The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-07-11
LETTER FROM VIRGINIA.

ASHLAND FARM, FAIRFAX COUNTY,
Va. Dear Herald: After leaving
YOUR time-honored town we had quite
a pleasant journey. We left W'nns.
no, O a., O'Clock in the evening ana
re,ched Alexandria tie next a. m. at
ab ut 6 80 without even having u
chance cars. THIN We took the Qusn-
tico local, which passes through Alex
sudria about s O'Clock in the morning.
and in Jew minutes the voice OF the
conductor was heard calling "Fran-
conia!' which was our s'ation. 1t
was surely a quick trip, and though
Alexandria is some little d stance from
Winnsboro, the men Of the Southern
Railway evidently do not want their
passengers to realize this, neither DO
they give them time TO feel very mucn
fatigued, which is quite considerate OF
them.
We will now give you few facts
about this section of "The Ola Dim1n'
ion." 1t is undoubtedly a beautiful
country and we realized this last Fri,
day during our drive to the Eplscopal
Theological Seminary, which is four
miles from here. Our party Consist.
ing of fopr) lef: home shortly after
breakfast and reached the seminary IN
time to witness very pretty and I'M
pressive ceremony, viz: the ordination
of quite e number Of young men 10 the
ministry, but We will come to that
| later, as it will be best to first speak OF
the things we observed on our way.
The morning was bright and pleasant,
having had a gentle rain the evening
before, the atmosphere was consider
ably cooled, added to this advantage
was that of good roads. These roads
are we'll shaded by trees. We passed
through beautiful avenues Of cedars,
which were planted by the liberal
! hand of na'ure. The pyramidal cedars
add much to the grace and beauty OF
the landscape, besides affording shade
for the travellers. All along the road
may be seen pretty residences, which
indicate the tidineSs and prosperity OF
the inmates. Like South Carolina,
Virginia has had 4 past, and we are
led to believe that she will have 8
bright and prosperous future Let us
hope that our brave old ''Palmetto
State" may see better days, and that
she may, in some future time reach a
greater degree of prosperity than che
at present enjoys.
The market gardens here are i'll very
good conditions, and the grain crop
seems to be particularly fine. Fields
of oats, wheat, rye, timothy and clover
may be seen along the roadsides. In
some of the fields the grain has been
cut, and Judging from the large shocks
of grain which may be seen, there has
been quite q good crop this year.
Noticing little brown cottage, we
we're told by one of our party that
this was the residence Of Gen. Cooper,
acknowledgement. We also had the
pleasure Of passing near Ciermont, the
residence of the celebrated Commodore
Forest of the Confederate navy, this
place is also noted as the birthplace of
Gen. Flrzhugh Lee. In the distance
we could see the shores of Maryland,
and our attention was also attracted
by Washington, our great capitol,
which could be seen lying in front and
somewhat below ne. We arrived at
the seminary in due time to witness
the ordination, A large number Of
persons, representative Of the historic
families of Virginia, assembled in the
seminary chapel 10 witness the rite OF
ordination to the Episcopal ministry.
Ten were ordained to the Diaconate,
and nine to the priesthood. Four
bishops were present, name y Bishops
Newton and Whittle, of tie Diocese of
Virginia, Bishop Randolph, of the
Diocese Of Southern Virginia, and the
Rev. Petterkin, from West Virginia.
After services tie you,g men who
were ordained first marched down the
middle aisle of the chapel, whilst the
choir and congregation sang "Onward
Christian Soldiers," a hymn which
was very appropriate for the occasion,
then the crowd followed and the
clergy were entertained at dinner,
whilst the rest of The public dispersed.
Some of orr parry drove to A'exan-
dria where We took luncheon IN the
Ma, shall House (now Shunan's Sa-
loon) which is celebrated as being the
scene of he tragedy which resulted in
the deaths of Jackson and Ellsworth,
May 24:h, 1864. We then proceeded
homeward well satisfied that we had
spent all unusually delightful day.
Well, Messrs. Editors, we will bring
this communication to an end. With
every good wish for THE HERALD, We
beg to remain, Yours very truly,
NELLR.