Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-01-06


BACK.
GENEsEo. Ill., Dec i2, 1887.
EdHors Of 1he Phpnir.-I am always
glad to get The Phoenix. 1t comes weekly
and has for the last several yenrs | read it
with interest every week and am especially
interested in the items from Wardsboro and
towns adjacent to IT, Stratton is my ma
tive town notice that the copy before
me is of volume ~. which makes The Phu
nix 81 years Of age aud upwards thus Civ
ing it rank among the oldest publications
now extant in this country.
II ~ years ago the then editor of The
Phoenix had mailed a copy TO some points
in Illinois it would probably have reached
its destination in six or eight weeks if, in
deed, it ever reached it. Friday, the ninth
inst, you mailed to Inc Il copy of The Php
nix, and this Monday morning at { o'clock
the 18th inst, | have it in my office in Gen
eseo, Ill.,, which is nearly 100 miles from
Bratteboro, its starting point. Hundreds
and thousands, yes, about 1900 different
newspapers are now published in the Unit
ed States a greater number, indeed, than
are published in all the rest of the civilized
world. The Phoenix has kept on in prog
ress and up in growth and influence with
the thousands of papers that have started
since it began aud holds an envable rank
among the best weekly papers of today.
| And | am glad that it does. If its name
should perish | would feel as if had lost
an old and tried friend The Phoenix is
| the first newspaper that | ever saw. In
those early times it then got as far up as
Stratton. While boy | in part learned to
read by delving through its columns. What
influence 1t then had upon me, or what in
fuence it now has upon the young reader,
neither you nor | can fully estimate. The
great moral questions have always been
ably advocated aud defended in the col
umus of The Phoenix. And the political
God bless the paper, fighting in season and
out of season, "without fear or favor for
purity in politics and morals in government
affairs. Wholesome views promulgated
weekly by The Phoenix for more than
half of IA century doubtless have had much
to do with the high moral and political
character of your state. mean our state,
for feel Vermont as much my home as
any place. though have not been resi-
dent Of Vermont for p years.
Now it occurs to me that | have lately
seen in your paper mentionings of persons
returning from Dakota and other parts in
the Northwest to again take up their abode
in their native state. have never thought
it wise for people comfortably off in Yer
mont, as most of them are especially per
sons somewhat advanced in life, to break
family ties and old associations Of home and
friends for new country. do not blame
a person for wanting to return from what
seems "A boundless prairie in Dakota, rich
only in soil, destitute of hills, or forests, or
fuel, or building materials, or good water,
or running brooks, or cool springs. | do
not blame him for longing and hankering
to be again among the hills, the rocks, the
forests and the clear pure streams of Yer
mont. Vermont is, and ought to be so es-
teemed, the Italy of America but to fully
appreciate that fact one should live on a
treeless prairie for time.
Truly, GEO. f. WAITE