The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-11-01
A Significant Expression.

l is believed that the symposium on
page eight of this issue will be over
looked, or read by i" its title only" by
but very few of the readers of the
WATCHMAN. 1t is significant and in
terestlng to note that, with one or pos
sibly two exceptions, every one of the
business or professional men whose
| views are therein expressed, fifteen
months ago either believed that the
Kelley Institute, which it was then
proposed to establish in Montpelier,
was farce, scheme to get money,
that should be given no encourage
ment, or were impressed with the idea
that while it might perhaps cure an
occasional man who was sf1l cLed with
the morphine or liquor habit, that its
work would not be of a permanent
character, and that probably the Insti-
tute would not be in existence year
after it was opened.
To The credit of those whose views
are embodied in this article be it said,
they have watched with more than
ordinary interest the results that have
followed. They have seen the man
ayers of the Institute pursuing their
work quietly and unostentatiously, they
b We seen them take ninety drunkards
from Montpelier and its immed ate
vicinity and make men of them, with
only half dozen relapses, and these,
it must be confessed, as discouraging
material to work on as any institute
or organization ever undertook to re-
form or cure. And seeing all this,
although converted against previous
CONVICTIONS" some of them, they, with
out exception, are willing to-day to
give for publication such cordial words
of approval and endorsement as may
be found in the columns of this sym
postum.
The answers of these gentlemen
have in no case been "doctored " by
the reporter TO make smooth or in
teresting screed, or one that should be
good advertisement for the Kelley
Institute. With the exception of a
few from whom written replies were
received, these statements are tran
scribed from the steno5raphic notes of
the member of the WATCHMAN staff
who prepared the article, and are, after
condensation in some cases, verbatim,
as we feel sure any one of those whose
names are used will acknowledge.
While they all, without exception,
endorse the Kelley Institute and the
work it has wrought in Montpelier, il
is interesting to note the various stand
points from which the clergyman, the
lawyer, the grocer, the butcher, the
policeman, the justice, the judge-in
fact all whose statements are given
view the subject. 1t is differing en-
dorsement for Manager Foster and
DR.. Nichols, and one of which they
have reason to be proud, showing
clearly, as it does, that the best senti
ment of Montpelier sustains them, and
appreciates the grand work they have
done and are to-day doing.
BY an ingenious system of CORE
spondence, the management of the In
stitute is enabled to keep track of its
graduates, and to know just how many
of them relapse into their former
habits. The record thus far is a grand
one. Nearly five hundred graduates
from the Institutes at Montpelier and
Rutland, about one hundred of whom
were from M )Ptpelier and immediate
vicinity, and less than twenty of these
five hundred who have gone back to
their former habits
Such facts, and the matter contained
in the article on the eighth page of this
issue, answer in language that cannot
be mistaken the questions often asked
in good faith by people not residents of
Montpelier regarding the success of the
Institute at Montpelier during the past
year and half of its existence, and
whether its graduates, as a rule, are
cured of the diseases FOR which they
were treated. AS Rev. Mr.. Webb so
tersely and forcibly says, it indeed
seems to be Goods answer to the
prayer OF the oppressed and afflicted"
THERE are tricks in al! trades, and
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