The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-04-13

CHAPTER III,

Dear Old SITTER: Having given you
two chapters on the "biography" / will
notice few more of its salient points,
but before proceed l thought | would
tell you centre aous) that he had to get a
Greek professor to translate that latin
quotation in my last and thus let the cat
out. One of his weaknesses (pardon) i
should say idiosyncrasies, is ostentation,
and pretentious knowledge on subjects
of which he was blissfully ignorant; of
the first, here is a sample from the biog-
raphy =
"a Baptist for many years, his gifts
for religious and missionary as well as
educational purposes, have not been con-
fined to that denomination, though they
have been large and constant"
Such is the statement, and l can well
believe it, but the object? ah, there's the
rub. At the very time these gifts We're
made, and blazoned to the world by the
press, his poor workmen were cut down
in their wages till it became synonymous,
the one everybody knew, the other was
never heard of outside the sphere of the
poor toiler. He was also "Lecentiate,"
as Chas. X. Field christened him, and
intended preaching, but after that satire,
gave it up as bad job. There is no
mention of this phase in the biography.
| Tn alu ba hoe a,
taken deep interest. He is - of the
Board of Trustees of the Vermont Acad-
emy at Saxtons River, an institution he
has largely supported, and large farm
connected herewith, well stocked with
choice cattle, sheep and swine, which He
lately added to the equipments of the
Academy evinces his skilland intelligence
in agricultural matters"
Here, dear SITTER, is ostentation and
pretentious knowledge in one paragraph.
Now will venture to say he knows near
ly as little about such matters as his dis
tinguished (and extinguished) cotenpora-
nv, Ex-Boss, Col. George Washington
Hooker, who spelled diagonal" so dag
onally, the other evening at the spelling
match, that he was invited to take back
seat, which he did with his usual "genial
smirk."
He presented 'ssky searcher" to the
Academy also, (being an astronomer of
repute) the press in telling the world a
bout the giver and it, states that it is
telescope of 400 diameters, etc. etc. l
simply wish to say, if it is, there are not
five nights out of the three hundred and
sixty-five, in which it would be of the
slightest service, either to examine the
crater in the moon or "separate the sin
gle stars into doubles" as he says. One
of forty or fifty would be far more use
full to the students, the magnifying pow
er of the 400 being so great that it mag
nifies equally any stratum that may be
floating in the atmosphere, and literally
hides the object from view, but then it
fulfills the object for which it was given.
There it is, mounted, He gave it.
The best thing he possesses is his bet
ter-half, of whom there is brief mention,
whole-soled honest woman, without af-
fection or ostentation who detests it in
others, but cannot see it in Him. | can
only explain it by comparing it to Titania
and Bottom in Midsummer Nights
Dream. l hope he will take these few re-
marks in the proper spirit, they are meant
for his good, and l am only endeavoring
| to make him see the wisdom of the old
Scotch proverb.
| Would that God the giftie gle us
To see ourselves, as ither see us.
| When he learns this, which he may dc
by pains taking, then my occupation as
far as he is concerned, will, like Othello's,
be gone, NEMESIS.
| l---------