Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-08
RELIGIOUS STATISTICS.

 B. Porter, has issued to the publishers of the religious press a circular designed to facilitate the gathering of correct sta tistics, one point of which refers to the seating capacity" of the church editice What should be done would be to as- certain the number of Sunday morning services held in each church with the average attendance at each service. Few Protestant churches have more than one Sunday morning service. the notable exception being ill the Episcopal church, in many of which in larger places there is an early service of com munion attended only by those who are there for the purpose of receiving the sacrament of the altar and who gener- ally attend the preaching service held at a later hour. They would be generally counted twice in carrying out our sug- gestion, but this would not make very appreciable difference in the whole country.
 On the other hand Catholic churches which have but one celebration are in small places while those i'll towns and cities have from two to six celebrations, Taking one church in Waterbury as an illustration there are four celebrations attended by at least four thousand peo- pie. The same in comparatively true of the three other churches.
 Statistics from which deductions can T. l, f- ho af,,11 compiled and the census should be suf ficeintly explicit in order to avoid mis- leading conclusions. \ total of church attendance based on the seating capacity of the edifice would be unsatisfactory. SWEDISH COLONIES IN VERMONT. The state where butter and cheese m ost abound is, according to the reports which Commissioner Valentine is re- ceiving from the local listers, in a more deplorable condition than the public was willing to believe. It did not seem pos Sible that in towns not far from the market, rich and fertile farms could be had for less than $5 an acre, and that 5C of these farms, containing an average
 
 each other in single or adjoining towns, that whole colony of Swedes could be accommodated, to their hearts content, in some of the best sections of rural Yer mont. But actual reports from these districts show that in the very center of that state the depopulation has been sc great that a considerable part of the country, admirably adapted to agricul- ture, has long since been growing up te forest, and can now be had for a song with even the buildings thrown in This state of things is deplorable and it may be reasonably doubted whether the people who have abandoned these farms for the fa1 west have gained so much as they an ticipated when they left the ancestral home for pioneer life. At any rate, il seems reasonable that if they had applied to the management of these deserted farms the intelligent effort and the con tinuous industry which they put fourtf ln new places, they wonld have founC fortunes nearer home, and central Yer mont to-day would be found to be ont of the best agricultural sections of New England. These Vermont farms arc not differently situated from the sam, farms in towns like Watertown anC Litchtield in our own state, and in those towns it is difficult to find farmer who is not in good circumstances. The re mote districts, where good land nestles il and around the hills, have fortunes in store for those who have sufficient en- ergy to secure them. Whoever converses with the people in New England wht apply as much energy to farming al they would to any other important busi ness will find that farming in New Eng land, if not quite what it once was, i still an occupation that is not to b, sneered ar.