USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume III > Part 25
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. Again, Sandy Spring has its official representative on the Maryland board of Jamestown Exposition Commissioners, Allan Farquhar having been appoint- ed to that service by Governor Warfield.
Sandy Springers have worked with credit in many capacities in various parts of the country, but this year, for only the second time in our annals, has one from this section graced the halls of Congress-Tay- lor Thom was in the Senate of the United States- as a page-from January 29 till the close of the ses- sion on the 4 March.
Now you can plainly see that the year just past was commonplace; even in the matter of crops there is nothing very remarkable. Hay was rather poor and scarce; corn made about an average crop; the quality of the grain and of the fodder was injured by wet weather, and there was more fodder left out through the winter than is often seen hereabouts. Wheat was poor and not abundant; potatoes only
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did well, the crop averaging perhaps over two hun- dred bushels per acre through the neighborhood.
Our tale of another year is told. In our retired corner of the earth we have felt only in small measure the calamities, which in the world outside have brought unspeakable woe and desolation. Earth- quake, fire, wrecks by sea and land, mine disasters, landslides, storms and floods have, within the last twelvemonth, destroyed life and property to an ex- tent hitherto unprecedented, and we have only felt enough of it all to make us recognize our kinship with our fellow-men-and congratulate ourselves on our happier fate.
Sandy Spring is the best place yet ! Wander where we will, from Boston to Bermuda, from Maine to California, for long time or short, hither her sons and daughters turn with longing eyes; and even we who dwell here in more or less dissatisfaction with our lot, feel deep in our hearts that right here
"A man's best things are nearest him,
Lie close about his feet."
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CHAPTER XIII.
1907 -- 1908.
April 1, the day our story begins, brought ice, and a temperature of 26°, and the next day the mercury showed 18°, the coldest April day on record since the weather bureau was established in Baltimore.
Following their custom, and the promptings of the almanac, the fruit blossoms began, as early as April 6, to try to come out, but on the 9 and 10 they and the grass, flattered into greenness by the few warm days the last of March, were called to a halt by snow- storms. The blossom season was prolonged well into May, the embryo fruit being subjected to such low temperatures, and so often, that a season of dearth in that line was a safe prediction.
On the 10, 11, 12, 21, 22 May there was frost, and ice on the 28, consequently there were no cherries, except for the birds, few currants, and no raspberries ; but there was an unprecedented yield of strawber- ries, and the season was just suited to the production of a particularly fine and lasting pea crop.
None of the early vegetables, however, were ready for use in time for Quarterly Meeting, and the roses. usually out of bloom by that date. had then only jus begun to appear. The forests were not in full leaf till June 6, the wrens and catbirds were three days
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later than last year, and the wheat heads appeared about May 26, a week later than in 1906.
Hay harvest was delayed till June 28, and no wheat was cut till well into July. Much rain put back the corn planting, also, so that, with wet and cold, the earliest corn was hardly "knee-high by the Fourth of July," and much of it, at that time, was only beginning to show lines of green across the fields.
On the evening of April 6, Miss Jeanette Broonell. of Philadelphia, gave a most delightful entertain- ment to a large audience at the Lyceum; her render- ing of childhood in poetry and song being charmingly true to life. Her program was varied by music kind- ly furnished by Samuel P. Thomas, Bartella Dor- rance, and Edith D. Bentley.
On April 7, Henry W. Wilbur, of Swarthmore, gave to us generously of his intellectual and spiritual stores, preaching an inspiring sermon on "Resurrec- tion" at the Sandy Spring meeting-house in the morn- ing, and speaking most helpfully on a "Free Gospel Ministry" to the Reading Circle which followed. In the afternoon he gave a beautiful address before the Young People's Meeting-established on a non-secta- rian basis about a year before-at the Ashton Friends' meeting-house. In the evening, at Mt. Airy, he de- livered a most interesting lecture on Whittier, but owing to very bad weather the audience at night was small.
Another opportunity that came to us about this time was a delightful and instructive talk on Hawaii
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and the Philippines, given at The Cedars by Mary C. Brooke, recently returned from a prolonged stay in the Far East.
April 22, Stanley Phillips, son of Newton and Mary Hallowell Stabler, was born at Elburn.
The Annual Meeting of the Lyceum Company came about as late in the month as possible, on the 29. The same corps of officers was re-elected, and at the suggestion of a former resident of Sandy Spring- Caleb S. Miller-a committee consisting of Frances D. S abler and Elizabeth S. Iddings, was appointed to write up the history of the old houses in the neigh- borhood. Another committee was named to take steps towards the publication of a third volume of the Annals of Sandy Spring.
A feature of the occasion particularly pleasing to the historian was the presentation to her of a hand- some and commodious traveling bag "as a token of good will and appreciation" from those who had list- ened for the preceding ten years to her version of their doings.
"On May 21, occurred the death of Henrietta Snowden, at the home of her daughter, Lucy S. Lea, in Ashton, after months of failing health, and weeks of severe illness.
"The third child of William Henry and Eliza T. Stabler, she was born at Auburn, January 27, 1829. and was married to her playmate and school friend, Nicholas Snowden, in Philadelphia, May 28. 1850.
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They made their home at Avondale, near Laurel, with his mother, where their six children were born.
"His sympathies were with the South in the Civil War, and to avoid being drafted into the Union army, like a good many young men of his section of the State, he joined the Confederate forces. Killed in battle in 1862, Major Snowden had made a reputa- tion for himself as a gallant and brave officer, much loved by his soldiers.
"After his death his wife stayed with her mother- in-law as long as she lived-having great respect and affection for her. Elizabeth Warfield Thomas Snow- den was, in truth, a very unusual woman. Left a widow with twelve children, she manumi ted seventy- three slaves, managing her affairs with such ability that she was able to educate and provide for all her family.
"In 1866, Henriet' a Snowden came to live at Ingle- side. Her being there was a great comfort to her father and mother, and to her sisters, who all looked up to her and depended on her, she being always · ready to go and help them when any occasion arose.
"Here she lived for forty years, and she, quite as much as her attractive young daughters, made Ingle- side a centre of social life in the neighborhood. Hand- some in person, dignified and gracious in manner, a good talker and a good listener, she was enjoyed by old and young. A person of strong likes and dis- likes-prejudices we might almost say-she yet had great respect for other people's ideas and notions, and
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never wanted to force her opinions on any one. As a little girl who spent an afternoon of freedom and enjoyment with her expressed it :
" 'I have had a very good time-Cousin Henrietta is such a letting person.'
"Henrietta Snowden was a woman who sustained the character of straight-forward honesty of purpose and action; when she felt a course of conduct to be her duty she followed that path with unswering steps.
"In her friendship she was constant and reliable.
"Her useful hands were ever employed, and this text was truly applicable to her through out her life: " 'She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.'
"In January, 1907, she went to be company for her widowed daughter, Lucy S. Lea, when she moved to Ashton, and the next month was stricken with the only illness she ever had. She died, May 21, and was laid beside her parents on May 23. All through this illness of many weeks, in great physical distress, she was always most thoughtful of the comfort of others, most afraid of giving trouble, most grateful for at- tentions shown her, and continually surprised at the interest her friends and neighbors took in her -- the modest, unassuming gentle-woman to the very end.
"She is survived by one son, four daughters, twen- ty-five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren." (E. L. II. and M. B. M.)
An interesting nature lecture, under the auspices of the Lyceum Company, was given on May 24, by
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Messrs. Olds and Wood, of Washington, whose clever reproduction of bird notes, and amusing imitation of animals, were enjoyed by a good-sized audience.
On May 25, all of us who love music-and they would seem to be many-had a rare treat in the song recital given by Mr. George Russell S rauss, of Phil- adelphia, at Alloway. We have to thank Isabel and Janet Miller for this great opportunity, as the singer came at their invitation, and they gave him the use of their beautiful rooms for the accommodation of his audience. His selections were singularly happy in their appeal to all his hearers, whether musically in- structed or not ; and his voice, a beautiful and highly cultivated barytone, was a joy in itself, regardless of what he sang.
This effort was such a success that on September 25, Mr. Strauss came back again, and gave another recital, equally delightful, to a still larger audience at Alloway.
One of the most interesting events of the year was the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Ladies' Association for Mutual Im- provement, held at Norwood, the home of Joseph. T. and Eliza N. Moore, on May 29. As in these days both antiques and women's clubs are matters of uni- versal interest, it may not be out of place to repro- duce here quite fully an account of this meeting pre- pared by its able secretary, Mary Bentley Thomas. She says :
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"The Association is believed to be the oldest organ- ization of its kind.
"The Hearthstone Club, of New York out of which Sorosis was evolved later, also organized in 1857, but, as we have always understood, was a few months behind its Maryland sister; unfortunately a proposition made in 1859 to open a correspondence with The Hearthstone was not concurred in by the Association.
"Mary L. Roberts, in May, 1857, asked her neigh- bors Hadassah J. Moore, Edith D. Bentley, Margaret B. Farquhar, Lydia G. Thomas, Deborah A. Lea. Rachel E. Gilpin and Sarah Ann Gilpin to meet at her home to tea, and assist her in forming a society. whose object, as the brief constitution states, should be 'to elevate the minds, increase the happiness, light- en the labor or add to the comfort of one another, our families or friends.' The members were urged to ask questions relating to home interests generally, to pre- sent topics for discussion, to read short selections and call attention to new and desirable books. The last Thursday in each month was chosen as the time for holding the sessions, and except that in winter it now convenes to luncheon, instead of in the afternoon, there has been no change in its regulations for the fifty years of its existence.
"Then daily papers were a rarity, many content- ing themselves with weekly editions, and Littell's Living Age, Harper's and The Country Gentleman were almost the only periodicals taken in the vicin- ity of Sandy Spring.
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"There were but three or four sewing machines in the community, and the original members of The Association not only did the sewing and knitting for their families, but made their own soap and candles too.
"The inception of a society combining literary, horticultural and domestic interests, was a great boon to the farmer's wife of 1857, and the popularity of the club has never waned to the present. All the first members have passed away, but in most cases a daughter or a niece has been invited to fill the va- cancy, so the original names are represented.
"Fifty years behind us there were no such organi- zations for women, consequently no model for rules and regulations, so these earnest dames, using the only pattern at hand, made their Association very much upon the order of the Friends' business meet- ing, and it has so far conformed to this original that there has ever been but one officer, who still serves in the dual capacity of president and secretary.
"The exercises at the commemoration meeting, at Norwood, began with a brief silence in honor of Mrs. McKinley, whose funeral services were being con- ducted at that hour.
"Eliza Moore then expressed her pleasure at hav- ing so many identified with The Association present, all members, former members, and daughters of mem- bers having been invited. Among them were women from Baltimore, Washington, Rockville and Catons- ville, and two especially welcome were Helen Trump,
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· of Wilmington, sister of the founder, who was at the first meeting; and the venerable Sophia Pierce, who joined at the second, June, 1857.
"Eliza Moore gave some amusing reminiscences of The Association in May, 1857, she, as a young girl, having waited on the table that afternoon. She said she remembered that some of the husbands, who al- ready had their own Farmers' Club, fifteen years old. did not seem to consider any other very much needed, but without exception they gave hearty support to the new comer, even to the point of taking a horse from the plow rather than allow a member to absent herself from a meeting, and it was called in jest 'The Club's Wife.'
"The paper of the hostess was followed by a very condensed history of the society from its beginning to the 29 May, 1907, by the secretary. A few meet- ings had been omitted for various causes, but they had been held, with astonishing regularity, for the whole fifty years.
"Helen Trump was the first guest of The Associa- tion, and they have ranged in number from two to twenty at a meeting, ever since. It is estimated that fully three thousand women have thus attended The . Association, from nearly every State in the Union and from several foreign countries; and numerous other clubs of women have been formed in conse- quence.
"During 1857, Deborah A. Lea told her fellow- members that she had tried sealing apples hermetic-
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ally, and considered them quite 'equal to the dried . variety ;' a year later Mary M. Miller reported suc- cess with peaches put up for winter use in the same novel manner.
"The Association has been primarily of a literary character, but questions of general interest have al- ways been in order.
"In 1865, Eliza N. Bentley, a guest, read, by re- quest, a lecture delivered a few days before in Bal- timore, by Anna E. Dickinson, on the subject of 'Woman's Right to Labor and be Adequately Com- pensated for Her Time and Skill.'. Every few months since some member has called attention to the fact that women cannot command equal pay with men for equal work in any trade or profession, and the senti- ment for equality before the law has slowly but surely grown stronger among us ever since the propaganda was begun so long ago in Sandy Spring.
"In 1878, The Association lost its first member by death-its founder Mary L. Roberts.
"Soon after its organization a meeting was turned into a sewing bee for a poor Scotch widow, stranded with her little family in a strange land, and The Association raised money to send her to her distant home. This was the first of a long series of similar acts. Aid was given to the sick and wounded sol- diers of the 'sorowful sixties ;' to orphan asylums; to the contrabands ; to the Union refugees of Kentucky ; to the sufferers from floods in the Carolina Islands : to free kindergartens; to various missions in Balti- more and Washington, and to countless local cases.
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When many farmers' families were made destitute by fires in Michigan The Association devoted three afternoons in one week to them, taking its daughters and sewing machines to help the good cause, and three hundred garments were made and forwarded to Bay City for distribution.
"Petitions have been sent to our Legislature to raise the age of protection for girls; to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company to provide a better wait- ing room for women at Laurel; also a number of times we have made efforts collectively to forward temperance legislation.
"After the reading of the historical sketch, Hallie J. Bentley gave an original poem, 'Our Mothers,' from which we quote :
'Our mothers met (we honor the day ), Just fifty years ago.
Picture our mo hers as best we may Just fifty years ago.
. Faces and hearts alike were young,
The song of spring was the song they sung,
And little children around them chung, Just fifty years ago.
Our mothers have passed to the Better Land In half a hundred years.
Vainly we long for 'the vanished hand,' Oh! half a hundred years.
When we meet again in a sunnier clime We shall find, with a thrill of joy sublime.
The mother-love, that outlasts Time,
In half a hundred years.'
Lintomove fairfinally
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"An appropriate song, sung by Katharine L. Brooke, was the final number of the afternoon's pro- gram, which all agreed had been most enjoyable and unique.
"There have been fifty-three members of The As- sociation since it has been in existence."
On the 6 June, an entertainment by members of Olney Grange was given at the Lyceum, with a good program, and a fair audience, which might have been larger but for a strawberry festival for the benefit of St. John's church organ fund at Olney the same evening.
This season of school commencements, saw William D. and Anna Hartshorne graduate at Westtown, and Nellie T. Jackson take her diploma at the Girls' Latin School in Baltimore.
As our summer did not begin till June 14, we had cool, though clear and pleasant weather for Quarterly Meeting, June 8-10, and a very satisfactory occasion it was: the First-day School conference on the after- noon of the 9 being particularly interesting. One of its striking features was the Whittier exercises by Lillie B. Stabler's class. in honor of the poct's cen- tennial.
The ministers present at the Quarterly Meeting were O. Edward Janney and Pauline W. Holme : also A. Haviland Hull. This proved to be his last visit to us ; his death occurred about six weeks later. and many Friends from this neighborhood were
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among the throng of mourners at his funeral in For- est meeting-house, on August 3.
On June 15, Mary G. Moore sailed from New York for a five months' visit with relatives in Eng- land. .
Beginning in June, and at intervals all through the summer, a number of balloons sailed over Sandy Spring, probably attrac ed by the fine air for which this section is properly noted. They seem to have been experiments of the War Department in Wash- ington. Some came near enough for the voices of their occupants to be audible to the observer on terra firma, and every body who saw one thought that it passed directly over his head. Most of them were seen by day light, but there were several fire-balloons that passed over at night.
Another "transient" of unusual nature that roused the interest of the neighborhood, in February, 1908, was a man from Alaska, on his way home from Wash- ington, D. C., with his dog-team and sledge. The latter was provided with wheels for use when snow was lacking, and the dogs had drawn it all the thou- sands of miles from their home to the National capi- tal, and had got so far on the return journey.
Things that do not belong to special dates, which have, in a manner of speaking, become chronic, some- times are overlooked by the neighborhood historian, who not seldom finds difficulty in knowing where to place them after realizing the omission. And so Mary M. Stabler's dealing in old furniture, etc .. has. by degrees, grown from a fad to a recognized busi-
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ness of considerable magnitude, without cver a word of recognition in these pages. She is keen and in- defatigable in her search for "an iques and curios," and her customers for the same when found have come from Boston, Seattle, British Columbia and intermediate points.
On June 11, Lawrence Cadwallader, son of Mah- lon, Jr., and May Woodward Kirk, was born at Woodburn.
On June 28, Samuel B. and Florence M. Weth- erald celebrated their silver wedding, a hundred and fifty of their friends assisting on the occasion, leav- ing behind them solid tokens of their affection and good will.
Anniversary celebrations have been very popular this year, as besides this one at Earnshawe there were two other silver and one golden wedding in Sandy Spring.
John C. and Cornelia H. Bentley, on July 15, rounded out their quarter of a century of married life with a large reception. Three hunded guests, in- cluding the Governor of Maryland and Mrs. War- field, were present, and a "silver shower," accom- panied by a hail of verses, was an interesting feature of the evening.
On November 15, Charles G. and Elizabeth Will- son received a goodly company of friends and rela- tives at their home on their silver anniversary, and they were no less kindly remembered than the other silver brides and grooms had been.
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Henry and Mary Anna Reese of Baltimore, being guests at Drayton, on July 16, many of their family and friends gladly availed themselves of the chance to offer their congratulations, attested by a "golden shower," to those two "loving and faithful" compan- ions through fifty years of wedded life. This makes the fifteenth golden wedding celebration in Sandy Spring within the last twenty-five years.
On July 10, Alban and Sarah E. Brooke gave a large reception at Willow Grove in honor of their son, Edward Pleasants, and his bride, he' having married Florence Waddy at Norfolk, Va., on June 26. The young couple make their home in Wash- ington.
"Early in the morning of July 18, James T. Hen- derson died at his home at Woodside, in his seventy- first year.
"Mr. Henderson was the son of a flour miller, and was engaged in that business all his life. For many years he rented and operated various water-power mills in different sections of the county. About twenty years ago he bought the steam grist and saw mill at Sandy Spring, in which he installed modern machin- ery and improved it until now it is one of the most complete flouring mills in this part of the State.
"He was very successful, and was regarded as one of the most astute business men of this County. He gave personal attention to all the details of the busi- ness until about three veras ago, when he purchased a residence at Woodside and went there, with his
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family, to live, his son-in-law, Walter Dorsey, enter- ing into partnership with him and taking active charge of the mill." (Baltimore Sun.)
Mr. Henderson's body was interred at Woodside, and only a few weeks later, September 3, his wife Georgeanna died, and was laid to rest by his side.
The eclipse of the moon, scheduled for July 24, may have come off according to appointment, but we in this vicinity, though our astronomical zeal kept us waking, saw never a glimpse of the phenomenon, ow- ing to heavy clouds.
In the course of the summer work on the Club House was resumed, and its forlorn skeleton was cov- ered, but it did not get beyond a roof and sheathing, although a good sum of money was realized for its benefit by a subscription dance at Alloway on the 24 August.
While the Club House was gradually growing, the landmark popularly known as "the bone mill," was undergoing a slow disintegration. The Bond broth- ers, having discontinued their fertilizer-making, have begun to tear down the building, which now, stripped of machinery and weatherboarding, stands empty and naked, awaiting its final dissolution.
During July, Sister Loyola, of the order of Loyola. accompanied by another nun, visited Sandy Spring. where twenty-four years ago, as Mary Hewitt, she was known and loved by many, who gladly welcomed her return after her long absence.
A lawn fete for the benefit of the W. C. T. [ ..
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to have been held at Earnshawe on the 23 August, was, on account of a very heavy rain, put off till the 26, when, contrary to the usual luck of postponed affairs, it was a great success. There was a large attendance of people with a good appetite for ice- cream, cake and candy, and a very enjoyable program was given, consisting of songs, piano solos. recitations, dancing and a pretty Japanese drill by a number of young ladies.
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