The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1884-04-11
ApD1soN COUNTY NEWS.

ADDISON COUNTY NEWS.
Interesting Political Matters- nistory q
tho Sheep Shoarlng-A Temperance Cru
SADIE for Middlebury-Gin Mtllss Bltiiar
Rooms and skating Rinks Draining tn
Purses OF tho People-Review OF Forme
From our Special Corresp sndcntl
MIpDLEBuRY, April 0, 1884.
/ The sheep shearing here last week, y bcin
the third annual meeting for o public sbearin
. Of sheep held by the Vermont Merino sheep
breeders association, Is generally conceded =
have been by all sdds the biggest thing or tn
kind ever known. The sheep building. belong
ing to the association, and built by 1t for tn
special purpose Of holding such meetings, is tn
( largest, best and best-arranged building OF TN
kind in the world. At the meeting last weel
its pens were filed to overlooking with the bes
sheep of the best flocks in Addison county
which Is saying Of the best fi0cks In Vermont
which is saying Of the best focks In the uni
verse. No such splendid and valuable aggrega
ton of mernos as that brought out to this cx
hibition was ever before covered by one roof al
the same time. All of the famous and wealthy
sheep barons OF Vermont, with hut q few ex'
ceptions, were represented by selections from
their flocks. A very few OF the older WOO
princes Of Addison county, like Rollin j. Jones
and Merrill Bingham of Cornwall, were con-
S have grown old in the harness and perhaps 1t Is
to he expected that they should now think OF
retiring and leaving the field clear to the young
II 'ermenai The younger anu more active men are
capable OF wearing and honoring the mantis
which has fallen upon their shoulders, as is
manifest from the success of this years shear
Ing and exhibition.
The interest shown in the exhibition by the
general public was something unique and
and curious. People fiocked in from all direc..
tons in spite of mud and slush, and scores or
persons who could scarcely tell the difference
Between a merino sheep and Shetland pony
came to town from distant places to see what
kind Of thing an Addison county sheep shear
ing might be. Men hung over the sheep pens
for hours who had not money enough to buy the
poorest sheep among them all, and there were
hundreds in the pens. The exhibitsof various
thousands Of dollars, and the exhibits as whole
represented the equivalent of vast sum OF
money.
No prizes or diplomas or chromos are award
ed to the owners of sheep making the best rec
ords at these shearings. But 1t Is still good
thing for the owners of Vermont sheep that
they are held, inasmuch rs an authentic record
of what our Vermont merinOs can really do Is
thus obtained, and every year prominent sheep
dealers from distant states gather here at the
shearing, as they then have an unusually good
opportunity to see and examine the king bees
OI Tue HOOKS anu uldkt ulcIltdl ueNlOrdHud
with view to future purchases. A complete
record Of the shearing is printed each year by
the association, and these records, as well as
the meetings at which they are made, help
greatly to advertise the sheep and their owners.
The records contain in tabulated alphabetical
order the name of the owner, name Of the
sheep when it has one, name of the sire, the age,
the label number in the flock, the weight of the
fleece, the live weight after shearing, the num-
Der OF days growth and the length of staple
and fiberof every sheep sheared. The records
can be compared year by year, and it u.s. easily
found in this way where there has been gain
and where there has been loss in any given di-
rection.
Prominent among the sheep men who were !
present from abroad was Gen Lester B. Fanlk- |
ner, of Danville, N. Y. MI Faulkner will be |
remembered as the Livingstone county member |
of the New York Democratic state committee,
of which he was for several years the chairman /
Daniel Manning, of Albany, two years ago.
Faulkner is bright, keen, active fellow, and
considerably older than he looks. He is
ready and entertaining talker, and his powers
as conversationalist always draw crowd of
listeners to his presence when he chooses to
display them. OF late years Gen Faulkner has
taken great liking to sheep breeding and he
now has fancy sheep con the BRAIN cmphati-
ally. He has gone over to the Republican po-
'ition on the tariff question, at least as far as
the tariff on foreign woods is concerned and 1t
was he who drew the memorial to congress
adopted by the merino sheep breeders at their
asst annual meeting here in January praying
congress to restore the duty on foreign woods to
he figures CT the tariff of 1867. 1 find, how
yer, that neither he nor any other prominent
heep man has any confidence that congress is
.oing to help them any at this session. Mr.
Faulkner took home with him twO-year-old
we which he purchased from f. N. Bissell of
horeham during the sheariug and for which
q paid 5000.
Professor William II. Parker Of Middlebury I
olege has been quite ill for several weeks, bat t
now growing better slowly. Every person
Tho ever came into contact with him will hope q
lat he may be speedily restored to health. AL {
,ost Immediately after his graduation from
lis college in 1885 he was appointed tutor in
le institution and was soon afterwards made
Ill professor, filling the chair of mathematics,
hich position he held continuously down to
bout three years ago, when increasing years !
ad rendered it necessary for him to lay down r
le burden of active duty. He is still nominal
connected with the college, however, and is !
easurer of the institution. TO the college he j
as devoted all the days of his health and his \
rength, and it may truly be said that Middle G
ury college was the joy and pride of his life. :
is safe to say that no other man who ever '
we'd in this town has enjoyed for SO long a /
sriod as much of the confidence and esteem of )
i its inhabitants as has Professor Parker. +
The chances seem to be that we are soon to =
i've three roller skating Kinks in town, and h
lildings for two of them are to be especially
ected for them. With three skating Kinks. q
rec billiard rooms, two or more gambling h
oms in which poor players are skinned OF q
cir money at draw poker, and with dozen or n
ore places in town where rOt-gut liquor is Il
Id, it would seem that the youth of Middle a
Try is not in want of places enough in which n
swap off their spare cash in exchange for rec f.
ations and refreshments. Indeed, some OF .,
EN- are said to dispose of more cash in these a
rections now than they can earn, and the g
ystery is where it can all come from. Lest n
ere should be, however. a lack of oppor tuni 8
IS for getting rid of their money, still another 4
hiding, which is understood to be intended for -
gn-palace and billiard hall, is in course of " :,
ection and will soon rear its handsome and "
ltely front aloft on Main street. All things
Middlebury promises to become a
mping, bowling town, and bids fair to reseln-
a section of Cincinnati or Chicago or some
her wild city of the west. d
Speaking OF these matters reminds me of the a,
ct that we are to have series of temperance N
ceilings here, the leading card being the Rev ST
c. Frost of Norwich, Conn, the meetings to w
mmence on the 18th inst. Mr. Frost has been =,
and H. N. Bryant came into Vermont from ~
aine and did good deal of Temperance work NJ
the state. Bryant, who was UNNECESSARILY Il,
G brighter of these two young men, was
illiant and fascinating speaker and he would
aselessly denounce strong drink as the com
on enemy of mankind. But he had great G
We for this common enemy and it is well W
,own that he died of the delirium tremens p
ortly after returning to his home in Maine n
ON his last temperance tour in Vermont. G
.ost is fair speaker, but have heard many Il
better one. at
But what do our temperance people expect to th
lin from this new series of meetingss | con- M
IS that after good deal of deliberation l am til
liable to divine. 1t is true that good many tI
untry people will be drawn to the village