Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-09-07
HUMAN nature THE
SANE EVERYWHERE
In Mountain, Valley And Plain.
The Same Oddities.
DUNKARDS AND MENNONITES
The Native Tradition Of Every Land
Fountain Dale A Village
Not Isolated

tr;c live here. according to our po'nt
Of view. while, without doubt, the
Quaint here have the similar opinion
of people who don't do. and will not
think as they do and they think
In this section the Dunkards nave
a large number of adherents. Ihey
interest the sojOurner by their Gus
toms. their plain dress, their simple
form of worship and their upright
conscientious lives. They are pro-
crossing though. They will not toler-
ate an organ in churches. but do use
the note book to guide the singing
They have, furthermore, concluded
that this is the children's day" ana
they reversed the usual order and
agreed TO permit the Sunday School
to have that worldly enjoyment call
ed picnic" Then the Dunkards
have divided on the question of educa-
ton. and the Progressives now advo-
cate education and the men have even
learned to vote and take part in pub
lie affairs-cnce enjoined except to
cast a ballot in a Presidential cleo
ton
Yet there are here a few of the sect
called MennCnites People who are
willing to enjoy the liberties that
other people fought to give them and
who struggle with their lives at issue
to maintain them, and who will not
fight themselves for what they have,
may well be expected to be queer on
other issues.
The Mennonites have little stone
church in Fountain Dale. There is
only an occasional service here, when
the larger congregation from Waynes-
borough comes down to make the meet
ing more successful. The Mennonites
are very firm in the belief that they
are it and all in religion While they
invite others of different denomina-
tions to attend their church the more
rigid Mennonites think it sacrilege
to enter the churches of other
Christians. Even funeral occasions
furnish no exception to this rule with
some On one of these sad services,
a close relative of the deceased re-
fused to come into the church of
another denomination, but stood out
side its doors while the obsequies
were in progress, saying that God
would never forgive her for going in
to another church than her own" On
yet another time, a Mennonite wife
and husband, having to attend the fun
eral services of a relative, put wad-
ding in their ears so that their pure
souls would not be polluted by hear
ing the Gospel from the profaned lips
of any other minister than their own
othordox preachers.
The Native Tradition of Every Land.
That belief of every land--that evil
spirits and the haunted places of their
notwithstanding to history cur
country-is alive here, too. On the
public highway, about a mile from
Fountain Dale, eastward, stand
walkers Tavern" It is old, unused,
and gaunt. This is the reputed dwell
ing place of evil inhabitants of the
other world who have not shualed off
their interest in this. As usual, the
visits and conduct of this or those
no come with noiseless step and UNI
seen forms to perform their deeds Of
darkness rest on some alleged foul
crime or sad misfortune The basis
then of these natural appearances
are the foul murder that as commit
ed in the ancient tavern, the death of
Union soldier wounded in the
Gettysburg campaign, and the wound
ing of another, whose wooden leg can
yet be heard tramping about the
haunted structure at night More,
beds are moved about by unseen
hands, and lights are blown out by
unfelt breaths, and doors are slam
med by unknown means, and night
after night, when the building was
yet inhabited, at the regular hour of
nine, noises would be heard from cell
lar to garrett, always when and where
no one was present at the particular
place of the uncanny sounds.
The owner of the property, whose
family once lived there, soon at all
these direful recitations, and one de-
clared that he had never heard or
seen anything unnatural in his day,
and a son of lady who also had lived
in the house, in his manhood confess
ed, that he and his jovial brother had
been guilty of the ghostly sounds and
apparitions that had surprised his
mother and frightened the nervous
lady who occupied, as dwelling, a
part of the large and. ancient tavern
with them.
In spite of this substantial evidence
to the contrary, these grand old stor-
les that the credulous populace like
to hear. as in every community. will
be, doubtless. by many still be re-
ceiyed as the veritable and accredited
truth and will be handed down the
generations to amuse the sensible and
terrify the timid.
A Part OF The National Highway.
This portion of the pike, from EN-
mitsburg, Nd, to Blue Ridge Summit,
is considered part of the National
Highway from North to South. This
accounts for the larger part of the
great volume of travel which goes
through this section The great num-
Der of automobiles is remarkable.
There is an almost incessant stream
of rushing, footing and splendid ma
chine pass and repass through the
village. Few are hOspitable 1t is
rare in going up or down the noun