News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1894-08-16

to-day to celebrate, to ring bells, fire
cannon, dress and parade as horri-
bles, sing songs. make speeches, and
exhibit pyrotechnic designs that it
may never be forgotten that Stowe
has beeninhahited one hundred years.
This even will be so indelibly paint
ed in the minds of the youth here
to-day, that the fact that Stowe in
1894, on the Sth day of August, had
been settled anG inhabited for a cen
tury, will never be forgotten.
Naturally our minds wander to all
parts OF our country to find those
who have gone permanently from
among us to seek fortunes andhomes
elsewhere (; and, no doubt, wherever
they may be, their thoughts are oil
Stowe and what her people here are
doing and saying to commemorate
this anniversary of the settlement of
their loved birthplace.
Many of this class, too, have re-
turned for the day to witness and
join in these appropriate and enthu-
siastic ceremonies. They come to
sit down in the old places, renew old
associations, and to note the pro-
gress of your people /; to count, if
may be, the later coming grey hairs,
and to look into the once youthful
but now wrinkled faces. These tho'ts
are sad to be sure, as they suggest
that some of us are running on the
down grade, and that the day is
drawing nearer and nearer when
many of us will have 'only one more
river to cross"
Naturally, too, our minds must be
drawn back &c the early settlers,
their habits, customs and peculiari-
ties and to the more prominent men
and events of the towns history /;
but these matters have been present.
ed by one far more able to speak in
terestingly and fully than l can do.
| should be glad to speak of Stoves
early and present lawyers, her minis
ters, her educators, her literary men
and women, her Industrious and sue
cessful farmers and mechanics, and
her sons and daughters who have
become eminent in other states and
countries, but | must forbear.
Stowe was settledin a year of great
men and pure government. 1t was
the eighth year of our National indie
pendence. Washington was Presi-
dent, John Adams vice-President,
Thomas Jefferson Secretary of State,
Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the
Treasury, and Thomas Chittenden
was Governor of Vermont. Five
great Statesmen, who, in 1874, the
year of Stoves beginning, were la
boring to give strength and pPrpetu-
ity to our young republic by formu-
lating and executing laws appropri-
ate to her tender years.
The same class of men and women
came to settle this town that came
to settle most of the towns of
New England, an intelligent, hardy,
pure minded, patriotic, law-loving
and law-abiding people. Puritanic,
and hence believers in pure and unde-
filed religion.
From such a class of men and
women there must and did spring a
race of strong, we'll balanced, healthy
and vigorous people, the evidence of
which is seen all through this great
country. All the leading and pro-
ductive states of our land W a
large share of their prosperity to the
energy, tact, and intelligent industry
of New England blood. 1t has
builded towns and cities, created
and managed immense enterprises,
leveleda and tunneled mountains, skirt
ed and traversed our entire land with
railroads, telegraph and telephone
lines, converted electricity into a
means for usefulness and power, made
and maintained good government,
and protected it against the threats
and blows of all foes, domestic or
foreign.
Yes, such was the nature and power
of early New England blood, and
such as coursed in the veins of the
early settlers of this town. They
were a hardy people. Did their own
work, ate coarse, healthful food,
swung the hand scythe and rake and
cradle, threw the shuttle, whirled the
spinning wheel, pulled the flax from
the distaff, wore home-spun, and paid
their debts and taxes in full in labor,
grain, or other products. They were
not tortured and annoyed with or
gained labor. Those were the days
when the true spirit of free govern
ment and our institutions was recog-
nized. Men hired whom they pleased
and men sold their labor to whom
they pleased and on such terms as
might be agreed upon. No one assum-
ed the right to interfere with the privi-
leges of another or toprevent the per-
torrance of labor or other contracts.
Capital and Labor we're believed to
be dependent upon each other and
that contracts between them were
sacred and to be performed. Arbi-
tration was neither necessary nor
resorted to to settle the question
whether a person vas to quit work
or to continue and on what terms
In the earlier days of our history
contracts for labor were ended OF
continued by the action of theparties
and that was final. If there were
strikes they came from the shoulder
Sometimes inflicted in q summary
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