Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-04-28
Tne Centennial at Westminster.

Wednesday eve, Aprh lSln, trans
. fered from the streets of Bellows Falls
thronged by live and busy men, and
placed among we relics of centuries ago
in the town hall at Westminster, con
fess | was surprised at the possibility o.
half even the tenth part of such col
lection Of relics as was there found, un'
folding the quaint history of strange
things, society, costumes and industrie:
} ola hundred or and more years agone, had
not once entered my mind. Imagine the
} feelings of geologist upturning the
oozy beds of the ancient ocean, laying
} bare not only the inanimate dust OF
earth carried into the vast store house
of the sea, but myriad shells of every
shape and hue, remains of countless
fishes, leaves ana trees, tempest torn,
seward swept from every shore, skele-
tons of sea fowls, land birds and ami
mails brought in by rapid rivers, ships
with unclaimed cargoes, resting in their
final harbors and manned by the skele-
tons of the drowned mariners amid and
over all the rank sea weed and crested
coral of ages, and you can imagine my
feelings as | read among the gathered
relics at Westminster, fossils of the past,
theold chronology and busy life thoughts
and actions of our ancestors.
First, the old church, built in ITO,
the well preserved pulpit, the deacon's
slip, the communion table, the sounding
board, the sainted aisles and galleries,
the doors of the old court house. perfor-
ated by those tory bullets which killed
two men and wounded many others, and
the tombstone of French with strange
device.
i Mr. and Mrs. c. d. Willard had on
exhibition three chairs very ancient, 105
years old, watch of John Norton's 10
years old, teapot, teaspoons, sugar
tongs, dictionary and bible each 115
years old, curiously wrought pocket
book over 100 years old, continental mon.
I ey and coins, earthern tea set, silvered
tumbler, linen cloth and earthern vases
} all very old, the shattered jack-knife
which received the force of the bullet
and saved the life of Daniel Averill in
the war of 1872; the scales, cups
} weights and measures once belonging to
John Norton the old tory tavern keeper
? (see Halls history of southern Vermont,
and rarest of all two vases p feet high
surmounted with groups of birds sur.
rounded with sculptured emblems and
made of ground rice, in imitation of ala.
baster, age unknown, very curious, Zone
Of these vases belongs to Mrs. T. Rich
mond,) also warming-pan belonging
to the Hon. Lot Hall.
! w. B. Cutting of Westminster West,
exhibited bed curtains over 100 years
old; also great variety of deeds, re-
ceipts and legal documents of local his
tory, 1872 years old; military commits
sion from Gov. Tryon of New York to
John Norton; and wrought linen $50
years old.
Mrs. Joseph Leach showed one decan-
ter and tumbler belonging to the old
King Solomon's lodge of Rockingham !;
also an earthern teapot and sugar bowl
silver washed, profles, kid slippers and
Bunyans prose works, all very ancient
d. w. Leach exhibited a watch 100
years old.
Mr. and Mrs. d. A. Hills displayed
with great taste as follows: A portrait
of the seventh child born in Boston,
being the second female ever born in
Boston, in the year 1880; piece Of
embroidery on silk, wrought in 1908 by
Miss Esther Arnold at the age of Is
likeness of Seth Arnold taken at the age
of over hundred years; steel engraving
of Major Gen. VIM. Heath, an intimate
friend and counselor of Gen. Washing
toms; cup, saucer and creamer, 1887
also full tea-set forty years old, prop
erty of Miss S. Lizzie Hills; clock 225
years old was placed upon exhibition by
Mr.. Hills also four volumes, Thomp-
sons works, IVA; Bible, 1871 elegant
epistles, 1871 Mrs. Chapone's letters,
1893; historical collections, 1895; two
volumes Cowper's poems, 1903; manu-
script, 1889; silver tea set over 100
years old; also table spoon made from
crown pieces by Mr.. Vent at Westmin-
ster, a renowened goldsmith of ancient
days; petrifactions of oaks, black alder
found thirty feet below the surface of
the earth at Michigan Bluff, Cal. an
infant shirt wrought in 1897, which has
been kept an heirloom in the family and
worn as first shirt by every baby in the
family for three generations piece of
wedding gown worn in 1867 pair
of Turkish slippers. A pair of silk
stockings was worn by Mr.. Edward A.
Hills the evening of the 18th, which his