Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-04-10
a1istellaueuns &eadiug.
Correspondence of the YOrkville Enquirer
LETTER FROM NEW ENGLAND.

CROMWELL, CONN.,, MARCH Z5.--ny ldot
letter left your readers considering the
sports of New England. Since the 9th Of
March l have been introduced to other
sources of pleasure. He who should now
attempt to walk across the Connecticut
River would need that Presence which
Peter had, when he would walk to the
Master, on the sea Of Galillee. The ice is
all gone. 1t has been just short while
since, in balmy atmosphere, under
genial sun, had quite a taste of the enjoy
ment our young friends here have from
boating; my companion was of that sex so
apt to be admired by our sex, who owned
"Coral'-light and free, and who furnished
the motive power, as if to ply the oar was
joy to her. Many young ladies have their
own boats, understand their management,
and are thus independent of the young
men. From the mistress Of the "Corap' [
took my first lesson in rowing, very much
to her amusement, and very much to my
fatigue. Since my last,
THE WEATHER,
then exceedingly cold, has now begun to
wear spring-like aspect. The snow has
all made its disappearance, revealing to our
eyes, in places, the first efforts of the grass
to be green. The migratory birds have ap-
peared. Robin, "red-breast," and his fami-
ly, or as many as have not fallen prey to
the "slung-shots," and shot guns, of South
ern boys, seems to be favorite here, and his
return is regarded the infallible heralding
of Spring. He makes the North his home
until the beginning of Winter, and so great
is his attachment for home that he and his
mate have been known to return to the same
tree, limb and twig, for the construction of
their home, year after year. The coming of
more pleasant weather exhibits to us still
more of the
INDUSTRY
which characterizes New Englanders. Ev-
erybOdy works. In the homes we find most
Of the ladies doing all their own domestic
work. Gentlemen Of means as well as those
without, may be met with their dinner
buckets as they hurry to their places in the
factory, the quarry, at the bench, or in the
field, and have seen fewer idlersand tramps
than have ever seen elsewhere. The young
ladies are not ashamed to work, and suffer
no compromise of their character or respect
ability, by making an honest support for
themselves. Here, too, there is industry in
saving as we'll as in making. The practical
demonstration of the trite axiom, "take
care of the pennies, and the dimes will take
care of themselves" may be seen here.
The penny enters largely into all CONNER
cal transactions, and not infrequently enters
the contribution plates of the churches. If
sugar is fifteen cents a pound, half pound
is seven or eight cents, and not ten; and
when the little fellows draw on papa's treas
ury for the wherewithal to purchase candy,
penny is given, and it seems that the child
how li,,1r ,.b Of ~ fba
average South Carolina boy thinks Of "a
nickle." This industry and economy would
be fine capital in the South, where / have
often heard the remark, "Northerners would
live on what is thrown away by the South
erners." 1t seems to have been the out
growth of about three causes, viz: Sharp
competition in all branches Of business, the
necessity for each one to work in order that
he may live, and the greater cost Of living
here. These industrious people find en-
ployment in the
FACTORIES
which characterize this portion of the North.
Here in our town of about seventeen hun
dred inhabitants we have large establish
ment, which contributes to the happiness
of the little folks, am told, all over the
United States, and even across the great
deep, by the manufacture of all styles of
iron toys. Employment is given to at least
one hundred men and women. Their agent
is to sail in few days for the promotion of
the business in Europe. There is also located
here the Cromwell Plate Co., manufacturers
Of electro silver plated ware, which en-
ploys about fifty men and does business of
about fifty thousand dollarsa year. Through
the kindness Of one of the employees have
enjoyed a tour through the factory. Com
mencingin the moulding department, where
the fire, antimony and copper are COM
pounded to form Britannia, of which their
presses which take advantage of the MALE
ability Of the metal, and transform the
blocks of several inches thickness to sheets
as thin as desired; then to the spinning de-
partment, where the circular flat plate is
shaped to order; then to the solderers, where
the parts are put together from the solder
ers to the plating room, where electricity is
employed to aid the Britannia as it appro-
PIRATES to itself the precious metal from the
bars; then to the engravers and burnish-
ers-by hand and machinery-Where we be-
gin to see the effect of so much labor, as we
behold the beautiful, bright castors, ice-pitch-
ers, cake e-baskets, butter-dishes, &c. At last
we have completed the the circuit in pack
ing room, where the goods are made ready
for shipment to all parts of the Union, and
where we begin to lose our conviction that
the price of such ware has always been ex-
orbitant. 1t costs not a little to make the
attractive silver-plated butter-dish, which
ornaments our table, from the metals in their
original state.
Though our town is small, and known
but a few miles away, there is much of an
INTERESTING CHARACTER
attaching to the place. On Prospect Hill,
q lofty aminnnca in the Northern norton
of the town, was located the school in which
Samuel Woodwork, the Printer and Teach
er, employed his gift; and on that hill was
the we'll, where the poet-printer and teach
er, as he waited one day for his noon day
repast-the muses. banishing noisy boys and
girls-penciled those lines on "rhe Old
Oaken Bucket" which have won the admi-
ration of the world. The bucket, though
"iron-bound" is gone, for it was in 1919 that
it hung as an "Old oaken, moss-covered;" )"
but the well is there. A gentleman who
saw the author as he wrote still lives here;
and the lesson to the young, to use the mo-
shall last. Here lived also Kelsey, who
first applied the propeller to steam naviga-
ton, and Redfeld, the originator of the
process for foretelling the direction and time
of storms by the course Of signals; and
here lives now w. w. Riley, the inventor
of "Riley's Patent Railway" which prom
ises in time to revolutionize the whole sys-
tenn of railroad construction because of its
simplicity, cheapness and safety. We have
not time and space to describe it here; but
Mr.. Riley would be glad to furnish infor-
nation to those who may desire it. There
are others we might record here, but charity
for your large circle of readers causes us to
fOrbear.