Telegram-herald., 1890-07-31
CROSSING A sAHARE
Ccr0rszraan Curnrangs Describes
q Rua nom Baltimore
A cus~rts,s wasss ~ sandy son. Dsssss
strh ssuntsa Trses sad O~.Efsa
C.bsas. .ith Here sEa fh.rs
ssa.s,-A Fsnall&-r f1stsFe%

A stranger spprosehing Washington
fr,,ua the East gets interested On lesy-
snv Baltimore. The country between
The Two cites Is FAR from picturesque.
Ia old DAYS, the Relay House, with It's
stone ytaduct attracted attention The
yiaauct, however. Is thing Of the past.
ana the rad no longer takes In the Re-
Law House It runs 70 Washington
through what has been termed "a God
fersaken country" II was represented
il. the House Of Representatives BY
Barnes Compton. an old-time Maryland
gentleman. 1t IS represented to-day by
one whose name IS Mudd Congressman
NcAdoo used 70 tease Compton BY say
ing: Barnes. why don't yOu trade OF
your district for farm and make some
thing
A stranger leaving New York on the
midnight train is awakened soon after
passing through Baltimore. he hears
heavy rumbling that tells him the
train is in = tunnel There is a series
OF tunnels The bright sunlight flashes
upon the windows Of the car and Ia
twinkling the dozer Is again in Cim-
merriam darkness. As the cars emerge
from the last rocky tube. the porter
usually opens the curtains and says:
''You have little less than an hour,
sir"
The traveller dresses himself and stag
gers toward the lavatory. As he looks
out OF the window he sees penitentiary
ON the left of the train. 1t stands upon
hill, and is surrounded By high walls,
with little guard-house ateach corner.
His ablutions performed, he drops into
scat on the right Of the train and
gazes at tho passing landscape. There
are few signs OF life in the environs of
the city. The soil is light clay, tinged
with red. Scrubby thiclets and forests.
apparently stunted, line tho way. Tho
old trees were cut away during the war.
Twenty-eight years ago the road was
picketed from Baltimore TO Washington.
There was 4 campfire and little shell
ter tent every five hundred yards.
Earthworks wore thrown up at availa-
bic elevations. The embankments in
some places are still visible.
The first station is Oienton. An in
tersecting railroad crosses the track
here. The depot is small building,
not half as large as the old-fashioned
Southern grocery opposite. This store
has balcony embowered in foliage. A
huge board fence separates it from the
track. Beneath tho trees, however,
you see three well-fed men, with dirty
white shirts, trousers Of butternut
hue, and slouch hats, sitting upon the
stoop in chairs tipped against the house.
Their legs hang limp in the hot air, and
they look as though they had not energy
enough to move. A gaudy circus bill,
a bakiDg-powder advertisement, and
hand-bills that would interest horse
breeders adorn the clapboards. The
surrounding houses are small and scat
tered. All are unpainted.
A moment later the train skirts q
great field planted with tomatoes The
vines are half-grown and look pale and
sickly. Not long afterwards you reach
field freshly plowed. The white clay
is streaked with red, and baked with
heat. The field stretches to the top
of low ridge. Six men and four
women are dropping seeds in the fur
rows. The men wear lindsey-woolsey
trousers held by suspenders fully six
inches wide, and look any thing but
cool and comfortable. The women wear
calico dresses and sun-bonnets, and
tramp over the plowed clay without
either stays or bustles. Passengers are
in doubt as to what is being planted.
Some fancy that it is potatoes and
Others are sure that it is either turnips
or buckwheat Before tho discussion
ends, milo of stunted pines and frs
slips by, and after that fields OF corn
and strip OF oats that would not turn
out a bushel to the acre.
Speaker Reed, gavel in hand, could
sit on the fence, ard count each head
of oats as easily as he can count quo
rum in the House under the new rules
The little village of Patuxet lies tc
the north. The country is still al
most q dead level Occasionally 1t is
dotted with whitewashed negro cabins
The train dashes through deep cuts in
clay ridges fringed with eyergreens
Anon, 1t rushes through a swamp Dor
dered with underground fairly tropical
There is no evidence OF agricultural
thrift No barns or granaries are IL
sight. No pig-pens arc seem No COW.