The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-06-07
Miscellaneous.
Some Mnncnansen Siories.

Scribner for June contains paper entitled
Lying as Fine Art and the claims OF
the Rev. Samuel Peters as an Artist by
w. l.. Kingsley, editor of The NeO Eng
lander According to Mr.. Kingsley, Pc
ter's History of Connecticut published
in HI, is in a great measure the source
of the famous libels ou Connecticut in the
matter of the Blue Laws How worthy
this author is of belief may be inferred
from the following stories told in the His
tory as sober truth
One night in July, 1863, the. frogs of an
artificial pond three miles square and about
five from Windham, finding the water dried
up, left the place in body, and marched
pr rather hopped-toward Winnomantic
River. They were under the necessity of
taking the road and going through the town,
which they entered about midnight. The
bull-frogs were the leaders, and the pipers
followed without number They filled the
,oad forty yards wide for four miles in
length, and were for several hours in passing
through the town Unusually clamorous. The
inhabitants were equally perplexed and
frightened some expected to find an army
of French and Indians, and Others feared an
earthquake and dissolution of nature. The
CONSERVATION was universal Old aud young
male and female, fled naked from their beds
| with worse shriekings than those of the
frogs. The event was fatal to several wom-
| en-. The men, after flight of hall mile,
| in which they met with broken shins, find.
| ing no enemies in pursuit of them, made a
halt and summoned resolution enough to
venture back to their wives and children
when they distinctly heard from the ene-
my's camp these words Wight, Hilderkin,
| Dyer, Tete. This last they thought meant
treaty and, plucking up courage, they sent
a triumvirate to captulate with the suppos
ed French and Indians. These three men
approached in their shirts. and begged tC
speak with the general but it being dark
and no answer given, they were sorely sgi'
tated for some time betwixt hope and fear
however, they discovered that the dreaded
inimical army was an army of thirsty frogs
going to the river for little water
These stories are thrown into the shade by
the famous account of Bellows Falls, in tn,
Connecticut River.
Two hundred miles from Long IslanC
Sound is a narrow of five yards only, formed
by two shelving mountains of solid rock
whose tops intercept the clouds. Through
this chasm are compelled to pass all tn,
waters which, in the time of the floods, bury
the northern country. At the upper coho
the river spreads twenty-four miles wide
and for five or six weeks ships of war nigh
sail over lands that afterward produce the
greatest crops of hay and grain in America
People who can bear the sight, the groans
the tremblings and surly motion of the wat
er, trees, and ice, through this awful passage
view with astenishmenl one of the creates
phenomena in nature. Here water is CT nsol
idated without frost, by pressure, by swift
ness, between the pinching, sturdy rocks t
such a degree of induration that an irol
crow cannot be forced into it. Here, iron
lead and cork have one common weight
and here, steady as time and harder thar
marble, the stream passes, irresistible, if no
swift as lightning. The electric fire rend
trees in pieces with no greater ease thai
does this mighty water. The passage il
about 400 yards in length, and of zigza
|. form with obtuse corners.