River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1876-08-24

l.
giving you one that / read upon tomb
stone of a child buried nearly fifty
years ago. Here it is "rerbatim e. III.
eYGtim ct pupctUdtim,
'sShe tasted Of Hfe's bitter cur,
Refused 10 drink the portion up,
But turned her little head aside
Disguised with the taste and died.
Sweet babe
The last two words were some dis.
lance below the stanza. as though the
sweetness was not of the right kind
to stand in comparison with the ode.
The leading industry about Poultney
is the quarrying and working of slate.
Immense quantities OF roofing slate
are manufactured about here every
year. The best roofing slate in the
country is found in these quarries. A
few miles from here stood, until last
winter, the only slate pencil factory
that for many years was in operation
in this country. 1t was quite recently
destroyed by FIRE. The people about
here say there is no other factory in
the United States now. but think that
is a mistake. The manufacture OF
what is known as ''marbleized slate"
has grown to very large proportions
within a few years. The slate is
painted in imitation of any wood or
stone that the customer desires, and
this is done so skillfully that you
would never suspect that the mantel
was not the real granite, or variegated
mable, or black walnut, or oak, which
it represents. The paint is covered
with hard transparent enamel that
preserves its luster forever. The
process by which the paint is applied
is kept secret, and none but the in
itiated are admitted to the painting
room while the artist is at work. The
paint is spread upon water, and the
stone dipped into it, but farther than
that know nothing of the method.
Painting in oil upon slate is practiced
by artists in this vicinity, and when
the slate is enameled the paintings are
very beautiful.
The drives about Poultney are very
delightful. The soil is a gravelly,
slatey loan that packs so hard in the
roads that the water runs off without
making mud. The roads are never
muddy except in the spring, and they
wind in and out among the hills, by
little streams and lakes, under lofty
elms and naples, giving charming
variety of scenery, and never ending
delight to the lover of nature. The
Academy stands in a lawn of about
eight acres at the head of main street,
so that sitting on the steps one looks
ten or twelve rods across a green
stretch of close shaven grass, and then
up the street for half a mile between
the rows of naples to the Green Noun
tains rising through the purple air in
the distance. On the Academy grounds
are thirty-four large naples standing
where they grew when all about was
a forest. With their long trunks
stretching up forty, fifty and sixty
feet to the lower branches, and then
spreading out in great wealth of
boughs and leaves, they are truly a
grand sight.
Some striped backed immigrants
whose star of empire is in the East,
came quietly into town this summer
and with no hesitation or parade or
argument proceeded to eat the tops off
from the farmers potatoes, They
proved however to be only the advance
guard and did but little damage, con.
6ning their labor mainly toprospecting
for next years assault.
| find my work here quite pleasant,
although it involves considerable re.
sponsibility. | hope to visit River
Falls at no distant date. This year
must be given to the Exposition If to
any thing.
MEG.