The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-10-29

Those who attended the golden wedding
of Hon. and Mrs. John Bailey at Wells
River on the Dist, found the occasion de
void of the pathos which often attends
such gatherings, when the evident feeble
ness of the aged couple cause the visitors
to realize that only a brief span of life re-
mains to them.
But it required positive proof that this
sprightly couple had been married fifty
years. remember hearing Mr.. Bailey
say i'll May, -twenty-seven years age
that it seemed to him but a little while
since he was married, and that he was
growing old fast. He has not spent much
of his time in trying to grow old evident.
~, but he whispered in mine ear that the
secret of his vigor lies in the fact that he
has had such good wife all these years
while Mrs. Bailey, instead of setting hel
daughters an example of growing old
gracefully, actually persistsl.in Hooking
younger than ever. W fgl7
Mr.. Bailey put on the vest in which he
was married, merely to show us that his
growth during fifty years has been moral
and intellectual, and not physical.
At an age when most men retire from
active service, he is still attending to a
great amount of public and private bust
ness. He can point with pride to a long
career of honest service, faithfully rend-
cred, such as falls to the lot of few men.
OF early advantages he had little, but
took thorough course in the school of
hard work with necessity for a teacher.
When about twenty he went to Boston to
work, and his great-uncle, Samuel Pow
ers, laid his hands upon the young mans
head and said, soemnly, MY son, if sin
ners entice thee, consent thou not" This
admonition Mr.. Bailey claims to have
kept.
When he married, he brought his wife
home to his fathers farm on jefferson
hill, and remained there nearly twenty
live years, when he removed to Wells Riv-
er and has engaged himself in public bust
ness and the settlement of numerous es-
tates. He was constable and collector of
taxes q years, lister 3 years, selectman 3
YEARS and was 26 years sheriff and deputy
sheriff. He was elected town representa-
tive from Newbury in 1S69-70 and 1884 and
state senator in 1885, serving on impor-
OF the committee on the grand list while
senator.
He has always been a stalwart republi-
can, but his family is balanced by having
son on each side of the political fence,
while son-in-law Clark, who is of the
democratic persuasion, is understood to
have perched on the top rail during the
last presidential campaign.
Mr.. Bailey was post master at Wells
River during HarrisOn's administration,
and has been director of the National
Bank of Newbury twenty years, and a
trustee and vice president of the Savings
Bank five years As sheriff he won a
great reputation as cool, determined of
fetal, and his successes in bringing evil
doors to justice are too numerous to be
even mentioned. His most noted achieve
ment was his capture of the Barre bank
robbers. The story is too long to tell here
but it was cleverly planned and skillful-
ly executed piece of work, for which he is
to have been handsomely re-
Such is the mere outline of honorable
service to which he lays no claim other
than that of honest intention to do thor
Oughly whatever he sets out to do, and he
has accumulated a very comfortable prop
erty as a support for that old age which
seems in no hurry to OVertake them.
Better than wealth, they have reared
sons and daughters who are like their pa
rents, and have set an example of industry
and perseverance which the young men of
Newbury should follow.
Mr.. and Mrs. Bailey with others of their
family are members of the Congregations
ii church at Wells River, itself branch
Of the historic "First Church of Christ of
Newbury and Haverhill,'' of which three
If Mr.. Bailey's great-grand-fathers were
The earliest members. F. p. w.