Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1874-08-04
e@TRANsIRNT BIILs-oAsH.
VISIT TO JEFFERSON.

From editorial jottings" of the editor of
the Lynchburg Viiygiaian, who recently vis-
tied his boyhoOd home in Jefferson, We take
the following extracts:
Poor Hlrper's Ferry! How she sits ike
weeping Niobe on her still queenly throneI
midst wreck and ruin The beautiful hills
and the sublime mountain scenery arc still
there, as of yore but how changed is all else
Well did Mr.. Jefferson, when seated upon the
picturesque hanging rock that bears his name,
aud is marked all over, even as it was when
We were boy, with the names of those who
seek such notOriety, write that it were worth
. trip across the Atlantic [no trifling under>
taking in his day) to witness the scenery
which nature affords at this place But the
scars of the great conflict are still fresh here,
aud the terrible food of 1870 nearly finished,
in the lower part of tho town, what the
torches and the bullets of Invading and res
treating armies, here, where the tide of battle
SO long ebbed and flowed, had left.
JOHN BROWNS FORT,
the old engine house, wherc the civil war
really commenced, is still an oi ject of interest,
aud many people come to see it from far and
near, with feelings quite as opposite as those
that stirred the hearts of the men who met
and fought on the later battle. fields of the war
there inaugurated. BY somcit is viewed with
feelings of pity or words Of oxecration for
the man VII, Sc soul is still marching on
We were shown spot in which We felt far
greater in crest tlHi upon which Col Robert
Il Lee stood when he ordered the charge
upon the old ruf6an whose midnight forSy
upon peaceful community commenced with
the wRuton murder of Que of the best men of
the colored race that We ever knew Such
was the freedom that John Brown achieved
f,,r I'D fhn fircR
martyr IN the great civil war What figures
went troopinG by, as We thoup ht of Shepherd,
B"ery, Turner, BecEham-ali Of whom we
knew-slain by this bad man and what
throngiug memories of the nfter time, all
crowded within the space of few years, came
upon, us, rs We thonght of the modest Vir-
giniau hero who was destined to lead the very
flower of Southern youth aud manhood in
defence Of rights which John Brown put in
peril on that fatal night, aud to win for him
self name and a reputation Which no man
since Washington has secured AS we stood
there, where Robert L. Lee once stood, SO
quiet and peaceful is the place now, it seemed
as though such tremendous issues could not
have been suspended upon tho actions Of tho
old fanatic who disturbed tho peace of the
whole Union and deluged the land with blood
and tears. Happy would IT he for this nation
nothing more than dark distemreTed dream.
But it is mournful reality, as the land, dot
ted all over with the graves Of those slain in
the conflict, sttCsts.
We heard Ut HaTrar's Ferry, that n desire
has been expressed by some of his admirers,
to raise a monument on this spot TO the mem.
Ory of old Brown. Further comment il un-
necessary, and siuce such strange things havo
happened in these latter times, We would not
say that even this Disgrace may not yet be in.
ficted upon Us. But it would havo to bo
high, strong, and securely guarded, to stand
very long.
From Harper's Ferry, VIC proceeded to
Charlestown-Dow. from the Embellishments
of the county, with the exception of brief
interval, the county seat During tho war,
and for several years afterwards, the loyalists
removed it to ShCpherdstown, obey might az
we'll have located it in Maryland and tried
to keep it there. A beautiful court house
and Jail have been erected upon the sites oo.
cupied by those that "our Northern brethren"
destroyed. The jail whore "Godly John
Brown" was incnrceratcd cannot therefore he,
seen. The hated Bnstile was demolished by
those who took up his bAttlescEy. Weyiewed
the spot from which the ssOuP Of the martyr
started upon its ..mArch" when the lif6 was
choked out Of him. The view hoFe, as the,
old man said, when 1t would seem, be ought
to have been thinking about something olse.
is livery beauGfnl." No tairer vision oe
gooaly
Lends al rich With waving Rrf
And. .iieids TINT PROMISE corn and Nlne"
can be found any " bore;
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