The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-07-12

| W man, OOhuuVtlbS burial service
that was unique IN that part of the coun-
try. He invoked the benefcent movers NJ
nature, like Col. Bob Ingersoll OF Illinois.
to attend upon the last tribute to the dead
tie called about him from the spirit world
the forms of departed friends as well as
the shades OF great believers in spiritualism.
whom he knew only by reputation. The
funeral was not equal to Col Olcott's ma.
sonic death service, but it did well for
| North Clarendon.
Mrs Holden had been sick for MANY
years, and though at times she had regular
physicians, her husband attended upon her
and prescribed for her during that neriod
more than the allopathists did. He said
the spirits would come upon him nj times
with force that would admit of no re.
sstance, would drag him from the house
and into the woods and hills, and lead him
direct to herbs and roots, unknown and I'M.
named to him, that he would gather. take
| home, boil, and otherwise prepare as di.
rected from the world OF ghosts. and adj
minister to his wife, and it invariably
| turned out that these were precisely the
| medicines she needed, and they did her
more good than all the prescriptions of the
regular practitioners | was also told Tint
ne has long been in the habit of admins
tering medicine to such of his worthy
neghbOrs as have sufIi Gent faith.
This, then, is the man that has been the
leading spirit in the revolutionary North
Clarendon movement, and the dimensions
OF North Clarendon and the extent of its
population figure largely in explaining its
success. Clarendon, North Clarendon
Clarendon Flats, and various other Cl,r,
endons that lie In the same vicinity. form
one township, with total population of
about l,aOO, aud voting population of
about 2J0. 1t is divided into ten or twelve
school Districts and enjoys several schools |
that are entirely Independent of each other. |
In one OF them not less than about five pu. |
plls are leu the narrow path of knowledge. |
In Postmaster llolden's school district there |
are about sixteen voters entitled to voice |
in school affairs, and there is a school |
which has an average attendance of |
about twenty This is the school in which |
religious exercises are henceforth to be |
prohiDled, and il was in this school dis |
trict of sixteen voters that Mr.. Holden's |
resolution to that end was passed. 1t was |
ABOUT three months ago, at regular meet |
ing of the district. Eight voters were in
attendance, exactly half the entire voting
population. OF these one was deaf. and |
not hearing what was transporting, did not
vote upon the postmasiers resolution. /
Another abstained because he did not wish |
to commit himself. The others cast four
votes IN favor of the resolution and two I
against it. OF these, one on each side was /
cast Illegally, making the Legitimate vote /
three IN favor OF excluding religious exer-
cises, and one in favor of retaining them L
Of the three votes to exclude, one was Mr.
Holden's The two others were cast bv h
men who, like Mr.. Holden, had a leaning Il
toward heterodox PHILOSOPHERS, and who Ii
were willing to follow his lead, though a
they had neither ambition nor courage to +
Initiate saeh resolution themselves. b
To explain this proceeding in all it'll
bearings, 1t becomes necessary 20 pause
this point and turn back generation or so
About twenty years ago there was schOo
in North Clarendon, precisely as there d
today, and the number of pupils in attend Q
ance was about the same To read a mass
age from the Bible was then and had bee
from time immemorial regular part q
the school exercises, but prayer and hymn
singing We're not. One day this was
changed. \ teacher was appointed who
was a devout Baptist, and she introduced {
extensive daily prayers and taught The
whoie catalogue of hymns. A brother-in-
Law OF Mr.. Holden. a DR.. Brown, who is
now praclicng medicine in Milwaukee,
and is pronounced splriualist, was al
he introduced at q school district meeting
resolution similar to the mere recent one
Of Mr.. Holden. 1t was passed by bare
majority, and civil war followed in the
little hamlet such as its previous annals
bear no parallel for. AT the next district
meeting this vote was eXpunged from the
records but it had its effect. nevertheless,
and rraVpf formed M mart nf fbp ephpnl |
exercises for years thereafter. Six or
seven years ago the old question was re-
viyed by Miss Lille II. Phillips, who
taught the North Clarendon school for four
terms. The first three, reading the Bible
WAS the only religious exercise that she in
dulged in but becoming convinced of the
error of her ways, she took up daily pray
er the last term. This new practice grated
hard upon the feelings of Mr.. Holden and
of some Of his spriualistic neighbors. II
was finally decided that Mr.. Holden should
make some determined protest against it,
He visited the school one morning and
listened a,tentively to the proceedings. In
due course of time Miss Philips inquired
how the conduct of the school pleased him.
He replied that he admired everything ex-
cept the religious part Miss Phillips replied |
resolutely, "As long as God allows me to
shall open it with prayer" Thereupon |
MIR. Holden opened the book, in which |
visitors are accustomed to write their |
names with such thoughts or remarks upon |
the school as may suggest themselves, and |
wrote the following parody upon some |
well-known versts;
With indignation survey
The public money thrown away,
And mus compelling us to pay
For tectarian daily prayers.
'Twould make the district less expense
TO teach the children common sense
Instead or creeds, and then dispense
with putting on these pious airs.
Again North Clarendon was in state of
intolerable commotion. Miss Phillips lett
the school, and is at present teaching in
western city. The Sunday-school of the
district, which used to meet in the day
school-house, was elected from it, and the
religious notices, quotations, and maps
that the Sunday.school teachers had hung
about the walls were taken down. The
sixteen votes Of the district were all
brought out, aud combination of the Spiri-
tualists, Free Thinkers, Liberals, Unita-
nans, and Universalists carried the day.
After that there was another lull for five
or six years. Some four years ago, how
ever, the state Spiritualst ASSOCIATION of
Vermont met in the village of Stowe, and
passed resolution binding its members to
cndeavor to secure the exclusion of reli-
gious exercises from the public schools of
the country. Moved apparently by this
pledge, Postmaster Holden last March de.
termined to revive the subject in North
Clarendon. A violent controversy is now
| raging over his action not only to that vii
| lage, but also in Rutland and other places
of the neighborhood. A Methodist LAWYER
of Rutland and prominent clergyman
| have been fighting the Clarendon postmas-
ter In the Rutland newspapers with pro-
digious'fourish of trumpets, and the shock
of arms has been dreadful Columns on
columns of type have been devoted to the
| contest They have been hurting the CON