The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-04-22
Correspondence
LETT Frs FROM VIRGINIA.
No. go.


One of the prophets, Messrs. Editors, or
some other gentleman, in the Good Book,
tells of walk about Zion" and surely,
with such an illustrious example, | may,
without proclamation, record Il Walk about
Havre de Grace. My last letter left me
standing ON the top of Tom Browns hill,
looking over the quiet village at its base,
with feelings not unlike those perhaps ex-
perienced by the Prodigal Son, when his
fathers mansion broke upon his VISION
am now in town, and if not, as IL cant
phrase has it, with pocket full ofrocks,"
certainly with those thrilling and grateful
emotions which stir the blood and warm
the heart of the wanderer who, at the far
ther end of life's pilgrimage, treads anew
the paths of his childhood, and listens
again to the music of the waves that SCUM
ded his first lullaby.
Havre de Grace, since my first knowl-
edge of it, has "spread itself like Il green
bay tree" but is still, as John Randolph
once said Of the Federal city, "a place Of
magnificent distances" 1t is the largest,
and broadcast, and greenest, and stillest,
and prettiest, and leceleSt place have ever
wandered over; with as many people, as
many houses, as big river, as placid a
bay, and as beautiful scenery as any village
in all this broad land
Thus much for the place IN general, now
for few particulars DIR. Hopkins, John
B. Coale, William Morgan and Henry
Moore, were the only ancient acquaintan-
ces with whom | met, though there are
doubtless Others whom l had forgotten :;
for, be it remembered, altho' my loose feet
had danced over nearly every square inch
of ground within its limits, | was less than
ten years old when | left it, and that being
somewhere near SO years ago, cannot, of
course, have very vivid or accurate recol-
lections of the men and incidents of that
distant period. But some of these are
stored away back in memory, and often
stand out with distinctness and fresh
ness absolutely astonishing to myself The
features of some of the older citizens are
indelbly enstamped upon the tablet of
memory, and | sometimes imagine that
see them exactly as they were. Among
these may mention John O'Neil, the old
man Suter, George Bartol, VIM. Coale,
Jarrett Thomas, Pat Mclaughlin, Messrs.
Goldsborough, Knight, Hail. Wareham,
Yarnell, Rev. John Bond, Brother Leevy,
"Cheap John" Smith the pedler, Mrs. Sears,
the Messrs. Clasky; and in the vicinity,
Messrs. Brown, Dutton, Pringle, Hoke,
Abram Jarrett, Paca Smith and others, not
one of whom, presume, is now living.
In company with my cousin, John B.
| Coale, visited many of the old residences
and spots with which had been familiar,
and among the latter it was melancholy
pleasure to wander among the graves on
the cedar clad hill in the vicinity, and call
to mind the "torefathers of the hamlet by
reading their names upon the cold marble
roorod 40 affections Offering Let me not,
however, run into gloomy reveries, though
it may at times be profitable to linger
around the graves Of loved ones and learn
to emulate their virtues, but / would look
upon the brighter side Of life's picture at
present, and leave sombre thoughts to u
sombre occasion.
referred, IN former letter, to most of
the old citizens above named, and my
memory is so indistinct with regard to
others, that l can say but little about them.
Everybody in Havre de Grace and vicinity
knew Pat Mclaughlin, and all who knew
him will remember him as long as they
warm-hearted friend and an implacabla
enemy, and would go to any length to
serve the one and punish the other No
son of the Emerald Isle was ever fonder of
convivial companions, and no mans hand
was wider open to the demands of human
ity. l never lost sight of him, and often
saw him in imagination in after years, on
that remarkable pony with which he inva-
variably shared his grog. With all his
eccentricities and humors, he had big
heart in the right place, always responsive
to the appeals of the friendless and suffer-
ing. Such are my recollections and esti-
mate of Pat Mclaughlin, whose residence
stood sway out of town toward the Bay
shore, and in the vicinity Of the race-course
where Drs. Hall and LeBaron drugged the
toddy of the two men sacked for foot
race.
During my visit to the town in October
last, saw the old Mclaughlin domicile, not
isolated as it was in the hey-day of Pats
career, but amid regularly laid off streets,
and surrounded by numerous dwellings,
some ofthem very tasty in their architecture
and surroundings. Havre de Grace is mag
nifcent site for city, and if ten streets, as
laid off, were filled up with occupied build
ings, it would have population Of from
10 to 10000 souls, instead of from to
5000, about which l supposed it to num-
Der.
/ was glad to see the old Episcopal
Church still standing, though it had lost
something in elevation, and had undergone
other material change. When first knew
it, it stood out ON the eommon-like Tom
Browns house, ont Of doors-rude and UNI
adorned. 1t has been greatly modernized,
honored with an enclosure and adorned
with shubbery and trees 1t is one of the
few buildings the British left standing in
the town in the war of 1912, probably be-
cause it bore the name of "Church of Eng
land"
attended service in quite capacious
and handsome Methodist Church, the Sab
bath l spent in the town, but must con-
fess that did not admire the plan of tax
ing congregation to a second story by
spiral stairways, tho if it suits the mem
bership and congregation it is none of my
business. In the event of accident, or even
of crowd, egress, it seemed to me, would
be slow and difficult.
But 1 say, or rather heard something
that day far more Objectionable than the
fashion of the house. While the pastor
delivered an excellent lecture in advocacy
of Sabbath Schools, and the choir sang
very sweetly, and all the congregatio n