The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1861-09-16
CHE pailp fireman.
MONTPELIER, va,
MONDAY, SEPT. 16, 1861.
From the Seat Of War.
CORRESPONDING OF THE FREEMAN.
CAMP LYON, GEORGETOWN, D. c.,
Sept 10th, 1861.

CAMP LYON, GEoRGETOWN, u. C.,
Sept 10th, 1861. !
EDITOR OF FREEMAN-Sir "A descrp
ton of the country which we are now occu
pying, its institutions, manners, customs anc
inhabitants, may afford your readers some lit
tie qualification. There are many things rel
ative to all of the above subjects that have
passed under my observation that 1 could no,
heretofore narrate, as my military duties alb
sorbed my whole time and attention. But
have been for most three weeks confined prin'
cipally to my room by sickness, but ain no.
convalescent, and find some leisure on my
hands. am more inclined to record some
Of these incidents and descriptions from the
fact that have been myself very mach in
error in regard thereto, and presume most of
our Northern friends arc in some degree in
the same condition. have seen the country
up and down the Potomac for fifty miles or
more, and have penetrated, at different points,
some ways into the Interior, and have had a
fair chance to see and judge Of the matters of
which l propose to write. Ny error was, that
had sadly over-estimated the country itself,
its institutions and inhabitants, and more than
all, its progress in general improvements, and
other things tending to the comfort and hap
piness of community. One would have a
right to suppose that the country along the
banks OF the Potomac, certainly in the imme-
date vicinity Of the great National Capital
would exhibit some OF the evidences of i'm
provement and advancement in agriculture,
and in the more important pursuits OF life.
In this however, he is doomed to be disap-
pointed. We often say that such place is
forty years behind the times. 1t may be said
Of this country that it is one hundred years
behind Ia New England, and generally in
Of our principal towns or cities throug the
suburbs, and SO along into the country for a
few miles, and particularly if those towns Or
cities arc situated on rivers OF any considera-
Bile size we naturally expect to see fine and
highly cultivated farms with beautiful lawns
and meadows uxuriant with the burden Of
their abundant vegetation, and the hill-sides
tcemlpg with hocks and herds, with horses of
superior blood and style quietly grazing on
their fertile slopes, while the hum of industry
from the fields and the workshops suggests to
the traveller the activity of the hive that pro.
duces the honey. Again, The Northern trav-
eler eehods as he passes from town to town,
erected in quick succession and In such close
proximity as to give the country in many pla-
ces the appearance OF a continuous village
dwellings of the most comfortable and sub
stantial kind, accompanied with corresponding
outbuiIdings and often the dwellings pre-
sent to the eye Of the behoder architectural
skill and proportions that have come down
from classic ages and oriental lands. 1t is
no uncommon thing to find dwellings intended
for farming purposes, containing chaste de.
signs from the Doric, the Ionic, the Tuscan
and the CUrin hian, and in many instances
combining some Of the whole under the more
useful or the composite order of architecture.
We also find at the crossings Of almost every
road, and so interspersed between at frequent
intervals, the school house, free to all to enter
and obtain competent education for most
practical business pursuits; and as often lis
at every three crossings, towers aloft an Acad-
envy or Seminary, at which there Is no telling
how many things may be learned. And then
again our public roads and highways are of
the most substantial kind, and all leading
somewhere or to some place. Our churches
also are among the noticeable things indica-
ting refinement and advancement in the right
direction. Again, our vehicles, and indeed
all sorts of mechanical implements, remind
the traveller Of the advancement Of true Yam
kee enterprise. A thousand other things
might be named with which to draw contrasts
and comparisons with this Southern land, but
the above are sufficient for my purposes Now
for the comparison.
There are no fine meadows or lawns on
the banks of the Potomac and other streams,
for the reason that these rivers have no banks.
Inquire of one of the natives the way to
reach the banks of the Potomac, atany place
except where roads have been worked to it,
and he will give you a scrutinizing look in
the outset to see if you are crazy. But, after
satisfying himself that this is not the case,
he concludes you are Yankee, and will do
the best he can to direct, giving you informa-
ton something like this: Go up the river
three miles, till you come to the head of
creek that hero runs between you and the
river, then follow down on the point Of land
inside the creek, till you come to where there