Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1908-06-13

A
E1EI at the unveilng of
the Mackenzie Monument will be
read with interest by the readers
of the MESSENGER:
We extend real Eastern Shore
welcome to the more than two
thousand people gathered here :
today to honor our Mackenzie.
founder of the organized Presyb-
terian Church in America. And
especially, do we so welcome those
faithful and enthusiastic ones.
who come to US today from afar
and on perhaps the largest and
finest special train that ever
came to Makemieland. They have
by their up-to-date schedule made i.
Mackenzie Park but suburb of
Philadelphia. They have seen from -
the car windows but fraction of the
beauty and wealth and charm of this
Delaware, Maryland and Virginia PENN.
sula, which we atfectlonately call THE
Eastern Shore" for to see it well and
as we know it, they should'have made
this trip by balloon. Had they done so
they would have then seen what that
graceful and noble bird just now flying
high above us sees. namely. long strip
of land running North and South, well
covered with evergreen and other woods;
and with fertile fields and meadows and
many towns and hamlcts and net
work of railroad and boat routes and
an unusually thickly settled farming
community, making almost a continuous
town throughout the entire length of
this Peninsula. Also on the East and
West sides are to be seen countless is
lands, rivers and creeks of wonderful
variety. and many of which are quite
as charming as the Little Rivers, of
which DIR. Van Dyke so charmingly
writes and most of which are veritable
mines of wealth. in their fullness of
fish and oysters and other water pro-
ducts and along whose shores and
meadows are countless game and other
birds-a sportman's paradise Besides
most of the insects and plants so dear
to DR.. McCook. Moreover, on the
East side is the great Atlantic Ocean.
and on the West side, the glorious
Chesapeake Bay. and each so near and
so convenient of access from any part
of the Peninsula Then on the South
side is the magnificent entrance to the
Chesapeake Bay, through which John
Smith and his followers sailed in 1907,
and whose extensive harbor at Old
Point, makes even the fine harbor at
New York seem small. Then. must
not forget to add that on the North
side is Wilmington and Philadelphia.
No wonder that Smith and Mackenzie
thought that hereabouts would be the
chief settlements on the Atlantic Coast.
Smith also at this time, more than
three hundred years ago, explored and
charted the Pocomoke Sound and
river we are now looking upon from
this monument site. No part. also. of
Makemieland is more beautiful than
the very Southern tip of it at Cape
Charles, about sixteen miles south Of
the present railroad station of that
name, and which choice bit of land is
owned by Hon. John S. Wise, of New
York, the eminent writer and son of
Henry A. Wise, the Civil War Cover
nor of Virginia. Gov. Wise was a
native Of this county of Accomac, and
one of its most eminent and interesting
citizens of national repute, who always
loved the many charms of Mackenzie
land. Whilst most other parts of our
country are beautiful in summer, when
the foliage is out. our Makemieland is
quite as beautiful in the sense in winter.
by reason of its many evergreen woods.
some of which are extraordinarily beau
tiful and attractive. This Peninsula
has never been seriously devastated
by any war or other calamity. and is
now, with the exception oil New Castle
County. Delaware. an entirely Pro-
hibition section. and has an unusually
small percentage Of citizens of foreign
birth.
Truly our Makemieland is a land of
milk and honey, and the home of a
happy and contented people have
often heard my father forcefully say in
his mature days. and after he had lived
in this section more than half century
and had travelled much in the United
States. that it was his honest conviction
that this Eastern Shore was nearer the
good place and further from the bad
place than any other place he had ever
seen or heard Of F; and such is confden-
TALLY. really the conviction away down
in the hearts Of most of US who are