Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-08-10

| MAIN street, Wnere Jne re5luence Ot Mr.
Geo. Jacobs now is. Directly opposite, on
the now vacant lot, next to Mr.. David
Fuller's residence, lived Captain. Thomas
Reed, father of Thomas and Hezekiah
Reed. The next year, which was 1897.
Mr.. Samuel Goss moved into the house
which is now Erastus Hubbard's. The
academy stood about in the center OF the
triangle of these three houses. A forest
covered all the region of St. Paul and
Loomis streets. E. P. Walton (Sr.)
and Mark Goss, two apprentices to the
printers trade. living with Samuel Goss,
who W Is editor Of the WItchman, Thomas
Reed, Jr., and Samuel Mosely, an appren-
tice to Sylvanus Baldwin. were the inti-
mate friends of Daniel for the next few
years.
The first house the youthful mechanic
struck n blow upon was David Wings,
the same that is now DR.. Putnam's. The
hammer and saw, however, did not con-
o".A.o h;s -~h~I~ .-.,u,.e;~-, ~. oi.st ~, ;-C~.
of 1867. the academy, James Dean,
principal, numbered him among Its pupils.
and the following winter the same privi-
lege was accorded to him. There was a
drawback about those last three terms,
however, which caused the boy to feel
forever afterward that he received but little
benefit from them His brother Sylvanus
owned a pair of hay scales which stood on
Main streetin front of what is now Bethany
church ya'd. The winter was the time
when the public patronized these scales
the most literally, and it was Daniels
business to attend them. He was so fire.
quently called from school for the purpose
that his attention was much distracted.
1t will be remembered that condition
affixed to the permanent location of the
capitol at Montpelier was the erection, by
that town or by individual persons, of n
suitable building, which was to be COM
pleted ready for use the first of September
1903 The old wooden State House was
accordingly framed and raised by David
Pickering in 1907, and in the spring of
1908 Sylvanus Baldwin was engaged to
finish and put cupola upon it.
Sylvanus employed in the work eight or
ten journeymen who slept in large shop
near his house. They began work in
March. One Sunday evening "Sam "
Mosely and Daniel observed three men
sauntering in body up Main street. Now
Mr.. Thomas Davis owned a large sugar
place where the "long pasture " now is,
on the hillside above the Lane Manufac-
turing Cos. works; and the boys immeli-
ately suspected the men were bent in
mischief on Mr.. Davs's sweets. tom ~
and Hezekiah Reed, Mark Goss and E. P
Walton were drummed up. and all laid
their heads together for some fun at the
expense of the young men. They waited
till about 10 o'clock and then, taking
some pals, made their way by circuitous
route towards Mr.. Daviss boiling p lace
They formed plan by which " Tom "
Reed was to represent Mr.. Davis and the
rest were to be presumably his hired man
and neighbors. Coming down TO the boil
ing place from above, and accommodating
they learned by the conversation of the
men that they had been boiling down
some syrup and were about to remove the
fire from under the kettle. The boys got
ready and made grand rush for them
| q Tom - in, etnptorian xyaina aJ
"You rascals! You rascals!' and all made
as much noise as possible, beating about
with poles rs though they were forty
The men did not stop even to gather up
coats and hats, which several had laid off.
but fed down the hill as though they
believed posse conaitatuS would soon
lead them rs culprits through the village
and lodge them in the co unity Jail. One
of the boys remained behind to draw
away the fire, while the rest augmented
the terrors of the men by pursuing then
to the edge of the woods. Then they went
back, transferred the sugar to their pals
and went home. taking with them al
trophies the hats and coats All was quiet
when Daniel and Sam" reached home
in the shop where the men lodged. bu
they knew the men had gone to bed. They
proceeded 10 their own bed. which stoo,
among those of the men in the sam,
building, crawed in. talked a littl
while about the conference meeting, anC
soon began to snore, but not in sleep.
The men around them began to groan
and complain. "Oh God, how my shin
aches!" said one. The pasture through
which they had fed was full of stumpg
and they had suffered many bruises. The,
finally agreed they must settle with Mr.
Davis, and appointed committee TO wait
upon him in the morning. The boys die
not let the joke 90 so far as the committee
but early in the morning brought in to tn
astonished work-men their coats and hats
Ever afterwards Daniel and "Sam go
an early invitation to all their sports.
Before the State House was completed
the committee found themselves short O
funds; moreover, the subscription, gener
ously signed by the inhabitants of Mont
pelier and vicinity, was payable in neat
stock, grain and lumber, and money wa
now needed to buy nails and glass. L
was thought the town might better vote
tax than lose the State Honse. At Marcl
meeting motion was made for a tax @
$1,000. half cash and half provision. I
was pretty unanimously voted and Con
/ stable Nathan Doty soon had the tax bill
in his hands. Having writ to serve a
North Montpelier the next day. he stopped
at the tavern of Samuel Rich, who greete,
him with:
"How dye do Mr.. DotyP Got you
taxP"
"Yes." replied Mr.. Doty. want to pa.
yours nowP"
"lve been looking over the constitution
since we voted that tax" rejoined Mr.
Rich; :" and don't find anv provision b