Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-01-30
Great Oaks from Little AcOrns Grow
Poem Read on the Occasion Of the
onening Of the New Savings bank
Building In Newfane Dec. "a, 1854,
BY MILLION DAVIDSON, TREASURER.

BYMnoN DAVIDSON, TREASURER.
tprined IN compliance toith ro,e Of The Trustees
at the late annual mcchngJ
Great is the folly, when the would.be poet sings
OF acorns, those seemingly unimportant things;
A thousand follies Ills, since little poets hnd
Little, In little acorne, pleasing to the mind:
And any acorn, too, Is so like another,
You know any acorn by It's acorn brother
But, o, let me tell you, now tell you one and all,
Not quite alike are they, and though exceeding small
They speak mighty truth-a truth all ought to
And this it is "rsdt oaks from Httie acorns ororn
A truth which indeed In mauy byRone day,
I've heard expressed in slightly different way;
A different but homely way as will show,
And thus 1t reads, "Great aches from lille toe corns
grOW."
Now, once an acorn was, that, you'l agree With me-
From other acorns differed, in some slight iegree
But, that twas an acorn, you never will deny,
If once you shall discern II with the mental eyo
1t sprouted aud has grown Il neither Jest nof joke
To the form and the size Of great, stately oak
The story Of this which long have known,
Aud Of the mighty tree that IRON the seed has grown
III now relate to you, II you will lend an car
will try to make 1t all very plain aud clear
To begin:.-lt so happened in the days Of yore-
or rather three decades Of years, or less or more
That some potentates, who abroad had gained re-
And each the best repute in his own willie and town,
The plan conceived, that they would do a wondrous
And to themselves, indeed the proudest honors bring
Ihese noble poentates, who thought to do the deed,
But regard for the orphans who dwell all around,
Aud our lore Tor the wtdoes, who do 70 abound
The Of all these men, no smiles and no laugh
l will now rehearse to you:--william R. shafter,
Twitchell, Harris and Williams; the honored James
Phelps,
"a lion III courage, but ne'er one Of the whelps
OF lioness); Robinson, one Daniel Read,
Who like great Daniel Of old was prophet indeed;
Rice Perry and Newton the legal L. Walker,
Who brief 10 bis briefs is briefer as talker az
pale faced White man fne number one sawyer;
AndDunkleei and Charles X Field, the far famed law
yer.
These distinguished poteutates, men Of high degree
Planned to raise, II possible, stupendous tree
tree SO tall, well rooted, wide spreading and great.
Ihat an act must be passed by the Green Mountain
state,
The full right to them granting, tthis ISM romantic)
To grow, in Windham County the tree ggautic.
Wise men, at the Capital, enacted the act,
Aud then the good act proposed was act in fact;
Tue act was styled charter, but whether the tree
Was meant for charter oak is unkn own to me.
Now, on a certain day which they before had set
These lordly potentstes Of Windnam County met;
They made the goodly Roberts their Chief Potentate
For he of wisdom was, aud Of good estate;
And the honest wheelock they constituted Vice:
Though Wee, be wasn't vicious, but prudent aud pre-
else;
Custodian, they chose, whose only care should be-
To tend, to nourish, and to rear the giant tree.
A. Birchard was the choice-of noble family
As true as steel he was, and firm as he could be.
He, from little Field, a little acorn took
Aud the name of the Field is in a little book;
Was just two whole dollars; so now tell you so;
Aud this, am told was some thirty years ago.
A. Birchard put the acorn In a little box
1t was one Of those that have little keys aud locks
And as the tree to be grown was at first to be
tender house plant, to be tended tenderly,
In hisbedroom 10 his house, in the little willie
or Fayetteville The good seed swelled aud grew
and grew,
First a shoot, then twlg then tree beautiful to view
So fast grew the house plant Il cannot explain it),
That the house was too small by far to contain it;
AFafHf
Till it came to be seen that different place
Must be sought out, where the tree could freely
pand
Aud send out its long branches on every hand
So was planned to transplant It to different soil
HotWthstanulng ~ woNid cost some money aud tolli
Aud place was selected twas charming spot.
Twas just a little westward Of the Birchard lot;
And on it had stood for many year before,
A well kept, well known, well.to-dO country store.
From the nice little bedroom in A. Orchards house.
Where quietly be had dwelt with his qutenly spouse,
The fresh luxuriant plant with tenderest care,
Was transplanted to new soil just opposite there.
There firmly it was planted there it took new root.
More and more it increased by the inch and the foot
Very stately 4, grew, and grew in beauty too
Ger great Windham County, 1t spread its branches
out:
Its fame was surely known in all the towns about
To It came the widows, and came the orphans, too,
For whom especially the tree 30 lovely grew.
Came there daily-'ts matter of great surprise
All sorts Of visitors that dwell beneath the skies;
Men, women and the children, the young and the
old;
Merchants who lay their plans to take the people in
10 sale of young hyson or of the smallest pin;
Carpenters who use the axe shave and compass too,
Shrewdly contriving to share an d to compass you
Farmers, each Of whom hoes and mows and reaps
and plows,
And butter makes from oleomargarine cows;
Doctors. who deal out powders, sugar coated pills,
That fail to all kinds Of aches and ills;
Minister MN ,h VINO are very, very go9d, y9G anow,
Lawyers, who with fat retaining fees well 10 hand,
Declare, sir you We the cleares case in all the and;
InIu NulR a unAa nod hrfan
But wiser In their own than other peoples eyes;
Bankers, who on other folks money grow round and
Aud sleek and rich and grand, and ell the like o. that
And thus they came, representing ell the classes
Bachelors, old maids, the lads and lovely lasses;
The needy and the lowly, and those well-to-do;
And among them were perhaps, you and yOu and pou.
From near and from lar they came the tree to visit
Each saying on the way, "What, wonder, isit?'
The tree did please them they thought twas their
duty
To aid somewhat in its furthergrowth and beauty.
SO from time to time they came and did contribute,
Giving of their means voluntary tribute,
To be used for sustaining and for nourishing
The wide spreading oak even then so hourishlng.
Some left one dollar each hve or ten or twenty,
Some still larger sums III surely blessed with plenty
One, ten, fifteen, or twenty huudred,-but no more.
The good custodiau:would count them DER and DER,
When received by him, aud as be gladly took them,
He did most carefully as deposits book them
From these contributions the tree grew more and
So that its value in eighteen seventy-four,
Was some two hundred thousand dollars more or
This is fair estimate, and not a random guess.
Then A. Birchard, custodian and honored sage
Who'd the whirl OF eighty years, ripe old age
Aud who for twenty oilsome had proved that be
Was true and competent as any man could be,
with becoming grace gave place TO MS successor
Who, in some strange way was then ycept fF9JessoT
The new custodian tits said was Davidt0son;
But not the man Of wisdom, great king Solomon.
And yet he ought TO be a very solemn one,
Considering all the noble deeds be hasn't done;
Considering, too, who tue dignitaries are
That have boon on his track to watch with constant
care.
Though the new custodian had no skin to spare,
The tree vet continued fresh, beautiful and fair.
1t 90 increased in strength, aud 80 it grew In size,
It's vastness was to all a wonder and surprise;
It's value came to be. with all the ms and outs,
Some four hundred thousand dollars or theTeabouts
In eighteen eighty flour, in very early spring,
Long before the merry birds had begun to sing,
The greatness of the oak did make II very PLAIN
That soon It must be moved, transpanted yet again.
50 then the poteutates were all called together.
They hocked to one place as do birds OF feather;
Different ones were they from those in former days
wise aud lordly in all their thoughts aud ways
Samuel e-in-chief whose chief besetting sin
Is to win from other people other peoples tin,
And he oins FAST his neghbors to their sorrow know,
Though, strangely he has the name to always Vim
Vice Poteptate Oscar great financial boss, sir;
Under advice Of this Vice therell be no loss, sir;
Eager, who is eagerly eager, 1t is said,
To be on the safe side in investment or trade;
Judge Ira, who leads a strange, singular hfe'
Living an old Bachelor with Iras wife;
Joseph, mot he who coat Of many colors had.
BY good Jacob given, when his Joseph was lad,-
But, JOseph's Joseph, about whom no one mas seen
More than single shade-and that greenish Green
Warren, with in his name but peace in his face,
So where Warren is there is no lrdr in that place;
Two we-to-do farmers, a Stebbins and Bruce,
Who, though they pine not have lots Of pine Knott
and spruce
Growing well in their spruce and pine lots for theiI
use;
Iivermore, who surely has bis good name o bless,
For If he is Lver-1n0Te, he's not hyer-less
Whether as a good HUer he lives more, or less,
Than other men, we're too shortved livers to guess
Hugh who though he hews and shaves, meier shaye
aud heirs Hugh
Others he may shave and heie may be he has hewI
The legislator, who by his steady pace proves
That good Philip, in some old Rut-ter other noyes
And A. b. B., who seems to know his a b abs
And makes proof Of wit by sharp shots and bits ar'
dibs.
These digniaed dignitaries, excellent men,
None better could be named by the tongue or the pen
None truer safer or more skilled, II you please
To direct IN the growing Of giant oak trees
All these hOnored dignitaries met together
Caring not for clouds and uupropitous weather.
When assembled In one place, they VIII one accord,
BY vote at declared, in the year OF our LORD
Aud year of good omen, too-eighteen eighty-iour,
That the oak they'd dig up and move, and plant ono
more.
To do this mighty deed, and their behests obey,
Il hey chose Joseph j., Abner b. and Ira X.
transplanting committee; and everyone saw
Their word would be the gospel aud their word th
law.
Forthwith the chosen prepared, as you will see,