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Annals of Sandy Spring
OK
TWELVE YEARS HISTORY
OF
A Rural Community in Maryland
VOLUflE II
BALTIMORE:
THOMAS & EVANS 1902.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1902, by
ELIZA N. MOORE, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C
Dedicated to the memory of my former teacher, friend and predecessor, William Henry Farquhar, who at the end of twenty years service as neighbor- hood historian requested that I should continue this record.
FXIZA N. MOORE.
Norwood, 1902.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2008 with funding from
Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/annalsofsandyspr02farq
PREFACE
The friend, without whose persistent effort these notes had remained stowed away, with other molder- ing relics of bygone days, believes a preface abso- lutely necessary to the second volume of Sandy Spring Annals. An old saying declares, "She who excuses herself, accuses herself," but the present time and page are the historian's sole opportunity to crave a gentle judgment of what was compiled for the annual meet- ings of our Lyceum Company ; gatherings composed almost exclusively of her friends and neighbors. That the every-day happenings of our people and place can be of interest or value to strangers is unlikely.
As a faithful, if halting, record of the joys and sorrows of many near and dear to the compiler, she trusts they and their children may be, "to- its faults a little blind, and to its virtues very kind," since she has not knowingly "aught extenuated nor aught set down in malice."
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
From Fourth Month, 1883, to Fourth Month, 1884.
Excursion to Luray — Plainfield House destroyed by fire — Postal Telegraph line completed — Friends' Sherwood Schoolhouse built — ■Obituaries of Mary Ann Kinnard, Samuel Scott, Fennel Palmer, Edward Stabler, Eliza Kirk, Caleb Stabler, Eliza Stabler, Fanny S. Lea and Alban Gilpin. Page 1
CHAPTER II.
From Fourth Month, 1S84, to Fourth Month, 1885.
Earthquake felt generally through Sandy Spring — Golden Weddings of Robert R. and Hadassah J. Moore, and William Henry and Margaret B. Farquhar — Lectures by the Hon. Alonza Bell, Francis Thomas and Miss Phoebe Cozzens — Ednor postoffice established — Obitu- aries of Henry Brooke, Dr. Artemus Biggs, Benjamin D. Palmer, jr., Anne T. Kirk, Anna Miller, Agnes H. Bentley and Samuel A. Janney — Beminiscences of Wil- liam John Thomas and Mahlon Chandlee. Page 30
CHAPTER III.
From Fourth Month, 1885, to Fourth Month, 1886.
Mr. and Mrs. Warwick P. Miller and four children go to Europe — Louis E. McComas lectured — Locust year — Sunderland P. Gardener visited Sandy Spring — Disap- pearance of Philip Haviland — Local option petition signed by 3,850 names, presented to the Legislature by Delegate Philip D. Laird — A National College to educate farmers — Obituaries of Mrs. B. D. Waters and Anna L. Moore. Page 54
xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
From April, 1886 to April, 1887.
Rebecca Russell's hundredth birthday — Hall built by Brighton Grange — Poor crops — Large convention of farmers at Lyceum — Library built — Obituaries of Sarah B. Stabler, Patience H. Leggett, James S. Hal- lowell, Mary B. Hall, William Henry Farquhar, 'Wil- liam L. Kinnard and Benjamin H. Murry. Page 76
CHAPTER V.
From Fourth Month, 1887, to Fourth Month, 1888.
Baseball and Excursions — Long, cold winter — Terrible blizzard, roads blocked — Moncure D. Conway and Mrs. Zeralda Wallace lectured — Five railroads projected — Obituaries of Mary Wetherald, Francis Miller and Elizabeth Fowler. " Page 100
CHAPTER VI.
From Fourth Month, 1888, to Fourth Month, 1889.
Barn and outbuildings burned at Belmont — George Ken- nan, Moncure D. Conway and the Bev. J. S. Kieffer lectured — Many transfers of property — Obituaries of Henry Pierce, Sallie Lea, Mary L. Roberts. Mrs. Wash- ington B. Chichester, Mary Lea Stabler. Elma Paxon, John H. Strain, Sarah B. Farquhar, William S. Bond, Margaret B. Farquhar, Rebecca Russell and Deborah Brooke. Page 122
CHAPTER VII, From Fourth Month, 1SS9, to Fourth Month, 1S90.
Ashton Postoffice established — Johnstown flood — Dr. Francis Thomas and family went to Europe — Post- office established at Holland's Corner and named Norwood — Very warm winter — Obituaries of Allan Bowie Davis, Helen Bentlej Lea, jr., Rebecca Hidings, Albert Chandlee, Joseph Paxon, Mary Ellicott Thom- as, William Miles, Catherine Bowie. Roger Brooke Thomas, Richard T. Bentley, Uriah B. Kirk, Mahlon Chandler and WTm. Summers Osborn. Page 155
CONTENTS. xv
CHAPTER VIII.
From Fourth Month, 1890, to Fourth Month, 1891.
Henry Stanley Newman, of England, lectured on India — Visit from Mrs. James A. Garfield to Fair Hill — First business meeting' of Friends in joint session, held in the meeting-house at Sandy Spring- — John D. Mac- Pherson lectured — Obituaries of Kay Miller, John Marsh Smith, Henry Stabler, Eliza Palmer Griffith, Elizabeth Hopkins, Dorcas Pnmphrey, Eobert Sulli- van, Orlando Ilutton and Washington W. Owens.
Page 189
CHAPTER IX.
From Fourth Month, 1891, to Fourth Month, 1892.
Visit from Susan B. Anthonj^ — Gold diggers appeared at P>rooke Meadow — Percy M. Reese lectured on Rome, and George Kennan on Vagabond Life in Eastern Europe — Ellen Farquhar and Rebecca T. Miller went to Europe — Obituaries of Deborah A. Lea, Edward Lea, Caroline Roberts, Thomas L. Moore, Kate C. Elbrey, Warwick M. Brooke, Mary Annis Stabler, Mary G. Tyson, Annie E. Hartshorne, Rachel E. Gilpin and Elizabeth J. Holland. Page 216
CHAPTER X.
From Fourth Month, 1892, to Fourth Month, 1893.
Prof. E. J. Loomis and President Gilman, of the Johns Hopkins University, lectured — Bicycles appeared — Golden Wedding of Charles G. and Jane T. Porter — Large excursion to Sugar Loaf Mountain— Philip Stab- lers barn burned — Obituaries of Mary M. Miller, Sarah Ann Gilpin, Cornelia Strain, B. Gilpin Stabler, Samuel Hopkins, Richard T. Kirk and Mary H. Chandlee. Page 249
xvi CONTEXTS.
CHAPTER XL
From Fourth Month, 1S93, to Fourth Month, 1894.
One hundred and forty persons from Sandy Spring visit the World's Fair, at Chicago — S. Stanley Brown and the Rev. J. T. Kieffer lectured — Extracts from min- utes of the Senior Club of 1844 — Obituaries of Sallie Pleasants Brooke, Marcella Sullivan, Mary H. Brooke, Louise Tennant Miller, Elisha John Hall, Louise P. Nesbitt, Edith D. Bentley, Guion Miller, jr., and Mar- garet Miller. Page 284
CHAPTER XII.
From Fourth Month, 1S94, to Fourth Month, 1895.
Telephone Company organized — Invasion of Coxey's army — Damage and suffering from snow-storm — Mrs. George Kennan lectured on her Russian experiences — Doctors' Club formed — Obituaries of Joseph Weth- erald. Elizabeth Gilpin. Stephen L. F. Holland, William M. Thompson and Gideon Gilpin. Page 316
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
CHAPTER I.
From Fourth Month, 1S83, to Fourth Month, 1884.
Excursion to Luray — Pladnfield House destroyed by fire — Postal Telegraph line completed — Friends' Sherwood School-house built — Obituaries of Mary Ann Kinnard, Samuel Scott, Pennel Palmer, Edward Stabler, Eliza Kirk, Caleb Stabler, Eliza Stabler, Fanny S. Lea and Albam Gilpin.
I find myself in a position without a precedent ; women have been poets and authoresses, they have occupied wisely and well, the pulpit, the stage, the rostrum, even the stump, but in all the world they have never been Historians, they have invariably left that task to the sterner sex.
Coming as I do, after one who has so long and so acceptably filled this office, I can only ask your for- bearance and implore your clemency, for all short- comings and mistakes.
The first weeks of Fourth month, 1883, were cold, stormy and uneventful, the almanac proclaimed the springtime, but not one green leaf or balmy southern wind confirmed the date.
On the Sixteenth of Fourth month, Mary Ann,
2 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
wife of William Kinnard, died after a brief illness, at the advanced age of eighty-one years.
Of a singularly unselfish, and self sacrificing dispo- sition, her ministrations to her family, ceased only with her life, and when quite speechless and on the verge of dissolution, her last thought and care was for those around her. She was buried on the after- noon of the 17th, first of the many who were laid in the old graveyard during the year.
Fourth month, 24th. A large delegation went to the Temperance Alliance in Baltimore, showing by their presence and interest a support of a cause, which is assuredly the foundation of all social and political reform. Temperance meetings have been held here through the year with good effect, and the "Mutual Fire Insurance Company" has refused to in- sure any building where liquors are sold. Thus Sandy Spring presses forward in condemnation of the great evil of the day.
On fifth month, 6th, at the residence of his daugh- ter Caroline, died Samuel Scott in his ninetieth year, retaining to extreme old age, his habits of industry. He was buried on the afternoon of the 7th.
On the Eighteenth of 5th month, a new barn was raised at Mt. Airy. The neighbors generally were in attendance, and some of the largest and finest timbers ever used in this section were successfully placed in position.
Fifth month, 31st. Anna Parker, daughter of Henry T. and Helen Bentley Lea, was born.
As if to compensate for a tardy spring, all the lavish- ness of summer came on in early June, the trees were
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 3
laden with unusual bloom, the grass crowded up as though there wasn't room for every blade to grow at once, still, with all this silent activity, Dame Nature did not quite make up for oversleeping herself in April, the season was ten days late.
Sixth month, 9th, 10th and nth, our quarterly meeting held its sessions, not a very large attendance, but a pleasant gathering of friends. Many who were not members also added by their presence to our social pleasure, at that time.
Seventh month, was one of extraordinary toil to the farmers, owing to an unusual amount of rain, and sudden showers, that would scatter the laborers and drench the loads coming from the fields. It was only with much extra exertion that the large crops were secured, labor was scarce, but the persistent throb of machinery was substituted as far as possible for hands, and thirteen self-binders were working in our neighborhood, three of which were newly purchased.
Seventh month, 17th. As if some malign influence was abroad, four accidents occurred in our midst, the most serious happening to Mr. Robert Abert, who was thrown from his vehicle at Plainfield and badly injured.
Seventh month, 20th. Pennel Palmer died in Balti- more, at the residence of his son, in his eighty-ninth year, buried from Sandy Spring Meeting House on 1st day the 226..
Seventh month, 23d. Florence Magill, daughter of William C. and Annie Hallowell Riggs, was born.
Eighth month, 3d. An excursion party of fifty- eight persons, visited Luray Caverns in Virginia,
4 ANNALS OF SANDY SPBING.
making the trip out in less than one day, and return- ing delighted with the beauty and man-el of under- ground scenery.
Eighth month, ioth. Florence Miller, daughter of John C. and Cornelia Hallowell Bentley, was born. I can frame no better wish for this little maid at Clov- erly, than, that she should closely resemble in char- acter the lovely girl for whom she is named and who is now numbered with the angels.
On the afternoon of Eighth month, 23d, a terrific storm occurred, which will be long remembered for its violence, people, houses, barns, trees, cattle and horses were injured by the electric fluid and the lightning struck in twelve different places in this im- mediate vicinity. Charles Porter's house and barn were fired by a descending bolt, rain fell in torrents, and extinguished the fire on the house, but the barn was entirely destroyed, and so quickly did the build- ing burst into flames, that his valuable horses were severely injured before they could be rescued.
On Ninth month, 7th, Edward Stabler died in his eighty-ninth year. He was born Ninth month, 26th, 1794, and resided nearly all his long and active life at Karewood. where he died at a ripe old age. He was an agriculturist, who not only thought, but wrote and read on the subject, and by economy and industry, he converted a worn-out tract of land into a rich pro- ductive farm. In contrast to the primitive modes and customs of his early years, he beheld the great progress made on all sides and was quick to seize and apply all those mechanical inventions to farming op- erations, and to benefit his land by the application of
AXXALS OF SAXDY SPKING. 5
fertilizers, which have revolutionized the tilling of the soil in Sanely Spring and increased its productiveness tenfold. He was a natural mechanic and expert en- graver, and his seals and presses, for state and city governments, corporations, and courts of law, were widely circulated throughout the country. He furnished the various departments of the National Government with seals, and made presses and seals for the Con- sular Agents of the United States all over the world. In the year 1830, he was appointed, under Andrew Jackson's administration, postmaster at Sandy Spring, an office he retained till his death.
In 1848, he originated, with the aid of a few of his neighbors, "The Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Montgomery County," which has grown to be a large and flourishing institution and of which he was, at the time of his death, its energetic head and president.
His intelligence and agreeable conversation made him a pleasant companion, and he was widely known outside his native place. Retaining to extreme age, much of the: fire and vigor of youth, he enjoyed al- most to the last the pleasures of the chase and traveled near and far on business or recreation.
His funeral on the afternoon of Ninth month, 8th, was largely attended by his neighbors, and many stran- gers from other states and the city of Washington.
My next date, Ninth month, 12th, records the death in her eighty-ninth year of our venerable friend "Aunt Eliza Kirk," as she was affectionately called by the whole neighborhood.
As I could not possibly improve on the address made at her funeral by Caroline H. Miller, whoi al-
6 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
ways speaks so wisely and so well, I will insert here, some extracts from it. She said :
"We meet this morning to pay the last observance of respect and duty to a beloved friend. The body that we come to bury, is cold and dead, but it will need no monument to keep alive among us, the memory of the precious spirit, which it once contained, for we shall wear upon grateful hearts, until they cease to beat, the record of her love and tenderness. How many of us can look back beyond the stern and anxi- ous years of our latter lives, upon a distant childhood, gladdened by her gentle kindness, upon sweet favors of word and deed constantly bestowed through the rich blessings of her love and sympathy with the young.
"We see her no longer, groping sadly in dark places, but, again as of yore, we behold her, bright, busy, passing with buoyant step, from duty to duty, her life one constant round of cheerful active useful- ness.
We must believe that those dimmed eyes have opened upon a morning the glory of whose perfect day knows no decline ; upon the light effulgence of the Xew Jerusalem, the city not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens."
Henry C. Hallowell kindly furnishes me with notes from his journal of Ninth month, 13th.
We had a very doubtful day, whether to go on with our Annual Horticultural Exhibition or not. The clouds looked full of rain, but the building having been previously prepared, and decorated, we conclud- ed to attempt it and had a very successful exhibit.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 7
Many did not know till near midday that it would be held, but while there were fewer people than usual, the display was fine, the flowers were beautiful, and fruits and vegetables, abundant and excellent. Ad- dresses were made by the president, by Col. William Kilgour, and several others."
About the middle of this month, Richard T. Bent- ley, was appointed postmaster at Sandy Spring, and elected president of the Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany, in both instances succeeding the late Edward Stabler.
The summer which had been cool and pleasant, was now on the wane, there had been no scorching heat to kill the luxuriant vegetation, and the vivid fresh- ness and green of spring continued even after a chang- ing leaf here and there, proclaimed the autumn near at hand.
Tenth month, ist. Samuel Bond retired from the firm of Gilpin and Bentley, entering into business for himself at Norbeck, and Samuel Wetherald fills the vacated position.
Tenth month, 24th, 25th and 26th, Rockville Fair, al- ways an interesting occasion for our people, occurred.
There not being quite as much rain as usual, the at- tendance especially on the 26th was large. The ex- hibits were more complete than in past years, and fi- nancially it was a success. Ffteen persons in our neigh- borhood received premiums, ranging from soft soap to sheep, and from flowers to the best darned stock- ings.
Up to this time, the last of Tenth month, no severe frosts had killed the brilliant foliage, and as if it might
8 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
be a reflection from this carnival of color, a gorgeous crimson spread over the morning and evening sky, continuing long after the sun had set. A most pe- culiar afterglow, which has interested the scientific world, and given rise to innumerable theories, but not one satisfactory solution.
Seldom, if ever, in the history of the neighborhood, has any one died more generally respected, beloved, and regretted, than Caleb Stabler, whose death oc- curred at Alloway on Tenth month, 26th, in his eigthy-fifth year.
In early life, with a real help mate, and a family of little children, he purchased an extensive tract of land then, and now known as the "Manor." With untiring industry and intelligent cultivation, in the course of years he saw his labor rewarded, his farm increased in value (fifty fold.) and his children, happily and pros- perously, settled around him. His public spirit and wise counsel went far towards making our neighbor- hood what it is and he held most worthily many pub- lic offices of honor and trust. Full of pleasant con- verse and anecdote, with the frank and courteous man- ner of a true gentleman, his society was eagerly sought and enjoyed by old and young. His declining years were made serene and peaceful, by the tender ministrations of a beloved, only daughter, and the care and watchfulness of children and grandchildren, whose delight it was to honor and cherish him. On the afternoon of Tenth month, 28th, he was borne to his resting place, in the family ground at Alloway. A very large concourse, composed of every class, stood round his open grave, and in the solemn silence of
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 9
the assembly, words were not needed to express the grief that every one sincerely felt in paying a last tri- bute to this most admirable man.
My next entry, Twelfth month, 5th, records the marriage, at Lakeside, near Baltimore, by Friend's ceremony, of J. Janney Shoemaker and Helen M., daughter of Henry Reese. The bride and groom came directly to their charming home, which had been pre- pared for them near Sandy Spring.
Twelfth month, 13th. Mary Chandlee, daughter of Edward N. and Hallie Chandlee Bentley, was born.
Twelfth month, 18th. Eliza Stabler, another of our valued old friends, entered into rest ; in her eighty-first year. Her long and tranquil life had been passed in this neighborhood ; her tastes were literary, and books, many and varied, had been her constant companions. Purely domestic and devoted to her family, she sel- dom went abroad, but welcomed her friends to her own fireside, with unfailing kindness.
As she lay in her coffin, on the afternoon of the 20th, prepared for burial, a sweet and peaceful ex- pression was on her face. A soft mantle of snow covered her grave, fitting emblem of the innocence of her life.
When the old lay down their burdens, and pass from works to reward, it brings no shock, since it is the inevitable course of nature, but when a compara- tively young woman, the mother of a growing family, is cut off in the prime, we feel that death is relentless.
Fanny, wife of Thomas J. Lea, had been for some years an invalid, but it was an unexpected sorrow to
10 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
her friends, when her death was announced on Twelfth month, 21st.
Full of charitable deeds for the poor around her, a kind neighbor and devoted mother, her home was made pleasant by evidences of her constant care and refined taste. Fully aware that the end was approach- ing, she made even- preparation for the sad parting with her family, and evinced a resignation, and cour- age most touching. Her sufferings were only exceed- ed by her patience, and to the close, she sought to comfort those who watched around her. Her remains were brought from Baltimore, where she died, and buried on 1st day afternoon.
As the night was settling down, and in the midst of a fierce storm of sleet and snow, Twelfth month, 23rd, the house at Plainfield, was entirely destroyed by fire. Owing to the inclemency of the weather, but few knew of the disaster in time to render assistance. In less than three hours, the pleasant home was a mass of blackened ruins, and the inmates were sheltered at Norwood.
The next morning many neighbors assembled and with sleighs and teams, transported the ice-covered and scattered effects of the Plainfield families, to the unoccupied house of Jos. T. Moore, Jr., at Pen-y-Bryn, where Willliam Moore and family have resided since.
Robert R. Moore and family remained at Norwood, a home especially adorned and blessed this winter by the presence of two grandmothers, under the same roof.
The new house at Plainfield, is rising from its ashes
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 11
and before many months, we hope to see our friends re-united beneath their own roof tree.
However much more modernized and comfortable this habitation will be, there is something especially sad, in the destruction of an old home, where chil- dren have been born, reared, and married, where joy and sorrow, have mingled in the varied scenes of life, and where every room is hallowed by a thousand as- sociations.
Christmas was very quiet, and there were but few family gatherings, perhaps because of inclement weather, or that sorrow and disaster had followed thick and fast.
New Year's day, 1884, was much observed, the youth and beauty of Sandy Spring was gathered at Stanmore, Fair Hill, and Black Meadow, and each bevy of young ladies counted the "cavaliers" by the dozen through the day. Even fathers and grandfath- ers donned their meeting suits, and wended their way through the wind and rain, to make their best bows along the line.
First month, 5th and 6th, the mercury fell below zero, the nipping cold crept in at every crevice, bread refused to rise, water froze at night on the kitchen stove, and we felt that now if ever, was "the winter of our discontent."
First month, 14th. There was a heavy fall of snow which covered and clung to every thing like swan's- down, the sleighing was fine and the effect of riding through the woods under this soft white canopy, was indescribably beautiful.
First month, 15th. The Farmer's Convention was
lit ANNALS OF SANDY SPEING.
held at the Lyceum. The attendance was large, and the President, Henry C. Hallowell, called the assem- bly to order, and in a very happy speech, reviewed the conventions of the past twelve years, and gave some of the good results which had followed their de- liberations, and dwelt upon the fact, that as agri- cultural prosperity advanced, it tended to elevate the social, moral, and religious conditions of the com- munity.
Interesting reports were read from the several clubs, and many questions of utility, relating to fertil- izers, sheep raising, ensilage, keeping wood-land for fuel, etc., were discussed with profit.
The ladies furnished a bountiful lunch, which must have gone to the right spot, as they were invited into the Lyceum afterwards, to listen to a portion of the proceedings.
Among the meagre notes of Second month, I will record a religious visit from Abel Hull, of Harford, and the painful injury sustained by our useful friend, Charles G. Porter, who can comfort himself with the reRection that only industrious people are liable to have their fingers cut off.
Many of our inhabitants fled to the cities, the roads were bad, storms frequent, and much less farm work than usual was done. The neighborhood, however, was enlivened by some pleasant parties and enter- tainments at the Lyceum and Grange Hall.
This, and the preceding month of 1884, will long be remembered by the children of Sandy Spring, and some of larger growth. The measles prevailed from Crowtown to Colesville, from the Patuxent to Rock-
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 13
ville, and from Norbeck to Spencerville. Almost every family was in a state of eruption, but although the disease was of a malignant type, no deaths oc- curred which must be chronicled here. It was evident, there was no monopoly of measles, the local reputa- tion for generosity was sustained, and our young people visiting about in the different cities, convinced their friends in about ten days, they were entertaining not angels, but measles unawares.
Twenty-ninth of Second month, the first telegram was sent over the postal line, which had been in course of construction for some months through our section.
The office at Sandy Spring connects us with all the great mercantile centers, and cheap rates will, per- haps, induce our friends to telegraph us all the good news with the same eagerness they will undoubtedly send us the bad.
The whole neighborhood was greatly shocked and distressed on the 2d of Third month, by the sudden death of Alban Gilpin, at the age of seventy-four.
Many of his friends and relatives, who held con- verse with him on the last day of his life, will recall his pleasant speech, and unusually cheerful manner. With only a few minutes suffering, attended by his wife and daughter, he passed from life to death.
A director in the bank, and prominent for many years in business, his neighbors, accustomed to see him almost daily, will long miss and regret his kind and courteous presence.
He had the rare endowment of an equable temper- ament, and never gave way to discouragement. In all the vicissitudes of life, his faith and hope of a better
14 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
time coming, and a way out of difficulties had been a staff and support to his friends. His word was his bond, and no one was more truthful and exact in his statements. He never soiled his speech with slandei or spoke ill of the absent.
All who stood by his coffin, will remember the ex- treme nobleness of his face and figure, and perhaps in many minds arose the thought, this> was an innate gentleman.
On Third month, 4th, a number of our citizens at- tended the Woman Suffrage Convention, held in Washington, and an address delivered by our friend, Caroline H. Miller, was enthusiastically received by the audience, and favorably by the press.
Third month, 6th, our faithful old colored sexton and grave digger, Horace Sedgwick, died.
Third month, 8th. A son was born to Benjamin D. and Mollie Mackall Palmer, who received the name of its father.
Our friends going to Baltimore Quarterly Meeting, about this time. Third month. 7th and 8th, found the roads almost impassable, rains continued day after day to the great discomfort of the farmers who were im- patient to have their plows going, and spring work advanced.
The death of William John Thomas, Third month, 2 1 st, aged seventy years, was more than a loss, it was a calamity.
A man of sterling worth, of unblemished character and reputation, he seemed naturally, the head of the community; old and young revered and loved him.
His industry was proverbial, by his lifelong labor
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 15
and good management, he wrested from the land a competency, and was regarded as the type of a model farmer.
President of the bank, and prominent in all good works of progress and reform, his efficiency in tem- poral affairs, was only equalled by his zeal in all that was spiritual and holy.
An elder, and deeply concerned in everything per- taining to the meeting, consistent in religious dut- ies, he was filled with the cheerful, practical piety, that feels charity for the past, and hope for the future. The wise counselor of his children he was, still more, their intimate, congenial friend. His family relations were beautiful and worthy of all emulation.
From the old house at Clifton, he could look upon the homes of all his married sons and daughters, homes, which his generous bounty had helped to es- tablish. His heart was so in sympathy with the young, his days so busy — age had touched him so lightly, it seemed as if we might have him many more years among us.
We who were honored by his friendship, often guided by his advice, always taught by his example, must feel that he left no good deed undone, no kind word unspoken, no favor was too small, no bene- fit too great, for his willing, helpful hands to confer.
He bore the intense sufferings of his illness with the unselfish fortitude of a martyr, and his last utter- ance was full of tender sympathy for the loving and beloved companion of his life. "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright foir the end of that man is peace."
16 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
His funeral was largely attended on first day after- noon, at the meeting house, and several friend^ bore testimony to his pure life and many virtues.
Third month, 29th. The first sulkey plow in this vicinity, was working at Ingleside, to the entire satis- faction of its owner and several neighbors who gath- ered to view the stranger.
An important sale was made in this month by William Scofield, who disposed of his herd of ten registered Jersey cattle, for two thousand dollars. These well-bred cows had not been more expensive to raise and keep, than plebeian stock, and yet the value was fourfold greater, than would have been the inferior breed.
My last date for the year, April 1st, records an in- teresting visit to Roslyn, and an interview with the venerable Rebecca Russel, who has passed her ninety- eighth birthday. Few persons of half her age are as bright and quick of speech and thought as this charm- ing old lady, and her memory and reminiscences of people and events long past, were truly delightful.
She spoke much of the many changes and great progress in our neighborhood since she first came here in 1824.
In those days she said, the women spun and wove their "linsey woolsy" for clothing, and everybody was so industrious, even the little girl of six, had to finish her "stint" of sewing or knitting, before she was al- lowed to run and play.
When persons went visiting they walked or rode horseback, but few vehicles being in this vicinity.
When she was last at the Capital, General Wash-
AXXALS OF SAXDY SPKIXG. 17
ington was there the same day, and there were only six houses on Penna. Avenue, and laughing merrily, she added, "When I saw Ashton last, it was nothing but a big tree."
I asked her the secret of her vitality and activity. "No one," she answered, "can be happy or healthy at any age, unless they are constantly employed." And she is a living example of her own aphorism.
Henry Stabler informed me he had canned, in 1883, 36,000 cans of corn, and raised 100 bushels of selected seed for seedsmen, and home planting.
Very often during the past year have mournful processions wound their way along our roads, and many times have we stood in grief and sympathy be- side the open grave. It would almost seem as if this annual meeting should be a lodge of sorrow, so many of our honored friends have passed into the silent land. The lesson of their lives, their example and precept remain ; they are beyond our tears and care ; but our best memorial of them should be a greater charity, a more loving sympathy with the living. We can keep the memory of our cherished dead green forever by the timely help, the cheerful word, the neighborly kindness to those bereft and left behind.
SUMMARY OF THE YEAR.
Twenty years ago, when this Lyceum was dedi- cated, our Poet Laureate, Sarah B. Stabler of Sharon, wrote for the occasion a beautiful ode. At my solici- tation, she again favors us, and when you have heard her gracious words and flowing verses, you will feel that our honored friend, now in her eighty-third year,
18 A.WXALS OF SANDY SPEING.
has lost none of her poetic fancy. "Age cannot wither nor custom stale her infinite variety."
Written for E. X. B., Third month, 26th, 1884.
"Time moves along on never ceasing" wing, And history follows with her ready pen, And writes the events, each busy year may bring, To all abodes on earth, of riving men.
"For some these records are but traced in sand, F r others graven on the granite rock; Some men in light, and some in shadow stand, But all belong to the Great Shepherd's flock.
"'And be our stories like the sand which drifts, Or long enduring on the mountain height; We do but briefly use our varied gifts, And then like fleeting shadows pass from sight.
"How many, young and old, have passed from earth Leaving some lingerers along the way; While many in the spring of youth and mirth, Count on long \ears of joy and pleasure gay.
"Some here, have given to earth their children dear, Who seemed like angels granted for a while, And though, for them, this life may raise the tear. Calm resignation asks instead, the smile.
"The prattling tongue is hushed, the unsteady feet Falter no more — a tranquil peace is theirs; This world, with joys which oft are passing sweet, Might have betrayed them with its thousand snares.
"Fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, Husbands and wives, in quick succession go, And homes are sad, but love divine descends, And gently takes away the sting of woe.
ANNALS OF SAXDY SPRING. 19
"The virtues of the lost, like healing" dew, Soothe the grieved spirits, who have been bereft Of those so dearly loved, so good and true! But the survivors will not long be left;
"'For human life is short, end when it will, And when the evening comes, may we seek rest, Resigned to live or die, so we fulfill The measure of the time that Heaven sees best.
"Though in the 'vacant chairs' we seem to see Our dear ones, whom our eyes behold no more, Yet, Hope will whisper sweetly, 'There will be A home for each upon the Heavenly shore.' "
— Sarah B. Stabler, Sharon.
Although the crops were very large in 1883, our farmers were not bebarred the satisfaction of their annual grumble, for prices were exceedingly low, and the more potatoes and hay a man had stored in his bins and barns, the more did he need the sympathy of friends, for it hardly paid to haul them to market.
Potatoes fluctuated from 25 cents to 75 cents per bushel, and more were sold under than above 50 cents.
Large quantities of hay was sold at 50 and 60 cents per hundred weight.
As nearly as could be ascertained from club sta- tistics, and industrial reports, 45,000 bushels of wheat were raised, at an average of 24 bushels to the acre, and selling at an average price of $1.18. 11,565 barrels of corn were raised, at an average of eight and a half barrels to the acre — selling for $2.75, average price.
My report is not entirely complete, for one un- married gentleman, although urgently requested, has not responded ; it is presumed that his crops were very
20 AXXALS OF SAXDY SPEIXG.
large, and that he remembered with a terrified shiver, that it was "Leap Year."
The 36th annual report of The Mutual Fire Insur- ance Company shows a large increase of business in the past year, and the amount, insured January 1st, 1884, was $15,274,302.33:
The 16th annual report of the "Savings Institution of Sandy Spring," shows the amount on hand, March 1st, 1884, was 8198,664.84. It is a pleasant thought that while the older members of the community are greatly interested in this valuable institution, so many little children have their bank-books and deposit their earnings with commendable pride.
Three hundred and six newspapers and magazines came to subscribers through our office and we have mailed in the past' year thirty-five thousand letters and sixty-seven hundred postal cards.
In the cause of education, we have made an im- portant step this year in the completion of "Sherwood School House," costing about $2,300. A neat, com- modious building, furnished suitably with a fine chemi- cal apparatus, maps, etc., and with the great advan- tage of having the old Sandy Spring Library trans- ferred to one of its rooms. It is only proper to record here the names of the men and women, whose faithful exertions were crowned with such success, in the in- ception and completion of this work.
William W. Moore, President, Benjamin H. Miller, Secretary', A. G. Thomas, Treasurer,
ANNALS OF SANDY SPKING. 21
and the following board of directors : John Thomas, Asa M. Stabler, Robert M. Stabler, Anna L. Moore, Sarah T. Miller, Charles G. Porter.
For a long time the committee on teachers hunted from Massachusetts to North Carolina for a suitable master for the new school, and at last discovered in our midst the very material it was going hither and yon to find.
J. Llewellen Massey was appointed principal, as- sisted by Elma P. Chandlee and Carrie H. Brooke, and they have admirably conducted a flourishing school of fifty scholars through the year.
From the earliest records Sandy Spring has had good schools, which were not only invaluable to our own people, but many children from adjacent cities and states have received here, that surest of all foun- dations for success in life, a substantial, moral edu- cation.
Rockland has had its full quota this year, and who does not enjoy the bright young faces of its inmates, as they crowd into "meeting," or the Lyceum, or take their walks abroad, bubbling over with merry school-girl ways ?
In connection with this subject, I will add that An- nie T. Porter, after long and faithful service as an in- structor of youth, having in many instances taught the children of her former pupils, resigned her posi- tion in the public school which is now filled by Ella Steer, of Virginia.
About the middle of Third month, 1884, "The An- nals of Sandy Spring" were published by William H. Farquhar. You, who have listened for many years to
22 AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
his annual report from this platform, will read with great pleasure this interesting book in which the au- thor has so successfully retained all the principal events and salient points of his yearly narratives, and yet managed to eliminate all that was trivial. He has given us a book, not only valuable to every one here, but which should be widely read elsewhere, as show- ing the changes wrought in a rural community by labor, education, and a close communion of neighborly interest and kindness.
Two other books have been published during the year, in which Sandy Spring is especially interested.
The first is the autobiography of the great and good Benjamin Hallowell, edited by his children. A volume valuable to young and old as teaching a lesson of pa- tience and industry, and not only a delightful produc- tion to those who knew him, but very attractive to strangers. His large intelligence and pure character confined him to no particular circle ; his influence, like his charity, was far-reaching and covered -all things.
I began by saying there never had been a female historian, but I must qualify that by "hardly ever," for Annie M. Chandlee has completed for the use of schools an excellent compendium of English History, said to be on a new and original plan.
Early in 1883, Dr. Tillum, of Delaware, pur- chased a portion of Edward Peirce's farm, and built a commodious house, barn and outbuildings, with all the modern improvements.
Xew buildings have also been erected, or old ones altered and improved at Oak Hill, Highland,
AXXALS OF SAXDY SPRING. 23
Belmont, Cherry Grove, Burnside, The Cottage, In- gleside, Ashton, Mt. Airy, Sunset, Patuxent, Sandy Spring, Harewood, Plainfield, Norwood, Avalon, Brooke Grove ; and even our Lyceum, catching this spread of improvement, has pushed out its back wall and enlarged its dimensions to suit the increas- ing demands of the neighborhood.
Sherwood Mills has changed owners, and Lea- wood Mills has been greatly improved by new machi- nery. Several new windmills have been put up and water fixtures added to various houses ; if cleanliness is next to Godliness, the Sandy Spring people are ''stepping heavenward'' at a rapid rate.
This year, as in all the years past, we still go many miles to take the trains ; and the possibility of a nar- row gauge railroad to Laurel has been so warmly discussed, that we will have lightning expresses speeding through our farms in the near future, is a foregone conclusion ; but while we are waiting for an earthly railroad, let us hasten to construct another and more lasting one.
More than fifty years ago the gifted James P. Stab- ler, Senior, wrote in a lady's album the following directions for building a railroad to Heaven. I will preserve his admirable words here.
"It is altogether possible that men may make a railroad to Heaven ; nay, it is even more true than that they can make them from one point of the earth to another, and why not? The materials in one case are more abundant, cheaper, and more durable than in the other. The labor and expenses are less, and the travel more safe and expeditious in the former
24 AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
than in the latter case. Then let's make one. First, let it be located on the ground of the love of God, and to our fellow creatures, for there we have the right of way given us without condemnation. The chief engineer shall be the still small voice, which makes no curves, either to the right hand or to the left. The road will be straight ; the board of virtues will furnish funds to carry on the work from a treas- ury as inexhaustible as the fountains of light and love. The hills of pride and cruelty will be leveled by the Agent's meekness and mercy. The valleys will be raised by kindness and brotherly affection. The streams will be crossed by bridges built upon the Rock of Ages. The rails will be of charity, the cars of devo- tion, with springs tempered by the incense of the heart, for every good and perfect gift, and the loco- motive engine of supreme and everlasting love pro- pelled by prayer and thanksgiving to the fountain whence every blessing flows."
We have to chronicle the loss of various citizens this year by removal to other places, and yet we feel assured they still regard Sandy Spring as home, and look forward, whatever their present interests, to re- turning here.
Dr. Scott is practising his profession in Washing- ton. Harry H. Stabler is farming in Virginia. War- wick H. Miller, Jr., is in business in Philadelphia. Robert M. Hallowell and George B. Miller, are in St. Louis. Harry T. Lea and family, and Richard P. Iddings, in Lawrence, Mass. Granville Stabler in Missouri. Caleb S. Miller in Minnesota. Edward P. Tavlor in Georgia. Dr. Augustus Stabler in Phila-
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 25
delphia. Mr. Lawford has sold his farm to Mrs. George Ellicott, and has removed elsewhere, and Dr. Tillum and family have returned to Delaware. Four of our young men, William D. Hartshorn, Henry T. Lea, Joshua Peirce and Richard P. Iddings have res- ponsible positions in the Arlington Mills, at Lau- rence. It is evident that Massachusetts knows where to apply for efficient help.
On the credit side of this losing account, we are glad to welcome back to Montgomery our friends Walter H. and Carrie L. Brooke, and to congratulate them on the purchase of a home.
It is alsoi very pleasant to record the return of Esther T. Moore to Sandy Spring.
In former chronicles, the historian has grieved over the decline of interest manifested in lectures, but it is my pleasant task to relate that the two courses of lectures and entertainments held at the Lyceum in the past year, have been attended and enjoyed by old and young, notably a discourse on the great North- west by the Hon. Alonzo Bell.
The young people of the neighborhood have given several delightful entertainments, showing the versa- tility of their talents by the variety offered in music, recitations, original matter, dramatic and spectacular scenes.
The Agricultural Clubs, Olney and Brighton Granges, The Horticultural, The Association for Mu- tual Improvement, The Home Interest, The Sociable, The Benevolent Aid, The Book Club, Lawn Tennis Club and the Whist Club, have all held their meetings throughout the year, and brought the concentrated
26 ANNALS OF SANDY SPBING.
experience and wisdom of many minds to bear on many subjects. The membership of Olney Grange now numbers one hundred and sixty-seven, and its interests and beneficial influences are varied and wide-spread. That honored society of mothers and grandmothers, "The Mutual Improvement Associa- tion," has increased its numbers in the past twelve months, and in twenty-seven years of organization has never lost one of its members by death.
In June, July and August, along with the heat and flies, harvest and preserving, pickling and canning, the city visitor has descended on us. We have given them to eat of our abundance, and made them welcome to our fruits and flowers, and our shady nooks and corners.
In autumn, when our fields were aflame with the
lenrod and sumac, and our woods gorgeous
the feast of color, free to all alike, again our homes
have been thronged with our sisters, our cousins,
and our aunts, coming late, to escape the early crowd.
When grim winter seized her frozen sceptre, and storms held high carnival, once more did we welcome the city friend, and heat up as well as we could that arctic region known as the "spare chamber."'
In early spring, when roads were bottomless, and wild winds blew, and the country as unattractive as it ever gets to be ; yet, again, strangers alighted at our gates, and we took them in and bade them welcome. Other places of resort close up, but. Sandy Spring never !
There were a great many people here last year, but, more will be here next, for it is pleasant to think they
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 27
have all accepted our invitation to come again, and will bring their friends with them.
Through the past year, our citizens have traveled as usual far and wide. They have sought and found health and strength, at the seaside, the springs, and on the mountain tops. Some of them have gathered roses, and eaten strawberries in Georgia and Florida in the winter months, others have shivered in snow- clouds on Northern heights in summer, and one ener- getic young lady has traversed the wonders of the "Yellowstone."
The economy in other things to secure the annual trip will always pay the farmer and his family. Travel is an education to mind and body, a delight to the ap- preciative, a luxury that will enliven the occupant of the country home, and break the monotony of rural life.
We have watched with great interest through the winter the career of our active and efficient Senator fiom Montgomery, Joseph T. Moore.
Belonging politically to the minority in the Mary- land Legislature, by his perseverance and diplomacy he compelled the majority to pass six state bills, a feat never before accomplished by the representative of this county. His seventh bill was only lost by the Governor's veto. Had that become a law the very poorest farmer among us might have procured a marriage license for the insignificant sum of sixty cents. Who knows what changes in that event might have occurred to the seventy-seven maidens of San- dy Spring, between the ages of twenty and ofne hun- dred vears? It seemed such a forlorn hope I have
AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
not counted the bachelors ; I felt convinced there could not be seventy-seven of them.
CONCLUSION.
Although in some instances other vocations are combined, we are essentially a farming community and the land must produce now to its fullest capacity, for the farmer needs more money each year to pro- cure the conveniences and luxuries about his home — once found only in the city.
Education and science are ahead of sinew. Brains and machinery are taking the place of muscle. The farmer of today, must know the needs and capabil- ities of the different soils, he must read and think, as well as act. With intelligence, as well as faith, he plants the tiny seed, and has his fulfillment in the abundant harvest.
A great responsibility rests on the farmer. AH er people take their supplies second-hand from him. his produce feeds the world. The cotton from his fields, the fleece from his sheep clothes mankind, and it is a well-known fact that nearly all our poets, au- thors, and statesmen, were born and raised in rural homes.
At his behest, comes the beauty of waving fields cf grain, of orchards rich with bloom. His toil is close to nature's heart, to the secrets and perfections of all her marvelous works.
He who owns his land calls no man master ; and as he sows his acres broad and deep, I contend that he is the true aristocrat.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 29
In ties of affections, in interest, in correspondence, a thousand links connect us with the outside world. I will verify my statement by a pleasant incident. A short time ago in the City of Agra, in India, two travelers met in that beautiful temple called the 'Taj Mahal," a structure so perfect in form, so rich in or- namentation, it is counted one of the seven wonders of the world. Beneath the jeweled arches and lace- like carvings of this dome the one traveler, a charm- ing woman, who has often visited among us, the other Moncure D. Conway, utter strangers to each other, fell into conversation and in a few minutes had talked round to this little spot of earth, and were eagerly recalling delightful hours and dear mutual friends here. It seemed strange that these two, the one coming from the China seas, with her husband, the other from England, should meet in India on the common grciund of Sandy Spring.
We have a far-reaching reputation to sustain, and we can only do it by individual care and merit.
We are all justly proud, perhaps too proud, of our neighborhood, but without that pride and the efforts of our people to be what they seem to be to the out- side world, we could not have attained some excel- lence, which is the foundation of that reputation.
Those who are satisfied with the present history will be expected to furnish items for the historian in future, and those who are dissatisfied will be equallv interested to make it attractive.
30 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
CHAPTER II.
From Fourth Month., 1884, to Fourth Month, 1885.
Earthquake felt generally through Sandy Spring — Golden Weddings of Eobert R. and riadassah J. Moore, and William Henry and Margaret B. Farquhar — Lectures by the Hon. Alonza Bell, Francis Thomas and Miss Phoebe Cozzens — Ednor postoffice established — Obitu- aries of Henrj^ l^rooke, Dr. Artemus Riggs, Benjamin D. Palmer, Jr., Anne T. Kirk, Anna Miller, Agnes H. Bent ley and Samuel A. Janney — Reminiscences of Wil- liam John Thomas and Mahlon Chandlee.
One of our most eminent authors has well said that "all things are engaged in writing their history. The plant, the pebble, goes attended by its shadow ; the rolling rock leaves its scratches on the mountain ; the river, its channel in the soil ; the animal, its bones in the stratum ; the fern and leaf their modest epitaph in the coal ; the falling drop makes its sculpture in the sand or stone ; not a footstep in the snow or along the ground but prints in characters, more or less lasting, a map of its march."
Every act of the man inscribes itself in the memories of his fellows and in his own manners and face. The air is rilled with sounds, the sky with tokens, the ground is all signatures and every object covered over with hints which speak to the intelligence. We have made a long stride in outward comforts and con- veniences since our greatgrandmothers spun and wove, cut and fashioned their own raiment in the davs
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 31
gone by when six yards of "fip-penny-bit" calico was an ample dress pattern, and the protecting sun-bon- net was in vogue. Then our greatgrandfathers scratched the earth with a wooden plow, and raised from five to ten bushels of wheat to the acre — then they read their weekly paper by the light of a tallow dip. and their hours of retiring and rising were almost regulated by the sun.
In looking over an old memoranda dated 1823, I find that many friends paid "a fip-penny-bit" per quar- ter for meeting-dues, some "a levy," and a very few the munificent sum of fifty cents per quarter. Religion was remarkably cheap in those days, and probably of quite as good quality as the more costly kind of our generation. Among the same old bills and receipts, wheat is quoted at ninety cents, and corn fifty cents per bushel, and a laborer was paid seventy-five cents for digging a grave.
On the foundation of this primitive living our pros- perity is built, our historv of today is linked insepar- ably with all yesterday's, and valuable and interesting to us must be the recollections and experiences of the older members of our community, bringing, as it were, the savor of their past to flavor our present.
Our respected friend, the late William John Thomas, wrote at the request of his children, not very long be- fore he died, some reminiscences of his early days, and in presenting to you extracts from them, few will recognize the Sandy Spring of his boyhood as we find it now. He says :
"I will not undertake to give the precise dates to many of the details here related, but as they appeared
32 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
to my comprehension at the time. First, as being most central, and as an event for which I have a date, is the building of the meeting-house at Sandy Spri I recollect riding up there before Uncle Johnnie Thomas on an old white mare called ''Bonny;" and my efforts to climb over the sleepers before the floors were laid, and while the carpenters were putting on the roof ; and later Uncle Johnnie sat at the head of the Meeting on one side, with Samuel Thomas and Roger Brooke on the upper bench, and Basil Brooke, Isaac Briggs, Thomas Moore, Bernard Gilpin, Caleb Bent- ley, William Thomas, Gerard Brooke, Richard Thomas and others on the benches facing the Meeting. De- borah Stabler, [Margaret Judge and Hannah Wilson, ministers, with the two Mary Brookes and Hannah Briggs, occupied the upper benches on the other side of the House. Carriages were rather scarce in that time, but Roger Brooke had one, but he always rode horseback himself. Basil Brooke had one, with door opening behind ; Thomas Moore had one ; Isaac Briggs had one, with a long body ; William Thomas had one, with three seats, holding from six to eight passengers; Caleb Bentley and Bernard Gil- pin, with their families, mostly walked to Meeting, as did many others from Brookeville. The Meeting was larger on first days from 1813 to 1820 than it ;s now, in my judgment.
The old meeting-house, a frame building, was moved from where the present horse-sheds now stand, and was used for that purpose for many years. The sills are still doing duty under the present carriag - sheds. From 1813 to 1816 we had a large immigration
AXXALS OF SANDY SPEING. 33
to our vicinity, though many persons about that time kept on to the, then, far West, Ohio. A family by the name of Sappold lived then at Harewood. Amos Hor- ner, a very large man, lived on the Manor. David Newlin in Brookeville ; John and William Thornton, at Centreville, just beyond Francis Miller's gate, where a tenant house now stands. One of these Brothers Thornton occupied for a short time the house where Richard T. Bentley lives now.
Headleys and other families lived over towards "Bradford's Rest." Allen West lived on Benjamin Palmer's place. About 1824, Wiliam Henry Stabler's home was built, and part of the house at Walnut Hill was built by Thomas Lea, all the brick being burned near the site of Oakwood Church, where more recent- ly, the brick was made for the hioluse at Sherwood.
Arthur Foulke, a little man who wore small clothes, and had but one eye, lived where Robert H. Miller now owns.
At what date the Birdsalls came to Sandy Spring I do not know, but William lived at Centreville, near Stanmore. He then built the stone part of the horse at Plainfield, where he resided until he went West, in "thirty-six." Andrew lived back of Samuel Thomas's house, now gone, William and Andrew built a mill there, to which Andrew's hired boy said he had to carry water in his cap after he got home from school to make the mill run. The mill did not survive its own- ers. John Birdsall lived where Rockland now is. Whether the log house he occupied was covered by the present imposing edifice, or removed, I do not know.
3-1 AXXALS OF SAXDY SPRING.
Whitson Camby and family lived at Olney, a fam- ily by the name of Dennis at Willow Grove. Joseph Brown lived at Clifton. Thomas Moore resided where E. J. Hall now does, and was succeeded by Thomas L. Reese who kept a store there or at Brooke- ville. Later on Thomas McCormick had a store there. Basil Brooke lived where William Scofield does now. Bernard Gilpin at Mt. Airy, where he carried on the hatting business for many years. Evan Harry, an eccentric old man, followed the same trade. Hats were then made by hand, the workmen standing round a large boiler inclosed by platforms or tables so as to run the hot water back to the boiler, when the men dipped the wool and fur into the water and rubbed it on the table with their hands causing it to "felt.''
It is strange to look back now to those days when there were no railroads, matches, daguerreotypes or telegraphs, and before machine felting was devised which soon interfered with the hand-made article. Almost every family had its hominy mortar, and spin- ning wheels, both large and small, for wool and flax.
My recollection of the commencement of Fair Hill School is rather indefinite, though we often had the parents of scholars at our house, and also some of the pupils.
I particularly recollect a boy named Proctor, and Marv Stretch, who is now the respected wife of Win- der W. Owens. Benjamin Hallowell spent his first night in Sandy Spring, under father's hospitable roof. Though I think he was so disgusted at having to walk from the turnpike, (Laurel was then not thought of), that he did not remember much about that even-
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 35
ing\ James P. Stabler and Caleb Bentley built the store and blacksmith shop at Sandy Spring, in 1818, and opened store the following year. Brookeville was quite a thriving- village when I first knew it; it had been incorporated by Richard Thomas, who was evidently a "woman's rights man," as he named it in honor of his wife, who was a Brooke. There were two mills there, one owned by Richard Thomas for grinding grain, and one by David Newlin for grinding flaxseed for oil, two tanneries, two blacksmith's shops and several stores. Doctors Howard and Palmer at- tended the afflicted in the vicinity. I remember a little incident, which occurred when I first went to school in the old log house at Sandy Spring, and which has remained impressed on my mind since 1822.
Edward Stabler was preparing to build a barn, he had an Irishman, who drove his teams, by the name of William Clark, who was the father of James Clark, the now celebrated manager and ex-president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. William Clark was hauling logs to Roger Brooke's mill, and become fast in the mud, just in front of where the Lyceum now stands, when Stephen Wilson ("Little Steve" we called him), got on the end of the wagon tongue and directed the men to back his team, which he did with the assistance of some of the larger boys, and thus was extricated from the difficulty; although light in body "little Steve" was weighty in advice.
The building of large barns by David Frame and Mahlon Chandlee, came to> my knowledge as some- thing new; they still remain as monuments to these men.
30 AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
About 1823 and 1824, we had a more successful im- migration to our vicinity. Amos Farquhar's family took charge of Fair Hill, Thomas Lea's family came to Walnut Hill and Joshua Peirce's family to Black Meadow ; they are still represented among us by hon- orable descendants. Our friend, the late Benjamin Hallowell, made his appearance among us just about this time. 1 recollect his marriage, as also those of Edward, William Henry, and Caleb Stabler, which all occurred near together, and were consummated in public at the meeting-house."'
You will notice with surprise, in the foregoing, how few families are living on the same farms now that they occupied in the early part of this century ; people, and some names have vanished from among us. as though they had never been. The venerable Mahlon Chandlee, now in his ninety-fifth year, has furnished me with a few items of interest relating to "ye olden time."
"When I first came to this farm," said he, "a young man of twenty-two, I thought there never was such a discouraging prospect ; the fields were covered with sedge, and blackberry vines, and the land washed in deep gullies. I first built a mill and sawed out most of the lumber used in the construction of the meeting- house.
"For many years I worked incessantly with no thought of taking a trip, or any recreation except an occasional day off for fishing, a very cheap amuse- ment, and I am right fond of it yet.
"We went to bed early then, and got up with the sun, and had few things to take care of, compared
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 37
to this clay. When a young man married then, he did not have to hire one or two women to wait on his wife, she did the indoor work, as he did the outdoor ;" and he added with a merry twinkle in his eye, "Cupid was more lively in those days, and marriages frequent. Dress, food and customs were all different."
"In the fall we slaughtered a beef, and this, with our pork, sufficed for the winter months. We had no fresh meats, or fish, or oysters then, but we raised a great quantity of cabbage and winter vegetables, and these, with our large store of apples, kept through the cold season. I do not think apples keep as they used to ; the climate has greatly changed. We had deep snows that hid the fences from view, when I was a boy. I well remember," said the old gentleman, "going somewhere to dine, when a young man, and my indig- nation at having placed before me a dish of stewed to- matoes, or 'love apples,' as they were then called. I thought it outrageous to offer such food, but, now, I eat them all the year 'round, and find them good and wholesome." He complained of staying in the house through the long cold winter, and said he was anxious to be out, digging and planting his strawberry bed, for he still retains his industrious habits, and is al- most constantly employed, thus securing a contented and happy old age.
Leaving now these Annals of the past, and coming much nearer the present, my first record for the year is a snow-storm, which occurred 4th mo. 9th, 1884.
Fortunately Dame Nature had been her own un- erring almanac, her buds and fruits were safely tucked under their winter bedclothes, and thus escaped a pre-
38 AXXALS OF SAXDY SPRING.
mature death. The season was exceedingly backward, cold and cloudy, and "probabilities" was evidently working up samples of weather for the whole year; April was more than half over before we realized the sap was rising, leaves unfolding, the garden must be planted, and spring work under way.
4th month, 30th, Samuel A. Janney, who had gone abroad for his health, died at Manchester, England, in his fifty-first year. His remains were brought home and buried 5th month, 22d, at Woodside Ceme- tery. The manner of his death, far from home and friends was extremely sad.
Fifth month, 1st, William Lea, had in successful op- eration the first potato-planter in this vicinity. '. ingenious machine, performed with more speed, and greater certainity, the work of many hands.
On Fifth month, 15th. At a meeting of the Insur- ance Company, the following resolutions were read by YYm. H. Farquhar, and seconded by Charles Abert, in some feeling remarks. "The Board of Direc- tors were very much interested in the morning se— in being informed by Henry C. Hallowell, that we were all in effect celebrating the golden wedding of our Secretary, Robert R. Moore, and his wife, Hadas- sah J. The one being the most faithful of officers,, well-known over the State of Maryland, the other, re- minding us at every meeting of her kindness in pro- viding us with the reviving influences of an acceptable mid-day entertainment. It is the unanimous feeling of the Board, that we should embrace this interesting occasion, to express our high respect for the parties most intimately concerned, and our hearty congratu-
ANNALS OF SAND.Y SPRING. 39
lations to them for having been spared in mutual hap- piness to a period so rarely attained, with our sincere wishes that the blessing may be continued so long as both may share."
Sixth month, 4th. A very successful spring meet- ing was held at Rockville of the Agricultural Society. Three out of four prizes for flowers were accorded our people. A great deal of farm machinery was pur- chased, and the day greatly enjoyed by a large gather- ing.
On Sixth month, 8th and 9th, with pleasant weather, and the luxuriance of summer bloom, came our Quarterly Meeting, not a very large attendance, but much interest manifested in the business affairs of the society by some of our young people.
Sixth month, 13th. Madam Nyman lectured at Stanmore on the higher education and business ca- pacity of women, an excellent discourse, delivered in a very charming manner, and meriting a larger audience.
On that same afternoon, relatives and interested friends gathered at Rockland to enjoy the closing ex- ercises of the school, and to wish God-speed to the bright young girls of the graduating class, who with diplomas in hand, fancied their school days over, when in truth they were but on the threshold of the har- der school of life. While many children from the far northern and southern states are being educated in our midst, some of our own young people have re- turned the compliment, and have enjoyed in the past year the advantages of a decided change of scene,
40 ANNALS OF SANDY KPIUXG.
climate and modes of education in northern and south- ern schools.
Sixth month, 13th. Henry Brooke, eldest child, and only son of Charles H. and Annie F. Brooke, died in his eighteenth year. Always delicate, his afflictions had been mitigated by the loving care and tenderness of his family; an ardent lover of music, and an ex- cellent student, had he lived, his mind would have been his kingdom.
Sixth month, 19th. Dr. Riggs died after a linger- ing and painful illness ; for many years he had been the faithful friend and physician of families in our neighborhood, although properly belonging to Brookeville.
Sixth month, 20th. There was a successful barn- raising at Allan Brooke's. Perhaps in no way is the progress in this vicinity more marked than in the improvement and erection of outbuildings and barns. A good farmer in providing comfortable quarters for his stock, a secure place for implements and machin- ery, is protecting himself from constant loss and ex- pense.
Sixth month, 28th. William John, son of John and Kate D. Thomas, was born.
Seventh month, 13th. Henry Hallowell, son of Roger and Carrie M. Farquhar, was born.
Our numerous visitors at this time, taking their daily walks abroad, found themselves in the midst of a busy harvest scene. The mower and ingenious self- bmder were familiar objects in many a field, and laid low the waving grain. The yield was abundant, and
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 41
labor of securing the crops very great, but the weather was extremely pleasant.
Eighth month, 2nd. Benjamin D. Palmer, junior, infant son of Benjamin D. and Mollie M. Palmer, died very suddenly and as some one has beautifully said, only the parent's heart can know how "black a shad- ow a little grave can cast."
Eighth month, ioth. An earthquake, which ex- tended from Maine to Virginia, was severely felt in many houses at the time it occurred, and more per- sons felt it perceptibly the next day, after reading of it in the papers.
On the afternoon and evening of Eighth month, 13th, nearly the whole neighborhood, and many rela- tives from a distance, met at "The Cedars" to cele- brate the fiftieth wedding anniversary of our esteemed friends, William Henry and Margaret B. Farquhar.
The occasion was truly a golden one, in every par- ticular, after the toil and sorrows that are ever min- gled with the joys of life. This husband and wife have entered together the safe harbor of a peaceful old age, their children, happy and prosperous around them, friends, young and old, gather about them, and freight their remaining years with best wishes. Truly, might be said of them :
"Their wedded love is founded on esteem, Which the fair merits of the mind engage; For these are charms which never can decay, But time, which gives new whiteness to the swan, Improves their lustre."
Eighth month, 27th. Annie Tyson, widow of Wil- liam Kirk, died after a brief illness at Jordan Alum
42 ANNALS OF SA^DY SPRING.
Springs, Virginia. Spending much of her life among her many relations here, it seems proper to insert in this history a tribute to her fine mind, many accom- plishments and unusual charity of word and deed ; she thought and said the best of every one, and this is an epitaph that few merit or receive.
Ninth month, 3d, 4th and 5th. Many of our people enjoyed the County Fair at Rockville. The weather was hot, but clear; the exhibit the finest for year-, especially of "live stock;" the attendance very large and the receipts most gratifying. Sandy Spring bore off many premiums for a great variety of products.
The summer had been so unusually pleasant, it seemed as if we should escape entirely any intense heat, but in the ninth month we had a torrid spel1 that made up for all the cooling breezes we had en- joyed previously.
On the eleventh of ninth month, with the mercury climbing up into the nineties, the Horticultural So- ciety held its annual exhibition at the Lyceum. A promised cold wave did not appear, but the exhibit did, much more complete than usual, and the oc- casion was most enjoyable.
Henry C. Hallowell, the President of the Society, in his opening address, paid a beautiful and fitting tribute to his co-workers in past years, Alban Gilpen and Wil- liam John Thomas.
Mr. Philip D. Laird, of Rockville, spoke of the im- portance of farmers making their homes so attractive, their children would stay in them, and have no incen- tive to flock to the big cities. Air. Charles Abert, favored us with an original poem.
AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING. 43
Ninth month, 18th. Dr. Augustus Stabler and Helen Snowden were married by Friends' ceremony at Ingleside. The happy couple joined our thriving Sandy Spring Colony at Lawrence, Mass., where they have established a pleasant home.
Tenth month, 14th. At White Hall, the residence of Samuel Hopkins, Joseph T. Moore, Jr., and Estelle Tyson were married according to the order of the Society of Friends.
This bride and groom, freighted with youth, hope and good wishes, came immediately to their comfor- table home at "Pen-y-Bryn," which loving hands had arranged for them.
In this month, the Plainfield families, separated since the fire, were reunited in their new house which had risen like the Phoenix, from the ashes of the old.
Long may they all live to enjoy this cheerful and commodious home, and, as the silver wedding of W. W. and Mary E. Moore was celebrated beneath the old roof in 1883, let us hope their golden wedding may occur in the present structure in 1918.
Tenth month, 23d. Agnes Hallowell, daughter of John C. and Cornelia H. Bentley, was born.
Eleventh month, 29th. Harry, son of Samuel B. and Florence Wetherald, was born.
Twelfth month, 10th. Catherine, daughter of Wil- liam and Annie W. Rigg's, was born and died in a few hours.
Twelfth month, 17th. Clarice, daughter of J. Jan- ney and Helen R. Shoemaker, was born.
Twelfth month, 19th. The mercury fell below zero,
44 ANNALS OF SAXDY SPRING.
and the beginning of an unusually cold and inclement winter was upon us.
Christmas day was bright and clear, sleighing ex- cellent, and the merry jingle of bells resounded through the crisp air, as old and young hastened to the family meeting. Many a noble turkey, that bird so often sacrificed on the family altar, met its fate that day, and left its bones bleaching on the festive board.
Xew Year's day was scarcely observed, and but few formal calls made — perhaps everybody was engaged in drafting good resolutions for the future, or turning over the proverbial "new leaf."
First month, 20th. The Lyceum was filled with the farmers of Montgomery and adjoining counties, 'who had assembled, as had been their custom for sixteen years, to compare experiments and results in Agri- cultural practice.
Henry C. Hallowell was made chairman, and Allan Farquhar and Henry H. Miller secretaries of the con- vention.
The protection of sheep, the persistence of the hog thistle, ensilage, the question of introducing foreign labor and the use of various phosphates, were dis- cussed with great interest and profit.
The reports of the several clubs were most grati- fying. The "Boy," or youngest one of all, holding its own in honorable competition with its father and grandfather. The ladies furnished a bountiful lunch, of which several hundred partook.
First month, 22nd. Walter Scott and Lula Christ were married in Baltimore, by Episcopal ceremony. A large and pleasant reception was held that evening
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 45
at the home of the newly-married couple in Sandy Spring.
First month, 23d. William Hill's house was en- tirely destroyed by fire.
The First and Second months may be fitly called the dead of winter.
The lifeless trees sharply outlined against a grey sky, the frequent storm, the piercing cold, the death- like sleep of the brown and frozen earth waiting for the resurrection and the life of spring. But who among us does not feel that at this season comes the intellectual enjoyment often denied us, when fields are green, and a thousand distracting influences tempt us to outdoor scenes. In the long winter evenings we can draw the curtains, and with bright lights, glowing fires and our favorite books, taste all the pleasures of indoor country life. We were not, however, confined entirely to that cheapest and most lasting of all en- joyments, reading, for our energetic young people had a charming entertainment at the Lyceum, creditable in every respect to the internal resources of our neighborhood. Warned, by the play of the " Deco- rative Sisters," it is hardly possible the Esthetic craze will break out in our -midst. Our fields will not now be given over to the exclusive cultivation of the sun- flower, our churns and rolling pins will be guiltless of pictures of the cattail and the lily, neither will our barn doors and fences be decorated with the emblems of Oscar Wilde, or the Alderneys' horns tied up with sad-colored ribbons.
Another entertainment at the Grange Hall, in which our young ladies participated in the becoming
46 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
costumes of the "Chocolate Girl" yielded a respect- able sum for a charitable object.
Some delightful tea parties broke the monotony. The Hon. Alonzo Bell, of Washington, gave us a most interesting and instructive discourse entitled, "The Mission of Life." And with this variety of g1ood things, the sameness of the winter months was greatly mitigated.
Second month, 23d, died our esteemed friend,. Anna Miller, in her eighty-third year. Although liv- ing in Alexandria, she was so often with us, and so closely connected with Sandy Spring by ties of affec- tion and relationship, a memorial of her is not out of place here. Her active and useful life has been as a beautiful example and sermon to all who knew her. The mother of a large family, her calm and equable temperament that was as a rock of safety to resist the storms and vicissitudes of existence. It was her hap- py fortune to grow old gracefully, and time seemed scarcely to have touched her youthful tenderness, while on her face was reflected the beauty of a noble nature and pure heart. As a queen, was she among women, the love and cafe of numerous children, grand- children and greatgrandchildren was her kingdom, their devotion her throne.
I have but few notes for March, which came in like a lion and stayed like a polar bear, and if I had kept a record of the weather it could hardly have been thawed out in time for the annual meeting.
On Third month. 18th. the household at Cloverly was stricken with its first sorrow in the death of Ag- ness Hallowell Bentlev, iust five months old. Like
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 47
an unfolded bud, in her innocent purity, she was laid away on the afternoon of the nineteenth.
"It is not growing like a tree,
In bulk, doth make men better be;
Nor standing long an oak,
Three hundred year,
To fall ia log at last, dry, bald and sere.
A lily of a day, is fairer, far, than they,
Although it fade and die that night;
It is the plant and flower of light,
In small proportions we just beauty see,
And in short measure life may perfect be."
On the evening of third month, 24th, Dr. Francis Thomas entertained a large and appreciative audi- ence at the Lyceum with a graphic account of a recent trip to the New Orleans Exposition and through the Southern States.
Fourth month, 29th. Miss Phoebe Cozzans of St. Louis, delivered at the meeting-house an address on Temperance, which was enjoyed by many.
Fourth month, 31st. Mr. and Mrs. Marlowe lost their only child, a bright and promising boy of two years. Much sympathy was felt for them in this afflic- tion.
A few more items of general interest may be men- tioned.
The crops, of course, come first as of vital import- ance to farmers.
With the exception of fruit, they were abundant and excellent, but with wheat selling at from eighty to ninety cents per bushel, and potatoes from fifty to sixty cents, it has been a most unprofitable year to tillers of the soil.
4 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
As a silver lining to this cloud ail the necessaries of life have been exceeding low. If the merchant has paid us the merest pittance for our produce, we in turn have bought his goods cheaper than ever before. Perhaps we have had as much spending money as in past years, when a load of hay sold for one hundred dollars, and muslin was ninety cents a yard.
The secretary of the Enterprise Club writes me "they are all as poor as beggars/' although one of their number raised on twenty-eight and a-half acres thirteen hundred and sixteen bushels of wheat, an average of forty-six bushels, ten pounds to the acre. The largest yield ever reported in the county.
From those farmers who make the dairy an import- ant branch, I have compiled a report; this does not include by any means the whole neighborhood, but is confined, with two exceptions, to members of the Enterprise and Montgomery Clubs.
Pounds of butter produced in the past year, 28,889, gallons of cream, 20,293.
The erection at some central point of a "creamery," has been widely discused. At no distant day it will be an established fact. The milk from all the adjacent farms will be gathered in on the cooperative system, and with the aid of Swedish separators, and modern appliances, the yield of cream will be greatly increased, and individual labor diminished.
The bank has now on deposit over 200,000 dollars, and the Fire Insurance Company has increased its risks S630.701.oo, in the past year, and now insures over $16,000,000 dollars worth of property.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 49
A number of new houses have been built at Sandy Spring, along our main avenues, and at Ashton, and these rival metropolises will soon be shaking hands, and electing the same Mayor and Common Council.
Benjamin D. Palmer and Granville Farquhar have put up windmills for the introduction of water through their houses. Edward P. Thomas has built a stable, John C. Bentley a stable, and William Lea a palatial pig palace. The new house at Plainfield, began last year, has been finished and occupied. Thomas L. Moore has built, a commodious house on a portion of Norwood farm, it is finely situated and has received the name of "Rutledge." From the fact that the young gentleman has recently made application for a ten days leave of absence from the insurance office to find a tenant for his new habitation, it is sur- mised that before many moons we will have another Benedict among us.
In the second month, a new postoffice was estab- lished midway between Spencerville and Sandy Spring, which was named Ednor, and Dr. Francis Thomas appointed postmaster. It will doubtless prove a great convenience to the forty-three families living within one mile of it.
The question of the erection of a telephone line be- tween Ashton and Rockville was agitated, but no de- cided steps taken to insure its completion.
The telegraph operator, Mr. Sullivan, kindly fur- nishes me with a full report of business done through- out the year. There were more messages sent and received in June than during any other month. Num-
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
ber of messages sent in the year, five hundred and twelve. Received five hundred and thirty-three.
The dedication of the Washington Monument, Feb- ruary 2 1st, was attended by a number of our citizens, and glimpses of this noble structure, from various points in our neighborhood, seem to connect us more closely than ever with the National Capital.
The young women of the neighborhood, not find- ing all they craved in the dozen or more societies already existing here, have established yet, another, which meets in the afternoon and adjourneth before ' ye early candle light." As it has no semblance of de- pendence on the male sex, it is properly called "The Independent."
In spite of "hard times," most of our people have enjoyed their annual trips, and some of them, like the popular magazines, start out monthly for a change of scene and air.
In the early summer, a coaching party, comprising both sexes, and including the best baby its mother ever saw, rode several hundred miles through the beautiful valleys and mountains of Virginia, and judging by an agreeable account of it, given at Olney Grange, by one of the lady tourists, this rational mode of travel should be more generally adopted by farm- ers and their families.
Two or three persons from our neighborhood have crossed the ocean, a number visited New Orleans and Florida, and many taken shorter and less expensive trips.
We have welcomed the coming and sped the part- ing of some six or seven hundred guests during the
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 51
past year, and had them with us at all seasons — a good many came on bicycles.
As the worthies in "yon old graveyard, lying low" plodded to meeting behind their safe, slow horses in bygone days — how little could they foresee their grandsons speeding over the country at the rate of ten or fifteen miles an hour on a lonesome vehicle, composed of a very large wheel, running after a very small wheel, and propelled by their own muscle ! By what effort of the imagination can we see in the next century the flying machines anchored outside the meeting-house, and when the silent hour has passed, the little boys and girls who face me now, but will face the meeting then, will mount their winged car- riages, catch the favoring breeze, and soar away home, regardless of anything but the winds that blow, and the principles of aerial navigation. Perhaps in their upward flight, your future "Historian" will have to chronicle the loss of the very last "broad brim" ever known in Sandy Spring! !
My record would hardly be complete without some mention of the presidential campaign, which engrossed the time and attention of our people in the summer and fall of 1884. With five candidates in the field, and one of them a lady on a tricycle, there was ample scope for difference of opinion, discussion, abuse and vituperation. At the time of the election returns, and uncertainty attending the count, our telegraph office was besieged by eager voters, day and night, half of whom felt sure the country would go to destruction, and they could not survive the election of Cleveland ; the other half were filled with equally dismal forebod-
52 AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
ings should Blaine prove victorious. When the remot- est county was heard from, and the matter decided, the sky did not fall. To the astonishment of every one affairs went on much as usual, and all parties helped swell the immense crowd, thronging Washington on the fourth of March, to bid adieu to the outgoing and witness the incoming dynasty.
It is pleasant to note the fact that James P. Stab- ler has resumed his permanent abode among us and Madge Miller, after several years of study, has re- turned to Sandy Spring, our first graduate from Yas- sar College.
This year 1 have counted the bachelors, and there seems to be but twenty of them all told. In spite of the general use of barbed wire fences, most difficult fee climb, several of them have escaped from our midst and married elsewhere. Meanwhile the solid phalanx of seventy-seven spinsters remains unbrok- en. If they choose to wed, what possible resistance could a feeble minority of twenty make in the face of a determined and overwhelming majority. Let us hope this band of "unappropriated blessings" will go down illustrious in the Annals of Sandy Spring as having been all needed to help the married people along.
George Washington said "Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful and most noble employment of man," and he might have added the most unceas- ing. From the "first furrow of spring, to the last stack the snows of winter overtake in the field, the farmer pursues his varying round. The sowing of the seed, the constant cultivation, the gathering of
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 53
the harvest, the storing and disposal of the crop," one duty treading closely upon the heels of the next, with cold, heat, and insect blight to be guarded against. Daily toil and eternal vigilance make the successful farmer.
If he seems to have comparatively small returns in cash for all this labor, he has at least great compensa- tion in a free and untrammeled life, and the satis- faction of accomplishing ends by legitimate means.
"Only after hardest striving- Cometh sweet and perfeot rest, Life is found to be worth living To the one who does his best."
But even after doing his best in this period of uni- versal business depression, the farmer has had his full share of embarrassment arising from the continued high price of labor and the low price of produce . It has become to many a serious question whether the land can be made to sustain the family in the present style of living, without returning to' the strict economies and privations of former days.
Taken as a whole, the year has been uneventful. But each rolling season leaves its impress on every human life and its surroundings.
To some of us, who have stood in anguish over our beloved dead, it seems that the past year has taken more from us than all the years to come can give.
In thinking what we might have done had we only known, we repeat with unavailing regret the words of the poet :
54 AXXALS OF SAXDY SPRING.
"We'll read that book, we'll sing that song, But when, oh, when the days are long — When thoughts are free, and voices clear, Some happy time within the year; The days troop by with noiseless tread, The song unsung, the book unread.
"We'll see that friend, and make him feel The weight of friendship true as steel; Some flower of sympathy bestow — But time sweeps on with steady flow. Until, with quick reproachful tear, We lay our flowers upon his bier.
"And still we walk the desert sands. And still with trifles All our hands; While ever just beyond our reach, A fairer purpose shows to each The deeds we have not done, but willed. Remain to haunt us. unfulfilled."
CHAPTER III.
From Fourth Month, 1SS5. to Fourth Month, :-
Mr. and Mrs. Warwick P. Miller and four children go to Europe — Louis E. McOomas lectured — Locust year — Sunderland P. Gardener visited Sandy Spring — Disap- pearance of Philip Haviland — Local option petition signed by 3,850 names, presented to the Legisl by Delegate Philip D. Laird — A National College to educate farmers — Obituaries of Mrs. B. D. Waters and Anna L. Moore.
When I complained a few weeks ago that items worthy of record had not been very numerous during
AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING. 55
the past year, it was suggested to me by a thoughtful friend, that most historians in seasons of great dearth, Grew on their imaginations and made "history to or- der." This might avail your unfortunate chronicler if she were writing entirely for posterity, but what loop- hole of escape is there for the wildest flight of fancy, when everything must be set down and read out in the very face of her ancestors.
There is one subject that is common to all men and women kind, it is interesting alike to country born, and city bred, it is of vital importance to the inhabitants of all climes, from the pole to the equator, and like grim death it has "all seasons for its own." Unlike other topics, this of which I speak is never out of fashion, it is as old as time, as new as this morning's sunrise.
When Adam first met his beauteous Eve, he doubt- less began the first conversation with a pertinent re- mark on the weather, and I will commence my narra- tive by following this illustrious example.
On the 8th of Fourth month, 1885, the day after the annual meeting, there was quite a severe thunder- storm and on the 10th, by the way of violent contrast, a snow-storm.
April maintained her usual fickle and inconstant be- havior and, like a veritable coquette, held winter by one hand, as though reluctant to part from icy bonds and with the other, tried to grasp the hot sunshine of summer.
Those notable housewives who hurried reluctant lords and masters into early plowing of gardens, and abated not their activity until vegetables had been
50 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRIXG.
planted, were not a little dismayed to find a thick covering of snow rewarding their premature zeal.
Everything was decidedly backward, and there was much complaint among our farmers at the tardy grass growth, as they had been feeding stock since October.
We are very apt to forget, from year to year, and to feel that the present season is the worst ever known.
An extract from a diary kept in 1843, says "the mercury in the Third month of that year, was gen- erally below the freezing point in the morning and snow fell to the depth of fourteen inches."
The first peach tree flowered at Bloomfield, the 24th c>+" Fourth month. Oats were not sown until the first of Fifth month, and finished plowing corn the 15th.
On Fourth month, 12th, the many friends of Airs. Z. D. Waters were shocked to hear of her brief ill- ness and sudden death, and on the 14th, a large con- course followed her remains to the family burial- ground so near the home her presence and care had made beautiful and happy. She was most estimable in all her relations of life, and her bereaved husband and sons had the sincere sympathy of the community.
Fourth month, 22nd. Thomas L. Moore was mar- ried in Richmond. Virginia, to Miss Dorothy Allison, of that place. A large family party went from here to witness the ceremony, and on the 28th. a brilliant reception was given at Xorwood to the bride and groom. Nearly the entire neighborhood, as well as many strangers from a distance, thronged that hos- pitable homestead to offer congratulations and good
ANNALS OF SANDY. SPRING. 57
wishes to the young couple, just entering on new and untried paths.
Fourth month, 30th. The Hon. Louis E. McCom- as lectured at the Lyceum on the Dartmouth Col- lege Case, the verdict rendered then, by the best legal talent in the country, having given precedent to all other monopolies since. He was especially severe on the selfish and grasping policy of the Baltimore and Ohio R. R. Co., and advised all farmers throughout Maryland to fight this and all other aggressive and oppressive monopolies.
April merged into May and all nature was astir with the rising sap and sudden burst of vegetation.
"Robins on the tree rtiops, Blossoms in the grass, Green thing's growing Everywhere yon pass; Sudden little breezes, Showers of silver dew, Black bough and bent twig Budding out anew; Pine tree and willow tree, Fringed elm and larch, Don't yiou think that Miay time's Pleasanter than March?"
Towards the last of Fifth month, the farmer in his upturned furrow, and the lady digging in her flower beds, unearthed a wonderful army of sappers and min- ers, the advance guard of the seventeen year locusts. By thousands and ten thousands, they crept to the sur- face, swarmed up the trees, cast oflf their shrouds, and appeared in brand-new spring suits. For six weeks
58 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
the air was vibrant with their shrill singing. While Madam Locust was busy piercing the tender twigs and limbs, and depositing her eggs, Monsieur Locust occupied all his time in musical concerts ! It is an old witticism —
"Happy the cicadas' lives,
Since they a.ll have voiceless wives,
and perhaps the extreme rarity of such conjugal bliss ought to excuse such noisy demonstration over it. Day after day the papers teemed with lo- custs.
Science, ignorance, conjecture were exhausted on the buzzing insect. Our modern savants, emulating the ancient Greeks, ate locusts fried or stewed for breakfast. Meanwhile they came, they sang, they went, leaving the forests blighted and hideous with dead and fallen boughs, and remaining as much a mystery as when the Biblical Prophet declared in holy writ, "They come like the noise of a liame of fire that devoureth stubble, and the land is, as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a deso- late wilderness." Even at the phenomenally slow rate with which unmarried girls grow old in Sandy Spring, I feel that some of us will have passed the first flush of youth when these original inhabitants of the soil return to convince us that seventeen years have again rolled over our young heads.
The spring meeting of the Montgomery County Agricultural Society, held at Rcckville, the 1st of Sixth month, was well attended by our farmers, who made many purchases of machinery and implements.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 59
Our quarterly meeting on the 9th was, as usual, large and interesting to home folks, as well as visiting friends.
Sixth month, 17th. Samuel P., son of Edward P. and Mary Bentley Thomas, was born.
Despite the inevitable croakings and the fear of a poor yield, the wheat harvest was abundant, the weather extremely pleasant, and about the 25th of the month the hum of the mower and binder almost drowned the shrill cry of the ubiquitous locust.
In this month Charles Farquhar graduated as Doctor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylva- nia, the same college that had bestowed its diploma on his father, many years before.
Seventh month, 6th. Ethel, daughter of Allan and Lottie Farquhar, was born.
Seventh month, 17th. Thomas J. Lea, of Bright- en, was married to Anna G. Wilson, of Rockville.
All the loveliness of summer fruit, flower and h.eaU was now upon us, but there was no rest for the farm- er until grass and wheat were secured, and with the feeding of hungry men, canning and preserving and innumerable other duties, indoor activity rivaled that of the fields.
Perhaps if our greatgrandmothers could have paid us a spiritual visit on one of those hot July days, and had seen the convenient little kerosene stove on the dining-room table, and noticed the comparative ease with which jellies and preserves were cooked, unac- companied by any great degree of heat to the attend- ant, they might have felt they had lived and died too- early in the present century.
60 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
Coal and kerosene are more extensively used every year among us for heating and cooking purposes, and when unsightly wood piles have entirely van- ished, a coming generation may regard the old story, '""Woodman spare that tree," a very superfluous pe- tition.
"Apples in the orchard,
Mellowing one by one,
Strawberries upturning
Soft cheeks to the sun;
Roses faint with sweetness,
Lilies fair of face,
Drowsy scents and murmurs
Haunting every place;
Lengths of golden sunshine,
Moonlight bright as day,
Don't you think thait summer's
Pleasanter than May?"
All through the Eighth month our neighborhood was full of visitors, social enjoyment was at its height. Croquet and lawn-tennis in the mornings, picnics and baseball in the afternoons, riding parties in the evenings, dinners, teas and surprises all the time, probably convinced our city friends that to "plow and sow, and reap and mow," was not the sum total of farm life.
On the 22nd of this month, a very agreeable enter- tainment was given at the Lyceum. Music, tableaux, and twenty love-sick maidens in a scene from the opera of "Patience." surrounded a weary and dis- gusted Bunthorne. Several visitors ably assisted our native talent on this occasion.
The Ninth month came in with fine, cool weather,
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 61
and the crowds who thronged the fair grounds at Rockville, on the 2d, 3rd and 4th, were enabled to en- joy the really good exhibit in comfort. The varied products of house, garden and farm were most com- plete, and very noticeable were the fine herds of Jer- sey, Holstein and Devon cattle. Sandy Spring bore off premiums from every department.
It was in this month that our esteemed friends, Warwick P. and Mary M. Miller, started on a long contemplated trip to Europe, and the privileged few, who had the benefit of their delightful letters from for- eign lands, enjoyed their wanderings with them.
Many of our neighbors who had not gone to the mountain or seashore earlier in the season, indulged in short trips on excursions to Luray and Pen-Mar.
On the first of Tenth month, Richard T. Bentley withdrew from the old mercantile firm at Sandy Spring, which his father had helped establish in 181 7.
The annual exhibit of the Horticultural Society was omitted in the Tenth month, but all the various "clubs" and "associations" were in full tide, and so frequent were the weekly or monthly meetings at the various houses, it would seem sometimes as if social visiting was lost sight of, and society merged into so- cieties.
The forests glowed with brilliant colors, crisp morn- ings and bright days invited to long walks and rides, but the farmer and his army of helpers had little time for recreation or observation of the beauties of Octo- ber foliage. From early morn till dewy eve, his one idea was, potatoes, more potatoes, and still potatoes, — his one wish that he had a "patent hinge in his
62 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
back," as he bent again and again to his tiresome task. Thousands and thousands of bushels over- flowed cellars, barns and bins, and still the plowshare perseveringly brought to light more tubers. Quantity, however, exceeded quality, and many bushels were hardly worth the gathering — frequent showers re- tarded the task, and other farm work pressed —
"John in the corn field
Pulling golden ears,
Cousin George, with hound and horn,
Suddenly appears;
Music ringing in the air,
Over woods and rocks.
Young Quakers, old Quakers,
Followers of Fox.
High — Low — and Beulah.
Chase him to his den:
Friendly hunters hold the 'brush,'
As mightier than Penn.
Chestnuts in the aghes,
Bursting thro' the rind —
Red leaf, gold leaf.
Whistling down the wind;
Housewife doing peaches
All the afternoon —
Don't you think that Autumn's
Pleasanter tha.n June?"
A large delegation of various ages attended Balti- more Yearly Meeting, the last of Tenth month, and a week or two afterwards, Sunderland P. Gardener, minister from Xew York State, who had addressed most acceptably that large gathering, preached in mid-week meeting here. His sermon was listened to with great interest by persons of all denomina- tions present.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPUING. 63
The first event in the Eleventh month was so sad that the grief and desolation of one stricken family and home spread like a pall over the entire neighbor- hood.
When I speak of Anna L., wife of Joseph T. Moore, who among us will not vividly recall the beauty of her face, her sweet voice, her cordial, pleasant man- ner and the indescribable, yet perfect charm of her lovely presence ?
Of most humble opinion of herself and unappre- ciative of her own abilities, only her intimate rela- tives and friends knew how much she accomplished in life or were admitted to the inner temple of her cultivated and well-stored mind.
When differences arose, she was ever the peace- maker, and the safeguard of a tolerant spirit sealed her lips to the faults of others. Gossip and censure were outside the exalted realm of her conscience and character.
The "pure in heart shall see God.^ A true lover of nature, she saw him always in his wondrous works, and took the keenest delight in the varied pictures presented by the changing seasons.
She had the gift of beholding the good and beau- tiful in all surrounding objects, and how often would she enjoy and comment upon the majestic approach of a storm, the exquisite tints of a fine sunset, the evening glow over the fields and woods.
With undaunted courage she submitted to a danger- ous operation in the early summer, and without one • word of repining or impatience, endured the pain and
64 AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
discomfort that followed. If the prayers and bless- ings of the gentle Catholic Sisters., who crowded about her, on the morning of her departure from their kindly care, had been answered, we would now be rejoicing in her restoration to health instead of mourning her untimely loss. She seemed to fade with the changing season and falling leaf, and it was only too apparent that human skill and care and affection were power- less to save her. With unspeakable anguish her hus- band and children, her aged mother and her friends, saw her failing hour by hour. The pale messenger had touched her with icy fingers, and she was rapid- ly passing toward that unknown country, whence none could follow.
Behind the veil of this life, there is a mystery, which she penetrated on the 8th day of Eleventh month, 1885.
The central ornament of a happy home, the devoted wife, the queen mother among her sons and daught- ers, the faithful and loving friend has gone from us forever. Her memory shall exhort, and her example shall encourage and persuade those who come after, to emulate her truth, her purity and her virtues, and to hold in sweet remembrance the fragrance of her stainless life.
"She being- dead, yet speaketh. all may hear
The messag-e left us, by her lovely life,
In deeds that live, in action's thart endure.
As friend and sister, daughter, mother, wife.
Then let not grief persuade us she is dead,
She has but left us for fairer shore,
And though her spirit heavenward may have fled <
Her influence remains f orevermor e."
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 65
Her funeral at Norwood on the afternoon of Eleventh month, ioth, was very large, and charac- terized by unusual quiet and solemnity, and on that occasion, Caroline H. Miller offered the following tribute :
It is impossible to give expression to the sense of loss experienced by the community at her death. Our hearts ache with a double sorrow, sorrow for you and for ourselves, nor can we put into words the admira- tion, almost adoration, which her heroism from first to last has inspired. The lesson of her calm courage, hei patient and cheerful endurance, her unselfish con- sideration for others, and her triumphant close will live for generations, as will the gracious memory of her loveliness and charm. Heavy as is the bereave- ment, in view of her suffering and of her speedy re- lease, let us, at least, try to say with our whole hearts
Oh, lovely and fair, we rejoice thou art there Jn the kingdom of light, with its treasures untold, Where the air thrills with joyous hosannas, and where Thou wilt never grow old, sweet, never grow old*
Eleventh month, 17th. Mary Snowden, of Ingle- side, was married in Baltimore, to Charles Warfield, of Howard County.
Christmas weather was fine and clear, and our schoolgirls returning from distant states to spend the holidays, brought their friends with them. Mas- sachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania, and many other sec- tions, were represented in the gay, young parties that gathered round the blazing yule log.
December 25th, Mary Willis, daughter of Granville and Pattie T. Farquhar, was born.
66 AXXALS OF SAXDY SPEIXG.
About Christmas, and for some weeks after, there was much excitement in our midst over the disap- pearance of Philip Haviland, a Friend living some miles away, but belonging to the Orthodox meeting here.
His wagon was found abandoned on the pike, at "Sligo," and it was generally supposed he had been foully dealt with. Numerous persons from here as- sisted in the search for him, which was continued for days without developing anything of a satisfactory nature to clear up the mystery.
First month, ist, 1886, was so balmy, so bright and so full of golden promises, the first quotation from the "Dickens Calendar," compiled by Mary- Bentley Thomas, and published by Wanamaker, of Philadel- phia, was singularly appropriate.
"We are bound by every rule of justice and equity, to give the Xew Year credit for being a good one un- til he proves himself unworthy the confidence reposed in him."
The annual statement of The Mutual Fire Insurance Company at this time showed an increase in risks of over half a million dollars above the previous year.
The condition of the Sandy Spring Savings Institu- tion was no less prosperous.
First month, 7th. The Fourteenth, and largest Farmers' Convention ever held here, gathered at the Lyceum, with Henry C. Hallowell in the chair, and H. H. Miller and Frank Snowden, Secretaries. Sev- eral committees appointed last year read reports on the subjects of "Railroad Crossings," "Protection of Sheep" and "Creameries." Ex-Governor Hamilton
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 67
made an excellent impression on the meeting, by his speech, and especially pleased the farmers of Mont- gomery by saying that their crops of last year, as re- ported in the Club proceedings, exceeded those of his own county, though in former times, in Washington County, Montgomery was regarded almost as a deso- late waste.
Resolutions were passed, instructing delegates to the "Farmers' Associations" to endeavor to have that body present a memorial to the Legislature, ask- ing the establishment of an Agricultural Experi- ment Station.
First month, 9th. A blizzard and snow-storm oc- curred, which for days necessitated travel through the fields, the roads being impassable. Wagons re- turning from Washington were abandoned on the pike. A large force turned out and opened thorough- fares through huge drifts. With more than enough snow, the sleighing was wretched and hazardous, and the most devoted husband and father thought noth- ing of upsetting his entire family several times in a short ride.
The oldest inhabitant came promptly to the front with reminiscences of the days of his youth, when he sleighed right over fences and other trifling ob- structions, and our storm sank into insignificance in the face of the superior discomforts of those "good old times.'' There was no difficulty in procuring an ample supply of ice, and it seemed thick enough and cold enough, but it was as nothing compared to the ice seen and remembered by our most ancient inhabi- tant of all. Friend Rebecca Russell, in the latter part
68 ANXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
of the last century, when the Brandywine was frozen to its very bottom.
First month, 19th. The Rev. Frederic D. Powers, of Washington, delivered at the Lyceum a beautiful lecture on "The Life and Character of James A. Gar- field."
Second Month, 24th. Dorothy Brooke, daughter of Charles F. and Corrie M. Brooke, was born.
Through January and February, it was often re- marked, we were having a real old-fashioned season of clouds, storms, and piercing winds. "As the days lengthened, the cold strengthened," and the perfect picture of winter which Shakespeare presents in two verses, in — "Loves Labor Lost," might be quoted here, turned into prose. He tells of icicles hanging from the walls ; of Dick, the shepherd, blowing on his hands to warm them with the same breath he blows his porridge to cool it ; next, Tom drags huge logs to the great hall fire. Then follows the milkmaid, with her raw, red nose, the milk frozen in the pail; wo- manlike, she pities the poor, shivering birds outside in the snow. Neither do matters mend in church where there is such a noise of coughing as to drown the parson's discourse, one aisle answering to an- other, as if the congregation were playing at catch- ing balls, instead of colds. Several of our friends were housed through the entire winter, some suffered from tedious illness, and there were more accidents than usual in the way of broken bones, and lesser casu- alties, and one narrow escape from a fallen limb, winch pinned two young ladies to the earth until, like "truth, they rose again," almost miraculously un-
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 69
hurt. With terrific winds, uprooting many a tree, and scattering unnumbered branches, February blew itself out, and another winter with all its chances for home culture, all its distinctive indoor life, its cosy comforts, its freezing discomforts was over.
"Little fairy snow flakes, Dancing in the flue, Old Mr. Santa Claus, Wh>att is keeping- you? Twilight and firelight — 'Shadows come and go, Merry chimes of sleigh-bells Twinkling- through f>he isnow; Mother knitting stockings, Pussy's got the ball, Don't you think that Winter's Pleasanter than all?"
In the Third month, the subject of "local option" was again agitated, although it was supposed by all advocates of temperance, law and order, that this im- portant question had been definitely settled at the polls by a majority of fifteen hundred.
The initiatory steps in opposing the reopening of this matter, were taken in Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting Temperance Society, and on the 12th of Third month, a number of our friends, with others from the county, carried to Annapolis petitions sign- ed by three thousand, eight hundred and fifty names . These documents were brought to the notice of the Legislature by our able delegate, Philip D. Laird, of Rockville, in a short and decided speech, that did great credit to his head and heart.
"Reports from the County Board of Health have
70 ANXALS OF SANDY SPEING.
also been presented to the Governor and Legislature, in the past year, and it is gratifying to know, that in our district, public attention to the rules of health has largely increased, and the improvement in the sani- tary condition is very marked. The people seem to be in kindly sympathy with the board, as shown by their ready compliance with official and personal requests, and by applications to the members of the board for advice regarding the surroundings and arrangements of their homes.'' On several occasions the president, Henry C. Hallowell, has delivered lectures on sani- tary science and rules of health, to large and inter- ested audiences in different localities.
On late February or early March days, attention was attracted to stalwart figures, striding over the fields, bearing a curious tin arrangement, not unlike those used to illuminate the dark and devious ways of politicians in torch light processions. On nearer ap- proach the farmer was seen to be enveloped in a cloud of fine seed, and this newcomer proved to be a patent clover-seed sower, capable of doing, in two hours, by the mere turning of a crank, the day's work of a man.
The corn-planter has also been added to our farm- ing implements, since last year, and this does the work of six men in one day.
With all these labor-saving machines, people seem to be as much pressed for time as ever.
South Carolina Rock has now stood the test of three years' use in our section, and its benefit to the soil is an assured fact; the introduction of it lias greatly reduced the price of other fertilizers.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 71
On the evening of Third month, 30th, Madam Ney- man, of Germany, delivered a lecture at the Lyceum on "Woman's Mission to Humanity." The small audience that braved the inclement weather was well repaid in listening to a very beautiful discourse, most charmingly delivered, and was greatly edified by Caroline H. Miller's introductory remarks.
The Third month completes the circle of our his- torical year, and in lieu of other items, I will note some events of general interest" that have been scat- tered through the past months.
While we have had one pleasant addition to our neighborhood in Dr. W. French Green, of Virginia, assistant to Dr. Magruder, we have sustained some losses in the removal of friends to distant states.
Clara Chalfant and family have located in Atlanta, Georgia ; Richard Magruder has gone to Massachu- setts ; Frederic P. and George H. Moore to New York City ; Mary P. Thomas to Denver, Colorado.
Miss Tillum and Miss Pierce have returned from Pennsylvania, and are keeping house near Brighton, and Katherine Stabler, after a brief visit to the far west, has established herself in a home at Ashton.
There have been several transfers of property. Henry C. Hallowell bought from Mary L. Roberts a strip of woodland adjoining Rockland.
Mrs. Mary G. Tyson and daughters are to be con- gratulated on the purchase of "Kentmore," they will soon have a pleasant, new home erected, which is to be rechristened "Marden."
Thomas Lea, senior, has bought land opposite "Springdale," and is preparing to build on it.
72 ANXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
Admiral James E. Jouett now owns "Fulford."
In extending a welcome to this distinguished officer of the navy, let us hope that when he has "beaten his sword into a plowshare, and his spear into a pruning-hook, he will be as successful in the peace- ful arts of agriculture, as he has heretofore been re- nowned in the sterner duties of war.
Our principal schools, Rockland and Sherwood, have been full and flourishing, our public schools ob- tain their quota, and Edith B. Thomas has a small school at Clifton, which may, perhaps, in the future, compare as the oak to the acorn.
Miss Alice Tyson has calisthenic and dancing classes at Rockland and Fulford. It is evident that while young ideas are taught to shoot, — young mus- cles are to be instructed in the best ways of strength and grace.
It is pleasant to note an improvement every year in various homes, as well as in outbuildings and shelter for stock.
Philip Stabler has built a fine barn. Three houses have gone up on the main avenue, and a new porch at Avon.
Sherwood Mill has been enlarged, a conservatory and other pleasant changes made at "The Cedars."
James P. Stabler has finished a very complete work- shop at Sharon.
.Although history should perhaps only deal with ac- complished facts, yet it is rumored that the long-con- templated creamery is actually in process of construc- tion as well as a new dwelling on R. Rowland Moore's farm.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 73
The ladies at Sunset and Mt. Airy are rejoicing in new conservatories.
Clifton house, like an old Friend with a modern fashionable bonnet on, has been re-roofed, and both it and Bloomfield house are looking through larger spec- tacles than ever before. The ancient, small panes of glass in the windows having been replaced by large lights, to the great benefit of the livers ; and last, but not least, Sandy Spring store has discarded its old doors, honeycombed by nails, that held in place ten thousand notices, and has blossomed out in new glass doors! With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes silk, and somebody may build a new store on to those dcors.
It would be interesting, if we could compare a full schedule of old prices with more modern ones. As one instance, I will cite, that when business began at this old store, candy was twelve and a half cents, or a "levy," a stick, and I fear that one stick went a great way in a family. Last Christmas at Sandy Spring and Ashton, about one thousand pounds of candy were sold, some of it not more per pound than was the former single stick..
While some of our citizens have added fine regis- tered Jersey cows to their herds, and have greatly increased the motive power on their farms, we have not, in the aggregate, gained in stock, as the mortality has been great, and among horses, almost unprece- dented, five having died in one week at Alloway, from d mysterious disease, supposed by some to be diph- theria.
74 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
CONCLUSION.
While some lives in our midst have been sadly and completely changed in the past year, yet, taken as a whole, it has been a comparatively uneventful period for our neighborhood. Remote from railroads, with no manufacturing interests, it would seem as if the turmoil of the outside world would not quickly effect us, yet, so intricate are the links that bind all people together in the struggle for existence, and so constant is the demand of need and supply, we are more or less dependent upon the extent of city traffic as the citi- zen is undoubtedly dependent upon the prosperity of the farmer.
In common with great corporations, and with mer- chants and shippers, we have felt the effect of the numerous strikes at the north and west, and the wide- spread war beteen labor and capital. A constant fluctuation and depression in prices and a want of se- curity in stocks and investments, has been the re- sult. When millers are boycotted, wheat falls below par. The value of our acres and their cultivation, and produce, is the grand source of liational wealth, and a large proportion of the inhabitants of our fair land are tillers of the soil ; yet they are most in- adequately represented in Congress and in our Leg- islatures by farmers, which is evidenced by the fact, that a Standing Committee on Agriculture in 'the House of Representatives has never thought it worth while even to make a report. Why should not a De- partment of Agriculture, with a cabinet officer at its head, be a natural and necessary part of government?
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 75
Why should not a National Agricultural College be established at some central point, where "cadets" from the farm would receive the same advantages of scien- tific training and education that are bestowed on the students at the military and naval academies at West Point and Annapolis?
It would seem as commendable to teach a certain number of young "husbandmen" the best methods of cultivating the ground, and feeding the world, as to instruct another set of youths in the most efficacious ways of fighting the world. Branch colleges and ex- perimental stations in every state, presided over by the graduates of the "national farm," would give a new dignity and prominence to farmers.. A sheaf of wheat, or a sickle, would look just as well on a brass button, as an eagle or an anchor.
It is a maxim of the Hindoo, that he who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater degree of religion than he could have gained by the repetition of ten thousand prayers.
One of the most immediate effects of agricultural life is, that it imparts a settled disposition, and a greater degree of local attachment ; the very method also of procuring subsistence from the earth renders the spot which is the subject of cultivation familiar, and a kind of natural gratitude for the increase tends to endear it to the mind.
In the early times of the Republic of Rome, when patriotism was more than an empty name, the highest praise that could be given a man was to say of him, that he had "well cultivated his spot of ground."
Let us hope in the historical year we are just en-
76 AXXALS OF SAXDY SPEIXG.
tering upon that not only may our land be well and profitably tilled, but that it be made to support free, of the incubus of debt, those dependent on it.
Too often the farmer is under the harrow of mort- gages, running accounts and interest money, and thus misses the peace of mind only possible to those who live in accordance with Mr. Micawber's immortal re- ceipt for true enjoyment of life.
"Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expendi- tures, nineteen pounds, six ; result, happiness. An- nual income, twenty pounds ; annual expenditures, twenty pounds, six ; result, misery.
"The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for," and with all of these, as Tiny Tim observed, "God bless us everv one."
CHAPTER IV.
From April, 1S56, to April. 1SS7.
Ktbecca Russell's 'hundredth birthday — Hall built by Brighton Grange — Poor crops — Large convention of farmers at Lyceum — Library built — Obituaries of Sarah B. Stabler, Patience H. Leggett. James S. Hal- lowell. Mary B. Hall, William Henry Farquhar, Wil- liam L. Kinnard and Benjamin H. Murry.
Our annual meeting, Fourth month, 7th, 1886, was held on a dark and stormy night, and the sensible reso- lution was offered and carried, by a comparatively small assemblv, to have the date of all future meet-
ANNALS OF SANDY SPUING. 77
ings governed by the full moon, and thus enable our people to reach the Lyceum with comfort and safety by the aid of nature's universal lantern.
In the several years I have held this unfortunate position, Dame Nature has never before permitted me to chronicle an early spring.
But, very soon in Fourth month, 1886, there was a great awakening.
Out in the orchard, under the coarse bark of the apple trees, over in the woods, beneath the rind of the birch and the maple, the chestnut, and the ash, under the dead leaves, on the hillside, where the arbutus was struggling into life, down in the meadows, where the brown grasses were brightening, out on the lawn, where the emerald was just beginning to assert it- self over winter's wear of sombre gray, without noise or friction, or any visible movement, millions of horse power was at work.
There was a stir in the grave of the crocus, the dead spears of last year's lily began to feel a gentle pres- sure from below ; the tufts of yellow grass-green blades thrust up their heads, roots of the dandelion rustled in anticipation of a coming coronation, and in every fibre of the oak and elm a force which no man may number, and no human strength resist, was marching straight upwards. The irresistible force of growth had come back to gladden the world !
The work of its sappers and miners was beginning to appear. They were pushing up their spears in meadow and field, they were climbing to the battle- ments in forest and orchard, they hovered on the hill- sides, and pitched their tents in the valleys. Their leg-
> AXXALS OF SAXDY SPEIXG.
ions were tramping noiselessly, but constantly, into the treetops — each with its folded banner.
Presently, when all had reached their stations, even to the furthest twig, there was a flutter in the or- chards, and the world awoke to find itself once more possessed with the beauty of the fragrant blossoms of the apple and the peach.
To take advantage of all this early renewal of life, gardening was commenced very soon in the season, but it was too wet to make much progress.
Fourth month, 20th. Francis Miller gave an inter- esting lecture, at the Lyceum, on the "Good Old Times," which he proved to be quite inferior to the better "New Times" we are now enjoying.
On the afternoon of Fifth month, 18th, the old meeting-house was crowded with people to witness the marriage ceremony between Francis Snowden and Fanny Brooke Stabler. A similar event had not tak- en place within its venerable walls since the bride's mother was married there more than thirty years ago. Immediately after the ceremony the bride and groom left for Niagara, and on returning from their trip set- tled at Ingleside.
In this month, Robert, Isabel and Janet Miller went to Europe, and Lucy Snowden and Lizzie Gil- pin to Minneapolis.
My record of the Fifth month is somewhat like the lament of the "Ancient Mariner," "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink."
Rains continued almost without intermission, and when it occasionally cleared, it seemed only to gather strength for another flood. The theory with some
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 79
persons, that after locust year there is always an un- usual downpour, seemed verified ; and enough water sank deep into the earth through the perforations of that industrious seventeen-year-old insect, to insure the rise of streams and springs.
On Fifth month, 25th, our esteemed friend, Sarah B. Stabler, of Sharon, died in her eighty-fifth year. Her life had been spent "far from the madding crowd," and nearly all of it at Sharon, where she was born, mar- ried and died. Although her school education was all completed within the short limit of seven months, her self-culture was so constant that few, indeed, were so thoroughly educated as she. Of a fine poetic na- ture, a keen sense of humor, and an ever-ready wit, we can all recall the pleasures of her most excellent and improving society.
Her literary ability was of a marked character, and her intimate friends were often delighted by her ad- mirable prose oir poetry, which her innate modesty and self-depreciation kept from the general public.
The poem, which was read at the dedication of this Lyceum, and the poem with which she favored us, ret- rospective of a period of twenty years, will live in our grateful memories.
She seldom went from home, except to attend the meetings of the Horticultural Society, of which she was an interested and valued member.
The cultivation of rare and beautiful flowers was her delight and recreation, and the "Roses of Sharon" were as fragrant and perfect as those which inspired the song of King Solomon so many centuries ago in Judea.
80 ANNALS OF SANDY SPEIXG.
Sheltered from every care by the devotion of her daughter, and the loving ministrations of children and grandchildren, her life flowed on to its peaceful close.
While convalescing from a severe illness in 1879, she wrote the following lines, expressing most feeling- ly her trust in a merciful Father and a future life.
"I seem to stand in waiting on the verge
Of that dividing river,
Which lies between earth's scenes
And rolls its surge
To scenes which last forever.
"Yearning to meet those friends
So dear to me,
Who have the waves crossed over,
Yet clinging fondly to the forms I see
Around my sick-bed hover.
"How shall I choose between the Angels there,
Beyond my earthly vision,
And those dear angels who
Attend me here —
How shall I reach decision?
"It is not thine to choose;
Wait, then, and trust
All to the Great Life-Giver.
The loving Father, merciful and just,
Who doth all souls deliver.
"And there I rest, with all my friends on earth,
More dear to me than ever.
With hope that T may some time
Have a birth
Tn blissful life forever."
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 81
Sixth month, 3rd. The spring meeting of the Ag- ricultural Society was held at Rockville, and four out of five premiums awarded for flowers to Sandy Spring people.
Sixth month, 9th. Patience H. Leggett died at Norwood, in her seventy-seventh year.
Coming from the State ioif New York, she had dwelt among us, as one of us, for nearly a quarter of a century, and her loving and sympathetic nature made her the cherished companion of all ages.
It was her happy fate to grow old gracefully, and to retain in a marked degree the confidence and affec- tion of the young.
The poor and needy were not only the recipients of her bounty, but of the kindly considerate word and manner so often withheld from those of humble sta- tion.
The death of a beloved daughter seemed to loosen: her hold on life, and while the untiring devotion of her granddaughter, the love and care of children and friends strove to mitigate an irreparable loss, it seem- ed she could not survive her sorrow. She was called in a moment from this breathing world, into* the great silence beyond, and died without suffering.
Few faces have been as peaceful and beautiful in the calm repose of death as was hers on the afternoon of Sixth month, nth, when a large concourse attend- ed her funeral and followed her remains to their last resting-place.
Sixth month, 12th, 13th, 14th, our quarterly meet- ing was held, with a smaller attendance than usual, but a great gain in order and quiet. A committee of
82 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
young people having been wisely appointed to en- force a correct and becoming behavior in the place of worship.
Heavy and unusual rains prevailed at this time, and our farmers, always on the verge of ruin, and generally in despair over the prospective or actual failure of some crops, were now in the depths about their pota- toes. There seemed no possibility of getting this valu- able tuber entombed.
Again and again would the potatoes, the fertilizers, the laborers, and the farmer, be grouped in the field ; again and again would the floods descend, and a sad dripping procession wind homeward, leaving the po- tato still unplanted, and many of them were not un- der ground until after wheat was cut ; meanwhile vege- tation was most luxuriant, and ill-weeds grew apace in the moist atmosphere.
In June, Mary P. Thomas, who had gone a few months previously to Denver, Colorado, on a visit, was married to Frederick Jackson, of that place, and permanently settled in her new home.
Sixth month, 20th. On 1st day afternoon, Presi- dent Edward H. Magill, of Swarthmore College, lec- tured most instructively on the subject of higher edu- cation. Many of his former pupils were interested lis- teners.
Sixth month, 30th. Alice, daughter of Alban G. and Sadie P. Brooke, was born.
Seventh month, 12th. Our esteemed friend, James S. Hallowell, died in his sixty-fifth year, at Clifton Springs, New York, where he had gone for the bene- fit of his health.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 83
In his younger days he was employed as a teacher in the school of his uncle, the late Benjamin Hallo- well, of Alexandria, Virginia. At the outbreak of the war he came to Sandy Spring and taught in the pub- lic school to the lasting gratitude of those who had the benefit of his thorough system of instruction. Af- terwards, he established a flourishing boarding-school at Fulford, which he conducted with success for some years. During President Lincoln's administra- tion he served as disbursing clerk in the postofiice department, and since that time he was employed in farming near Brookeville.
As was fittingly said of him by Henry C. Hallowell, in the minutes of the Farmer's Club:
"We all feel that a warm and generous heart has ceased to beat. A man of untiring energy, unbound- ed benevolence, and scorning what #was little and mean, he will long be remembered. His kindness to dumb and helpless animals around him was proverb- ial. Carrying grain in his pockets to scatter upon the snow, during severe winters, for the birds, or tak- ing long walks after night in town to feed and water animals turned out upon the commons to die.
"His remains were followed to their last resting place, July 14th, and sincere grief was manifested over his open grave."
Seventh month, 20th. R. Rowland Moore and Margaret G. Tyson were married at Marden by Friends' ceremony. The bride and groom went to their charming new home, "Amersley."
Our summer run of company, whose tide sets hith- erward in July, reaches flood in August, and ebbs
84 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
away in September and October was now invading and overflowing our borders. Guests arriving and de- parting almost daily by private and public convey- ances, and friends, old and new, greeting us in the highways, our homes, and at the old meeting-house.
We were thankful to have raised enough provender to satisfy the pangs of foreign hunger, and the con- stant death-cry of the spring chicken was heard in the land.
It was a pleasant fact that many of these guests were not strangers, but our own people, who had wan- dered far and wide, returning joyfully to their birth- place.
Sandy Spring is rich in outlying colonies. We have them in Washington, Baltimore and Staunton, Vir- ginia; in Philadelphia, Germantown, Swarthmore, York. Pa. ; in Xew York ; in Lawrence, Medford and Pittsfield, Mass.; Minneapolis, Minnesota; St. Louis and Weston, Missouri ; in Michigan, Denver and Col- orado Springs, Col. ; Sacramento and Yuba City, Cal. ; Atlanta, Ga. ; and the Sandwich Islands.
From the North, South, East and West, come dele- gates to tread again the paths of youth, and drink once more from the old familiar spring.
How often in this, as in every country place, has the old story been repeated.
"An old farm house, with pastures wide,
Sweet with flowers on every side;
A restless lad who looks without
The porch, with wood vine twined about,
Wishes a thought within his heart —
Oh, if I only eould depart,
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 85
From this dull place the world to see, Ah, me! how happy I would be!"
"Amid the city's ceaseless din, A man who round the world has been, Who 'mid the tumult and the throng, Is thinking, wishing, all day long, 'Oh, could I only tread once more The field-path to the farm-house door, The old green meadows could I see, Ah, me! Qiow happy would I be!' "
Seventh month, 28th. Edith, daughter of J. Janney and Helen Shoemaker, was born.
Seventh month, 31st. Anna Leggett, daughter of Joseph, jr., and Estelle T. Moore, was born.
Eighth month, 2d. An entertainment was given at the Lyceum for the benefit of a charity in Alexan- dria. Caroline H. Miller delivered an interesting in- troductory, and Henry C. Hallowell read an original poem.
Ninth month, 1st, 2d, and 3rd, the weather was most propitious for holding the Rockville Fair, which was largely attended, the exhibit notably good, es- pecially as regarded the display of stock. The pens were crowded with Jersey, Durham, and Holstein cattle, many of them thoroughbred, with imposing pedigrees.
Seventeen premiums were awarded to Rockland, alone, for various products, and many others distrib- uted among our people.
Eighth month, 31st. A severe earthquake occurr- ed on the southeastern coast of the continent, al- most destroying the City of Charleston, and giving Sandy Spring a perceptible shake.
66 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
For more than a week afterwards repeated shocks occurred in the south, many of them distinctly felt in our section.
One of the newspapers, strong on statistics, assert- ed that 27,000 women arose in af right, on the earth- quake night, convinced there was a man in the room. The strong-minded females in our neighborhood at- tributed the shaking to a dog under the bed, or the passing of a heavy wagon.
Ninth month, 9th. The Horticultural exhibit which had been omitted the previous year, was a very great success. The weather in the morning was extremely threatening, but as we have always been greatly fav- ored in that respect, the people were encouraged to bring their products of the field, garden and house, and in the afternoon it cleared beautifully. The dis- play was unusually good, and a large assembly en- joyed the show, as well as mingling with friends from all parts of the neighborhood and county.
Excellent speeches were made by the president. Henry C. Hallowell, Francis Miller, C. R. Harts- horne, John M. Smith and Admiral Jouett.
Xinth month, 15th. A very rainy day, but two hundred visitors from the neighboring Granges of Ol- ney, Liberty Grove, and Glenwood, assembled to as- sist Worthy Master Murray, of Maryland State Grange, in the ceremony of dedicating the new hall of Brighton Grange.
In less than nine months, the whole preparatory work of agreeing on plans, securing money, and mak- ing contracts, as well as the actual labor of the mason*, carpenter and painter was done.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPEING. 87
The hall is two stories, with grange room, and ante- rooms above, and public hall below, and part of its foundation rests on the site of a "chapel of ease," erected by permission of the British Government in 1758, and which was afterwards destroyed by a storm.
This was the first place of worship built in this part of the county, and the church as well as the state, was supported by a general tax on the people, which tax was paid in tobacco.
Speeches were made by Henry C. Hallowell, Mr. Murry, Dr. Hutton, C. R. Hartshorne and others, and an appropriate closing was given to the occa- sion by the reading of a historical sketch of the loca- tion of the new hall and immediate neighborhood by the Hon. A. B. David.
The soft September air or some other influence, seemed to bring the people together oftener than usu- al, in outdoor assemblies, for on Ninth month, 23rd, a large temperance meeting was held at the Lyceum, and in the adjoining grove a large audience listened, with interest and benefit, to excellent addresses, made by Frank and Caroline Miller, Mrs. Riley and Ed- win Higgins, of Baltimore, and Mrs. Washington, of Vermont.
About this time the farmer with the products of the farm all gathered, was able to sum up the profits and losses of the year, and was obliged to contem- plate the result with a face almost as long as the rest of his body.
The unprecedented rains of May, June and July had added greatly to the cost of planting and harvesting
88 ANXALS OF SAXDY SPKTNG.
his crops, while lessening their value. Hay was abun- dant in quantity, but poor in quality ; wheat, corn and potatoes were all short, and the yield of fruit less than usual. Chestnuts and walnuts were very scarce, and the most persevering schoolboy could hardly have gathered a pint of chinquapins in an afternoon. Cer- tainly it was a season wThen, if ever, the agriculturist could, with propriety, revel in gloom.
Tenth month, 19th. Charles F. Kirk and Annie Brooke were married, by Friends' ceremony, at Brooke Grove. After a trip through Virginia the young couple settled in a portion of Fair Hill house, which had been comfortably renovated for the event.
Early in this month a Good Templar's Lodge was established at Olney, mainly through the exertions of Edith Farquhar and Mary Magruder. Dr. William E. Magruder was elected Chief Templar. Its member- ship numbers eighty, and it has exerted a beneficial in- fluence.
On Tenth month, 19th, after nearly a year of sick- ness and suffering, Mary B. Hall, wife of E. J. Hall, entered into rest.
Inheriting many of the strong characteristics of her father, Roger Brooke, of Brooke Grove, she was of a most hospitable and energetic nature, and her life had been full of kindness and benevolence to all around her.
In the midst of untiring industry, she found time for extensive reading of the better class of books, and her literary taste was excellent.
Her interests were many and varied, and her cheer- fulness and humor made her a delightful companion
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 89
to old and young. Her illness had been borne with, fortitude, and no murmurs or repinings passed her lips in all the long months of utter dependence on de- voted relations and friends.
On the morning of the 21st, in the presence of a large concourse, she was laid in the family enclosure at Longwood, amid the flowers she had so carefully tended and loved.
Eleventh month, 18th. At the residence of the bride, by the Rev. John R. Cadden, Lewis W. Steer, of Philadelphia, was married to Virginia L. Holland, of this place.
Eleventh month, 21st. The barn and outbuildings at Ingleside were burnt very early in the morning. Crops and horses were destroyed, but the loss was fortunately nearly covered by insurance.
Eleventh month, 24th, at St. Bartholomew's Church, Montgomery County, by the Rev. Dr. Hut- ton, assisted by the Rev. William W. H. Laird, Charles R. Hartshorne and Ella M. Lansdale, were married.
Twelfth month, 8th. Mr. Bukofsky, our harness- maker at Sandy Spring, died after a lingering illness.
Always an invalid, his industry was marked, and he had the prudent forethought to insure his life, and was thus enabled to leave his faithful wife in comfortable circumstances.
Twelfth month, 12th. Mildred H., daughter of John C. and Cornelia H. Bentley, was born.
Twelfth month, 24th. Ernest Iddings and Miss Minnie Rust, of Washington, were married. The young couple are located at Elton.
9U ANNIAJL'S OF SAXDY SPRING.
Twelfth month, 20th. Helen S., daughter of Sam- uel and Florence Wetherald, was born.
Twelfth month, 24th. Christmas Eve, our vener- able friend, Rebecca Russell, attained her hundreth year. Many persons visited her on this memorable birthday, and enjoyed her bright and interesting con- versation ; and some time after, this remarkable old lady went out sleighing. As an encouragement to our illustrious spinster band, the most careful re- search has failed to find a married woman in this vi- cinity who ever lived to be a century old.
First month, 1st, 1887, passed quietly, with but little social visiting or formal calls.
Charles Lamb says, that no one ever regarded the first of January with indifference. "To muse and moralize upon that day is human ; but, in truth, even- day is a new year's day, and should afford a pros* pect, or a retrospect ; should be a day of remem- brance, or a feast of hope/'
First month, 23rd. Maurice L., son of Edward N. and Hallie C. Bentley, was born.
The Farmers' Convention held at the Lyceum on First month, 18th, was one of the largest and most animated ever held, notwithstanding the severity of the weather. The president, Henry* C. Hallowell, in his opening address called the attention of his audi- ence to the vast area of undeveloped land in the Uni- ted States, and the fact that the American farmer fail- ed to exercise those small economies that make, in a large degree, the prosperity of the foreign tiller of the soil. While we import eerers by the millions, and cabbage by the ship load, there is room for greater
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 91
watchfulness and care in so-called little things that make up the great aggregates.
Various committees reported on railroad cross- ings, protection of sheep, diseases of cattle, taxa- tion, agricultural experiment stations, etc. Re- ports were read by Dr. Mahlon Kirk, secretary of the Senior Club, by Benjamin H. Miller, secretary of the Enterprise Club, and Allan Farquhar, secretary of the Montgomery Club. Much discussion followed on those topics agreed upon, namely : How can we make our farms pay better? Would the adoption of the township system be advisable in Maryland? Can we lessen the acreage of corn to advantage? How much improved machinery should a farmer purchase, etc. ?
A pleasant and profitable day was passed, the in- ner man being sustained by a bountiful lunch, pro- vided by the Clubs' wives and daughters, to whom a vote of thanks was unanimously tended.
Second month, 17th. William Henry Farquhar passed away in his seventy-fourth year. He was the son of Amos Farquhar, of Carroll County, Md., and Mary Elgar, of Montgomery County.
The Farquhars were of Scotch descent, and of strongly-marked characteristics ; some of that name are prominent in naval circles, and others have been in public life. Amos Farquhar was a farmer in com- fortable circumstances, but was induced to engage in tioitton manufacturing in York, Pa., where William Henry Farquhar, was born in 1813. The venture was unprofitable, and the family returned to Maryland, and settled in Sandy Spring, when the subject of this
92 AXXALS OF SAXDY SPRING.
sketch was eleven years old, and where he ever after resided.
His devoted and helpful wife was a daughter of Isaac Briggs, a friend of Jefferson's, who appointed him to assist in surveying the then new Louisana Purchase.
William Henry Farquhar was a student from ear- liest years, and numerous anecdotes are told of his precosity and fondness for books. He completed his education, with his brother-in-law, Benjamin Hal- lowell, in Alexandria, Virginia, and afterwards assist- ed him in his large and influential school. He was de- signed for the law, but a threatened weakness of eye- sight caused an abandonment of this design. He be- came then a farmer and teacher, and was soon promi- nently identified with the educational interests of Montgomery County.
In connection with his sister, Mary W. Kirk, he reestablished Fair Hill boarding-school, where there were at one time fifty boarders.
He was the president of the board of school com- missioners, county surveyor, a civil engineer of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, president of the Sandy Spring lyceum, one of the original directors of The Mutual Fire Insurance Co., promoter of the turnpike from Ashton to Olney (af- terwards consolidated with the union pike, of which he was a director), a candidate for the State Senate, an influential member of the grange, director in the San- dy Spring savings institution, and taker of the census on two occasions. He was historian for twenty
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 93
years, the result having been given in the "Annals of Sandy Spring."
These various positions indicate the value placed upon his services by his fellow-citizens, and his inter- est in everything tending to advance the welfare of his county. His opinion was frequently sought by his neighbors, who had great confidence in his judgment.
He was a successful farmer, having, without capital, converted a barren and forbidding tract into a pro- ductive and profitable farm. His views were always rather in advance of his friends, particularly on the subject of African slavery, education, and reforms generally, but without bigotry, granting to others the liberty of opinions that he claimed for himself.
He was a forcible writer, expressing himself flu- ently with the pen, and his literary honesty was ab- solute. Always a devourer of books, with a mind well stored, yet ever with the thirst of true knowledge, ac- quiring more.
He was for half a century the intellectual center of the community. In character, he was pure and childlike, of unimpeachable integrity, of the strictest veracity, and a warm, social disposition. His pupils, scattered far and wide, retained the sincerest affection and esteem for him.
One who had known him for many years, remarked that he had never heard him utter one word that might not have been said in the presence of his wife or daughter; and with this testimony to the refine- ment of his heart, we leave him enshrined in the grateful memories of those who were made better and happier by his long and useful life.
H4 ANNALS OF SA2sDY SPUING.
The three winter months were made memorable by a succession of dark days, bitter cold, and frequent storms. The fortunate few, perhaps, fled to the cities and escaped some of the discomforts inseparable from a winter in the country. These very discomforts enable the home life to deepen. The season indoors seems just to reverse the order of outward seasons; plans gather vigor, and we bend ourselves toi the hard intellectual work of the year. The winter brings heart and mind to their full force and growth. Na- ture's winter often seems the human summer time; then spring begins to make us languid, and the busy summer of earth life brings to ourselves a pause and rest and comparative inertness.
So as nature is resting and sleeping outdoors, in- doors it is all action — hands oftener meet hands in works of service, and friends are drawn closer to friends. The book comes forth in the long evening, the story-telling begins, the fathers and mothers gather the children around their knees by the cheer- ful blaze, that blaze, itself the sunshine of old springs and summers in the far-off past.
While the citizen, in his close environment of bricks and mortar, his endless distraction, has eternal rumble and noise of teeming life and traffic, commis- erates us in our frozen solitudes, we in turn find ad- vantages in a "leisure," which Socrates says is the finest of all possessions, and in an isolation which should increase and strengthen every resource of mind and memory.
Third month, 4th. Elsie Brooke, daughter of Frank and Fannie Snowden, was born.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPKING. 95
Third month, 25th. William L. Kinnard, aged eighty years, dropped dead in his field, while plowing his first furrough in the morning.
A native of Pennsylvania, he had dwelt here many years, and was a man of integrity. He was a strong advocate of temperance, frequently speaking in pub- lic on that subject.
Third month, 29th. A tenant house on Fair Hill farm burned to the ground with considerable loss to its inmates of clothing and bedding.
Third month, 31st. Benjamin W. Hallowell Mur- ry, the bright and interesting little son of James and Bridget Murry, died of that dreaded disease, scarlet fever. His parents had earnest sympathy in this severe affliction.
On the last day of April, we did not exactly have the "flowers that bloom in the spring," but a deep snow that gave us as wintery a landscape as any we had enjoyed through the past six months.
On that evening the young ladies and gentlemen from the manor gave an excellent entertainment at the lyceum for the benefit of the library. A series of beautiful tableaux, and a well-acted play, delighted a small, but appreciative, audience with a closing scene, illustrating the sad, sad state of Sandy Spring society. The curtain rolled up disclosing a brave, but solitary youth surrounded by at least fifteen atten- tive young ladies.
Besides the Grange Hall at Brighton, in the past year, R. Rowland Moore's house was completed and occupied.
Thomas Lea built a comfortable home at Eldon.
96 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
Additions and improvements have been made at Alloway and "The Cedars," and wind mills and water introduced at both of these places and at Sunset. The old homestead at Fair Hill has almost a new interior, while retaining its outward characteristics.
Admiral Jouett has made various improvements at "The Anchorage," and it would be difficult to find the Fulford beneath the skillful changes and adorn- ments, that have beautified this pleasant home.
Our only and original Sandy Spring admiral has, with his usual generosity, started a zoological garden by the importation of a wild African pig. It is ru- mored about that no husband should be without one, for so terrifying is this uncivilized porker to the fem- inine heart, that the mandate "turn out the pig!" clears the whole surrounding county of female society, and leaves the distinguished naval officer a veritable Robinson Crusoe in an uninhabited space.
Mr. Henderson has added greatly, by expensive machinery, to his milling facilities.
Samuel Bond bought land and built a new store on the Brookeville pike, near Norbeck.
The historian's suggestion of last year, that a new structure be built to the modern glass doors of the old Sandy Spring store, is about to be adopted, and as our neighborhood has, with its usual shrinking modesty, gone ahead in so many things, we hope, when this new emporium is finished, to make Wanamaker tremble.
An important prospect which should interest all our people is the new library. The money has been sub- scribed and the foundation dug, on which to erect a
ANNAIiS OF SANDY SPRING. 97
neat and suitable building. If all the "Old Bachelors" in Sandy Spring, would rise to the occasion and liber- ally endow this good work with sufficient means to make it a real success, there is not, I feel sure, a single unappropriated blessing in the whole communi- ty who would not obligate herself to keep their mem- ories green forever.
Charles R. Hartshorne bought property from Rich- ard I. Lea, and George L. Stabler, making a con- siderable addition to Leawood farm.
Thomas J. Lea sold his farm to Edmund Boswell, and his meadow to Edward Gilpin,
Added to the fourteen clubs and societies already es- tablished, and in working order, this year has pro- duced still another, called "The Social Religious Cir- cle," for the dissemination of Friends' principles, and more thorough knowledge of the same, especially among the young.
Llewellen Massey and family moved to Staunton, Va., where he has established a boarding school.
Walter Scott and wife moved to Baltimore.
Charles Palmer, A. M., a graduate of Swarthmore College, has taken charge of Sherwood Academy. The assistant teachers are Fanny E. Hartley, Alice T> Stabler and Sarah T. Moore.
Roger Brooke graduated at the University of Maryland, and received his diploma of M. D.
The two important corporations of the neighbor- hood, "The Mutual Fire Insurance Company and The S^ndy Spring Savings Institution, show an increasing prosperity, notwithstanding the depression in farrrir ing interests.
98 ANNALS OF SAXDY SPRING.
The Fire Insurance Company had an unusual amount of losses, all of which were promptly met.
The Savings Institution has received, in the past year, over seven thousand dollars from depositors, and there is now to their credit over $220,000, in this useful institution.
"The mellowing hours of passing time" have again brought me to the close of another year's history, with its lights and shadows, its smiles and tears, its outside interests, its closer every day home-life.
I have often been asked in far off sections, if Sandy Spring was a large town, or a village, and I have al- ways said it was unique in being neither, but most emphatically a "neighborhood."
When we analyze that word, we find that "neigh- bor" is from the Anglo Saxon, signifying near or in- timate, "one whose abode is not distant," "hood" is from a word signifying, state or degree. Therefore, neighborhood means a close community of near or intimate people living on adjoining estates. Burke says there is a "law of neighborhood that does not leave a man perfectly master on his own ground." and certainly we are so closely connected here, by the ties of kinship or of friendship, that we are greatly de- pendent one on the other, for nearly all the comforts and good cheer of life. The joys and pleasures of one household are shared by many, and especially when sickness or death spreads its anxiety or distress over one family, all stretch out the helping hand, or offer words of sympathy and love.
I have heard that in all the rope used in the Brit- ish Navy, there is woven a bright red strand, so that
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 99
wherever an inch of it is found, it can be recognized.
Would it not be well for all our people, either by birthright or adoption, to cultivate a certain pride of neighborhood, a standard of moral and mental ex- cellence, a forbearance and charity for each other, that should be the red strand, the prominent trait whereby we might be indentified as Sandy Spring people?
The traveler tells us, that over the triple doorways of the Cathedral of Milan, there are three inscriptions spanning the splendid arches.
Over one is carved a beautiful wreath of roses, and underneath is the legend, "All that which pleases is only for a moment ; over the other is a sculptured cross, and there are the words, "All that which trou- bles is only for a moment;" underneath the grand central entrance in the main aisle is the inscription, "That only is which is eternal."
Each year we gather some of the roses of life and in- hale their sweet fragrance, and we are called upon at times to taste the cup of sorrow and to pass under the rod.
Each day we should practice truth, and affection and charity, for these indeed are alone eternal.
100 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
CHAPTER V.
From Fourth Month, 1887, to Fourth Mouth, 1S88.
Baseball and excursions — Long-, cold winter — Terrible blizzard, roads blocked — Moncure D. Conway and Mrs. Zeralda Wallace lectured — Five railroads projected — Obituaries of Mary Wetherald. Francis Miller and Elizabeth Fowler.
If a nation is happy and fortunate that makes no history Sandy Spring may be considered among the blessed in the past year.
My notes were indeed few and far between, and when I began to amplify them I determined to peti- tion in future to be allowed a poet's license, the im- agination of the novelist, or the erratic fancy of the modern advertiser.
The historian is forbidden to paint the lily white, or to gild refined gold ; strict veracity, the narrow limits of unvarnished truth, must make the narrative of any value.
Facts have indeed been "stubborn" things to deal with since the world began, and unless my good friends and neighbors before me will consent to fur- nish me with extraordinary deeds or wonderful achievements, I am compelled to offer them year after year the same old hash, hoping for a little variety in the seasoning.
Even the spring of 1887 was one of those average seasons that refuses to be commented on. We were
AXXALS OF SANDY SPKING. 101
not amazed by a premature outburst of vegetation, nor made weary by long waiting for the first green leaf. The grass grew, the trees budded at the usual time, in the usual manner; and usual things, as every one knows, are prosaic and uninteresting.
The 12th of Fourth month, 1887, was, however, a delightful balmy day, and on that afternoon many relatives and friends from this vicinity, and from New York, Baltimore and Richmond, assembled at Nor- wood to witness the Friends' form of marriage cere- mony between Mary L. Moore and Jos. W. Tilton, of Jenkintown, Penna., where the young couple went to live.
Fifth month, 18th. Walter Thomas, of Baltimore, was married by Episcopal ceremony to Mary Elli- cott, at her home, Brooke Meadow.
In this month, Madam Neyman lectured at the lyceum, on "woman's suffrage," in her intelligent and interesting manner.
Sixth month, 4th. Henry Tyson, son of R. Row- land and Margaret G. T. Moore, was born.
Many strangers attended our Quarterly Meeting, the second week in June. An unusual proportion of young people were present, srood order and quiet pre- vailed, and it was a season of social and religious en- joyment to all.
Rainy and unseasonable weather continued through this month to the detriment of outdoor work, and the dismay of the farmer, who was, however, thereby provided with his customary grievance, and enabled to blame the elements in his peculiar and time-honored fashion.
102 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
Charles Dickens, who knew as little about the tiller of the soil, and made as few allusions to country life, as almost any other author, said : "The Farmers ! it is surprising how much ruin they will bear, every sea- son is the worst season known."
The Seventh month was characterized by extreme heat, the mercury ranged persistently from 900 to ioo°, day after day, and week after week, until ex- istence was merged into a vain endeavor to keep cool. Many of our inhabitants fled away to mountain or seashore, and safe in their temperate zones, could hardly credit the scorching letters and red-hot postal cards sent them from home.
Nine of our young ladies determined to have va- riety without money and without price, and to secure change of scene where no other change was needed, so they camped in an unoccupied house, at the junc- tion of our two great rivers, the Hawlings and Pa- tuxent. For a week they enjoyed, to the full, the pleasures of a female republic, the excitement of liv- ing from hand to mouth, and doing their own cook- ing, and the visits of one hundred and ninety-eight guests, only those being expected to stay to meals who had prudently brought their provender with them, after the fashion extant in some cities in Ger- many, where the self-invited visitor is followed by a servant, bearing the requisite meal, a veritable "Dutch treat."
Numerous gentlemen thronged the camrj, presum- edly with the laudable object of discovering how little a girl could live on.
Breaking camp and crossing the river on the re-
AiKTNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 103
turn home was not unattended with adventure, the waters having risen to such height these fair dam- sels had to be carried over the flood after the manner of "Coming through the Rye" in Scotland, but un- fortunately your historian was not present to mentally photograph the result of the portage.
Eighth month, 13th, after a painful and lingering ill- ness, Mary Wetherald died in her seventy-sixth year. Her long life had been replete with the unvarying round of domestic duties, and while she seldom went beyond the confines of her home, or neighborhood, she was a persistent and intelligent reader, and an ex- cellent French scholar, and the best society the world afforded came to her in the shape of books.
She might, with truth, have repeated the words of an English lady, who wrote many years ago, "Here in the country my books are my sole occupation, my sure refuge and solace from frivolous cares. Books are the calmers as well as the instructors of the mind."
Perhaps that person is most missed from the home circle, whose life has been passed closely within its limits, and her inseparable companion and sister had much sympathy in her loss.
Eighth month, 31st. Catherine, daughter of John and Kate V. Thomas, was born.
If "piety is the blessing of the house, hospitalitv the honor of the house, cleanliness the ornament of the house, contentment the happiness of the house, let us hope the numerous visitors that thronged San- 'dy Spring, in August, found all these desirable characteristics within our homes.
Riding parties, tea companies, baseball matches,
104 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
excursions to the Great Falls of Potomac, to Wash- ington, and Mt. Vernon, were the order of the day. A very successful entertainment, consisting of tab- leaux and music, was given at the Lyceum, and if we could not rival the variety of city amusement, we were at least enabled to give our guests something differ- ent from what the town afforded.
Our gardens, fortunately, yielded abundantly but it was almost the worst fruit year ever known. Some orchards did not produce a single peck of apples. Peaches were a memory of the past, and the berries and small fruits were very few and of inferior quality.
Ninth month, 17th. Benjamin H. and Sarah T. Miller celebrated their silver wedding. Over two hun- dred persons, many from a distance, assembled at their pleasant home. Mt. Airy, and enjoyed a memor- able occasion.
Like the sudden blighting of some rare flower was the announcement. Ninth month, 21st, of the death of Anna Leggett, infant daughter of Jos. T., jr., and Estelle Tyson Moore. Xamed for her grandmother, this lovely babe had been the center and solace of a bereaved family all her little life. Her perfect health, her winning ways, her rosy, sparkling face, had en- deared her to many hearts, who shared the anguish of her parents and relations in this great and unex- pected trial.
"Her limit of life was brief, 'Twas the red in the red rose leaf. 'Twias the gold in the sunset sky. 'Twas the flight of a bird on hifrh. Yet she filled her cradle's space
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 105
With such a perfect grace, That the reel will vein all time, The gold through long years shine, The birds fly swift and straight, To memory's open gate."
Although we have many good Samaritans who la- bor within our borders, we have not sent many mis- sionaries to foreign lands, but in this month, Wor- thington Waters, son of our friend, Z. D. Waters, went on a religious mission to China, and Lucy Faw- cett started for India, but being unable to accom- plish this long journey, returned homeward as far as Halifax, where she now has charge of an orphan asylum.
On 4th day afternoon, Tenth month, 5th, Joseph T. Moore and Eliza N. Bentley were married by Friends' ceremony at Bloomfield. The lady in this instance went to live in the old homestead, which her great-great-grandfather, Richard Thomas, built for his son Samuel Thomas, about 1751 .
Tenth month, 22d. Walter Lea and Lucy Snow- den were married in the church at Olney, by Episco- pal ceremony, Rev. W. H. Laird, officiating. The bride and groom left immediately for New York City, where they will reside.
Seventy persons, old and young, attended Balti- more Yearly Meeting, Tenth month, 29th.
It was an interesting occasion from the fact that the old Lombard Street Meeting House had been sold, and before another year Friends, would be in- stalled in a new building erected in quite a distant section of the city. A number of the older couples*
106 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
in our neighborhood were married in this meeting- house in Baltimore, as was then the custom, such ceremonies being now almost universally performed at home.
A long, hard winter seemed to come on us in Nov- ember, and to abide with us for many months. Storms were frequent, cold often intense, and clear, sunny days most rare. With coal stoves for warmth and comfort, an open fire or two for beauty and senti- ment, with an amount of clothing our ancestors would have deemed entirely superfluous, we were enabled to defy the icy touch of the cold and cheerless winter.
Christmas often unites those whom distance severs, and was enlivened this year by many festivities in hon- or of the return home of our Sandy Spring girls and - from school and college.
First month, nth. Ulric Hutton and Alary Jan- ney were married at Black Meadow by Episcopal ceremony, Rev. Orlando Hutton officiating. Many handsome presents were received, and the young couple, after a northern trip, located on a farm near Brookeville.
Second month, 2d. After a painful and lingering malady, which excited the sympathy of all, our es- teemed friend and neighbor, Francis Miller, passed away, in his fifty-ninth year.
Born in Alexandria, Virginia, he graduated at Yale in 1852 and removed to Stanmore in 1858, and es- tablished a successful school for boys at that place; afterwards, he studied law under A. G. Riddle in Washington, and practiced his profession in that city,
AiNNAIiS OF SANDY SPRING. 107
and at the time of his death was employed on many important and lucrative cases.
From 1877 to 1885 he was assistant United States attorney for the District, and took high rank as a lawyer of talent, learning and courage.
He was actively instrumental in having Congress remove the toll on the Seventh street road from Washington to Sligo, and argued before the com- missioners of the District for making 2,000 pounds a ton.
He was the third president and director of the San- dy Spring Lyceum Company, lectured repeatedly in its hall, and first suggested a historian.
He was one of the twenty-six gentlemen who met in 1868 to incorporate a savings bank, and became one of its directors, which position he soon relinquished, owing to duties in Washington, and was reelected di- rector in 1884, which office he held at the time of his death.
He was a true friend of the colored race, a sincere temperance advocate, a firm believer in woman suf- frage.
He was one of the most widely-known and earnest republican workers in Maryland, and was almost in- variably a delegate to the county and state conven- tions of his party. He several times ran for office, al- ways leading a forlorn hope against a democratic ma- jority.
In 1881 he was nominated for chief justice of this district against the late Judge Ritchie, and was de- feated by a very few votes.
In 1885, he ran for Comptroller, and in November
10S ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
last, was republican nominee for Attorney-General, and endured the wearying journeys and exposures of a campaign while a fatal disease was sapping his en- ergies and shortening his life.
In speaking thus fully of his public career, I would not lose sight of his private excellence. Those who were nearest to him can testify to his untiring devo- tion and kindness to wife and children, and the cheer- ful and pleasant characteristics of his home life.
One associated with him politically said, "The years had brought to him, what ought to be the fer- vent prayer of us all, to find, at the close of the long struggle with ourselves and circumstances, a disposi- tion to happiness, a composed spirit, to which time had made things clear, an unrebellious temper, and hopes undimmed for mankind."
His funeral, which occurred on Second month, 4th, a most inclement day, was largely attended by his neighbors, and many relatives from a distance.
Among other tributes offered to his memory was the following feeling one from his life-long friend and brother-in-law, H. C. H.
"There is an unwritten law that at times like this any one from a full heart may pay a tribute to de- parted worth. I have known our dear friend and brother intimately from earliest childhood as student, in social intercourse, in business relations, and in double ties of marriage, and yet have I never heard him utter an impure word, 11 r known him speak or act a falsehood, nor do a selfish or mean thing.
"Of commanding intellect, and much learning, he was srentle as a child. Earnest in his convictions, and
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 109
forcible in expressing them, he was ever open to the admission of truth. Speaking but little of serious things, he yet had a deeply reverential nature, and showed his religion in his life. His aim was to do his duty here, and he would be the first to reprove us were we to let this great shadow darken our lives.
"We look abroad, and though desolation rules the scene, and the landscape is chilled with snow, we know that the flowers will bloom again, and the for- ests be clothed with beauty. So we must again let sunshine into our hearts and go upon our daily rounds, purified and ennobled by our sorrow, making others happy, and becoming happy ourselves by un- selfishly ministering to those about us.
"During the long days, and weeks, and months, that our dear brother lay in the toils of a fatal disease, his example was teaching us lessons of patience and cheerfulness.
"Some of us who are comparatively well at times repine at temporary ailments, and are impatient and fretful to those who are near and dear to us. While our dear one was literally starving to death, when even the glass of milk failed to* nourish, or pure water to be retained, while he would see others going to seat themselves at the table, covered with the delica- cies of the season, and tempting to the palate, never once was heard to utter a murmur of complaint or a word of repining. His whole desire seemed to be, during the heavy hours of suffering and waiting, to save trouble to his attendants, and to keep them in heart. Appreciating every attention, flashing at times those little pleasantries so familiar to those in-
110 ANNALS OF SANDY SPKING.
timate with him, he slowly drifted away, his great intellect unclouded, his great heart untouched.
"But thirty-six hours before he died he wrote with his own hands a coherent and connected letter.
"Before leaving his beloved home to seek medical advice he remarked he was prepared let it terminate as it might. Was not such a life fitly rounded by such a death ? Is not such a life worth living, such a death worth dying?"
About this time in February we had a week of good sleighing to vary the monotony, and everybody took advantage of this mode of easy transit to pay their social debts in the way of calls, with no certainty of finding anybody at home.
At Easter, Second month, 22d, Guion Miller and Annie Tyler were married at the residence of the bride's brother by Friends' ceremony.
The young couple went to house-keeping in Wash- ington, where kind friends had arranged their rooms for them.
In the latter part of February several good hus- bands in our midst, whose example is worthy of all emulation, went to Florida on a pleasure trip, taking their wives with them. They returned delighted with the land of flowers and sunshine, and Asa M. Stabler gave an impromptu account of the experiences of the party, one evening at the Lyceum, to an audience that was waiting for a lecturer who did not appear.
Third month, 6th. Margaret, daughter of William and Annie Hallowell Riggs, was born.
On ist day, Third month, nth, a great rain storm, which had started from California the previous week,
ANNALS OF SANDY SPEING. Ill
swept through the southern and western states, and had travelled up the Atlantic Coast, deluging the country and gathering fury in its path, encountered a cold wave in our latitude, and we passed in a mo- ment from a steady downpour to a howlng blizzard of wind and snow.
For thirty-six hours the storm raged, until the toads were blocked by huge drifts; the mercury fell nearly to zero, and the piercing air, filled with icy par- ticles borne on the gale, made it almost dangerous to brave the outside tempest. The mail was carried on horseback four days before the Laurel road was pass- able for vehicles.
While we were fortunate in suffering only incon- venience from the storm, in many sections farther north, people lost their lives in the great drifts. Trains were delayed for many hours, a milk and food famine was threatened in the cities.
New York was cut off from the outside world, ex- cept by Atlantic cable, and had messages from Bos- ton by way of London.
"The Washington Star," was issued entirely with- out telegraphic news.
Business was prostrated, and the "oldest inhabi- tant" was too young to remember any storm like it before, and all the inhabitants, both old and young, were entirely satisfied that Dakota should hence- forth and forever keep her blizzards at home.
Just seven days after this severe cold the mercury stood at 72 °, the snow had disappeared like magic, we had a sharp thunder-storm, and a discriminating flash of lightning struck the dome of the capitol at Wash-
112 AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
ington, causing the house and senate to rise simul- taneously without waiting for a motion to do so, and even disturbing the serene dullness of the Supreme Court.
There are, of course, many ways of interpreting this incident, but it must be pointed out by the historian that under no republican administration was a warn- ing of the elements called for.
March gave us weather enough to have furnished Mark Twain with another "Collection" equal to the assortment he once found in New England.
At Falkton, Dakota, Third month, 14th, Ella, daughter of Caroline Scott, was married to Olen Gus- tavus Reineger. Another example of the extreme danger of our young ladies going west, if they wish to remain single sisters.
Third month, 18th. Mary Gillingham, daughter of Joseph T., jr., and Estelle Tyson Moore, was born.
Third month, 26th. A memorable meeting of the "Horticultural" was held at Brooke Grove, and the quarter centennial of the society celebrated.
Margaret B. Magruder furnished a comprehensive history of the twenty-five years since the fi st meet- ing was held at Francis Miller's suggestion.
Edward Farquhar sent a short poem so good, as far as it went, that everyone regretted its brevity.
H. C. Hallowell, the president, read a very beauti- ful original poem, in which the salutary effects of the work the horticultural has accomplished on our hearts and homes was pointed out, and very touching allusions made to the valued members, eight in num-
ANNALS OF SANDY SPEI\(i. 113
ber, who had passed into the higher life amid the ever-blooming gardens of Paradise.
Sixteen families now belong to the organization, two having resigned, and the interest in the meetings seems unabated.
It was particularly gratifying to all that the vener- able Sarah B. Farquhar should have braved the in- clement weather to meet with us.
On the evening of Third month, 27th, a large audi- ence assembled at the Lyceum, in a pouring rain, to listen to a very delightful and instructive lecture from Moncure D. Conway on "The England of To-day."
Third month, 29th. Elizabeth Fowler died sudden- ly in her sixty-sixth year.
This industrious and estimable Friend was the main- stay of orphan and widowed nieces, and it can, with truth, be recorded of her life, "She hath done what she could," before she folded her tired hands for the long sleep.
She was buried at Woodside cemetery, on the 'af- ternoon of the 31st.
In the last week of March many of our people went to Washington to attend the "international council" of women. This was a brilliant assemblage of femi- nine wit, wisdom and grit.
Representatives from India, from different countries of Europe, and from all over our own broad land, met in conclave to discuss all philanthropic subjects, and to note the progress made in the past fifty years.
Women ministers, doctors, editors, lawyers, presi- dents of colleges and the woman master of Vineland Grange, and women workers representing hundreds
114 AiN"NALS OF SAXDY SPBING.
of crafts now opened to female industry, had their say with startling emphasis and freedom.
The history of the world can furnish no similar event where thousands of wives, mothers and sisters met in behalf of temperance, education, morality and equal rights of citizenship for all women, as well as all mankind.
Fourth month, 5th. Airs. Zerelda Wallace, dele- gate from Indiana to the international council at Washington, gave us a very fine address at the Ly- ceum on "Woman Suffrage," as effecting the tem- perance cause.
This wonderful old lady of seventy-one years spoke with all the logical fluency of a lawyer, and all the vim of youth, and made addresses on four consecu- tive days at Ashton, Sandy Spring, Olney, and High- land, and on 1st day spoke in meeting in the morn- . and at the Friends' circle, in the afternoon. She i; the stepmother of Gen. Lew Wallace, author of ''Ben Hur," and the original of the beautiful mother character, depicted in that famous novel.
The most important improvement in our midst in the past year is the completion of a neat library building opposite Sandy Spring postoffice. Alary Fowler has been appointed librarian. Many new books have been added, the old volumes gathered to- gether again, and a renewal of usefulness and inter- est is at hand.
The library- was established nearly fifty years ago by W. H. Farquhar. Richard T. Bentley, Caleb Stab- ler and others, and the books were kept in a room ad- joining Sandy Spring store. A few years ago they
ANNALS OF SANDY SPEING. 115
were moved to Sherwood school, and are now in a suitable, pleasant place, accessible to all.
The present generation, with its daily papers, fre- quent magazines, book clubs almost a surfeit of lit- erature, can form little idea of the pleasure and bene- fit the few hundred books, comprising the library, were to the generations gone or approaching middle age. It was certainly very solid, mental food offered to old and young alike, and I distinctly remember two very small girls, some thirty-five years ago, who were told, that if they would carefully peruse the several weighty volumns of Agnes Strickland's "Queens of England'' they might, as a reward, read one novel, the "Lamplighter," then just published ; no other work of fiction since has ever had just the same flav- or as this first taste of forbidden fruit.
Henry Ward Beecher said, "How still and peaceful is a library. It seems quiet as the grave, tranquil as heaven, a cool collection of the thoughts of the men of all times, and yet approach and open the pages and you find them full of dissertations and disputes ; alive, with abuse and detractions, a huge many volumed satire upon man, written by himself. What a broad thing is a library ; all shades of opinions, reflected on its catholic bosom as the sunbeams and shadows of a summer's day upon the ample mirrors of a lake. Books are not made for furniture, but there is noth- ing else so beautifully furnishes a hou^e; the plainest row of books is more significant of refinement than the most elaborately carved chair or sideboard."
Books are the windows through which the soul looks out. Children learn to read by being in their
116 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
presence, and a little library, growing larger every year, is an honorable part of a man's history. It is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life."
What an excellent thing it would be if some parti- cular date in the year could be set apart, like a feast or a saint's day, for returning all borrowed bocks to their owners !
There is a law in Japan, that on a certain day. if just obligations remain unpaid, the creditor can re- move the front door of the debtor and retain it until the debt is liquidated. If this custom prevailed here in regard to borrowed books how many of us would have the use of our own front doors at this very mo- ment?
Your historian's suggestion that some one should build a store to the new glass doors, that seemed al- most a youthful impertinence en the face of the time-honored structure at Sandy Spring, has been acted on, and a convenient and commodious building has arisen by, and on the old foundation.
An addition and change of front has altered Gid- eon Gilpin's house into a picturesque cottage.
Outbuildings and shops have been erected at Philip Stabler's and J. T. Moore's junior.
Two rooms have been added to the house occu- pied by Samuel Wetherald, at Ashton, and Admiral Jouett has still another attraction at the "Anchora: in the shape of a conservatory. Let us hope in the very distant future he will be the healthiest and finest cen- tury plant to be found in it.
Mary, Annie and Alice Stabler, have purchased
AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING. 117
Maple Grove near Brighton, and rechristened it Glad- wyn.
R. Rowland Moore bought land adjoining Amer- sley, from Frederick Stabler.
As though last year's exodus of mankind was not sufficiently depressing to the numerous girls left be- hind them, I have to chronicle still other departures this year:
Richard I. Lea has gone to Doylestown, Pa., to take charge of a fancy farm, and Joseph Gilpin has gone to Atlanta, Georgia, to live.
George B. Miller, after many months at home and in health resorts, seeking a cure for a distressing mala- dy, returned to his situation in St. Louis, and with commendable spirit and determination, although still on crutches, resumed his business activity.
In Buckles' comprehensive work, the "History of Civilization in England," occurs this sentence : "It is not merely the crimes of men which are marked by a uniformity of sequence, even the number of mar- riages annually contracted is determined not by the temper and wishes of individuals, but by large gen- eral facts. It is now known that marriages bear a fixed and definite relation to the price of corn, and in England the experience of a century has proved that instead of having any connection with personal feel- ings they are regulated by the average earnings of the great mass of the people, so that this immense social and religious institution is not only swayed, but is completely controlled, by the price of food and the rate of wages."
Xow if this be true of corn in England, may it not
118 AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING.
»
also be true of potatoes in Sandy Spring, and perhaps
the unusual number of marriages recorded in the past
year is all due to the 70,000 bushels of potatoes raised
in this vicinity in 1887.
"Xo more of your nonsense About oysters and fishes, And puddings and dumplings And delicate dishes — But give me the thing That is more to my wishes — I mean a good Irish potato.
"The Dutchman contented, Will sit at his ease, To feast upon sauerkraut, Smearcase and cheese — But who in his senses Would meddle with these
When he could get a good Irish potato?
"The Yankees may praise Their sweet pumpkin pie, Their pork and molasses Together they fry; But all such strong food I gladly pass by,
To dine upon Irish potato.
"The Buckskins with pride
May Tauntingly boast
Of their fried and their bodied —
Their baked and their roast —
But, oh, how insipid
The dainties they toast,
When compared to an Irish potato!
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 119
"When you see a damsel With cheeks like a rose, And eagerly courted By Sandy Spring- beaus —
Without hesitation you straightway suppose, She was raised upon Irish potato."
Apart from the large yield of tubers all other crops were poor, and, as the lamentations of Job, was the perpetual cry of "hard times" among the farmers, I must not omit, however, the immense quantity of rag- weed gathered by our enterprising friend, Charles Stabler. He not only cut all on his own place, but early and late his mower might be seen operating on his neighbors' farms, until every ill ragweed growing apace was laid low.
He informs me that he found this new and original product excellent for bedding, and that sheep eat it readily.
We now have five railroads running through and around us, — on paper.
No. i. — From Washington to Frederick.
No. 2. — Narrow gauge from Sandy Spring to Washington.
No. 3. — Extension of Catonsville short line to Rockville by Ellicott City.
No. 4. — Extension of the Harrisburg and Gettys- burg, from Gettysburg to Washington.
No. 5. — Narrow gauge from Laurel to Olney, un- der charge of Montgomery club.
Though the ground has not yet been broken, or the stock issued, or the president elected, where there is so much smoke, there must be some fire, and perhaps
120 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
in the near future, our only difficulty will be to know which line to patronize.
Those who are not presidents of the various roads, can be directors. Free passes will abound, the iron horse will draw our produce to market, our farms will soon be converted into town lots by this net- work of rails and we will become a suburb of Wash- ington.
After many false alarms, and years of weary waiting, we will have an embarrassment of riches, and perhaps find ourselves in the trying position of that pious col- ored brother, who prayed fervently in a season of drought for rain to make his cabbage grow; pres- ently a flood descended and washed them all away, when he again fell on his knees and said, "O Lord, I did not ask thee for a flood, but only a gentle drizzle, drizzle."
I have heard that time never passes as swiftly as when one has a promissory note to pay, and I can testify that this record of the year has much the same effect.
The days, weeks and months, between the annual meetings, glide*by with lightning rapidity, and find me again confronting you wth a sinking heart and a promissory note in my hand.
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "There is nothing on earth that keeps its youth, so far as I know, but a tree and truth," and history may be compared to a grow- ing tree with its roots firmly embedded in the past; its sturdy trunk to the great events of life, birth, mar- riage, death, its limbs turning and twisting, crowding one upon the other, sometimes growing out of all
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 121
symmetry to catch the light ; these are the circum- stances that surround and mould us, the tiny twigs and canopy of leaves ; these are the occupations, the comforts, the pleasures, the harmonious whole of life and its record. The flower and the fruit are our deeds, without which all else is of little value.
Great men and great deeds are but few in the world's history, and the annals of a country neighbor- hood must deal largely with little things.
Like the "tree and truth, " while my chronicle is always growing older, it is ever renewing its youth in those small events which make up, year after year, the sum of existence.
We must bear in mind that while "trifles make per- fection, perfection is no trifle, and unless the little things are well dome, the broken thread, the dropped stitch here, and there, will mar and finally destroy all the beauty and utility of the web and woof of life.
"Great deeds are trumpeted.
Loud bells are rung,
And men turn to see
The high peaks eeho to the pean's song,
O'er some great victory;
And yet, great deeds are few —
The mig'htiest men
Find opportunities but now and then.
"Shall man sit idle
Through long days of peace,
Waiting for walls to scale?
Or lie in port until
Some golden fleece
Lures him to face the gale?
122 AXXALS OF SANDY SPBXNG.
There's work enough — why idly, then delay His works count most Who labors every day.
"The bravest lives are those to duty wed,
Whose deeds, both great and small
Are close-knit strands
Of one unbroken thread,
Where Love enables all.
The world may sound no trumpet,
King no bells,
In books of life the shining record tells."
CHAPTER VI.
From Fourth Month. 1888, to Fourth Month. 1- -
Barn and outbuildings burned at Belmont — George Ken- nan, Moncure D. Conway and the Rev. J. S. Kieffer lectured — Many transfers of property — Obituaries of Henry Pierce, Sallie Lea, Mary L. Koberts, Mrs. Wash- ington B. Chichester. Mary Lea Stabler. Elma Paxon, John H. Strain, Sarah B. Farquhar. William S. Bond, Margaret B. Farquhar, Rebecca Russell and Deborah Brooke.
All men and all women have their antipathies. James 1st could not look upon a glittering sword, Roger Bacon fainted at the sight of an apple ; and blank paper, about March and April, fills your "his- torian"' with antipathy and melancholy apprehension.
There is an all-pervading sense that the "Annual Meeting" is approaching. I feel it in the March winds. I know it by every expanding bud and grow- ing grass blade.
AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING 123
As the full moon of April rolls nearer, and nearer, I become more and moire depressed with the knowl- edge that my two or three pages of notes must ex- pand into the year's history, that many sheets of blank paper must be filled with a suitable narrative to offer to my audience of friends and critics.
Fourth month, 26th, 1888, Henry Pierce, a very old resident of Sandy Spring, died in his ninetieth year. He had been an "old line whig," in later years an ar- dent republican, and, despite age and infirmity, voted when opportunity offered.
Fifth month, 4th. Our Friend, Sallie Lea, passed away in her seventieth year. For a quarter of a cen- tury she had been a helpless invalid from a painful malady contracted while nursing the Union soldiers in the hospitals, during the war of the Rebellion, but from her sick-chair she wielded an influence not often accorded to the well and active. She kept house al- ways, and welcomed her numerous visitors with un- failing cordiality and interest in the outside world, which they brought to her.
Her patience and cheerfulness, under severe phy- sical affliction, was a sermon and example to all.
Her keen sense of humor, her terse and original modes of expression, her hatred of all affectation or sham, her extensive knowledge of books and more especially of human nature, made her an agreeable companion.
She delighted to impart to the young her taste for French, Italian, and other foreign languages, and she was a teacher all her invalid life, which seemed full of physical and mental activity and a persistent indus-
124 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
try that defied the iriroads of disease.
She contemplated and talked of her release from suffering as the most desirable change that could oc- cur, and death came to her as a beneficent friend.
was laid to rest in the lovely, shaded grove in Woodside cemetery on ist day afternoon. A very large concourse assembling to attest the universal affection and esteem in which she was held.
ixth month, 7th. Donald, son of Charles F. and Annie Brooke Kirk, was born.
We only had three or four clear days in May, and my note-book records a weary season of pouring rains and a vain effort to get our gardens fairly started. tie we could not follow the old rule, ''to sow dry and to set wet." everything seemed to sprout and grow with astonishing rapidity, and the yearly miracle of returning vegetation was all the more wonderful from its suddenness.
The last of Fifth month, William W. Moore was
: as delegate to the prohibition convention at
Indianapolis, and later in the season was nominated
by his party as a candidate for the United States.
House of Representatives from this district.
Sixth month. 5th. Elizabeth F., daughter of Ed- ward and Annie Gilpin, was married by Episcopal ceremony, at her home, Walnut Hill, to Nathaniel B. Hogg. jr.. of Western Pennsylvania. The house was so beautifully and profusely decorated it was called the rose wedding. The young couple left immediate- ly for Brownsville, Pennsylvania, their future home.
Our quarterly meeting. Sixth month. 9th, was smaller than usual, but greatly enjoyed.
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 125
Sixth month, 18th. Mary L. Roberts died in her seventy-seventh year. The devoted friend and com- panion of her latter years prepared, by request, the following tribute to- her memory :
Longfellow has said,
■tv
"Lives of great men all remind us, We may make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time."
But the life of this good woman, whose early sub- mission to the divine will when under affliction, her self-denial for the welfare of others, her noble chari- ties and deeds of benevolence, all attesting her great worth, was truly sublime, and she has left "footprints on the sands of time" worthy to be followed by any wishing to attain true excellence of character.
Her indomitable courage and strength of purpose were evinced when her father had sustained a severe loss by fire. She, though lame, and only in her eigh- teenth year, came to the rescue and prevailed on her parents, John and Eliza Needles, to allow her to open a "notion store" in their parlor.
There she, with the aid of a younger sister, estab- lished the business that has gone on increasing for more than fifty years, and is still known in Baltimore as the firm of John Needles & Son.
It was in this little store she first met B. Rush Rob- erts, who afterwards became her husband, the sharer of all her joys and sorrows, her helper in every good work.
They were married in 1836, a union resulting in un-
126 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
alloyed happiness, they living together in the utmost harmony for over forty years.
She often related to her young friends contemplat- ing marriage the following incident. She had ex- pressed a desire to have certain things she deemed necessary in housekeeping. When her husband's busi- ness had prospered sufficiently to admit of greater outlay, he told her to make out a list of such articles as she wanted, and he would get them, as he was now able to gratify her wishes. She said, "I have been thinking over the matter and find there is such a dif- ference between wants and needs, I have decided we do not need anything, and our wants could never be supplied."
Another instance of her sound judgment and com- mendable economy : Denying themselves luxuries, while young, enabled them to be generous in after years, and often when aiding some good cause she would say, "this is the ice-cream we did not eat, or the rides we did not take."
Having no children, they contributed largely to as- sist in educating the children of others, defraying each year the expenses of one or more girls or boys at some good school.
This generosity was continued after her husband's death, as long as she survived him.
Her benevolence knew no station, sect or color, as the destitute around her could testify to her daily charities to them.
They moved to Sandy Spring from Baltimore in 185 1, where they, together, dispensed the hospitalities of the Sherwood home to their numerous friends,
AXXALS OF SANDY SPRING. 127
thus radiating happiness from their own hearts to give happiness to others.
For years after the death of her husband in 1880, she seemed crushed by this great bereavement, but at length, by her reliance on the ''everlasting arms," she became resigned to the separation, being satis- fied of a reunion in the life beyond the grave.
During the long and painful illness, which preceded her death, she was seldom heard to complain, and when her sister remarked to her, "I think thee is bet- ter today, and hope thee will soon be well," she said, "either way, it will be all right," thus showing her perfect faith in the "Divine love."
When she became reconciled to live, it seemed then as if she was fitted to die, and enter into the spiritual fruition of her hopes.
I will close this tribute with a few extracts from the various written and published testimonials to her worth.
From the Daily Local News, of West Chester, Pa., I copy the folowing:
"The charm of her manners and loveliness of dis- position, endeared her to a wide circle of loving and admiring friends. At an earlier period of her life she was regarded as a writer of no mean ability, having prepared several published memorials of deceased Friends, as well as other articles of considerable merit."
From the "minutes" of "The Woman's Associa- tion," of which she was the originator, "she might al- most be called the mother of this society ; by her death a link in the chain which bound us together has been
ANNALS OF SANDY SPUING.
broken. Her place is vacant in the meeting, in the as- sociation, and in the family circle, and we who have felt the influence of her pleasant smile, and kindly words, realize that we have lost a friend and counsellor whose example we might follow.''
From a tribute by Alpheus B. Sharp, in "Friends' Intelligencer," the following:
"From the time I entered their house, a boy and perfect stranger, I felt at home and happy, nor can I recall a single incident that gave me the slightest pain. In the years that have followed, scarcely a day passes that I do not recur with pleasure to my life there, re- calling many pleasant things prompted by her kindly thought for her family. It is useless for me to refer to her great value in the Society of Friends, of which she was a devoted member. I was one of her boys, and I cannot pass her death by without some ex- pression of my regard. Friends, relatives and the public have lost in her one not easily replaced."
E. H.
In this month, Charles M. Iddings received his diploma as Doctor of Medicine, and joined his father in practice at Sandy Spring.
Sixth month, 19th. The Chicago convention met and this district sent Benjamin H. Miller as delegate.
The heat of the political contest was only exceeded by the heat of the weather, swiftly followed by fires and blankets, as the contestants and atmosphere cooled off, — but from this time until November, the people talked, the papers teemed, the very air was electrified with one subject, the merits of high and low tariff, of "free trade" or "protection." Life-long republicans
ANNALS OF SANDY SPEING. 129
announced their intention of voting for the demo- cratic candidate, old Jackson democrats hastened in- to the republican camp. Some remained on the fence hoping that safety and salvation lay in not voting at all or getting down on either side. A few said they wished Mrs. Cleveland was married to General Harri- son.
When the election returns flashed over the wires, an astonished republican party found themselves victor- ious, a still more amazed democratic constituency were obliged to acknowledge defeat.
So doubtful had seemed the issue, and so numerous were the bets upon it, that even in our quiet com- munity, some persons paid the penalty of indiscreet wagers. Soon after the decisive day in November, on a certain evening, various triumphant republicans were wheeled in wheelbarrows from Ashton to Sandy Spring and back again, while Squire Fairall drew in a wood cart his staunch republican neighbor, Gideon Gilpin, and James B. Hallowell tried the efficacy of the cold water treatment on Louis Stabler.
Some soaking rains incommoded the farmers the latter part of June and their minds were filled with the firm conviction that the wheat would rust, or sprout in the "shock," and when very little damage was dis- covered they forgot all their unhappy predictions.
Seventh month, ist. Washington B. Chichester suffered severe bereavement in the death of his wife, and his family felt keenly the loss of a most devoted mother.
For many years this estimable lady had been promi- nent, socially and in the Grange. Dying while still in
130 ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
the prime of life, and full tide of usefulness, her loss extended far beyond her domestic circle.
In this month came our hottest days and nights, and those who could, sought cool retreats in the mountains or where "salt breezes blew." Some went down to the sea in ships, but words are inadequate to describe their sufferings, or the eagerness with which they trod the land again.
Some years ago, a writer, whose name was probably "anonymous." published a thoughtful article, fully il- lustrated, on that old and vexatious question of "How To Keep The Boys On The Farm." Your historian does not now recall much of this able paper, except the pictures, of which there were several.
One of these represented the boy, whom it was thought desirable to keep on the farm, confined in a burglar-proof room, with heavy bars on the win- dows and so forth. The author argued that there was nothing better to keep a boy away from the tempta- tions and snares of city life than this.
Another picture showed the boy with a stout chain passed around his body, and the other end of it fas- tened to the stove. This was highly recommended for making boys feel attached to the farm.
Still another, represented the boy placed in an easy reclining position, and a considerable pile of stones heaped on his legs. The writer clearly demon- strated that there was nothing which had a greater tendency to make a boy "cling to the old home- stead." Now this author may have written some- what in a spirit of levity, and while his plans are novel in theory, they do not seem entirely practical, and I
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING. 131
have never heard of any of them being put to actual use in our neighborhood.
Still, it is becoming a subject of serious import to your historian, while she is compelled to chronicle each year the departure of young men from our midst, and yet, parents and guardians seem to have no difficulty in keeping their girls at home.
It would be too harrowing to count up the number of those ''gone, but not forgotten," in the past, and I will confine myself to this year's report.
George B. Farquhar joined our Sandy Spring Colo- ny in Roanoke, Va.
Joseph Gilpin went to Baltimore to live, William Iddings to Doylestown, Penna., and Douglass Miller to Hampstead, Carroll County. But with all these de- partures, we have had some arrivals.
Dr. Augustus Stabler and family returned from Laurence, Mass., to live at Roslyn, and the Doctor has resumed the practice of medicine at his old home.
Seventh month, 31st. Mary Lea, wife of Henry Stabler, of Roslyn, died in her sixty-sixth year.
She had been for a long period a confirmed invalid and sufferer. Although confined to her room, her great energy enabled her to superintend her house- hold affairs, and to interest herself in all matters per- taining to the garden and farm. Her mind was bright and active to the last. She was buried at Woodside cemetery.
Elma Paxon, an inmate of Home wood, also died on Seventh month, 31st, aged seventy-four years, while visiting relatives near Philadelphia.
Her father was a member of the Pennsvlvania Legfis-
132 ANXALS OF SANDY SPEING.
lature for many years, and she doubtless inherited from him her marked literary and political tastes. One of the last efforts of her active mind was to write an essay on the Constitution of the United States.
This cheerful, entertaining old lady was gr