Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-06-15
The FURNACE.
Its Early yHiStOryand Its Present
DccaXed COnditiOn-Sa Samson
Hat and His Life.


Hat and His Life.
X. {. j. writing from Perkinsville.
Ind, to the Peninsula NetLodif, saws:
What a delightful place is the
Peninsula, that Peninsula of PENN
sulas, the Eastern Shore Over and
over again have wandered to reverie,
on the shores Of the Chesapeake, watch
lng the ships as they sailed away, and
listening To the signing of the pine
trees as they 'Moaned the SAL requiem
OF the sea; and now though far away,
! still love that beautiful sunny land.
"My first year in the Wilmington
conference was spent at what is now
Fruiiland, Nd, at which time be-
came familiar with the country living
between Salisbury and Snow Hill, a
country in which pines and sand
abounded and noble and frugal peo.
pie dwelt.
81 remember visiting, in the summer
of 1872, The Furnace, where in the
ante bellum days prosperity and ro-
nance abounded. A recent letter
from friend has brought up the
whole history and scenes before me.
and as some of the facts are OF intense
local interest, and may be read with
relish, by some, who like myself, NAV
be far from these scenes of other days,
| send them for publication in the
Peninsula Methodist. My correspondent
says:
"'Friday afternoon we had the pleas
ure of visiting The Furnace" Perhaps
you are familiar with fhe country and
its history. George Alfred Townsend
makes use of this locality in the scenes
and incidents of The Entailed Hat"
"The Nassawongo Creek is full of
rich deposits of iron ore, which num-
Der of years ago was worked in this
furnace, the stack of which is still
standing some twenty-five feet high
and eight or ten feet broad n the base,
built of stone five feet, and then of
brick. The poison oak and Virginia
creeper clambering up the sides makes
it thing of beauty.
1.-The Mansion house built bv Judge
Custis Of the story, but, Judge Spence
in point of fact, is still standing though
now falling into decay and ruin. Near
it stands log cabin occupied by
another notable character of the story,
Sampson Hat, whose real name is
Sampson Harmon, and who is now 1O7
years old, though he looks much
younger and is still well and active.
We found him sitting on a hand cart
that was filed with fire wood he had
just cut. Poor old darkyl he lives
there destitute of every comfort that
makes life desirable entirely forsakcn
and alone, except that he has the COM
pany of Il cat; yet seems to be in per-
feet harmony with his dreary sur
"' He told us that he had raised
twenty-five bushels of corn last year
with the hoe. In his youthful days,
as | was informed, he ran down and
n deer so great was his fleet
ness of foot.
What subject for poem from
some modern Whittier. The mill
pond and the old mill; the old man.
sion in ruins, and the abandoned fur
mace in the weird pines and the sigh
ing cyprus. and the old negro still
clinging TO his lonely cabin; all carry
ing us back to the days of yore when
the shout Of JOY and the hum of in
dustry made music in that land
Now it is the silent land, with no
voices to wake the echoes. save the
hootipg Of the night owls, the plaintiff
cry of the whippoorwill, and the low
crooring of the poor old negro as he
sings over to himself the melodies of
the years that have forever fled ="