The morning times., 1896-10-18

pioneer from his first settlement TO the
time when he was lord among his fellow
men are unique.
A CURIOUS STUDY.
Several of them bear at the gables the
dates of their const ruCtion, and make
curious study. Tile first, far up the hill
toward the modern farmhouse where his
descendants live today, bears the earliest
date, lSul, whsie the big mill down by the
creek bears the latest, 1872.
The dam. which can be called to the
fancy with its setting of October coloring
by the accompanying picture, is nearly
quarter of mile above, while the ruined
mil race, overgrown with tangle of birch
and beech and oak, maple, suInac and ash,
fills the space between with decaying TIM
bers and terminates with the broken logs
and iron fasteniugs where the wheel was
busy not many years ago.
At the end of a dismantlcd bridge across
the race is a huge beech tree which bears
the rougll-carved initials OF a half CEN
tury The earliest that is dccpherable
is of the date of 1892. while the latest
noticeable is of 1883, about the time the
property passed into the hands of the
United States
There are signs all over the park. warn
ing the public MOTTO trespaSs by hunting, OF
by breaking the trees or pulling flowers.
" llll lllt NbdlLli vi fatluth lpt anu pAN''s
leaves a. a temptation, this last injunction
is probably not very carefully obeyed.
After leaving the mill il is the Broad
| Branch road that leads along the hillside to
the bridge going over Bla gden's mill. The
| road here, known s the Argyle, opens one
! of the pieasantest drives of the trip. 1t
| entirely crosses the park from the side
| and runs along the creek side this whole
| way. II contains several .sketchy bits,
| such as shown in the second picture given
here.
| These pictureSare from photographs mas.
| by MI Eugene Lee Ferguson and a friend,
OF the Bicycle Camera Club. Mr.. Ferguson
says tina There is hardly an amateur photog-
rapher in the city who has not w asted plates
enough upon Rock Creek views TO start a
supply store.
The Argyle road opens out on the way to
the Bright wood Driving Park. and a little
| beyond the Military road is reached. This
goes back across the park and brings the
visitor to the beautiful hills about the Fort
| DeRussy Notifications. The giant shoul-
ders Of hese tower on the other side of a
| ravine.
ARTISTS RAVE OVER THEM.
In the big gully is a bewildering tangle
| of blackberry and other bushes, grass and
young pc rsimmon trees. The sane sort OF
gro with stra ggles up the hills and gives them
| the purple color that artists rave over and
find adespairin attempting to reproduce.
1t looks like special corner out OF a
| glorious Indian sum mer day, caught and in
| some way enmeshed upon the side of the
| fiilI. In the midst of the purple the sumac
bushes fling broad blotches of red and
| scarlet, as If giant painter had dropped
| his paint pot there.
The way home is by the steep hill, with
its huge sorges below coming down from
| the corners of the Daniel and Military roads
| andt hence by the Chevy Chase way home.
Rock Creek Park 1 S to be improved; how
| to improve ii is question about which
| there will be wide diversity Of opinion.
| There are some who think it ought to be
| ''civilized.'' The rough corners ought to
| be cut off: the Wild hills cut down and
made accessible to carriage drives and the
! whole place laid out. in flowers and shrubs
that require the care of the expert garden
er and the friendly Intervention Of the hot
house TO prevent them from periShing in
this climate.
The whole place, in the judgment of
these persons, should be brought under the
beautifying hand of the landscape artist
and made to show the wonders of his
| skill. "a
on the other hands there S another class
| equally extremein their views. They think
the park should be left as it came from the
plastic touch OF nature and If any change
is to be made 1t is to be. In the direction
of making the scenery more ruggedly pictur.
esque than t is now found.
Some OF these would not even have roads
made through the territory and would ask
the visitor to push his way through BRAN
sss saS Bsss z e. d Sagtiss ssss