by no means an type of the confusion and riot which the most sordid and paltry passions may produce in the moral world when suffered to gather up and in the system as i have introduced this narrative to make my reader acquainted with the merits of the relative to the boundary line it is necessary that i should inform him that when my grand uncle first entered upon this project of the mill he immediately opened a with mr his neighbor � who was at that time the proprietor of the � for the purchase of so much of the land or rather of the marsh which lay eastward of the apple pie branch as was sufficient for the projected mill dam i have already told my readers that the branch itself was the dividing line between the two estates and consequently my grand uncle was already in possession of all westward of that line in his communications with mr on this subject he unfolded his whole scheme and without the least difficulty obtained the purchase he desired there were several letters passed between them which stated the purpose contemplated and the deed that was executed on the occasion also that edward hazard of swallow bam it to be a matter of great importance to the good people on and using the lands in the of the stream of water commonly known and called by the name of the apple pie branch that a convenient and serviceable mill adapted to the grinding of wheat and indian corn should be constructed on the said apple pie c and also that the said edward hazard having carefully considered the capacity fall force of water head and of the said branch for the maintenance and supply of a mill as and being convinced d of the full and perfect fitness of the old mill the same for the purposes the said transferred o a full title to so much of the said land as it may be found useful and necessary to occupy in the accomplishment of the said design c the said edward hazard paying at the rate of one pound current money of virginia for each and every acre thereof by this conveyance the western limit of the was removed from the channel of the branch to the water edge of the mill pond as soon as the same should be created my grand uncle after the failure of his scheme could never bear to talk about it it fretted him exceedingly and he was sure to get into a passion whenever it was mentioned he swore at it and said a great many harsh things for i am told he was naturally a passionate man and was not very patient under contradiction he would not even go near the place but generally took some pains in his rides to avoid it when they told him that the storm had carried away the dam he broke out with one of his usual odd kind of oaths and said he was glad of it it was a preposterous � he must have been under the influence of the moon when he conceived it and of satan when he brought it forth and he rejoiced that the winds of heaven had every monument of his folly besides this he said many other things of it equally severe the date of this of the old gentleman was somewhere about the middle of the last century the ruin of the mill is still to be seen its roof has entirely disappeared a part of the walls are yet standing and the shaft of the great wheel with one or two of the attached still lies across its appropriate bed the spot is with trees and forms a pleasant and serene picture of quiet the track of the race is to be traced by some obscure and two remain showing the of the dam a range of light the old mill grows upon what i presume was the edge of the mill pond but the intervening marsh presents now as of old its complicated of water plants amongst which the at its season its beautiful flower and throws abroad its rich perfume before the period of the war paid the debt of nature the present proprietor his eldest son inherited his estate old edward hazard figured in that momentous le and lived long enough after its close to share with many gallant spirits of the time the glories of its triumph the son of his old friend preserved a position in the contest and being at heart a thorough going the intercourse between him and the family at swallow bam grew rare and the political principles of the two families were widely at and in those times such differences had their influence upon the private associations of life still it is believed and i suppose with some foundation for the opinion that the good offices of my grand uncle secretly exerted and without even the knowledge of mr had the effect to preserve the from � the common misfortune of the in the war an affectionate remembrance of his old friend and the youth of the successor to the estate at that time being imagined to have edward hazard in this of kindness my grand uncle very soon after the peace was gathered to his fathers and has left behind him a name of which as i have before remarked the family are proud amongst the monuments which still exist to recall him to memory i confess the old to me is not the least its history has a bearing upon his character his ardent zeal his sanguine temperament his public spirit his odd and that dash of comic humorous the old hill ness that i think has reappeared after the shifting of one gen in j ed i accordingly frequently go with ned to this spot and as we stretch ourselves out upon the 