Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-08-13
AMONG GREEN FIELDS
THE IDLER HAS BEEN FEATURING
IN sPOTsYLvANIA COUNTY.
liz WnRNLY ENDORSES LEWISTON
Though Not a Large Place, IL Has
Many Charmx-somc Fine Virginia
Peopie-Squirrel Hunting and Rub
Der NecL-Adyice TO Farmers.

pher up TO this town at your earliest op-
portunity. It's the first place l ever struck
where 1 didn't find something 10 kick
against. and / wish my picture taken
while in this beatifc state. At last I've
come across a rural district where hens
lay real eggs and cows give genuine milk
and fresh vegetables grow luxurlaatly
and country people find time TO be happy
and cheerful, despite droughts and To-
Gusts and weevl and rainy spells and
low wheat prices and all the other evils
from which our agricultural population
suffer. Lewiston, though one of ;he pref
test towns in the Post-Ohlce Guide, is
not a metropolis. People who come here
with the expectation Of finding a city as
large as London, England, or Pekin,
China or even Rome, Ga, are disap-
pointed. and return home dsgrunted. In
deed, Lewiston doesn't even enjoy the
municipal improvements which might
(after a careful search be found in Rich
mond. nor are her tnoroughfares as wei
laid off as the Champs Elysees OF Paris
or Pennsylvania avenue, Washington. To
come down TO the plain, prickly, sour
tasting truth, Lewiston hasn't grown as
she ought 10. At present her whole make
up consists Of only eight or ten wcll-or-
dered houses which nestle among enc
raid gwclls of fertile land or stick out
their noses toward an Oakshade1. mean
dering road Of red clay. When the found
ers of The village first broke .,round FOR
the prospective metropolis they planted
her deep down in Spotsylvania county,
so that she could grow and expand and
puff out without frothing over INTO ada
cent counties, and thereby creating COM
rlications as 10 which county should fur
nish the Mayor and Board of Allerm IN.
Despite these precautionary measures
Lewiston hasn't popped any u ner but
tons off by her rapid growth. and pe0pe
can still traverse her thOrOughfqras with
ont humping against one another on ac-
count Of the crowd.
II you look on a map Of the world the
probabilities are that you Will find very
/ small space devoted TO Lcwiston-possi-
bly, you won't come across the place at
| all. though her history is said TO date
/ back TO the Revolution. In Ollen times
| they called the town Walters Tavern
and its main thOrOughfare ran through
10 Washington i'm one direction. and TO
l
in the other Tradition says that WASH
ingtcn and Lafayette used 10 stop al the
I old tavern. but nobody Will swear posi-
lively 10 these facts. SpOtsylv1niaus
| never take any chances with the truth.
and as 10 the tavern incident, they reason
this way: That even If Washington and
Lafayette didn't stop at the hos.elry,
they ought 10 have done so, ana by not
so fulfilling their destiny missed a good
thing. This IS good reasoning. too. for the
now rickcty old inn STANDS in front Of q
superb grove of trees and sweeps a beau
tiful. rolling country, whose greenness.
picturesqueness, and topography is good
for sore eyes The landscape FOR miles
around-though of the peaceful, reposeful
sort and entirely lacking in ruggedness-
is one of the pretticst j have ever seen.
Moreover. Spotsylvania IS a good county
for cider
As d matter Of fact. Lewiston is a typi-
cal rural village, nine miles from the
nearest railroad and rustic in every sense,
yet her people belong not TO the hay
seed class, but to that cultured element
which has been so idealized by novels
describing Virginia life. II you We're to
take the nail-keg in the Lewiston store
as a central point and describe q circle
] /
find within its radius as many II not
more. cultivated people, proportionately,
than IN any other part of the Common
wealth. Yes, l know this sounds like the
adulation of q man who wants 20 get
LeWiston's vote for a public office. but its
so, all the same. When one considers
the isolation of the little village. and the
fact that the county roads, though lar
above the average, are Ike the soft part
of a potato-pie in winter my statement
may seem strange. but this is my day FOR
telling the truth, and / mean what | say.
Possibly some arstOcratic old gentleman
or lady set the example decades ago, and
SpOtsylyanians have been initiating him
or her ever since. At any rate, the school
children hereabOuts have 20 lock horns
with Latin grammars and irregular
French verbs, ana the grown people
browse on the Review of Reviews ana
literary digests and Scotch dialect stories
just as cultured Boston does. You needn't
think you can come 10 Lewiston and cat
with your knife. or wipe your greasy
hands on your hair, or comb your whs-
kers with a fork, or sit in the rocking
chairs when ladies' are standing about.
Years ago-perhaps from the very start
these people learnt fine manners. and
they are not quick TO drop a good thing
when they find IL. And yet. despite their
refinement, they are not city tok. nor
would any mistake them for the jewellers
I'm cities. Comfortably seated on the coil
of barbcd-wire at the store. ! have often
studied the Spotsylvanian types. Whether
they be the gentry. or what might be
called the peasantry, they all have one
common observation-disclosures. Though
stranger can. of course, be singled out
among a thousand-nay. smelled by them
for furlongs Off-you couldn't get the deni-
zens 70 let on that they knew he was an
importation. or 10 show any curiosity
about him. Mightnt IL be well FOR Ricn-
mond 10 take a few lessons up here, Ed
tor. dear? ! think letting other peoples
business alone is mighty good manners.
In poetry and novels I've often read
about the simplicity of country people,
the word as used I'm that connection sig
nifyng pure hearteGness. and not harm
less stupidity. as we now construe IT, In
the good, wholesome. old sense all the
Spotsylvaniars 1 have seen are simple.
They meet you with a cordiality and Il
frankness which indicates that they DO
not expect YOU TO sell them green-goods
or gold-5ricks, or wooden hams And
even If IL is your purpose TO play such
tricks upon them, their very innocence
is apt 10 disarm you. If Christian charity
true kindness. and consideration for
others constitute greenness then Spot
sylvanans are a lot OF hopeless country
pumpkins. who would persist In blowing