The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-04-28
ESTABLISHED 1850.

over to the battle. He pointed out
to me the hollow in the slope where
so many brave men died, and told
how all those fields around us were
zone night covered with men and
tents and wagons, and in the morn
ing they were all as clean as penny"
for the whole great host had melted
away in night march. This whole
valley was stripped of its fences, the
rails being used for camp fires, al
though few buildings were burned.
On these fields where once men
writhed in death, the wheat is grow
ing rich and green under the spring
sunshine, and quiet farm homes look
out across the scene, and one hears
the shouts Of children at their play.
The Civil War was the most hideous
thing in our history. and yet even
those scars are nearly healed. To
most of us, thank Heaven, it is only
story. and not memory.
"There are banks OF white flowers where they
pitched the white tent,
There are plows in the way that the war wagons
There are songs where they lifted up Rachels
lament"
Until very recently, when atrol-
ley road was constructed through it,
this fertile Middletown Valley was
wonderfully isolated, and all the pro-
duce, mainly in the crude form of
wheat, corn and hay, had to be haul
ed over the mountain to Frederick,
generally with four or six horse
teams. Still, land seemd to be high
in price even under these difficulties.
Beyond Frederick the negro is as un-
common as in New York.
West of the Middletown Vally, you
climb over steep spur of the Blue
Ridge and then dip down into the
basin of the Atietam Creek-in its
lower courses the theater of one of
the greatest battle of the war. Itisa
broad valley, or more properly sue
cession of little valleys, with limestone
ridges between. making large Sec
tion of excellent land, sometimes
broken by the limestone outcrop.
This too is a region of wheat and
corn, and some steers but very few
dairy cows. Indeed, Maryland, as
a rule, everywhere sells raw material
rather than animal products. The
strong limestone loans endure this
system better than most soils.
There is one feature especially
characteristic of the country around
Hagerstown, and that is the big stone
barns, with narrow Sits in the stone
walls in lieu of windows. / do not
suppose man can move in the best
society agriculturally speaking, unless
he has stone barn. They are GER
tainly substantial, and look like medi-
eval castles, but they are poorly light
ed, and the stables are dark and dis
NAL dungeons. All through this Sec
ton, in the meetings and on the
streets, yau see the Dunkards or Ger
man Baptist brethen, with the smooth,
tight bonnets of the women and the
"plain" coats and soft, round hats
and full boards and shaven upper lips
of the men. They are a peculiar
people perhaps, judged by our stand
ards, but 1 hear only favorable re-
ports regarding their earnestness,
honesty and sobriety.
Hagerstown, a city of IA 900, is the
metropolis of this region. 1t was
long an important town on the Ma
tional Pike and is now coming to be
a great railroad center.
The states of Maryland, Virginia and
West Virginia have united to erect
here monument to their Confederate
dead who fell at South Mountain and
Antietam. This monument-a fe-
male figure lifting broken anchor =
standing in the cemetery of what is
essentially a northern town, shows
how beautifully the old bitterness
has been buried.
Lands here are not changing hands
to any extent, for they are passed
down the generations, and the boys
expect to follow in their fathers
steps. This Pennsylvania Dutch
stock may not be progressive agricul-
turally, but it is at least stable. The
farmer may have scant faith in the
balanced ration, but he keeps the
weeds out of his corn field, and there
is literally not one bush or weed in
his fence corners. He comes to the
institute and listens with unbounded
respect, but I suspect he goes home
with undated confidence in his fa-
theirs methods. His mental horizon
may to surprising extent be bound
Ned by the walls of his valley, but be
is staunch supporter of his church
and good citizen and generally there
is a nice little sum to his credit in the
village bank. There is whole lot
of farming country which would be
better off if it had more of this type
of men.