Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1875-09-04
Letter from CllarIestOwn.
August 26. 1879.

August 26, 1875.
Dear Register-There is Camp Meet
ing going on near Charlestown, probably
you have heard fit. Wewent down last
Sunday and we propose briefly to give
you an account of the day as we saw it.
Old Sol had hardly popped his "silver
threads among the gold" above the tree
tops and arose from his ''little bed'' when
the ''tramp, tramp, tramp" of the thous-
ands on their way to the Camp-grOund
commenced, and it continued without in
PERMISSION to break in upon our quiet
Sabbath till long past noon, then it
changed and they commenced coming
home.
One lady counted 47S% vehicles before
ten o'clock and would have counted 40
but was called off to part her husband's
back hair, and so missed the record. All
these partings, how oft they interfere
with life's supremest moments. Bug
gies, wagons, carriages, sulkies, gigs and
buck wagons bore the army on its
way, drawn by white, black, notified,
dun and skew-5ald horses, and OCCASION
ally the ears of mule would shadow the
sad face of the driver; and in these vehi-
cles were people of high and low degree,
girls and pretty ugly girls, old people and
| young people, all with their hearts full OF
peace and their mouths full of dust.
| The shrill whistle of the iron horse was
| heard all day rs the trains tEundered by,
crowded with people from up the Valley
while Hagerstown and Frederick sent
! over their young mems christian associa-
! tons to swell the throng. The crowd on
! the grounds has been estimated at from
five to ten thousand people; we think
! there was about that many there by care
full count, but we are not positive.
| We went down OurSclf after dinner and
saw the Rev. Mr.. Hyde preaching; we
saw him preach and there is no doubt the
sermon was fine one.
Before the sermon, Brother Roderick
with seven assistants was busy supplying
those Hagerstown boys With candy and
ginger cakes, also mush-melOns; we saw
one clerical looking youth wandering
around with sadness in his face and his
hands on his lower vest buttons murmur-
inc "Yea, | almost wish that | were
dead
Lets sit down and keep quiet and lis
ten to the noises around u.s." somebody
suggests, and we answer "Lct's." We
did so, the preachers voice sounded to lis
as the Growsy humming of locust up Il
tree; about seventeen babies were crying
around in the suburbs: an old lady was
calling 'Sary, you Sa-REE;" an army of
teeth were grating mile of peach stones;
! two thousand horses were fighting and
| biting at about seventeen thousand flies
more or less: seven hundred dogs were
| barking and snarling ut seven hundred
other dogs eleven hundred mouths were
taking aim at eleven hundred leaves and
eleven hundred streams of tobacco juice
fell in Il nicotine cataract around us;
that : all we heard.
But we used our eyes also; the sight
was one not to be forgotten: before Us the
earnest preacher gesticulat;ng TO his adj
miring congregation; over there in car
riage a young lady who has evidently
something in her eye rs young man is
holding both of her hands and looking in
tently into her resplendant orbs. What
will he find there? We think probably
it is mote or probably beam of sun
light. SO mote it be. We have been in
that boat ourself ''just twenty years ago.
and we only wish we could do so some
more. There's nothing half 50 sweet in
life as watermelons for sale by Brother
Roderick who is handing them out by the
| dozen to the crowd around him; by the
way he presented our account the other
| day and we paid it, thereby we asked HIM
pointing to the little bill, "Mr. ROderick,
| what is the difference between this ac-
count and the Hero of the Lady of the
Lake? Give up:' "Why one is Rod
erick Dhu and the other is Due Roderick.
! He rcccipted the account mt once. And
here comes Il lady with two beauX, and
we heard felady remark ''Isnt she hide
ous?" 1t didn't strike us in that light,
but probably the two beaux had some
thing to do with the remark.
Strolling around we see that everybody
and his wife is here, with his mother-in-
| law, also the children. Over there lady
has Just taken her seat on bouncing boy,
probably he wouh bounce more if his
mother was tribe lighter, but he has be-
come unmanageable and she stoops to
conquer. We murmur "what Is home
without mother?" anfpass on.
1.-The shades of night ere falling fast
and some of the boys who had been wrcst-
ling with John Barleycorn were falling
faster as we started for home. We have
! been down to the Camp ground once or
twice since and calls well' was the cry
of the Waterman of Zion who are wor-
! shipping in Gods first Temple
! AMOS LEI"pER