Morning journal and courier., 1889-09-16
OLD LITCHFIKLD.

and the other in the purse of capital"
 OLD LIToHFIRLD.
 Its Green and Streets-Its Prominent
 People and Those Who are of ne Ac-
 cOuRt-Land-The True L1tchAelder,s
 Self Su6ering-Mount Tom.
 L1rcHFIKLD, Sept. 12. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 From the Green North street runs up a very slight elevation to the north; South street runs wee bit down hill to the south; East street plunges down tremendous hill to the east, and West street runs down long hill to the station, then up again and down again till the village limits are reached. Where the streets meet is not bit pretty. On the northwest corner is the ugliest jail in New England. The jail should be some where else and out of sight. Tho southwest corner is the business corner. The stores are new, brick, third-class, ugly. Still after eda On the other corners are old country houses, out of repair, poverty stricken, shabby. The Green itself does not look spruce. It Is irregular, without character, hard to explain, not bit tidy or nice as New England Green ought to be. In fact the impression one gets, standing in the very center of the Green, ia that tke town must be sick. The town is sick, and there is no use in trying to conceal the disagreeable fact. Sick, of course, is not the proper word. Stagnant is better.
 The fine residences are on North and South ! streets. On South street are the Seymours, ! the Woodruffs, what is left of the Wolcotts | and their kin and afilistion. On North ! street are the Demings, the Perkins, the Van | Wrinkles and all their clans and followers. ! There are innovators, but innovators do not | count in Litchfeld, and that is just one of the reasons why the town is stagnant. To | the northwest of the town are the domains of the Goddards, the Whites, the Fitzger- | aids and the Van Wrinkles. Further west is ! the Sidney Dillon estate. To the south and southwest are more Whites, all the way to ! Bantam Lake and around goodly part of it. Running west from North street and near the end of it is Prospect street, a superb street for residences. But at the corner is the Deming property. tied up with entailments, while nearly all the rest of the street belongs to the Whites and the FitHgeralds, who won't sell foot of it for any price, though they are away and their houses remain closed. They have English notions of land proprie-
 torship. Very good notions in their way, | but very bad notions when applied to an American village. Another reason why the ! town is stagnant
 Land on North and South streets, if sold at all, is sold for city prices. One hundred dollars front foot has been refused for land
 on North street, and the memory of the re- fusal is a morsel of extatic sweetness in the
 mouths of all the old families. There is ri- | valry between North and South streets. 4 ' -sfraatar if th0rouCh North .streeter
 would prefer house in New Jersey swamp | to one on South street, while a South | streeter would not swap his simple abode fol the whole of North street. People on Eas ! and West streets are never heard of. No
 body knows, or wants to know, who they ar ! or how they started. On West street, no far from the railroad station, is the summe
 hotel, still partially filled with summer Phi
 listines. An eye-sore to the genuine Litch
 fielder. He does not like strangers or sum | mer visitors. He is perfectly satisfied witt
 his own society. He would live and die, anG
 have his great-9randchildren' great-grasd | children live and die in the same old way l If people want progress, clubs, balls, eanita. " hydraulics, casinos, dinner parties or any ! other of the appliances of modern social civ
 ilization let them go to Lenox. A genuine
 Litchfelder can turn up his nose higher thal ! liberty pole at Lenox. One is a bit rs
 minded of the New York chap who pro | claimed that ne would ratnef DOCK pao eGt
 in the Union club than fork the best of de ieunees elsewhere.
 Nothing a genuine Litchfelder enjoys nor
 than being a genuine Litchfelder. He car sit still and hug the sensation all the da,
 long. He loves to bask in the radiance O
 his own self-suf6ciency. There is no partic ular period of Litchfeld history more at
 tractive than the present period; no particu lar Litch6elder more worthy of regard thai himself There have been historic periods and historic personaQes. The Liteh6eld pc ! rio ds and percentages are the only ones wort mentioning, and that only because they wer . ! of Litchfeld. Better to be the humblest 0 ! Litchfielders in the most ignominious of pc riods than the most renowned of outsiders Ii
 the most glorious of epochs. The tru Litchfelder knows very little about the out side world and cares less. If you want t. ! make him hopping mad speak comparativel, | of Watertown, Salisbury. Washington or Nor , folk. AS dependencies of Litchdeld he ma condescend to be aware of their existence 3 l but only on the condition that the suprema ! cy of Litchfeld in every particular be full | recognized. If Norfolk should claim to be 3 few feet higher 1t would at once be erase from the Litchfelder's map. If Watertow z should boast of 8 superior hotel it's door would be sealed. Many wretch has bee exiled to Washington, Pomfret or elsewher 8 for daring to mention outside places appro1 r ingly in Litohfelder's presence. They ma r have come with bags of shekels, proposin to buy lands and build thereon, and thus {
 contribute to the towns welfare. It make no difference. Their sin cannot be pa doned. Never again shall they breath Litchneld air By the by, Litchfeld air 7 the best, the purest and the most health n giving air in the world and Is manufacture
 exclusively for Litohfeld
 am told that if you can once get insio of Litchfelder's shell you will find warl l. heart and cheerful understanding. Br o you have got to approach him from th = Litchfeld point of view, and to but yer e few outsiders is given the grace and the p' n ! tience to understand and master the process ,r Externally the Litohfelder is eminently r # spectable His looks are majestic; his d
 meanor, grave; his example, pious; h 'e words, few; his salutation, stately. IT 'e happiness all the rest of the world Is sti
 pursuing he has apparently found. Mo
 happy Litch6elder. When one of them do ,f condescend to recognition of the ways aI .. manners of the outside world he is certainl
 charming individual.
 One fact must be chronicled. A ne 7, house is going up on North street! It ,d enough to take one's breath away I kno
 but the most unexpected will sometim happen. That makes the second house wit D. in three years; and still the barbarians a a cuse Litoh6eld of inertial
 all Mount Tom is as round, az fat, as jo
 and as lovely as ever. It is the most nat VI ral thing in the world to feel decided af, to tion for Mount Tom; not suggestive afe G. ton, but direct one. The spot where y ,s+ were relieved from the further necessity '' prosecuting dissgreeable love suit will ne course always be dear. Whatever sen
 ments are recalled there will certainly be
 sense of thanksgiving. You may be sr- minded that you were an ass; still you , , assured that you are an ass no longer, o eloriously independent. For Mount T. is- your regards are different. You love Mot ,es Tom for himself. He has exactly the rig he size, shape and position to excite the war o est affection. He is just far enough away 'e- be attractive. He is not too high; just hi ra- enough to walk up comfortably. You f a grateful to the dear old thing for being K. higher. And when he takes you up on . broad back you are reminded of the ( 'n' phant's back of circus days. Then he sho sp- you one of the prettiest views to be cir anywhere. There is nothing rugged of jagged, or ill-natured about Mount To
 He ia smooth and round like a well-fed, 'us nevolent old uncle. Come and see him. by FERNANDEZ