Morning journal and courier., 1892-07-11
A Word or Two About a Charmin


Old Connecticut Town.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
One thousand feet above the sea, and
three-quarters of an hours ride up the
Housatonic railroad from New Haven, is
the old and we'll known country village,
which in the early days of American his
tory was christened Newtown.
The years since its first settlement have
passed SO silently away that it still retains
its q original, narural, and quiet
country environments and is, becoming
every year dearer to the remembe1ances of
its summer visitors.
The half dozen passenger trains which
stop here daily carry back and forth a con-
stantly increasing number of 'fcity cous-
ins' in search of healthful rest.
The dry air and bracing atmosphere to
be found at Newtown is perhaps it's chief
attraction, while the Waltonians will find
happy recreation in the fish Astounding
waters of Lake Taunton, the rapids of the
Housatonic river and numberless cultivated
trout streams.
Like New Haven, the elm trees are
particularly prominent in Newtown and are
mostly u large SlIo, lOIu1uG d phItl6A aICA
ever the principal avenue.
The well-kept lawns and comfortable
roomy old family residences which line
both sides of the wide roadway give the
place an appearance of old associations,
both pleasing to the eye and historically
interesting.
On the side of the old Judge Blackman
mansion, where Washington is said to
have spent night on one of his rev.
| dictionary cross-country trips, now
| stands the Grand Central hotel, very
comfortable and roomy house.
| Senator M. J. Houlihan, the genial pro-
prietor of the hotel is an exceedingly
popular host, and the cuisine and accom-
modations of the house are unsurpassed.
| Croquet, lawn tennis, driving, fishing
and hunting, in combination with the ex-
hileratingly pure air of the hills, are the
drawing features of the place and serve as
magnet to attract thousands of visitors
from New York, Brooklyn and Connect
cut cities during the season.
Directly opposite the hotel is the Trinity
Episcopal church, whose gray stone walls,
partly hid by clinging ivy, outline them
selves upon the landscape aud form 9
pleasing contrast to the natural scenery.
To the left of the hotel is the Congrega
tional church, wooden structure painted
a pale green and with little Of architectu
raj beauty in its square outline, but inter
esting from it's age, which is over cen
fury.
The main avenue of Newtown is unusu
ally wide and extends for perhaps a mile
in straight line and is quite level.
At the northern end of this avenue is al
elevated plot of land known as "Sunse
Hill" the owner of which has posted
sign inviting call we'll disposed persons
to enter the front gate, which forms tn
entrance to lane leading to the grounds
From the seats on the lawn a view ca,
be obtained which is, I think, without equa
elsewhere in the state.
It is that sort of outlook which is eve
new, presenting some before unseen de
!. light with every visit.
Not to have looked off upon the wild
expanse of nature from the heights Q
sSunset Hill" is to have missed one of tn
greatest features of interest for the love
of rural landscapes.
To an artist it is never ceasing sourc
of inspiration, and ever the most matte
of fact person cannot gaze out and dow
upon the quiet, peaceful, yet impressiv
scene, without conscious sense of re
|; sponsiveness to the charms of natur
spread out like gigantic map beneath hi
feet.
When the golden sun sinks from tn
| view the beauty Oh Cno SKY gives d MdS
nificent coloring to the entire scene, an
each upturned leaf reflects bit of bright
ness as if in haste to add its mite to CON
,, plete the pleasing effect.
Lower sinks the sun, and the crimso
rays of reflection deepen into purple, an
, | then to gray, streaked with thin lines c
lingering brightness, until the harves
moon appears over the opposite horizon
| take their place.
Poets have sung of sunsets and dreamil
followed the silent moor. and the ordinar
business man, who knows more about maj
kets than rhymes, will feel q kindlier 81
t probation of their labors when he absorb
a into his "metallic" system some sense {
!, the beauties which, untrammelled with tt
!, hand Of man, lie free and bountiful at hi
J, feet.
j. 1t is, in fact, to the bold contrast of tt
g God-given country and the man-made tow
that we are indebted for the delight whic
such scenes afford.
As some sage student of human chara
teristics long ago discovered, we are all tt
children of nature, and the forced restrain
of modern city life can never entirely d
stroy, although it may for time eclips
the kinship which we feel for and the III
conscious instinct which turns our eag'
anticipations toward our foster-parent-
the country. D. 7. NJ.