Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-06-19
BOSTON LETTER.
The Old Gunboat Brooklyn to be
Broken Up.
Liquor Legislation. n.--Low Fares
to Detroit, etc.

The old gunbOat Brooklyn lies at the
dock of the New York & New England
Railroad in this city awaiting the vandal
hand of a junk dealer, to whom the bat
tle-s Scared old vessel has been sold for
few thousand dollars. When | re-
call the services of the gallant old
ship in Mobile bay and before New
Orleans, the act of conSigning the
BROOKLYN to such hands seems like
sacrilcge and the bascst ingrattudc on
the part of our government, and it is a
wonder to me that some measures are
not taken by veteran naval associations
or G.. A. X. men to prevent such desc
Grafton of the noble fleet that bravcd
the iron hail of the rebel
forts. Beside preserving them as
mcmcntos of the most terrific
naval battle ever fought, thousands of
dollars could be realized every year by
taking them TO the various scaports of
TIE country and exhibiting them. The
greatest interest would centre in such an
exhibition, and a nominal admission fee
to the decks of a vessel which witnessed
such fearful carnage aS did those
of the Brooklyn would fill
the Golfers of those who managed the
enterprise. In Lieut.. kinney's report
of the fight he says: THE sight on
deck was sickcning beyond the power
Of words to portray. Shot after shot
came through the side, moving down
the men. delaying the decks with blood
and scattering mang!cd fragments of
humanity So thickly that it was difficult
to stand on the deck, so slippery
was it. Tne old expressions OF
the 'scuppers running blood, the
slippery deck etc, give but the faint
est idea of the spectacle The Brook
lyn's loss in killed and wounded on that
memorable occasion was "a, IL of whom
were killed outright The loss in Killed
on the flagship Hartford in that engage
mcnt was greater than that on the
Brooklyn, but only about unc-half th"
number were wounded One poor
fellow on the latter vessel lost both
legs hy cannon ball: rs he
fell he threw up both arms, Just in time
to have them also carried away by
another shot. BravCr hearts than those
of the men who manned the guns of the
Brooklyn never beat, and the memory
of those who fell should he preserved by
Keeping the gallant old ship from de
stluction as long as possible. The gov
ernmcnt could we'll afford to donate
these old vessels to naval veteran asSo-
Citations or Grand Army posts for the
purpose have suggested. and perhaps
it would if asked to do so.
The Great and General Court of the
Commonwealth has been prorogued
CHATS English, you know, for adjourn
nc). An immense amount of business
has been transacted, but the value of it
TO the state is n matter which it would
be difficult to determine. One or two
laws enacted, however, will sound queer
to the archTologist who cNCavatos on
Beacon Hill centuries hence, and
one of them is the stat
ute which requires a person
to stand up while taking his potations,
in contradistinctiOn to the one which, 4
wear previous, cNactcd sitting posture
while indulging the bibulouS propensity
Whatever the moral or physiological
effects of the respective positions may
be do not pretend to even conjecture
but it seems to me that the state
has had matter of much more vita
Importance before its legislature
and which has been neglected for the
sake of tampcring with the liqNor qucs
ton. The long and short of the whole
business can be summed up in few
words. Traffic in liquor is either rigEr
or wrong. If wrong, it should not be
tolerated. If right, it should not b,
surrounded with obstacles nor made the
object of restrictive legislation any more
than any other business. Forty year,
of experience has, to my
mind, demonstrated the worse
than folly of restrictive legislation
in regard to the sale of liquor, and {
century more of the same experience
will only serve to prove that the true
solution of the question lies In individua
responsibility for acts committed undc
the influence of intoNicants and the per
sonal efforts of rcformcrs with those nd
dictcd to its excessive use. High license
low liccn &c or no license have never We
had any perccptiblc effect in diminish
ing the sale of liquor, but kind wore
spoken at the right moment to tin
victim of the habit often has.
Rivalry to secure traffic over tn
several lines of railroad at the approach
ing national cncampmcnt of the G.. !.
r. mt Detroit. Mich, in August, has re
suited in making very low rates of fare
| hear that one line makes. the iigur
Sc for the round trip. That's chcapc
than walking, and will result in fllini
the metropolis of the Wolverines wit
more veterans than the city will be abl
to properly care for.
Balnum & Bailey's circus was the nj
traction here last week. The greg
Snowman, of course, was not with til
exhibition in person or spirit, as he ha
the greatest faith in printers ink, whii
the present managers seemed to ignor
the fact that the great Barnum alway
declared that he owed his success in lif
to its ludicious use. The local pres
was almost entirely ignored in the gi,
ing out of advertising, and the conrtesit
extended in previous years Were gene
ally withheld. Ozv0TA