Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1889-07-30
Address Delivered by Forrest
w. Brown
at the Laying Of the Cornerstone Of
the qro,on Hull in Shepherdsto1on,
july 6.

day Your committee originally selected the LIST
day of June. That day was deemed apPro-
pirate and suggestive; being the threshold of
GUNNER it was thought that the storms of WIN
ter the changes of spring, the vicissitudes of
climate would have glided behind US for awhile
and with the coming OF the rosy month we
would pass into the smooth seas OF another
summer.
Here in our beautiful valley, where the In
dian legends say the MRnitou in the early dawn
of creation stopped aud smiled that it might
become moro beautiful and fertile, the hopes
Of the sower were then approaching the fullest
fruition changing fields OF waving grain near
ly ready for the sickle met the eye at every
glance the brown ploaghed 1eld, the growing
corn and grass, the leaf-clad tree and fragrant
forest were coming forth from out the tickle
spring as gifts TO its sister season. With the
prospect of an abundant harvest with nature
smiling in the full promise of most lavish yield,
with fruit aud flower sunshine and summer
about US we had thought to assemble here on
that selected morning to found in your historic
town this home of art, this habitatiOn for his
toric talent.
But with all his boasted wisdom 1t ia not
given to man to peer into tho future. and the
hopes in which we SO lavishly INDUCED were
destined to disaster. When the morning of
the first day of June dawned how different was
the scene from that expected. Instead of the
sunshine tho lowering storm cloud lowered.
The birthday of summer became the full
tide Of Hood; the weeping clouds, continued
beyond the memory of man, poured forth their
lavish fullHess until rivulet was swollen into
river and river into raging torrent.
UnprGceacuted. far-reachin1 and unexpected
came til. devastating flood that swept from
fixed Foundation so many homes and from the
shores of time SO many human lives.
| History has recorded few more hcart-rend-
lug scenes than those witnessed while the hill
aud mountain poured forth into iuterlacinE
valleys their overcharged and foaming noun
| tain streams
To those of you who have observed the
| mighty pnwor Of the raging current here on the
banks Of the Potomac and who saw the rapid
sweep Of river wave that carried in Its angry
course, tree house and bridge, that swept from
your own yicinnge landmarks that have with
stood century of wind and weather, can even
with that experience scarcely realize except as
fiction, the dark story of death and disaster in
| the valley of the ConemGugh.
| Ten thousand, four thousand, we know not
which, of human souls swept by the mighty
! impetus of augered waters from aitluence,
home. life. at "a moments notice, without an
instants anticipation. into the great unknown.
Ito recital appal5 the mind its contempla-
| ton stiTs the greatest depths of human SYM
pathy. aud we recall the narrowing scene with
the shuddcring awe, Father Time moves on
ward with steady step.
But our duty here to-day is not to the past,
| but to the present. and for the futurc-we have
come to lay with fitting CO emOuy the corner
| stone of this great public Improvement in your
| historic town, that it may endure as n mon
ument to the enterprise of your ladies. aud con-
vincing evidence of the fact that a progressive
spirit perVades your community.
| said historic town, and say it adyisedly.
| for CHANGING back through the eventful history
| OF the Valley of tho Shenandoah. we fud inn
| bedded in its pages certain incidents occurring
| here. that must attract to it the gaze of the
world as long as art and inventive talent are
appreciated and liberty is the goal and dream
of mankind.
Before the Prov of the ship that bore Co
| lumbus across the stormy Atlantic had been
| framed, tradition informs us that this place
was the baunt and the home of the red men of
| the forest. Dusky TRIES and warriors moving
| Nr,rt1, nr,T2 IA EI,.aE r$, horn
| On the line Of the Indian trail between the
| tribes upon the Susquehanpa and the tribes
upon the waters south of the Potomac. 1t was
the camping ground of many powerful aud
relentless race. n
And when the genius of Columbus had turned
the attention of the civilized world to new
found land. and the STAR OF Empire began to
move Westward, not many decades after Spots
wood and the cnterprising Knights of the
Golden Horse Shoe looked from the peaks of
the Blue Ridge for the first lime upon this vail
and more beautiful than Cashmere. settle
Tncnt was made on or near the site of your
present town. 1t was established by law in
| 1867. and as Mecklcnburg upon the Potomac it
\ fourished before the dawn of the 10Th century.
Honest and honorable must have been its
| founders. for we find among the first ordi-
| lowing: " In future all frewoOd brought to
town to be sold by the cord Rhall he corded up
| by the official cOrder of wood, and If found de-
fcient shall be forfeited, One-half to tho town
| could not speak louder of the determination
of the veteran fathers of the city to punish
and forbid fraud aud make cheating odious
than this simple invitation to be honest in the
sale of wood.
| Scarcely had the sanction of law called the
| little town into existence when the tyranny of
| the mother country oft repeated and incrcas-
| ing awOke the colonies to revolution. Then
| British greed combined with British power to
| rob our fathers Of their Inheritance of freedom.
! The army and the navy OF the empire were
turned Upon the Atlantic seabOsId; thon came
| the trying scenes at Boston. famous field Of
| Lexington and historic Bunker HILL It was
| then that Massachusetts called unto her sister
| the great Virginia for aid in her hour OF trial:
flor the invader Tas upon her soil, and Virginia
answered her appeal with her beet blood and
| treasure. 80
Here at MoFgan's Spring, the brave sons of
our valley. loving liberty better than life and
country rather than self, assembled and re-
spOnded TO the call. The memorable gather
ing, the fatiguing march their trials and suf-
fer1ngs, are matters of history. and while time
does not permit to me more than moments
mention, their memory is still fresh in the
minds OF their cOuntrymeu, and rs long as lib
erty enlightens the world, the merited fame of
tic revolutionary soldier viii survive.
Passing onward to a later but still early pc
riod, is the year 1875. The war for Indepen-
dence has closed. the willows of suffering have
been converted into the laurels of victory
| The right of colony to shake off the bonds of
slavery has been successfully vindicated and
| the American people have taken their place in
the galaxy of nations as free and sovereign
States.
But those Nations are as strangers-thc wild
| cXpanse of sea and ocean divide them and DER
| the wide stretch of waters, the plOddiug slug
gard sail-with shifting wind and motion. hears
! the tardy commerce of the world. Cline
| viewed by cline and continent By continent
seemed then distant as the stars to us to-day.
Inventive genins was required. The times de-
Inand speedier transportation, and the bright
est minds were busy in the solution of the
problem.
| Here in the then village of Shcpherdstowu
| James RUmsey-dubbGd F" Crazy by his CO.
temPoraTies but now the immortal. was night
Rpd day struggling, battling amid circum-
| stances most adverse to fill the need, to meet
! the requirements of an increasing civilization.
| Ingenious and determined, hopeful and uutir-
! ing, alone and almost friendIess he divcd into
| the hidden c2veTHs of Natures laws and brought
forth the buried secret. Steam as q motive
power could ride the shifting wave. Up the
| winding river stream. mp the swiftest current,
| Ger the pillows of the deep blue sea, and on
| the 6Oso1 OF the storm tossed ocean, the
mighty monarch OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
take the once helpless ship. Here in the chr
| rents OF the potomac was witnessed the fret
| public experiment.
| history was that. On the banks of your noble
| river conspicuous assembly gathered. Your
| ancestors. the veteran founders of your town
! men distinguished in the annals of the Revolu-
ton, General Gates, Dark and Stephens, came
to see the triumph of mind over the laws of
! matter. Fair ladies and brave men came
| htther rs they have come to-day full of intense
| excitement and curious attention. We can
in retrospect sec the gathered crowd-the hope
l. Il