Litchfield enquirer., 1875-04-08

Thus in beauty wandering, rowing.
 Here and there, but onward moving Till 'tis with the river blending
 There its gift of waters sending.
 The following communications were crowed out of our last weeks issue:
 Washington Lectures and Ora. | maticS.
 Judea is a section of the township oi
 Washington. Our population, suppose, will amount to about eight hundred souls. The village proper is quite small. there being only thirty-two dwellings within radius of half mile. We have two churches. but no grog shop.
 For many years, it has been our privi- lege and pleasure to have the long dull winter enlived by Lectures and Dramatic entertainments. We have had as many as ten lectures in season, usually six-this winter only three.
 Mrs. Livermore opened the course in a lecture occupying one hour and forty min utes in the delivery, which for solid sense eloquently enforced, excelled anything W @ had ever enjoyed before
 T. W. Higginson on the platform hard ly satisfied the expectation which his essays had excited.
 Dr. Holland, who always meets with a warm welcome from an audience in Ju- dea, closed the course, affording high de- gree of delight This was on the occasion of the dedication of our hall; and this drew together the largest audience we had ever had. Perhaps large numbers came upon hearing that the neighbering clergy would make five minute speeches. If so, they were abundantiy gratifed. The ed- itor of the Enquier with five Rev. s be- fore and five behind him, is said to have made an excellent appearance on that oc- casion.
 Since that. we have given four enter tainments under the auspices of the Dra- ssss1A-s~ss~sassss seo5uu ufow U crowded aouse, even larger numbers than the Dedication had done. The others were well attended; and the $450 thus se- cured to complete and furnish the hall have already been judiciously expended.
 Whether we have had ministers and deacons enough to sanctify" the hall, we do not yet certainly know; we trust, how ever, that in coming years they will more and more honor us with their presence.
 have reserved to this place my notice of the Rev. Mr. Churchill's lecture-the title gives an erroneous idea of the sub- iect matter. "What the ancients believed about life after death; and how these be- hefs were made the foundation of the family, the state, and the religious insti- tutions of those times" would better de- scribe it. It was profound, learned, and intensely interesting disquisition upon a snbiect little understood. respectfully advise our friends in other towns, to in- vite MT. c. to deliver it to them. You may send far, and pay 8 high price, and still fail to hear lecture approaching this in solid worth. When the mud is dry, and the moon is round again. we are to hear the Rev. gentleman on Socrates and. his Times" of which lecture we shall give due notice. 'i -- r% .- I have thought this very brief and therefore very dry summary of our win ter's campaigns might serve as anincite- ment to other small communities to try the experiment. of similar course. I sub- init that this is history of intellectual enioyments creditable to our humble but happy Judea. -g .x .ra-~-~ { You complain that your style of living and thinking is low, that ''vital piety is at a low ebb." that the ''prayer meetings are lean" Do not spend your time iR mourning over that state of things. Try some other means. Interest the young people in the preparation of good drama for exhibition in the school house or the conference room. Invite a lecturer to vis- it you. Call the young from their low or vicious indulgenees to enjoy these. Keep your, village library in good circulation. Keep up the village debating club. Re gard all these as friendly aaxiiaries, not as antagonists. ---
 But above all. do not assume airs of re- hgious superiority; all do not regard yourselves as embodying all the ''vital piety" of your village. Do not tell those who perhaps are as conscientious, as la- borious, as self-sacrifcing, as liberal as yourselves. that the ...triumphing of the wicked is short" Let us all work har- moniously together, but each man in his t1own way. and by the meaes which he can use best. to make life in our dull but stilI virtuous country villages. as happy as if can be made, sts = --.--. ,sz- -,
 I should not have intruded SO long upon your attention, did I not intend this as hiy last word for the season. @ F.w. GUNN. l. 1 wooasur,. - = '@ ...