The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-01-16

son, John Maxwell, M. ,. strong ana II. Il. |
Marble; Middlesex, william Chaplin, j. B.
Hills and J. II. Holden Moretown, G. B.
Evans, George G. Evans and Walter Lamphere;
Mortified, S. II. Kent, w. II. Morris and Frank
Kimball; Waitsfield, Reuben Bates, J. |.
Palmer and Norton d. House; Waterbury, G.
E. Moody w. E. Marshall and Joseph Sop-
Warren, James Edridge, N. N. Rob-
inson and L. E. Hanks 1t was voted to hold
the next annual fair Tuesday and Wednesday,
September 16 and IT, on the usual grounds in
Waits6eld. A meeting Of the directors will be
held at the Congregational vestry in Waitsfeld,
Saturday, January 26, at ten clock A. M. All
premium orders must be presented to the
treasurer before the close Of the fair next fol-
lowing their date to receive payment.
THE eighth annual meeting Of the Vermont
Merino Sheep-breeders' Association was held
at Middlebury on the Sth inst, with the presi-
dent M. B. Williamson of Cornwall, in the
chair. With but few exceptions, all the promi-
nentsheep-breeders, not only Of Addison county,
but of the rest Of the state as WELL were on
hand and many prominent sheep men from |
other states we're also present. The secretary's |
report showed one hundred and ninety-two ap- |
plications for membership during the year,
with only six of that number rejected. Pres
ent membership, twelve hundred and two, six |
hundred and thirty Of whom belong in Yer
mont Net receipts for the past year, about
5000 in excess of the previous year, and ex-
penses much larger The assets of the association
are now estimated at SO, 1925 Samuel James
of Weybridge was elected president for the
coming year; Frank More Of Shoreham and j.
L. Buttolph of Middlebury, vice-presidents;
Albert Chapman, secretary; Virtulan Rich of
Shoreham, treasurer. There was some con-
test over the secretary's salary; but it was
finally fixed at so, 500, the same as before. The
association adopted a memorial to congress,
rehearsing the bad effects Of the repeal of the
wool tariff of 1867, and asking that body to
"grant us relief, and restore the duty on for
eign woods provided by the tariff of 1867
PROFESSOR STARR said last week that the
sole secret of success in performing his tricks
was to attract the attention of observers to
some other than the real point and, while eyes
were thus averted, the performers 8 opportunity
was deftly improved. We explained recently
| that the Argus and Patriot was endeavoring,
| by similar methods, to extricate itself from the
unpleasant dilemma in which its indiscreet
boasting had involved it. Our inexpert con-
temporary renewed its efforts last week to dis
| tract public attention while it withdrew from
its exposed and ridiculous situation, with the
only result of fixing the gaze of a laughing
community more steadfastly upon its uncon-
cealable embarrassment. 1t has been mas
queradng in lions hide, but no illusionist's s
art could now persuade people that those ears
and that voice are part and parcel of the
king of beasts" 1t had SO long cheated the
people, by its clumsy simulaton into the be-
lief that it was real lion, that it had, itself,
begun to take stock in its own fraud. Now
that the delusion has been ruthlessly dspelled,
and folks see that it is entirely another kind
of quadruped, its confusion is distressing as
we'll as extremely diverting. To cover its cha
grin at being smoked out of its disguise. it sets
up a loud clamor about this, that and the
other, of which people care nothing at ALL but
vouchsafes never word of information about
the alleged Z" chiefs of the ring" the very
thing about which every one is dying to hear.
An ancient proverb says: :" A coward boasting
of his courage may deceive strangers, but he
is laughing stock to those who know him. "
This seems to be exactly the plight of our con-
temporary, especially since its swelling proc
lamation of its "Duty to Republicans" and
the invention of its amusing fiction of a cru.
sade against the chiefs of the ring OuI
distracted contemporary, in half a dozen lines
could have accomplished what in several col
umns OF Dragging and wriggling it has signaly
failed to do. When it gives some reasonable
proof that " the glove which clothes the good
| ri inht no nd xuh avfa n 10 Vii Il
a mailed glove" as it loftiy says, and that il
is mailed" with something more chivalri(
than soft-soap, and that its powerful and
tenacious grip" closes on something more in
/ carnate than ring spois, then its high-blown
pretentions to warfare against "chiefs o
rings may obtain some credit Our advice
to our esteemed contemporary is to drop bras
and shallow pretences, and either expose th'
: "riDg" in earnest or forever hold its tongu,
about its own pussance and its disregard O
. feelings of fear or favor" In other words, /
it would stem the ebbing tide of prestige among
even those who do not make nice distinctions
) in the matter Of courage and honor, in th
language OF the street, let it put up or shu
up" There is nothing "hyperbolical " o
/, " metaphorical" about this.
A PRETENDED newspaper correspondent, tenn
porarily stopping at Lowell, Mass, has sen
several highly sensational dispatches to tn
= New York, Pittsburg, Chicago and CLEVELAND
papers, which have been widely copied. Tn
| nrst OF tne HctlOnS purpOrteu 10 OeScrlDe al
) elopement from North Chelmsford, aboundin
; in dramatic situations. The second sensation
. was a long account of a triple tragedy in Mort
. Andover, in which husband killed his wifi
> and the latter's paramour, and then killed him
: self. The third story described the deadly en-
, counter of the son of an English earl with
>. she bear in the wids of Maine, both ben
found dead The details of this adventur
: were decidedly fishy," The latest fabica
Q ton was telegraphed from Lowell last weel
[. Tuesday, giving sensational account Of
:, | physicians experience with an Andove
"ghost," which proved to be an insane French
man The Lowell Times says "There Ia nc
q one iota of truth in any Of the yarns referre
to above, and all have originated in the fertil
) brain OF one Thomas Addison who has been l
n this city since November, being detained her
o by his mothers illness. He is about thirt
A. years old and smart appearing. Being inte
viewed, he admitted the authorship of those rC
!: mances, and said he did not send them q
9 legitimate news, but simply to cater to th
s morbid and sensational tastes Of New Yor
and western people. He got well paid, an
y that was all he cared for. He also made th
IL assertion that half the sensations which th
% northern papers publish of narrowing an
"a romantic incidents in the South and West al
~ manufactured by as accomplished liars as hin
IL self IL is such exploits as these which brin
Is journalism into disrepute and tend to destro
d confidence In reliable news.
,r Personal.