Litchfield enquirer., 1873-10-30
From The Daily Graphic.
Connecticut corsans.

We are frequently told of the morality of the rural districts, and of their vast su- perlor1ty in this respect over the wicked and corrupt inhabitants of cities. That the rural members of our State Leeisla- lures are proverbially more ready to sell themselves and their votes to the highest bidder than are the members that repre- sent city constituencies might seem at first sight, to conflict with the theory of the lmmalculate virtue of the country: but the explanation of this apparent in- consistency is that the virtuous farmers. whenever neighbor becomes exception ally prohlgate, immediately send him to the Legislature in order to rid themselves of his contaminating presence.
 Among the other virtues of the coun- tryman is his profound gratitude for any unexpected blessing, and his eagerness to make the best possible use of it. The average inhabitant of Canaan and it's vii cinity IS striking example of the extent to which the virtue of gratitude exists in the bosom of the Connecticut person; and the experience of the aeronauts of The Daily Graphic balloon, where their air ship so suddenly landed them, is worth the attention of all admirers of rural gen erosity and goodness. When the hapless voyagers reached the runaway balloon and found it lying collapsed in field, it was already surrounded by crowd of happy Canaanites. There was nothing portable upon which these grateful people had not selzed. Even the spare coats of the aer- onauts were ornamenting the angular shoulders of the local farmers, and their spare trousersywere rolled under the arms of the fortunate finders. The crowd of those who were anxious to emulate the avid lty of the Bahama wreckers in turning mlsfortunes of others to their personal benefit continually increased. Men came Tn wagons to carry away heavy and bulky articles. Others stripped the boat of it's planking, and strove to find the valve of the balloon under the folds of canvas that hid it, in order to seize and convert it's hinges to their own use. The aeronauts were encompassed about with great cloud of acquisitive deacons and select men and honest agriculturists. To them the descent of the balloon, with It's freight ed hfe-boat, was providential dispensa- tionfor supplying their families with food and brass instruments, and they were de- termined that the sin of an ungrateful re- jection of those blessings should not rest upon their consciences. The fortunate AAnA OA WAOSO 1auO Gu0 DH1lOOQ naQ 1alle0 at once claimed heavy damages for the trespass. The man who had caught the machine after it had come to rest, and the %aa EkS hHa f6m edAtthhs th i6s 6sSO6S to pieces also claimed large sums by way of payment; and the Sheriff, improving the opportunity to make 8 little in the way of fees, attached the entire property of the expedition as security for the pay ment of $900 to the three ingeious claim ants just mentioned.
 The experience of the shipwrecked sail or who, on discovering gallows, thanked Heaven that he was in a Christian land was paralleled by that of the aeronauts who, when their property was carried of before their eyes and the letters found in the pockets of their spare garments were eagerly opened and read, knew at once without further information, that they were in Litchfeld County, Conn. For nowhere else-except, perhaps, among the barbarous natives of Corea-could they have found a population so eager to plunder and so unwilling to disgorge.