Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-09-05
GssASGE2S' GATHERING
ADay OH the Cars and in lin g
Woods.
NOTES AND INCIDEN rs.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS o. ND ;p@snssr

Our meagre telegram Of yester :
day Thursday from Mechanics :
burg could only give il birds eye
view Of the great gathering Of the
/ Changers in Williams Grove. Be
ing specially charged on Wedne3-
day evening in regard to our du-
ties on Thursday we sought our
couch, on to dream all night Of
garnered grain and Of fields of tas-
seled and richly ladened corn, and
of blooming, sweet-scented clover,
interspersed now and then with
| visions of country lassies, cheerful
| in their independence and ruddy
with that glow Of health which is
| only obtained through gene rous
and regular exercise. Our dis
turbed sleep was broken at peep
o-ay on Thursday morning by
a steady tramp in the direction Of
the Cumberland Valley Railroad
depot, and our confused ideas were
collected by the remark from the
partner of our joys and sorrows,
"that the Changers were in town,
and i'll didn't get up they wouldn't
wait for lazy newspaper man."
You see she was farmers daugh-
ter. and that's where | got nay re-
lationship TO the grangers; but
that 1 art Of it about
Early to bed and earlyto rise,
was settled on her as a dowry for
| life when the marriage contract
was signed. Blu enough OF the
hilarious, or we might need wig
long before nature produces so
dire q necessity.
We soon joined an immense
crowd of the people Of Berkeley
and Jefferson counties, numbering
about 800 persons, and in a few
moments the iron horse was Whirl-
ing us along towards the Cumber-
land Valley. At Berkeley Sta
ton, Bedington and Falling Wa
ters the crowd was considerably
augmented; then on across the
Potomac and through Hagerstown
the land Of My Maryland" was
soon passed over, and the land Of
the prosperous descendants of the
Quaker Penn soon reached. At
Greencastle, Chambersburg, Ship
pensburg, MELVILLE and Carlisle,
crowds of persons We're waiting to
get q sight of the farmers of the
Shenandoah Valley.
In former accounts we have at
tempted to describe the beautiful
scenery and the rich and fertile
lands through which the Cumber-
land Valley Road passes. We shall
not be guilty ofany repetition, but
we pause at Carlisle to admire the
cleanly streets, the shady walks,
the elegant houses and churches,
and their Jail, which looks like one
of the castles of old with its tower,
merlons and embrasures. The con-
trast with the Carlisle Jail and their
market facilities with ours, only
served to show the force of the
trite old saying, that COMPARE
sons are Odious."
Near Merchandising our train
took what is known as the Dills-
burg branch road and soon reached
Williams Grove, which is about
Al miles from the G. V. r.. R.
Looking out OF the car window up
on the great gathering of Penn
sylvanians and Marylanders, we
could uot help admiring this beau
tiful gro =, thickly studded with
toWeriug and matchmaking oak
and hickory trees and tlanked ON
the right by a beautiful stream OF
water, with the ugly name of "Yel-
| low Breehes," and on the left by q
, large and grand spring of running
water. A nicer spot for celebra
tons and pic mics cannot be found
The first thing the generous
Pennsylvanians did was to invite
their West Virginia brothers to
dinner, and it was a hazardous
= thing to try to feed that crowd but
&. they did it, and many gallant
Federal and Confederate discussed
Bull Run, Fredericksburg, the
} Wilderness, Antietam and Gettys
e. burg across the festive board, and
we were pie sed to boar such re-
marks: " Well, nine years ago,
: we were fighting one another
now we are brothers eating togeth'
: er and the enmities of war forgot
:" Yes" was the reply, sit is time
and best to forget that we ever had
such war, and let us only re-
, member that we are citizens of one
grand common country"
We are bound to say from those
we saw, that the Cumberland Val
ley has as many pretty ladies t
, boast Of as any place we ever Wis
:, tied.
We gave you the names of the
speakers in our dispatch, but We
: ] do - - Sak H.