The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-08-12
Romance of the Blair Family.

The death of the younger Frank Blair
recalls the mode Of life of the elder Blair,
who survives his less fortunate SOL. The
Blair family have long been one of the
historical families of Washington. The
summer home of the Blairs is at Silver
Springs, where for a third of century
they have lived after the manner of an
English Squire. Old Francis P. Plair,
father OF Frank Blair, has had his summer
nome at Silver Springs, little suburb
north of Washington, since the year 1910.
The luck or the good fortune which led
old Frank p. Blair to this place is charac-
teristic of the remarkably successful career
OF most of the Blair family. Thirty-five
years ago, when the old man Blair was an
active Washington journalist and had
young wife, he was accustomed to daily
horseback exercise, which he has cOntiR-
ued to this day. While riding on horse
back, accompanied by his wife, tAe horse
OF his wife took fright on the Maryland
road, north of the city, and, after throw
ing her near the spot where the corps of
General Early had its skirmish fight with
the old Potomac Sixth Corps, ran away.
Mr.. Blair, following up the runaway horse,
discovered him drinking at the very pc
culiar Silver Spring which, since that day,
has given the name TO that locality. The
spring is almost as remarkable, after its
kind, as the old gentleman Blair himself.
Ii bubbles up from shining silver sand,
fresh and remarkably cold, and always
preserves the sparkling color which at
first seems to be reflected from the silver
bed at its source. This spring, with its
surroundings, fulfilled the conditions of
the country seat for which Editor Blair
had long been seeking. 1t was located on
high tableland, with an abundance OF
natural wood and shade, sufficiently near
to Washington for the purposes of his
business, yet far enough removed from the
heat and hustle of the national political
metropolis. Those were not the days of
the telegraph, and the organ editors were
not the slaves of Hoe press and bat
terry. Here Mr.. Blair pitched his tent,
purchasing in all nearly 1000 acres, at
about $40 per acre. He has preserved this
old estate intact, and according to the
is, doubtless, now worth 800 per
acre. The soil is dry, thin, and
sandy, but furnishes abundant grass for
pasturage, while there are grand oak for
ests and numberless springs, which com :
bine to make Silver Springs Farm one of
the most attractive rural places about
Washington. 1t lies upon ridge midway
between Black Creek and the Eastern
| Branch. Old MIR. Blair has always had
great faith in the advantages to health,
| happiness, and longevity which are to be
derived from country life. He has been
as earnest an advocate of this kind of life
as was ever Bulwer Lytton, and the col
umns of the old Globe attest the love of
country life in English as vigorous if less
graceful than that of Bulwer. The health
| of the old gentleman has proved the cor
rectness of his theories. AT twenty years
of age-now more than sixty years ago
| Francis z. Blair, Sr., was pronounced bv
his physicians an incurable cOnsumptive.
All remedies had been tried and failed and
his doctors told him that the only thing
which could keep him from his grave
was the saddle. Study, Overwork, or in
herited consulnptive tendencies had given
him cough, which was causing him rap
idly to waste away. He accepted the ad-
vice of his doctors, and took to the saddle.
He started of on a long horseback jour
ney, which has not ended yes. When he
began riding he had to be lifted To his
horse, as he has had to be for the last ten
years; but he kept on riding then, as he
tries to keep on riding now at eighty-six.
! From that day a horse has been his con-
slant companion, and during that long
course of years many horse has served
his old master faithfully, and gone to the
"horse-heaven " Ali these years, until
his recent increased feebleness, those
who passed by Silver Springs could every
morning see two horses saddled near the
old man door. One was for the young
woman, now come to be more than three
score years and ten, whose runaway acci
dent, so many years ago, resulted in The
purchase of Silver Springs Farm The
other is for Mr.. Blair himself. An i'm
mense stone, assembled by easy steps, con
stitutes the mounting block, from which
faithful body servants assist the aged fee
to the scarcely less aged stirrups. Tit
old gentleman and lady seem to start OF
with as much pleasure, though scarcel
with the same vigor, as they did half
century ago. They always ride for 1--WE
hours, not, to be sure, at the speed Of th'
steeple-chase, but at comfortable, health
J old folks gait. Moralists and physicist
can find a good deal for reflection, ant
draw very " wholesome lesson for pruden
J living, from the course of life of the Blai
family at Silver Springs, and, perhaps, on'
is that there is more health in the horse
back rides than in all drugs.-WGSh'ngto'
Cor. Chicago Tribune.