USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume III > Part 21
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"Her innate truthfulness, her invariable gravita- tion towards Right in the midst of currents and im- pulses which often might seem like temptations an- other way, were always striking me. There was no more deviation from this grand line of direction than if she had been a Hebrew prophet.
"At the very bottom, she was, by all I saw, a true Christian, greatest of all names. Why did she never reach the peace of soul which she deserved ? The cause was, of course, largely physical, and the charge. if it were such, to that extent, should be dismissed ; but it would seem that she did not have quite the
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thinking strength to go through her problem and to get onto solid ground which would not wash away -- that is, the Rock; and she might have erred in not taking firm enough hold when visitations of light did come to her * * *
"Those who have liked my little ministry at meet- ing may remember, if they will, that it was she who most directly led me into it. It was in immediate connection with something she had just said that I first rose to my feet in an hour of worship.
"I could fancy her, while we are mourning over her open grave, coming before the Recording Angel, with some such plea as: 'I know I had not perfect faith, your great requirement; but indeed I never failed in the wish to have it and in some effort to seek it' -- and him gently breaking in upon her: 'Why, what in the heaven do you mean, Caroline ? You never had faith ? And you never for a moment were without faith! We up here don't listen to the terms you use in trying to describe your spiritual condi- tion; it is the spirit itself we look at, and it would be hard if we could not see the good which your neighbors always saw. Come right in, and look around until your eyes become a little clearer.'
"My own Mary, who is not easily exceeded in the quickness with which she gets hold of vital relations of character, said first on hearing the sad word : 'How strange to think of Sandy Spring without Cousin Carrie Miller! It does not seem like the same place.' * * * Just that expression will be oftener used in this case than ever before in its history."
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On September 4, when the public schools opened for the winter, Sallie P. Brooke took charge of the Sandy Spring school; and on the 18, Sherwood be- gan work under the direction of Ida P. Stabler, as- sisted by Harriet W. Sheppard and Harriet Roberts.
Isabel Stabler, who graduated at the George School in June, opened a little school at home, and Clarice Shoemaker, having finished a course in stenography at the Drexel Institute, secured a position in Phila- delphia.
September 18, Mildred Amony, daughter of J. Wallace and Jessie Johnson Bond, was born at Ash- ton.
On the 18 September, a party of about forty aunts, uncles and cousins gave Robert H. and Mariana S. Miller a surprise party on their tenth wedding anni- versary.
September 19, Granville and Martha T. Farquhar sold at auction all their stock, farm implements, etc., preparatory to renting their farm and going to Washington for the winter; their daughters, Faith and Mary Willis being employed in the city.
About the first of the month, Roger Brooke, Jr .. returned home after three years' service in the Phil- ippine Islands as surgeon in the army; and on Sep- tember 27 he was married in Baltimore to Grace Mc- Connell, and took his bride to live in. New Mexico. This is the nearest approach Sandy Spring has made to a wedding during the past year.
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Beginning in the summer, we were stirred by ru- mors of rural free delivery to be conferred on this remote country district, and excitement ran high at the prospect of having mail brought to our gates once a day from some distant distributing point, such as Laurel, Rockville or Sligo, instead of having com- mand of two mails a day each way between Laurel and Olney, and being able to receive an answer by post from Baltimore or Washington within thirty hours. But by dint of protesting delegations sent to the authorities in Washington we were able to keep the Laurel-Olney route unchanged, though free de- livery now prevails in much of the country round about us, and many neighboring post-offices have been discontinued, among them Oakdale, Norwood and Cloverley.
A period of confusion followed, when mailing a letter to or from any household affected by the change was like casting bread upon the waters, in the uncer- tainty of its result ! Only one thing was sure-it would be many days before anything would come of it! But order was finally evolved from chaos, and many people feel the new system a benefit; others still, in the Hawlings River district, are pining for it and have, as yet, been unable to get it.
On October 4, in the death of Edward Farquhar, Sandy Spring sustained a loss that it is impossible to sum up in words. Though practically a resident of Washington for forty years, he always kept in close touch with the neighborhood, and exerted such a wide
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influence on its intellectual and spiritual life as few could by their constant presence.
After many months of hopeless and painful illness, his mortal remains were laid to rest in Rock Creek Cemetery beside those of his wife, from whom death had separated him by only a few short days.
On November 5, to quote the words of a stranger present, ."a large audience assembled in the meeting- house to take part, in a memorial service to the men- ory of the late Edward Farquhar, philosopher, poet, scientist, preacher and prophet of good things. It was a remarkable concourse of neighbors and friends to do honor to a man who had, with singular unselfish- ness, been a helper to the weak, a light to the blind, and a comforter to the sorrowing. The large com- pany assembled were, without doubt, every one of them, his debtors, for uplift, impulse to high think- ing, and inspiration to that plain living whose other name is righteusness. It was even good for the stranger to get a small visitation of that outpouring of appreciation for genuine manhood which could be silently felt in the Farquhar memorial." (H. W. W., in Friends' Intelligencer.)
From the many heartfelt tributes offered to his memory that day, and from other sources, the follow- ing memoir has been compiled :
"Edward Farquhar was born September 2, 1843, at Sandy Spring, Maryland.
"ITis early life was spent on the farm, but fortu- nately his surroundings were such as to stimulate
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instead of to hamper his thirst for knowledge. His associates were thoughtful, studious people, and his reading of a classic while his team was turning at the furrow's end was not looked upon as a waste of time."
"The outward means by which his vast learning was acquired seem very few and simple; a couple of terms at the Sandy Spring public school, under Wil- liam Henry Briggs; several years of more or less desultory teaching from his father at home; one term at Caleb Hallowell's boarding school in Alexandria, Va., and one at the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, sound like meagre educational op- portunities ; but the secret, after all, lies in the stu- dent more than in the school, and this student, in ad- dition to a desire for learning and a power of origi- nal thought, possessed the gift of a phenomenal mem- ory. * * Languages were his forte, and his de- votion to the Greek was pre-eminent. He took his first lessons in it from his father early one spring, when a boy in his teens; then the busy farm work of the summer came on, and the lessons were dropped. The following autumn his father asked if he would like to resume the study, and was amazed to find that Edward had never suspended it, but in the meantime had read a number of Greek books."
"In 1865, securing an appointment in the Library of the Patent Office, he went to Washington and found himself in an environment that gave answer to his greatest longing-for wider and deeper knowl- edge. It was here that he was brought in contact with minds alert like his own, which gave him a
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stimulus that found fruition in added facts and deep- er thinking.
"During the many years of his residence in Wash- ington he made bi-monthly visits to the home of his youth, and before the Society of Friends discussed those vital questions that find answer in nobler be- lieving and better living. It is, perhaps, in this community that he left his deepest impress-on the young people grown to manhood and womanhood, who crystallize in their daily lives the precepts taught by example in his own."
"He was a minister, but not a priest, nor even a pastor, for he strictly avoided, in every relation of life, any semblance of authority over the beliefs and practices of others. He endeavored, by faithful, kind- ly teaching, to lead his friends to a knowledge and a joyous appreciation of the great and glorious truths that filled his mind and heart, believing that the good, the true and the beautiful will always prove more at- tractive than the evil or the false.
"Probably the most thorough student of the Bible who has ever lived among us, his Bible Class for years offered a rare opportunity to any who cared to attend, and who had the preparation necessary to appreciate his teachings. Through him the 'Higher Criticism' was a fact to many of us before it became a name."
"Alternating with his week-end visits to Sandy Spring came the meetings of the Philosophical Society in Washington. Here he rarely presented a formal
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communication, but broadened the discussion of near- ly every subject treated by short, precise, clever re- marks. His statement of facts was never doubted, and his theories were blessed with more than a sem- blance of truth.
"His calendar, like the machinery of his mind, could skip no cogs, and when on reassembling one au- tumn, the Society, by mistake, met on the wrong Sat- urday, he withdrew from it rather than relinquish his service to the Friends who were relying on his coming. It was not alone a sense of duty that made him turn to the meeting-house. In any conflict of interest between science and religion the latter would always claim his allegiance, and in the renunciation of the Philosophical Society he verified the Scripture, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
"In 1893, he accepted an appointment as Profes- sor of English Literature in the Columbian Univer- sity, now George Washington University. Although, as a self-taught man, unfamiliar with the technique of teaching, and failing perhaps in the grinding work of classroom drill, he was an inspiration as well as a guide to the serious students, and won from such a keen appreciation as well as love.
"He took an active part in organizing the Society for Philosophical Enquiry * * * and participated in every topic that came up for discussion." "Next to the Friends' Meeting he loved best those of that So- ciety, and in his own contributions to it * * * he was still the preacher-moved by the Holy Ghost to
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deliver a message, * and the Society always felt him to be an inspired seer."
"His poetry, understood by the few elect * * was mystical. His written prose was involved. It seemed as if thought crowding thought bewildered the lagging pen and left upon the written page sentences bristling with many facts, each of value in itself, but contributing only a little to the aggressive force of the whole. In oral discourse there was nothing mystic. Untrammeled by poetic forms * * he
threw around each thought
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a flood of light.
* * * The tongue was no laggard, and vibrated in no uncertain measure * * *
"Deeply affectionate by nature, and thoroughly do- mestic, it was not until 1902 that he found the ideal whom he would have welcomed earlier. His married life was brief, but full of joy and service. The health of his wife demanded his close care, and though pained by the dread of an incurable malady he found it precious that he could minister to her every want. Less than a month intervened between her death and his. It was not made up of days of repining. His 'faith in a life beyond looked towards another meet- ing, and he knew that if there is, on the other shore. any retrospect, his will be undimmed by shadows of neglected duties or vows unkept.
"When the mysterious force that we call life for- jook the mortal frame of Edward Farquhar the circle of his friends became poorer, for he had a breadth of culture, a profundity of knowledge that, in our midst, knew no peer. Should we look through
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our catalogue of friends, we would find none who read so much and assimilated so completely, * * * none who garnered from so many fields and gladly gave to all who sought, true kernels threshed out by keen ap-
· * preciation and winnowed by a rigid criticism. * *
"The knowledge he absorbed did not coagulate through disuse, nor form confusing masses in hope- less compounds of fact and fancy. He knew what he knew, and what he thought he knew was knowledge. He made no idle guesses-he indulged in no futile gropings. Answer was quick to wed with question, and so well mated were they that a monstrous fact could not result from the union.
"In those rare cases when we appealed to him in vain for light he was not ashamed to say he did not know-it was an exception that called to mind the many times we asked and did receive. X *
"His great pleasure was acquiring and dispensing, and in this cyclic receiving and giving his life was passed-a life whose ending has brought to many of us a juster conception of his great learning and a feeling of personal loss as we become conscious that this wealth of knowledge is beyond our enjoying."
In October, Florence M. Wetherald was one of the Maryland delegates to the National W. C. T. U. in Los Angeles, California.
On October 7, at Brooke Grove, George E. Brooke died, aged almost 93 years.
Born under that same roof November 27, 1812, he lived his whole life in one place-a most remarkable
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record in these days of change. To Brooke Grove he brought his bride, Eliza Jordan of Norfolk, Va., to whom he was married April 1, 1840, and there were born to them six children. Three of them died in childhood or early youth-three still survive.
A man of exceptional vigor and geniality, his per- sonality has always formed a part of Sandy Spring to every one now living here, and every heart echoes the words of the following eulogy pronounced upon him at a meeting of the Montgomery Club at Brooke Grove :
"The thoughts that are uppermost in the minds of all of us this evening are not those of the material and social interests which this club of farmers was organized to foster. For the first time for nearly a century guests beneath this hospitable roof miss the genial presence and warm welcome of one who has just passed away. The memory of no living man runs back to the time when George E. Brooke was not the host at Brooke Grove. Whether friend or stranger, his kindly greeting and warm, manly handclasp made all at home under his rooftree.
"The solemnity of his funeral on the beautiful Sunday afternoon of October S, attended as it was by his many friends from far and near, gave evi- dence of the deep sense of personal loss which each one felt. The lovely autumn afternoon upon which all nature seemed to pause in beauteous silence. upon which any words of man, no matter how well chosen, would have jarred, seemed most appropriate for the close of the earthly career of one who had so
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well filled out the destiny of man. It is well for us who, while still busy with the many duties of our active lives, have, nevertheless, traveled further on life's journey than we have yet to go, to pause and reflect upon the life that a man has led, who, after nearly ninety-three years, still holds his place in the hearts and minds and lives of his fellow-men. Old age did not leave him stranded by the wayside. He held a place among us that was all his own, and the time never came when he could be spared. His character was founded upon lines that one knew that God had made; it was grand in its simplicity. His life seemed to link the present with the ele- mental virtues of an earlier time.
" 'The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth'-pause a moment and think what that means ; think, among the men you know, how many fail to grasp its full significance. Think how often weak- ness and hypocrisy make men fail to measure up to what it includes, and then contrast that with what you know of him. It has seemed to ine for many years that his word had been the standard and the unit by which I measured integrity and honor.
"The strenuous excitement of modern life was not required for his happiness ; the dawn of each bright morning, the leaves of each new spring, the flowers that blossomed, the grain that waved, each and all appealed to his bright, harmonious nature, which, unsullied by morbid thoughts. kept as sweet and fresh through all the years as when life began. He loved his fellow-men, rejoiced in their happiness
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and sympathized with their sorrows, praised their good deeds, and was lenient to their faults-only that a man who was not honest in word and deed was not for him.
"His long experience and sound judgment made his advice, which was never given unless asked, in- valuable. And his wonderful memory, extending from what was the early youth of the last century down to the present time, accurate alike in all things he ever knew, was a marvel beyond ordinary under- standing. Facts and incidents related by him were to be learned nowhere else.
"He has gone where the great Creator has or- dained that men shall go who have lived true lives here. This much we know; beyond that we trust. We must believe that such lives go on; that all that was so beautiful on earth cannot be lost ; that in some far Valhalla those who loved on earth must meet again; that he is with his wife and children who have gone before. * * * All, all must be to- gether now where parting and grief can come no more." (C. F. K.)
. On October 21, Elizabeth B. Smith died in Bal- timore.
Born in that city March 3, 1818, the daughter of Nathan and Martha E. Tyson; she spent most of her long and useful life there, the largest exception being the years which she, with her husband, John M. Smith, and their family, spent at Osceola farm in Sandy Spring.
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She was a woman of excellent natural abilities, and had the best educational advantages her genera- tion offered; and, being a great reader, her retentive memory was well stored.
She was one of the founders and first directors of Swarthmore College, and she also helped establish the Home for the Friendless in Baltimore.
During the Civil War she did much for the sick and wounded soliders of both armies, nursing many in her own liome in Baltimore; and having been granted the use of a tender by the United States Government, she made it do good service in trans- porting sick soldiers from various ships to Fort Mc- Henry.
In the words of her daughter :. "She had a most beautiful sympathy, a wonderful tenderness, a broad- minded outlook upon life, with deep love and charity to the world."
October 23, at his home near Ashton, Edward Bos- well died, aged eighty years.
A man of clear intelligence, though without school training, he was an excellent farmer, and a shrewd inan of business. Starting in life with no capital but his own abilities and a strong pair of hands, he won for himself a snug competence, and his career might be used as an argument to prove that, given careful economy and hard work, a man may make more than a living from the soil. Just two weeks later, November 6, Edward Boswell's brother-in-law, George Stiffler died. He also was a man of more
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than three-score years and ten, and he had served in the army during the Mexican, and the Civil Wars.
During the week of Yearly Meeting, thirty-eight Friends from Sandy Spring were in attendance at its sessions in Baltimore.
At its close, Henry W. Wilbur again came to Sandy Spring, and started yet another organization among us. This is the Reading Club that meets each Sunday at the close of the usual meeting for wor- ship, to discuss "The Beginnings of Quakerism:" the Life of George Fox, portions of Green's Short History of the English People, Pilgrim's Progress and Paradise Lost being, so to speak, the text books used. The large and regular attendance each week attests the interest aroused by this course of study.
October 16, Ruth Sherman, daughter of J. W. and Margaret E. S. Jones, was born in Washington.
October 25, Fritz Bulwer, the ten-year-old son of Gustav Bulwer, died at his home in Ashton, after a very brief illness ; and the loss of their only son was a bitter blow to his parents.
In the middle of the afternoon of October 30, the barn of Lewis Barnsley, near Olney, was burned. with all its contents, including vehicles, harness, hay and seven hundred and fifty bushels of wheat.
"Misfortunes never come singly," and only four days after this disaster, a similar one occurred on the farm of John E. Muncaster, whose stock barn, con- taining ten registered cattle, and a quantity of hav and grain, was destroyed.
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The election, on November 7, is the only other event noted during the month. The campaign pre- coding it was, perhaps, of more interest to Sandy Spring than is usual on "off years," when only State offices are to be filled, because a number of our neigh- bors were candidates-Joseph T. Moore, for State Senate, Asa M. Stabler and Charles F. Kirk, for County Commissioners, and W. B. Chichester for the House of Delegates ; also on account of the so-called "Poe Amendment" to the Constitution.
This measure, with the avowed intention of dis- franchising the negro voters of the State, was con- structed on the "boomerang" principle, so that it would have recoiled on the white population in a way dangerous to political freedom and honest elec- tions. Therefore we were glad of its defeat which in a measure consoled us for the disappointment of our friends the candidates, who were all relegated to the shades of private life !
Having no members of our own in the Legislature, to see that the laws were made right, Sandy Spring seemed to feel its responsibility towards that rather irresponsible body with unusal force, and an unpre- cedented number of letters were written by our peo- ple to the Montgomery delegation, for and against proposed measures in which we were interested; and when that sort of influence seemed insufficient, they made personal visits to Annapolis.
Would that the good results might be in proportion to these efforts! But legislatures seem to exist for their own satisfaction rather than for the benefit of
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the State; and constituencies, having elected their representatives, have no rights nor privileges that those gentlemen are bound to respect.
We had about twenty-four hours of sleighing on December 16-17, following a wonderfully beautiful snow and sleet storm, but by the 20 the ground was clear again, and we had sunny, moderate weather to the end of the year.
The curio exhibit, given at Belmont on the after- noon and evening of December 2, for the benefit of the Woman Suffrage Association, was enjoyed by all who attended. Among the interesting things shown were the footstool of Martha Washington, and a piece of her brocaded gown ; George Washington's autograph, a lock of his hair, and a piece of the case that enclosed his leaden coffin before it was placed in the present sarcophagus ; also a piece of the old tomb ; and part of the flag that floated over Fort McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner. There were numerous pieces of old silver, knee and shoe-buckles, antique spoons, etc. ; besides bonnets, quilts and dolls that had reached more than three-score years and ten; a cane made from the wood of the Merrimac, and a beautiful knife-urn, such as in "ye olden time" used to grace the sideboard. Eliza N. Moore sent souvenirs gath- ered in her travels abroad, extending from the Land of the Midnight Sun to the Rock of Gibraltar.
Several young ladies in quaint and attractive cos- tumes helped to receive, and to serve the refresh-
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ments, which contributed to the pleasure and profit of the occasion.
On December 6, at a quarterly meeting of the Savings Institution, Asa M. Stabler was elected pres- ident of that corporation, vice Charles G. Porter, re- signed.
The retiring president, who had served faithfully for twenty-one years, received many well-deserved words of praise from the board of directors, which were embodied in the following resolution :
"Resolved, That the resignation of Charles G. Por- ter is received by the board of directors, both col- lectively and individually, with greatest regret. While it is recognized that his long and faithful service fully entitles him to relief from the heavy responsi- bilities of the office, it is, nevertheless, a matter of sincere sorrow that advancing years make him feel that he should be relieved of the burden. The direct- ors wish to give expression of their appreciation of the many qualities, both of mind and heart, which have secured alike their respect and their affection. Mr. Porter brought to the service of the Savings In- stitution the prudence and sagacity, the wisdom and the industry which made him successful in private life, and withal, the integrity and staunch and sturdy manhood which had commanded the respect of the whole community from his earliest days. The ex- ample of his life, his known sentiments upon the subjects of temperance, ceonomy, frugality and sim- plicity, were in accord with the objects of this In-
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