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

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| MHyMH WIFI Il me the other day
M W MXsjD when told him
| I'M "A M/IGNV was going to Snick-
Vim VA M#Il er's Gap for brief
nm n MW. season of relaxation
Nm IN M/, without excitement.
I'M IN w fresh vegetables,
>~I r. fresh air, and a few
things on the side.
Then had to tell him. Right intelligent
man he was. too. considering. OF course,
he should have known without asking, for
1t Is merely suburb Of the capital. But
couldn't tell him very clearly, for l had
never been there and my information was
second hand. but, like the jab in the dia-
phragm which poor Mercutio received, 1t
served.
AS soon as this person discovered that I
was talking through somebody else's in
formation he furnished me free look Of
scorn. and went away. shifting at me.
Now. am talking right from the Shout
der. and know whereof speak.
I've been there.
The geography class will please stand up.
Smokers Gap is situated in the state of
Virginia, in the counties of Loudoun anu
Clarke, and about fourteen jumps Of fox
from the point where West Virginia runs
up to the old state. 1t Is. say, sixty miles
from Washington, and the traveller gets
there over the w. and o. branch OF the
Southern railway, which ends at Round
Hill. thence four miles over fine mountain
road, a thousand feet up into the cerulean
canopy of the heavens. and there he Is
For years Loudoun county mas been a
Washington summer boarding house. but
the boarders have not taken to the hills,
so to speak, scanning to prefer the lower al
titudes, though why am not able to eN,
plain. seeing that they live at sea Level. ana
that the very best thing they could do when
they go away from it is to go to higher
point, so that their lungs may expand, their
respiration increase, their hearts beat fas-
ter. their blood course more rapidiy tnrough
their VEINS and general beneht to the en-
tire system logically accrue.
That's the anatomy. physiology and ny
giene of it. but itgis evident not every per-
SON who goes away for the summer knows
what he goesaway for
ct am now 4furnishing that tntormauon
free ,
The Kratisnsss Of 1t is Recommendation
to some even though the Information De OF
no especial merit.Ta
Smokers is oneIof many gaps in this sec
ton OF the Blue Ridge mountains, and It's
elevation gives it far-reaching view OF
both the tLoudoupsand the Shenandoah val
leys and alsovpreaedence OF its fellow-gaps
I'm respect,of Hhis.s I. -.
How It received its name is yelled in more
One story is TO the effect that at one time
Col Billy Snfgeer owned the country round
about or livedan the gap. or had something
to do with 'itssand 1t was called singers
Gan which, by the erosion of time and the
softening of language fby exposure 20 the
mountain air. grew into the more melliiiu-
Gus form of SRicker's Gap. The colonei Is
now dead
Another legend, and one more pleasing,
is to the effect that on one occasion in the
early history of the state Captain John
Smith and Mr.. John Rolfe. who afterward
became the son-in-law of the mighty CHIEF
Powfatan, while taking Mrpand Mrs. POW
hatan and their charming and accomplished
daughter Miss Pocahontas Powhatan, over
to Berryville and Winchester to visit their
English relatives In those parts. stopped at
this point over night. 1t was beautiful
moonlight night. and Mr. Rolfe and Miss
Pocahontas were calculating on having
lovely time. but the old. folks. with that
crafty Indians In their relations to, the
whites, refused to give the tender young
hearts a chance at each other Captain
Smith got the old man to go take walk
with him. but the old lady remained on
guard and there wasn't a minute. when
she didn't have something to say to them
about the lovely scenery and dozen other
things young people In their state OF mind
haven't the least interest in. and they were
having hard lines indeed. When Smith and
Powhatan rejoined the group, the foxy
captain saw that there wasn't anything to
do but sit the old folks out, so he tipped
the wink to Rolfe. and Rolfe passed 1t on
to Pocahontas. and they became very quiet.
In about nineteen minutes the old folks be-
gan to game and yawn. and finally they
nodded and were fast asleep Then Rolfe
and Pocahcntas snckered, Smith discreetly
turned his back, and
Softly in the moonlight
OF the rosy month of June,
John Rolfe and Pocahontas
Had half an hours spoon.
And the cape of the old folks and the
smokers of the young gave the name to
this romantic spot.
I have my doubts about this story, but I
give it as it came to me.
Another. evidently off of the same piece
of cloth Of veracity and pun, has itself
thus:
The gorges of the mountain yawned
Beneath the peaks ice cap,
While jccund sunshine smiled below,
And snickered DER the gap.
1t is great delight to one who is built
that way to delve into these rich mines of
song he may find hidden away in the noun
tain Businesses will haunt his memory ever
after.
At least, that's what young woman
wearing specs and an Intellectual cast of
countenance informed me.
How long this gap has been used a
passage way to the west is not a matter of
definite record, but it is said that General
Braddock in the spring of 1855. which was
one hundred and forty years ago, went
through here on his way to the headwaters
OF the Ohio, where ne met the French and
Indians.
And he never came back
By the wayi does the gentle reader know
anything about Gen. Braddock? History
says he was 'rounder" of the most APP
proved type. Thatfis to say he could put
a night in with the boys" seven times a
week, and had been doing it for nearly
fifty years of his service in the British
army He would have no doubt been at it
yet. If he hadn't been so sure that he
could mop the earth up with those aborig
inal Americans, and had remained in Alex
andria. instead ofrgoing west to. grow up
with the country. Compare Alexandria as
it Is today with the wild and woolly west
as it is today. and judge for yourselves if
this statement is not, in the main, correct.
Braddock was the son of major general
in the British army, as well as a son of
gun, and he was a martinez of the strictest
sort. So strict was he that the common
punishment of one of his soldiers when he
got drunk was thousand lashes, served
in doses of a hundred day for ten days,
and yet, he carried a jag with him nearly
all the time. He commanded by precept
and not by example, which is much the
pleasanter way. He was heartless wretch
.6dit;op ond when his haautif,,1 sfster