Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1921-03-01
CHAPTER xxXV.
The Awakening

tfai ! had thus Tar been able TO COM
mand TO a point iustifying a start i'm
building operations, and the founda-
siorfs Of the first mill in Below We're
promptly laid As the building pro-
crossed. and the machinery began 10
be installed, it was curious TO note the
slow and gradual but ever changing
attitude of the people. III the begin-
ming. the work was watched with I'M
different. idle curiosity: as it pro-
crossed, this changed 10 q feeble in
terest: and when the works We're
actually started. this interest grew
and developed into a very active one
After few months, we projected
another mill and for this the money
was subscribed Immediately; and
soon corporations for the development
Of the ore beds began to be formed,
and plans for enlarging the city limits
discussed. Then strangers, pro-
moters ana professional boomers be-
gan to flock in, slowly AT first, and
then in larger numbers; and the once
quiet. drowsy, sleepy old streets be-
gan to take on an air Of active hustle
that caused old man Nick Johnson
the wag, 10 say to me as | was pass
ing one day: - say. Frank; you had
better not stir up things here any
more. | just heard old man LOB
Smith complaining that The first thing
he knew there wouldn't be room on
the streets for his pigs to root. If SO
many felix's kept running abou, Of EN-
So and he said he was going to have
the law on you if YOU didn't mind out. i
In fact, ii appeared that it had only
needed very small beginning to start
quite an active boom; and began to-
fear that the movement would de-
Yelope into too much OF boom, and
wished that it could be controlled to Il
more natural and healthier, If some-
what slower, growth. But once put III
motion, sach things arc beyond con-
troll until the first flush of excitement
has subsidized, and the crysalis has
burst into the butterfly. or else lne
bubble has burst But Below was OF
neither butterfly nor the bubble order
but a place endowed by nature with
all the material for a steady, solid
growth which could never burst out
like the butterfly, and which | wanted
TO save from the fate Of the bubble
Hence, though ] was interested in
nearly all the schemes put on foot.
deprecated all attempts at imitation.
and worked as hard during these
booming days TO moderate the ems
thusiasm Of the people, as l had work
cd in the beginning to awaken it. But
the spirit Of Boom" seemed TO be-
spreading broadcast over the land
and when one could almost travel
from Georgia or Alabama 10 Lynch
burg, Va. on corner lots, and
dreams of immediate wealth flied the
minds of so many poor land owners
made hungry for luxuries by years OIL
poverty and abstinence. it was a bad
time in which to preach moderation;
and made doubly bad by the myraids
of silver-tongued boomers and specu-'
lators singing their srien songs the
other way.
Happily, this great boom wave pass
cd over our section comparatively
lightly. expending most of its force in
other places. Moreover. as there was
so much genuine material in the coun-
Try. when the wave receded, few COM
plete wrecks were left in its track;
and the section as a whole came out
greatly improved and advanced Tho
end of three years found the old town
with trebled population, aud nam-
Der of mills, factories and several
furnaces in active operation; and with
its general appearance unrecogniz-
able. except for the old places retain
I'd by their owners as they had been
before from sentiment - but even
these had taken on a newer and jann-
tier air.
The customs and habits of the peo-
pie, too. had changed no less than the
outward appearance of the town
While the inherent characteristics of
the race viii never permit US to rival
the nervous activity OF our Northern
oountrymen, the old indoIent apathy
had disappeared almost entirely; and.
except for a few of the most trifiing
negroes OF the community, the little
crowds OF loafng. dreaming oilers
once SO marked feature of the
streets seemed to have vanished
from the face of the earth There
were. OF course, some especially OF
the generation just ahead OF. my own
TO whom the change came too late,
and who could not rise to meet is
bat they were little in evidence in
these new days. and kept modesEiy I'm
the background. finding little cangen-
ial in new world where every one
else had ceased to idle and had IN oc-
cupation.
From tie success attending all my
llans during these three years. IT
would seem that Fortune. hitherto 80
unkind. had reIented, and was graci-
HI