Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-03-21
Wafrhman & Nonrnal.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 81, 1877.
The Morgan Spring.
ny REV. @. n. HULBERT.

flowing westward forms with other tribu
taries the beautiful Woolmsac, which skirt
ing the famous battlefield of the Revolu-
ton, finds its way into the Hoosick river. Ben
nngton village is located in a valley and yet
upon plain gently inclining to the west.
1t is owing in main to this mountain stream
and the plain through which it passes, that
Bennington asserts the claim of being the
largest manufacturing town n the state
The stream so runs as to be easily utilized; /;
and probably no other stream of its size in
the state can be compared with it in the
service it does in running machinery. 1t is
characterized by one popularity. 1t is for
hidden to touch the soil. II flows on
foundation and in an enclosure of stone. Its
channel is paved, know not how many
feet deep, with what the people denomilate
hard-heads;" !" it is also walled in 5slseee>
embankments constructed of these huge
powders interspersed As these facts may
suggest, this stream has all the conditions
required for the formation, during our cold
winters, of anchor-ice in its bed. Diverted
as the water of this stream is to propel ma
chinery at different points in the village and
to supply large race, its volume is so di-
minished that its rocky bed, brought by the
exceeding cold to lower than freezing tenn
perature, so gains the mastery over it as to
cause ice to form on the stones beneath to
such an extent as to compel the stream to
flow OH a grooved layer of ice which, in some
sections. more than fills the winding chan
| mel. When this is the condition of the
stream, we can well imagine the plight the
village is in when a sudden thaw comes. A
| sweeping torrent pours down from the noun
| tains to find for its use no channel through
the village. The eagerness of the citizens to
| make one for it can be well conceived At
large among the dwellings, pouring through
the streets, and filling the cellars, it is thing
of doubtful utility Easier to clear the old
than to form new channel, you see a line
of men at work with every form of appli-
ance, assauting and loosening the anchor-ice,
which, disengaged, is borne down the stream
by the water that may chance to continue to
flow in the old course. A place for every
thing, and everything in its place." is
law of fitness which the Bennington people
seek to enforce upon their generally we'll
beloved and benefcent mountain stream.
But here attention is called to an inter
esting phenomenon. A short distance to the
north of this stream, AS it enters the village,
there bursts from the earth in maple grove
the famous Morgan Spring. Its volume of
water does not vary materially through the
year. In summer and in winter it retains
uniform temperature of about forty-two de-
grees Fahrenheit. 1t forms a brook of con-
siderable magnitude. After running two
thirds of a mile at an angle with the stream
we have considered, it forms a junction with
| it in the midst of the village. And from this
| point of union phh the main stream doUnwards
anchor-ice is neUer known TO form. 1t is an
interesting spectacle to stand at this june
ture in mid-wnter and mark the dominion
which the Morgan spring asserts over the
hitherto ice-impeded and bafled stream. 1t
warns it into life and sends it on its way
rejoicing. "Thus far shall the icy bed de-
scend and no farther" is the authoritative
decree which it issues with silence hardly
interrupted by the murmur of ripple
IIenceforward seemingly homogeneous in
temperature with the spring that has released
it from its captivity, it flows on, exhaling
from its own bosom as grateful incense a
long line of warm vapor like that which lies
upon and marks the course of its unobtrusive
and generous benefactor.
Obviously, attention is not called to these
facts for their own sake (which things
are an allegory." Under this imagery i'm
portant and striking resemblances may be
traced. A painful likeness is quickly dis
covered between the stream, chilled, and
choked, and struggling through impedi-
ments, and the course of the Christian life
often in the heart of the individual believer,
and also in the heart Of the individual
church. Not only in our mountain streams
is anchor-ice found. 1.-The cares of this
world and the deceitfulness of riches, and
the lusts of other things entering in, choke
The word" "That the word of the Lord may
have free course and be gloried," it is re-
auired that the channels through which it
is to flow be kept open. But it is a melan-
choly fact that the Christian heart often
loses its warmth; subsidies into a cold state
sinks to such a temperature that anchor-ice
forms in all the streams OF its life. Some.
times church gets filled and choked in this
I way. ave are united church, we are
! frozen together" is form of unity of which
many church can boast Obviously in
such a case thar is needed. This repre-
, sentation of Christians, under the figure of be
ing chilled, and congealed even, is familiar
one Few will complain of the imagery a.
over-drawn or extravagant, when we find il
: the Bennington stream the appropriate sym
: Dol of many a heart and many church.
\ But where is the remedy for this cold con
= dition the appliance for the removal of thi
a anchor-ice Remember the benefcent ant
5 kindly service of the Morgan spring. In th
d neighborhood of our cold hearts there is
r fountain opened and flowing toward us, AM
= from that identical point downward wher
u its waters enter the current of our affection
l. the ice loses its anchorage and is carrie
u captive. We have no longer a cold hear
when once I'VE have known and believe
the love that God hath to u.s." ave Low
God" says DIR. Bushnell, "when we let Go
g. love u.s." The opening of our hearts to tn
~ inflow of the divine love in Christ works
u u change in us which is but feebly shadowe
1t forth in the change wrought in the ic'
II ohoked stream by the inflow of the Morga
ed spring. The conclusion of the whole matte
ns is, to get rid of our spiritual coldness, t
II evinot the gladdening sensibility of war;
ire Christian heart, let us take in the divin
nd breath which was breathed upon us, whe
he who is our life, with hands of benedictio
over us, exclaimed, Receive ye the IIol
Ghost"
TREE PLANTING.-The work of plantin
eucalyptus or fever trees along the right {
all way of the Central and Southern Pacif
E. railroad, recently begun, will probably o.
as cupy two years. They will be set out
VA triple rows along the entire length of bot
It's roads, and along the branches as far as pra