St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-09-27
MISCELLANY.
THE PROUD PRINTER OF KUN
MERSOLTHAL.
Kummersolthal was unusually excit-

THE PROUD PRINTER OF KUN
MERSOLTHAL.
Kummersolthal was unusually excit-
ed.
How such a happy town could have
taken such a name as Kummersolthal,
or sorrowing vale, | was for a long
while unable to determine. Knowing
that a town famed in primitive time,
and given SO expressive a name as
borrowing vale," was sure to have an
entertaining legend, and being special
ly interested in the study of nomencla.
ture as far as it related to the names
of places, l decided to stop over a day
in one of my annual trips up the valley
and solve the mystery that to me ap'
peared wrapped up in the name.
A little inquiry at the village lnn
disclosed the fact that there still re-
sided in the town one of the old citi.
zens, whose mind, though feeble OIL
matters pertaining to the present day
was still young as to the impressions
received in youth.
Signifying my desire to see the ole
man, the keeper of the inn pointed GU
his ancient home, and, dinner over,
started for his cottage. He was seated
in his doorway, and to my "gOod after
noon" asked me to sit down and rest
1t was not long before | adrOitly led
the old mans mind back to the sunny
days of his youth, and in his story OF
old scenes, he rave the ancient legend
of Kummersolthal.
1t was to the effect that more than a
century ago, a young German came,
with his young and charming bride in
to that beautiful valley. There he
built him a cabin, and curiOusly select
ed a site by the river side, just where
the suns first beams struck in the
morning and its last rays fell at night.
There for ten years they resided hap
ply years they were, too, though their
nearest neighbors were miles away
A bright little boy Don made the
fathers and mothers heart rejoice, and
the young father was very proud and
happy.
One day, when he returned from his
work in the clearing, he found his
wife murdered by Indians, his child
stolen away and his cabin burned. The
shock overcame the young husband
and father, but alone he performed the
sad funeral rites over his murdered
wife, and then plunged into the forest
to search for the destroyer of his peace
and for his lost child. 1t became a
mania with him, and for years after,
hunters and trappers used to tell of a
half-crazed man that they often met,
who was always on the tramp, eagerly
looking for something he could not
find, and when addressed on any sub
iect a tear would start afresh in his
eve, and he would sadly point in the
direction of his old home, and utter the
single word "Kummersolthal."
This, in brief, was the legend that
the old villager told me, and at the
close his mind became lost in his an
cient memories so that he forgot my
leaving him as | found him, absorbed
in thought.
This was years ago. The town then
had two thousand inhabitants, but il
was so snugly nestled in the valley and
had beer overlooked by geOgraphers,
stumbled I'VE it at all. Returning to
the inn, | made note of the legend in
my record book, and, as L paid my bill
the polite landlord presented me with
a copy of the Kummersolthal Gazette.
| remember reading it with interest,
and wondered at the printers ingenui-
ty in getting into his little sheet so
many things of interest and l remem-
Der distinctly, too, that in each item,
no matter how gay on the exterior,
there was a sOmething-what L could
not tell-that showed it was written
with q sOrrOwing heart. Had l time,
1 should have called to see the printer,
I'D n-a rSal %~ 1ol-o AL4 ~ I'll If
mysterious sadness that appeared to
underlie this gay exterior and which
he evidently labored to conceal. But
l left the village, and in other places,
mingling with other people, l forgot
the village, the legend and the Gazette.
Now, after ten years. absence, | found
myself at KummersOlthal again. In
stead of the peace and quiet that reign
ed when l left there, great excitement
prevailed, and it was evident to the
most casual observer hat something
unusual had happened. followed the
crowd over the bridge and down by the
river side, and | found the people gath
cred around an implanted cottage on
which vas an aged sign, so washed by
the rains of time that it was with diff
iculty 1 could decipher the words
"kummerSOlthal Gazette"
From a citizen l learned that the day
before the paper had failed to appear.
Somehow everyone felt disappointed.
For more than twenty years such a
failure had never happened. Every
Wednesday at precisely four o'clock,
p. M, the papers were delivered at the
p~ostoffice by the editor and his son,
who silently returned home.
One thing vas certain, the Hummer
solthal Gazette was missed. No n
thought of going down to see why it
had not come. OF late years the editor
and his family had appeared to shrink
more from society. They were con-
sidered exclusive and proud. A lively
mar with black whiskers, who evident
ly prided himself in knowing all the
traditions of past years, informed me
that the editor and puny wife came
there some twenty years before. He
was thought at the time very eccentric,
from the fact that he wanted to find a
certain point of land where the suns
first beams struck in the morning, and
the last rays fell at night in fact it
was where the young Germans cabin
stood a century ago. That spot he
wanted. He purchased it at a high
price. There he erected a house, made
part of it an office, put in type and
press and made the Gazette the expo
nent of Kummersolthal industries.
But the Gazette had failed to appear.
Thursday came and some one pass
ing the cottage noticed no signs of life,
and tried the door but failed to gain
admission.
Matters were talked over at the viii
stores, and finally the beadle of
the village, accompanied by a crowd