Litchfield enquirer., 1880-09-02

= the West?" And still the answer, after still
more talk on the subject, is ''incompatpilitv u
Aud some whom have questioned say, 7''The
West has lost IN great measure the attraction
Hitonee had for our young men, who will not
farm in any part OF the Union if they can pos
sibly help it, but crowd aud keep on crowdlng
into the towns and cities" ''But," ask,
lis there not much difficulty in finding places
for so many? ?"
''Well, no. not great deal now While
the panic lasted there was of course great
difficulty, but times are better, and steady
young men of good business habits are eager
ly sought for in the villages by the great
merchants. Hence the scarcity of young men,
which you may have noticed. -. - i
l had noticed it, not only in the villages but
in the country, the very country through
which am passing And this holds good of
young ladies also. If at window you catch
glimpse of a woman the chances are ten to
one that she is an old (more often old than
iniddle-aged, so far as my observation goes,
woman and the men you see haying In the
fields are generally old men, assisted, perhaps,
by lads of twelve to fifteen years. ....I
A you approach Litch1eld the rough hills
subside, the landscape expands, larger and
better titled fields show their smiling faces,
the line of the horizon recedes, you think of
Hartford county, Md. Lake Bantam glistens
ON your left, the village churches lift their keen
spires into the golden air in 'front.' On your
right. as you ascend Litchfeld hill, is the new
Lake View Hotel, an ambitious structure of
wood, the crack house, as am told, of the
place. Next three little parks appear, Two of
them oval, the middle one circle, in the
centerof which rises tall flag staff, for the
national ensign on gala occasions You have
time only to note that the street is broad
ot,N to 10 ~,
not cut up by curly @ walks, asparks too often
are, one of them having no walk at all, only
the, green sod, which these beauty-loving PEG
pie appreciate so highly and that the space in
front of the courthouse and the two older no
tells is wide enough almost for parade ground
quite wide enough, were it not for the cir
cular park in the centre. 1t reminds you some
what of the better class town in middle Ten
nessee. You have time only to note this, the
immediate problem being lodging place, for
there are five hundred strangers here-the
driver says thousand, but he is mistaken.
After vain efforts to obtain beard at private
house (my constant aim being to get into the
very midst of the people, find quarters in
the third story of the United States Hotel 1t
is tavern of the olden time, / remarked on
the way to my room, with a wide hall, in
which hangs well-executed portrait in oil of
President Lincoln, with the motto "Post
Na6ilG Ph0eb4S," in raised letters on the
frame The lower rooms are wainscotted;
the staircase has short flights of steps and fire.
quent landings-it is easy work getting to the
third story; you do not mind it bit. The
landlord is the iuage of German not an
English Boniface, short, rotund broad-feat-
ured, good natured. What? Is that the tea
bell? Yes it is 6 o'clock.
After tea l walked the length of North
street, and that 1t is that made me dumb.
Saturated with the romantic scenery of the
Alleganies, and prepared as was to find
beauty here, this street nevertheless moved me
more than can tell Perhaps / am easily
moved, but picture if for yourself: Two
hundred and fifty feet wide, grassy as d care
fully tended lawn, shaded by century old elms
with houses both new and old, beitting these
stately trees. Why, it surpasses the finest
streets in Augusta, Georgia. To my delighted
eye all the houses at first seemed new, 80 fresh
and pure they were but this is not so. The
greater number are old, one bearing in its
front the date "A. D. 1907 and some would
be thought humble did not the doors impart to
even the most unpretentious of them some
what of the antique and the palatial But
among the Oldest you see that wealth and taste
had lodgment here in days colonial or nearly
so. The last possible refinement of simple
you discover at the first glance in passing one
or two of these older residences, which show
to great advantage by the side of the fussy
architecture now in vogue. Here, however,
is three story house of modern style, with
wing in which the first floor, entirely missing,
becomes porch, surmounted by two stories.
Through and through the house CLEANS the
sky, rosy with the setting sunlight. The eff
feet is that of full breath after an attack Of
asthma or sunburst on "clOse, cloudy day."
Further on is Queen Anne house, rich, dark
maroon or Burgundy wine colored. And
there are others of many patterns. You would
not miss any of them, old or new each sets
off the other to advantage but if you were
compelled to choose, you would go back to
the broad square house, the C0rinthan facade.
For romance-loving children, however, the
high-roofed houses with bay windows and
rooms are preferable. .
yankees stingy about land!" Exclaimed
as locked at this magnificent street. "Yan.
KEGS SO mean and close that they plant beans
up to the parlor .windows-it is most inf
=; it is a mistake a wide-the widest kind
of mistake" A mental tumult begins, and,
as | continue my walk through the village, in
creases. Village is the right name, the next
census showing less than 1000 Inhabitants.
Some of the grounds have fixed-up, full
dress, Just look at-me' look; products clearly
of the architect and the landscape gardener,
not the outgrowth of the owners mind. New
erthsless, know of no village or small town
in the South which compares with what now
see Cambridge, on the Eastern Shore of
Maryland, comes nearer it than any place
can recall, but even Cambridge is long way
behind. why is it." ask myself, not with
out jealousy and consciousness of rising an
ger, why is it that these people from the
very beginning, as these old houses and these
broad streets show, cared more for the beanti-
full than we of the South ?" A question, this,
for much discussion. have thought it over
and have reached a solution, which, if time
permitted, could enlarge upon, not to your
satisfaction nor wholly to my own, southern
reader. bnt which believe to be true, not
withstanding Pestilent to the conservative,
well-bred mind in all ages are the reformers,
but 1t must be admitted that they are thinkers
and Ito be brief-the aesthetic taste is Gull
tured taste. -,,f{ 81. ..e..+ a..,.. .s.. "a +.
Presently came suddenly upon splendid
turn out, drag, black, glossy, and light as
papier- nlache, drawn by superb pair of bays.
Now a fine horse in fine suit Of harness is
just the purse proudest creature on earth, and
makes q man On foot feel poorer than any other
living thing. Soon came plump upon sad
unpaiuted big old house, square as a dry-goods
box, and very dreppy and dllapldated as othe
porch, especially the ceiling thereof. My soul!
what relief. 1t was 80 like home ''Thank
heaven p cried, 81 have struck one of the
first families of Connecticut at last This man
is gentleman. He invested in United States
cotton bonds, if they had any, and is ruined
and refined like the rest of u.s." s. ,..
Alas the house was uninhabited. Sadly
wended my way back to the hotel, passing
croauet, lawn-tennis and archery parties en-
joying themselves in yards as green and slick
as an old gingham dress and under elm
trees 70 feet high that made me sick as ipeca-
cuanna'' .3aies:gea aas 5e|e~.a 3s@ ad' D'
.~aiIe739o .----t -d1 o] hui# yIas|
~, LIrEHr1E1D, CT, Aug. 17th, 1880. /
John G. Calhoun, of South Carolina, and
John Y. Mason, of Virginia, studied law in the
Litchfeld Law School, established in 1884 by
Tapping Reeve, ESQ.,, afterwards chief justice
of the State and with whom, at later date,
Judge James Gould was associated. The old
I'D s,aAx H.