The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-02-07
THE DEDICATION
or the New Town House and Opera Hall
An Evening of Good Feeling ana In
teresttng Features,

teresttng Features.
The remodeleds town house, had
its dedication Saturday, closely follow
ing the program us announced. The
doors were thrown open at 2 o'clock in
the afternoon and despite the storm
citizens to the number of over 3, 900, in
cluding ladies' and good many out of
town visitors. took a look through the
rooms, while the First Regiment band
discoursed music. Gen. Estey, Col.
Hooker and DR.. Holton, the building
committee, were on hand with assist
ants to show the visitors round and
courteously answer inquiries. There
was a plenty of criticism, OF course, on
the points that called for it, but the
general verdict about the opera house
was ''very pretty with wonder that
so good and pleasing an effect could
have been achieved with the money at
command.
The formal dedicatory exercises
opened in the opera house part at s
O'Clock in the evening, Gen. Estey
presiding and the committee and the
selectmen occupying the stage. First
on the program was n recitation,
Poor Dave Sloan by Miss Kate M.
Fisher, followed by a defamation
Chauncey NJ. Depew' Liberal Edu-
cation by Ralph Stoddard and a Sc
lection Then Hush Thee" effectively
done by the quartette, consisting of
Mrs. F. U. Simpson. Miss Georgianna
Cook, Fred Brasor and F. W. Crosby,
with Mrs. McLane at the piano. Then
Miss Alice Willard recited Commodus
the Archer of Rome" and while all
the recitations and declamations are to
be warmly commended, as evidence of
the work being done in Bratteboro
schools, it is not too much to say that
in point of finish, fine conception and
strength and grace Of delivery, this was
the gem of the program. Robert G.
Clark of the West Village followed
with the defamation "Cavour' and
Judge II. II. Wheeler gave the his
torical address which is published in
full in another column. The quartette
gave another selection Tell Ne" and
Miss Minnie ID. Brasor recited "Uncle
Nose Counting the Eggs" AN amusing
thing, brightly and amusingly done and
winning enthusiastic applause, as 1t
deserved.
Then Gen. Estey, as chairman of the
building committee. performed the
duty of turning over the keys to the
selectmen, with few remarks, allud
ing to the criticisms of the work that
have been made and saying, in the
candid, manly way characteristic of
him, that many of them had been well
made and had been useful to the com
mittee, which had done its work as
carefully and cheaply as it
could. They had been fortunate in the
of whom very little com
plant had been made and who had
some few things to do yet to complete
the work; settlement had not been
made with them yet; and some things
were necessary to be done hat were
not in the speculations and the town
owe a debt Of gratitude to II. X. Law
renee who had been more than a secre
tary to them. who had been instead
Of eyes and whose services, volun
tary and without recompense, had been
invaluable He told about the fire
escapes of which there were plenty,
explained that the festival hall was
nearly the same size as the floor of the
old one and regarding the seating
capacity of the opera house said it was
IA on lHc llTst HOtT. -bo III tHt DaI
cony, 22S in the gallery and % in the
boxes, s74 in all, not so much AS at
first calculated, but ample for all or
iinary purposes.
DR.. Webster, in neat little speech
in response in behalf of the selectmen.
the committee on the
of Its work, saying that
the selectmen, whose authority was
the same as the committees. had no !
power to pass on it, criticise or accept, |
out they were not unmindful of the
great anxiety and labor the committee
lad undergone, or of its public spirit
,d sacrifice of time. or of the criticism |
rs we'll as praise that had come. He |
that there had been an
honest effort to do the best in their |
Judgment, and that room, dedicated to |
music and art, was a gem in design !
md detail, and he INDUCED the hope
hat their action would be vindicated
~ the gratitude of the town and
would mark an important step in the
progress of Brattleboro.
And with the singing of America
he audience dispersed.