Evening star., 1927-05-22

| one of the outstanding heroes OF the
Revolution. This was Gen. William
| SmallwOod, the commander of the
Maryland line. A few years ago
| Smaliwood's grave was marked by the
Maryland Chapter of the Sons OF the
| American Revolution. Before that it
| had been marked only by big wal
nut tree with a peculiar history
| When Smallwood was buried. so the
| legend goes. only a wooden peg was
stuck in the ground to mark the
grave. One of the gentlemen who had
attended the funeral quietly pulled up
| the peg and dropped walnut Into the
| hole But for this little act of senti-
ment it is likely that Smallwood, S
grave would have been lost forever.
Along the Bryantown road one
| passes through the country which
achieved a melancholy history as the
route Of the flight of John Wilkes
| Booth from Washington. The old
| house still is standing where the mur.
| derer's broken leg was set by DR..
! Samuel A. Mudd, who thus became
| involved in the affair and served
! part of life sentence at Fort JEFF
| ferson, in the Dry Tortugas, because
| of it, Dr. Mudd afterward was par
doned by President Johnson, returned
| to Bryantown and established his
| practice again.
In the War of 1912 the British
| landed at Benedict. in Charles County,
and marched northward to Washing
| ton. Earlier in this same war a battery
| was set up at Indian Head under
| command OF Comdr. Oliver II. Perry,
the hero of Lake Erie, after a squad
ron of eight British ships had sailed
| into the Potomac and spread terrier
| among the villages
| The present Charles County is al
most completely removed from the
| suburban influence of Washington
and has remained a strictly agricut-
tural community. 1t has none of the
| suburban road and school problems
which are faced by Prince Georges
and Montgomery counties and prob
ably will not have for many years. 1t
has none of the problems of small
| farms which have sprung up because
of neighborhood to the great city.
But it suffers from lack of valuable
property which would yield taxes Tor
| local improvements This the other
counties have gained because of their
| suburban growth. Charles remains
one of the poorer" counties of the
commonwealth.
| EducatlOnai IfOSTcSS.
| Provisions for high school education
in Charles County have been made
| Quate. School officials are frank to
admit this. The villages are so small
and the rural population so scattered
that the establishment of high schools
which can serve any great proportion
of the people affords "a difficult prob
lem. Only within the past few years
have there been any public high
schools at ALL But this Spring the
county has tloated its first bond is
sue for school purposes and two new
buildings will be erected in readiness
for the opening of the Fall term. One
| will be at the county seat-La Plata.
This will replace the elementary
school building which was swept
away in the tragic tornado last Octo-
ber and will be substantial building
to house both high and elementary
grades. The other will be at the
crossroads settlement of Hughesville.
which is the center of a large farming
population.
Within the next few years it is
hoped to erect buildings at Waldorf
and at some point In the western SEE
ton OF the county. This solution viii
be expensive, but appears to be the
j only one possible.
4 At present. there are two high
schools. One is at Indian Head. and
was necessitated by the large war
population ait that depot. The build
ing was rnt NJ by the Government