Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1902-04-04
. Thoughts Should be Kept.

L NSJuIt HlOub Udlb lOi ulilS 81 puCh
ground to the scene. | take off my
hat and salute Highland.
Perhaps, in some future letter,
[ may wish to say something of
present conditions, and present
needs in the county. Ii so. they
will not be the words of an alien,
but of one Of you.
TO return to the suggestions of
my letter; and. after the manner of
Il pre- acher. in the first place:
Your name is a good omen. Let
your paper be recorder of names
and events ere the men who have
them in memory are laid under the
sod.
Let Lucius Stephenson search the
records, so neatly and so accurately
kept by his father, and tell the
story Of the founding of Monterey.
The name recalls the war in Next
co. But few months before High
land county was formed from PEN
dleton and Bath. General Taylor
had catured Monterey in Mexico
Thus. the name Of our county seat
is connected with the history of the
United States. The name fits the
location. Nor must we forget the
beauty of the scene. Where is
there finer view than bursts up
on the traveller as he makes the
turn at John Trimble's; unless it
be from the porch Of the elegant
home of Lucius Stephenson?
Who selected this picturesque
spot to enthrone our Mountain
King? Record his name to his
everlasting remem brance.
Whose compass and chain mark
ed the boundaries Of the town?
Who built the first house?
Why may not Pinckney Jones
gather up the name If the lawyers,
such as Terrell, Niche, Shetfey,
and write their record to be pre-
served for future generations.
Judges sat on the Bench learned
in tie law.
One of my recollections is Of an
aged man with a staff, with white
cap on his head, who. came from
his Crabbottom home on court
days; to whom men gave reverence.
John Sittington. | remember too
the venerable William Wilson of
Jackson's River, whose library of
good books was scarcely equalled
west of the Blue Ridge.
James Layne Of Crab Run and
William McClung and Thomas
Jones Of the Bull Pasture. These
and others, equally worthy, sug-
gest much Of the early history of
the county.
Some ore can name the date Of
the first stages-the beginning of
rapid transit across the mountains.
| approve of Your recent common
dation of Charles Cross, the faith
fll driver of the hack. But, the
boys Of the present know nothing
of the daily arrival Of Trotter's
stages from Staunton and from
Beverly. With what pleasure the
boys of my day mounted the boot"
to ride into the tavern yard from
post Office; and if one of us were
fortunate enough to he allowed a
seat beside the driver, no higher
honor was thought to be attaina-
bic. The boy resolved that to be a
stage driver would fill his ideal Of
life.
The big muster days with the
preyioaS training of the officers.
The drum and the fife. David's
choir in the temple in Jerusalem,
nor Thomas Orchestra in Chicago
never made sweeter music to a NJ IN
tereY boy. The only rival Of the
fife was the whistling negro, who
belonged to one Of The Hulls at
Mcdowell.
The big cakes of ginger Tread,
that an old woman whose name |
forget would bring to town and
sell at the corner Of the old store,
the predecessor of Bishops | have
never eaten any such since the big
muster days.
And this suggests the honorable
record of Highland men in 81 to
IS.
i Osborne Wilson and DR.. Harri
son Jones both gallant soldiers
must tell of the stirring times.
They are modest men slow to speak
Of matters concerning themselves.
The annual reunion in the month
of May when the grass Las covered
the Sittlington hills near Mellow
ell THUS hiding the marks Of the
bullets which decimated the ranks
Of the gallant Georgia men is to be
commended but that is not enough.
put in print the story of the High
land boys who wore the gray; whose
readiness to enlist, and whose faith
| fulneSS to the end refute tie oft
repeated error that the men of the
south fought to perpetuate slavery.
They were not slaye owners, they
knew their rights and dared to
maintain them.
My letter is growing two long.
| have said nothing about the
church in Monterey; of the Sunday