Winchester Republican

LOCAL SKETCHES.

All our private correspondents have it in their power to add something to the gratification of their fellow-citizens—our readers—by sending us occasionally sketches of those places in which they reside, or by communicating any geographical, statistical, or other notices of towns thro' which they may have recently passed. We are aware that many of our friends imagine themselves incompetent to write sketches of this sort, and that the idea of their remarks being published, would embarrass them so much as to render them less able to write well than though they were free from such encumbrance. Pray dispel such fears. Be communicative. If you can tell a story, you can write it. If you know of anything marvellous or uncommon—any murders, robberies, house-burnings, natural or vegetable wonders, improvements in arts or agriculture—relate them in your own way—pay the postage on your letters—and we will publish them with pleasure. This paper circulates through a wide extent of country—is very generally read in the adjoining counties—and what is well known in one quarter may be entirely new and worth communicating in another. Such notices would be copied into newspapers at a distance; and their circulation thus becoming general, would add more to our stock of knowledge than any books on geography or other subjects could do, because they would be more generally read. It is by the industry of editors at a distance, particularly at the north and east, and the attentions of their friends, that we are enabled to present to our readers our interesting weekly summaries. Let the reader think of this, and he will feel it a duty to contribute to the nearest newspaper editor any incidents which may occur within the circle of his knowledge or the scope of his information. The request we make is certainly a reasonable one, and we hope that our correspondents may regard it as such. The following letter may furnish a hint to some of them. It was not written with a view to publication, and is perhaps better for that reason:

Extract of a letter, dated May 20, 1821.

"I was much pleased with Harper's Ferry—a very romantic, confined situation. All was alive; 'twas equal to Vulcan's smithshop. The machine for turning gun-stocks is deservedly esteemed ingenious, though extremely simple. It turns off a stock in its true shape throughout, even the butt, in fifteen minutes. There are, I think, about 30,000 stand of arms, including rifles, in the arsenal—worth about half a million. There is a new set of works erecting up the Shenandoah, by Capt. Hall, who undertakes to make an improved rifle, that will fire five times as fast as the common kind. The war department has approved the plan, and authorized the experiment."

"Frederick is a very close built city: the sun shone bright while I was there, and every thing was animated. The streets are about 60 feet wide, apparently double those of Winchester.

"A few miles west of Frederick, I met three negroes, well dressed, laughing and joking, but chained together! A small cart, driven by a negro, which seemed to contain a few females, accompanied them; and to command the whole, there rode two gentlemen! I mentioned this circumstance in the evening, at the tavern where I stopped, but it was treated as a trivial matter; and some of the company observed that they had seen 20 or 30 chained together, to be driven to Georgia!

"I have heard a story of a justice in the country [Pennsylvania] being broke by the legislature for suing a man before himself, subpoenaing himself as witness, giving evidence to himself, &c. and charging costs for the whole. This was last winter.

C. D."