Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-15

super- T =,intendent is lieutenant Thomas D.
 acAlpine, n wounded veteran of the Seq ond Massachusetts infantry.
 A Deal of Lying.
 Taking up my line of march westward, four miles brought me to Salem church; which still bears marks of Sedgwick's battle, and thence visited in turn Chan cellor house, the Jackson monument and the location of the various headquarters of the generals of tho Eleventh corps, about which there has been sd much disphte To satisfy my own mind estimated the dis: tance from house to house and from Gen. eral Deven's limo to the woods from which Stonewall Jackson issued. am forced to one of two conclusions, both very unpleas- ant--either am entirely incapable of un- derstanding an official account of a battle or else there has been deal of frightful lying about Charlottesville. And think I may say, as Congressman Walker of Massachusetts said in his last speech on the banking bill that~"I l am not the stu pidest man in the world either"
 do not know how many miles it is northwest from the Jackson monument to Germanna ford, for one is compelled to walk a long way round, but not far south of the ford found the open region whero Grant began his long and bloody battle. A I found gold mining in active and, accord ing to the miners, very successful opera | tion. Tho idea of there being rich placer mines ip this part of the world was one found it hard to accept, but the men cer- | tainly arc getting out gold and they say | that they are making much better wages than they could at anything else and think | with proper machinery an immense prod
 uct could bo returned. Just south of the | placers is sort of oasis in tho general barrenness-half a dozen or more good farms, covering perhaps 1000 acres of l cleared land. In it arc the original Wilder ness store and postoff1ce, and at the west | end of the Charlottesville battlefield is the old Wilderness church which first gave ] name to the region. That church Is still | worth visiting, for 1t Is an almost perfect reproduction of the old English country church and surroundings. There are the same groves and heavy swardi a solemn, restful quiet; secluded walks and rustic l gateway, which seems . thousand years old. It is said that the original church
 was built in 1776, but it has been so ex- | tensivcly repaired that it may be called 1 new.
 Here as in many other places in Vir- | ginia am very much struck with the con- | trast between the country and the people. | Two-thirds of this county consists of land which our western farmers would call
 "scandalously poor" and yet the country people live remarkably well. In fact, do
 not just now remember any rural region
 where the general tone of living is higher.
 The dwellings, arc neat and the surround
 ings generally attractive the food is of the
 best and well cooked, and, unlike tho west
 ern farmers, the people generally have sc-
 cured for themselves such luxurics ns ice, 1 tho fnnr kind Of standard CrOcerieS md other things usually found only in towns. | There is a general air of refinement, and
 in many of the houses one finds consider
 able libraries Hero, however, as every
 where else in tho south, notice that the
 books arc odd standard English, with very
 rarely indeed any of the late novels or | scientific works. J. H. BEADLE.