Litchfield enquirer., 1880-09-02
WHOLE NO. 1883

of no more value than that of Litehield, Conn,
and Litchfeld with it took honorable part in,
the French wars, the State having at one time
as many as 3, 600 troops in the field, and also
in the war Of the reyolgti0nssztIn January,
1776, Capt. BeZaleel Beebe, OF Lftchfeld re-
ceived orders to enlist a company for the de-
Tense of New York. I" ~ A veteran who
died within the last few years stated" Il quote
from the interesting little history of the town
| published in 1859 by Payne Kenyon Kilbourn,
| M. A, secretary of the Litchfield County His
| torical and Art Society ''that when the intel
| ligence reached him he started on run for the
captains headquarters, fearing the roll would
be full before he could reach there" They all
enlisted ''for the term of eight weeks at the
utmost from the day we march from Fairfield, .
| which Is the place of rendezvous (Mr. Kill
| bourn gives the original paper, with the sig
I natures of the whole company the honorable
Major General Lee having given his werd and
| honor that we shall not be detained single
| day after said tine.'H 1=..A , - t.l.'+f '
| The lead of the statue of George III that
| stood in the Bowling Green at New York till
it was pulled down by the patriots was brought
| to Litchfeld melted into bullets, and made
| into cartridges by the members of General (af-
| forwards Governor) Wolcott's family anda few
| neighbors. A list of the number of these car
| tridges, by whom made, where sent, etc., is
given by Kilbourn. Fancy the young ladies
| OF the South keeping an accurate tally of the
| haVelocks they severallyi made at the Begin
ming of the late sectional war! .r t7.iJrs %
Gov. Andrews, the incumbent, who made
SO favorable an impression upon the Southern
Governors at the Yorktown meeting in Phila-
delphia, last October, lives in plain, comfort
BILE house In South street. had few mo-
ments' talk with him last night. People are
too busy haying, SAID he, to pay attention to
nOlitIcS hOt from tho nrid6la of hor
ward the contest will wax hotter aud hotter
Hancock is the best nomination that could
have been made. Praised W. Ii. Barnum;
smart as lightning the very best executive
head ever knew" He frankly admitted and
deplored the fact that in America, as in Eng
land, political honors were gravitating more
and more to the merely rchAwOrth capacity,
experience being of minor Importance. 81 ~.
My admiration of the village seems to have
lessened after eight days residence, but sus-
pect it is simply wearing away of the gloss
OF novelty. 1t is undoubtedly pretty place
and prettily situated, as l can testify after
walks OF a mile or two in every direction out
into the country. ga thing of beauty is a joy 3,
forever" That may be, but not the ,ioyit was
| at first. weary, wOrk-day hue comes over
place; the varnish rubs off; you get used to
things. The business part of the village is
huddled and uneven, much as similar parts of
ence that here the stores and shops are neat-
er. Paint is to house what soap and water
and clean shirt are to q human being. In
New England the dwellings, both in town and
country, are repainted from time to time; with
US they are often not painted at all or if paint,
ed, one suit or shirt of white lead or zinc must
last a lifetime An ugly belfry is clapped on
top Of the court house, which otherwise would
show handsome classic front. It isof wood.
A e%i1l
gational church. which 10 now unused. The
new church of his denomination is the most,
attractive building in the village. Kilbourne
tells us that in the old days permits were
granted to individuals to build ''Sabbath-day
houses" small affairs near the Puritan meet
ing. houses, in which people could thaw them
selves before and after preaching, for there
were no fires in the churches Of those days.
The introduction of the H. st stove in Litchield
church raised a tempest which threatened to
tear the congregation in twain, 50 fierce was
the wrangle between the godly minded anti
stovetes and the ungodly stoveites. Less at
tractive on the outside than the new COngre-
gational church, but more in keeping with the
solemnity of religion, is the interior Of the
Episcopal church. There are besides Cathd-
lie and Methodist church, the latter quite
small
attended the Congregational church in the
at the latter was a gentlemanly One taxing
neither the intelligence of the audience nor the
voice of the speaker The young man who
read the service was affected. When the
Gloria was sung or recited some OF the men,
bers who had been seated rose and bowed, as
others did at the name Of Jesus in the creed.
On a table behind the lectern, and in the GEN.
tire of the recess chance was what seemed
gilt crucitix, wreathed about with flowers. In
Nf
the 0AuS of his existence upon the exact words
of the Bible his own belief in Satan being ap-
parently weak The young man who preach
ed in the Congregational church was out of
place in the pulpit. When he read the story
of the Prodigal Son he acted it in tones if not
in gesture. There was a sibillant close to
many of his words. as if he chopped off the
ends OF them with hiss, which was most
disagreeable. He had much to say about
science, art, literature, etc. much more than
about "Christ and Him cruciied" His text,
curieusly picked out Of a sentence in one of
the Epistles, was simply ''The World" 1.-The
world is mine" be often exclaimed, and no
one doubted the truth of his assertions. Ed
win Forrest was his model, but he lacked
Forests voice. He was most respectful in his
illusions TO science. He did not rant--onlY
for want of the needful lung power. He had
less of the Northern accent than any one
nave yet uSATu balk III OF III private, Out
he said "doo'' for 'dew." "a good fellow,
not killed up with religion, who will take a
glass of cider or beer and a cigar with you
most any time, said my informant, whe knew
him well. There was a. cornet in the OOngrer
gational choir, none in the Episcopal. A pew
or two Of very decent colored people were in
both churches. 1880 i''"2 A''' -'' q
During my stay in aLitchf1ed I talked with
people OF all ages, sexes, professions and COM
plexiOns, from manufacturers to ostle-s, milk
men, barkeepers and darkies, and give below
the substance of a few of the more Important
of these conversations. Going out for a walk
one sunny morning crossed the terminus of
the Shepaug railroad, on West street, assembled
hill, turned to the left on q street where NJ
there are some new houses, descended to an
old and neglected cemetery, and made my
way back to town up by-street that is lite
frequented. In the course ofatbiso walk Oh
served number of waste fields given over TO
bushes and weeds, and wondered as always
wonder whenever and wherever Ihavei walk
ed in New England, at 1.-The loneliness of the
roads. Surprisingly few people are seen about
the houses or along the roads. AS slowly
walked up the hill ON the by-street just men,
toned, my attention was drawn to the most
squalid house my eyes had yet rested on any
where 1t was very small, patched on the
roof with large piece of sheet-ifon and STIR
rounded by miserable little garden. A black
girl lodged behind a butter bean pole as l
drew nigh. When l spoke to her vicious
bull dog uttered q low bark and made directly
for me- Twas much frightened, but pursued g.
my feaEJ" with far less Indictment. though, J..
than Tarqun had, Q for the frowsy. haired
Lucrece at the door was literally the poorest
woman blackror white / had yet encounters Gel
ed. 81 49,, ,,,.,r,.... ,dI F.,,t DIV rg.U.l
r.tWhat saay P" she shrilled in reply to my
question: ''"h 80" H''aAA '+' s''..
MAY I come in and talk with you for few 81
momentsl" respectfully repeated 13dIsi
"Wal," was the hestating answer, 81 guess
We kin en- in II yere mind to, in precisely
the tone of her white friends . '
81 l entered kitchep. onethird of which was
filed by an old cooking stove. She apologized