Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1882-06-06

~ IN 1ON y L y
For the SPECTATOR.
An Interesting Letter.
PROVIDENCE, r. l., May 80, 1882.
Mr.. EDITOR AS letters from this
section are very seldom seen In the
Staunton papers, perhaps one would
not be uninteresting to your many read
ers so I shall endeavor to write you
of what L have seen and
learned during my two months stay in
the second city in New
England and one of the two Capitals of
the little State of Rhode Island. This
city is situated on both sides of the
Providence River, about 2 miles from
Narragansett Bay, and AZ miles from
Boston. It contains q population OF
0,OOO, about one.third larger than
Richmond, and is very wealthy, pros
porous place. Almost everything, from
locomotives down to the finest jewelry,
is manufactured here. Among the
largest and best known establishments
are the Rhode Island locomotive
Works, where some of the Chesapeake
and Ohio engines were built, and the
Corliss Steam Engine Company. the
builders of the celebrated Corliss En-
CINE at the Centennial, and the Provi-
dence Tool Company, the place where
thousands of guns were made for the
Turkish Government during the war
between the Turks and Russians sew
eral years ago. The Wilcox q Gibbs
and Household Sewing Machines are
manufactured here also, and the great
alt n< nnA r3nv1c
other factories can be seen in every di-
rection. The manufacture of jewelry
is also very important industry.
Providence has line Of elegant
steamers to New York, and is the CEN
ter of eix railroads, and during the
summer steamers run every day to
Newport and the many other summer
resorts along Narragansett Bay. The
river is scarcely deep enough for large
vessels, and consequently the city is
not a very important seaport, although
q considerable coastwise commerce is
carried on. Street cars run to almost
every part of the city, and are % fine
and we'll patronised as those In New
York. Many Of the streets are lined
with beautiful elm and maple trees, and
almost the whole city has very neat
and comfortable appearance, with its
concrete pavements and long rows of
white weather boarded houses, almost
exactly slike. The people pay much
attention to adjoining and Identifying
their homes, and many nicely-kept
yards and beautiful flowers are to be
seen everywhere. Providence has no
such large, imposing structures as those
in New York and other large cities,
there being only two or three buildings
in the city that cost as much as mill
lion dollars.
The public schools are excellent
equal, I suppose, to any in the country.
Brown University, celebrated Baptist
institution, is situated here. Rev. pr.
Barnas Sears was its President before
he went to Staunton. There are many
churches and charitable institutions,
and the whole city is very moral, we'll
behaved place. The public library,
containing 10000 volumes and large,
comfortable reading room, is free to
all, and is well patronized by young
and old. In addition to this, there are
the libraries of the Y. M. G. A. and the
Union for Christian Work, both hav-
ing free reading rooms. There are five
daily newspapers and dozen or more
weeklies and monthlies. The Daily
l VOW51t%t anu A/VOSSWSH 1XttOo0e 0AO IL
almost every respect equal to the great
dailies of New York and Boston. They
are both published by the same firm,
| United States Senator Anthony being
one of the proprietors. Almo-t every
| book store here has what is called cir
culating library. They keep the popu.
lar books, magazines, and periodicals,
and rent them out by the day or week.
So you see the people Of Providence are
pretty well supplied with reading mat
| ter.
The cost of living is much greater
here than in Virginia. The farmers OF
the State can raise but very small part
of what is required, as the soil Is not
very productive and the State is 90
thickly settled. They do not cultivate
much of anything but potatoes, hay,
and small vegetables, and make butter
and cheese, and they find home mar
ket for all of these they can raise. Their
-four, grain, &C., comes from the West.
Haxall -four, made at Minneapolis,
Mimi, is retailed at about 8.2a per bar
rel. and st. Louis flour at 1925. Good
New York State and Vermont butter is
sold at from 80 to 40 cents per pound
and oleomargarlne at from 20 to 80 cents
Sirloin beefsteak is IS cents per pound,
and scarcely any kind of fresh beef can
be bought for less than IA cents pei
pound. The people here use very little
bacon or pork, but use corned beef in
stead. A great many oysters, CLANS
Holsters, and other fishy creatures are
eaten here, and this whole region beats
Rockingham for pies. They make them
| of all kinds for breakfast, dinner, and
supper.
| There are q half dozen or more sub
urban towns around Providence, the
largest of which, Pawtucket, has a pop
ulation of 20, 900, and factories and foun.
dries by the score, It has never YET
been incorporated az city, and ia now
the largest tOaUn in the United States
The other places are much smaller than
Pawtucket, but they all have theil
share of factories and mills. Most o.
these places are connected with Provi-
dence by horse cars.
| The people here possess all that en-
ergy, industry, and intelligence fol
which New Englanders are noted
There are many more colored people
than expected to find here. In ap
pearance they are just like In Staunton
and follow the same trades and occupa
tions. Irish, French, German, anC
other farmers, are very numerous here
but great majority OF the people are
native New Englanders. People from
the South seldom come to this region
but there are few colored servants liv
ing here who. are natives of Virginia
There are many wealthy people, and
banks, manufacturing companies, anc
other moneyed corporations abound
1t is an interesting sight to see the me
chanics and other laboring men going t.
tleir work. The many shops and fac
tories give employment to thousands
of men, and early in the morning thu
streets are thronged with them on the
way to their places of business. carry
ing their small tin dinner-buckets. This
is religious place, as the many church.
es show. One of the most influential
churches here is the Congregational
whose creed and manner of worship are
almost exactly like those of the Pres
byterian church. Congregationalistt
are nearly unknown in the South, but
they are very numerous all through
New England. The laws with regard