St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-07-20

J in town for the manufacture of potato
whiskey, villainOus beverage, which
our sturdy fathers, or some of them,
: must have loved-and yet the people
had shown their remarkable intelli-
gence and good sense by actually
choosing to have the academy rather
than the courthouse and Jail, which
they might have possessed had they
given Danville the school. The Con-
gregational church here, under the
ministry of Leonard Worcester and
some of his immediate successors, was
one of the largest and most influential
in northern Vermont. The people
possessed a great deal of local pride.
They loved to hear, as they often did,
that Peacham was one of the most in
telligent towns in Vermont. They
boosted, and well they might, of their
public library, their prosperous and
powerful church and flourishing acad-
envy.
Peacham was the home of many
wealthy and distinguished men. She
has furnished Judge of the supreme
court, a representative i'll congress, and
a governor of the Stakeholder Fiske
for the Methodist church and Thaddeus
Stevens for the nation.
Now all has changed. The glorious
hills and magnificent landscapes re-
main, but public spirit and local pride,
if any remain, has been carefully bot
tied up for use on some great emergen-
cy in the future. The old academy
has lost its prestige and the great
church-alas is no longer united and
| prosperous as of old. What can be
done to revive the ancient prosperity
town in Vermont, or New Hampshire,
which can present such a density of
magnificent landscapes as Peacham.
Devil Hill, Cow Hill, Academy Hill,
and many other elevations in town,
present views of vast reach and charm
ing country. In its natural scenery
|
If properly appreciated and advertised
by its people, would prove a great
source of wealth and prosperity. There
is hardly Il farmhouse in town which
would not be paradise so far as sum
mer scenery is concerned, to wealthy
people in our eastern cities and from
the level and monotonOus plains of the
west. The old academy, which, in a
little more than ten years, will cele
brate the centennial of its existence,
should be literally supported and aid
ed by the town. In its early history
the town levied an annual tax for its
support. This policy should be re-
newed, with this proviso-that all
pupils of the district schools of the town
who, after proper examination, reach
given standard, should be admit
ted to the academy free of tuition.
Thus the academy would be brought
into close relation with the district
schools, and they would greatly assist
and stimulate each other. In Il year or
two the number of students in the
academy would be greatly increased,
additional teachers would be employed,
the school would come more and
more into public notice, and enter
prising and competent instructors
would draw students from abroad,
each one of whom would become an
advertising medium for the town. st.
Johnsbury is fortunate in the posses
sion of an enterprising and generous
| family which has created it's prosperi-
ty. The Fairbankses must die and
theiI scales may be superseded, but
the st. JOhnsbury academy, already
recognized by educated and intelligent
men in the west as one of the best pre-
paratOry schools in New England, if
not in the country, is destined to give
the town more reputation and fame
than all of its manufacturing industries.
OF course, Peacham academy, with its
little endowment of $4,000, cannot
expect to rival at present the St.
JOhnsbury academy, supported, as it
is, by its muniticent patrons but if
the town of Peacham with spirit and
zeal would put its shoulder under the
old institution, it could give it such
lift as would "surprise the natives"
and revive something of its ancient
fame when it was the leading institu-
ton of the kind in the state
The natives of Peacham may be
found in every portion of our country,
and ] am sure that they all reflect with
sadness upon the thought that the
blessed old home of their childhood,
torn and rent by petty jealousies and
quarrels about tritiing and childish
things, is hereafter to contain nothing,
and represent nothing of interest to
them, except the graves of their fathers
and mothers. w. ID. II.
Ryegate.
Many of the farmers in town are
about closing up haying, having Sc