Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1876-11-01
A Day In Wyoming Valley.

A lay IN wyoming Naliey.
1t does a man good to step out of his
own door-yard 10Y and then. And to a
New Englandcr whose vision has always
been bounded by the nearest hill-tops it is
better than some prayer meetings to 90
beyond and get where he cannot see the
- limit of c%rration.' There is Il large
''portion of land' outside of New England;
in fact there are several outlying spots
and places Of different sizes and values;
but if u NAN always tarrics on his anccs-
trail rods he will forget or never know
how few those rods are, how small his
fathers homestead, and how large and
spacious the rest of the world.
Wcaried with three days of sightseeing
ut the great Exposition, | turned away
from the throngs and the great city and
went for II Sabbath AM n day to the
Wyoming Valley.
Saturday night, ten o'clock, | was in
the cheerful rooms occupied by DR.. Cope
land AMI his pleasant f:mily-under the
roof of the Wyoming Conference Seminary
in Kingston, Penn. Many associations
made it pleasant to be in his home. He
was Il Vermontcr of no mean stock. We
had hoed corn and rakel buy together in
DAYS gone by. We had wandered by lit
lie rivers and stool on mountain tops to
gethcr. And in the changes Of this check
cred life | had come to have my home
where his youthful feet had chased the
hoop some thirty-siN years ago. And now
| WAS in his home, his guest and the guest
of the most successful Conference Semi
nary in all Mclhodi,m.
1t must be glory enough for one lifetime
to have built II, such Il Seminary. DR..
Nelson, now ut the Book Concern, is sure
of one grlnl monument. H. lives in the
Wyoming Conference Seminary, AMI in
the culture and usefulness of tn ,u>and>
who studied tn re during his presidency
Of twenty-five or thirty years. And DR..
Copeland, Il success in every former posi-
ton, is the efficient "master of this sitIa-
ton ais. He wears the Electorate Us
naturally Us though it was natures w
good Gift. Indeed he has that dignity and
>ub>t initial worth which would enable him
to honor Il second Electorate. How he
leads and holds his school is apparent at
once. He expects them TO be true TO Them
selves and SO finds everything in order
when returning from i week absence.
.. iii. r,I,,.1 -, ,,,;,, ,f ,r1,. ,r,tt,-
much runs it~clf'-tiliS WAS his >llutatiun
and happy commend ,tion ON getting
home.
Between two AMI three hunlre young
halls and commoliou> rooms. And first
class work is done. No tit!in. school does
better in preparing students for college.
The qiic!e-t>pot in the most orderly New
England village is not qllrter on the sab
bath :han tbs Seminary with its one hun-
drcl and fifty be- %urlers aud employees. A>
for the kitchen department, it j. enough to
>ay that Mr>. Is, klorl of Montpelier pre-
si,ie> there.
remarkable fact about this Seminary
j. this. i p'ys It's way. Though without
endowment it i w%rii-tp do. practically
with nj want. Its wisely regulated board
inr department makes the institution 4
financial Success.
Stbb,h. with its privileges an duties
valley. It is a section of the valley of the
Sl>qutlllnna, about twenty five miles long,
and from three to five miles wi!c. From
Point Lookout. | SAW the elite, OF Scranton,
Put~ton and Wilkr>b .rre and several vii
lagos, the homes of fifty thousand people
now and where Il million of "coplr art
likely to be found in less than another hun
drpd wears. An of all the beautiful val
ley> large or small that | ever saw, this is
the very queen.
Among the historic places in this valley
is Forty Fort-a Methodist Church in
whose oll-ft>hion"d pulpit A>hnry an!
many of the fathers preached t" eager
listeners in the old box pews below and
in the gallery on three sides just on Il lev
el with the preachers head This Church
is 50 endowed by will that il IS to remain
for all time with ~ aitcra ions III
| side. From this very sanctuary Dr. Geo.
Peck. as was his fitting choice, was buried
: in the very quiet and lovely cemetery sur
rounding the Church.
, Ne by is the monument OF the famous
2 Cor to Britain the most infamouS) Wyoming
: Massacre. Nincty-eiyht years ago thl-
valley with two thousand inhabitants was
5 depopulatcd. Fire, blvonet AMI toma-
hawk swept the v%alley-some fled, but Nc
: prisoners were allowed to live.
. The wealth of this valley is its coal
. Some five or six RAILROADS have been built
: to carry the coal of this region to market.
About one hundred square mile of Goa
: beds. Down one hundred and fifty fee
! and Il vein of coal seven feet thick i
l found; Il little lower, and another vein
n twelve feet thick; lower still and Il thiro
>. view twenty feet thick. 1t is only abou
q twenty years since these 'ftrmcrs wen
to bed poor and walked up rich.' Til
, WlOlC NillltN, liltu NilutU at tcu 70 HI
e dollars per acre, is now called worth from
five to fifteen thousand dollars per acre
The soil is rich but the subsoil is wcaltl
h itself. Different parties hold deeds some
e times to the same terrltory-onc ownin.
n six Or eight feet depth of soil, the othc
d owning the regions below. The tlre
acres OccuDicI by the Conference Srminl
Il ~ are worth for coal mining some thirt,
OF forty thousand dollars.
j. The rich men of the valley are million
Il aires. Their HOUSEHOLDS cost twentv-iiv
j. thousand dollars. and their houses cost on
n hundred thousand. To be worth only fift-
or one hundred thousand is to be ordinar.
= indeed. Ten or twenty-five thousand dol
t. lars are of little account.
~ I1- l.f -. 1li,, 80, A, @.,, .-.,