Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-06-07

so beautiful now that often think
how it must have looked Elses the
planters had money and slave enough
to keep mp all the land and work all
! the broad fields. It's broad fields Of
corn and tobacco, its beautiful woods.
filled with the most exquisite Wild
flowers, ferns and moses, its quaint
farm m-houses and cabins, and above all
the many interesting people, both
white and black, whom you meet
make to me a quaint and charming
place.
ar IS a PERFECT RARApTsE FoR, m e.
The nOoking bird Baitirnore orr
ole, thrush, bob-o-link, cardinal bird.
swamp robin, &c, are only few Of
our birds. Robins, blue birds, blue
Jay, and some others stay with US all
winter. ! can count twenty-five Of
which ! know the names. besides many
others that ! do not know. There is
very good hunting also. Quail, duck,
snipe, Indian hens. rabbits, squirrels,
abound. Fox.hunting, also, is quite
largely entered into. Only a few
weeks ago pack of hounds in full
cry after large gray fox. followed by
large party of hunters. passed my
door IN the waters Of the Patuxent
and st. Mary's are found very fine
oysters, ish, crabs and terrapin. The
Patuxent is lovely river, and many
fine views may be had of it. / think
the finest is from the top of Chesley
Hill. Standing there you get mag
nfcent view for many miles up and
down the river lies before you, with
lts many creeks, It's curves and islands.
When first saw it, it was summer.
Before me lay spread out great fields
OF corn, tobacco, and wheat, some for
eat lands Of dark pine, and some or.
chards with their lighter green. The
dark green of the pines, the golden
hue of the wheat, the green fields of
corn and tobacco, and through all run.
ming the placid blue river. sending up
it's creeks and separating these broad
fields, and on the other side the dark
brown cliffs Of the Calvert shore, made
a picture never TO be forgotten.
\ HIsToRIC MANSION.
AT my feet lay the "Plains. large
old homestead, belonging to the Sotho-
ron family. Up this river came the
British in the war of 1912, when they
marched from Benedict, few miles
above here, to Washington. The old
house has still many a bullet hole in
II, a memento of some firing Of the
British AT that time on a company of
Maryland soldiers stationed there,
who, though few in number tried to
stop the ships. On this farm were
stationed the United States troops,
during the late war, from Buffers
command at Point lookout, to guard
this approaci to Washington, so that
this house has twice been swept by
the tide of war. a spirited daughter
of the family told me how, in her
childhood, she used to play with
pieces Of the old carved wainscoting,
which had been cut and hacked to
pieces by the British and how, dur
ing the last war, she herself and some
friends had carried out, concealed un-
der their skirts, nearly all the family
silver, when the house was filed with
Federal troops. She also told me
how. on one occasion, she was compel.
led to see party of soldiers calmly
dividing among them all their old
family china. AT last, she said,
my feelings We're too much for me,
and I seized pile Of plates which
We're standing on the table near me,
which they were Just going to divide,
and saying, If ! cannot have them you
shall not, / threw them all on the
floor and broke them to pieces. And,
do you know, she added, with mer-
~ twinkle OF her eye, "I have never
been sorry for it" This brave girl
brought back to the farm. after the
army had left it, the invalid mother
with her little children, and alone
and unaided, for her father was in
Canada and her brothers in the South.
ern army, she took upon herself the
care Of the family and farm, when, as
she herself said, there was a not a
pane Of glass or piece of furniture
in the house, and the only living thing
left on the place was an old gray cat.
/ This woman, accustomed all her life
TO luxury and the constant help Of
slaves. alone took charge of this place
and made it once more q home, and in
time a prosperous one. ! am North.
ern born and bred, but I look with
the greatest admiration upon the wo-
men OF the South who have come
forth 50 noblY from adversely, and
Quietly and brayely worked their vax