The Newtown bee., 1902-08-08

moment: "Take care! take care. Thunder and lightning hit me an it will hit you if you ain't keerful!" At another time one of his cO.ored men knocked pitcher of on to the floor, shattering it to pieces. Simon Couch sharply reprimanded the man when o os Sita itse no HeSFy " coacSs S osr gres M
 grandfather, Simon Couch, was taken prisoner by the British when they were marching toward Danbury, but later he either escaped or was re- leased. There are a number of inter- eSting old pieces of furniture in the Couch homestead on Church Hill, one of which is a looking glass made in 1911. Benjamin Couch also has some interesting old papers and deeds.
 HOMEWARD BOUND.
 Soon after our visit to the Natural Bridge of Virginia, a trip to the "Peaks of Otter'' had been decided upon and we were only waiting for a prOpitiouS day to start. We left Lynchburg one day at 2.3O p. m. (the people here call it evening" on the N. & w. R. R. and arrived at Bedford. After an hour of travel, we alighted frOmthe cars at one of the prettiest depots you can imagine. Bedford is
  niticent hotel built by the k. R. Go. and near the depot, with extensive and we'll laid out grounds. Stately school houses are seen here and the Randolph Macon academy near the | hotel is one of system of five estab- lished by the Methodist Church South, the charter having been obtained in 1880. Three of these institutions are for young men and boys and two for l r;,.1c now closed for the summer months. Bedford is an old and very aristocratic town and before the Civil War was known as Liberty. There are five large tobacco factories here, a wOOlen mill, towering mills, canning factories, machine works, etc. The pure air here is attracting many summer visit ors to the place. The social side of life is quite prominent here, very en- tertaining and never to be forgotten. We took light top carriage and start ed for the Peaks, some B miles away and, after mile of travel, severe thunder storm came upon us from out a clear sky and our top carriage served us we'll. The party consisted of Ed ward w. Buckingham of Lynchburg, formerly of Washington, Conn.,, and the writer. The road had been re- ported to us as very rough indeed, but the ball and chain gang of the country had been at work upon it for two months and it was so much improved that we arrived at the foot of the mountain with the sun two hours high and, after tedious climb, the top was reached in time to witness the most gorgeous sunset of which we could conceive. We partook of bouhtiful supper in the little stone house be. tween two huge Doulders at 9.3O even ing and then viewed the moon sink , beneath the horizon. The Peaks of Otter are remarkable for the tops be-
 ing of huge bOulderS, one of which, as large as house, was blown off, some years ago, by some students and Car now be seen, with glass, some two miles away. As we were the only wis
 itorS there, that night, we were wei attended to and we had our choice o1 two rooms. We chose the ladies' Sidt and we had three beds apiece. The wind was bowling as we retired at l: o'clock. We were awakened at al early hour to see the sun rise and w felt paid for the sore feet and tiret legs. The Balanced Rock, the Rocl :. Wedge and Cavern were visited ant then we began our descent, happy il , being told that we had seen the bes day there for two months past. AS w came upon the Chain Gang of 15 per sons, guarded by three men with re volvers in their belts and double bar rel shot guns in hand, we had a pleas ant chat with them and were allowed to talk with the prisoners all we de sired. We found that the desire tC live on your neighbours chickens was making good roads for Virginia.