Morning journal and courier., 1883-10-12

l 1h15 epaQ6 IS the 1QentlceI one used 1n taxing up the first spadeful of earth in constructing She Pennington canal, great enterprise for that day. It was on the line of the Canal railroad. One who knew him well-Profes-
 sor Charles Upham Shepard-says Hill
 house was characterized by beautiful sim plicity of manner" The memory of his
 spirit of enterprise joined to executive ca-
 pacity survives among our venerable citizens
 as something wonderful, and it was for that
 day. Men of far-seeing, hopeful and crea- I tive spirits were then indeed rare. He was a
 born genius for development and an untiring
 and almost ceaseless worker. He would at
 any time throw off his coat and take hold
 and labor with his hands in the hardest sort
 of work whenever he could by so doing ex- 1 pedite an enterprise. He WAS thoroughly
 original. Governor English tells us he neY-
 or did anything exactly like other people ; would often turn night into day." as the saying is. Connecticut had large interest | in lands in Ohio in what was widely known ! at that day as the 'tConnecticut Western Re- serve." It was from her interest in these ! lands that our State supported it's public ' schools and thus became famous early in this
 century for the universal education and in- telllgence of it's people, surpassing every
 
 \ reputation. Mir. Hillhouse was the first | School Fund commissioner of Connecticut,
 and had frequent occasion to make horse
 back journeys through the wilderness to
 Ohio to took after the interests of his State l there. Now any ordinary New Haven man ! who wRs about to start off on long journey through wilderness country like that would talk about 1t weeks in advance and then rise
 early some morning, partake of Q solid
 breakfast, kiss wife and babes, mount his
 nag and solemnly amble along towards AL
 lingtown, feeling as though he might never
 live to return. Not so James Hillhouse, for. 1 at the close of some busy day he would 1 throw his saddlsbags over his horse, spring
 upon him. ride all night, and with very little
 sleep day CT night make his journey.
 When I was a ten year old boy" says an l old citizen to us, ''I asked Mir. Hillhouse if 1 he would allow me to gather some walnuts
 from tree that was near us. Yes, my l1t tie man, you may, and not only this, but give you the tree to gather walnuts from as I long as you ive.'" This old citizen-Mr George ". Hicks-now lives within thirty
 rods of that identical tree, and though full
 seventy years have passed, it seems to him
 that it "has not grown bit" The tree bears what they call ''pig wRlnuts." At that 1 time he climbed the tree, shook it. gathered the crop and sold the fruit for four cents a ! quart.
 I The era of the elm planting of Hillhouse 1 ran through many years, beginning about ' the years 1787 and extending into the first Ii years of~thiS csBsuzy, andlhe set the little 1 town, which then had only about thousand ! families, agog by his labors. The children ware aroused and helped him. Among the 1 boys who assisted was Ogden Edwards (born | in 17S1, afterwacd a New York city judge) and Henry Baldwin (born here in 1779, grad 1 mated at Yale 1737 and died 1914 judge of 1 the United States Supreme court.) The lat 1 ter once said in the presence of Mrs. Worth I han To.5r | ter of Governor Edwards, 'I held many an ! elm while Hillhouse shoveled in the earth' 1 These labors were not confined to the boys l alone Even the girls were enthusiastic. 1 For instance, there was Caroline Shipmap, who became Mrs. Garnet Duncan, of Louis. | vile, Ky. She was the daughter of Elias Shipman, in that day leading merchant, l who lived in 'the Shipmen house." She watered the trees which Hillhouse had plant | cd along on Chapel street opposite her house, and not only this, but with her own hands planted an elm. We wish we knew which. Our child recollection of her is as that of 1 large, exuberant-spirited young lady full of good feeling. Ruskin says, "It was great 1 thought when God thought of tree;" and when young lady plants tree instead of a l flower she does great thing Indeed she may live to see 1t become monarch under l whose benignant wings may gather the flow | CTS of humanity, even her own little ones of I the third generation who may come with their dolls and play there while the music ! of their voices mingles with the whispering5 of the leaves. Some natures are so dry and barren as to ! be destitute of the joy that comes from the | perception of beauty, so hard and selfish as ! never to taste the sweets of self sacrifice | One possessed of such 8 nature came to James Hilhouse while with coat off he was l digging holes to plant elms. ''Why," said l he, "you are great fool to be setting out l 1 these trees. You get nothing for it and will | 1 never live to see them grow" "Perhaps shall not,' he answered. ''but somebody 1 will" Planting elms by no means comprised all of the tree planting of Hillhouse. He plant I ed one or two lines of syeamorss beginning at Neck bridge at Cedar Hill thence through | State street to Elm, through Elm to Broad l way, out through Whalley avenue to the l bridge at Westville, distance of about four | miles. The farmers in coming to town in l
 the spring of the year, when the frost had l rendered the center of the roads impossible, | took the sides and carelessly knocked against | and ruined the trees. Some few escaped and | were standing within the memory of old | people. single one yet survives. This | the last of the sycamores this day rears it's | giant form on the margin of the Green op- posite the Methodist church. l Many of our elrns have attained in girth l from nine to twelve feet We note some l measures taken five feet from the ground. l
 
 Grown, II feet 6 inches; Trinity church, l 10 feet ? inches Center church, east side | of Temple street, II feet 9 inches, around | the roots 31 feet inches. This tree up twelve feet is probably 16 feet in girth- and 1 has immense limbs. A tree on the College 1 campus is ten feet inches. The elms on l the campus are younger than those on Temple street. Some of them will grow into monsters. The height of the trees on l the Green varies from seventy to ninety feet. | The trees in front of the North church | were found to be ninety feet. A very lof- | ty noble specimen Is in front of the LeVe- | rett Candee mansion on Elm near State l street It is admired for it's upright, large, l sky climbing lmbs the size of it's main | limbs and their very slight but graceful di- Vergenoe from the vertical until they ap- proach near the top. An impressive speci- l men is in front of the Darlington mansion | on the square above, remarkable for it's gen. | erous spread and the immense number of | branches, of which forty or more can be counted without one's moving an inch. The tree in front of the African church on Temple below Crown street Is one of our noblest eIms. It.is about eighty feet in height At five feet from the ground it's girth is 12 feet inches, and it extends north and south 112 feet, 8 distance not equalied by any other of our elms The site is historical. In SOY 1 the New Haven Methodists here built their | first church. It was in this church that the | eloquent John N. Mafit first addressed a New Haven audience. In 1929, the Metho- | distg having built on the Green, the African | Congregationalists took possession and even l tually replaced the old edifce. which was of | wood, with the present brick structure. The l old tree has plenty Of room for expansion. | It is solid and vigorous. It is cradled by the winds, everywhere sunlit and for three-quar- | ters of century thanksgiving and praise | have ascended up through It's joyous dancing | branches to the azure deeps. We call it | good pious tree, and after enjoying the Sab- | baths of seventy.five years right under it's | thodoxy and has ali the quaint old psalm | tunes well learned. From our chamber win | dow in the morning, eighty feet distant, this | elm is the first object that greets our eyes.