Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-27

| carriage and four, but he hadn't gone more
than seventeen miles over those Virginia
dirt roads until he got out, and contemplate
ing the situation for few moments, ex-
claimed heartily, well. I'll be DID, This
IS matter of record. partially to show
| that among his other vices he was also
given to profanity. In fact, he cussed
| everybody about him. except G. Washing
| ton, who accompanied him as his aid-de-
camp and guest without pay, and under
| the circumstances wouldn't stand any
monkey business of that sort. After his
historic remark to the four-in-hand, he
| went ahead on horseback.
| "Braddocks ROAD is yet a part of
Smokers Gap. though the present road
does not follow the lines of the path he
| blaZed to the west.
Immediately below the Gap, snugly en-
sconoed beneath the brow of the mountain,
| Is the little hamlet of Snickersville, con-
tanning church, post office, some stores
ana residences and a vast deal of unused
| peaceful serenity, of which the summer
poarder Is allowed to partake at his pleas
ure during the season. The hamlet is also
| Punkintown. or as Boston lady once call
| ed 1t, "Pumpkintown" and she barely as
| capped with her life.
| This name was derived from the fact that
enc OF the early settlers one day was driv-
irs up the hill out of town, when the tail
Doard OF his Conestoga parted it's moor
| ings' and such Johnstown flood of pump
ktns poured through the hamlet that the
Inhabitants ran shrieking down into the
valley beyond, and it was several days be-
lore the serenity of the place was restored
Inc driver OF the wagon got away in the
excitement and was never heard of again.
Like the gent who burned the Temple of
Diana at Ephesus his name is lost to his
tory. though the name he gave to the town
Will remain as long as the town does.
The Blue Ridge extends north and south
from the Gap, rising gradually from the
tnousand-foot level of the Gap to the COM
handing height of twenty-five hundred
in o vic If fIn IIax
either side of SURPRISING beauty. 1 have
seen nearly all the mountain views and
vistas east of the Mississippi, and do not
hesitate to say that none of them Is equal
IN the varied beauty of wood and stream
and hill and valley and fertile field, hedged
IN along the distant horizon by lofty peaks
ana ranges. as is the magnificent spread
from Bears Den. I might go into raptures
| over 1t and write poetry and splutter
around like composer of circus posters
put 1t would not add any to the view, SO
be seen to be appreciated. and shall not
try to paint the rainbow, nor present a
picture of all this loveliness merely for the
benefit OF the individual who will buy a pa
paying anything for travelling expenses.
One Of the most delightful features Of
this mountain neighborhood Is the entire
absence J., OF boomers. There isn't one any
four city people on the range Mr.. C. G.
smith Prof. Raspar. leader of the George
town Orchestra; Mr.. ]. A. Truesdell Of The
Star. and Miss Brouse,: have farms, OF vary
Ing size, which they are developing into
charming summer homes. and land is as
cheap as dirt up there. for all who want
for $1,000, and he offered as an inducement
fine view of the Washington monument
from the farm. could not see the monu-
nent any day during my visit. but the
air was misty blue and shut off the far
Their points. I am told. however, that the
me nument can be readily seen on clear
days from any number of points, which
will give the reader some idea of the
breadth of the view. as the distance in an
air line is at least fifty miles, and the
monument is from thousand to fifteen
hundred feet or more below the view points
on the ridge.
From the various lookouts. taking in the
entire horizon. there are in. sight the
Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, the Mas
sanutten and Blue Ridge ranges, the Ka-
toctins. Bolivar Heights at Harper's Ferry.
the Short Hills and Sugar Loaf. rising like
sentinel on the Monocacy, and the towns
Of Winchester. Berryvile and Charlestown
in the Shenandoah, and Round Hill, Snick-
ersville, Purcellville. and other small places
in the Loudoun valley. with the Washing
ton monument as the great white land
mark toward the rising sun.
II that isn't a panorama worth going
miles to see, then am not judge of pam
Dramas.
Neither. is it far to go to see. Three
hours and half from Washington and the
sweltering inhabitant is in the midst of it
all. with a cooling breeze to fan his brow
and his lungs full of ozone that exhila-
Of the head afterward. Why this spot has
been so long neglected is one of the things
have not been able to explain to those
who asked the cause. .
revel in mountain air. whocping it up
through the woods. chasing the festive
huckleberry and sleeping like logs from
sunset till breakfast time
This entire paradise, too, actually within
sight Of Washington!
They told me there was fine bass fishing
in the Shenandoah. I'm lot much of a
fisherman, but Arthur Dodge of the Mil
trip, was. SO we took his tackle and went
after the flnny deniZens of the deep. The
Shenandoah at this point (Castleman's
Ferry Is beautiful stream, and we found
all the fishing we could possibly ask for.
Indeed. we wallowed in it, but no fish re-
sponded. Dodge said 1t was because the
water was "too riley" but think it was
because he forgot the bottle of bait. I
know I didn't forget the corkscrew.
All this country was fought ever during
the late war;" and all kinds of relics from
musket ball to skull are picked up in
the fields.
From the hotel piazza one may look Off
to the west toward Winchester, where, as
Buchanan Read tells it:
up from the south at break of day.
Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,
The affrighted air with a shudder bore
The terrible grumble and rumble and roar,
Telling the battle was on once more,
And Sheridan twenty miles away!"
And looking toward the east he may see
the spires of Hamilton, where, as Madison
Cawein has it for the other side:
Full in the sun,
At Hamilton
We met the south's invaders"
From the beginning to the end of the
struggle his was fighting ground. and
there's many a tumbling wall and totter-
ing chimr ey biding today as monuments
of these disastrous years.
Speaking OF this hotel piazza, I may say
for 1t that it has one popularity common
to no other piazza of my acquaintance. 1t
happens that the hotel is built on the
line dividing the counties of Clarke and
Loudoun, and that Clarke is a wide open
county, while Loudoun is as dry chip.
A man couldn't get a drink there If
snake a mile and half long were to bite
him in ninety-seven vital spots at once:
whereas in Clarke he can get enough to
make him see snakes two miles long Well,
this piazza has one end of itself in Clarke
and the other in Loudoun, SO that 1t may
come to pass that those who come early
and get seats in the west end of the piazza
may revel in mint juleps and other nectars
fit for the gods, while those who come late