Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-05-03

occasion was one Of interest and pleasure to
all present and gave evidence Of the respect felt
for the venerable and worthy host. whose
woll-prcserycd faculties give promise Of birth
day anniversaries yet to come.
orr SHEETS
Mr.. Edjtor lis it not possible 10 find
among the FIVE thousand inhabitants Of this
village. some man, woman or child capable
of taking charge Of our streets and sidewalks
and keeping them IN passnble condition
With q soil well adapted 60 make good roads,
with unusual facilities for perfect drainage,
and money squandcrcd upon them without
stint our streets have been disgrnccfully bad
for years. and are constantly growing worse,
until now you may hunt the country over and
hardly find piece of road anywhere, even
in tho remote districts so abomiusble filthy
and impossible as our Main street from Whet-
stone brook to Walnut street and especially
north of the town hall. Said prominent cit
izen Of Wilmington. whom l met noar the
Unitarian church yesterday, Il found the
roads pretty bad across the Marlboro hills to-
day. but in no place so bad as hi.' Now.
Mr.. Editor. must this state OF things continue;
and must Brattloboro still bear not only the
material injury andmconvenienceso of the pres
ent system, but also the well merited reproach
of having the worst and filthiest streets and
sidewalk Of any village in New England
Cannot our authorities be induced to abandon
the policy. which has come down TO us from
past generations Of piling up soft material
on our streets year after year. until the road
ways have been raised in many cases far
above the sidewalks and adjoining lands each
addition Of such material only serving to in
crensc the mud and filth ; Is there no rene
DIV for this evil. CITIZEN
Brattleboro, April 20, 1875
TER FIRsT AMERICAN POSTAGE sTAMPs-AND
CORRECTION.
The first postage stamps used Oh the
Western Continent were not, As inadyertent-
" implied in my "Reminiscences, published
in the journal supplement last Saturday. the
impression of hand stamp. Further mves-
tigation proves them to have been similar to
the stamps now issued The design was made
aud engraved here by Thomas Chubbuck,
now of Springfield, Mass, and the stamps
were printed in black on light buff sheets, the
reverse side being gunltneu. Inc uthenllhh-
ton was 1--WE cents, and they were put into
use by the Brattleboro Postmaster, Fred W.
| Palmer in 1S45 About this time carriers
stamps were introduced in New York and
| Providence. T. l., aud it is believed that the
first regular stamp for prepayment of postage
through the mails was the one above describ-
| ed Some years ago an English magazine
] published an illustrated article ON this stamp.
No specimens of it are known TO exist in town
and several persons would, fancy. give lib
eral premium for one. hear that collectors
have paid as high as 500 for them. With a
! little forethOught our correspondents of gen
Grafton or ago might have put money into
the purses Of their heirs without savings banks
or life insurance policies
! Concerning the first American play produc-
/ ed on the American stage, The Contrast
| by Judge Royal Tyler your types make me
say that it was brought out April Is, 1857.
| Just after the first Inauguration of Washing
ton. A. Washington was inaugurated IN 1852
which was the year ] wrote, deem the cor
rection important enough to make III behalf
of historical accuracy Tidette" IN Boston
! Journal