Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-05-19
VermOnters at Home.
A speech which Brought Down tn
House"

A speech which " Brought Down the
House"
[Col. J. H. GouldinR's response at the banquet of
the Chicago Sons of Vermont to the Vermont
Press excursion, Hotel Endeavor, Chicago,
Tuesday evening, May q.
| ought properly to preface this subject
by the remark that, strictly speaking, many
of them are now here in Chicago with us
all, or say, samples, of the good-natured,
pleasant-spoken Vermonters, the mere men,
ton of whose nativity is the passport for
favor anywhere in this country. "Where
are you from?" vermont" "Give us
your hand so am l." Is formula repeated
everywhere all over our broad land.
Now, Vermonters at hJme, for | must,
l suppose, allude to the sentiment by inn
plcation at least-as my memory runs
back over the years that have silvered my
locks and bowed my form, and as you can
see, as the old Indian put 1t, have in more
senses than one, killed me at the top
Vermonters at home, was going to say,
the larger part of them, the hard-headed
hard-handed early-rising, agricultural gen
teman; at daylight calling, "Boys, boys
get up; time to milk them critters again.
Some of them even, as | have heard, drop
ping corn by the light of lantern held by
sleepy, nodding, shivering boy. And
then, the chores done, the ceaseless round
according to the season, begun, wood cut
ting and hauling, swinging that old dull
scythe on rainy days in the weeds and
thistles, boiling the sap in the old cauldron
kettles, slipping around in the old snow
paths, gathering with that old neckyoke
and the two buckets, hauling one in diverg-
ing directions-yOu remember the yanks
they gave you'll used to think 1t was called
a neckyoke because 1t made your neck ache
so. Then how nice to fill your boot with
syrup as you crossed the wall on the way
to the house, where the women, with never
ending stir, sugared it off, But this is all
ancient history now; compare it with the
methods that have made that little state
the sweetener of all the rest, famed among
them all.
The muddy game of ball on Fast day, the
Governors Sunday, religiously observed;
the spelling schools, the singing schools,
the sleigh-rides, with the discreet, silent
hills and the winking stars looking wisely
on; the country dances in the old cheese
room before the invention of the creamery
and factory, all these and many more rise
before us as we recall the Vermonters at
home of other days-now how changed.
His is a sedentary pursuit. He rides the
new farm machinery, not perhaps with the
abandon and grace of his western brother,
but well enough for his contracted fields.
All the modern Improvements have dawned
upon us. The feminines are wise with
Chautauqua, yea, with Smith and Wellesley
learning; societies flourish, the county fair
has been evolved into display of stock of
all kinds, animal and human, simply Won
derful whichever way one looks. There is
no variety of flower but grows in wild lux
uriOus profusion on our ladies' hats; no
language but our daughters easily murder,
or torture into writhing unacceptable
shapes. The click of the typewriter, the
stony glare or downcast glance of the stem
ographer, the modern "Hello, Central, buzz
up number 999-9 again" has penetrated
our wilds, and Vermonters at home are up
in the business race, well toward the front.
What they don't know about scales, and
organs, and butter, and celery compound,
and SPAWN cure, isn't worth knowing;
while their marble and slate go all over the
world; lumber and spring water, with just
little fizz in it, you know, are among the
immensities there.
Vermont reporters know everything that
is going to happen before it occurs, just as
they do here or anywhere else. Vermont
editors hurl metaphorical figures of speech
with as much vigor as any, keeping a
weather eye the while on interested sub
scribers. Club rates, with the club thrown
in for the author of spring poetry, are in
vogue there. They even roll in the luxury
of Wagner cars, accompanied by the fifty
cent porter, observant, cute, careful, want
ing to know, you know, and generally find
ing out. Oh, they are great, especially at
home. You know them as we'll far better
than | let's give them rest. They are
here at the Exposition, or are at home
waiting to hear about it, vastly proud of
every achievement, every success of their
sons and daughters in the wide, the bound
less, the once wild and woody, but now the
booming, blooming West.