Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1881-12-01

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sn0aarch--the inestimable value Ct
xhiah this railroad viii prove. ] an
- earnest an advocate d progress. I
cannot qnell my enthusiasm when /
- it roahing On. nor car the resnltS
] kavs ventnred 70 deduce Be ccnsid-
cred overdrawn: they are too well
supported by precedent facts. Wit
na TIE wonderful metamorphosis Of
Il magnificent West which lay in al
n686 impenefrabIe forest when the
sifas and qrandsires Of this people
were blessing the fate that gave them
: bone IN Southern Maryland. IN
viewing the splendid panorama that
exeets TIE travellers ere on every side.
81 likely. he i enjoying his juicy sur
LON in tbs Injurious dining room Of
his palace car, while the untiring mon
arch leadn him on from wonder 70
w1nder: to him Aladdin's lamp i no
longer : fable. Perhaps in this ass
e prophets and philosophers. some one
may - able to answer why 50 great an
en1erprise his been withheld from this.
anaone the Oldest parts ofour country.
on ALMOST within bugIe sound Of
arting point Of the potent Baltic.
So Ohio. the first upon the list, while
sc States hare grown up and
hourished almost apace with the mar.
vslous quickness Of Jonah > gourd. but
indeed not hike il to perish in an hour
Apropos Of the thought Of this with
cred gourd, am reminded of
scene in connection with my sub
iect which did not mean to expatiate
upon SO largely when took my 'pen
10 hand" but railroad enterprise is
50 engrossing theme have been re-
sistlessly led on. I'll not tarry long
here, however. As far back as the
18th Of August. upon information
brought by our u. s. Messenger, who
exerted himself to run ahead Of time
for once in his life, that live loco
motive had reached Hughesville, to
look upon it. a. it were. the Inca
rzents of an old friend, was induced
to brave q merciless sun and chokingly
dusty roads and set out with my inn
agination ladened with an infnitude
OF changes and improvements to fol-
low in the wake of the great work.
As / neared the tiny hamlet, men
toned possibility, yea, probability,
was already plying busy fingers among
the discnrd Of the primeval architec-
tare of its solitary store, two residen-
ces, q stable and new house or two.
and a brisk town was Fastening on,
with its capacious warehouses. elabo-
rate residences and attractive suburbs.
and the mystic artists kept up their
tap, tap. tap, albeit / found the track
incomplete for more than mile be-
yond, but 1T il coming was too full
Of promise to complain of the unayoid-
able delay. AS I drove along in pur-
suit of my object, 0 waste of the poor
est land, which it seemed to me, after
having enjoyed the rich valleys and
prolific plains of a more favored part
of the woFld-was thrown in only
TO hold together the more fruitful
strips that margin the beautiful water
lpits-~met my eyes al far as it could
feach. 1t seemed to me as if nothing
could arise to deliver it from its grief;
it was the withered gourd every where
around, with pity Aed, leaving only
fainting energies and dead effort.
The very pigs and kline that roved
with martyr-like meekness over the
siekly broom-sedge grass, cautiously
peeping out from gravelly old fur
rows. grunted and lowed with an In
anition that absolutely necessitates q
"blowing up" but when / saw the
iron horse restlessly treading the space.
limited by the construction of cul-
vert, as if impatient to advance upon
its mighty mission, hope. ike relent-
ing mercy, shed its healing virtues
over the exhausted fields and life
drained hills and GASES sprung up in
the. desert and refreshing springs
flowed out from the rock. With q
Teapot ten years over Times domain,
l returned to view the scene under
the new regime. Hardy enterprise
had come with progressive pick and
shovel and energy with steady aim
and phosphates-perhaps "Holloway's
Excelsior had, to borrow from soar
ing r." sometime of the BEACON,
made the waste. ''smile with the flow
ers of Paradise" Immigration's tide,
like the Nile, had turned its vivify-
ing effect upon it, and the sturdy
German artisan, the well qualified
Irish truckman and not unlikly the
Russian freedman with powers born
of his escape from nihiliam and au-
tocracy-both alike criminal--and
perhaps the Objectionable Chinaman,
had made permanent homes in the
once barren land under the rule of
systematic labor and unwavering res
olution. The scrubby pines and profit
less thistles had given way to useful
manufactures, green pastures and
fruitful orchards. and possibly tea
culture. Where stood the miserable
wagside cabin of logs and mud with
its little patches of seraggy tobacco
and scurvy cabbages. the tasty cot
taga invited the gaze 10 Q landscape
beauti6ed by intelligent labor and
skillful thrift. The decrepit home
stead, representing the grandsire's
idea of comfort in struggling apart
ments exposed to winter NOR west
ers': OF cramped ones. to the scorch
OF the summer solstice, had been re-
mored By the commodiOus domicil Of
the progressive farmer and in lieu of
the scared spots of pitiful wheat and
corn seen in the tardy past, nodding