The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-11-26
After Heir-Looms
Interesting Hunt for Them
in Old Maryland.

/
a correspondent from Baltimore.
| Maryland. writes:
hunting uncer tn, colder skies
/ of New England nay be q Passt,a that
/ wakes with the
! Daf0di's,
Tbat enc before the swallow dares. and
take
The winds Of March with beauty
| that grows with the growing summer.
/ wanes in the autumn. and is a chrysalis
/ by this time. But in our ninbler air. and
/ in all the fair country that lies between
! the Blue Ridge and the sea. there are no
/ times. no season in which one may not
/ pursue the fascinating "old blue the
( hardly less fascinating fabric quarreled
over endlessIy by The Lowescoftians and
/ the 0rientaIists; the grandfather's clock
! or the cIaw-footed table. Friends in the
| north seem 70 think that we have but 10
/ halt al the first lonely farm house We
! come 70, and load ourselves with price
less treasures bought Of the unsuspect-
! ing native for the proverbial song II
/ may have been 50 once L was 50 as
antique shop in America, and they who
! rode a-hunung must have had glorious
/ bag. Now, however, no city considers
/ itself complete until Il has half-a-dozen
such shops. filed, for the greater part
with the most patent reproductions. and
/ the old things which could have been
bought have mostly fallen into the hands
/ Of their agents.
/ There are sportsmen Of many kinds,
/ however. and the shyness Of the quarry
/ but adds a fresh zest 70 the chase. We
( may not get what We go for when we
drive abroad in quest Of cupboard clas-
/ sizes. and We may come home without the
dragon bowl or the spindle-backed chair
We had heard Of as being hidden in this
/ out-of-the-way farmstead, but We need
! never return ernpty-handed- Over many
miles Of lovely country have We driven
( lelsUrely for time was made for slaves.
and We are free: slowly, for We love our
J horses, and the roads are billy and
! rough; happily. for from the crest Of
every rise of ground. and a. every turn
/ in the road. pictures Of the sweetest and
/ most intimate pastoral beauty are spread
/ before US, and in every hollow We are
I sure 10 find stream which has coaxed
/ into growth all manner Of waysIde trees
/ and shrubs and vines. Il is impossible not
/ 70 90 a-gleaning while the horses rest,
| with their noses in the sweet. cool wafer.
/ Even in winter, We can shake the powd-
! cry snow from laurel and pine boughs
and We can rob the birds Of many
/ jeweled wand of alderberries or catbrier
/ wreaths. and always over all hangs
/ the haze-soft. aIIuring. impal pa5le-that
! gives our worn and ancient mountains
| their crisp descriptive name
/ The eighteenth century was the golden
! age Of the potter and the ca5inet-maker,
/ and not less golden for the rich planters
whose splendid homes lay along our
waterways and in our mountain valleys.
| The ships in which they sent out their
! cargoes Of tobacco and other colonial
produce came back laden with the splen-
/ did mahogany fashioned by the London
workmen Of the day. the gorgeous silks
/ and porceIains Of the Orient. the objects
/ OF art and luxury called forth by the
! magnificent frivolity Of the French
/ court. and the triumphs Of German and
! English potters. The houses OF these old
/ planters were not 50 comfortable as are
{ ours. and they had but one fancy to
/ crafty. where We had a hundred, but
what they had must be Of the bes1. Nor
did the hardships Of the revolutionary
struggle prevent the rapid accumulation
/ OF household treasures. while the period
/ just after the war Of 1872 was marked by
/ a very great influx Of wares. less prec-
ious. perhaps. but hardly less interest
1 ing II was then that our torelaLaers
bought great stores Of the splendid blue
+ pottery of rdshlre-pictured with
The Beauties OF America the landing
/ Of Lafayette. the AIcDonough victory.
( the portraits Of our national heroes. and
} many another subject likely to appeal 70
( patriotic hearts.
/ Times change. so il is not strange that
! by and b. our fore5ears outgrev the old
I chairs and tables. the bowls and tn
/ reens. and that the long mirror that had
+ lost its gliding, the broken hsrp-backed
! chair. or the chest OF drawers whose
/ carving was Clipped and whose orasses
. were rusty. were given over 70 the
. shades Of the attic. the tender mercies
/ OF some tavorite servant. or into the
hands OF one Of the poor whites cared
for by The gentlefolk. Then the war
came. and one Of its sad details is that
often recalled in fres;de talk: the scat
( terIng and loss OF the treasured belong
inss o. many vanished generation
+ Sometimes by plllage, sometimes by FIRE
+ oftener reluctantly parted with for the
sake % their bitterly needed money
1 value 20 some stranger who neither
knez nor would have Needed the sacred
associations which made them dear.
F5rtur ately much Is SIN left in the
hands Of the rtzhtf1l owners. and Is kept
wlth a care beautiful 70 see The punch
bowl painted ia China with tha family
coat-of-4rms. the chair that belonged .
''oa- grandfather the SIsaer. The
Wedzewood vases snds -re Ssvres Jars.
which were gifts from our drst foreign
ministers. these are SIN 5-y 70 visitors
in che cd houses which stand on many
az ancestral homestead in the warmth
and c7,o- and deep peace e the south
WIN such surroundings IL IS hard -
resist The temptation 10 acquire such b.cs
of the A5tsan and setsam Of the brave
days % old a. may SAL Sc found. and
hence t1e eve--aIs-t eye. The eve---ea5y
ear. one comes 20 have. A prize nay
lurk IN the most unexpected corner In
the market. where the t--cksters' wives
display the freshest vegetables. the Tn
est s-uit and the r7sc t7ojhs5ue poultry
under the SIN. one may And tAzr The
cls75 IS held tn bowl @ royal blue
Delf-- - -ha- the p-aeeHt sEe=.uess cf