Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1880-09-09
Cornwall boasts the only public library in

sum is increased by an annual tax of one dol
lar on each of the seventy or eighty members.
A rare MS. was shown me-the furlough list
of the Connecticut men who, after the battle
of Yorktown. were disbanded till the defnit-
| i've treaty of peace should be received. There
are also "size" lists, wholly new thing to
me, which gives not only the name of each
man, his residence, place of enlistment, occu-
patton, &C., but also his age, his height in feet
and inches the color, of his hair and his COM
plexion, all carefully written out IN the admir-
able chirography of that period. There are
two of these Ms. volumes. Many have been
the efforts made by the United State govern
ment and the State of Connecticut to get pos
session of them, but Mr.. Kellogg, the owner,
refuses to part with them. ''For," saws the
old gentleman (who, like the rest of them
| here, is something under q hundred), ''If
| those fellows in Washinton get hold of them it
| will cost 1875 to take peep at them, and so
many poor fellow will lose his pension"
We have also a public school. In former
times there were scores of private boarding
schools scattered over the State; the boarding
house here was originally one Of them, but
| these have disappeared since education became
free and, believe, compulsory. The school
fund is derived from proceeds of the sale of
western lands once owned by the State, and
from the share which Connecticut received of
|
The State. contribution, amounting to one dol
lar the scholar, is supplemented by whatever
local tax may be required Pay of teachers
and other matters pertaining to education re-
i main to be studied by me. .... j..
| 1 inquired the price of land. ''That lot in
front of my store" says Mr.. Beers, 'sjust over
the picket fence, brought $477 the acre; it is
not exceptionally good land either, but rich
man wanted it and the owner knew that fact.
Beyond that clump of trees at the upper edge
of that lot the land rapidly diminishes in val
ue, and when yeu get higher up the hill,
where it is fit only for pasturage, it will bring
but $50 an acre. 1t is hard to strike an aver
age, but you may pay from 800 to 300 an
acre." Wood land is worth from So to $40
the acre, but everything depends upon the
| quality OF the timber. Once in twenty or
twenty-five years the woodland is completely
| cleared, Skinned" as they say, and allowed
| to grow up again. For charcoal purposes wood
is sold standing at $3.50 cord, but a single
| white pine will often bring 81.
Houses and lots vary much IN price. MY
host has small but comfortable house, with a
| large garden and twenty-five acres of good
land, for which he paid, three years ago, 3d.
| 500; he would not sell for less than Sc, 600.
Across the way, the fine old house on the cor
ner lot to which have alluded. the house in
l
| den, &C., embracing tive acres and having
| the customary elms and naples in front, is Of
| fered for So 00O ~. 7s-'" 90
| AS am soon to see a noted creamery, and
a still more noted stock farm, I reserve the
! subject of agriculture for future letters. I'm
| der this head will come tobacco, which for the
present dismiss with single observation,
viz that while here, as in all other tobacco
growing countries, everybody chews, there is
| a marked difference between the splitting of
Yankees and the splitting of Southerners.
Economical even in, his expectoration, the
Yankee holds his quid for half day, ejecting
at long intervals meagre drop or globule,
rarely squirting and never scattering. This,
| think, will strike any man. The very sail
| vary glands of these people are labor-saving-
| Darwinian fact of importance, showing the
| effect of inherited ideas upon the bodily It's
sues. ..t --.'t.-7
Allusion was made in my last letter to the
absence of colored people-there are persons
| in this part of the world who call them ''nig-
| gers, and have no reverence whatever for
| them-in the smoking cars This is sure to
| impress Southern man. But think of it
| from Bridgeport to Cornwall Bridge is 81
miles, to this place 81 miles, and to West
Cornwall 81 miles more-64 good miles,
| through num5erless small towns travelled
without seeing single black face. Nor have
yet seen one. There is but one (son. say
| two) in the village, and he is third or more
| white. saw him yesterday for the first time,
| and, as Sir Isaac Newton would say, he Sin.
tended his mind on me very intently, for an,
somewhat of a curiosity here. A former en-
| ployer OF this man speaks well of him as
house servant very neat and clean, but not
good at farm work, and all we'll enough till he
went on a bum," that is spree, which he
would do from time to time. His wages, 800
| a year and his board, which came direct from
the family table, but did not learn whether
he sat down with them or eat by himself, not
liking to- be too inquisitive.
Little has been said in my hearing about the
colored man, indeed few questions of any kind
have been put to me, and not a single one
about the war, Southern feeling, &C. Census
returns printed in one of the back numbers of
the Star, which was handed me last night
show that in 1860 there were 39 colored peo-
plelin this town, i. e., the seven villages, and
| in 1870 only 26, loss of 12 The return of
colored for 1880 is not given, but of whites
| there are 1885, loss since 1850 of 1856
These losses in the interior towns are more
than made up by the increse in such places as
Bridgeport, which has grown rapidly but,
in the main, the growth is confined to for
eigners, the Irish largely preponderating.
Within the strict limits of this village there is
not foreigner that am aware of, aid within
a mile hear of but one, Frenchman, who
owns, or rather owned, mill, which was
burned last week for the second time BY an in
cendary. How purely English the popula-
ton is may be inferred from the names that I
remember, to wit: White. Kellogg, Sanford,
Beers, Andrews, Clark, Hitchcock, Pierce,
Bradford, Cole, Whitney, Vail, North, Gold,
etc.
Another popularity will be sure to impress
stranger Granite of fine grain and suscep-
tible of beautiful polish is so abundant here
that not only the hitching-post but also the
posts of the garden fences all around, front,
sides and rear, are made of it. They cost a :
dollar apiece. quarrying and setting up inclu-
ded. In one instance gentleman has adorned
the front of his cottage-ar humble one-for
thirty yards Or more with. heavy dressed gran
lite posts, ten feet apart, and connected by iron
chains, producing monumental effect with
out amy monument. The fitgging also is made
of solid granite slabs..aia bonn sad a1iAF 81
He who expects to- see the Yankees in such
rapid and incessant motion as to be scarcely
visible to the unassisted eye will soon discover
his mistake. They are lazy, one is tempted
to say, las the denizens of the tidewater cotin.
ties of Maryland and Virginia. At all events
they take life easy, hang about the store
(Which dlffers from cur country stores only in
being cleaner) chew tobacco spit in modera-
ton, talk-more about DR.. Tanner than about
politics-and do not whittfe. or this last am
positive, not man having opened'a jack-knife
in my presence during my whole stay here, ):
Which has lasted nearly a1week. Nor do they 4
in. the field exhibit more energy than our peo-
pie. Scythes are swung no faster, the crops
of oats and hay are gathered no more quickly,
horses are driven ne more rapidly than with
u.s. Here again actual observation has cured of
. mistake of long duration with me, and
doubtless with most Southern men. We be-
lieve that Yankee horses are all real fat, and
that Yankee vehicles are always kept in good
order. Not SO at all Comparatively few of
the horses hereabouts are fat and sleek, or
carefully groomed and curried every day on
the contrary, their ribs are generally visible,
and in some few casesthe preverbial hat might
be hung on their hip bones. As rule they