davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1916-12-24

ing one passenger and fifty pounds of
baggage. The passenger in such races
Is usually a woman, the wife. daugh-
ter or sweetheart of the owner or
miles was made in eight hours and five
minutes The year previous it was
made in less than eight hours. Another
burden race is run to Council City.
eighty-siX miles. This ends in a ball.
the ladies being carried on the sleds by
their best beauX to the dance.
l asked Mr. Aver how the dogs were
prepared for the race. He replied.
They are trained. groomed and care
fully fed for months beforehand. The
owners know just what is needed to
put them into the pink of condition. A
part of the diet is fish, fresh mutton
and eggs, and during the race they get
one meal of hamburger steak per day.
Camps for food and water are estab-
lished along the road. For three days
prior to the race they are not taken
out of the kennels, and for three weeks
before that time they are exercised to
long distance runs.
The most of the racing of Alaska is
under the direction of the Nome Kennel
Club, which was founded by Albert
dogs used to transport miners and sup
plies from one part of the country to
another. This club was organized be-
fore racing was thought of. but the
sport is doing much to improve the
character of the animals. OF late years.
many Russian staghounds. Great Danes
and Missouri birdhounds have been
brought in. These are crossed with the
native dogs and the result tends to
produce animals of endurance and
speed. There are q large number of
than the rpalamutes. and look like wolf
dogs in miniature. They are noted for
their endurance. and are able to make
the all-Alaska sweepstakes race with
only two or three hours of rest
Most of the races so far held have
been noted for their fairness and free
dom from trickery of any kind. The
contestants have been real sports, and
the best of feeling has attended the
an attempt was made to beat the favor
lite team by fraud was that in the Can
die race of 1914. when a blanket filled
with upright porcupine quilts and
tackled to rubberoid roofing was laid on
the track SO that the quills stood up
right The blanket was spread out
over the road and lightly covered with
snow. 1t was so arranged that the
dogs of any team that ran over it
would have had their feet pierced by
the quills of the porcupine and been lamed.
The plotters had directed their teams
to go out of the course to avoid the
blanket and they would have been sure
Of winning had not the blanket been
found just in advance Of the race. The
fraud is supposed to have been perpe-
trated by some Of the natives at the
Evening star., 1916-12-24

woods and with the logs and rough
hewed timber built the signal tower
and surrounded the clearing with a
high stockade for the protection of the
signal detachment and usually a COM
pany of supporting troops, generally
cavalry. This was one of a number of
signal stations set UP few miles out
side of the capitals Gordon of forti-
fications on the Virginia side of the
Potomac. and this particular station
commanded survey over an extensive
area.
The hill rises to a height of 500 feet
above sea level and overtops all the
other high land in that vicinity. The
signal tower was perhaps sixty feet
high and afforded good lookout over
many miles of road and great stretches
of field. The station communicated by
signal with an outpost at Langley and
a Union camp at Vienna. and If the
Rambler does not err. signals were ex-
changed between the Tysons Cross
Roads station and observers at Fort
Marcy and Fort Ethan Allen, part of
whose ruins still crown the heights
above Chain bridge. This section of
the country was as dangerous for the
Federals as any other section of Nir-
ginia near Washington. 1t was a favo-
rite region for raids and forays by
Evening star., 1916-12-24

Maffitt. Died at Salona. Fairfax Coun
ty. March 2, 1928, aged fffty-nine years.
Erected by his affectionate widow"
This was a famous parson of northern
Virginia and whose name was familiar
to the people of Washington during
the first Quarter of the nineteenth CEN
tury. Parson Maffitt and his wife
threw open their house to President
Madison and Mrs. Madison on that
fateful 25th of August, 1914, when the
British were in possession of Wash
ington. 1t is the tradition, and the
Rambler accepts it, that President
Madison and several other high officials
of the government watched from Sa-
Iona the flames of the burning public
buildings of the capital
But leaving Lewinsville. the Rambler
Evening star., 1916-12-24

evening papers by the good electric
light Of the strong current but each
time the car stops at corner, the light
goes out suddenly.
And the Parisians laugh.
1T saves the COAL" they say.
AT home. in our fiat. the electric light
is brilliant.
Suddenly, at 6 pm. 1t goes out.
We don't worry If we have to climb
the stairs with candles burning in
brackets at each landing. This Is Neu-
lily. 1t is different in different sectors.
but all households must be ready to
lack the electric Highland even gas.
If needful-during a few certain high
pressure hours. Our own are pm. till
9 pm. at present.
In the kitchen. Louise gets dinner by
the light of an old gas fixture, but
very few Paris flats have both gas and
Evening star., 1916-12-24

stpnfm 5n5 bnS
,ONE. ow bios nsdw
estate bstlnu
for it's good disposition. q sSa id ths mail
contractor: Il once met a team OF, Hye
Mckenzie river huskies on the f6dte
from Nome to Skagway! nTheSpavero
then near Lake Bennett 1aHau Aaa9 ID
ready travelled 2.4oo mites. hdrAsssffei!a
sled carrying the drivero AndI hfts f6lt-
fit Nevertheless. they weFeolh PeTaeSt
condition. and were ga1Iepftiki o6i6Hk.
That was at the time of the steae gold
excitement. The man sdId Mis- te am 4t
Lake Rennett for sl.ooe Il fors$sgo rrsYy
per dog -
How many hours can you. 1ifdke ftn .
day." h2ns7a insn
I'VE try to make eight dsatnbhbsife,
but it is often best to dtIveI@4sl yIsEk.
The stops have to be made aeUtfAsg 40
the trail and the roadhduses 81 we Va
ways shelter the dogs at 1rffsftt " pos
sible. and most of the roadh6uses
have kennels for them n tf1eres ~ tHo
shelter the native dog S.tll srrfy, htfa-
self in the snow, or climb upon some
thing above it. He wfnD Lchoes es stne
best trail and bite the .iicfcies soHto pf
his toes when he stops ifor ttse niselst-
The feet of dog are as infpof ftsht!a
factor in travelling as the, fefto HS "A
horse. A close-built foot. with oe,eod
round balls and thick skfh sf6Ne We
balls. is essential to a trait dps:sI5hefe
must also be a very littlerbain fsahrasan
the toes. otherwise the showo eaeS1s
there and balls up and tayaS 1HSS43s
that lame the dog III .Tsyswod
What do you feed the d6Ss Ait F62h
trips?" sGtsroo $50
The stories of Alaskan dags sark ~
eion. and their deeds surpafssthoe& OF
the famous St Bernards ofakfe sAlpf.
There are huskies and oIna2aDRAl4Hs
which have travelled tens OF Thousands Af
miles in harness. and ! hear taEesBiSNof
how they have saved the liv<M 0f tnefr
owners when almost frozen tfbdA131DDr
lost in the snow. One of theaH E1WfDs
relates to Raldy of Nome. wDoe o1ved
the All-Alaska sweepstakes foHo4eo8y
Allen, a famous driver in ou9eo1 tee
great races to Candle City. Ba6neO0s
the leader of the team. Dur1h tIe6s
race he felt that the sled was n5nAeug
light. and, looking back. could Ge1no
signs of his master. He thereupemfef
his own accord, turned the team md
went back over the trail several 0fnN.
where he found Scotty lying pals eud
unconscious on the snow. He ke4d
been struck by one of the iron poA1s
put up hy the government to mark ss1e
trail. The dog, Baldy, stopped and
licked the palid face Of the senseie!e
man. He then set up a howl 49,
scratched away at Scotty's breast until
the man came to, and, crawling back
on the sled, motioned him to go On
with the race. This Baidy did. ana
~ FRANK G. cARPENrER-
Evening star., 1916-12-24

They settled there from Boonsboro. Md.
a good many years ago and bought the
place from John Core, VINO bought 1t
from Tyson.
A log fire was blazing in the big
omen fireplace One of the friends OF
the Rambler by the hreside was Au-
gustine Loughborough, who lives close
upon the crossroads. The name ought
to be familiar to most Washington peo-
pie This family owned Grasslands.
gave name to the Loughborough road. and
also owned Melton. a great tract on the
River road west of Tenleytown.
The first of the Loughboroughs to
settle in the District was Nathan, who
was an officer of the government and
came here from Philadelphia on the
removal of the seat of government In
1900 he bought a tract Of $50 acres and
built thereon the house which is now
owned by the Country Club. One OF
Nathan Loughboroughs stone barns is
still standing. Soon after buying this
tract he called it Grasslands and then
bought a tract of about 500 acres called
Melton. There was small stone mouse
on the Melton tract and Nathan added
to it. You will see this stone house. the
oldest part of which goes pack 10 III
dian days, off the left of the River road'
after crossing Little Falls branch
about two miles west OF IenleytoWn.
Henry Loughborough and his FAMILY,
descendants of Nathan, live there 70.
day. Nathan also bought tract OF 63o
acres in Fauquier county, near upper,
Vile. He called this place Rokeby and
1t is now owned by Henry OXnard OF
fame as a sugar capitalist.
Nathan Loughborough. the settler in
the District, had a son Nathan, VINO
IvoI,c Salisbury
Their son Nathan lives in Salisbury
now. and a daughter, Maria. married q
DR. Boroh of New York. where some OF
their descendants are living. nathan.
second. inherited RokebS. owned IL
during and long after the civil war and
died in Washington in 1890. Nathan.
the settler or Nathan. first. had
daughter Sarah, who became the wife
of Commodore Bisselle. Z. s. N. who
died in Washington about forty years
ago Another child of Nathan Lough-
borough, the first. was Hamilton, who
inherited Grassland. married Miss
Rickett and died In the old house at
Grassland in June. 1865. Another child
of the first Nathan Loughborough was
Margaret, who never married and who
died at the Louise Home about fifteen
years ago. There were three other chill
dren of Nathan Loughborough. the first.
nr. Henry Loughborough. Jane and
John.
Or. Henry Loughborcugh married a
Miss Morgan of Farquier county. re-
tired to plantation which he owned
in Louisiana and died there in 1863.
Jane married John Hill Carter of Prince
William county. Va. Their estate was
called Falkland, and grandson of
Jane Loughborough and John Hill Car
ter, Scott Carter, lives on a part of
Falkland today. There was still an
other son of Nathan Loughborough, the
Rambler came near forgetting. He was
the eldest son. Alexander, born at
Evening star., 1916-12-24

instigation of white men who had bet
large sums of money on the event The
blanket with the quills in it was
brought into Nome and shown around
the newspaper offices. The people here
feel very bitter that fraud of any kind
should have arisen in connection with
the race.
Dogs have always been a very impor-
tant part of the traffic of Alaska. They
are to be found In and about every
mining camp. and there are hundreds
of them in every town. They are used
In carrying the mails. During the long
winter every postal card and every let
ter, newspaper and magazine that comes
to Nome has to be brought over fifteen
hundred miles of ice and snow by dog
teams. The mail is taken from Fair
banks to Ruby, Iditarod and Fort Glib
bon by dogs, and. in fact, the whole of
the interior of this great territory is
dependent upon dogs for Its winter
transportation. In the summer the
dogs are sometimes used by the pros
pectors as pack animals and at the time
of gold stampede they rapidly rise in
value. This is especially SO if a STAN
pede occurs during the winter. In the
summer time you can get a good dog
for $25. In the winter you may have
to pay 500 for the same animal. A man
told me how he had bought two dogs
one October, and paid $40 each for
them. The following spring he sold one
for SIS and later on. when the Chisana
gold mines were discovered, he tried to
buy back the same dog for $50, but
was refused. There is a regular busi-
ness in many of the towns of boarding
dogs during the summer. Each place
has its dog pound, and the owners get
from So to So per month per dog.
The carrying of the winter mail and
express of Alaska is a regular business.
There are men in every large town en-
gagged in it and there are some who
do nothing else but drive dog teams
tells me that the winter freight is
taken across the country on narrow
sleds, about sixteen feet long. Such a
sled will hold and stand up under
load of 500 pounds. and it will take
from nine to nineteen dogs to haul it,
according to the load. The mail is usu-
ally carried on sleds of that kind. The
mail contractors are paid by the month,
some of them making as much as SO
day.
This man says that the Mckenzie
river husky is about the best all-around
trail dog to be found in the north.
The husky, like the malamute, is a
cross between a dog and a wolf, an
animal long known in Alaska. 1t was
used by the Indians before the Hudson
Bay Company came to the northwest,
and that was three centuries ago. The
husky is very hardy. and it is noted
Evening star., 1916-12-24

electricity; and as gas Is needed for SO
much household cooking, 1t would not
be right to put 1t in for lighting.
We dine by kerosene lamp.
And then we sit around the smelling
lamp with eyes upon the clock. Outside.
the night is black. There are no foot
steps in the street. 1t makes me think
of Christmas Eve in 1892.
Nine pm. Afar, church bell booms
nine solemn strokes.
And suddenly the good and bright
electric light starts up again-for we
had left the current on. awaiting It.
The fiat is radiant. How beautiful Is
light. Our few dark hours at home are
passed and We have the electric cur
rent again, to go to bed by. to get up
by and a thousand little conyeniences
of day and night.
The janitor comes with the mail.
There's candle grease on my stair
way" he laughs.
He has to clean it. yet he laughs.
1T saves the coal" he says.
STERLING HELLO.
Evening star., 1916-12-24

kept on until his road intersected the
Alexandria and Leesburg turnpike. and
that road junction. after a family
which owned land there long before the
civil war. is called Tysons Cross Roads.
In the Records of the Rebellion one
will find references to this place and
quite a number of references to Lew
insville. The purpose of the Rambler
was to visit the site and debris of a
civil war signal station and stockade
which stood at Tysons Cross Roads on
some very high land in the north
east angle of the road from Langley to
burg pike.
At the crossroads are store and the
storekeeper's dwelling. The merchant.
S. L. Myers, and his family live there.
Evening star., 1916-12-24


they called guerrilla tactics or guerrilla
warfare.
References to the Records of tho Re-
bellion will show that there was
throughout the civil war great activity
in this region. There was q ekir-
mish at Tysons Cross Roads November
IA. 1863. In August. 1863. there was an
affair" at Fairfax Court House in
volving the capture by Confederates
and recapture by Federals of n suffers
train. In that month and year Con-
federates coptured Union wagon
train at Annandale and there was q
skirmlsh at Falls Church and another
at Coyle's Tavern. near Fairfax Court
House. October l. 1868. there was .
ekirmish at Townsville and another
skirmish at the same place October 3.
There was 4 Union scouting expedi-
tion from Vienna to Gum Springs Octo-
ber IL and 13 and skirmish -
StuartS. near Chantilly, october IL.
There was another affair at Annandale
October %. December 2. 1863. there
was skirmish at Townsville and an
other the same day close by There
was a Union scouting expedition from
Vienna to Middleburg December 1920
and another scouting expedition from
Vienna to Leeshurg December 2S-2s.
1868. All the other months and years
of the civil war would show much ac-
tivity In this territory. Before and
after the first Bull Run campaign: OF
the midsummer of 1861 and before ann
after the second Bull Run campaign
and the Chantilly battle or OK Hill bat
tie OF August and september. 1862, the
neishborhood of which the RambpsfSs
writing was overrun by troops. nfst
by those in gray and then by those In
blue.
The hill above Tysons Cross HsAeaSs
called to this day by all the people OF
that section of the county Stockaoo h!1
Now and then one may hear ~ Sailso
Signal hill." but "Stockade hiRpseesfs
to be fixed In the nomenclature of the
region During the civil war me land
was owned by Lawrence Fostef TAee
family has passed away. Front tha IFks-
ter family the land passed to thS ElaE3
family, which had extensive hoaha9t 4of
land. Mrs. Flagg. widow OF the ppS5Pfi-
lum owner, is living near Falts JEkiRdh.
From the Flaggs the stockade lapd Passed
by purchase into possession Oh iNfeofEe
E. Barber Of Lincoln. Neb. The timber.
which had grown up on tfih historic
ground since the war. is being .fhipped
out. That is. ali the oaks. ches$Ants iAhd
other hardwoods of saw-miil size are
being cut down The land as encum-
If you know the way you xN hbdffe-
mains of the signal tower and the stock
ade. nearly all fallen to the fgrUStnd and
rotted. but here and there am upright pale
to mark the line of the woodene Will.
Through a section of this wnof.la8G ttns
an abandoned road. pictureHQuG Et. Hts
roughness and loneliness. II was a Sec
ton of the wartime road which fedqfEpm
Langley to Tysons Cross Roads, Tile Mss
ent road having been given, n new caSrse
between its crossing OF Scotia Lrun and
the historic crossroads nov tuhc
Evening star., 1916-12-24

a ROAD strikes off to the west
IN and the southwest from the
~ Georgetown and Leesburg
q q pike at Langley, settlement
somewhat more than two miles beyond
Chain bridge. The road has many long
stretches where it's course is as straight
as a turnpike, but it also has so many
sharp changes of direction that one
might be justified in saying that it
Zigzags across Fairfax county. So
many roads cross this particular road.
merge with it or diverge from 1t that
q man takes some risk in telling where
1t leads to, but the Rambler knows
that it starts at Langley, leads past
Mclean, Lewinsville, Tysons Cross
Roads. Vienna, Fairfax Court House
and Fairfax station. and that south of
that railroad point there are forks
which lead to the village of Occoquan.
which cross Occoquan creek near where
Bull run, Broad run and Wolf Trap
Shoal run come together and lead on
to Dumfries, and which cross Bull run
and lead to Manassas.
But it is not with these rather dis
tant parts of the road that the Ram
bier will be concerned in this narra-
tive. One cannot travel far in this
beautiful and historic land without OBJ
tanning a sheaf of notes and store of
information and impressions.
From Langley to Townsville the road
crosses high land that has just that
degree of unevenness which entities 1T
to be called rolling" Along the east
erly side of this plateau winds the val
ley of Pimmit run, and along the west
side is the valley of Scott's run. Big
homes stand in groves by the wayside
or in the fields at some distance from
the road. Most of these homes are his
toric in that a hundred years or more
have passed over their roofs. and they
have sheltered men whose names are
distinguished in the annals of Virginia
and the United States. There is no acre
of this section that was not trodden by
soldiers of the Confederacy and troops
of the Union, and though 1t is not one
of the battle regions of Virginia
alarms. surprises. ambuscades. affairs
and skirmiShes were numerous.
At Lewinsville. off the north side of
the road. is a little church surrounded
by solemn cedaTs and somber spruces.
Behind it are the graves of hundreds
of people who once worshiped there.
and whose spirits. perhaps, visit there
still, and whose children and grand
children till the fields around and
make their pious pilgrimage to this
little shrine each holy day AS the
Rambler passed along he noted in the
graveyard a big weeping willow and
an old box bush and he knew that on
sunny days the shadow of that willow
falls upon the grave of Commodore
Catesby Jones, one of the heroic hg-
ures of the old navy. and the white
walls of whose old home, Sharon, on
the Leesburg pike. are visible from the
churchyard.
Close by the old willow tree is a
tombstone inscribed Rev. William
Evening star., 1916-12-24

The cafes. crowded, flooded the streets
with brilliance. And innumerable
taxicabs and private autos danced like
frefiies.
Now, just mitigated darkness. The
street lights go handsomely. half the
lights of other days, but beautiful Paris
did not take her fireworks illumination
from street lighting. The shop windows
radiate, but the shop windows did not
make that wondrous Hghtup, either
Nor was IL the colored advertising
signs or fitting taxilamps. 1t was the
altogether.
l took refuge at the Grand Cafe.
1t sends no food Of. light on the
boulevard. At 5 pm. the great central
chandelier of the middle hall shines
gloriously yellow with fifty electric
light bulbs at refuced preston, but the
sides and corners of the great room
are in fickering shadow. Customers
complain that they cannot read their
papers. The proprietor. Alberti, shifts
the current to the side fxures. Being
less numerous, they give splendid
light to read by. But the center of the
hail now fiickers
The cafe is crowded. Old habitues
read comfortably at the best tHbles
light. Pretty girls and red-eyed wives
hold hands with soldiers on permission
from the trenches. What do they care
for the lighting?
1t is $50 p IN. and the shop lights of
Paris, by the new regulations, go out
at pm After pm. shop "of sale
or exposition" may remain lighted.
either by gas. electricity. kerosene or
infiammabie essence. except on Satur-
days and ewes OF holidays. And, now,
we shall see the strangest sight of ali
the citizens OF the city of light hurry
ing home before real darkness settles
on them.
Was the light dim? Why, it is beauti-
full, magnificent. A thousand taxica BIS
and private autos suddenly appear. all
lit up. speeding westward with their
bright lights. After the yellow glow of
the cafe, the boulevard seems spangled
as Of old. The shop windows burst light
for another half hour. The street light
ing of the boulevard appears magnifi-
cent again. Won't it go almost black
so soon?
Westward hurries an endless river of
pedestrians. Northward and south
ward they dodge into subway stations.
They crowd the terminus of every tram
line. AT the Madeleine. the numbered
order-tickets which you tear down from
the lamppost to secure your place in
one of the cars run out of 1000 into the
next. A black crowd mobs each car, for
the Arc de Triomphe, Auteuil. Passy
Neuilly. Courbevoie. the Jatte and who
knows what.
Inside the trolley tram. We read the
Evening star., 1916-12-24
e Rambler Makes Trip to Tysons Cross Roads

Moseby's partisan rangers and Whites
independent battalion, minor military
operations of a particularly harassin9
nature for the Federals and which
they called guerrilla tactics or guerrilla
warfare.
Evening star., 1916-12-24

PARIS. December IA, 1915.
n LII the world will look back on
IN the historical winter when
IN Paris. the ':ty of light. went
q q dark for the sake of the army