Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-09-05
Bennington.

""'N fN"t"N AT bennington NJ last. am
surprised Where is t9 We have to travel all
over II TO find it. The buildings are good, the
hotels inviting the school building splendid, the
Congregational church the finest in the state
guess Bennington il much more II n place than
supposed The streets are full Of people; the
houses are full; they stick ont Of the windows.
Flags on the dwellings, flags all over the stores
and trees, flags across the streets, flags every
where; fine, generous, loving gay, happy flags.
The Bennington people2 Didn't see any. Every
body we pumped with questions knew nothing
about anything. They were as ignorant as was,
and that is talking hard enough about them.
Poor things, probably, like myself not knowing
whether they can find pillow
What trembling Mr.. Walton and T. How can
we face the vast audience tonight? That crowd
Of printers aud editors--sha we have any cntane-
Gus membrane left? We may have a chance to
avenge ourselves. Alas how we have suffered
at their hands-our poor offspring wounded from
head 70 foot and well, never mind-we' II have
chance at 'eml
Mr.. Waltons address was very interesting
worth rs much to me any address Of the fol-
lowing days, and that is saying good deal How
he could do so well in that rast presence, so impos-
ing and august, do not pretend 10 try to think
The rhymes followed, with the gigge of the cars in
them, showing how embarrassed the pen was in
that crowd rushing over the rails. Without acct
dent we got ont Of that beautiful room, did not
break our necks getting down the stairway, got
tn our boarding place-fye of us in one little
room Up with the dawn out trying to find
Benniugton-good breakfast We start for Ben
nington Center. All, here we can zee some
thing We look up to the spots tradition has pre-
served and thrilling memories have made sacred
The place where the old catamount tavern was
It's very stones holy where the council Of safety
held their sessions, kept by Stephen Fay, father
Of the Fays, grandfather Of the Fays and Robin
sons, know not how many. Saw where the pill
lory was, where the whipping-post stood, where
the stores were kept, the objective point of Ba-
cons troops-went into the cemetery felt ~
never felt before, among graves-felt particularly
interested in some Of them, not only because they
contained the dust OF the fathers Of our state but
because we have among rs, at home a venerable
man, allied to both branches, descendant Of the
Robinsons and Fays because we have the grave
Of granddaughterof Stephen Fay--well because
Of good many things We saw the grave of the
first Vermont pastor, ,Icdediah Dewey, saw the
house he built, went up into the belfry Of the old
church, looked thence upon all Bennington below
Upon the white camp, up to Mount Anthony
and longed ~ climb t-saw the old Fay Bible
and read familiar Names saw relics of the battle,
didn't the battlefield, n regretable thing. saw
the soldiers, Vermont soldiers New Hampshire
soldiers, Connecticut soldiers, Massachusetts sol
diers, with many veteran, splendid soldiers too
Glorious bands-nothing so .soul-stirrng rs the
drum aud fife though-waking, it would seem
the very dead. II we could see spirits, shouldn't
we see many gallant veteran of the olden times,
marching with these brave boys? The military,
liiicerS and men, were n fine-looking, exceedingly
well behaved body of men Heard the Grafton,
the poems, the five governors speeches beheld
the superb presidency of Phelps, saw, perhaps,
the biggest man intellectually our public councils
have Evarts. am not going to praise these men
and their speeches. poems, etc, because the read
ers of all our papers are surfeed already Every
| body is satisfied with them Vermont is Il mother
| It is very appropriate that her gifted daughter
| should sing her praise, aud with fair hands set
the crown upon her head doing it right royalty too.
| The whole thing was magnificent success 1t
was somebody's good grand thought, tn honor
The day. bennington is immortal
| We saw the President aud his grand company.
| We glad went. Palmer folk with less
| show less 10 attract a curious crowd, never had
| the gaze Of an enthusiastic people The soldiers
before whom he stood in his carriage, looked the
very soul Of love. The veterans were glad and
| happy 30 their old cOmrade The manly
beauty of the President, the simplicity of dress
md manners of the whole group it H. delightful to
| think Of Whether there were any trains or pull
backs don't know We saw only beautiful
simplicity, and manly dignity and repose Those
officials had forms that could he decked 80 gor-
geously AS to rival any court in the world; there
was splendid material. President Hayes-God
bless you, and Keep you all the man you are, and
we shall be satisfied Saw very little drunken
ness More of it stumbled on to the ears at Rut-
and than we saw afterwards They made one
ear hideous. 1t was the rum in them Very
likely that ont, they are loyabe men Miss II ,
| how horridr Yes" she calmly, sweetly re-
plies, but they belong to the same race with
ourselves" That is the way n pure loving soul
like hers talks We did come home or to Bur
ington, the evening OF the 10Th 1t WAS or
birthday rs well as Napolcon's and Vermont :.
We wanted to live, il possible to see another;
doubted whether we would survive another night
| At Bennington, and crawled To Burlington,
in empty ears wishing every mile we had re-
manned at Bennington, often two-thirds resolved
TO stop and go back in the morning 1t is gone.
The prospect of our seeing another centennial in
the flesh at Bennington is very dubious
Since my return home have learned through
Miss Parker, of Georgia. a venerable lady that
one of the heroes of Bennington battle was her
| grandfather Deacon John Wood who Ii, ed about
| = mile north Of Bennington Center Miss Par
| kers mother was child, only six years old but
she retained very vivid recollection of the oc-
| currences of the memorable day. The people OF
| Rutland, and other towns in the vicinity, hocked
| to Bennington for protection Deacon Wood was
| a hero in religion, well rs in every thing else.
He had great faith in the God of battles, for he
believed he was an our side. Calling his family
| and the fugitives together on the morning of the
10th, he read the ninety first Psalm, and pray ed
with trumpet-toned earnestness, and assured the
| timid that God would give them the victory and
Tomorrow you can return to your homes
Afterward he retired To "a grove and aeknowl
edged that perhaps he had gone too far in hi,
assurance but God justified him by the result
1t is very pleasant To contemplate such heroic
earnestness and faith Deacon Wood afterward
| removed To North Hero. one of its first settlers
owning what is now the Russell farm aud the
ground On which the courthouse stands. Subse-
quently he removed To Fairfield, and died in
Georgia in 1910 lie was buried in what il nov
a somewhat neglected old cemetery The inscrp-
ton ON the grrye-stone is "Dea. John Wood
died March 9Th, 1910 aged seventy-nine
Death is a debt To nature due
Which have paid, and so must YOU"
His wife, Hannah Wood, died the next year, aged
seyenty-eight.
Here youth and age In silence meet,
| And deaths pale victory is complete"
| acknowledge great reverence for such graves.
IN the same yard are the remains Of Mrs Honour
Stone, great-gandmother OF our great statesman,
William NJ, Eyarts, rs also those Of james aud
Sarah Eyarts, grandparents OF the same illustri-
GUS man, aud those Of other relatives Bless the
Lord for Bennington and its precious memories.
Vermont is better state to-day, and will be for
| ever, for this her great centennial. o. O. W
| ACCORDING 10 n Paris paper, French Lady Of
rank has just died, at the age of eighty -four who
had been accustomed, for the last thirty years, to
smoke pipe twice day penance. In 1915
she married a wealthy sea captain, aud obtained
from him promise TO abandon smoking, of which
he was extremely fond, lie kept his word, hut
died shortly after from regret-so it is alleged
His widow was overwhelmed with grief aud re-
morse that from that time To the dny of her death