The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-12-14

| MIS-. A. ID. FarWell were presented an af-
CHAN. A supper was given Thursday even
ing, lunch Friday noon, and on the latter
evening Aunt Jerusha's Album " was re-
peated amid the ringing cheers OF the popu-
lace. Mrs. PitlSin added to the entertain
ment by singing couple of old-fashoned
songs. The net proceeds will be somewhat
over $500.
THE entertaining letter from Rev. j. Ed
ward Wright, elsewhere in this issue, will be
read with interest by every one. In private
letter to the editor, Mr. Wright says | am
exceedingly interested in the endorsement
given to the Kelley cure by the WATcHdAN,
and in the reports of its apparent success in
May the good work, now begun, be con-
tinued We ate Thanksgiving turkey and
mnce pie, under the Stars and Stripes
to the inspiring strains of The Red, White
and Blue America Yankee Doodle
etc, in company with about $50 of our
| fellow-countrymen land women), at the
Hotel der Kaiserhof last evening. 1t was
an enjoyable occasion. The WATCHNAN is of
double value to us in foreign land" 1t will
| further interest this man who has worked
in this community for over two decades
with great sef-denial and unabated zeal in
every good cause, and particularly in that
OF temperance TO know that the erstwhile
dens of the vilest phase OF the vile traffic
are to-day used-one as clothing store
another as boot and shoe store, and a
third-the lair of the Spauldings on Elm
street, now warmed and cheerily lighted
is the club-room Of the men attending the
Kelley Institute We read of poetic JUS
| tiCe and 1.-THE eternal fitness of things"
but Justice was never more poetic or the fit
ness of things ever more strilxngly illus
trated than in these transformations of gin
mills into a club room for man seeking re-
form and into places for the sale of those
necessities of which drink deprives its inno-
cent victims.
ID RI.
| to learn that his ballad lecture has found
the same favor among the culture of the
metropolis as it awakened in Vermont.
Mr.. Bancroft gave his lecture in New York
last week, and the following Hatterng
mention was made by the Tribune. cat
Sherry's, Fifth avenue and Thirty-seventh
street, yesterday, an enjoyable afternoon
was spent by the friends of the Messiah
Home for Little Children, in Rutherford
Place, in listening to Frederick w. Ban
croft who explained and sang old English
ballads. Mr.. Bancroft traced the origin of
the ballad and spoke entertainingly OF the
changes in public opinion sometimes
caused by them He sang Summer Is
Icumen In 1850, and this was followed by
ballads of the time of Henry VII, Henry
VIII, Elizabeth, James l., and of succeed
ing reigns. The women who were respon-
| Sible for yesterdays success are Mrs c. S.
Homer and Mrs. William Hamilton Harris,
Among those present were Mrs. Fitz John
| L OrJeT mrs GeOrgb n. custer, MrS. Till
man Collamer, Mrs. H. C. Valentine, Mrs.
A. b. Storm, Mr.. and Mrs. J. Wells Champ
ney, Mrs. Harper, Mrs. Kunhardt, Mrs.
William G. Whitney and Mr.. and Mrs.
Lawrence Abbott" And this by the Post
" Frederick w. Bancroft gave his first lee
ture and recital on odd English Ballads
yesterday afternoon in the lower hall of
Sherry's. Mr. Bancroft, after brief gem
eral introduction, prefaced the rendering of
each ballad with few historical or critical
remarks, and then sang the ballad itself.
All the ballads were sung with fine dis
tinctness of enunCiation and meditation, so
that not a word or infection was lost, even
to the listeners in the remotest part of the
room, In private letter, Mr.. F. A.
Wood writes 1.-THE hall was filed so full
that additional chairs had to be brought in.
The lecture gave unqualified satisfaction.
An old friend of Mr.. Bancroft, who was
there, says she never heard him sing so
well in her life. You can judge of the char
acter of the affair when tell you that tick
cts sold for So apiece"
AT the adjourned village meeting, We'd
nesday evening, George o. Stratton was
elected trustee from the fifth ward. G.
Def. Bancroft had collected 81, $40 of sewer
and sidewalk assessments. President
George w, Wing made a statement re-
speeding the service performed by Mr.. Ban
croft, stating further that under the char
ter the trustees were forbidden to draw an
order in favor of one OF their members for
such service without the direction of the
village accordingly the meeting voted to
pay Mr.. Bancroft's claim of $685. being
the customary two per cent commission al
lowed for collecting these assessments
The customary debate was had over the
size of the tax to be raised. Fred l.. Laird,
Esq, moved that tax of tifty-fve per cent
be levied. 1t appeared from the explana-
ton of the president that in his Judgment
the sum of SIT 800 would pay the ordinary
expenses of the village to March l. 1894.
The grand list is 5000. The tax proposed
would raise, less expense of collection the
estimated aggregate of expenses for the
next administrative period. A highway tax
of twenty per cent under the act of the leg
islature at the recent session will be raised.
So the tax of tifty-fve per cent with the
amount derived from the water works
should pay current expenses and leave
reasonable sum to apply on the village debt
Z. j. Gleason, Esq, moved TO amend Mr..
Laird's motion by substituting forty per
cent for fifty-fve per cent, and argued for
low taxation. Several gentlemen argued
for higher rate in order to extinguish the
debt and stop the interest, when the in.
come from the water works should pay the
current expenses of the village if its affairs
were economically administered The mo-
ton for a seventy-five per cent tax was sus-
tanned by j. w. Brock, j. III. Lucia and
others. Mr.. Gleason withdrew his motion
of amendment. The motion for a seventy
five cent tax was defeated-yeas 60. nays 9S.
Mr.. Laird's motion then prevailed. The
hook and ladder and hose companies were
efficiently organized, the report on the sew
erage question was left where the village
can get at it when the people are ready to
tackle it.
MONTPELIER has finer public buildings
than any other village or city in Vermont
Her opera-house and her business blocks
rival those of much more populous COM
munities. Her private residences and we'll
kept grounds never fail to win the admira-
ton of the stranger who enters her gates.
A grateful air of comfort and hospitality in
vests the mansions of the Montpelier of a
former generation-the homes of those old
families that gave the capital, quarter of a
century ago and more, high character
and an enviable name and fame, socially,
and in business and political circles. Dur
ing the last few years many new residences
of different, a less austere and dgnitied
type of architecture have been reared, at
tractive in outline picturesque in appear
ance, and sheltering home circles az pleas
ant and happy as any that in any land
gather around the family hearthstone.