Litchfield enquirer., 1864-01-14
Correspondence.
FROM OUT THE VALLEY.
WoeDBunY, Jan. Ath, 1864


 FROM OUT THE VALLEY.
 WoeDBuRY, Jan Ath, 1864. ED1ToRsL1rCHr1ELp ENQUIRER :-
 Ny Dear Sir Gan it bs thought of mine has scaIed LitcL6eId hill Can it be few idle words, penned for the Waterbur, An.erseqn have had the konors Of editorial revision in your city of magnificent distances P So it would sesm.. Why, what has Litchseld come to, that she should stoop to the Ponperaug valley for her thoughts '
 By the way, when think of LtchAeld have great reverence for her. No city of her size has grown more aaea. Her Woleotts, her Reeves, her Goulds, her Bacons, her Beers's, and others-they're a long lise of splendid men any generation might be proud of. The intensity of brain Litchfeld has generated and set in motion in past years, has, with its:elec- tric quality, stirred the nation, and is stirring it to this day.
 But, notwithstanding, you're not going to have that Railroad, after all. Why Because you don't want it, and, next, because you :" can't get it." Will you confess your poverty, 50 far, as to say you need it, over and above US What, with Railroad already sounding in your ears only four miles of, and telegraphs running across your station, and Editors-real, lice Editors too, and lawyers in abundance, and some of them men ofgenius ard Historians to boot, and all that Why, what an aneon- scionable and greedy people you mus: bs, not to be satisfied.
 But said you can't get it, No sire you can't If that Railroad is to reach you it's to be the continuation of the present Plainville, Bristol and WaterviIe road, and that cant be run up your hills short of an "oatlay Of dimes, ; such as even an Astor or a Rothschild would tremble at. From WaterviIle up to your 'steerle house. is, to say the least, fifteen miles twenty thousand dollars per mile is the cost of construction for ordinary railroads i; to construct one towards LitcbGeld, would cost probably fifth more ;-so that VIC have the enormous figure head ;" ef almost four Hundred housanG dollars, just to touch that same Litchfeld, and tap that Bantam Lake of fabulous magnitude, to say notaiug Of its pickerel and sinners
 And then another .fuul. I have to fud with yoa-in your rhapsody over. niY. most recon dite and luminous disquisitions. You imply almost havnt sFotssl thc i,'s:th. jrEt as fl i, once sn EiiltJr. bad luck to Ele, sioGids sfcU fke trss:a Such isaosanee, in the .ft l never before :net with.
 You say a!tc lin "funciFGl." Jus. as if all the fancy was to be in yos;r Editorial craniun, aHd nons Of it in mine Have you then a l- crnse fer .Ilis, snd Eune? Just ask Bro her Cooke, CT" Father" Cocke, es some Of the craft call a man who has the lively brain of q youth in the head Of an octogcnarisn-ask him, if he was evsr guilty Of ths monstrous iuvcnility of supposing an Editor must tell the truth ;-ontlst cay one Editor could sppro- priate all the fencful. just because lie lived on Litchfeld hill 0, for shame on you.
 But-to lay aside this bad;nage-let me say to you, I'm very sorry if I v. stepped on the heels of any of the dignity of old Litchfeld. l hold her in very high honor. I honor herifer her past splendid history. I honor her for the grand and manly way she has now set herself at work in this railroad business. A commit tee have gone to Boston subscribed probably, or arc ready to subscribe. g good round sum to bring that railroad, if possible, to their doc: ; started, as men should start, to take 8 part in great enterprise, which. if it is not specially to benefit them at their door, is yet to bring gifts to the whole State rich as gold of Ophir. rm afraid the people of our blessed little val ley wouldn't pay com mittee's expenses as far east as Quassapaug Pond, or subscribe Jsce pounds sterling to trundls that railroad engine up aad down our streets. l wouldn't islander them in this matter. for they're very wise people (though they don't know that (?) but verify believe speak this time, though once an Editor, the truth.
 The people of the country very much mis- take the value of railroads, because the benefit, of such are not always direct. This is certain ly so. They sometimes spoil small markets and at first seem to give no equivalent. have been on country railroads or, rather, in their vicinity and heard farmers curse them as un- mitigated evils Railroads. however, may be defended on the broad and sure principle, that ,rhateuer brings markets near, benefits tie producer, and though the people are not al- ways awake at first to recognize the good that's in them, they afterwards frequently make up for the past by the thoroughness of their sp probation.
 A railroad traversing Connecticut would be a good, difficult to estimate. It's not saving too much to say 1t would almost renovate the State. The regions it would .cut" ere full of wealth and enterprise now dormant, and the amount of industrial capital it would set in mo- ton would astonish ourselves Parts of the State of Connecticut the present age has run by. The age has lost us, and we t. The world thinks we are no,chere, and we think there's DO srorld. They are all absorbed in their new