davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1915-06-06

porous town. So it is that men toda V
have their cornfields over the site of
business blocks and in the fields you
here and there catch the outline of a
street.
Some business was doing at Dumfries
near the beginning of the nineteenth
century, for the Rambler has read in
the American Gazetteer for 1898 that
the exports from Dumfres for the year
ending September 80, 1894, amounted
to sS5,635. and in the Library of Con-
gress there is an account of big race
meet held by the Dumfries Jockey Club
in 1874, at which the stakes of >one
race was 200 guineas.
An Episcopal church was built at
Dumfries in 1853 at cost of one
hundred thousand weight of tobacco,
and this was to replace a much
older Episcopal church which had
fallen into such decay through age
that it was sold for fifteen hundred
weight of tobacco The date of the
building of that church is not known.
and it may be that it succeeded one
was purchased for the Rev. James
Scott, and he seems to be the first pas
tor at Dumfries of which there re-
mains a record. He was also the pas
tor of church which stood near the
mouth of the creek near the present
settlement of Quantico.
AS pastor of the Dumfries church the
Rev. James Scott was succeeded by
his son, the Rev John Scott. This
parson challenged a man to a duel, and
the parsons second. man named Bull
litt. in trying to make peace between
the challenger and the challenged. be
came involved in a quarrel with the
latter and killed him.
The Rev. John Scott went to Scot
land and was succeeded at the Dunn
fries church by the Rev. Spence Gray
son. who was followed, about 1902, by
the Rev. Thomas Harrison. Bishop
Meade recorded the names of such ves-
trymen of that church as he was able
to ascertain through the incomplete
church records. and these were Peyton
Reaser. Butler. Desker. Linton. Renno.
Blackman, Ferguson, Ewell. Scale,
Grayson, Baxter. Whetlige. Fouchee,
Rust. Rausson. Crump, Frogg, Harri-
son. Wright, Bullitt. Wickecliffe. Bell,
Copedye. Thornton, Elsey, Betty, Eus-
tace, Blackwell. Waggener. Nishell,
Kennon. Tibbs. Triplett, Carr. Lee,
Bayliss. Buchanan. Hoe, Alexander.
Fitzhugh, Kincheloe. Washington,
Guatkin, Mcmillan, Adie and Tomp-
kins Among the lay readers were
Thomas Machen, John Peyton and Jer-
emiah Moore.
In 1857. when Bishop Meade visited
Dumfries. the ruins of the church OF
1852 were visible. 1t had been a ruin
Evening star., 1915-06-06
THE SUNDAY STAR WASHINGTON. D. c. JUNE g. 1e15-PART

stone and gneiss. set with red mortar.
The thickness and the height of the
gateposts entitle them to be called
massive, and they are topped with
lour large urn-shaped stones. To give
them the effect of a main entrance to
a rich mans place each gatepost is
hanked by section of low wall From
the stone piers swing two heavy iron
seen closed
The Rambler has followed the road
that passes between the gateposts and
leads for half mile, part of the way
through an arcade of maple trees. to a
pit which was the cellar and founda-
tion of fine house. and to a famous
spring. around which great beds of
mint suggestively grow. The spring
has been walled up and housed in, and
the water is deep and broad enough to
serve as bathing pool, but even in
midsummer it would be too cold. ex-
cept for winter bather That spring
is the source of busy. rushing little
branch, which pours itself into North
west branch near Burnt Mills, and
Northwest branch is one of those large
and picturesque watercourseS which
feed the Eastern branch.
When you have followed the road
from the gateway for nearly half a
mile it forks. the left-hand way lead
ing to an old frame house. where lives
colored man with his family who has
known generations of the proprietors
of the place. His house is deeply shad-
ed with old chestnut trees. The right
hand way turns through a forlorn and
neglected avenue of naples and leads
to a garden, or what was once gar
den- and which. in it's day must have
been an excellent garden. Rosebushes.
for years untrimmed and uncared for
bear their blossoms of red. white and
yellow, and one of the finest lilac
hedges in the environs of Washington
grows there.
The big pit. now growing up in trees
where the fine house stood. may give
sense of loneliness. and perhaps you
will pass along to the spring house,
where the sound of the rushing water.
the fra GRANGE of mint and the scent of
many flowers invite you to rest, and
if you have a sandwich or a box OF
crackers in your pocket, you will re-
fresh yourself here. as many other per
sons had done before the Rambler be-
gan to write of his little journeys in
and about Washington.
Close by the springhouse is another
small building of brick. 1t has long
been vacant, and scattered about the
floors in great confusion are numerous
volumes of an old encyclopedia-the
Evening star., 1915-06-06

encyclopedia or Universal Dictionary of
the Arts. Sciences and Literature by
Abra ham Rees. DID, FRS. Els, S.
Amer. Soc. with the Assistance of Pro-
longed to the people who lived in the
house which stood above the dismal
pit and most of the people who lived
there have been gathered to their
fathers
The spring has been called time out
of mind Indian Spring. the branch it
feeds is Indian Spring branch. and the
farm is known for miles around as
indian Spring farm The land belonged
to one of the Beale family. an old and
important family in Maryland. and the
last of that family living there was
George n Beale. In the early eighties
the property was bought by New
Yorker whose name was Carolyn
OBrien Bryant. He had become prom
inent as the organizer and manager of
the Tilden literary bureau for the pro-
motion of the nomination of Samuel
J. Tilden as the candidate of the demo
cratic party for the presidency. He
married the daughter of one of the
richest of the tobacco magnates of
the period. After the election of Grov-
er Cleveland there was a plan promot-
ed by Daniel Manning and others to
present President Cleveland with a
summer home in the vicinity of Wash
ington and Bryant picked out the In
dian Spring farm. The Red Top prop
erty was finally selected. Bryant built
a fine house on the Indian Spring lands
and with his two daughters. Agnes
and Amy, lived there. One of Bryant's
close friends was William J. Bryan,
then member of Congress. and Mr..
Bryan spent many happy hours on the
Indian Spring farm
Bryant spent money lavishly for a
time and then fortune seems to have
turned from him. The daughters un-
dertook the culture of rare flowers
and that is why so many beautiful
blooms show themselves in these aban-
doned grounds. They also undertook
scientific dairying and that is the ex-
plantation of the big springhouse. For
tune would not smile again and Bryant
moved to Washington. dying in one of
the hospitals; the house burned down:
Agnes married New Yorker and
Amy went back to New York. Both
girls were beloved throughout the
neighborhood
Evening star., 1915-06-06

for thirty-five or forty years. for in
1917 the old courthouse building at
Dumfries had been fitted up as an
Episcopal church. but somewhere
about 1925 or 1880 services were dis
continued in that building for want of
WorSfipers.
The present Episcopal church at
Dumfries, a new building, stands, as
the Rambler believes, on or close upon
the site of the church of 1852 and the
church which it succeeded, for in the
burial ground surrounding the new
church the Rambler read this inscrip-
tion on tombstone: Here lies Will
liam Dunlop, Merchant son to Alex
ander Dunlop. Greek Professor in the
University of Glasgow, who died Dec
81. 1879, aged e'ghty-two years"
On one of the visits of the Rambler
to Dumfries he was shown by l.. E.
Merchant, a native of Dumfries, the
day book and ledger of Richard Dun
lop, who was a prominent merchant of
the town in the eighteenth century
and was probably grandson, or per-
haps a son, of the William Dunlop
whose tombstone is mentioned. In that
ledger of Richard Dunlop is this entry
under date of January 81, 1884: Cash
to General Washington, pounds shil-
lings." 1t may be that George Wash
ington. travelling from Mount Vernon
to Fredericksburg or Williamsburg.
passed through Dumfries, and. finding
himself embarrassed, borrowed this
small sum from his acquaintance.
Evening star., 1915-06-06

the part played by these little theaters
in the French dramatic field is incon-
sidera BILE. BY presenting patriotic
sketches and employing patriotic com
edy they manage to meet expenses
little more. The real French, the mid
die classes who form the backbone of
the nation and whose lives, from the
cradle up, have been stepped in Racine
and MolIere, Gounod and Bizet, have no
time nor money to lavish on the foot
lights unless they can be quite sure
that their expenditure of time will be
repaid by grave artistic treat and
that their outlay of money will ue
turned to patriotic uses.
AS result of this lassitude of pub
lie interest in the art of the stage the
theatrical profession in France has
been reduced to poverty. A portion of
the profession has been saved tho
pangs of hunger and discomfort al
home by it's mobilization into the
F'ranch army. The remaining portion
actors whose age has kept them from
the front. and actresses who, for one
another reason, have been unable TO
join the Red Cross-is facing a crisis.
What this crisis amounts TO and how
it has been brought about, as well as
the means taken by the French actors
and actresses to lessen its effect, is ex-
planned by the dean of the French
tragic stage. Edouard de Max \ com
manding figure in the theatrical world
of France, the idol of all serious Pari-
sian pIaygoers, and man Of svm-
pathy and breadth beloved ~ his col
leagues of the footlights de Max ia
better qualified perhaps than any other
dramatic celebrity to tell the story of
the struggles of the French stage and
it's people during the stirring times
through which France is passine to-
day.
Last August" he says, the day that
was declared, we dispensed with
the theater in France, Just as we dis
pensed with everything else not vitality
necessary to life and mobilization
There were three very simple factors
which made the continuance of the
atrical life momentarilv fmpossible
These three factors were lack of actors
lack or stage hands and lack of audi
ences.
1T Is scarcely necessary to 20 into
details regarding the frst of these
three. 1t needs only to be pointed out
that every actor in France of military
age and normal physique was lost to
the PROFESSION overnight The result
ant embarrassment to the entire French
stage Is self-ev.dent. However by a
rapid readjustment of the whole field
OF theatrical enterprise In France the
theater might have survived the loss
or 1ts younger exponefits had the loss
been unaccompanied by any other mis-
fortune Unfortunately there was the
second factor ! have mentioned, the
loss or the stage hands. to be dealt
with.
This. strange the idea may seem
TO Americans. was more serious. 1
have visited America and / know how
great 1s the use made of electricity in
the mechanics of the American stage.
There a man merely presses button
ana marveis happen. In France we do
not possess the electric stage hand
What one man at a switchboard Ac-
complishes with ease in America 10 du-
plicated here In France only by the
Evening star., 1915-06-06

concerted efforts of an army of highly
specialized workmen. 1t requires. for
instance, no less than l60 brawny stage
hands to raise or lower the drop cur
tain of the Opera in Paris. Everything
else connected with the running OF q
French theater Is accomplished only by
employing hand labor on a like scale.
Consequently, with more than half
the available number of trained stage
hands swept away to the trenches with
in a few days after the declaration of
war. the French theater found itself
seriously crippled. 1t was no longer
possible for managers to present any
thing even remotely resembling spec
tacle. By concentrating the few re-
naming stage hands in half dozen or
SO selected playhouses they might have
arranged to put on a few of the very
simplest of plays. with venerable work.
men to operate the properties and ven-
erable actors to impersonate the male
roles, and in all probability they would
have done just that, but that they were
prevented by the third factor in the
downfall of the wartime stage-there
was no public to play to.
France has never before In all its
long history Of bloodshed and suffering
given itself over to such a tremendous
revulsion of spirit as shook it to it's
very foundations during the first
months of this war. and least of all
has Paris ever turned traitor to her
reputation of light -heartedness Even
through the terrible days of the war
OF 1870. when our capital was starved
into surrender by the invaders, the
population danced and sang away the
pangs of hunger pntil the very last.
But the events of last August
gripped the French nation by the
throat. The unheard-of magnitude of
the catastrophe that bore down upon
US with such awful swiftness, eclipsing
anything we had known before, took
all the carefree frivolity from our
hearts with a sudden wrench Weeks
passed; the country groaned under the
strain of the mobilization; Belgium
writhed in torment, and still my coun-
trymen, whose sons and brothers had
gone out to die, sat gray-faced at the
cafe tables. regarded each other in
stunned silence. and with profound in
creduity remarked, 1T is unbelievable!
1t is Impossible" The immensity of the
misfortune was inconceivable, appall-
ing.
obviously, under those conditions
there could be no theater of any sort.
II during those first days of war there
could have been found in all France .
manager 80 mad, SO gratuitously in
different to the beating of the public
Evening star., 1915-06-06

of 81 performance paid them for their
services. l know a score of celebrated
professional men and women who are ac
cepting that ridiculous amount. A year
ago the same actors and actresses were
commanding salaries ranging from two
hundred to a thousand francs nightly
These artists are giving their time and
strength to the theater merely as a matter
of patriotic obligation.
Whether one stand high or low in
the profession, the pay envelope seldom
changes the value of its contents.
Naturally, however, there is little place
behind the footlights for any but those
who stand high. While managers can
secure the services of the finest talent
remaining in France for 20 francs
performance. they are not inclined to
pay for anything less.
And so matters will in all Likelihood
stand until the theater returns to a
commercial basis. No one can expect
to make money through aiding charity.
Not even the managers and promoters
of the French theater realize anything
approaching the profits which were
theirs in times of peace. How can
they No matter how simple their
production may be there are still ex-
penses of considerable proportions to
be paid. Most of what remains in the
box office after the actors, the person.
mel of the theater. the lighting and the
numerous incidentals have each taken
a share of the receipts. is Immediately
turned over to charities. What event
ually reaches the pockets of the hard
working producer is scarcely worth
mentioning when judged by peace
standards
ITO the salvation of the impoverish-
ed profession. therefore, have come the
professionals themselves. Taking their
cue from the benefit performances
being given daily for the relief of
other victims of the war, they have or
ganfzed similar benefits for the aid of
their own colleagues. In the neigh
borhood of forty such benefits have
been given at various times and in
various theaters with the help of the
producers and managers. The proceeds
have gone to establish fund called
the .'Pret d. Honneur,' which is placed
at the disposal of the actors and act
resses who have been thrown out of a
livelihood by the Generalization of the
French theater.
The Pret d'Honneur has saved the
situation. Any professional of honor
urer of the fund. state his needs, and
without the slightest formality re-
ceive a loan for which he is required
to give no security whatever beyond
the guarantee Of his spoken word to
repay at some future time. Tens Of
thousands Of francs have been dis
tributed in this way since the estab-
lishment of the fund. and hundreds Of
on the verge of starva-
tion have thus been given a new lease
On life.
How these unfortunates managed
10 exist before the birth Of the Pret
l. Honneur will always remain one Of
he unfathomable mysteries OF frances
lramatic history"
Evening star., 1915-06-06

knew an old man at Dumfries His
name was Waters. He was then sew
enty-five years old He told the Ram
bier that he had lived at Dumfries all
his life. and his father had lived there
before him. He could remember back
to the time when he was four years
old. That would carry his memory
back pretty close to the beginning of
the nineteenth century. AS far back
as he could remember Dumfries was Il
ruined town. Then, about seventy
five years ago. great fire swept the
that time had left of the once pros
Evening star., 1915-06-06
Indian Spring Gateposts.

EorR CORNERS is crossroads on
the Colesville pike, about two
miles north of the village of Sligo, in
Montgomery county the four corners
being formed by the crossing Of the
Colesville pike and the road which
leads from Takoma Park to Wheaton
Both roads are Travelled by many
Washington people. and especially by
those who travel in motor cars. There
is heavy rural traffic over the Coles
Vile pike. for the country through
which it passes is a closely settled
farming district and very many roads
lead into it. One of the four corners
is occupied by store and dwelling,
while the other three corners are with
out habitation, but on the northeast
corner is gateway of considerable
pretension and beauty through which
little-traveled and consequently
weedy road leads over fields.
The square gateposts are of rough
stone. brown and gray. or really Of
Potomac sandstone and Potomac blue
Evening star., 1915-06-06

which has been bought and restored. hs
told all the facts concerning the Reaches
which could be gathered in the neighbor
hood of their old home. One of the bits
OF information given the Rambler was
that James Roach, who with his family
was LIVING there in 1861. had commanded
Confederate cavalry troop. grand
daughter of James Roach read the ram
Bile and wrote letter from which tn.
following is taken
James Roach was never in the Cor.
federate army. He organized ravalr,
troop OF which my father. James Carso
Roach. was to be the captain. but III
Union forces came suddenly into that pa,i
or Virginia and both James Roach an
his son were kept prisoners in the,
home
In writing of the ruins Of the Jam..
jackson place. on The Leesburg pix.
west of Scott run, the Rambler ha,
occasion to turn to the newspaper ac-
counts of the jackson Ellsworth trag
e,ly at the Marshall House, In Alexan-
dria. and the occupation of that par
of the highlands of Virginia command
ing Washington by Union troops IN
the course of his reading he came to
this note in a Washington newspaper
of May "a. 1861:
1T is reported that Capt james
Roach and his company of Cooney dis
union scouts were made prisoners by
the troops that first crossed the Long
bridge
The following news item was pub
lished Saturday. May 90 1861:
The residence of Mr.. James Roach,
a well known. very active secessionist.
on the first range of heights upon the
Columbia turnpike, was surrounded hv
a guard about o'clock am. under the
impression. we take it, that ii was the
station of a disunion scouting party.
No molestation of any member OF his
family or of his property was per-
mitted. we hear. nor was he arrested.
though he was upon the premises Ger
tainly until II m. yesterday.
johnson, another and very bitter
and prosecuting secessionist. living
half mile farther up the Columbia
turnpike. who on the day before at the
election at Balls Cross Roads had
pledged himself publicly to shoot the
first person appearing in arms in be-
half of the Union on that side of the
river. slipped off in the course of the
forenoon. making tracks like a quar-
ter horse for some more congenial
than Alexandria county.
to the infinite qualification of its union
ist citizens.
Evening star., 1915-06-06

fold of limited portion of the play
going public Numbers of Parisians
found, after bitter trial, that lifelong
habit was too strong to be combated.
After years of regular and frequent
attendance at the Opera and the
Comedie Franchise they could not set
tie down for long to an endless chain
of tedious evenings at home. And so
they quietly made it known that their
patronage would favor the production
of not-too-frivolous drama and not
too-light opera.
But their voice was too small to be
needed, and not until a stronger de-
mand was heard, demand which
formed the third factor in the re-birth
ayers sense the arrival of the psyche
logical moment and bestir themselves
accordingly. This third factor was the
call for the benefit performance. Once
it became solidly defined the French
theatrical powers that be, already in
fuenced by the sorry plight of the pro-
fessionals and the encouraging promp
fngs of the devotees. commenced Work:
evolved schemes for simplifying stage
mechanics and dispensing with hither-
to indispensable stage hands. engaged
last threw open the doors Of a hand
full of better-class theaters and bid the
public enter and contribute to the gap
ing Golfers of military charity.
SO the wartime French theater came
into existence. Founded primarily on
patriotism. and bent upon charity. it is
a very different theater from that known
to France in happier days. The story Of
its inner workings and it's struggle to
continue its existence is closely allied to
nj. In gtn nj
turn Of tide of battle affects the spirit Of
the theater-going folk of Paris, and as
their spirit rises or falls. SO in a measure
does the fortune of the French stage.
Happily, today the spirit of France is
rising. We Of the profession take that
fact as sign of good omen, and breath
lessly watch its effect upon the fate Of
our art.
far from a satisfactory solution. 1 have
said that the French theater was re-
born only after it became clear to the
promoters that there was a dependable
demand for charity performances. But
the bare fact that so many theaters of
the first order have been unable as yet to
open their doors speaks eloquently for
the demora1ized condition which still ex-
lists throughout the French dramatic
world. The sad truth remains that for
the time being the French public is be-
ing served with as much drama as 1t
cares to see. and that much Is still far
below the amount required to relieve
radically the distress which besets the
humber members Of the theatrical pro-
fession in France.
-
"Nor IL the plight of the master play
ers much better. Fortunately many of
those who hold first-rank prominence
command small private incomes. Other
wise they would all be living in garrets
On tho top of Montmartre. for, figuratively
Speaking, they play for salaries OF such
ridiculous Dimensions as barely to recoup
them for their cab farea to and from
the theater. There 10 . standard price
Evening star., 1915-06-06

Paris PayhuesE4ow Struggle
CabaeBent Performances for the War SueEdoum
Todayope FutreLos Stage Hands
Mechanical Effects Depend Upon
Profess of FenchP