Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-05-29
Memory of Hyde's Tavern.
SOME VERMONT "REMINISCENCES.

many Of our readers ways Of pleasant
ness and paths of country peaceful
ness. Years ago, when board coulG
be had at $50 u week, "with three
meals day, dance every evening,
except Sunday "a sermon on thaD, an(
free rides in his wagon thrown in,
Hydes was at its highest state
Whole families, from every part ofthe
country, with innumerable children,
ate, drank milk, and "slept on lc
themselves coatings of fat,' and en-,
joyed Il freedom and freshness that
did then, as it now does, in remem-
brance, soothe the sufferings Of a
dyspeptic. AS in all virtuous COM
munities, nature seemed to do its best
in bringing the best down upon that
quiet old place. The wind blew fun,
and when it rained, fun poured upon
all. 1t was the easiest, healtiest,
quietest, cosiest old places in New
England. Men, women, and children
did as they pleased, and the tithing
men Of the village helped them. -
kilograms never appeared in the
town, and the meat of the daily jour
nails came but once u week, in the
shape of the Middlebury Bonner, the
Orwell Bugle, or the Rutland Nercouy.
No one cared to know of things be-
fore they happened, and, like ancient
prophets, they gave lengthy consider,
alton to rumors before they believed
them Once or twice in the many
summers we passed there, two people
only were anxious enough for the
news to drive old Jack and the buck
board seven miles to get them. Life
there was as near vegetation and per-
lection as it well could be. But we
are allowing our feelings to lun away
with us, for the old house, with its
twenty-one gables, has gone, and we
must think Of it as the children of
Israel thought upon the homes oftheir
fathers, and wish to get back.
Hyde was u character. He was at
once the most respected and richest
man in the community. Long before
the railroad system was introduced in
the country, his father, who met an
untimely death from rolling off log,
and allowing the log to roll over him,
established himself as a keeper Of the
halfway tavern on the stage road be-
tween Albany and the upper end of
Lake Champlain. Here, as the ancient
register shows, Silas Wright, Web
ster, Mangum, b. f. Butler, of Sandy
Hill F.; Levi Woodbury., Emmons (sur-
named Pop,) Van Buren,, John Quin-
cy Adams, and hundreds of others
known to POLITICAL fame, put up for
the night, or waited for a change Of
horses and the services of a good din
ner. The original Hyde always had a
story at hand, in which some one of
these worthless bore Il conspicuous
part but that fatal log put an end to
them long ago. Hyde, the son, who
recently died, full of honors and as
sociate judge of the county Of Rut-
land, inherited the property, and the
most excellent characteristics of his
father. Reared among the daily
chances Of associating with the great,
the intellectual, and the witty of our
country, he seemed to have become
saturated with their most winning
peculiarities. lie could not only tell
a good story without Ratchet, but
he could handle one that cut both
ways in telling it.
About twenty years ago on the sug-
Sestion and recommendation of the
late Isaac O. Barnes, we went to
Hyde's to "see for ourselves, and take
rooms for the season. A pleasant
ride from Bellows Falls over the
Green mountains, on Il soft June morn
ing, was enough in itself to make us
fall in love with our antici pations.-
Our uncle John (who is weighty
authority on epitaphs) was along with
us, to "see for himself whether fish
ing was really what it was said to be,
slept all the way through the marble
quarries, and didn't see a tombstone,
and at about four in the afternoon we
reached the end of our railway travel.
A small boy, with hair of orange hue,
eyes and habilaments Of gray, stood
upon the platform eating domestic
gum drops. AS he appeared to be
waiting for something, we asked him
the route to Hyde's, for we yet had
seven miles more of mountain riding
to do before we should reach that
desired point. "Hyde's !" said he,