Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1863-03-05
Rutland COuaty and its Invasion
i'm 1777.
Read By Henry Hall. Esq, before the vermont
Historical Sociesy at MaddIebu'y, Febraarf

Read By Henry Hall. Esq, before the Vermont
Historical Sociesy at M'ddleou'y, FeerssarH
l8, 1853.
If we could, by waving maglclan's wand,
call up before US in panoramic view, the te III
tory now constituting Rutland county as it ex-
isted IS or sc years ago, wherein would the
tableau differ from that presented to-day =
To-day, nearly two thirds of the land IN the
County is improved over the mountains
and the higher uplands swept the prlmeval Tor
est in its matchless beauty, untorn by the tor
nado and almost untouched by the woodman's
axe, while along the rich alluvlal intervals up
on the larger rivers and creeks, &C uld be seen
numerous clearings dotted over with log hous-
es, and occasionally plank or frame house,
shrewdly located upon gentle eminences to
avoid the terrific freshets Of the Spring, when
the deep saow, melted with the warm rains,
filled the streams, overhowed the meadows, and
swept away everything moveabe IN ats path
| Instead OF railroad cars, whlrllng thousands OF
passengers and myriad tons of freight along
It's valleys and over is hills, there could be traced
few forest roads, abounding in stumps and
mud i'll adapted to the use even of the pedes-
trian, equestrian or slow moving OK, while
wheeled vehicles were almost unserviceable-
If you were to enter one OF the houses
you would behold no elegant suite of apart
ments, no frescoed walls, or stucco
work possibly you might see, - but
not aways,-that the inside Of the logs
had been hewed, the crevices stop
ped with bits of board, straw and mortar; the
house sometimes contained more than one room;
over head was moderate sized attic, reached
by holes left or cut in the logs, or rudely con-
structed ladder; the fire place, with stone
bottom and back, had no lambs, and the CHM
ney from the ceiling up, was made OF Stats OF
wood, besmeared inside with mortar tempered
with straw the roof was of bark, thatch,
slabs or boards the windows, few and small,
were of oiled paper, and linen, lslnglass,
parchment, and in rare instances of real glass,
6xS or 7x9, while some had only sliding
boards the doors of plank had wooden latch
es, drawn by a string always " ont, except
for public foes the floor, perhaps Of earth,
if Of boards, contained a small trap-door
over the meat barrel and perhaps vegetables,
although the latter for better flavor were gen
orally buried in the earth, few RODS from the
house in the rear of the house was a small
enclosure of logs, high and firmly rooted, in
which, at night, were perhaps half dozen
sheep or a few swine, safe from the bears and
wolves that swarmed through the woods, in
numbers to us almost incredible. Inventory
the furniture, you will find no polished marble
or marblezed slate; no damask. lace, or
brocatele no wilton, brussels, three-ply, in
grain or even rag carpeting !; no rosewood or
mahogony no hair cloth no piano, or pier
glass no gas fixtures or candelabras, no glass
lamps, with kerosene, fluid or even whale oil.
That table of boards, resting on sticks, has no
leaf; ''the Otter Creek bedstead " is made OF
two poles driven into the logs, resting on two
sticks and strapped together with slippery elm
or other bark or stats, and the bed-tick is filled
with deer-hair or hen feathers there is a
wooden shovel and poker but no tongs: there
is no Stewards cooklng-stove, or sitting-Foom
stove of iron or soap-stone, for wood or mime
raj coal no furnace to get out of order, or
burn their State House, but the horse often
draws into the house the ore-lo6 and the back
log the seats are not of costly woods, but of
native blocks, boards laid on sticks, and some
times kitchen chairs the milk is kept chiefly in
wooden dishes covered with cloth to keep out
dirt from old bark pans, plates, platters and
bowls, generally of wood; earthen ware, pew
ter ware and crockery partially introduced /;
knives abound, forks rare If iron candie-sticks
are wanting, the huge blazing fire, and the
pine knots light their short evenings ovens
are built two or three rods from the house, of
stone, raised on sticks and rooted over with
bark or boards, to keep off rain you will not
forget to notice the gun and equipments, or the
deers horn in every house, or that the outside
of the building is plastere twith the drv.ng
skins of wild animals The setting out OF
even the trosseau of Mrs. Tom Thumb would
furnish such township or county in household
furniture, and none of its citizens would be la
bic to pay Uncle Samuel any tax for silver
plate, under the present excise law
If you were 20 address some Of the citizens
and ask them how they had Jared since they
settled in tins wilderness they would reply
that at first their means were scanty, their tolls
great, their crops uncertain and only available
after much hardship, for having no mills
they Were obliged to go to Ii, Skeenesboro
Bennington or No. 4 for their meal and -four,
salt and iron, often carrying them the whole
distance on their backs, for all had not horses
OR oxen--that when the roads permitted they
! took two saddles for thills and runners, and
fastening them together midway with sticks
they lashed thereon their bags of provisions
and barrels of rum that soon they had saw
mills and grist mills in almost every town on
Otter Greek, and on Castleton and Poultney
rivers; that although much annoyed bN the
Yorkers, especially in Clarendon, yet with q
merry laugh of triumph, they would tell you
| of the beneficial effects Of beach sealing thai
as vet they had suffered but little from the
| war with Great Britain and if they had nc
court house. jail or sheriff in the County, fol
| having declared themselves free frpm every
other government, and having, as yet, formed
| none of their own, they were wtnont potica
| organization, except that of the towns and the
| public committees, and having very little
! law but such as they administered among
themselves, from their own sense of justice
very much cultivated by the controversies and
necessities Of the times, they had yet foul
years before, erected log meeting house at
Center Rutland, formed there the tenth Con
gregational Church in the State, and the sec
.ond one west of the mountains, consisting o.
saGisahs. ntWoHn from. West Rutland
from East R!ss twoNEsW Pittsforc
ON Tnmonth and . one from .'s Walllngfere n fore
had no temperance societies, they drank n
prussic acid, ate no opium, scarcely used an
tea coffee or gentlemanly and beastly tobacco
that if they rarely saw silk or cotton, the
raised wool and fax, had abundance of dee
skins, coon skins, bear skins, squirrel skins an
sometimes moose skins, and could manufactul
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