Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-08-13

tile, producing fine crops OF oats, and
from $50 to 700 bushels of potatoes to
the acre. The beeves are allowed TO
Craze on the meadows until winter sets
in, when they are brought up and furth-
er fattened on potatoes until they are
sent to market. Fruit culture, however,
is the great business of the people. Plums
grow to perfection and one can see on
every hill near every house for miles,
orchards loaded with the finest varieties
of apples. which are bought by agents
from England, shipped in large cargoes
and sold in London. The farms are
small, some containg only few acres.
This was explained by our friend Billy
Eaton, who said that each farmer had
divided at his death his land among his
sons, and as children were numerous the
farms became very small. We had
heard of a man III this section who had
private family of % children, which
shows that Nova Scotia can never be
depopulated. although hundreds of its
young people come into the United
States each year. Our friend, as we
passed an old hipped-roof farm house
the home of his ancestors for genera
tians, spoke further of the large families
reared upon the prolific soil and gave
us bit of the history of his family.
The great-grand-father like Others OF
the early settlers of this region, had
come with the Royalists from the New
England states during the war OF the
Revolution. The lands from which the
Acadians had been banshed were given
to these Royalist for their fidelity to the
King, and in this way our friends wor-
thy ancestor had received his portion.
He had been thrifty and the Lord had
him and sent him twenty-five
children in twenty-siX years. Our friend
had looked over the family bible. and
for each year for fifteen years, beginning
with IN, there was an entire page OF
births. Then year was blank, and
an explanation there was found
recorded on the page Of deaths that OF
the first partner of the old mans bosom.
Further information being necessary
the page of marriage was turned to and
il was found that this man of business
had in the same year recorded his sec
ond matrimonial venture. From this
time on the entries on the page ofbirths
were as regular as the harveStS until the
twenty-fifth name had been recorded,
when the old man had been gathered
unto his fathers, leaving his poSterity TO
cherish the memory of an energetic life
well spent
After viewing this portion Of the fer
tile valley we returned TO kentville,
boarded train, waived adieu TO our new
found friends and proceeded nine miles
to WoOlfvile. on the western slope OF
the ridge that divides the valley drained
by the Gasperean from the valley OF the
Woolfville is thriving
town of several thousand people. 1t is
mostly by wealthy men of the
Baptist faith, who, after having made a
goodly fortune in other places, have come
to settle in this beautiful land and edu-
cate their children at the Acadian Col
lege and other schools there located.
The streets are unpaved and there is no
mud, although the sands may be drench-
ed for hours with rain. As the carriages
roll over the sandy surface OF the streets
no sound is given forth, no footstep is
heard on the sidewalks, and quiet relgnS
supreme. After dinner at one of the
hotels we walked through the quiet
streets. assembled the ridge back snd east
Of the town and from this vantage ground
like Moses above the valley of Jordan,
viewed the landscape Ger. lregret that
nv pen is not descripti We, that | might
tell of the scene like a paradise land
spread out before us. As the rains OF
the morning had grown more gentle ana
then ceased, the air was pure, and al
though the clouds like mighty blanket
between earth and sky shut out the sun,
no fog arose from the restless waters OF
NIinas Basin to shut out the view Of
beauty at our feet.
Looking westward from our position on
the hill back of Woolfville we could see
the shipping village of Port Williams,
with its white cottages, and the masts
Of ships Deering above the bikes while
the keels are resting upon the mud lett
by the receding tide. Away off TO the
northwest, over the green marshes ana
across the waters of the basin, huddled
like a flock of white gulls, against the
blue of the mountain, are the cottages
and spires of the village Of Kingsport,
while to the northward, outlined against
the sky like the head of some mighty
animal projecting into the water and
drinking. Cape Blomidon stands as ST.
lent sentinel, keeping watch by night
and by day over the fifty miles OF length
and twenty of breath of the Basin OF
Minas. Immediately under our feet
along the foot of the ridge is the Grand
Pre-. or Grand prairie, extending out 10
Long Island, that forms barrier on the
front and with the bikes from either end
of the island to the foot of the ridge pro-
tectS the growing crops from the ravages
of the sea. Last. but not least, at the
right of the Great prairie, but short
distance east, lays the village of Grand
Pre-.
The Grand Pre- Of today is station on
the Dominion Atlantic Railroad. Moth
inc now remains of the ancient village
but tradition to tell the story OF the trag-
edy of Punishment. Sometime since an
old well was discovered and promptly
called Evangeline Well. Hard by were
dug up some blacksmith's tools, W%iYtctH9.
justified the belief thai here may have
stood the fcgge where Benedict's friend,
Bash, the blacksmith, took in his leath-
er lap the hoof of the horse as play
thing" while Gabriel and Evangeline,
lovers even in childhood, watched, with
wondering eyes. In the neighborhood
was found an old foundation which may
have been the church where the Cody
priest taught faith and charity to the
people. As we stood upon the hill we
could only see the buildings built by
modern hands. We looked long at the
beautiful scene before us, and then at
the request of our friendly guide we
walked through luxuriant fields of oats,
through fruit-ladened orchards and over
the crest of the ridge, and then our eyes
rested upon the peaceful village in the
valley of the Gasperean. As the diamond
merchant displays tray after tray OF daz-
zling gems and then brings out to please
the eye one stone more beautiful than
them all, as the artist shows many pic
lures that touch the heart and then I'M
covers to the gaze his masterpiece, so
our friend reserved this masterpiece OF
nature that we might behold it last and
let its beauty sparkle in our memory
through the weary days to come.
The Gasperian valley, so narrow, yet
more beautiful than poet 5 dream, that
spread its length before us, lays along
the banks of the Gasperian, little riv-