1903. A cold and rainy night may have made it a smaller gathering than usual, but it was a remark- ably animated session. Everyone seemed to have some scheme to promote. The endowment fund for Sherwood School, proposed in 1902, had made no growth, but a new proposition to raise money for heating the school building received strong support then and later. There were several plans suggested for securing a permanent publication fund, that the future volumes of our Annals may be issued prompt- ly, when finished ; much talk on the subject, however, ended as most talk does, in "words, words, words."
Another topic of extreme interest, introduced at this time, was the establishment of a laundry; our hopes really began to cluster around this project-al- most as time-honored as the Sandy Spring Rail Road scheme-because The Neighbors, that young and act- ive organization, appeared to be pushing it vigorously, but they now seem to be waiting for the construction of the railroad to transport the machinery for the laundry plant.
The meteorologist reported fifty-eight inches of · rain in the year just ended, which suggested that
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Sandy Springers might need web-feet if that sort of thing should continue.
Though the first green of spring began to show in March, the cool and cloudy weather of April re- tarded the progress of the foliage, which was not fully developed till the 20 May. The fruit bloom, too, lasted for about three weeks, and the hot spell that usually marks the passage of April was deferred until the very end of the month, the mercury rising to 98° on the 30 April. On the 2 May there was ice in places. Owing to the wet, there was almost no gardening done till the 25 April, but to even things up, we had no ran from April 16 to May 22. Still, in spite of all drawbacks, the spring was very beauti- ful.
May 6, Mary Farquhar, daughter of W. French and Edith Brooke Green, was born at the Maples, Brookeville.
May 12, Charles F. Kirk raised another hay- house-it is becoming chronic with him-and on the 14, Johnn Thomas raised his new barn, referred to in last year's history. "Erected in part on the old site, it is eighty-five feet long, by forty-five wide, and twenty-two feet to the square, with conveniences for stabling and watering stock not often seen in this locality.
"Nearly all of the seventy thousand feet of lumber used for this large barn was hauled from the woods to the building-site -- a distance of over a mile-by neighborhood teams, their owners having generously volunteered their assistance; and the carpenters, six
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in number, who were from Frederick County, com- menced their work on the 5 May, and left on the 21 of the same month, having completed the job in seven- teen days. One hundred, twenty-four men helped with the raising, and thirty-five women lent their aid in feeding them." (J. T.)
And this was only the beginning of the year's building. The Tyson sisters put up a new wing in the rear at Marden ; a house was commenced by John Hall, a colored man, on the lot next to Sharp Street ; in the early summer the old Gideon Gilpin house, at Sandy Spring, was pulled down to make way for a new one, which was completed about Christmas time; and Carcline L. Brooke built an attractive home on her place between Marden and Knollton, which she calls Walbrooke. Richard I. Lea has made himself a barn and begun a house opposite Walnut Hill.
It might almost go without saying that there have been improvements at Belmont, where the comfort and elegance of the house, as remodeled a few years ago, is only exceeded by the new fittings of the stable, where everything is arranged for the greatest pleas- ure of the cows, and for the greatest ease and con- venience of the workers. The Robison brothers have put up for themselves a windmill at Roadside, and Thomas D. Fuller of Washington has begun to erect a summer cottage on his lot, purchased some years ago from Rockland farm. The latest building enter- prise is the reconstruction of Rockland, which is being torn down here, filled in there, transposed and
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transformed, till even the family will hardly know their way about when it is finished, and already the eleventh kitchen in the history of the house is well under way !
The following account was kindly prepared by one who got his information at first hand :
"At Sea Girt, N. J., in May, was held a three-days competition for the much-coveted twelve places on the United States rifle team, which was to be sent to Eng- land to bring back the Palma Trophy-the prize in the annual international long range, military team match, which England had wrested from us in Can- ada the year before, as Canada had also done the year previous to that at Sea Girt.
"To this contest came some forty-odd of those who aspired to be the best military riflemen in the country ; three of these competitors were from Sandy Spring neighborhood, and all three of them, S. B. Wetherald, George E. Cooke, and H. H. Leizear. were lucky enough to get places among the first seven.
"The team sailed for England on June 13, and ar- rived on the 20 at Bisley Camp and range-that Mecca to which all had looked forward so eagerly. for there we were to meet 'foemen worthy of our steel,' and measure strength with them.
"Then ensued ten days of the worst weather condi- tions ever encountered by any members of the team- strong, gusty winds, that the short English flags would not indicate, sweeping across the range, and suddenly 'fish-tailing' from side to side in the most
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exasperating way. For a while this made the Ameri- can shooters feel very much like inexperienced boys, but gradually the weather grew better, and they be- gan to learn somewhat the peculiarities of the range and the climate, so scores increased, and confidence returned.
"The eight were finally selected-and at last came the long-wished-for day, July 11; and what a day ! Throughout our stay of five weeks in England not one other would have suited us as well. The flags hung motionless against the poles, and the sun shone bright and hot; each American felt that the fates were with us, and all were confident ; the English, who wished for a day of gusty, 'fish-tail' winds, were not so well pleased. But when the 800 yard stage was over the English team was three points ahead; this was dis- couraging, as the conditions were ideal, and this the easiest range. At 900 yards, however, the Americans beat the English eleven points, putting us eight ahead, so we started in at 1000 yards in good spirits, and again succeeded in beating England, this time by seven points, winning the match by fifteen." (S. B. W.)
The early strawberry crop was very short this year, owing to drought, no rain falling from the time of bloom till after the picking began, but the "long sea- son in May" saved the la'e berries. Robert II. Mil- ler had a particularly fine yield of the Gandy, which he sold mainly in Pittsburg.
On May 28, there was a violent, but limited ey- clone, which confined its attentions to the property
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of T. W. Waters, and Josiah W. Jones. Fences were blown down, trees badly broken, and at Mr. Waters' place portions of a pear orchard were blown over the house, and an iron porch was torn from its founda- tions.
June 4, came Sherwood Commencement, interest- ing as always, but with an added touch of sadness, because that day ended the connection of Alice V. Farquhar with the school. As assistant and principal she had served it faithfully and successfully for six years, and it was with universal regret that her resig- nation was accepted.
From the 6-8 of June, Sandy Spring Quarterly Meeting was greeted with cold rainy weather, but many Friends, especially from Baltimore, were with us, and we had excellent meetings-J. J. Cornell, Martha S. Townsend and O. Edward Janney being some of the speakers present.
As usual, there have been several interesting anni- versary celebrations this year: on May 25, Newton and Mary H. Stabler were given a surprise party in honor of their wooden wedding, and there have been two golden weddings, Charles and Sarah E. Stabler's on 16 June, 1903, and Edward C. and Annie F. Gil- pin's on February 23, 1904. Each couple was "at home," informally, to receive the good wishes of their friends. On November 27, many visitors old and young, found their way to Brooke Grove, with loving greetings to George F. Brooke on his ninety-first birthday
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On the 1 June, the Rev. Charles Meade, of New York, gave a Prohibition speech to a small audience at the Lyceum.
At Brooke Place, the home of Dr. Roger and Louisa T. Brooke, the bride's parents, on June 23, Jane P. Brooke and Norman G. Smith were married by Friends' ceremony, and the young couple went to live in Auburn, Me.
Early in June, for days, the air was full of smoke, obscuring the sun like a fog, and plainly to be smelled. It was caused by the great forest fires that raged over immense tracts of mountains in New York, New England and Pennsylvania ; and even our neighbor, the Sugar Loaf did not escape. Its crown of fire was plainly visible at night from points in Sandy Spring.
June 27, Walter Brooke, son of Caleb and Mina G. Stabler, was born at Oak Hill.
On the 28 June, there were tremendous rains in the upper part of the County that raised the Patux- ent higher than it has been since the Johnstown flood, and in the middle of the night people living along the river had to get up to save stock from drowning. The next morning fifty people went to Riverside to see the inundation.
And the event was not without its tragedy ; several small colored boys were viewing the freshet from Snell's bridge, and fishing for drift-wood in the swollen current, when Roscoe Bellows, about eight years old, fell in. His companions could not help
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him, and his body was found a short distance down the stream.
The high water carried away or injured a number of bridges; among others, the one at Schooley's Mill was so damaged as to be dangerous, and this lent a spice of adventure to the experiences of the ten Sandy Spring girls who camped in the Mill house from July 2, for a week. They called it Camp Re- Pine Knot, and they lived up to the name!
Harvest weather was cool and showery; the wheat crop was rather light, and of very poor quality; so during the fall and winter we all had to suffer bad bread, which none of the bread machines could im- prove.
But the yield of hay, owing to the frequent and abundant rains in the latter part of its growing sea- son, was above the average. Dairymen rejoiced in good pasture all summer, and the wheat-stubble showed a finer set of clover than we have seen in this section for years. Late potatoes were a total failure, but those planted early did well, and brought a good price in the winter ; while wheat actually sold as high as $1.10 in February.
Our gardens never seemed to make up for the time lost at the beginning of the season, and the freeze on May 2 cancelled the peach crop of the State entirely.
On the 9 July, George Johnson, a young man born and reared in Sandy Spring, was killed by a live wire
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while at work at Chester, Pa., and his body was brought here for interment.
During a severe thunder storm on July 11, the roof at Sweetbier was struck by lightning and con- siderally damaged, and a cow was killed by the same agency at Elburn. Heavy rains were frequent about this time, and on three successive days, the 18, 19 and 20 of July, the Patuxent and the Hawlings were out of their banks at Haviland's Mill.
On July 24, Charles E., son of Annie T., and the late Edward Porter, died, aged forty-nine years.
Nearly all his life a sufferer from epilepsy, his death occurred suddenly, while he was crossing a field at Cherry Grove, and his funeral was held there the next day.
Though his natural mental gifts were unusual, his sphere in life was restricted by the state of his health, but he was, for years, the sole companion of his mother, who lavished on him all her love; and his going left a void in her heart, hard for others to ap- preciate, for he was "the only son of his mother, and she was a widow."
July 13, Beulah Darby gave a delightful recital at the Lyceum, her program-well chosen and well rendered-consisting mainly of selections in negro and children's dialects.
On the 14 July, the Montgomery County W. C. T. U. held its annual meeting at Sandy Spring Lyce- um. There were well attended sessions morning and afternoon, and in the interval between, an excellent
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luncheon was served on the Meeting-House porch to one hundred forty members and guests of the Con- vention. Mrs. Mary R. Haslup, president of the State Union, and Mrs. Margaret Dye Ellis, of New Jersey, made addresses, and one of the most attrac- tive features of the day was the concert recitation of the 103 Psalm by "a rosebud garden of girls."
July 16, Gilbert Walden tried to give an enter- tainment at the Lyceum, but his preliminary exer- cises were so protracted, that his audience grew dis- couraged and withdrew at 10.30, before he had fairly got started !
But on the 23, the crowd who came to the hall in response to the invitation of Joseph T. and Eliza N. Moore, were interested from first to last in Admiral Harrie Webster's lecture. It was a "double bill," consisting of an account of the Battle of Mobile Bay, from the point of view of a participant, and a thril- ling description of his experiences on a Naval vessel in the great hurricane in Samoa, in 1889.
A short time after this, Major James M. Morgan gave a most interesting lecture on Egypt to an in- vited audience at The Anchorage; and on another evening he gave one at the Lyceum, on The Confed- erate Nary, for the benefit of the Admiral Jouett memorial fund.
July 26, two colored men, Albert King and Sam Hill, met with a serious loss by the burning of their wheat rick, while the family were at church. The crop was not insured.
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By the end of July the neighborhood was full; visitors were every where, and at The Anchorage, Belmont, Edgewood, Brooke Grove, Cloverley, Fair Hill and elsewhere the voice of the summer boarder was heard in the land. So far has the fame of Sandy Spring and its farmers gone abroad, that the son of the President of Peru-no less-spent the summer at Cloverley in pursuit of-practical agriculture !
On August 5, the young ladies of Sandy Spring held in the Lyceum their annual sale of fancy articles, edible and decorative. The room was tastefully ar- ranged, and quite a crowd was in attendance, so the afternoon was a success socially as well as financially.
A few days later, August 12, the hall was again used by Mary Bentley Thomas, who entertained a large house with an extremely interesting account of her trip to New Orleans in the spring, to attend the Suffrage convention. Music and ice-cream were also on the evening's program, the proceeds for the suf- frage work.
In the course of the summer the rivalry between the villages of Ashton and Sandy Spring broke out in fresh coats of paint, to the great advantage of their general appearance; which was further im- proved by new wire fences in Ashton, while in Sandy Spring the pickets came forth in new green uni- forms, with white caps.
August 15, Lillian H. Bentley, the ten-year-old daughter of Richard T. and Anna Van B. Bentley, died at Cloverley, after a few days illness of appen-
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