Evening star., 1918-07-07

IN wild shrubbery and n burying
IN ground so old that no man
can tell whose bones lie there
are TWO of the things OF interest
which the Rambler came upon last
sunday. In the course of that little
journey he met men whose homes are
situated in what the average city man,
ana particularly the average city
woman. would call "out- Of the way
places"
what constitutes an out-of-the-way
pace is hard to define. With some
persons an out of the-way place
might be two squares from a moving
picture theater. a drug store soda
fountain or the bargain counter of a
department store Many happy
nome. powered in trees or framed in
green lawns. has been called "out OF
the way" because 1t happened to be
.nree minutes walk from a railway
aiong which car passed every six
minutes. The old fashioned stage
comedian could always make a wash
lngton audience laugh by speaking of
Georgetown or Alexandria as an out
oi-the-way place. and the same come
MaI' aan' When he appeared at Forrest
nan. IN Georgetown. or Hills Opera
House. In Alexandria, would provoke
= riot OF laughter by speaking of
washington as an out-of-t the way
place. A man who lives at the cor
ner OF 10Th and F streets often thinks
that mount Pleasant and Anacostia
are out-of-the-way places. while the
man In Mount Pleasant is perhans
satisfied that the White, House is too
Tar aown town, and the man in Ana
costa mas an abiding and we'll found
su convection that the Capitol was
pulit on the wrong side of the river.
X
Several weeks'ago the Rambler, fol-
lowing a by-road over which about
Two teams day pass. stopped at a
house. and. in the course OF a talk with
the dwellers there. the farmers wife
said: "Yes. we've got a right nice place
here. but It's right lonesome at times
and we're thinking of building on a
piece Of land we own down on the
county road" To that good woman
the county road meant great
thoroughfare. where all the world
passed In review; yet. 1t may be, that
20 woman who lives on 18th street
.n .ne county road would seem q lone
the ruined mill In the tangle of
Wild shrubbery stands by the side Of
Dumcuit run about q mile below
Where the ancient pike from Alexan-
aria to Leesburg crosses that stream.
leading from Alexandria pike near An
drew Chapel to Peacock by the way
OF Bethel Church another road turns
TO the north. Standing at this point
q p panorama Of fine country lies about
ana and. below you. The prospect sug-
The fields are generally rectangular
IN form. or approximately So and are
planted In wheat. rye, oats. corn and
clover. The patches Of woodland are
irregular in form. At this season, the
cut is yellow, the rye is changing
from green to grayish gold, the corn
Is high enough to overcast with brill
liant green the red and yellow earth
and the fields of clover are tinged
with red and brown from the bios
that are ripe and brown. The woods
reveal varying shades of green.
This road leads down into the valley
Of Difficult run. the valley along
this part Of the streams course be-
ing quite broad and far different
valley. where the stream passes
through the country between the
Georgetown and Leesburg pike and
the Potomac river. The road climbs
down hill and up hill, repeating the
performance as often as there are
hills to climb. and then passes over
broad stretch of land nearly level
which borders the south side of the
creek. Then 1t crosses a bridge and
after negotiating other hills forks,
which leads from Chain bridge to
Dranesville, which is the Georgetown
and Leesburg pike. The Rambler ask
ed lad what the name of the road
was. ut is the county road, SIR
he said. That name country road"
fax county. Maybe it also covers
multitude of sins. There Is no use.
however. in saying anything against
the roads near Washington. Automo-
bile folk do enough of that. There
are very few roads around Washing
ton that cannot be walked on in dry
weather. IL one is sure-footed. But
the roads are getting better every
year. People in the country know as
well as people in the city the ad-
vantage of good roads. but new roads
or old roads made over cost money,
and usually it is the people in the
country who have to pay for them.
OF course, in Maryland and on GER
tain toll roads in Virginia they make
automobile owners pay for the build
ing and rebuilding of roads, but that
is another story.
After entering the county road
where it strikes off from the Andrew
Chapel -Bethei-reacock road, the first
house one comes to is on the left.
1t is the home of George Smith. son
of Rezn Smith. who, with his
brothers. Temple, Wethers. Eli, Estler
and George, of whom hhe Rambler
wrote last Sunday, owned large
af,,,. Il