Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1876-07-15
Letter from Bert Darlington.

Letter from Bert Darlington.
WHITEFIELD, N. H., July 10th, 1876
Mr.. Editor =
The Fourth was sprung upon us at low
twelve by the ringing of bells, booming
of cannonS and other hilarious demon
Strations continuing about half an hour
Churchyards yawncd, and hell itself
breathed forth contagion to this EARTH"
as Mr.. Shakespeare said on a similar oc-
caSiou, but | didn't wake up till long
faced neighbor rang and asked me if |
hadn't better let the cat in, and then bow
ed and went away. Creation seemed
thawcd into living, breathin'., consum-
ing joke, with Whitefeld as the butt of
it and if the boys hadn't held up | would
have got out of it if | had to shin up a
mOonbeam. At daylight they walked us
up again with national salute of can
mons, horns fire crackers and the like,
followed by the calithumpians, whose
life seemed to depend upon seeing that
every living thing in chrstendom was
awake to meet and greet the rising sun of
the new century. About seven o'clock,
"Stcam Fire Engine Co., No. u" appear
ed on the common. This company had
secretly organized and built their engine,
boot legs and stove pipe fire hats during
the night "The Machine" was made Of
Charles Aldrich's old horse, the LATEST
horse in New Hampshire, htchcd to the
forward wheels Of the wagon that Ace
King, the first settler in the village, NOV
ed in here on, in 1873, and Judge AL
drich's fire hand pump stuck up on top
with profusion Of patriotic decorations.
70 this was attached a hose fed by a
hogshcad of water on the common. They
built bonfire to exhibit the prowess Of
No. u, and after getting the people out
by screaming fire all over town, com
mcnCed playing on the fire, or at it. But
the water wouldn't reach the bonfire and
in attempting to roll the " COnAagration p"
up nearer the machine, Captain Collins
burnt the end Of his nose quite warmly,
though | would not be understood as as
sorting that in moving the fire, the gal
liant Capn depended entirely upon his
nose as an instrument Of COcrSion, there
being different opinions about that. Just
as triumph was about to crown the brow
of No. -, she was thrown into diSmay
by the explosion Of her hose, but her
emotions were soon aSSuagcd by Fore
man Sturtevant bravely sitting down on
the imminent deadly breach, thus stop
ping the leak and snatching victory from
the Jaws Of death. At this time Il warm
GOODNESS arose in the management. Fore
man Stmteyant insisting that the victory
was due to him, while cap'n Collins de-
Clared that "the machine was working
all right before; if the hose was busted
rs she came as near hitting the fire as
Browns No. | did wheD the paper mill
burnt" lie said if the aspirations of
the management were not to be controll-
ed by precedent or anything else, he'd
resign if the town should be burnt into
dust and ashes. But the redOubtable
capn talked so much through his burnt
nozzle that he was not understood, and
so disaster number was escaped. While
Foreman Sturtevant was announcing q
challenge to number | to play for the
champion trumpet, the contest to come
off at our first fire, and the one coming
the nearest to hitting the fire to be de-
Clared the winner, the old horse got tired,
laid down on the immortal ~, broke
down the cart wheels and dSintegrated
the organization.
"Such is fame! like 4 snowflake on river;
moment white, then gone forever"
About the same time the antiques and
-
JOY Of the little ones, and at ten O'Clock
Il procession including the entire popuIa-
ton of Dalton, Carroll and Whitctleld,
more or less, marched to Lougces grove
where they had prayer, rccitations, dec
lamations and the reading of the Declar-
alton of Independence. Then they sat
down to jolly basket picnic dinner, fol-
lowed by an Grafton from coorcd citi-
tpl,ila tba N ny in,
as big as marbles and as thick as politi-
clans in Tophet But the old darkey's
little seven year old daughter said, "the
much" Then they fOated down to the
common to enjoy the foot race, tub race,
scrub race, bag race, horse race, three
GrcCO-Roman wrcStle, climbing creased
flag pole backwards, creased pig, lifting,
walking, talking, ploughing, moving,
rowing, sculling, padding, raking, and
pitching matches, and a masculine feline
discussion, in which the Dalton cat wore
off the belt, the whole comprising what
Barnum would style Colossal, Moral,
Movable Academy of Object Teaching"
land concluding with II magnificent 'splay
Of fireworks GA the common and ut the
IdlllOd SJlJlOl, llaklHS Ghc SIuh'lCSI
and most enthusiastic celebration ever
Witnessed in the Co-hoss country. Ahem
Give us a weeks notice, my boy, and
wen come up there next Fourth and edu
cate you couGtrymen. Life is hard
road to travel, at best, but, as we shall
never come this way again, the fellow
who does the most good, picks the most
flowers, drinks the most sunshine and
kiplyG n n his hanlp hi,.l, ,,-ill
out "big Ike in the end, us l under
stand the thing, and don't you forget it.
In haste, Thine,
BERT BARINGTON.
Senator Morrill, took the oath ofOnicc as
Secretary Of the Treasury on the 7th inst.