The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1949-05-05
HORSE AND
BUGGY DAYS
by
Ida 10 Martin


Horse racing has been a big at
traction for ages, in many forms,
even down to mules and bicycles.
l Just heard about two old timers
who drove their horses and buggies
in a peculiar fashion, and did it so
regularly that the folks developed
names for them. 1t was among the
people who attended Church at
Reiffs, near Cearfoss, Maryland, and
they say this happened every Sun
day. One imam, whose name was
Uncle 10 Horst" drove ''furiously"
and ran around everybody else on
the road. He was always the first
one to Church and the first one home.
So they called him the Engine"
Another man, Sammy Weber, was
Just the opposite; he drove so slow
that everybody else went around
him. In fact he often pulled to the
side of the road and stopped, so that
the others could get by him more
easily. They called him the Ca
boose." But he did not drive mule.
Racing in the "horse and buggy"
was a great sport, and you could find
all kinds of people engaging in it.
Another man of the same group but
little later in time, Mr. Dan Horst,
now living in Maugansville, loved to
pass everybody on the road. But
there were tricks too, and one lady
took great delight in holding him
back. This was Martha Eshleman
(now Witmer), who would start zig
tagging her horse when she saw Mr..
Horst coming up behind her, and
thus she could keep him from going
around. Maybe this would work
with a mule too!
And then there was another race.
This one was foot race and al
most took place on the Broadford-
ing Road. Mr. Henry Martin, OF
several generations back, was
small but strong man. A neighbor
kept after him to run race on foot.
So one day Mr.. Martin agreed to a
race. They got all set to run at the
crossing of the Broadfording Road
and the Greencastle pike, heading
east, and then the neighbor said
How far shall we run?" and Mr..
Martins answer was, ITO Baltimore"
and as he would not change his goal
and the neighbor would not agree,
they had no race.
Now I would like to see mule and
a bicycle race from here to Baltimore.
The mule would probably have a
better chance.
How things do change as time goes
by. In 1917 the Grand Jury discus
sed the annual horse racing, which
by that time had grown to be great
events in Hagerstown, Williamsport,
Funkstown, and Hancock, and small
er events at numerous other places,
to say nothing about the great num-
y
body took part in Well, the Grand
Jury presented racing as a griev-
ance. They said, among other
things: mot of itself violation of
the law, but attended by profane
swearing, drunkenness, &c, to the
corruption of the youth" The Jury
earnestly hoped that peaceable cit
liens would discontinue the practice
But peaceable citizens would do
nothing of the kind. In fact, horse
racing grew, and the time came when
all the horses that were to take part
in a race were first paraded in the
streets of Hagerstown, until city
ordinance prohibited the ,parading
of the horses This ordinance prob
ably does not say anything about
mules.
No doubt most of you have seen
Locust shells These are the fly
like creatures that come in abund-
ance every II years. The shells that
many people save as curiosities,
are the outer skin of the locust,
which was discarded, the insect
crawling out and flying away But
thanks to Mr.. George Petre of Maui
gansville, saw two of the Locusts
that swarmed over our land in 1885. \
He captured two of these insects and
preserved them among his many
other old-time articles These look
much like big flies.
learned from several people that
the Seventeen Year Locust" lives
for most of its life as grub in the
earth. Then, like most caterpi1lars,
at the end of its life, it goes through
a Transformation into a flying crea-
ture. There are some of these fly
ing locusts around every year, but
hard to find. 1t seems that most of
these species come to the flying