"For fear some of your readers may not know where 'Oak Grove' is, I will state that it is a quiet little village in the upper part of Westmoreland county, midway between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers. It is a very unpretentious village indeed; was built in a grove of oaks hense its name.
The stranger does not expect so much as when he approaches places with such celebrated names as Hague, Montross and Warsaw and, verily, he is not disappointed. Oak Grove contains two churches, four manufacturing establishments--to wit: two stores, which for variety of goods displayed, and costumes and elegance of fabrics, are equalled, if not surpassed by A.T. Stewart and Lord and Taylors in New York.
It boasts a base ball club and a lodge of Good Templers. The Ladies' Industrial Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church meets here once a week, and the post office distributes the mail to the people of a large surrounding country. There are ten families and as many dwellings in the village. Oak Grove in the haleyon days of Virginia was a noted place for loafing, and the politicians and gossips of the neighborhood here did most assemble to discuss the state of the country or the last bit of neighborhood news.
There is one thing before I close about Oak Grove to which I would like to call attention, that is the indifference of its' people to 'office'.
As an illustration, we have no constable and no one who is willing to accept that office, and that leads to serious inconvienience sometime; as in the following case: The warehouse at Upper Kinsale was broken into and robbed of a trunk. A search-warrent was issued and a special constable had to be appointed, and it was difficult to get anyone to act.
The house of a negro man was searched and the missing goods found. He was arrested and brought before a Justice at Oak Grove, and the evidence of guilt being positive, he was sent on to the county jail for trial. The special constable refuse to go any further than Oak Grove. The former constable said that he no longer was constable and would not take him. The Justice did not know what to do in this dilema. Eventually a stranger going in that direction volunteered to take the prisoner to jail, and was duly sworn in as special constable."