Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-07-14
"reminiscences Of Early Days.

sent by a friend To NV home In the Granite State
awakened train of associations that carried me
back through long and varied life TO the home
Of my childhood which have not seen for more
than half n century. In 1911. with nv parents 1
removed from Massachusetts to West Hill" Ber-
lin, five miles from the "Hollar." as our neigh
bors called the then ipcipiept village of Mont.
pelier, where thew went to do their dickerine.
had not had the experience Of ouite two Years
Of earthly existence. and consequently could not
contrast the manv discomforts of poneer life with
our more comfortable home in an older section Of
the country. To me the wjldness of our sur
roundings was a source of varied and constant
pleasure. The tangled forests had a charm for
me that have never outorown and the graceful
ferns and snap-dragons still remind mo NJ NV
early enthusiasm had M ,lavua,es so named
the black stumps and made them NV associates.
visited them. told them nv childish nans and do.
posIted nv nlavtbinos in the hollowa bnrned ont
beneath them II now seem. that n mpst bave
required unite a stretch Of Imagination IN see a
DOH in niece of dead ,,viy ro,led mn I'm differept
colored leaves. a cradle in n hit NJ barl a he'd i'm
n chin covered with p,oss a bureau In n iewsaar n
table in a toad.stool. chairs in bors tea-sets in
nutshells. n mirror in a hit of roica n pewsnanar
in a piece of a wasps nest. A horse in a crooked
stick a speekled cow and n calf In n Iaroa and
small yarieRated pebble. and N flock Of sheen in n
handful of beans But did see them and en-
loved them too. Smile II Won please. oentle
reader. but do not pity me because nv plavthinvs
were wrought in the workshop of nature. nm
touched by the hand of art. for the mental habits
which they contributed largely To form have
afforded source of contentment in nv subse-
quent life when MANY much desired things could
have only an imapinarv existence Tome aowers
were condensed beauty, and bird.sones the sweet
est expressions of ioy. 1t seems now "A IL no
woods ever produced such variety and abund.
ance of blossoms as our sugar orchard in the days
of my childhood The first damask rose that
ever saw caused every fiber Of my system to
culver with intense delight kissed it and laid
its petals against my cheeks, and as thought
that God made it believe that the incense Of my
childish gratitude rose to the author Of all beauty
and loneliness. Out from the nists OF nearly
| seventy years distinct panorama Of the road
from our house to the village" unrolls before
| my mental vision. For the first mile and half
the trees were cut down, leaving a space wide
enough for sled to pass but the protruding
stumps. roots and cobble stones made riding in a
wheeled vehicle a succession of ups and downs
and sideways pitches not desirable even to my
restless disposition The brooks were SPAWNED by
corduroy bridges, constructed of small logs laid
horizontally. We passed but one house-Mr
| fowler's-before we came to Dog River road
which was quite good, as the farms through
| which it passed had been settled many years and
had comfortable houses. Many OF the names Of
their occupants are engraved on memory's tablet
First, the Johnsons; then Father Braman, with
his clean bald head and round sunny face, who
raised corn on piece OF land between his house
and the river for more than forty successive
years; the Deweys, Brown, and, up sand HILL
| Wright, johnson, Sawyer, Scoville, Hayden, and
twin brothers, brown earthen manufacturers
whose names do not recoect; Judge Buckley,
whose only son, deficient in mental capacity
spent much of his time travelling about and push
| ing over " old stubs, and his only daughter, a
blind lady, who owned more and poorer cows
than any one In the vicinity which she constantly
"let out" the condition being that at the end Of
| four years they should be returned with their
first calf for rent My earliest recollection of let
| tiers Is the heading Of our newspaper, THE
| WATcHMAN, published by T. p Walton, then in
| its youthful days | had an uncomfortable de-
sire to know the why and wherefore of every
thing saw or heard, so with my finger on a let
ter asked what its name was and what it was
! for, and in that way soon learned the alphabet
| and in due time how to use it, We had no story
books nor papers for children, and it was THE
| WATERMAN that gave me my first glimpse into
the outer world, and the older grew the better
| liked it, used to read It's entire contents every
| week, always keeping up an annoyipg course Of
questions concerning the meaning of things In
a descrption of a political gathering IL said: "The
following toast was given: Our opponents
| NAV they be condemned to perpetual itching
without the privilege of scratching" NV idea
| of toast was slice of brown bread in cream
gravy NV father solved the puzzle for me. but |
have not vet been able to discover the relation
between the two "toasts" Our COPY, as was the
usual way. was hung on file on n sharp wire ON
the wall of our living room. and an injury to the
sheet was punishable offense. In January the
old numbers were carefully laid aside for second
perusal. Dimiuutive AZ was that sheet of only
four pages. and limited As WAS its literary intei
gence it gave me glimpses that fired nv childish
mind with bnrning desires for something highe,
and better than backwoods life. | see myself
now as sat under tree. with nv homemade
sun-bonnet in nv Ian and nv bare feet buried in
leaves and moss. lonpiuply wondering when. and
where. and how il cond he accumulated vet
| fullv determined tn obtain an education which
would fiji me for nohler work in gonna denartment
| of labor NJ which I than couId form no defnite
| IDEA Noother nanar bas ever mazda sncb an i'm.
| nression on my mind II ee many M its adver-
tisements now Tbere was standing one ~ Dr
Crosbv's az pice Bitters" in which bemlock bark
was an ;noredis,t with the recol,ec,;or Of ,ha,
advertisement ,omes that M tho ioLe NJ n viIlage
| ,yag who said that In nassipg thropgh a niacs NJ
| hen,Iock woods be an n l.rga comnanv NJ wood
| neckers evide,tlv vary much exc;ted Ue In.
| ouired the cause and thev said that they had
made a hargain with the Doctor that be sbonld
have the hark ma bigb nv be co,ld reach with an
are but he had defrapded than nv uniting in a
| LONGER handle There was an advertisement of
/" strong's Wonderful Plaster" and ominous
tbrea,s IN apv wbo sbop,d attemnt tn infringe on
his na,.,, A,otber sa,d "Iadies save vonr
dshc,o,hs we viii, nav cash for clean linen rays
| rba,e ware war i,ems that made me sbudder and
h,s 81 ,oa,rv soma NJ which I recollect Tbere
| ua,a na,icas n, marriages and deaths bpt vary
rara,, 81 d,vorcas Ahou, twice n wear the mar.
ohan,s aradon Rarrard snap,J,rs C.dweil
ana o,hars|anno,nced ,ha, ,hav had lao, IN
| poston and bronght mn new fashions and new
soods which ,hev would exchap,e Tor shingles
salts manic sucar wheat grass.seed and other