The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-12-27
COM M uNlCATED.
JOSEPH BURR,

"Concerning the dead, nothing un,
less good" This golden annex to
500 to others as you would be done
by has come down to us from far in
another tongue in "De mortuis nil
nisi bonum," Yet at the late old
folks reunion in Manchester it APP
pears to have been quite forgotten or
disregarded at least in the case of
Joseph Burr whose "account book
running back to 1903 was one of the
relics shown, and the book showed
that many of the charges of that date
were for rum and brandy" No idiot
is reported making disturbance in
that reunion by suggesting that Mr..
Burr's account book" could only be
fairly judged by comparison with sim
liar ones of even date and so it is
highly proba BILE its exhibit made and
left on the minds of those $40 and
over and of all holy-horror i'm,
preston more or less deep and abid-
ing. Mr.. Bnrr has gone where the
"woodbine twineth"-a fact not re-
ported, and has no longer any rights
that Manchester is bound to respect
except under the opening sentence of
this article. Manchester is sole pro.
prietor of his cashier soak has
sent its roots abroad and pierced his
mould" But she is not sole proprie.
tor of his memory. That, like the
Seminary he there founded, belongs
in part to surrounding towns and to
the general public and is of and for
the people and the whole people.
For which reason 81 take my pen in
hand hoping not to ruffie the glossy
plumage of any, especially of those
whose fathers or relatives were hyp-
notised before Mr.. Burr's bar OF
counters and when in the hypnotic
state sold goods they didn't want.
Mr.. Burr's front name is never writ
ten or pronounced, "Joe." His
namesake was very exemplary man
whose ocular distinction was "coat
of many colors," but his virtues were
not variegated-they were all of one
color and very light complexioued
and so recorded on papyrus. This
gives a clew TO the parental hopes
and prayers concerning baby Burr.
| When the babe became a man with
all Bennington county and the rest
of the world to choe So from, he chose
Manchester as the best place for his
business, and the ducats he there
scooped up must forever remain a
colossal and shining monument to his
business perspcacity and to the fact
that his fellow townsmen didn't "liye
| by bread alone" When Mr.. Doug
lass joked Mr.. Lincoln because the
latter had sold him drinks, Mr.
Lincoln replied that he didn't think
sit makes much difference on which
side of the bar the man stands" Ii
this be SO Mr. Burr was the peer OF
his patrons aud their credits might as
properly have been .shown among
the relics" as his debts.
| "Thc wisest man the world did know,
| Oh, dearly loved the lasses o."
Yet had his illustrated clothes line,
with its weekly wash of long hose,
been "shown among the relics he
would probably have been considered
very susceptible old soft and his
marriage" for the most part, Il
"faiure." Which tends to show
that the man of yesterday cannot be
fairly and properly weighed in the
balance of today Or if SO weighed he
shrmks little and meme, meme, tekel
upharsin" has to be written on his
weigh bill. Joseph Burr, like the
renowned masher of the queen of
Sheba, should be measured by the
life of his time and not by the life of
our time-by the things that were,
not By the things that are-by teddy
as it was, lot by Equinox cold spring
water or ginger champagne as it is.
SO measured the cloud over the drink
business of his "account book" in
stead of being one of the seven won
ders of the world or "the greatest
show on EARTH" isn't as large as the
defunct noontide shadow of Tom
Thumbs little finger. Whether Mr..
Burr was "born again" and so be-
came kernel of the "salt of the
EARTH" a ward of a ''city set on hill
that cannot be hid' and whether he
was located in his funeral in Abra.
hams or Dives bosom is not within
the writer's knowledge. But "the
lines" fell to him In a very pleasant
place-the foot Of Mt. Equinox and
it seems reasonable to guess that he
was an exception
"To kirk the war
To God more far"
and quite likely expected to give ac-
count elsewhere for the deeds done
there in the body. But it is quite I'M
likely that he anticipated that his &C
| cOunt hook or privatp paporc or eof,