Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-04-09
Correspondence Of the HERALD.l
LETTER FROM MARYLAND.
Winter closed Hateful Birds Game and Hunt
ing-MaryIand Maidens, how They
are WoOed-Iorses and Hap
piness-Aged Men

OF our S.ate complain that the past
winter mas been among the most un-
propitious and dreary of any for up.
ward of half a century. It's cold
storms and severity of cold reminded
me of some of the dismal winters Of
Minnesota and Wisconsin tho the
fall of snow has been meager and the
excitement attending cur sleigh-rid-
inghardly worth chronicleing. Spring
is now opening. The last vestige OF
snow has long since disappeared, and
pixies and highways are assuming the
dusty appearance of May and June.
Already the singing of birds is heard
making sweet accord with the har~
monies of universal nature. A coun-
try without birds Is like house that
is tenantless. With US the buzzard
is most hateful bird, but because of
it's very hatetulness and carniVrous
characteristics statute laws proclaim
universal freedom and protection to
the loathed thing on land aid sea-
At the close of the Rebellion, the en-
tire South was filled with this class
of birds, feeding upon the carcasses
of men and beasts, and winging their
way undisturbed into the precincts
of our larger cities. They were gen
orally found in focks like turkey,
and associated with men like the do
nestle fowls of the barnyard.
Our most beautiful bird is the Bal
timore Oriole, which appears only in
the spring and summer with us until
about Christmas. Its nest is like
common pouch pendant from the
that when within the birds can defy
wind and rain alike.
Mary land is not entirely devoid Of
those exciting enjoyments peculiar
to the hunters life, as quite portion
of our State is beautiful with lofty
bluffs and mountains, which are the
natural home of bears, deer, and
feathered game and which afford
ample opportunities for parties with
dogs and guns to range and camp
out to their hearts content. Every
year large parties from Baltimore
spend weeks 1T the mountain fastness-
es, not so much tor the sport thus
enjoyed as i r the recovery of vast
cd energies and impaired health
Even ladies go from our cities, TAX
ing with them tents, dogs, fishing
rods, etc, to spend few weeks vaca.
ton among the evergreen foliage of
the historic AIleghanies.
One thing | will say of our Mary
land ladies, they have but little
mock modesty mipgling in all plac-
es OF business like men, not hesitat-
ing to call things by their right names
and putting them in their appropri-
ate places. You will see them at our
County and State fairs examining
stock as infinitely and critically as
their husbands and lovers, passing
their Judgment on the quality of this
breed of cattle, commencing in the
most enthusiastic terms that breed
Of swine, or almost wild over some
remarkable specimen of the horse
spccieF. Marylanders, like ancient
Virginians, ere monomaniacs con-
corning horses and the young gen
tleman who can ride the finest horse
is entitled to his choice among the
young ladies of his native home -
People in the West have lost vast
deal by doing away with the saddle
and using carts and buggies 10 their
stead. During the war, Southern
cavalry men were proverbial for
their fine horsemanship and cavalry
discipline it was because from their
childhood our Southern boys are
trained to use the horse for pusposes
OF milling, churchSgoing, counting,
and travelling generally. Ladies are
as great adopts in this regard as the
gentlemen, and during a residence in
Virginia and Maryland since 1865 |
have never known of a lady's meet
ing with a fall or accident from rid
ing even the widest horses. Espe-
cially in Virginia almost all the la
dies attend church on the Sabbath on
horseback, and it is no unfrequent
thing to see whole cavalcades of both
sexes riding full tilt, and often clos
ing up the homeward trip with a
scrub race, both amusing and excit~
ing, the ladies from some cause or
other almost invariably riding the
best horses, and coming out best at
the end of the journey. During a
year and halt traversed the noun
taios of Virginia on horseback, and
after the first few weeks / derived
more real pleasure as well as physi>
cal advantage from this mode of trav-
cling than from the more cosey way
of reaching the object in pursuit, in
chaise or buggy. In every climate
health and not convenience should be
the ruling object of life, and 10 such
a cnangeable atmosphere as ours, 1t
is well to adhere to those antiquated
customs which made our fathers and
mothers specimens of perfect beauty
and health. Maryland can boast of
a large proportion of old persons,
many reaching the advanced age of
one hundred years. | found such
specimen some years ago in the
mountains of Virginia, and though
the old gentleman bad come up to
90, he was still vigorous, walking
number of miles with considerable
ease, and rejoicing in a very good
set of teeth, while his vision was al
most as clear as in the days of his
early manhood. His youngest son
was only seventy-6ve years of age,
with prospect of living even longer
than his venerable father. Strange
to say, this old settler had seldom
ever been out of bis native county,
and as for railways and steamboats,,
they were mere myths which schem-
ing men had conjured up,-more the
fruitful themes of story-tellers and
novel writer's than glorious reality.
just now the public is much stirred
up on an effort of our German popu-
lation to aunul the observance of the