Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-07-04

York. We refer, then, to his story
OF the circumstances connected with
the erection Of the first Episcopal
| church in Connecticut, as favorable
example Of his humor:
'An ancient religious rite, called the pow
wow was annually celebrated by the Indians,
! and commonly lasted several hours every night
| for two or three weeks About 1890 they
convened to perform it or Stratford Point,
| near the town During the nocturnal cere-
mOny, ise English saw or imagined they saw,
Devils rise out of the sea wrapped up in sheets
of flame and flying around the Indian camp,
while the Indians were screaming, cutting and
| prostrating themselves before their supposed
| fiery gods. In the midst of the tumult the
devils darted in among them, siezed several
and mounted with them in the air the cries
and groans issuing from whom quoted the
rest. In the morning, the limbs of Indians, "A II
shriveled and covered with sulpher, were
/ found in different parts of the town. Aston
| ished and terrified at the spectacles, the peo-
pie OF Stratford began to think the devils
would take up their abode among them and
called together all the ministers in the neigh
borhood to exercise them and lay them. The
ministers began and carried on their warfare
with prayers, hymns and aurations /; but the
powwows continued and the devils would not
| obey The inhabitants were about to quit the
| town, when Mr.. Nell spoke and said
| lwoald to God that Mr.. Wisely. the Episco,
| pal minister at New York, was here for he
would expel all these evil spirits y
| They laughed at his advice but on his re-
minding them of the little maid who directed
Naaman to cure for his eprosy they voted
him their permission to bring Mr.. Wisely at
their next powwow. Mr.. Wisely attended ac-
| cordingly, and as the powwow commenced with
howhngs and whoops. Mr.. Visey read portions
| of the holy scriptures, litany ETC. The sea
| was put into great commotion; the pewwow
| stopped, the Indians dispersed, and never
more held powwow at Stratford
In the two particulars already men.
toned, it will be seen that we have
admitted that Mr.. Peters has been
surpassed by others; but IN those
| which we now mention he appears at
his best, and we think we are safe in
saying that he has never been exceed
ed. We proceed, then, in the third
place, to mention the fact that, in or
der not to spoil a good story, Mr..
Peters does not hesitate to present
| himself and his own children in a su-
premely ridiculous attitude, as, for
| instance, in the account which he
gives of the custom which he speaks
of under the name of 'bundling. The
passage is too long to be transferred to
our pages, but it may be found by
those who are curious at pages 325-
335 of the original edition of ISL
We refer TO the original edition, as
his descendant, Mr.. Mccormick, the
editor of the recent reprint, has seen
bit to suppress what relates more par
ticularly to the family of Mr.. Peters.
We mention now, in the fourth
place, as the special claim of this
| History TO distinction, the fact that
besides the ordinary extravaganza of
its stories, there is at times an audac-
lty of misstatement with regard to
weil-known matters of fact which has
never been surpassed.
For instance, Mr.. Peters claims
that Yale College owes its origin to
one of his ancestors. He says:
Thomas Peters established a school in Say
brook which his children had the satisfaction
to see become a college, denomnated Yale
| College, AT his death which did
not happen till after the restoration of Charles
/ l., he bequeathed his library to the. school
above mentioned.
Our readers can judge of the au-
dacity OF this claim when we say, on
the authority of Professor Kingsley
(1S3S):
There is not the slightest evidence
that there was any early School high
er than a common school; or ANY
school whatever to which the Rev.
Thomas Peters left library. AS to
Yale College, it was founded and in
corporated without any reference to
Saybrook, and it owed its origin in no
sense to any school before existing
! there or anywhere else
Now DIR. Peters was graduate of
Yale College, and could not have
failed to know that he was uttering a
deliberate falsehood.
AS another illustration of the reck-
less audacity of Peters in his false
| hoods, we will refer TO his account of
the first settlement Of the colony.
| lie says that when the colonists en-
| tered Connecticut its territory was
divided between three Indian kings,
VIZ. Connecticote, Quinnipiog, and
Sassacus, of whom Connec;icote was
emperor, or king Of kings Professor
Kingsley says:
There is no evidence that any such
person as Quinnipiog ever ex-
listed and there is just as little evil
dence.that there ever was any such
king of kings as Connecticote.'
But this is not all. Peters has the
audacity to say that this king of
kings (Connecticote) would not sell
his lands to the colonists, the Rev.
| Thomas Hooker Zone Of the saints of
New England) under the pretense Of
seeking to convert him to the chris
tian religion, but in reality to get po-
| session of his lands, sent him bible,
| the leaves of which were infected
with the small pox, and that as the
result of this Infamous villany', as he
calls it, the small pox ragged in ev-
W SoihSi anu oWcpt away INC great
sachem and laid waste his ancient
kingdom If this story had been
told of the present Archbishop of
Canterbury, it would not have been
more utterly untrue.
But the most remarkable illnstra-
ton of the audacity of Peters is the
invention of a whole code of laws.
which he says were made by the peo>
pie OF the colony of New Haven be-
fore their incorporation with the COL
ony of Connecticut. The following
are specimens
| No woman shall kiss her child ON the Sab.
| BATH or fasting day.
| No one shall read common PRAYER. keen
Christmas or saints days, make. minced pie.
dance, play cards, or play on any instrumcn,
OF music, except the drum, trumpet, and Jews
harp.
Every male shall have his hair cut round
| according to cap.
| No one shall run on the Sabbaih-day or walk
IN his garden. or elsewhere, except reverently
| 10 and from meeting.
! No one shall travel, cook v:etuals. make
\ beds. SWppn hauca hair ~ ehr... Al