The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-09-03
TOM HUGHES COLONY.
The aIauucr of Life ia the eaiet Pre-
cincts of Rugby I'auIt-E:nsiins
N-.rturs

tiyes" to me: Them buIHeaGed En-
g.ishmen over { Rugby treats Us folks
down here likes if We weren't no ac-
COUNT
have been ST Rugby long enough
TO have a fair knowledge Of men aud
| things here, and If these English do
| place such a light estimate upon their
| immediate ncighborS / can't see how
| they are to blame Tor it. But ii any
| misunderstanding snoGld exist be-
| tween English and American settlers
| it is much to be regretted. The En-
! glishman will keep on saying, The
| queen, God bless her, Is he may have
| right to Go. The American will i'm
| agine his neighbor from over the water
| docs not adore the Fourth Of July
! hard enough. That's about the sub
stance of their difference.
These natives around Rugby are a
queer and peculiar lot Ia such
healthy, highland country you might
! expect TO find a hardy robust people
| after several generations on the soil.
| On the contrary, they are rs sad and
! sicklv looking u crowd. both sexes
1 considered. as this continent can afford.
If you meet group OF them, maio and
! female, you are at first puzzled to tell,
from their odd and outlandish appear
ance. to which race-white, red, or
black-they really belong. They own
a few acres, working at it three months
| of the year, Just to get the barest
necessaries OF life, and spend the re-
mander of their time III hunting where
| game is too scarce TO tempt all ener-
! getic sportsman.
| The population OF Rugby is about
$50 to 400, and only about half of them
are English. The others are settlers
from the North, and one Kentucky
| family. The natives, so far as it can be
! prevented, are not allowed to 'roost'
on the Rugby estate. Two or three
colored people are located here and
| make themselves useful in laundry
work.
The town site of Rugby was laid out
| and the settlement-It ought hardly to
| be called coiony-was begun Octo-
Der. 1880. l think, considering the
| great obstacles they have had against
them, the settlers have done remark
ably we'll in less than five years. The
| place has not advanced as rapidly as
ii might have done, but it has not been
the fault of the many who are here
hard at work. They nave had pleas
ant and healthy climate in their favor,
and little il anything else. The fame
of Rugby has been cOequal with that of
its founder, Mr. Thomas Hughes. But
the London company who furnished the
| money to buy these forty thousand
acres, have not, as | hear, done what
| would have given the place the full
benefit OF its infant rcnuWn. For one
thing, very high price put upon the
land, according TO common report,
has driven away hundreds OF persons
who had actually come 10 settle here.
| wish | could speak a better word
for my OWE coUntrymen, who are resi-
dents OF Rugby, but am afraid | can
not For instance, some viii come
here from New York or Pennsylvania
or elsewhere, build q fine house and
lay off an elaborate lawn around il, all
by hired labor. Then they make no
effort at any kind OF business, but shut
themselves up in their homes and
rrumble at what they think the En-
glish don't DO, and tell visitors how
much more an American company
would have done. Other Americans
here, OF the working class, seem TO be
waiting for something to turn up. IN
this list | would not include one blue
grass farmer who, 1t appears to me,
leads them all in industry and thrift;
nor the "commissary" (storekeepcr), Il
live Boston Yankee. Also two or
three ONO people here are doing well,
but IS usual ticY viii seize on 10 the
positions that are To be had: one is
commander-in-chief OF a saw-mill, and
another, lady, is the librarian of the
Hughes library.
| think | can safely say that the
greater part of the work of clearing
and cultivating the soil has been done
by the English. In this the rector of
the parish sets q good example He
and his several able-bodied sons al
ready have hundred acre farm, or
rather garden, in an excellent state of
tillage, all the labor of their own hands.
1t may be rather a strange sight for an
Episcopal clergyman to be at it, day
by day, blowing and hocing, and may
be moving, but it can be seen at Rug
by.
The complete failure OF Mr. Hughes
novel plan to make Rugby q place
where the dissolute younger sons Of
aristocratic English families could re-
form and grow into industrious Amer
lean citizens, seems to show in what
way history, after nearly three centur-
les, may repeat itself. We read how,
about 215 or $50 years ago, another
London company sent out fifty adven-
tuTerS to start colony in the new land
called Virginia When their leader,
Captain John Smith, looked over his
cOlonists he found them listed. forty
gentlemen and ten laborers. The first
thing Captain John did was to kick
the gentlemen out of the colony. Then
he wrote back to London: send me
forty laboring men" When this was
done the colony thrived and grew
great Tie most of the Rugby Young
sters did not wait fox Captain John to
come around, and the .'bullheaded"
fellows have generally succeeded them.
These English lads, the half-dozen
or SO who are still here, are an inter-
osting study. Meeting one of them in
his free and easy garb, you would
think he was a tramp, and be entirely
undecided the instant you heard him
speak. They are the devil-may-care
sort OF fellows. who have done the mil
tary and naval part of the British en-
pire. They are kind and generous to a
fault, and will work all day and half the
night Tor anybody and everybody but
themselves. On tho slightest social
occasion they viii dotf their tramp
clothes, and disguise themselves in a
swell suit. and wear it, too, as if born
IN II, swalloWrail, white tie, and dia-
mond stud complete, ana then you d
think they We're off to the queen )
drawing-room, by JoYei
Ii | had more space l would have
more TO say about the ladies of Rugby.
| could commend them for their fine
social qualities and strict domestic
habits. The English exclusiveness
prevails, and consequently the ordi-
nary village gossip is hardly known.
1t Is due mainly to their Influence that
no intoxicating liquor of any kind, or
in any way, has ever been sold here
The nearest drinking-shop is seven
miles away. Therefore. Rugby has no
need of n town marshal or policeman,