Litchfield enquirer., 1852-01-08
Ertract from
DR.. BuShnell'S Centennial address
At Itch 6eld, Aug. IA, 1851.

/ have spoken of the great advance in
human society, indicated by transition
from the dress of skins to that of cloth
-an advance of so great dignity. that
Spinning and weaving were looked upon
as kind Of fine art, or polite accom-
lishment. Another advance, and one
that is equally remarkable. is indicated
by the transition from a dress of home
spun to dress Of factory cloths. produ,
ced by machinery and obtained by the
exc Ranges of commerce, a: home or
abroad. This transition we are now ma
king, or rather, l should say, tbs already
81 far made that the very terms "Iomes>
tic manufacture, have quite lost their
meaning being applied to that which is
neither domestic. as being made in the
house, nor manufacture, as being made
by the hands.
This transition from mother and daugh
ter power, to water and steam power, is
a great one, greater by far than many
have as yet begun to conceive-one that
is to carry with it complete revolution
of domestic life and social manners. If,
in this transition, there is something to
regret, there is more, | trust, to desire.
If it carries away the old simplicity, it
must also open higher possibilities of cul-
ture and social ornament. The principal
danger is, that in removing the rough
necessities Of the homespun age, il may
take away also the severe virtues and the
homely but deep and true piety by which,
in their blessed fruits, as We are all b ere
testifying. that age is so honorably dis.
linguished. Be the issue what it may.
good or bad, hopeful or unhopeful, it has
come !; it is already fact, and the con-
sequences must follow. ...
If our sons and daughters should as.
semble, hundred years hence, to hold
another celebration like this. they will
scarcely be able to imagine the Arcadlan
pictures now so fresh in the memory of
many of us, though to the younger part
already matters of hearsay more than of
personal knowledge and remembrance.
All that was most distinctive of the
old homespun mode of life will then have
passed away. The spinning wheels of
wool and fax, that used to bug so famil.
iarly in the childish ears of some Of us,
will be heard no more forsyer-seen no
more. in fact, save in the halls of the An.
tiquarian Societies, where the delicate
daughters will be asking, what these
strange machines are, and how they were
made to go? The huge hewn- tiDnbs,
looms that used to occupy room by
themselves, in the farm houses, will be
gone, cut up for cord wood, and their
heavy thwack, beating up the woof, will
be heard no more by the Passer by - not
even the Antiquarian Halls will find room
to harbor specimen. The long strips
of linen, bleaching on the grass, and ten
ded by sturdy maiden, sprinkllng them
each hour. from her water can, under a
broilibg sun--thus to prepare the Sun,
day linen for her brothers and her own
wedding outfit. will have disappeared,
save as they return to fill picture in
some novel or ballad of the old time
The tables will be spread with some cum
ming, water-power Silesia not yet invent
ed, or perchance some meaner fabric from
the cotton mills. The heavy Sunday
coats, that grew on sheep individually
remembered, more comfortably carried
in warm weather on the arm, and the
Especially fine striped, blue and whit,
pantaloons of linen just from the loom
will no longer be conspicuous in process
! sions of footmen going to meeting. bu
will have given place to snowy carriages
filled with gentlemen in broadcloth. fes
TONED with chains Of California gold, anc
delicate ladies holding perfumed sur
shades. The churches. too, that used t.
be simple brown meeting houses. cover.
ed with rived clapboards of oak. will have
come down. mostly, from the bleak hill
tops into the close villages and populous
towns, that crowd the waterfalls and the
railroads and the old burial places where
the fathers sleep, will be left to theil
lonely altitude-loken, shall we say, oil
an age that lived as much nearer to hea.
ven and as much less under the world
The change will be complete. Would
that we might raise some worthy monu.
ment to state which is then to be 60
far passed by, SO worthy, in all future
time, to be held in the dearest reverence.
1t may have seemed extravagant, or
fantastic, to some of you. that should
think to give a character of the century
now past, under the one article of home
spun. 1t certainly is not the only, or in
itself the chief article of distinction; and
yet we shall find it TO be distinction that
runs through all others. and gives color
to the whole economy Of life and charac.
ter, in the times of which we speak.
Thus, If the clothing is to be manufac>
tured in the house, then flax will be grown
in the plowed land. and sheep will be
raised in the pasture. and the measure of
the fax ground. and the number oil The
flock will correspond with the measure
of the home market. the number of the
sons and daughters to be clothed. so that
the agriculture out of doors will map the