Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-08-18
A DRIVE IN THE LOWER END.

N''h'n WI b'Sh'b hS N'll tS many 'i' | ,
friends in the southern end of the county,
we chose rs the most comfortable way of do
ing so to go by private conveyance, which ,
enabled us TO proceed by easy drives from
place to place, and stop and start when 1t |
suited our convenience / have vcntured to
send you few notes of the rccollections of
fifty years ago recalled by the visit, and some
thoughts suggested by what l saw on my
drive IN tho Lower End. If you think them
of sufficient interest use them If not chuck
them into the waste. basket, where much bet
ter manuscript has gone before
Tho first object of interest on our way
southwark was Boehm's chapel, the first
Methodist meeting house built in Lancaster
county, about six miles south of Lancaster
city. This chapel was erected in 1871, and is
still in excellent condition. Having been
born and lived few Of the first years of my |
life i'm the vicinity of this old chapel, hero ! |
was brought to be baptized by that veteran |
pioneer Methodist preacher Henry Boehin, |
who organized the first Methodist society in |
the city of Lancaster, eighty years ago, and
died some time ago at the age of one hundred
years
Here first attended church and Sunday
| school, and we'll remember hearing Father
| Boehm and other distinguished pioneers of
| Methodism preach sixty years ago.
After some inquiry ] can find none now
| living who were then members Of this old
chapel, but find the names Of many of them
| inscribed on their tombstones in the grave
| yard near by, who years ago have gone TO
| their last long sleep. md what marked
! change in tho surroundings of this old chapel
| during these years. Sixty years ago 1t was
surrounded by great woods--for many
years called Boehm's woodS-of grand old
oaks, many of them the growth of centuries,
the cool umbrage of Hhch made this one of
the most pleasant and quiet retreats TO be
found.
This fine timber has wholly disappeared,
and the land is now under cultivation. This,
however, is not the Only instance of the kind
! find the same marked change in this respect
wherever ! GO Where fifty years ago there
, were hundreds of acres of timber there's now
comparatively but little left. This ] suppose,
is one of the results of the progress of ciNili-
. ZatiOn and the increase of population. Othor
. things, however, We find are rapidly taking
A | the place of timber, and supply all our wants
| quite aswell We also find that the people
= live better, enjoy more comforts, convent,
ence and luXurics now by far than they did
fifty years ago, and have no fears that the
earth will not continue to supply all the needs
= Of the race AZ long IA either exist, because ]
4 believe the Creator has made its resources
?. bOundless and incNhaustable
a \ PERILOUs HORsEBACK RIDE.
s Crossing Pcquea valley bridge recalls Al
|. exciting event in my early experience
II fifty years ago. Twas sent to return to tn,
q owner a borrowed horse. TO do so had t
"a cross this bridge. When reached the creel
l. the bridge had been so badly damaged by
Of great flood that it could not he crossed
4 Thinking of nothing else than to obey order
10 | plunged the horse into the stream abOv
ri the bridge where it was narrow, deep am
~ rapid, instead of below, rs ! should, where
was wider and not so deep The result OF
II was that both horse and rider came very nea
OF being drowned. The owner of the horS
happening TO witness the occurrence from
distance gave me good sColding for er
so dangering not my own life but that OF tn
80 old horse.
u ONE or THE OLDEST I%HABITANTS.
or We pass the old Martin Huber farm, on
y mile south of Pequca Valley, on the Poi
Deposit road-a farm ] have passed an
repaSscd for sixty years, and which recall
IL some early rccolcCtions
10 ! remember seeing the old gentleman on
III summer day in tho evening of his life, MOI
IL than fifty years ago, sitting on his long, wild
Ic shady porch, stall in hand calmly loOkin
rc out over his fertile fields and the beautifl
N and sweet-smelling meadow, which stretch,
ts out in front Of the house.
OF His patrarchal appearance impressed IN
m and reminded me OF the patriarChs OF ole
-, and he owned, thought, As fertile fields an
- fine ilOckS as ever gIaddcncd the heart
II Abraham and Jacob in their palmiest day
Is Goodness and bcnCVOlcnCc shOne in his fac
V. | and his house was for many years II
Id objective point Of many poor aud needy al
90 CUlOred women, and white people As well
:, from the Lower End" And they were new
III turned away empty-handed. His farm
Sc that early day was one of the best cultivate
y aud most productive in Lancaster count
,r- south of the Pequea.
-, lie was blessed with long life and pro
~ perity-as was his children after him-aT
' died at green old age, many years ag
," greatly larnented by the poor and high
respected by all.
WASHED FIELDs--A HINT TO FARMERS.
ce In driving along notice with regret II
on vast amount Of the best and most high
M fertilized soil which has been washed off Il
~ fields out into the roads and streams by Il
recent heavy rains. Farmers in the aggrega
lose in this way enormously almost ever
an summer. Having been myself a heavy los,
IN in this way learned by experience that Il
I'm best means of protection against such lO
,or was to keep land liable to wash in grass
w. much As possible. i have also learned tn
'a' the cultivation Of grass and production OF ha
IT. i'll this section is AT least equally if not mol
he profitable than the cultivation of the cereal
The farmers of Lancaster county can L
re longer successfully compete in the Easter
ke markets with the cereals produced by IL
he farmers on the cheap lands in the West,
n well as the unjust freight Determinations
IN favor of other states. But the rapid growt
nj of all our towns and cities, and the Thousand
rs oi horses and other animals kept and used
n them will always afford a ready market f,
yet hay at remuneratiNe prices, and their ioci
|
,r- people ut least to some extent independer
co OF these unfair Determinations.
ld ! HICKORY GROVE-BOYHOOD'S UATPY HON
~ We now reach Hickory Grove farm, III
home of my boyhood, with which many
my earliest recollection are cOnnected-man
pleasant, some sad-but each and all becOm
' tender recOllectiOns as we approach the en-
/ of life. Here is still the log house whic
er never smelled of paint for forty years afte
the erection, but now mOdernIzed and grea
ly improved in appearance. The old straw
thatched barn, where we thrashed wit
the fail the grain which was reaped wit
r the sickle, has disappeared, and in its plac
stands one of more modern style. Here
es the garden cultivated for many years by tn
dear hands of good mother, to whom
r. owes much, now long since dead. The OF
l. chard helped to plant fifty years ago ha
. nearly all disappeared. Here is the wei
10 where hung the irOn-bound bucket from
!" which many a time and oft / quenched IN,
thirst with the clear cold water fresh draw
- from the crystal fountain forty feet belov
q the surface The old pear tree, planted sixt'
years ago, and which never failed to produc,
II its annual crop of luscious fruit, is beginninl
,, TO show signs of old age and decay. Here
saw Lafayette in the summer OF 1925, on hi
n way from Lancaster TO Baltimore, accom-
n panied by train of carriages before ther,
n was any railroad in operation in the UniteC
States, and | we'll remember his yenerabl,
and distinguished appearance when he took
u me by the hand, While many changes have