Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1871-08-11
From the Boston Herald.
Letter from Bellows Falls.
pecIal corresponaenee Of the Herald.

ICAtti 4StkAoNs
Special Correspondence of the Herald,
BELLOWS FALLS, VI, July 2S, 1871.
Bellows Falls bears the same relation
to Mount Kilburn and Minardo Pond
that piece Of ham bears to the two
pieces of bread of sandwich. 1t is
laid away so prettily and carefully and
altogether so snug that it is jolly crowd
ing ones self into its limited borders
If you have never visited the place, do
so by all means. and see how the people
Z" learn to labor and to wait" For more
than one hundred years it has been the
delight of the residents to expatiate on
the tremendous water power which the
Connecticut presents to the capitalist
Before steam came to play so important
a part, the Connecticut amounted to a
great deal but the people hereabouts do
not take steam-power into account, for
they cling to the falls-the water-power
and the want of enterprise of New
England people in putting the water to
turning and twisting few hundred, or a
great many thousand, spindles.
The residents of this place, as | re-
member thirty years ago, have changed
very little. 1t was then custom to as
semble every morning on the steps of
Hy de's Hotel, and discuss the merits and
dement's of their neighbors-the style
and demeanor of the peddlers on the tin
peddlers carts, which, passing every few
minutes, brought new subject, if not
new horse and a new cart, before them.
Thirty years, as / have said, makes but
little difference, for in my annual visits
here | am as annually asked to 60 down
and look at the foundation of the big
cotton mill which was to have been, but
which has never been built.
1t is a relief to most of the old inha6-
itants to know that their water has not
been contaminated with dye stuffs and
chemicals, if it has not turned any tur-
bines. When the writer was boy, a
steamer was placed ON the still waters
above the dam, and the wealthy citizens
of the towns adjoining were invited and
went on a trial trip. Freedoms Banner
paper published then, dilated upon the
commerce and prospects of Bellows
Falls, in similar style to that Of Bos-
ton paper to-day, when steamer leaves
that port with full cargo for Liverpool
but the steamboat ran aground in ten
inches of water at Charestown, and the
gala party aboard, after being served with
a cold lunch by the Common Council of
that place, came back. The steamboat
was tied up at the head of the canal and
graced that place for many years. The
steamboat, however, afforded general
topic of conversation to the citizens for
a long time, and is now referred to with
a great deal of local pride. The geogra-
phies printed then, as you may remember
told US that steamboats, have navigated
the Connecticut as far north as Windsor.
1t was for that place she was advertised
on that trip. Stock in the steamboat is
held by the heirs Of the original subscri-
bers, who are anxiously waiting for a new
stock to be issued or new steamboat to
take the place of the old one. The canal
through which logs and shingles used to
pass, is also an object of interest, and is
pointed out by the go ahead people of the
village with as much pride and satisfac-
ton as modern Greek points out the
Colossus ofRhodes. The locks are in rath-
er dilapidated condition, but the memo
ry of the busy scenes once there enacted
is sufficient in the eyes of the legal voters
to atone for their present quietness. Any
person going without his usual Friday
Goldfish is put down by the argumentative
who assemble each evening, as mean
cuss, and the person who INDUCES in this
luxury is commented uponin the light of
a man living beyond his means.
1t really seems as if the residents of
this town deemed it more duty to pull
a reputation to pieces than to lend a lit
tie help in trying to keep it together
Not long since gentleman who had
been married but little over year, and
who had not been blessed with little
episode which is so common in all we'll
regulated families, was called upon by a
self-constituted committee from a neigh
boring sewing circle, and advised TO send
to the "Little Wanderers Home" in
Boston, where, by giving the proper GER
tifcates of character baby would be
sent G. o. D. This committee has been
as ready to offer their advice to those
whose houses rang with the merry pratt
tie of what the committee deemed more
than the family was entitled to.
If decent guide board is erected, the
next town meeting decides that it is a
needless expense, as everybody in town
knows the roads we'll enough. IF new