Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-10-13
OUTS very NuIy,
ISAAC f. REDFIELD.
Boston, Sept. 81

~ y
najttee.-lMy Dear Sir Since the receipt
of your letter inviting me to join in the
Centennial celebration of the settlement
of Rutland, [ have been trying to shape
my business SO as to conform to it; but
owing to the fact that the time fixed for
the celebration is most inconvenient to me
of all times in the year, I am afraid shall
not be with you. The tyranny of circum-
stances" appears to be against me. 1t
would certainly give me great pleasure to
meet the old acquaintance who will I'M
oubtedly congregate on the occasion, and
to renew with them all the pleasant mem
cries of the past, though it is sad to realize
how comparatively few of those acquaint-
ances remain. The Rutland young peo
pie of my day have gone
some to the shades OF the sylvan West,
Some to the painless deep,
But more to the land where the weary rest
In their shrouded and dreamless sleep"
But it is still satisfaction to the few who
remain to know that the good old town to
which their memory so fondly clings has
gone on increasing in all that constituted
material prosperity, and that this pros
peritY
90 Is not the hasty product of day,
But the well ripened fruit Of long delay"
You ask me to make an after dinner
speech. After such dinner as I know you
will have, [ am apt to be quite "too full
to speak" The son of Rutland who does
not like a good dinner, is not true to his
paternity. The early settlers of the town
were drawn there by the very "fatness Of
the land" Just about one hundred years
ago, one Thomas Rowley was employed
l. IL Sc 10 70 a
poetic appeal to the New Workers to come
and settle in Rutland and he did it in
such rhymes as this:
I" Your pateroons forsake,
Whose greatest care
Is slaves of you to make,
While you live there;
Come, quit their barren lands,
And leave them in their hands
Twill make you large amends,
To Rutland go.
And he seasons his appeal as follows
60 Here little salmon glide,
So neat and fine,
Where you may be supplied
With hook and line:
They are the finest fish
To cook dainty dish
AS good could wish
To feed upon"
AS though this appeal to their appetitos
were not enough, he grows jubilant over
other Creature comforts" as follows
1.-THE pigeon, goose, and duck
They fill our beds;
The beaver, coon and fox,
They crown our heads:
The harmless moose and deer,
Are food aud clothes 70 wear
Nature could do no more
To any land"
Now, it stands to reason that people
drawn together by such appeals, should
have left the impress of their love of good
things upon their descendants. 1t was
related of one of the early settlers that he
objected to roast turkey for dinner be-
cause such turkey was ga little too much
for one, and not quite enough for two
The original Smith, who gave the name OF
''Smithstown" to the southwest part OF
Rutland, and two or three other Rutland
men, were members of Capt. John War
ner's company, in Col. Seth Warmers regi-
ment of Green Mountain Boys" On
their march from Manchester to partici-
pate in the second fight near Bennington
they stopped at Salisbury to luncheon
i Resuming their march, Capt. John Incl
dentally asked Smith if the Rutland men
would fight. IF you had seen us eat,
was the reply, "you wouldn't have asked
the question" The best part of the joke
was the fact that both Warmers were ia
nous eaters. Ii in military parlance they
bravely "wielded their trenchant blade,
they welded their trenche, blades quite
as 6ravely. I know pretty well what ,
r gallant charge the sons of Rutland viii
+ make upon the Widespread tables, on tbs
occasion of your celebration and undeI
the inspiration of this knowledge [ vii
= give you toast, which you may use o
rot. as the occasion may justify:
= The Sons Of Rutland, present and absent
Ii they fight halt as well as they eat, the,
, can never be conquered
7 Very truly yours,
! f. G. PURDY