Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-07-09
For the Freeman.
AmuSementS.

8. Behold what q great FIRE little matter
kindleth." Little did We think Of creating
any excitement, when We penned our hasty
article. the principal object Of which was
to dissuade our good old friend " B. RI in
his old age from running into all sorts Of
modern exsravagances. But in one commu-
nifty at least our obnoxious communication,
which is SO contrary to the spirit of the age,
has called forth not little comment, and sew
eral clergymen have been charged with the
crime of writing it. A short time since we
were told by religious teacher, who IL "a
advocate of dancing, that he was preparing an
article in which he was going to show that the
Christian fathers of New England approved
and practicsd dancing: that they had their
ordination balls, and both ministers and
church members participated in the joyous
sport; that not only the public resort, but
the homes of the good fathers were made
gay and happy by the sweet sounds OF music
and dancing. Thus, he said, he was going to
attack 8. Old School - On his own ground
and perhaps use him up, and while We were
preparing our mind for the shock, and If
need be to Gle with decency, 10 and behold,
there comes voice from Waterbury. and
gives the lie to all this. Says nay, the
homes of the fathers were gloomy, joyless,
Solemn, cherries, a complete charnel house;
no sweet smile ever entered there; the chill
dren, deprived of every innocent amusement,
we're driven out into cold and inconstan'
world Now, in the opinion of &" Old
School," these two men both display the
most profound ignorance of the state of soci-
ETY. that existed in Vermont or New England
in former times, and of the character of those
happy families that lived on our hillsides
and IN our valleys fifty years ago. 1t is not
true that the homes of our fathers were
gloomy and cherries. They had their sports
and pastmes; the men their athletic exer-
cises, such as running, leaping and wrestling.
1.-the daughters were all fair,
With their blue eyes of smiles and their light fow-
ing hair,
All brisk at their wheels till the dark'even fall,
ball"
The maxim that " all work aud no play
makes Jack dull boy" was written and
read a thousand times in all their schools long
before George W. Kennedy of Waterbury lived
and wrote. In those well-regulated families
system and order prevailed; the children
were taught to respect the authority of their
parents, and duly impressed with the idea
that their parents knew better what was for
their good than they did themselves. Yet
there was none of that siekening, sugar-bis
training; d" what will you have. dear what
will you be helped to-? " and toys and trink-
cts heaped upon the little urchin until the
min 1 becomes completely surfeited and can
appreciate nothing, and the child is spoiled.
There never was a greater error prevalent
than that the first settlers of New England
were a cold, selfish, unsocisl people. Did
sickness and sorrow and want prevail, they
made common cause with each other, and
few to each others relief. Mr.. Kennedy
says the children were driven out from the
cbarnel houses by the cold icy touch of
1" grim visaged men and their teachings into
skepticism and infdelity" A greater libel was
History tells Of multitudcs of both men and
women that have been reared in New Eng
land, the foundation of their characters laid
in the family circle, who ;were carefully and
tenderly educated by fond parents, and went
forth carrying the light of science and Chris
tianty all over the known world. We know
of one rural district on the banks of the
lovely Connecticut, where the fathers early
built temple of worship, that has raised
up seventy-eight professional men that have
gone forth to act their part in life's great
drama. OF these men thirty-6ve received a
collegiats education, twenty-one were clergy
men, fourteen lawyers, thirty-one physicians,
aud nearly all professors of religion. This
is but an isolated case, but what is true of
this parish is true also of many portions of
New England.
Yet the gentleman from Waterbury, in the
face OF sl;h acts as these, has the audacity
to tell the youth of our country t. execrate
the memory of the fathers because the ten
iency of their teachings was to make skep-
ties and infiels. Moreover, be says, We
1--we our native land; to that charge we
plead guilty. Yes, we love the green hills
,nd fertile valleys of Vermont. There is
sweetness in her mountain air, health in her
bubbling springs. Aud 50 does the Green
lander and the rude savage" Yet is there
nothing that attaches a son OF Vermont or
New En gland to his native soil above that
which aninates the breast Of the savage who
knows just enough TO eat and drink, propa-
gate his species and die? No hallowed H.
huences cluster around the temples and the
groves of our fathers? Nothing in education
| that attaches the student to college halls OF
| academic bowers No charm that hovers
sround the birthplace of the most eminen,
men and women that the world has ever pro.
duced? Dark, indeed, must be the vision oil
that man who does not see the contrast, anC
awfully perverse the heart that does not re-
Joice in it. Is Vermont to beiestimated by
the number of cabbages or pumpkins thai
she raises? Shs now stands at the head o
any other State in the Union in her agricul.
tural productions. and if her products arr
less than they W re it is no argument agains
the men whose sinewy arms subdued the for.
ests and converted the wilderness into smil-
ing fields of plenty. but lasting shame to
the sons who received this rich inheritance
Mr.. Kennedy inquiries - what Institution
New Eogland has built or shaped" Sh'
has built the church aud near by the school
house, and there lies the secret Of her great
ness. General Cass was once riding over til,
hills of New Hampshire, his native State, il