Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-10-10
NOTES AND COMMENTS DURING A yAeA-
qION TRAVEL.
NUMBER ".
To the Chronicle:
NUMBER ".

I
Salem one may pass the time not onl
agreeably, but proftably as well. Tn
Summer air is pure and healthful
the temperature is of a happy medium
neither too hot nor too cool. True
the remark is often heard among ths
!! inhabitants, This is a very warm day.
but to one accustomed to the lower
ATTITUDES, with the thermometer rising
for succession OF days above 9o0, il
sounds odd to note the difference in
the estimate thus made in classifying
the weather.
1t is a very old city, Of $4,000 or 30,-
600 inhabitants, and as you traverse
thecool, clear, shade-em powered stress
one of the marks OF its antiquity may
be often observed in the extremely
small size of the panes OF glass, 6 by s.
or by 10, in some of the older build
ings. This is the ancient home of
Roger Williams, founder OF the colo
ny of Rhode Island,) and here also is
the house inhabited by him, and from
which he was obliged to flee on ac-
count of the persecution that arose
against him for his opposition to the
theory then prevalent in New England,
that the magistrates had a right to
punish ecclesiastical offenses, and to
impose upon the inhabitants a special
form OF faith and worship. So strong
was this persecution that after spend
ing some years in Salem it was deter
mined to send him to England. But
lie escaped arrest and, finally, with
colony, settled town which he named
Providence; now The city of that name
in Rhode Island. Still the stranger is
pointed by the people of Salem to the
old dwelling of quaint architecture,
where Williams lived, and propagated
his tenets, and Sin one years time fill
ed Salem with principles of rigid sep
aration from the Church of England
tending to Anabaptistry."
Hard by this house, we are also
shown the small house in which, in
the latter part OF the 18th century so
many persons were regularly tried and
condemned for witchery. To us IN
these days it is a most singular condi-
ton of society, and a strange halluci-
nation that seized upon the people of
Massachusetts,, under which parties of
most devoted piety were arbitrarily
accused by the most reckless witnesses
of witchcraft, arrested and tried before |
the Church authorities, and not only |
communicated, but turned over to
the civil authorities, by which they |
were condemned and executed by |
hanging.
During the last week of our sojourn
in Salem, most remarkable scene |
was witnessed by the people of that
place. The descendants of one of the
victims of this diabolical superstition
who were numerous and of the high |
est respectability, held a memorial
service in honor of this person, a lady
of the most undoubted piety, who, hav
ing been charged with witchcraft, had
been hanged. 4 monument was erect
ed, and not only the immediate pos
terity of the lady, but a large assembly
OF the citizens of Salem and the county
OF Essex, were present to listen to
eulogy delivered by an eminent ora
tor. 1t is hard to believe in this age
of light and knowledge that such out
RACES should have been common as
history records they were, in a cauntry
professedly Christian. And yet the
wonder that they occurred in New
England may we'll cease when such
things were occurring in the mother
country, and thousands OF persons con
victed OF witchcraft, were executed,
and when such godly man as Baxter
should pronounce one an infidel who
disbelieved in the crime of yitchcraft
and such il Jurist as Sir Matthew
Hale should hold it to be a real crime,
and one deserving the rigor of the law.
We may dismiss this topic with a sin
gle remark, and that is this: The
present New Englanders undoubtedly
discard the belief in the reality of
witchcraft, but there is trait of char
acter stll cleaving to them, under
which they are notorious for originat-
ing more fantastic isms, and propa-
eating them far and wide than any
people under the sun.
AS regards the permane zee of the
original type Of the population of New
England, there has recently appeared,
in wldely-circulated and very influ-
entail journal of New York some strik-
ing and interesting statistics, accom-
panied by comments which seem to
point to very remarkable revolution
silently and rapidly progressing in the
character of the people of Massachu-
sets, as to their origin and country.
1t is said that owing to the sterile ma
ture of the soil and the gradual dim
mutton of the profits of their various
manufacturing enterprises, the young
er men are vending their way west
ward, and that their. deserted places
are now occupied by an influx OF for
eign population, especially of Irish
descent, and that this state OF things
has been in progress long enough to
bring into prominent positions of po-
litical eminence, even native Irishmen.
instances of this are fur
nished in the facts that the present
mayor of Boston is an Irishman, and {
one, and perhaps two, of the congress {
men of Massachusetts, now represent !
ing the state, are Irishmen So thatit
is suggested as something that may, at !
no distant day, occur that SD great a
change in the origin of the population ,
may render it no longer appropriate ,
to call it New England, but rather
New Ireland.
Were we to characterize the people, !
however, by that which casts the most ,
shade upon their national |