Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-06-05
date "billets" of from dozen to forty or nfty,

date 90 billets" of from dozen to forty or fifty,
and also among the hotels. The mass of the
excursionists marched up to that point preceded
by the band, and escorted by thousands of citi-
zens OF the town and surrounding country.
Long before mid night nearly all of us were
comfortably in bed By day-break this morn
ing the streets of Chilicothe were alive with
people, the strangers sightseeing, and the Chill
icothians and Ross county farmers vieing with
each other in ministering to the comfort and
enjoyment of the vast throng of their guests.
Full fifty vehicles were placed at our dispo-
SAL in which parties were constantly rushing
around in every direction through the gracefully
foliage-draped, well built and cleanly streets,
and to various points from which the architec-
tural and typographical celebrities ef the vicin-
age were to be seen to the most advantage
Among those points is the Mountain House on
the Bellview estate, nearly a mile back of the
main portion of the burg. 1t rests on the brow
of steep eminence, 800 feet high, overlooking
every building in it, and full twenty thousand
acres Of highly cultivated plain, apparently as
level as dining table, and as fruitful as any
in the world, through which the Scioto sweeps
on its serpentine course, visible at least thirty
miles, and the Cleveland and Portland Canal,
alive with the animation Of its heavy trade,
stretches out before the beholder as far as the
eyes scope.
The back ground to the right and left Of this
magnificent picture are the little mountains
bounding this richest valley of all the great
West, among which the eye is instantly arrested
by Mound Mountain, on whose top is perched
one of the SO far inscrutablc relics of long de-
parted race, mentioned at some length in my
last. Logan's Mountain, too, fifteen miles off
soon forces itself upon the attention of the be-
holder by its picturesque sabient points, and
the graceful ununiformity of its proportions.
Upon its side Lord Dinwiddie, guarded by a
hardy band of Virginia's ante-revolutionary
colonists, held the council with Logan which
| Jefferson has made so famous through the brief
| speech the great American statesman put in his
mouth, replete with elOquence, 80 touching as
that it is hardly surpassed by any of any age,
of which a record or tradition remains with
present walkers of the earth
| Nothing in this magnificent coup d'9H more
delighted me than the estate of Dr. Arthur
watts, SO well known to all familiar with the
! progress OF the land, from Maine to Louisiana,
In the improvement of American stock Con-
slsting of thousand acres of the choicest land
IN the Scioto Valley, and Immediately adjoining
the town, its every dividing fence, cottage, or
chard, garden spot and herd lay spread out at
my feet, smiling, as it were, in unruf1led con-
tentment with Its over-share of the bounties of
Providence, duly made available by mans sa-
! gacity and industry. The Stars readers know
well that my soft spot is just such sight as
my eye was then resting on-just such a sight
OF all sights in the world. was particularly Gu
rious to see this farm, for its propretors fame as
successful importer and selecter lin England)
Of short-horns is perhaps unequalled by that of
any other of the numerous wealthy and iudi
| ciously ambitious American gentlemen who, in
similar way, have exerted themselves for the
substantial advancement of the over shadowing
interest OF our common country The elegant
hospitality Of his refined and highly cultivated
family, scattered with a profuse hand. is. by
the by, scarcely less renowned among the cul-
tlvated of the older States who have had occa-
sion to come to this region during the last quar-
ter of a century
ChlllcOthe Is famous for its extensive distil-
leries, Its iron boundaries, its schools, churches
and private mansions, the homes of extensive
land holders many Of whom, as in the case of
DIR. Watts for instance, cultivate estates won
by the services of their own ancestors in the
Revolution. 1t is the county seat of Ross coun
ty, the Virginia military land district of Ohio
Ihe hrst cabin OF the white man was erected
upon 1t in 1896, and conyersed with one of its
citizens, still hale, energetic and vigorous, who
| settling there sturdy youth in the following
year, has seen its every change, from hunting
ground familiar only to the Indian, to its pres
ent condition of high cultivation, great mechan-
ical and business facilities, general diffusion of
| education and refinement, second to that of no
other part OF the globe. Its first settlers were
| Virginia revolutionary officers, their sons and
neighbors, followed shortly afterwards by Penn
syiyanians, imbued with all the fraternity for
| VIrginians that ruled the minds Of the men of
their colony at the close of the war of independ
ence. Such were almost exclusively the fathers
Of its present generation of active American
born citizens.
1t Is not wonderful, therefore, that its man.
nerS and customs almost cheated me into the
momentary delusion that was hundreds Of
miles east of the Ohio, enjoying the frank and
courty hospitality Of their cousins german Of
tide water Virginia On gala day The influ-
ence OF the character and spirit of the founders
OF this 50 remarkable society to meet north
west OF the Ohio: is no less marked in its con-
tlnued steady refusal to bow before the Molocb
Of Aboiitlonsm, the fell destroyer now gnawing
30 steadily at the vitals of the Union. 1t cpi
observation-disclosures the first capital lin 1902
OF the State; the residence, in times past, Of
those sturdy pioneers and chivalric gentlemen.
Governors Tifin, Macarthur and worthington
who each in his turn welded Ohio's chief ma.
gistracy in her earlier days.
may not forget to mention, also, that the
leaders Of the gallant band who first settled
here were Col. Mathew Massie of the Piedmont
country, and Col. Watts, of Bedford, both Of
whom bore conspicuous parts in Virginia's
share of the contest that tried mems souls
and that it is now the residence of Ex-Govern.