The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
7 
From  New  York  to  West  Virginia 
Past  II. 
The  Battlefield.  — -  From  one  of 
these  near  the  National  Cemetery  it  was 
easy  to  pick  out  the  chief  Federal  and 
Confederate  position,  to  look  across  the 
Fmmitsburg  Road,  which  divided  North 
from  South  until  Pickett’s  men  swarmed 
over  it  in  that  immortal  charge,  to  note 
the  Round  Tops  at  the  left  and  Culp’s 
Hill  at  the  right  of  the  Federal  line,  and 
see  in  the  distance  Seminary  Ridge,  where 
Lee  had  massed  his  forces  in  a  daring  at¬ 
tempt  to  end  the  war  upon  Northern  soil. 
From  the  Devil's  Den  the  car  quickly 
took  us  past  the  'Wheat  Field  and  across 
to  Confederate  Avenue.  Here  we  faced 
about  and  stood  where  Lee  stood  59  years 
ago.  facing  that  convex  line  of  blue  that 
had  entrenched  itself  in  almost  impreg- 
A  Good  Record 
As  other  people  talk  of  high-priced  ser¬ 
vants,  and  as  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
help  of  any  sort  makes  it  hard  for  all  of 
us.  we  are  increasingly  proud  of  our 
faithful  friend  whose  picture  is  shown 
herewith.  No  new-fangled  laundry  can 
make  clothes  any  whiter  than  she,  and 
she  has  been  at  this  job  for  a  long  time, 
trudging  in  all  kinds  of  weather.  Winter 
and  Summer,  to  her  various  patrons  on 
their  regular  days. 
She  washed  for  my  grandmother  when 
my  mother  was  a  girl,  and  is  intensely 
interested  in  all  that  concerns  our  family. 
Of  pure  African  blood  and  slave  parent¬ 
age.  she  has  the  loyalty,  kindness  and 
patience  that  today  is  seldom  found. 
We  notice  that  the  same  amount  of 
work  takes  her  longer  than  it  used  to, 
but  we  never  hurry  her,  and  so  long  as 
she  is  able  we  will  not  need  to  hunt  an¬ 
other  laundress.  She  is  a  gold  star 
mother,  for  her  only  son  sleeps  in  France. 
RUTH  W.  GORDON. 
nable  position  and  awaited  what  it  knew 
was  to  be  a  desperate  attempt  to  break 
Northern  power  and  win.  at  least,  Euro¬ 
pean  recognition  of  the  Confederacy.  As 
we  looked  across  those  open,  rolling  fields 
that  lay  between  the  two  lines,  it  seemed 
almost  incredible  that  men  should  have 
charged  across  them  against  canister  and 
grape  that  would  soon  not  only  meet 
them  in  the  face  but  come  in  a  cross-fire 
from  either  side. 
Seminary  Ridge. — We  drove  for  sev¬ 
eral  miles  along  Seminary  Ridge,  to  note 
the  old  Confederate  positions,  and  then 
returned  to  the  cross  road  by  the  'Wheat 
Field  to  take  the  Emmitsburg  Road  back 
into  town.  Somewhere  on  that  road  was 
a  monument  marking  the  old  position  of 
the  57th  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  and  to 
return  without  being  able  to  tell  Neigh¬ 
bor  Miller  that  we  had  stood  on  ground 
made  memorable  to  him  by  some  of  the 
hardest  fighting  in  his  long  and  honorable 
service  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  By 
good  fortune  we  found  the  monument  for 
that  regiment  in  one  corner  of  a  private 
dooryard.  and  standing  where  a  neighbor 
nad  'bravely,  faced  death,  one  of  the 
world’s  decisive  battles,  fought  before  we 
were  born,  emerged  still  further  from  the 
mists  of  story  to  become  a  living  fact. 
We  had  spent  nearly  a  half  day  there, 
almost  forgetting  to  eat  our  second  day’s 
noon  lunch  by  some  smooth  boulders  that 
showed  that  we  were  not  the  first  to  make 
them  a  picnic  ground,  and  there  was 
much  that  we  had  not  seen.  But  the 
shadows  were  growing  long,  and  after  a 
half  day  which  the  Official  Observer  de¬ 
clared  more  than  repaid  for  the  entire 
trip,  we  sped  away  over  the  concrete 
highway  to  Chambersburg,  and  thence 
south  to  Hagerstown,  Md„  where  we  had 
planned  to  spend  the  second  night. 
Crossing  the  Alleghanies.  —  No 
highway  over  which  we  had  yet  driven 
could  compare  in  scenic  beauty,  as  we 
found,  with  the  one  that  was  to  take  us 
over  the  Alleghanies  from  Maryland  to 
West  Virginia.  This  Cumberland  Road, 
or  Great  National  Pike,  owed  its  build¬ 
ing.  .shortly  after  the  Revolution,  to  the 
desires  of  the  Federal  Government  to 
open  up  the  West  to  emigration  from  the 
Atlantic  seaboard.  After  nearly  50  years 
in  building,  it  was  turned  over  to  the 
States  through  which  it  ran,  for  their 
maintenance.  Oxen  must  have  once 
crawled  laboriously  over  the  heights  sur¬ 
mounted  by  it,  taking  days  to  cover  what 
is  now  but  a  few  hours’  trip.  This  high¬ 
way  is  now  of  well-kept  macadam  and  is 
evidently  a  favorite  route  for  tourists 
traveling  either  east  or  west.  The  greater 
part  of  the  cars  met  upon  it  on  our  trip 
were  piled  high  with  camp  equipage,  and 
many  of  them  were  overloaded,  in  addi¬ 
tion,  with  passengers.  The  smaller  the 
car  the  mere  that  is  usually  expected  of 
it,  and  the  wonder  is  that  these  expecta¬ 
tions  are  almost  invariably  met.  Leav¬ 
ing  Hagerstown,  on  this  road,  on  the 
third  morning  of  our  trip,  we  passed 
through  the  city  which  has  usurped  both 
site  and  name  of  old  Fort  Cumberland, 
and  began  what  was  to  be  our  first  ex¬ 
perience  in  real  mountain  climbing.  The 
upper  reaches  of  the  Potomac  lay  upon 
our  left,  and  for  a  short  distance  we  ran 
by  the  side  of  the  old  and  now  practically 
forsaken  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal.  A 
once  important  commercial  route,  the 
grass-covered  towpath  of  this  canal  now 
shows  hardly  a  beaten  path.  Through 
the  Hagerstown  valley  the  farms  seemed 
to  us  to  have  been  old  plantations,  far 
apart,  and  with  their  groups  of  buildings, 
including  a  detached  kitchen,  set  well 
back  from  the  road.  The  small  herds  of 
cattle  seen  were  of  the  beef  type,  and 
corn  was  the  chief  crop  in  evidence,  that 
standing  ripe  in  the  fields.  Then  we  en¬ 
tered  the  great  fruit  belt  of  ’Western 
Maryland.  The  Blue  Book  said  that  we 
were  passing  the  Tonoloway  and  Dillon 
orchards,  the  latter  containing  nearly 
100,000  trees,  and  certainly  for  miles  we 
drove  past  great  apple  orchards,  some  of 
them  reaching  from  near  the  road  back 
on  the  mountains  as  far  as  we  could  see. 
Ji  view  at  Morelon  Farm  where  Harris  ’  seeds  are  raised 
From  the  Grower  to  the  Sower 
J-J ARRIS’  SEEDS  are  sold  direct  to  market  growers  or  private  gardeners 
and  farmers  at  wholesale  prices.  They  are  not  sold  to  other  dealer*. 
Quality  first — No  expense,  time,  or  pains  is  spared  to  make  Harris’ 
seeds  the  standard  for  quality.  They  must  not  only  grow,  but  they  must 
produce  the  right  variety  and  of  the  highest  type.  To  get  seeds  of  this 
class  requires  the  most  intensive  selecting  and  breeding  methods. 
1  he  most  successful  market  gardeners  use  Harris’  seeds  because 
they  know  they  can  depend  upon  them  to  produce  vegetables  or  fruits  of 
the  quality  their  trade  requires.  A  letter  of  appreciation  : 
The  Alleghany  Plateau  here  rises 
to  a  height  of  3,000  ft.  above  sea  level, 
and  consists  of  parallel  mountain  ridges 
with  narrow  valleys  between.  The  road 
is  like  a  gigantic  roller  coaster  ;  up  you 
climb  for  several  miles,  then  down  you 
shoot  at  a  speed  determined  only  by  your 
nerve  and  recklessness.  Sharp  horseshoe 
and  S  curves  reduce  the  grade  in  places, 
but  in  others  you  plunge  downward  with 
your  car  seemingly  almost  on  end.  The  Of¬ 
ficial  Observer  frequently  declared  that  the 
speedometer  was  registering  40  miles  an 
hour,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  it; 
it  might  just  as  easily  have  been  80.  Not 
only  is  the  Natioanl  Pike  well  kept,  it  is 
well  marked  with  warning  signs,  and  no 
one  who  can  read  need  take  unnecessary 
risks.  At  the  summits  of  several  moun¬ 
tains  were  large  signs,  reading  “Summit. 
You  are  about  to  descend.  Go  into  sec¬ 
ond  and  don’t  drag  your  brakes.”  Our 
car  held  well  in  second,  needing  only  an 
occasional  touch  of  the  foot  brake  to  keep 
it  from  making  some  sharp  curve  at  more 
than  40  miles  an  hour.  Only  once  did 
the  car  balk,  and  then  on  ’  this  day’s 
climb.  The  engine  was  showing  signs  of 
overheating,  and  an  investigation  showed 
low  water  in  the  radiator.  Luckily,  a 
passing  mountaineer  pointed  out  a  muddy 
spring  in  the  woods  near  by,  and  the  eooi- 
ing  system  was  replenished.  Still  the 
engine  refused  to  work  smoothly  ;  it  went 
but  a  little  further  before  it  lay  down  in 
the  harness  and  refused  to  pull  another 
pound.  So  far  as  could  be  seen,  there 
was  nothing  wrong ;  the  engine  ran 
smoothly  idle,  but  immediately  stopped 
under  load.  A  water  barrel  stood  by  the 
side  of  the  road  and  a  barefooted  little 
girl  came  down  from  a  mountain  shack 
to  say  “Help  yourself.”  “Oh.  anything 
that  you  are  a  mind  to  give.”  This  water 
had  to  be  toted  from  a  gulch  some  dis¬ 
tance  below  and  was  worth  the  small 
charge  that  was  expected. 
Trouble  with  the  Car, — After  refill¬ 
ing  the  radiator  and  giving  the  engine 
ample  time  to  cool,  we  attempted  to  start, 
and  with  the  same  result  as  before.  A 
heavily  loaded  Ford  chugged  up.  stopped 
to  commiserate,  and  then  chugged  on.  It 
was  making  the  climb  itself,  but  the  fath¬ 
er  and  two  sons  who  were  touring  in  it 
and  who  had  loaded  it  to  the  gunwales 
with  camp  luggage  had  left  it  no  reserve 
power  to  help  out  a  bigger  and  less  bur¬ 
dened  neighbor.  Just  as  visions  of  a 
night  on  the  mountains  began  to  form, 
however,  it  occurred  to  the  driver  to  pull 
out  the  choke  a  bit ;  not  because  he  ex¬ 
pected  to  accomplish  anything  by  that, 
but  because  that  was  one  thing  that  hadn’t 
been  done.  Zip!  went  the  car,  and  over 
the  mountain  tops  ahead  like  a  squirrel 
climbing  a  tree.  Right  there  we  learned 
that  a  gas  mixture  suited  to  levels  and 
ordinary  hills  was  too  lean  in  the  moun¬ 
tains,  and  also  that  seven  years  of  driv¬ 
ing  hadn’t  taught  us  all  that  there  is  to 
know  about  motoring.  Not  so  much  as 
a  puncture  marred  the  rest  of  the  trip, 
but  before  returning  by  another  route  we 
added  a  jug  of  water  to  the  luggage. 
Water  evaporates  rapidly  on  mountain 
tops,  and  a  well  or  spring  is  not  always 
within  reach.  The  Alleghanies  Imre  are 
evidently  one  of  America’s  playgrounds. 
Free  camping  sites  are  numerous,  and 
soft  drink  and  gasoline  stations  are  locat¬ 
ed  at  all  strategic  points.  The  car  near 
which  you  stop,  and  which  very  likely 
holds  a  whole  family,  may  be  either  from 
Texas  or  Maine.  m.  b.  d. 
(To  Be  Continued) 
“1  am  naturally  reticent  in  writing  letters  of  appreciation,  but  your  seeds  have  been 
such  exceptional  quality  and  your  dealings  so  fair  and  courteous  that  I  feel  1  should 
take  this  occasion  to  express  my  appreciation  to  you. 
“You  have  won  my  full  confidence  and  1  heartily  believe  that  your  aim  is  for  quality 
seeds  and  your  endeavor  is  to  give  prompt  and  courteous  treatment  to  your  customers. 
While  1  have  dealt  with  different  seed  houses  during  the  past  years  from  henceforth 
1  will  confine  my  orders  entirely  to  you. 
“My  vegetables  and  flowers  grown  from  your  seeds  have  been  the  cause  of  much  com¬ 
ment  and  admiration  and  while  1  am  careful  in  making  recommendations  to  others,  1  never 
hesitate  to  endorse  your  seeds  for  quality  and  reliability.” — Wm.  D.  Hough,  Perry,  N.Y. 
Some  specially  good  things; 
Whipple’s  Early  Sweet  Corn — As  early  as 
the  old  small  eared  kinds  but  has  ears  that  look  like 
Evergreen  8  in.  long  and  I  4  to  18  rows  of  very 
deep  kernels, 
Buttercup  Corn  A  yellow  corn  that  looks  like 
Golden  Bantam  but  is  much  larger  and  sweeter 
and  matures  just  as  early. 
Harris  Earliest  Pepper — The  earliest  large 
sweet  pepper  grown.  Wonderfully  prolific. 
King  of  Denmark  Spinach — A  great  lmprove- 
men*  over  all  other  kinds,  as  it  stands  two  weeks 
longer  before  running  to  seed  and  yields  more  and  is  of  superior  quality. 
Harris’  Pedigree  Tomatoes— Very  carefully  bred  strains  of  Earliana, 
Bonny  Best,  John  Baer  and  other  kinds  that  are  far  superior  to  the 
usual  strain. 
Harris  Hill  Selected  Potatoes — Seed  potatoes  must  be  free 
from  diseases  which  reduce  the  yield  and  they  also  should  be  from  the 
mosf  productive  plants.  Every  year  we  dig  a  lot  of  potatoes  by 
hand  and  select  the  hills  that  yield 
the  most  from  which  to  get  seed 
for  the  next  year’s  planting. 
T  he  crop  from  this  seed  is  carefully 
inspected  and  if  any  diseased  hills  are 
found  they  are  at  once  removed. 
These  potatoes  are,  therefore,  not  only 
disease-free  but  they  come  from  the 
most  productive  hills.  This  is  a  step 
beyond  “certified”  seed. 
Harris’  Northern  Grown 
Seed  Corn — There  is  nothing  more 
important  in  connection  with  raising 
corn  than  to  get  Northern  grown  seed 
for  use  in  the  Northern  States.  It  is 
not  enough  to  buy  seed  of  a  dealer 
who  lives  in  the  North,  but  the  corn  must  be  actually  raised  there,  not 
shipped  in  from  the  South  or  West.  Harris’  seed  corn  is  raised  in  Western 
New  York  and  is  most  carefully  cured  so  as  to  preserve  its  full  vitality. 
Harris  catalogue,  a  book  of  over  1  00  pages,  beautifully  illustrated  from 
photographs,  is  worth  asking  for — That’s  all  it  will  cost  you. 
JOSEPH  HARRIS  CO.,  Box  23,  COLDWATER,  N.  Y. 
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