Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-09-18
THE DOCTORS AT RawLEY-F1Rsr DAY.


in motion, and as we slowly glide from the
station we are bowling Acknowledgements to
the waving of handkerchief, and the many
kind wishes for "a good time at the Ray
ley"
Our destination is the Rawley Springs,
inst now the cynosure of attraction for the
doctors of Virginia, for the fifteenth annual
session of the State Medical Society is so
assemble there this at s o'clock. And seat
ed the car, already do we find ourselves in
bevy of physicians. 4onder, grouped
around Powell, Of your city, are Conway, of
Orange, and Ish and Bowen, of Prince Will
liam aud over there, in conversation,
cluster together Stone and Hutchinson, OF
Loudoun, and Harris and rIiplett, of Cul-
pepper, and Smith and Hicks, of Fauquier !;
and now the venerable Ewell, of Prince
William, in company with your correspon-
dent, helps to swell the number. All OF Us
on our way to the big powwow Of medicine
men, most Of US from the drudgery of Il
country practice, we are as happy as school
BOYS on q Saturday morning, and as our
speed increases, we feel that buoyancy OF
mind, and nobility of muscle, that exhllara.
ton of spirit, inseparahle from rapid transit
Your correspondent is fortunate in his
immediate ompauonship. His fellow
traveller, DR.. Jesse EwelI, sur, the Nestor
of the profession in Virginia, who was born
with the birth of the present century, and
has practiced medicine for three score years
and four, has been delightiug Us with tales
of his boyish exploits, when be padded his
batteau and waded knee-deep in river
water, which in those days sometimes suit
merged the principal avenues OF Washing
ton city. Now, he mentions, in modest
way, how he enjoyed the hospitality of
Surgeon General James Craik, of Alex
andria. who was married TO Marianne
Ewell, of "Belle.Air," in Prince William,
and who was the friend and family physi-
of the Father of His Country, and whose
sad privilege it was to close the eyes of his
illustrious comrade. And then he discourses
of those early years of American medicine.
when venesection, hardly known now, save
as 1.-The lost art, and salvation, by mercury
were considered the sine qua non in every
case Of sickness.
And in between these morsels from "the
old man eloquent" a hardly less entertain
ing talker, the young girl whom he escorts
scion of this same old continental stock,
one who, full of romance and OF poeSy, is
an occasional quailer from the Pierian
spring, is calling attention, with the KIND
ling eve of the enthusiast, to the now pic
turesque, now pastoral scenery, through
which we are passing. And well nigh! she
do SO, for what can surpass the love!iness Of
our rural surroundings Dashing by steam
through the narrow pass OF Ihoroughfare,
we have only time to divide our attention
between the rugged grandeur Of its rocks,
and its madly plunging cascades; when
there minges with it all a memory that will
not down, a vision Of a weary and toot-sore
band of patriots, marching in double
quick" over its uneven paths; their head
long rush eliminating in victory on the
bloody field of Manassas.
Emerging from the gap, we skim over
the plains of Fauquier, where thousands Of
rich acres of corn are ripening in the Sep
TENDER sun and onward, by unprctending
but romantic little villages, TO Front Royal
the lovely county seat of Warren. And
then when the matchless beauty OF the
landscapes about Riverton are reached in
voluntary EXPLANATIONS Of praise and &C.
acknowledgements of u divine architect burst
from us all But the kind conductor has no
time for sentiment, and cannot wait:
"a primrose, by the waters brim,
A yellow primrose is to him.
And it is nothing more
And in ten minutes he hauls us up at Stras-
burg, the terminus of the Manassas branch.
and the beautiful gateway to the Valley OF
the Massanuttan. AS our connecting train
is not in sight, we have time to strain our
eyes in looking down the valley towards
Winchester, where, "a hundred times, vic
tory and defeat changed front )" and still
farther beyond we picture, in imagination,
John Browns spirit lowering in the clouds
that sweep between Charlestown and Har-
per's Ferry.
But q whistle informs Us that the Bllti
more and Ohio is on time" ''All aboard to
Harrisonburg and in moment we are
racing up the valley Of the Shenandoah its
walls of verdure and gray granite, the Blue
Ridge on one side, and the great North
Mountains on the other, opening wider and
wider apart, as we speed through to Wood
stock and to Mt. Jackson, and by score of
villages, made famous by the exploits Of old
Stonewall, the war. horse of the valley.
And almost everywhere we stop, some dis.
ciple of E.culapius boards the train, and
exchanging greetings with his brethren,
adds to the ingathering of The fraternity.
At more than one of these stations we OBJ
serve, flung insultingly to the breeze, the
stained banner Of ''the plumed knight" of
the Pine-tree State; bnt, on inquiry, we
are assured that 'this is not a criterion of
the politics of the Valley" to which we de-
voutly say, amen"
But we are, at last, nearing our terminus.
Down brakes "Here is Harrisonburg !"
This way for Rawley!" And q rush is
made for the stages, several in number, in
which We are packed like sardines; but
everybody is in a good humor, and the
physician is generally gentleman, conse-
quently there is no rudeness or sel6shuess
exhibited. We pass through Harrsonburg,
q little city of six thousand inhabitants, full
of handsome residences and stately stores
with stone fronts. But no time for more
than this casual observation.
The road of eleven miles to the Springs,
is graded and McAdamized turn pike, and
although our horses are Of heavy draught,
our load is not light, and our moderate gait
enables us to learn something of the coun-
try. The bed of every stream we cross is
dry; and, off the stones, the dust is fet-lock
deep. On either side, the fodder crop is
literally burned m NOT q preen blade being