I arose at daybreak, in anticipation of beholding a furious snow-storm, for the wind roared in the spacious chimneys, and the neighboring shutters and sign-boards were beating a tattoo. But the wind had changed to the southeast, and, though blowing with the fury of a December tempest, it was as warm as the breath of early spring. I breakfasted early, and departed for Elkton, twenty-four miles distant, with a prospect of receiving a drenching, for scuds, dark and billowy, came up from the ocean upon the wings of the gale like a flock of monster birds. I had just passed the "Hammer and Trowel" inn, a few miles from Kennet, when a thick mist came sweeping over the hills in the van of a tempest of wind and rain. For more than an hour, it seemed as if the "windows of heaven were opened," and that Æolus and Jupiter Pluvius were joined in merry-making upon the earth. The huge leafless oaks in the forests swayed to and fro like the masts and spars of tempest-tossed navies; and a thousand turbid streamlets poured from the hill-sides, and made rivers of the gentle water-courses in the vales. Twice, while passing over a lofty hill, I felt my wagon lifted from the ground by the wind, its spacious cover acting like a parachute. The storm ceased as suddenly as it arose, and, when I reached New London (a village of some twenty houses), about ten miles from Kennet Square, the clouds broke, and the winds were hushed. A brilliant, mild afternoon made the ride from New London to Elkton a delightful one, and fully compensated for the suffering of the morning. The country is hilly, until within a few miles of the head of the Elk, when it becomes flat, and marshy, and penetrated by deep estuaries of the bay and river. Elkton (the "Head of Elk" of the Revolution) is an old town, the capital of Cecil county, in Maryland. It is situated at the junction of the two branches of the Elk River, the upper portion of Chesapeake Bay, and at the head of tide-water. The rail-way from Philadelphia to Baltimore passes within half a mile of the town. Here the British made their first halt, after leaving the place of debarkation at Turkey Point, twelve miles below; and Elkton may be considered the dividing point, in the military operations of the Revolution, between the North and South. The accompanying map, divided by the Delaware River, with New [[[Scene of Military Operations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.--An Evening on the Chesapeake.--Baltimore.]]] {388}Jersey on the right and Pennsylvania on the left, is introduced to exhibit the relative position of the principal places in those two states, from Amboy to Elkton, mentioned in preceding pages, and made memorable by military events. [Illustration: 0398]