USA > Maryland > Harford County > The rocks of Deer Creek, Harford County, Maryland. Their legends and history > Part 6
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his family and all living things belonging to it- dog or cat or pony-from disease, and made all safe from the machinations of their enemies. We are not to infer from his possession of the feitico, and the power he ascribed to it, that he had no idea of a Supreme Spirit, a King of Heaven, or that he did not worship Him. Worship of the Highest is uni- versal. So thought Pope :
"Father of all in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage, and by sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord."
The Guinea-man could not but recognize Him who
"Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, blossoms in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent."
Fetishism is not a primitive religion. It is a cor- ruption of religion, and even enlightened Christians may well be fearful of the feitico, for the tendency to idolatry is universal. Solomon built altars for Chemosh and Moloch. The possession of the feitico by the Guinea-man of Rock Ridge rendered him very obnoxious to his fellow-servants. They were afraid of him. " He possesses a charm," said they ; " he can kill us if he will. He is a wizard, a con- jurer ; his old woman is a witch ; they deal with spirits." No one of them would have touched that mountain, for to touch it was death, they thought. If they could have taken his life by poison, the usual mode of their race, they would not have done so ; for does not the power of the feitico survive after its possessor has gone hence, and may not his spirit
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come in the silent hours of the night to avenge his wrongs ? This apprehension was his castle. A cabin without wall, or moat, or drawbridge, was stronger than a feudal castle. It was defended by superstition.
That pony should have been skinned at its death, his cuticle stuffed and preserved, and labeled, " The sole survivor."
THE CHURCH OF THE ROCKS.
"A CITY set on a hill " cannot be hid, nor can a church in such a position. This is eminently true of the house of worship now in the occupancy of the religious denomination known as the Evangelical Association. Situated on the summit of a lofty enri- nence directly opposite the Rocks, having them in full view, and overlooking the romantic and pic- turesque valley of La Grange, it looks upon a scene of alternate and mingled beauty and grandeur not often seen. This view has a peculiar psychological effect upon the intelligent and appreciative be- holder. It intuitively demonstrates (I hope my language is philosophical) the former existence of a Rock Ridge Lake. That mighty basin, scooped out of the mighty hills which surround it, and the violent breaks of the Ridge, where the waters of Deer Creek rush through it, are physical proofs of
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its past existence, that, like axioms in mathematics, are self-evident.
Years previous to the building of the church, re- ligious services were held on the summit of the Rocks. Prompted by curiosity, if by no worthier motive, there gathered once on that high eminence a congregation of men, women and children to hear the preacher of righteousness, who, we may well conjecture, was, with his audience, inspired by the scenes around them. In the selection of this spot for the exercise of his vocation, he but imitated the example of One greater than himself. "And see- ing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain, and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him ; and He opened His mouth and taught them."
More than a century previously there was a gath- ering of the chiefs of the Indians whose habitations were not distant from the Rocks, to listen to a ser- mon by a Swedish minister. The lessons were those which are now given to such as sit under the inin- istry of the Word. The clergyman spoke to them of the principal historical facts of Christianity- such as the fall of Adam by eating an apple, the coming of Christ to repair the evil, His labors, suf- ferings and miracles. When he had finished, one of the chiefs, thanking him for the discourse, re- lated one of the mythical traditions of his people, which he deemed to be of like credibility, and equally binding upon the faith of all, and thus proved the inefficacy of the lessons taught him by the Christian teacher. Now, the lessons taught in the Church of the Rocks are doubtless believed, and, we would fain hope, practiced.
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MIKE'S ROCK.
A FEW miles northeast of the Rocks of Deer Creek, and on Rock Ridge, is a large rock known by the name of the title of this article. By the side of it is a large tree, the branches of which over- hang it. An unfortunate, wearied with the per- plexities of life, perhaps its agonies, closed here that life, if not precisely in the manner expressed in the following lines of an atheist, found among his papers after his death, yet in one of the modes cominon to the sad who lack fortitude : -
" An hour more ; Sixty minutes, and the light Of this, we mis-call life, goes out forever. Forever ? Aye; beyond the grave is found No life, save that great primal force, which here Displays itself alike in growth of weed Or human soul. Why longer live and suffer,. When the finger upon this slender Bar of steel will end, with one sharp flash, The hurry and the heart-ache?
-"Death's messenger, From out this glittering tube, I call, to bid Me sleep ; and in that sleep I dread no dreams, And no to-morrow. Salve, rex terrorum! Moriturus te saluto."
A rash act, which was followed by a surprise. Death terminates this, not that ; and that is eter- nal.
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THE ANCIENT MILL AND THE HONEST MILLER.
HALF-WAY between the Indian Cupboard, the re- treat of Alexius, the noted fisherman and trapper, and the Otter Rock, above which was the habita- tion of Walter the Hermit, is an ancient mill. The first mill was of logs, and owned by an English- man named Sankey. He was probably a York- shireman, as tradition informs us that the boys of that day amused themselves with his, to them, sin- gular brogue. The mill, in the course of time, passed to Underwood, Harry, Morton, and J. Bond Preston, in the order named. This mill has fur- nished for many years bread for man and "stuff" for beast. One possessed of good descriptive powers and of a poetical genius might make the mill and its picturesque surroundings furnish material for an article that would not discount the reputation of Scribner or Harper, or any other leading magazine. Such description is not sought. Attention is direct- ed to it rather because it is one of the ancient land- marks or watermarks of its neighborhood, and is a connecting link between the distant past and the immediate present. It derives also some notoriety from the snake story of the ancient trapper, a snake rivaling the sea serpent that has been so often seen on our Atlantic coast-from New England to Key West-the habitation of which was on the wooded hill opposite it.
In this ancient mill was once upon a time, as tradition tells us, an honest miller. To me, all millers are honest ; but unhappily for the reputa-
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tion of the craft, suspicious people, or people who, like the Heathen Chinee, as Bret Harte tells us, themselves familiar with the ways that are dark, are sometimes oblivious of the saying :
" Who steals my purse steals trash, But he who filches from me my good name Takes that which does not himself enrich, And makes me poor indeed."
The honest miller was Thomas Wright, remem- bered by the few ancient people who have survived him. The story of the mysterious pig is both a proof and illustration of the integrity of the miller. Once on a time he left Sam's Creek, Carroll county, Md., early on the morning of a summer day, for the mill on Deer Creek. He had walked but a short distance when he heard the squealing of a di- minutive pig that was following in his tracks. To escape the animal that was intent upon accompany- ing him on his journey, he left the road, walking through fields and forests. But in vain. The pig was equal to the emergency, its instincts pointing out the way of the miller unerringly. The integ- rity of the miller consisted in this, that he made every possible exertion to escape from that pig, showing that if there has ever been in this Chris- tian country a miller who fattened his pigs on other people's corn, he was not that miller. The sad thing about the story of the pig is, that the honest miller, being of superstitious turn of mind, interpreted its singular following as an omen of his death. His death did occur a short time there- after.
The wheels of the ancient mill yet turn-not the wheels used when the honest miller was occupant,
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but turbine wheels. The old mill is doomed. The coming narrow-gauge, insuring facility of transit to and from our large commercial city, will make it & potent reason why men of capital should utilize the great and continuous water-power for manufactories on a larger scale.
The unceasing flow of the waters of Deer Creek symbolizes the onward flow of humanity uninter- rupted by successive generations. Humanity lives and the waters flow on, and such may be for a bil- lion of years to come. But within the hearing of the music of no onflowing stream will there be, if my informant has uttered truth, a more honest miller than Thomas Wright. "An honest man is the noblest work of God."
"At the window, looking upon a crystal stream, There sat a little lady, indulging in a dream, A dream of fairy visions comes up before her eyes, As she gazes now intently upon the azure skies.
" A soft breeze fans the valley, the sun rests on the hill, The water murmurs sweetly as it rushes past 'the mill;' The earth seems glad of springtime, unfolding every hour From Nature's store, the tender bud that holds the fragrant flower.
"The lady sits a-dreaming, with head buried in her hand, And visions come a-trooping from off a fairy-land, And in her dreamy fancies there is a potent spell That acts like charm of music, the smiling lips now tell.
" The heart cons o'er its treasures glowing in rosy light, The spirit basks in beauty like stars that gem the night, And thus the little lady dreamed happy hours away, So happy in her musings she fain would have them stay."
The little lady whose musings form a proper se- quel to the story of the ancient mill and its 9
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occupant, cherishes now, and it will ever be so, the highest admiration and esteem for the honest miller.
THE OLDEST INHABITANT.
THE oldest inhabitant now living in the vicinity of the Rocks of Deer Creek is Mrs. Rebecca Smith. She was born within three-fourths of a mile of her present residence. Here, within sight of the Rocks, she has lived to be almost a centenarian, being now in the ninety-sixth year of her age, surviving all who commenced with her the journey of life. Of a cheerful disposition and vigorous constitution, she has borne the burdens of life with comparative ease ; and in a serene old age, comforted by loving hearts, she is awaiting resignedly the final summons.
Retaining unimpaired her mental faculties, which were always strong, she is able to entertain the cu- rious of a later generation with most interesting descriptions of the habits, customs and manners of her early cotemporaries, distinctly recollecting and graphically relating innumerable incidents of the far past. In her youth this portion of the country was comparatively a wilderness. Without attract- ive and comfortable residences, as now ; no conven- ient and well supervised roads, paths usually ; no churches, preaching in private houses ; the school- house a rude cabin of logs, without any floor but
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nature's, the chimney built of sticks, unplaned seats, without backs. Carriages there were none, the ordinary mode of travel being on horseback. The whole progress for ninety-six years, from the rude past to the present more advanced civilization, has been witnessed by her. But whatever contrasts she makes between the past and the present, they are without invidiousness. All along she has ac- cepted the conditions of life, and the circumstances attending it, as they were more or less favorable, without murmur or complaint, recognizing the fact that the Most High appoints the bounds of our hab- itations, and that all things promote the happiness of the submissive.
It was her great felicity to be united in marriage, at a comparatively early age, with a gentleman of superior intellectual and social qualities, a conscien- tious Christian, a faithful friend, and a considerate and loving husband and father. The name of Amos Smith is to this day in this community a synonym of all that is excellent in character-it is as precious ointment poured forth. The memories of his unob- trusive acts of kindness are treasured, and his ex- ample valued as a rich legacy to those who have followed him.
The venerable matron, the oldest inhabitant of the neighborhood of the Rocks of Deer Creek, now leaning upon her staff, and bending toward that house of the earth that is the decreed abode of all, ยท suggests, in the remarkable vigor of her physical being, and in the sprightliness of her intellectual - life, lessons of wisdom that the young everywhere may with profit learn. An active life and a cheer- ful mind were the great treasures she possessed-
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more valuable than gold or silver, or the jewels that blaze in the coronets of queens.
THE YOUNGEST INHABITANTS.
THE youngest inhabitant in the neighborhood of the Rocks is William Cecil Gladden, infant son of our well-known fellow-citizen, William Gladden, Esq.
Of the immediate vicinity of the Rocks, the youngest inhabitants are Bessie and Jessie, twin daughters of Joseph Wetherill, Esq., proprietor of the store at that place. Born under the very shadows of the Rocks, and by the side of Deer Creek, in view of the plunging waters of its romantic fall-all that remains of the once majestic cataract of Rock Ridge Lake-they are passing their con- fiding and unsuspecting life happy in the present and without care for the future. These children and William Cecil Gladden are cousins. May life be to the three all that fond parents and loving friends can wish. To each we dedicate the prayer of the gifted Willis :
"Light to thy paths, bright creature! I would charm Thy being if I could, that it should be Ever as now thou dreamest, and flow on, Thus innocent and beautiful, to heaven."
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THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS.
THE original inhabitants were the Susquehan- nock Indians. Their territory extended from the Susquehanna River westward as far as the Allegany Mountains. This nation had a close alliance with the Len Lenapes or Delawares, who occupied the country from the head of the Chesapeake Bay to the Kittatinny Mountains northward, and as far east- ward as the Connecticut River. This confederacy carried on a long war, with the Indians who lived to the north of them, between the Kittatinny Mount- ains and Lake Ontario, who called themselves Min- goes, and were called by the English the Five Nations. At the time of the settlement of James- town, Virginia, this war was raging with great fury. In one of Captain Smith's excursions up the Chesapeake, at the mouth of the Susquehanna, in 1608, he met with five or six canoes full of warriors who were coming to attack their enemies in the rear. Having made peace with the Adirondacks, through the intercession of the French, who were then settling Canada, they turned their arms against the Lenapi and their confederates, and subduing them, reduced them to almost the condition of slaves. Peace was granted them on condition that they should put themselves under the protection of the Mingoes, confine themselves to raising corn, hunting for the subsistence of their families, and no longer have the power of making war. This is what the Indians call making them women. In this condition the Lenapes and their confederates were when the settlement of Pennsylvania was
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begun. What is said by Stith of the language and dress of the Susquehannocks, may deserve to be here inserted : "Their language and attire were very suitable to their stature and appearance; for their language sounded deep and solemn, and hollow, like a voice in a vault. Their attire was the skins of bears and wolves, so cut that the man's head went through the neck, and the ears of the bear were fastened on his shoulders, while the nose and teeth hung dangling upon his breast. Behind was another bear's face split, with a paw hanging at the nose. And their sleeves coming down to their elbows, were the necks of bears, with their arms going through the mouth and paws hanging to the nose. One of them had the head of a wolf hanging to a chain for a jewel, and his tobacco pipe was three-quarters of a yard long, carved with a bird, a deer and other devices at the great end. His arrows were three-quarters of a yard long, headed with splinters of a white, crystal-like stone in the form of a heart, an inch broad and an inch and a half long. These he carried at his back in a wolf's skin for a quiver, with his bow in one hand and a club in the other." Such was the appearance of the first inhabitants of Deer Creek and the Rocks. The Mingoes came, saw, conquered, and, occupying the country as masters, ruled for a time. They, in turn, were overborne by a superior race, and we have only the recollections of the deeds of the bold warriors.
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THE MASSACRE OF THE MINGOES.
THE Mingoes of Deer Creek, as a body, left this locality in the year 1752. A few of them remained until, as is plausibly conjectured, the winter of 1763, and left immediately after the extermination of their kindred who had been living on Conestogoe Creek, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. These Indians were the remains of a tribe long settled at that place, and thence called Conestogoes. Upon the arrival of the English in Pennsylvania this tribe sent mes- sengers to welcome them, with presents of venison, corn and skins, and the whole tribe entered into a treaty of friendship with the first proprietary, Wil- liam Penn-a treaty which was to last as long as the sun should shine, or the waters run in the rivers. This treaty was often renewed-the chain brightened, as the Conestogoes expressed it-from time to time. This tribe was ultimately reduced to twenty per- sons-seven men, five women and eight children, when by one of the most cowardly and dastardly acts on record in all the protracted and bloody con- tests with the Indians, this handful of peaceable people were murdered in cold blood by fifty-seven Conestogoe gentlemen (?). On Wednesday, the 14th day of December, 1763, these cavaliers, mounted on good horses, and armed with fire-locks, hangers and hatchets, entered Conestogoe Manor, and sur- rounding the defenceless village, fired upon, stabbed and hatcheted to death three men, two women and a boy. Shehaes, an old man who assisted at the second treaty held with them by Penn in 1701, was among the slain. All were scalped, and their huts
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burned. The remaining Mingoes, absent at the time of the massacre-they were out among their white neighbors selling baskets, brooms and bowls -were taken into protection by the humane magis- trates of Lancaster, and secured from harm, as they thought, in the work-house of that town. Fifty of the chivalry, whose names are worthy to be inscribed on the temple of dishonor as high up as the sum- mits of the Rocks of Deer Creek, suddenly appeared before that town on the 27th of December, invested the work-house, and by gradual approaches, doubt- less, assaulted, captured and put to death all that were left of the Mingoes-men, women and chil- dren, fourteen in all. The remains of the mur- dered victims were dragged into the street and ex- posed to view. The fifty patriots of the Simon Girty stamp then mounted their horses, huzzaed in triumph, and rode off, congratulating themselves on their victory.
" Ah! where are the soldiers that fought here of yore, The sod is upon them, they'll struggle no more, The hatchet is fallen, the red man is low; But near him reposes the arm of the foe.
"The bugle is silent; the war whoop is dead ; There is a murmur of waters and woods in their stead, And the raven and owl chant a symphony drear From the dark waving pines o'er the combatants' bier.
"Sleep, soldiers of merit! sleep gallants of yore ! The hatchet is fallen, the struggle is o'er, While the fir-tree is green and the wind rolls a wave, The tear-drop shall brighten the turf of the brave ?"
The Mingoes of Deer Creek, hearing of the mas- sacre of their people, and fearing that their lives would not be secure even among the humane white
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inhabitants of their neighborhood, left to join their people in the West or South. Their fears were groundless. We have never heard that gentlemen of Maryland ever deported themselves toward de- fenceless women and innocent children as those Bayard-like representatives of the men of England who wore the red rose.
The Mingoes occasionally visited their former homes, but that for a few years only. In 1764, a year after their removal, a party visited a locality in the neighborhood of New Park, York County, Pennsylvania, ten miles distant from the Rocks. There was a wigwam still standing at that date on the farm now owned by Duncan Brown, Esq., then possessed by his paternal grandfather. They were seen walking around it, and seemingly viewing it with a curious interest. To Deer Creek and the Rocks a final adieu came. The descendants of the former occupants know of these localities only as the homes of their ancestors-the places where the bear, the wolf and the beaver were many, and where the eagle built her nest upon the High Rocks, beneath which their chiefs sat by their council fires.
ROCKS LITERATURE.
I AM not perfectly satisfied with the designation I have given to the communications in prose and poetry which I have selected for this place in this
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book. Rocks Literature is not poetical ; and the title is justified only by the fact that these contri- butions have been inspired by the sublimities and beauties of that wonder of nature, the Rocks of Deer Creek, with their romantic contiguities and surroundings. Could I have said " The Curiosties of Literature," the name given by Disraeli the elder to that confessedly most curious collection of literary gems which bears that title, I should as- suredly be content, assuming, of course, that my collection would bear some proper relation in their literary qualities to that unique gathering of rare intellectualities. No other title could I use, because the literature I collect bears relation to but one thing-the Rocks of Deer Creek and their surround- ings. And I am shut up to the necessity of using the material I have, material not created by my- self, save one short essay, but by others, and for the quality of which I am in no degree responsible.
I am not to be understood, however, as disparag- ing the efforts of the writers in prose and in poetry whose contributions I shall insert in this book. I have no doubt that many of the readers of them will derive both pleasure and profit in their pe- rusal.
I make these contributions a part of this volume, because they are a part of the history, so to speak, of the Rocks, and because they show that the Rocks are potent in inspiration.
The literature of the Rocks is abundant-suffi- cient, perhaps, to make a volume respectable in size. It is in accordance with my plan to limit my collection to a few selections. The first was written some years ago by a girl of tender years, and was, perhaps, her first effort in such writing.
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THE ROCKS OF DEER CREEK.
" Nature, in her delineations, ever delights in giving variety to the beauty and magnificence of her creations. Mountain, hill, valley and plain have each their enchantments, but the Rocks of Deer Creek, situated in the upper section of Har- ford County, present to the lover of natural scenery a combination of attractions that nature, in her mu- nificence, seldom deigns to lavish on her fair do- mains. The Rocks are several hundred feet in height, extending to a point that projects in solemn grandeur over huge masses of rock that lie scat- tered at their base." Having described the beauty of the adjacent landscape, she continues : "But the Rocks, apart from the lovely landscape that spreads around us, are ever the scene that must enchant the gaze, and infuse into the heart of nature's votary a mingled feeling of admiration and awe." She con- cludes : " The image of the scene is impressed upon the soul, and in the secret chamber of our being often will we view over again the Rocks of Deer Creek."
The next selection is a poem, written by a young lady of Long Island, New York. We give only the stanzas which describe the "King and Queen Seats :"
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