The Press., 1888-12-27

Deut B: clause Remember the days of old"
 The reason that Moses, the man of God, gave for such remembrance was that the children of Israel might call to mind the dealings of God with their fathers through their past history, so that by the review their reverence for Jehovah might be deepened, their trust in hIm strengthened, and their obedience to his requirements be more cheerful and become complete.
 This same result ought 10 flow from our review of the history of Gods people in this l place to-day. The Bible is full of the truth that fathers and childTen were the D ,triarchs, and their descendants are held together by an organic bond. With orga- nizations as with individnals, "children $ kchildren are the crown of old men, and the glory of their children are their fathers. Phe poet sAys- 8S
 s'The chi is fatlefp pf the man, I And could wish my days to be
 Bound each to each by nptural piety"
 S with races, and states, and churches, there is that in their beginniDgs like the germ in the seed that shrPes their growth and favors their fruit.
 The formative ideas of the settlers oi this town were those common to the Scot tish covenanter and the English Puritan and in the life of the church, rather than that of the town, should we look for theil ideas to take form and clothe themselves in flesh and blood.
 That which they especially desired, like most of the towns in the colony of Con- necsicut, in asking for town privileges, was with respect to the gospel, that they might build decent house of public wor ship, settle Gods word and ordinances, and honorably maintain the same.
 The town acted as an Ecclesiastical SO. ciety, and the general assembly, like g home missionary board with full powers nursed the feeble church. Roads and bridges had to be built, and the necessi ) ties of life provided; but the great thing was to have church. As matter of fac } the people of Union paid no taxes to tht colonial government till 177S. And al | though from time to time they asked va irons things from that body, they had nc representative in it till inc war of the revo lution. They were content to spend thei strength in maintaining their worship o l God. Let us then trace this story of the past White impartially noting some things no to be copied, we will look most carefHll, for the working out of those ideas tha shaped the beginnings and still prevai among the children who stand in the plac of the fathers today.
 : One hundred and fifty years ago, in tn ' mother country, it was time of peace, al though the quiet was 3oOn to be broken < The treaty of Utrect, had been inforce for fl quarter of century, and was destined t remain in force five years longer. ;. On the continent of Europe there wer .s wars and rumors of wars. Louis XV. ( D ! France was fighting Austria and Russis x to place his father-in Jaw npon the Polls g throne.
 In India the renowned Persian monarch al Nadir Shah, was pursuing his victoliou p way to Delhi, and plundering the Mogr treasures of the accumulation of tw = centuries, the famous Kohinoor diamond s and one hundred million dollars of money : In the religious world there was stil n John Wesley had experienced his notabl :. conversion that he was sure took place { z a quarter before o'clock on the evenin + of Wednesday, June 4, 1738.
 George Whitfield was beginning to sho t. himself famous as preacher, and, as som say, was now ou visit to America, preacl d ing in Georgia, and soon to make his il m fuence felt in New England and throug l. the whole country. 3~
 George the TIL was also born May 2 s 1738, and Geo. Washington was well alon h. in his 7th year. . A century and half seems long tim, '- but hundred years before this church = Union was formed four churches in th r Conn. colony had been growing up, an of four more lacked but one year of centur 1- Windsor, 1880 Hartford 1883 Wetl 3s erstield, 1885; Stamford, 1885; Ne l. Haven, 1889: Milford, 1639 Fairfield [, 1882; Old Say brook, 1639
 IV IIV The first half of the 18th century WI m marked by the organization of church' J- ,- in Connecticut. 113 of the 298 church' to in this state were formed during that D yr riod. The church in Union, if I hay {. counted correctly, is the 1O9th church
 the order of organization in Connection
 Four churches were formed the same yeI
 in the following order: Killingwortl
 Jan. IS; ; Bloomfield, Feb. IA; Harwinto
 Oct. 4 Union, Dec. 13
 At the time our story commences min :. teen families, comprising about 120 pc
 sous, were nestled down among these pil
 clad hills. As from some high ridge or land the eye glanced around, even at th
 season of the year, when oak and chestn
 and maple had shed their foliage, Il ID landscape was still green with the steepI
 like pines, and the darker hemlocks U
 derneath them were the polished leaves
 the laurel, and, yet lower, a living carp cn of winterereen, witchella and ground pin
 while the moss and ichens covered Il . out-cropping stones and iutting rock At almost any point one must have look
 npon a scene of perpetual verdure, wh
 succeeding ridges and Impressions of
 and valley made the landscape look like sea of green wildly tossed by some furio an. tempest.
 In one corner of the town might be SC |. from the eastern hills the gleam of the s - yer lake in it's emerald setting, and to t = westward the high ridge of Bald Hill
 the declining sun from view. The air W
 cVe1 fragrant with the aromatic trees; a
 the advent of spring brought to cheer t IT settlers the bright May flowers peepi V from the leaves and breathing nnrivall fragrance all around. Those
 ''Darlings of the forest,
 Reasoning alone,
 When earth's grief is sorest
 For her jewels gone."
 gR. But Nature must have looked rath
 stern to the early settlers, some of who
 came ten years before the town was incc
 poratcd, and fourteen before the chur
 was organized. Some of them came, s we have been told, from the north of Il
 land, from race not indigenous to t ms Emerald Isle, but of stock transplant