St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-04-23
10th April, 1875.

crutches.
10th April, 1875.
M Editor: Among some old papers
that came into my hands two Years ago,
find short account # what an aged
man remembered of Il iyhbnIing town,
aud some OF its inhabitants. | have
taken this opportunity t" copy short eX-
Tracts from these old papers. They
may interest some of your readers. The
following was written June :. 1871,
when the writer was 30 Years old:
II am probably the oldest child liv-
ing that was born in Concord. very
well remember when this town was al
most Il wilderness. principally timbered
with large, handsome sugar naples. III
trrSper<ed with tall. straight spruce.
and lofty pines of superb quality. Great
sugar orchards were abundant. over
flowing with sap. and these trees III
their season would not only drop. but
Iun Il stream. With the facilities that
people NOW have. there might have been
the best facilities they then had were
Woudcm !rough> and tiIe-pail kettles,
and kettles from the house. To boil the
sap III. Yet they made Il good supply
of street sugar aud delicious beer. far
preferable Ia Whiskry oI rum.
The first settler, had to suffer much
hardship and p!ivIti"n yet | think
they enjoyed life - we'll as people H."
now. The beautiful forests. the fra
the sweet lnu>ic of birds. were t;Ir more
drlicInn> than the smoke and din "i the
city. Notwithstanding the town WIS
very rocky. the soil WAS very pIndurt-
i've. Perhaps no town ever produced
Letter wheat than this. Bears and
m"o>c we've easily taken for meat. and
almost any min uI boy could catch
trout enough before breakfast tul Il fam
it,, meal
As have said. there were many
stately pines. When cav tiles occurred
by rot. lees found their way int" them
dep"Siting large quantities of houcv.
often Il hundred pounds OF more. All
kind>, of large melons grew To pclfcc-
ton. Gla>> was the staple commodity.
One of the early poets of Concord said
the town WaS famous.
For good butter and ch,rsr-
lat pork and marrow tat peas
Bees money in lofty pine trees.
INCIDENTS.
About 1874 or 1898. the fist gri>t mill
VAS built la town. Old Mr.. Powers
said the inst gIi>t he carried there was
=" natiy ground that his wife tiled to
r,,h 1t through Il very coLrSr sieve, but
could not. 81 She took Il ladder. but had
IL knock ",it every other round.
Rev. Samuel Goddard was the first
minister. He u>rd To 90 to the h"llsrs
and caicchi>c the children. At one
house he t"nnd Il great awkward boy
who had nccn taught that God made
him. but supposed that Goddard Wa,
God. The minister asked vino mid,
him. when he promptly replied. You
did.
Old Nh. Boot. al Italian. settled in
the town and VA, called upon To pay Il
minister : TAN. 81 he made il bed cord.
This cord, Goddard told Booty. was il
very poor one: when he got the con
>uling answer: lit is as good as de
pay" Booty used to get drunk. After
he joined the church. he got drunk
once. aud he told the church he would
rather have found his old mare dead in
the pasture.
David lIlbbald and his brother DYER,
wanted some pine lumber with which
to build. They thought it the cheapest
way TO go up Moose River and cut some
of the splendid trees that grew upon its
banks. roll them iutu the river, and run
them down when the water was high.
They cut some big trees. but the water
WIS shallow | have heard David
swear that every foot of lumber they
got. cost them more than il would to
have gone to South America and carried
home mahogany. READER.