there has seemed to be nothing to hold these young people. But many 

 of the farms are now being operated by an older generation, and in many 

 instances there are no young men in their families who can be looked to 

 to carry them on. The Annalist cities that in 1884 there were 77 spinsters 

 in the community. A similar comment might be made of the present. 

 Within the next 50 years a period of reorganization, with possible 

 disintegration, must be faced. Institutions of long standing will be 

 subjected to a severe test in such a period of transition as seems inevitable. 



The vitality of this community is very high. It is not practicable 

 to separate out the vital statistics for this neighborhood from the statis- 

 tics for the entire county, but it is abundantly evident that if this could 

 be done a very low death rate would be shown. There are more than 

 20 people in this group who are 80 years of age or older. A year or so 

 ago, the average age of the 13 directors of the Savings Institution was 

 over 70 years. Throughout the community the average length of 

 life is great. 



In many ways this neighborhood keeps in close touch with the outer 

 world, and this in spite of the fact that it is ten miles from a railroad. 

 Those of its members who have left to take up residence in the cities 

 usually remain in some sort of close touch with the community to its 

 decided advantage. The annual summer visitor serves somewhat the 

 same purpose. A large proportion of the young people go away to 

 schools and colleges, many of them returning to Sandy Spring to live. 

 Then, too, there has been a more than ordinary amount of travelling 

 by members of the community. The Annals record many trips to the 

 large cities of the country, visits in the North or far West, and tours 

 through Europe; for example, 140 people from this neighborhood at- 

 tended the Chicago World's Fair in 1892. All this has tended to give, 

 to their life many semi-urban characteristics. 



The negroes of this section are for many reasons interesting enough 

 to deserve extended mention. This Survey however made little at- 

 tempt to study them except for their churches and schools. These are 

 discussed for the entire county in another place and will not be 

 considered here. Reference is again made to the special study of the 

 negroes of Sandy Spring by Prof. William Taylor Thorn, published 

 as a part of the Bulletin of the Department of Labor, No. 32, under 

 date of January, 1901. This is a very careful and exhaustive study and 

 precludes any necessity of discussing further the topics of which it treats. 



In many respects the criticisms which are usually directed against 

 agricultural communities are here disarmed. For example it is cus- 

 tomary to say that the farmer lacks organization, that his social life 

 is at low c1)b and that he has altogether inadequate recreation facilities. 

 Such comments would be pointless as regards Sandy Spring, for it is at 



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