Litchfield enquirer., 1851-09-18
From the Boston Commonwealth. A VISIT TO AN OLD HOME. LITCHFIELD CENTENNIAL. Iron Works "A New City.

It was forty. one years ago last May
 since the writer of this-the present
 "Items" of the Commonwealth h-went
 forth as part and parcel of the household or his father, one of the Deacons of the
 South parish of Canaan, Litchfield Coun.
 ty. Connecticut. on pilgrimage to new
 home in New Connecticut. The scene
 is as fresh in his remembrance as yester~ day. There were eight children of us:
 two hired men. one q blacksmith-two
 OK wagons covered with home-spnn tow
 cloth, each drawn by two yoke of oxen.
 and lighter wagon with a painted cov>
 CT, drawn by a span of horses. The OK
 toanas were despatched early in the morn.
 ing on the road to Fishki.l. They car.
 rled pretty heavy loads of implements.
 seeds. guns, clothing. bedding, books and
 provisions. The glad time to us when
 the Eorse>carriage stould start, seemed
 long in coming. Father himself even
 grew impatient because mother and the
 older girls had so many last words. At last. at about eleven o'clock of the bright forenoon. we were oR
 The older boys had gone ahead with the hired man and OK teams. Alter the tirst crack of the whip. so glad a sound to us fttle ones, and we had fairly cot clear of ths long. low old homestead. built by our grandfather who had struck the first blow in that forest, what was our astonishment to see all the faces of mother and the older sisters buried in their hsndkerchiefs and to hear their deep sobs! How could they break thsis
 hearts so. thought we, ut SO ine a frolic as as going forty days into the wilderness The journey really cost us only 80 days, va Easton, Bethlehem, Harisburgh, Car iisle, Bedford, Pittsburgh, Beaver, over the Alleghanics and through the unfath. omable mud of the beech and maple woods of '1he Reserve" to the Banks of the Cuyahoga. From those bowling woods the old homestead was looked back to as almost . paradise of cu'tiva. ion and luxury. an idea Wbich it bv no means realized when va caught glance 't It some twelve years after, at a time when the new home at the West had be-. omc far it's superior in all material res. 'ects. From that sudden destruction os cherished dream, we have never sought he old place, and having no kith or kin n those parts, scarcely thought of it, till ve casually saw notice of the centen> nal celebration of Litchtield Co. Then he hills ard stream of childhood return. d to memory in all their dear beauty. nd we resolved that our own children it is but days journey. and the rail. pad runs directly through the old home- ead--s should see the same hills and rocks and rivers that we did--nay. the me cloud brushing mountains. keepinv iard all around the quiet valley. ike so any green giants a little touched with ey.
 The wild valley of the Wssl6sld. and c nimhle. hide-and.seek polka danced the river and the Western RGlroad. ? al@ays interesting. but we think the To down the Housatonis valley much pre- SO. This valley has strong char. ter And individuality. Old Greylock d Taghkanue look down upon ii and
 charming riser naeanders b the soeks meadows al@ays fringed uish vi. gs. Now and then is grows oantank. us and pays for iis spree bY having Io Fe few paper mills. or 6 cotton lso. E to saw boards oF marble, or to blow 'Enaee. tt hAs ths taak of deseend~ about ons thousand feet ifcm Pitse- Q reach tide watsr. and of courssit ( he sometimes wide awaks. It e.
 Co ho % in earnest hetaeen Gnnah Aan and ealiahnEK in Q0nnanainn1.