National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-06-29

station II he would clear it up and erect .
house upon il worth 800. It will afford
eligible sites for dwellings, being elevated and
dry. 1t is unnecessary to say that the oner
was accepted. The train goes out IN twenty
minutes, and the Communication is only seven
cents ride. In five years the owner can eel
off building lots enough out of his two and Q
half acres to reimburse him for his improve
/ ments, and still have spacious country home
sufficiently near to the city TO enable partiel-
patton in all it's pleasures and privileges. I'm
mediately adjacent is spring of ice-cold water,
flowing from an immense ledge
| THE DAIRY.
The springs spoken of and the splendid pas
turage in which the place abounds marks this
spot as most richly favorable to the dairy. Mr..
Kay is now accommodating stock with the inten-
ton of supplying Washington with a csr-full
of pure, fresh country milk and butter, eggs
and poultry every morning. - ~
=" But stop - we hear from some Of our
readers, who are chronic GROWERS bother
your Ray He's myth, and you are an en-
thusiast, or one OF Doesticks' damphools."
Tutl Tut Mr.. Growler, don't swear. There
Is no enthusiasm about it. These enterprises
are al inaugursted and going briskly forward
to ultimate success. Mr. Ray is bona fds flesh
and blood, and has only owned this place a
lew years. During that time he has con-
structed the railway bridges and culverts be-
fore alluded to, furnishing the stone from his
own quarries, and several sections of the grad
ing and tracklaying on the Metropolitan rail-
way besides. When the epizootic struck his
teams he housed them up carefully nights, and
exercised them little BY hauling rubble from
bis various quarries for handsome stone wall,
three feet broad at the base, which is two feet
below the surface of the earth, and eighteen
inches at the top, which is five above the
ground. or this fence, averaging seven feet BY
two, he has laid one mile and q half around
his plantation and hopes to lay more In the
future, enclosing the entire domain. It is
very handsome, symmetrical fence and owing
to the depth of the foundation must prove of
durable character.
He holds that. Il has cost him nothing bit
the improvement of time, which would have
been otherwise wasted. The stone used were
In his way at the quarry. They have been
utilized. Bis horses were unfit for the heavy
work and exposure incident to railway con-
strrIction. This lighter work, protected from
the cold by the woods and hills, was an adyarl-
tal1e to them as well as their drivers, VINO
would otherwise have been idle. The result
is a miie and half of stone fence, which is
the envy and admiration of the whole country
side.
His stock barns are warm in winter. but
furnished with abundant means of ventilation
for the summer months. He pays as much
as the Board of Health does to that of this Dis
trict. When press of farm work comes upon
him in seed-time or harvest, he withdraws a
portion of his force from railway work or from
his Qusrries, and utilizes it in the fields. There
are no drones about the place, nor any evil
depee Of neglect in buildings or material.
:, Mr.. Ray has certainly achieved wonders
since the war and without premeditsting it,
and almost WITHOUT knowing it. He works
from loye Of, It.. He took up railway work
because he saw that he could do the work to
greater advantage than other contractors were
doing it, and if they could save themselves he
could make money. But he did not desert his
first love. He is a natural farmer. He loves
1t as he loYes life. He takes pride in it as he
does in his family. He wants all to be of the
best, and says that if any class of men have
right to the best and an easy. independence,
that class is the agricultural. But it cannot
be done without work. Eternal vigilance is
just as mnch the price of liberty and indie
pendence in farming as in any other pursuit.
We wal not attempt to describe the dinner
which Mrs. Ray placed before US, for fear that
we shall be at once charged with having been
bribed through the palate. Suffice 1t to say
that which We arose from that table It was with
such O disgust for wilted market vegetables 1
and milkmen's milk and bakers bread as we
had never before experienced.
As we reluctantly drove away from the old
Brent homestead. laden with the floral gifts of
the ladies and children, toward the heated city
and the labors of the sanctum, we were more
thanseser deeply impressed with the abundant
capacity for real happiness which rural occu-
patiops afford, The. visit strongly illustrated
to our minds the generous bounties of mother
earth. She never fails to reward the judicious
labors of the husbandman. Works and faith
expended upon her bosom insure comfortable,
If not luxurious, subsistence, and speed with
prudence and contentment tend to lasting
gratitude to the Author of all good. %. 4