The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1890-01-24
Aislella11en1s.

That tried to blossom IN the snow,
Lies withered where the yiOlets blow"
-OLiUer Wendell Holmes.
miscellaneous.
Mr.. WooIsey's Request for Public
Roads.
For The Egis and Intelligencer.
The people in all parts of the county take
deep interest in Mr.. Woolsey's will and tn
provision made in it for the improvement
of our county roads. The whole people o
the county are Mr.. Woolsey's heirs and ever,
one of them, in whatever district he ma,
live, will in any event participate, directly O.
indirectly in Mr.. Woosey's bounty. Mr.
Woolsey recognized that our county is NOR,
behind the times in the matter of good road
than in any oher respect, and in order II
stir up and encourage our people to provide
these essential requisites OF progress he be
queathed to them his whole fortune, The &C
emulation of a life time of signal industry
aud thrift. This wise public spirit entitle.
him to place among such men as Peabody
Hopkins, McDonogh and Sheppard. HI
gave his all for the benefit of his countrymer
they could do no more.
/ find there is good deal of misconceptor
of what really are the provisions of this will
and what the conditions under which the
donors intentions are to be carried out Fol
instance, l frequently hear it said that the
will requires the county to appropriate fol
the roads mentioned sum equal to what
Mr.. Woolsey has given. This is entirely 6
mistake as we will see, and it is important
that this false impression should be correct
ed. For this purpose it may be well to give
a concise statement of the provisions of the
will.
Mr.. Woolsey, apart from three legacies ag-
gregating $4,000, leaves all of his property
of every kind to his executor, Mr.. s. A. Will,
liams, in trust, to hold during the life time Of
his sisters or the survivor of them, 10 sell
such part thereof as he shall think best, to
keep the whole estate invested in good real
estate securities, and TO pay over the net in
come from it to his sisters or sister surviving
him. Thus it remains during the life time OF
his last surviving sister, unless she "elects'
that the following disposition, in whole or in
part, should take place during her life time:
At the death of his last surviving sister, his
executor is TO transfer the whole estate to
three trustees, Messrs. John Moores, Alexan-
der Bill and the executor himself, to hold in
trust for the following purposes, viz to keep
invested until the County Commissioners OF
Hartford County perfect the following public
and county roads by matchmaking the same
under the charge and direction of compe-
tent civil engineer and 10 the satisfaction OF
said trustees" LIST, the road from Bel Air to
Churchville ; I'd, from Churchvlle to Havre
de Grace by way of either Avondale or
Hopewell Sd, mCburchville to Aberdeen;
4th, from Churchville to Darlington by way
of Glenvile and Wilson's Mill; 5th, from
Churcheille to Calvary land upon the COM
pletion of the first named road and the ap-
proval of the same as aforesaid, by said trus-
tees, then to pay over to the said County Com
missioners the sum of $4,000"
Upon the completion and approval of the
second named road the further sum of $780,
600; so Of the third, So 600 of the fourth,
SIS 900 of the fifth, $4,000. The five roads
to be built and paid for in the order named
and the whole of them to be completed with
in five years from the time the fund becomes
available for that purpose, that is, from the
death or "electon of his last surviving sister"
which is defined to mean her determination,
in case it should occur, to waive her life in
terest in said trust estate or any part thereof
and to permit said fund or any part thereof
to pass from the executor to the trustees to
the devise over-"In case the provisions or
any of them of this my will for the applica-
ton of my estate, after the death of my last
surviving sister, towards improving and ma
cadamizing public roads in my own county,
shall for any reason fail, in whole or in part
then | give, devise and bequeath and direct
that the entire balance remaining in the hands
of the trustees therein named shall pass and
be paid over, the one-half to the Board OF
County School Commissioners of Hartford
County for the use of the free public schools
of the county and the other half to the Trus-
tees of the Churchville Presbyterian Congre-
CATION Now the above synopsis contains
prac ically the whole of the will, and what
does it say ? That the county is to put down
dollar for dollar as | have heard said? Not
atall!
The county is to perfect by macadamiz-
ing" the named roads ITO the satisfaction OF
the trustees" Their judgment is final, their
discretion absolute, limited only by the re-
quirement equity places on all trustees that
they shall act in good faith to accomplish the
purpose of the trust. Can any one that
knows these trustees, who are practical bust
ness men and large taxpayers, believe tina,
they will require the county to expend
on the roads $5S,000 in addition
to the $5S,000 which Mr.. Woolsey
gives for that purpose On the
contrary, it is the opinion of those best quail
fed to make an estimate of the cost of such
work that at most $4,000 from the county
added to the $685. given by Mr.. Woolsey
would perfect all of The 80 miles of road to
the satisfaction of any reasonable man. 1t is
proper and desirable that the county should
contribute reasonable sum to such work
of public improvement, for these roads are
important public highways, connecting the
largest centres of population in the county
and directly serving more than one half OF
i population. MIR. Woolsey undoubtedly
intended that the county should do its part
towards macadamizing these roads but do
not think he intended his trustees to
require the county to pike from gutter to
gutter or to do anything more than make a
really good macadamized road.
A recent writer on this subject says, "All
macadamized roads should be double; on
one side covered with stone on the other hav-
ing the ordinary foundation of the soil. II
the soil-way is kept in fair repair, it will be
preferred by sensible teamsters for more than
half the year in all regions and in many Sec
tions of the county for more than three
fourths of the time" and agree with him at
least where the road is sufficiently level not to
wash. This would render it unnecessary to
macadamize a width of more than fourteen
feet and materially reduce the cost of the
work besides furnishing a pleasant road for
summer driving. The same writer quoted
above, speaking of macadamized roads, says
"When properly built they so far spare the
expense of reconstruction as in many cases
to be in the long run more economical than
clay roads,
If this is the experience in most cases where
the taxpayers pay the whole cost how great
will be the economy where more than two
thirds of the cost is paid by the bounty of 9
public benefactor. 1t is the general expert
ence that our dirt roads will no longer stanG
the heavy hauling to which they are subject
ed. For any one who has much hauling tt
a1, t1, ha ahlirad d-;sre