St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-03-18
A Dartmouth Boys Wanderings.

W. c. PRIME ; STORY OF JOHN LED1 ARID
As YOU come up the Connecticut
valley to the mountain country you
have without doubt often noticed the
quiet beauty of the river under the for
est-covered hill at the station of Han
over and Norwich. Hanover, with
Dartmouth college, lies half mile or
so from the station, on the New Hamp-
shire side, concealed from tho rail by
the high land and trees on the eastern
bank.
Often as pass on the rail or drive
through Hanover and across the bridge
to White River village | never fail to
recall, in imagination, a scene on the
river side nearly hundred years ago,
when life of wandering may be said
! to have begun which thereafter led all
over the world, and had sad and sol
emu ending on the bank of the Nile,
within sight of the pyramid of SbOo-
fou.
When | was a boy the name of John
Ledyard was more familiar to boys and
men than now. Perhaps it was more
familiar to me because he was a family
relative, and my father had letters and
memorials of him, at which | looked
I
| Dartmouth college had been in eXis-
| tance but two OF three years when the
| Hartford boy was sent there to be in
some sort under the direct charge OF
President WheelOck, friend of the
family. | call Ledyard a Hartford boy,
because, although born on Long Island
he had been taken in hand by his
grandfather, Thomas Seymour, of Hart
A. 1 l.. l. -
menced reading law in the Connecticut
city. 1t was small city then, anC
Ledyard's boyhood was passed ia Mr.
SeymOur's house, which stood some
where on the bank of Little river, now
called Park river, then doubtless {
clear stream, but now flowing in abOm
Unable nastiness, a disgrace, if not {
poison, through a crowded population
He WAS about twenty years old wheI
his restless disposition made it eviden
that the law was not his vocation. HI
r. never could obey, and restraint of an!
kind was to him intolerable. Oddl,
; enough he took to the notion of becom
ing missionary. | suspect from th'
circumstances that he had vague idea
of the charm of life among the heather
and small concern about their souls
= Dartmouth was in wild regions. Indi
f an BOYS were students there. The ide
: Of becoming a missionary among th
savages was attractive. The very lit
at the college in the northern wilder
ness presented tempting features. 5
| with a horse and two-wheeled carriag
he started, carrying his baggage an
o sundry possessions, for the long driv
from Hartford to Hanover. There wa
no road, except here and there frOr
t one to another settlement. But h
: went safely through. 1t was nOtabl
fact that this wOuld-be missionary t
Il the Indians carried with him the rud
= outfit of a theater, scenery and cul
e tains. wherewith to amuse himself an
his college companions, white and COZ
- per cOlored. And it seems too, that b
esta ablished theatrical performances {
: Hanover, and | am not aware that d
: Wheelock interfered to interrupt the
5 successful run.
Il But | did not purpose writing a III
of Ledvard, and pass on to the scene
u which first alluded. A year or so .
= Hanover was all the restless boy cOul
i stand. Once during that year he ha
% disappeared for several months, and
is supposed had in that time rove
among the Indians perhaps as far ;
II Canada. The experience dispelled IL
i romance of missionary life, which ha
= thus far inthralled his imaginatio
Il His horse and sulky were gene. Hi
tory does not record their fate. +
: was far away from civilization. b
r daily he saw the strong flow of the Co
Of necticut downward toward the dista
n, sea, and across the sea lay the islam
and countries full, in his fancy, of ma
III velous adventures.
E. Close to the bank of the river be fe