The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-08-20

fnan once hurried from Eastern Nlf&1n1n BY
these alarms. He describes the panic, On
those occasions as being intense. The roads
were filled with fngitiyes, dying from the
ruthless foe, and as he assembled the Blue
Ridge his way Was almost blocked up by nan
| ic-stricken families, which he yatnly enIIea-
vored TO stop GreenwaY Court. itself was
| threatened ut one time, and Lord Fairfax took
the field, under Washington, with trooo of
cavalry; and it is not improbable that 1t may
| be said OF him, as has been often said Of de.
| ceased patriots, that he araised and euuipupd
| 1t at his own expense, Eastern Virginia
sympathizcd deeply with their distressed
deal to help them. company called ssf;sn-
tlepaan Assotiafors'' {!l. 100 strong under Pey-
| ton Randolph, Attorney General, turned out
with great zeal and spirit. and immense popu-
lar effect but wasted their fire in preparation
and OH the march. Washington dryly OBJ
served Of them, in q letter to Governor Dim
widdie, II am heartily glad you fixed upon
these gentlemen to point ont the places for
erecting forts; but regret to find their motions
so siow.s These incursisns, which were sud-
| den, and followed by retreats almost as sud-
den, were checked after time, when, through
Washington's energy, the nest Of French and
burg. was broken up.
Alas, how little do the present generation, in
the midst of peace and plenty-secured for
them by the heroism and fortitude OF their an
cestors-appreciate the trials and hardshipF of
the age of which / writei During this very
period of Indian incursions and massacres,
that, properly arranged and described, would
form volume of the most thrilling interest
When q boy, l was often fondled upon the
knee of a fine old gentleman, remarkable for
his large and manly figure, and the bland and
gentle expression of his features, whose his
tory was connected with the events of that
day. Among the crowds 'fiying from the In
dians' during one of the alarms, was the
mother of this venerable man. She gave birth
to him in the open air, on the top of the Blue
Ridge, and confiding her child to a kind
hearted German and his wife--her companions
in fiight--sbe died, and was buried up there
His foster parents raised and educated her
child. His father, with little band, had gone
forth, upon the alarm, to drive back the ma
rauders, and was killed. This incident wGs
characteristic of the times, but bore no COM
parison to the terrible nature of hundreds of
others that shocked and terrified the country.
l will conclude this letter with an interest
ing extraCt from Irving, touching the closing
hours of old Lord Fairfax, the loyal and no.
BILE old gentleman. In this extract Irving in
troduces q quaint q notation from the reverend
historiographer, old Parson WEEMs. I had
the pleasure of seeing this remarkable old
gentleman when was but child yet re-
member him as though 'twere yesterday, he
having stopped some days at my fathers. He
was then on his way to South Carolina, be-
lieve to gather material for his life of Marion,
aud travelled in a stick-gig, drawn by black
horse, slightly raw-boned, who had much of
the leisurely dignity and good nature of his
old master, whom he had no doubt drawn SO
long as TO acquire MS udDllS ana taStpS.-
Horses will do that. The venerable parson,
though an exceedingly amiabie and affable
man, was evidently fully impressed with his
importance as an author He carried with
him in his gig box number Of his works, in
Guiding q series of pamphlets called looking
glasses. They were THE Gam bler's Locking
GLASS; ssThe Drunkard's Looking Glass, . etc
Upon the title page of the last named was the
following poetry, by way of motto:
''Ah! brandy, brandy, bane of life,
Spring of tumult, source Of strife r.
Could but half thy curses tell,
The wise would wish thee safe in hell ~
These he distributed in his Journey. They
were illustrated with wood cuts, which were
thrillingiy interesting to my young mind, and
which thought We're magnificent But they
must have been rough indeed at that day
Thus travelled the venerable historian from
Maryland to South Carolina. Kind, good old
gentleman, who mixed up so much innocent
fiction with the facts of history. But to the
extract:
way Court, Washington searly friend and pa
| tron, with whom he had first learned to follow
the hounds, had lived on in green old age at
his sylvan retreat in the beautiful valley of
| the Shenandoah; popular with his neighbors
and unmolested by the Wings, although frank
and open in his adherance TO Great Britain.
| He had attained his 92d year when tidings of
| the surrender of Yorktown wounded the ma
| tional pride of the old cavalier to the quick
| and snapped the attennated thread of his ex-
istence. So at least records in holneiy prose
and verse, areverend dhistoriographer of Mount
| Vernon, {Weems): When old Lord Fairfax
| heard that Washington had captured Lord
| CJrnwalis and all his army, he called to his
| black waiter: Come Joe! carry me 10 bed
| for ii is high time for me To diet
| Then up rose Joe, all at HE word.
And took his master arm,
And thus To bed he softly led
The lord OF Greenway Farm.
| "Then oft he called on Britain name,
! And oft he wept full sore;
Then sished-'Th WILL oh Lord, be DONE,
And word spake never more
TRAVELLER.
p. S.-If you will stop numbering my let
| ters shall feel much relieved. They are slip
| shod things. which hope you think better OF
| than do. They have neither beginning, con-
| tinuation nor sequence. L.
| Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.