Litchfield enquirer., 1876-10-05
LarcHFRup. Conn. Sept. 15. 1876.


 4 CAT.
 LlToHFHLD, Conn, Sept. 15, 1876
 s.H is good thing to be in the coun ty," said Sparrowgrass, even as he plain lively enumerated the vexations of hii xuskic Iok There are not many imitators of Sparrowgrass who will re-echo his sen. tEment with more genuine fervor than dc the city dwellers who, year after year fling down their loads of custom and hie away to find rest in this breezy old town
 The hilly ranges of Berkshire county Massachusetts, whose pleasures of scene have so often inspired the irksome pen, intersect on the south the adjoining coun. ty 0f Litchield. where they break up in. 2s series of grand and Irregular ridges, doping east and west and drained by swift water-cOurses. Browning one of the mo~t central and ghest of these ridges sits Litchfield, the county seat Ensea ard from the town the land slips down into q deep valley and thence rises abruptly t-I the horizen d mile away SOathwardly, Litchfeld Hill dips to a wide pfain, which again rises in long slope of landscape cut by a dimpling lake. Westwnrdly the eye sweeps over aseadOw and woodland to ranges of moun- tains which grow blue and dim in the distance. Here. on the crest of the hiIly Eldgzss where the air is never at rest, the old EOwn has sat for century and half, faeing Aaid defying the wintry gAies, and in the summer intercepting mountain breexes so pure and fresh that the first experience of them Is kind of delight ful intoxication
 rHR OLD TOWN AND THE NEW.
 Like any NeS England town which grows to the questionable dignity of a summer resort, Litchfield presents odd summingiings of the old and the now. From a center called by courtesy green thee branch away at right angles four broad streets lined by neat walks and ven- erabse elms. The dwellings stand in brOad-frOnted yards. and by quaint and simple architecture, their scars of moss and their occasional touches of decay, suggest and emphasize their age. But thOugh the form and substance of the t0wn are old, its life and movement are new. It is reached on the eastward by E2ilroad. and then by a stagecoach, which tO gain the village climbs an endless hill. '.foar miles up and one mile back" as the villagers say. On the west railroad 9f Eece1t construction, which, if not a fortune to its promoters, is great con- venience to travellers, winds through a charming valley and brings it's passen- geEa within few minutes of their homes. Our city visitors, who altogether during the lAst summer have been estimated as high as three thousand in number, find recommendations in three hotels-one of large capacity and modern build-in boarding houses and in dwellings of the villagers, which are often leased. for the ssMs0n. Already summer dwellings of the modern type have begun to rise ann hiti01sly between the quaint mansions; resl estate is held at high and increasing rates. and in the season the vehicles on the highways, and the pedestrians upon the broad walks are a good deal more suggestive of Fifth Avenue than of Area diA- But, for all that, most of our sum- mR gUests are of the most sensible class Who, with no lack of means, seek Litch- field for recreation and not for matrlmo. uSal spOil. l-----.
 DIVERSIONS.
 The first and chiefest luxury here in the summer season is to breathe; for the ar which reaches us fresh and sweet from the mountains has such rare properties tor stimulating flesh and sense that for a fsw days the visitor finds existence and enjoyment one. Under, chemical tests of a Yale professor some years ago, our air fs said to have revealed some remarkable hYgienic YiKtues. By way of secondary rocreaki0as there are delightful drives, boating on the lake, which is the largest in the state, and fishing. One can with httis skill and less luck capture goodly strings of yellow perch, but the pivkerel and g1mesome black bass which swim our waters arc in the summer exceedingly ca pEici0a4. and generally make the anglers toal under a eFoiling sun kind of pisca. t0Eial tEnvesty. Then there is Village Improvement Society which now and then provides dramatic or musical entertain ment and which is doing good work in the Ged which it has chosen. These it will be seen are not dangerous nor even in- te1se diversions, but they are recreative eao1gh for any one who loves the scope and freedom of mountain life and under stands the difference between the pleas ures of nature and of art.
 IHR LTpCHFTKD LAW SCHOOL.
 I have said that the Litchfield of to- day is modern in most of its active flea. tares; and therein it contrasts strangely, and almost sadly, with the Litchfield of ths past It IS scarcely half a century sfMee the town had e national reputation a a center of education and of lntellectu- al influence. Here, beside less famous in. stitutiOns. was the law school of Judge Gould, which was maintained for fifty years. ending with the year 1888, at which were graduated more than one thousand stGdents. Of these, as learn from @ To- cal history, fifteen became United States senator's, forty representatives in Con- gTess. ten governors of states, five mem- bers of the national cabinet, two judges of the United States Supreme Court, for ty judges of state courts and one Vice. President, beside numbers who attained Co less dignities and whom the historian passes by. The fame of one graduate, John c. Calhoun, became more than na- eloaal He is described to me by an old dame who remembers well his appearance and bearing when at the Litchfield Law School. as . stripiing okthin and intell- ectnal cast of c0untenance, who had @ habit of taking long and lonely walks closely wrapped in his cloak, who was regarded by his classmates as morbid dreamer, and who altogether gave slight prumise of the honors which he was to win In those days, too, there was in IitcA6eld large and select seminary for yoang ladles, winch also, we may reason ably infer, the law students properly ap- preciated. as the escapades of the young folk is still pleasant theme for the gray bear1s of the town in their "reminiscences of the old time.
 A Kxw ENGLAND AREsTocRAoY.
 The gaimpses of Litchfield society in tho@a days. which we obtain from the old people of the village make up Q qnAiak and amusing picture. Before the era of railroads. and when the hundred miles between Litchfield and New York was a three days journey by stage coach, ik was natural that here, as in other New kn@iaad villages, society. m it's forms and fenckiOns should be more complete than n0w. In Ldtchfeld, moreover the com par&tivs antiquity and the size of the town caused society more readily to strat. mE. 1hns there sprang mp silk stock cd azissoorAcy, which in the social and p8liEleal affairs of the town maintained mn exclusive an ascendency as ever did the