The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-02-21
the farmer and Mechanic
4 ia. by Summer
BY T, LAWYER

drel wards from the famous Nataonat
Road from Wheeling. West Virginia tn
Cumberland. Maryland. about 90 miles
from each. This road was the first
work of interna sional Improvement done
BY tie general government. and lis
:, ,mpletion was due To the genius OF
Henry Clay. of whom YOU viii read IN
this article a very pretty little story re-
lated to me by an eve witness. and
which has never been printed.
The cottage contained six rooms. and
was nicely furnished. In the rear OF 1t
is a fish pond one hundred and sixty
feet wide, three hundred and eighty feet
long and eighteen feet deep. 1t Is well
stocked with trout which were brought
from New York. ThiDpond is about
twenty five yards from the house.
There is another and smaller pond on
one side of the house and so near that
YOU can fish from the piazza. In front
of the house and to the right Of the
pathway leading to the road, distant
about forty yards, is the spring and
spring house. The water is as eNhlla-
rating as champagne. Between the
house and the road is the meadow. At
the cate are three large chestnut trees.
Living under the shade of those trees,
inhaling the fragrance of the red clover
and sweet grass, drinking fresh butter
milk. smoking 9 ,od cigars. reading
French novels. and drifting with the
hours. | was as happy and as useless as
n MAJ ever gets TO be. And yet when
the sun went over the Alleghenies. and
the red cheeks OF evening began TO glow
with star-dimples there were moments
- - .~,Il al.AE ". y-n n
communion with the gods. | was in a
gorge OF the mountains through which
the waters rushed. ami the winds swept
with a swiitHt>s unparalleled since
Pegasus kicked the hole IN lieliIou from
which H%ippocrene flowed aud hubLled
for the MUSES.. BY nine O'Clock p. III.
we were all asleep and always under
blankets. We rose with the sun. We
lived for the most part on milk II
cream and berries but there was lamb
and steak and buck wheat for those who
wished them. Our buttermilk we got
from an old lady 81 years old, who
lived up the road a little distance. At
ter much bargaining she agreed to re-
ceive four cents a gallon for it. The
good old soul vas a staunch Democrat
and she wished to give us the milk be-
aus we were from the South. She
and her husband had lived there i'll the
mountains as man and wife for seventy
years. Old as he was he worked daily
on the farm, she doing the household
work. He had voted for all the Demo-
cratic candidates from constable to
President for three s. ore and ten years.
They had Il son named L.ouis-Louis
Louis Snyder, who was blind and he
was a gentleman. He was also a mu-
sician. Every afternoon we went e
to the Snyders. | to drink butternilk
and read the papers to Louis !; the chill
dren to hear him play the violin. except
10, my little 10, who went to play with
Jess. Jess was Louis Snyders little
dog. That blind ma was every inch a
gentleman; with a sensitive, .ympa-
thetic nature, and biz soul. He did not
say so, but l knew he sympathized with
the South in the last war between the
States. And so for seven weeks / read
to Louis, drank b~uttermilk, played hide
and seek with the children in the long
clover, and talked politics with Col.
Evans. Il gentleman from West Vir-
ginia, who had a cottage at Fayette
Springs, which resort was just a mile
away over the mountains. He it was
who related to lie the anecdote of Mr..
Clay. The colonel vas in the Union
Army. and commanded regiment from
West Virginia. He left the Republican
party with Andrew Johnson. Long ago
he was n member of the Virginia Legis-
lature. Going to Richmond he travel
led on one occasion with Mr.. Clay over
the national road in an old fashioned
stage coach. Atevery change Of horses
a crowd had assembled to see the GREAT
Kentuckian. who would dis Mount aud
make a l;tllc speech. All sad The
colonel, Gays charm was il his man
ncr. We stopped one night. and w!lic
seated i'll the hotel parlor, Mr. Clay
turned to a young bride who MAS the
wife of a member of Congress from
Kentucky. and who with her husband
was travelling in the party, and said
with an air such as he alone could as
sumo. madame. | suppose you have
made Your husband his winter socks to
wear during the next session. The
bride blushed and declared she had been
negligent in that respect. Why said
Mr.. Clay, Mrs. Clay has knit me six
beautiful pair and going to his trunk
he produced them. and they were soft
and pretty. ALLOW me, sir. to present
them to YOU" he continued, addressing
the member of the House This is a
small incident said Col. Evans. but
if YOU had seen him do it YOU would
have been his political slave for life
That mountain cottage stands on his
toric ground. Within three miles are
Fort Necessity, Dunbar Camp, and the
desolate grave of Count ~Jumonville.
The French dandy was as brave as a
lion and as chivalric as Bayaid, but he
rests in mountain wilds amid the rocks
and thorns in an unlettered grave, three
thousand miles from the land of hi,
birth and his love.
All things must have an end and
when July and August were gone. | left
nv mountain nest and went to Niagara
Falls.
He who has looked upon that stupen-
dous work OF God, retains the memory
its gigantic power in his soul forever. |
got my first view from Goa Island. The
view from the Canada side is much gran
der. l went through the cave OF the
winds. 1 don't think | would have had
the courage to do it, but for seeing a lady
perform the feat. 1t was altogether
sublime. After it was over | asked the
old guide i. he carried the Prince of
Wales through. NO" said he, those
who had him in charge would got per
nit it, but l took Prince Arthur
through" what did he give YOU |
asked. "Ten dollars,' he replied.
Then" said l.. there is a half dollar
that, according to our means. is more
than he gave The old fellow laugh
ed, and thanking me said, Il think SO
too
That night | went out on the suspen-
Son bridge and saw the falls by the