USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume III > Part 6
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The first event noted in October was a meeting of the Anti-Saloon League at the Lyceum. on as fair an autumn day as heart could wish. The executive session held in the morning was followed by a lunch on the Meeting House porch; nor were those venera- ble timbers cracked or rent by the echoing strains of the Doxology sung by the delegates as a grace before
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meat. The public meeting in the afternoon was well attended, and excellent speeches were made by Caro- line H. Miller, A. N. Canfield of Washington, Rev. L. L. Lloyd of Gaithersburg, and others.
Three days later, October 7, occurred the darkest deed of the year : Wm. Timmons fatally wounded his wife, in a fit of rage because she had left him to escape his brutal ill-usage; shot and killed William Hinton and inflicted serious injury on Emma Hinton because they had sheltered the fugitive. Escaping arrest for two days, he "closed the incident" and saved the County many hundred dollars by shooting himself when the officers were nearly upon him.
The second week in October was very warm, the temperature being 83° on the 16, consequently we felt the killing frost, which followed on the 17 a severe contrast.
About this time George H. Brooke went to Cali- fornia to coach the Leland Stanford foot-ball team before beginning his last year's work at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania; Dr. Wm. E. Magruder, to the regret of his friends, gave up the practice of medi- cine, owing to his own failing health; Rev. Peter Boydon was installed as rector of St. John's church, Olney, and the ladies of that congregation held a very successful fair at the Grange Hall.
A larger number of Sandy Springers than usual attended Yearly Meeting during the week beginning October 24, and Sarah T. Miller and Mary E. Moore went to the World's and National W. C. T. U. Con- ventions at Toronto, Canada, and Buffalo, New York.
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October 28, William, son of Constance and Dr. George E. Cooke, was born.
The political campaign which culminated the first Tuesday in November was an unusually lively one, considering it was an "off year," the Anti-Saloon League being a new, and, as it proved, a potent fac- tor in the case, securing the defeat of all the candi- dates avowedly nominated by the liquor interest, and sending members to the Legislature pledged to sus- tain the local option law.
The League having also been active in securing evidence against violators of the law, the County W. C. T. U. arranged to furnish headquarters for the temperance forces in that center of justice and right- eousness, our County town, during the November term of Court, when the local option cases were to come up for trial. So, for nearly a month, Sarah T. Miller, County president, with able assistants from the local Unions, served a first-class lunch daily to allcomers in pleasant rooms opposite the Court House in Rockville.
December 2, at Oak Hill, after an illness of sev- eral months, Mary P. Brooke died.
"Her life had more of trouble than of joy, as she was seldom free from bodily pain, and her sensitive nature was easily wounded.
"She was thoroughly conscientious, never idle, but always doing something for relatives and friends. De- voted to children, she would make any sacrifice to increase their comfort and happiness.
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"Her health was never strong, and the latter years of her life were clouded by the fatal disease whose steady advance it was impossible to check or stay. She bore the constant and terrible suffering of the last few months with patience and resignation, trying to give as little trouble as possible to those who attended her.
"We hope and believe that in a brighter sphere, reunited to her parents and other loved ones gone before, she now enjoys a peace and happiness which were denied to her on earth and which will richly atone for the trials and pain she endured in this life. Her mortal remains were laid to rest, on a stormy afternoon, in the Meeting-house yard, by the side of the mother and sister she loved so well." (Allan Farquhar.) .
December 13, the new public school house at Sandy Spring, begun in October by E. P. Taylor and George Tucker, was used for the first time, school having been held in a vacant house in the village up to this date.
This month saw the birth of another new society, which seemed to fill a long-felt need, as its interested and increasing membership attests. It is the Chorus Class, under the instruction of Elizabeth P. M. Thom, and its weekly meetings at Mt. Airy have been both pleasant and profitable.
December 21, at Falling Green, the home of Charles H. and Annie F. Brooke, their daughter. Edith Farquhar, was married to Dr. French Green. The ceremony, which was according to the usage of
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Friends, took place at noon in the presence of a nu- merous company, and after their wedding trip the bride and groom came home to Brookeville.
Family reunions were the order of the day during the holidays, and a general cheeriness prevailed, though there was perhaps less gaiety than usual at this season, and we were all shocked to hear of the accident to Reuben Nicholson at Olney. It was an- other case of serious injury resulting from firecrack- ers, his right hand being torn by the explosion of a giant cracker as to necessitate amputation. Dyna- mite is "a dangerous thing for play in the hands of young children, you know."
As often happens, ice harvest came during the holi- days, so by New Year many icehouses were full, and though the winter averaged unusually mild, there were several opportunities later for cutting ice.
January weather was remarkably diversified, as we had rain without stint, some sunshine, wind on occa- sion, snow and hail at intervals, and even a well- developed thunder storm on the 25.
January 20, Rudolph, son of Charles F. and Annie B. Kirk, was born.
January 27, Montgomery County Grange was en- tertained at Olney, and there was a fair attendance in spite of unusually bad roads. The main subjects of discussion were the road bill then before the Legis- lature, and the District Commissioners' ordinance re- quiring all vehicles, even hay wagons, to carry lights at night in Washington.
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February arrived in a snowstorm, the mercury standing at 8° or lower in places for three mornings, so with high winds and snowdrifts we had a fair imi- tation of a blizzard for a while.
The Farmers' Convention, set for the 1, was wisely postponed till the 10 of February. Then the air was as soft as summer, and the roads as soft as the air! There were about a hundred and fifty men from all parts of Montgomery and from several adjacent counties present, and it was according to the "eternal fitness of things" that good roads should have been the theme of the assembly. Gen. Roy Stone, road expert of the Agricultural Department, took part in the discussion, and Mr. Wylie, of the same Department, talked on the culture of sugar beets and why it cannot succeed here.
The sea of ice and sea of fire in Dante's Inferno might have been the model for February's weather, so extreme were its alternations of temperature ; after . the blizzard of the 1 and the ethereal mildness of 10, we were heated up to 68° on the 15, and chilled to 22° on the 16, and so on da capo.
February 18, Harold, son of Clarence L. and Rose M. Gilpin, was born at Della Brooke.
At Ashton, February 18, George Hallock Jackson died in the eighty-second year of his age. Born in Peru County, N. Y., of Quaker parents, he soon found farm life too monotonous for: him so at eight- een he left home, spending five years in the Southwest, and engaging in business in New Orleans and St. Louis. Returning to his native State in 1839, he
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married Harriet Allen in 1842, and for fourteen years had a large carriage factory in Troy, N. Y. After that he moved with his family many times, living for several years at a time in eight other States before coming to Sandy Spring, where his last days were spent.
Though actively engaged in business, he always found time for reading both current and standard lit- erature, and the storehouse of his retentive memory was always at the service of anyone who came to him for information ; but his retiring disposition kept him from thrusting his opinions on others unasked.
Throughout his long life he impressed those who knew him best with his gentlemanly manner, his industry, his generosity, his intelligence, his dignity.
Sandy Spring, we flatter ourselves, has never been slow to know a good thing when she saw it; and the example of patriotism set by the Sherwood girls and boys has not been without its influence on the com- munity at large, as was shown by the enthusiastic crowd that gathered at the schoolhouse to witness the Washington Celebration February 22. Effective and appropriate exercises indoors were followed by a flag- raising, the children of the school having purchased a handsome edition of the stars and stripes for the schoolhouse.
February 24, Joshua C. Gilpin died at the home of his daughter, Ella G. Willson, near Rockville.
The son of Bernard and Letitia Canby Gilpin, he was born at Mt. Airy, which had come to Bernard Gilpin through his first wife, Sarah Thomas. After
1 ... 5X
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Bernard Gilpin's death his son Joshua held the prop- erty until 1865, when he sold it to Benjamin H. Miller and his wife, Sarah Thomas, grand-niece of the original mistress of the mansion.
After leaving Mt. Airy, Joshua C. Gilpin and his wife, Sarah Ann, went to the neighborhood of Rock- ville, where their married daughters lived, and spent the remainder of their days there, part of the time in a home of their own, part of the time with their children.
His remains were interred in the meeting-house yard at Sandy Spring beside those of his wife, whose death had preceded his by several years.
"On March 3, Charles A. Iddings died at River- side, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.
"The announcement of his death fell upon expect- ant ears, and those who heard it could only breathe a sigh of relief and thankfulness that his sufferings were ended. The sorrow for such a calamity had fallen heavily on our hearts months before, when we learned that he was doomed by a distressing malady to suffer and to die.
"Some of us can recall his coming to Sandy Spring in 1853, a young man, and how soon he won for him- self a place in the affections of the people.
"Of a domestic and retiring disposition, he was always at his best in his own home. His marriage was almost an ideal one, the romance of early love never seeming to grow old, and the mutual depend- ence of husband and wife was beautiful in its perfec- tion. Between himself and his sons there existed a
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rare degree of confidence and intimacy, increasing with years. In the seclusion of home he kept pace with all their interests and new ideas in the world of science and general progress, thus keeping the bond of companionship strong.
"Those who were privileged to know him at his own fireside can never forget his genial, hospitable man- ners. His tact and kindness of heart prevented his ready wit and quick repartee from wounding even the most sensitive. While he was a delightful compan- ion to all, he was especially the warm friend of a chosen few among his acquaintances, and more than one young girl who has grown to womanhood under his watchful eye owes to his influence some of her highest aspirations.
"He seemed to have the secret of perpetual youth within him, and he unconsciously cheered and en- couraged others who were not blessed with his hope- ful temperament.
"When the nature of his disease became manifest to him and he realized that his days were numbered, he proved that his was no superficial buoyancy of spir- its that could exist only in sunshine, for, although life was sweet to him, he met his hard fate like a hero, without a murmur.
"As long as his physical strength permitted, he kept up his daily routine of duties, and evidences of his care and taste and mechanical skill will long be visible both without and within the house at River- side, the cornerstone of which was laid on his twenty- fourth birthday, in 1855.
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"As he gradually succumbed to the disease and speech was gone, he wrote messages expressive of his love and thought for others, comforting and sustain- ing those who were dearest to him by his sweet resig- nation ; and his perfect trust in the goodness of God, repeatedly expressed, is most comforting to remember in connection with his pain so heroically borne. His smile was always ready and his mind unclouded to the end.
" 'The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long- suffering, gentleness, goodness and faith.' " (Han- nah P. Chandlee. )
During the first week in March, Mary R. Haslup, president of the Maryland W. C. T. U., held a num- ber of meetings in this vicinity, speaking to a good audience at Ashton M. E. Church, in memory of Frances E. Willard, the "promoted leader" of the white-ribbon women, whom the whole world mourns.
After hibernating all winter, the Lyceum Com- pany roused up at the first signs of spring, and gave a successful musical and dramatic entertainment, on March 10, followed by a lecture on the Moqui In- dians by Dr. Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institute. on the 24. He had a rather larger audience than some other lecturers have had here of late, and his discourse proved not to be a "trial" to his hearers though it was so advertised !
March 26-27. Wm. W. Birdsall of Philadelphia, president-elect of Swarthmore College, visited Sandy Spring, and made a fine address on "The Present Need for Quakerism, and the Forces that Make for
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Permanence," at the close of the first day morning meeting.
There has been much remarkable weather to chron- icle this year, but the March just ended has been a record-breaker. It "came in like a lamb," and mildly and quietly it bore itself throughout, only somewhat moist. Even the groundhog prophecy failed-there was no freeze, and no breeze worth mentioning from beginning to end, and in spite of some snow and much rain the unspeakable roads of the winter dried up and smoothed down to fairly good condition. The wil- low leaves came out, some early fruit trees blossomed, gardens were planted before the month was half over; people enterprising enough to begin mowing their lawns had to do it three times in March; and but for fears of "cold snaps" to come we might have donned summer clothing and been comfortable.
When April came we found that the Clerk of the Weather had simply "mixed those babies up," and that we had not really skipped March after all, only anticipated April.
The tidings of Eleanor Hough's death which oc- curred at the home of her niece, Leah Osler, at Leo- nia, N. J., found us totally unprepared for it; she had apparently been in her usual health on the even- ing of March 31, and her spirit must have passed soon after she had retired -that night. Such a trans- lation seems a fitting close to a life that had been un- obtrusively and faithfully spent in the service of others, but in the homes that she was wont to fre-
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quent, her vacant place will ever be the shrine of an honored and cherished memory.
There are always certain matters which cannot be pinned to definite dates, and in this category we this year find the establishment of two new homes. Eliza- beth C. and Henry W. Davis took possession of their commodious and pleasant house, Knollton, on its com- pletion, about December 1; and Dr. Roger and Louisa T. Brooke having sold their farm to Calvin Bready of Norbeck, bought a lot from the estate of the late Gen. Gibbon on the road between Stanmore and Nor- wood corners, and erecting a goodly mansion there- on, they are now settled at Brooke Place.
Alloway has had a new kitchen built, and at Bel- mont, Edward P. Thomas is building an addition that promises to be to the original house what the traditional postscript is to a woman's letter.
Perhaps the greatest innovation of the year is the new bakery at Sandy Spring. Carl Hurlebaus bought a house and lot of F. T. Leizear, built him an oven, and since January 1 has dispensed loaves, cakes, doughnuts and pies far and wide.
Our anticipated loss of public conveyance to the outskirts of civilization-otherwise the railroad sta- tions at Laurel and Rockville-has not been fully re- alized, for if the Rockville mail does now travel as best it can, the Laurel stage still runs, though it is often translated into a bicycle between Sandy Spring and Olney. Furthermore, we have a new mail route from Ashton to Unity, via Brighton, and postoffices
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have been established at Brinklow, at Mt. Zion, and at Cloverley.
At any rate, we are not so secluded but that the Klondike fever has struck us and carried off two of our young men-Hillis Robison and Samuel A. Jan- ney-who were last heard from between Toronto and Winnipeg.
Yet it seems hardly necessary to go all the way to Alaska to dig for gold when that alluring and absorbing occupation may be enjoyed at home. Our historic gold mines on the Brooke Meadow and Oak Grove farms have recently been superseded by a new one opened on what was a part of the Abert property on the Rockville road, and the Messrs. Carson, the enterprising gentlemen working it, have also pur- chased Gaither's Rocks, with a view to making their everlasting fortunes.
But with dollar wheat and potatoes worth from 75 cents to $1.00 a bushel, Sandy Spring farmers are, on the whole, satisfied to stay where they are, and many brows are smoother and many eyes are brighter now that the pressure of hard times has begun to lighten. Undoubtedly prosperity is once more turn- ing her smile upon us, and we follow our various lines of occupation with renewed courage. Some of us have even struck out on new ones-the Tyson sisters, for instance, doing a wonderful piece of needlework, a border for a stair carpet, in crossstitch, for Mrs. Galt Smith's summer home at Kilwater Castle, Ire- land, and Ellen H. Thomas opening a gymnasium in Washington.
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Nor do we live unto ourselves exclusively : Alban G. Thomas has been appointed by Governor Lowndes as a member of the governing board of the Female House of Refuge in Baltimore; Charles F. Kirk has been made one of our County School Commissioners by the same high authority; Elizabeth P. M. Thom was elected president of the Alumni Association of Hollins Institute; Mary Bentley Thomas was re- elected president of the Maryland W. S. A., and Mary E. Moore its treasurer; Roger B. Farquhar, Jr., has won abundant laurels on the football field, as full-back on the Swarthmore team, and Fred. L. Thomas presides over his class at Swarthmore in the second semester of its Senior year.
It may not be generally known, but the recently deceased Blanche K. Bruce, some time U. S. Senator and Registrar of the Treasury, belonged to a Sandy Spring family, his mother having been a twin sister to the late Julie Hood Green. "Aunt Julie," as she was familiarly known, was faithful and industrious . for as many of her ninety-two years as she was able to work, but for a long time previous to her death, which occurred in February, she was helpless. She was the mother of fourteen children. among whom were three pairs of twins, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren survive her.
Within our own borders affairs have gone much as usual; our "Society" life has moved in its accus- tomed round of Clubs, Home Interest and Horticul- tural, Whist Club, Children's Musical, Phrenaskeia, Grange, W. C. T. U., and Neighbors, in uninter-
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- rupted succession, and with undiminished satisfac- tion.
"Wheels" still "go 'round," and the telephone ex- change is still busy, though the directors of the Com- pany have done their utmost to spoil the unique social features of our system. What could be more cosy than the old arrangement by which one called up a whole circuit - whether one would or no-with a signal, and had all the family connection "chipping in" during one's conversation ? But the disuse of place names in calling up seems to have destroyed the personal element in the matter so effectually as to neutralize the hardship of being forbidden to listen to other people talk. What possible interest could lurk in what 1-8 might have to say to 4-5? Or who would imagine intercepting sweet nothings be- tween 11-2 and 1-4? To be sure, the change may make things easier for "Central," but it is severe on us.
With the birds and spring flowers our migratory neighbors are beginning to return to their Sandy Spring homes, while R. Lea and wife have returned from Massachusetts to live here.
Thinking of our pleasant neighborhood, and of this tranquil record, it is hard to realize that a black war cloud hovers over our loved Nation, threatening to destroy life and treasure incalculable. To many, perhaps to most of us here, all that is involved in war is unknown in our own experience, but imagina- tion may draw pictures as vivid as any memory can show ; so while we hope and pray for peace our souls
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tremble and our faces blanch before the possible ap- peal to arms.
War with Spain had so long been the stock sensa- tion of the newspapers that it had become a phrase as meaningless in our ears as the boy's cry of "Wolf ! Wolf!" in the old story, was to his friends, and the news of the destruction of the Maine in Havana Har- bor, February 15, was as startling as a thunderbolt from a cloudless sky. That we have not, since that day, plunged headlong into a bloody contest is due to President Mckinley, whose wise moderation and gentle firmness prove him the man for the emergency. God give him strength and wisdom to steer us safely around the bar of Spanish obstinacy, through the breakers of American Jingoism, unto the fair harbor of Peace !
CHAPTER IV.
1898-1899.
One who has stood on a hill top and scanned a va- ried view on every side-here a lofty and rugged mountain range, there a smiling, well-tilled valley, yonder the clustering spires and chimneys of a city, and over all the sunshine, save where cloud shadows linger-one whose eyes have been focussed on large and distant objects in the full light of day, if he sud- denly enter a shaded room, will at first see nothing
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of its contents. Whatever of beauty or interest it may hold will be lost to his contracted pupils till time shall have brought about their readjustment.
The mind that has watched the procession of . mighty events in the world at large since our last Annual Meeting, when turned towards the doings of friends and neighbors, may, for a moment, feel that they have lost all the interest they may once have held for him. But if he will stop and reflect he will soon find that the great drama of history is but the aggregation of many small acts, any one of which, to the immediate spectators, may have seemed trivial enough.
Manila Bay, San Juan Hill, the sinking of the Merrimac, the victory of Santiago de Cuba, are words to conjure with, and to mention them brings up such thoughts of tremendous struggle, of splendid brav- ery, as makes the most ardent advocate of peace tin- gle with pride in his fellow-countrymen.
Beside such dramatic action, with all the attend- ant advantages of military and naval "pomp and cir- cumstance," our every-day life must seem humdrum to the superficial observer. But is the spirit that, un- known and unappreciated, maintains with cheery patience a life-long struggle with adverse circum- stances, less heroic than that which storms the ene- my's position, knowing that "victory or death" must crown its efforts in a few short minutes ?
.
How much is there to choose between the hero of the Merrimac, praised for his gallantry by all the
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world (praised and kissed !) and the man or woman who uncomplainingly does the duty that lies near- est-in the home, on the farm, at the work-bench or . behind the counter-when perhaps every wish, every taste, every aspiration, must be daily and hourly sac- rified unknown, not only to the world but even to those for whom the sacrifice is made ?
Emboldened by these reflections, I venture to pre- sent for your consideration this record of neighbor- hood doings for the past year, believing as I do, that it has a value of its own aside from the mere interest of the moment.
The first event of our year is, as usual, the Annual Meeting of the Lyceum Company; but in its action the meeting of April 4, 1898, was far from the usual course of annual meetings of stock companies- at least in this neighborhood. The election of Caleb Stabler as president was regular enough, and of Helen L. Thomas as secretary was according to precedent ; but when it appeared that four of the five directors chosen were not stockholders in the Company, we felt that after all there might be a "new thing under the sun."
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