Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-06-25
E. D. Coe, in his paper. The Whit,

E. D. Coe, in his paper, The White
water Register, refers to his recent
visit to Watertown and vicinity as fol-
lows:
A short time since the senior in COM
pany with his father visited the old
home of the family in the northern part
Of Jefferson county. The first night
was spent at Watertown, and, through
the courtesy of a friend, we had very
delightful drive about the city Water.
town was always beautiful of location,
and of late years, as it's people have
taken courage and seen their way clear
out of the trouble wrongfully entailed
upon them a generation ago, in the
form of an enormous bonded indebted-
ness, they have been adding rapidly in
the way of substantial improvements.
upon both the residence and business
streets. There is no more industrious,
thrifty community i'll the state than that
of Watertown, and it is pleasure to-
see its people begin to reap the reward
of their labors.
The next day we rode away up the
river seven miles to the old farm, which.
as the writer first remembers it, was n
| mere clearing struggling for expansion
In magnificent wood of oak and ma
| pie; but now it lies broadly and richly
in the full sunlight. The log house had
gone with the woods, and fine brick
structure stands in it's place, with sub
stantlal barns near by. A neatly
dressed, bright faced girl, who spoke MS
| words of hearty welcome with pretty
German accent, was not the least at
tractlve OF the improvements. The,
river alone seemed unchanged; it ram,
as swift and clear as when our eyes first
beheld 1t. And on the bridge mile
below two men leaned over the rail.
spear in hand, looking intently into the
flying water, just as they did forty years
-passibly they were the same men,
And not far from the bridge is noble
spring, and wildly came back the MEM
ory of walking there one morning ID
gather pussy willows Our cormpax-
ion was tall Scotch girl with light hair
| and pink cheeks who sang ''Auld Lang
Syne' as we walked. Her father had
been rich merchant at home and was
trying to rebuild his broken fortunes
in the woods of Wisconsin. But be-
reavement here followed calamity
there, the family was scattered, the
most of them falling into plain, unro->
| mantle lives; but the girl who sang Was
sent back to Scotland where wealth,
duO ulSu oOCidl Talk nave D60Hn6r D0f>
ton. She was twice our years in that
day; We hope she is not now The lit
tie village of Pipersville looked clean
and well kept, but scarcely larger than,
when we had to go there for the mail.
A gray haired man claimed that he
used to be our seat mate at school. but
we knew it could not be true. And the
old log school house, of course. was
gone, but near the same site stood a.
| plain frame structure which had taken
its place. And across the road still re-
mained a section of the woods, the
same grand Rock river woods, of tall
maple treesand thick grass underneath
just as they were when we knew them
in that early day. We drove on to the
little graveyard and here soon found
why we had met so few of our old
friends about the village and on the
road: The necessities of growth had
required no plated addition to the VII
lage boundaries, but not so here. the
| area had been doubled in extent and
all thickly peopled. We are tempted
to moralize, but that is the signal that
enough has been said, and so we halter
and tie our pen.