St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-06-04

and sang in the early morning. After an
absence of nearly third of century
revisited the never forgotten spot. The
old stone wall, weakened by the frost OF
thirty winters, had fallen down. The old
apple tree had disappeared. new
growth Of bushes and naples had taken
its place but the bobolink through all
those years had chung to its ancient
haunt and once more, with a strange
mixture of pleasure and sadness, lis
tened as the beautiful bird flung out upon
the buxom air his old familiar song of
10y and love! The people of Peacham
came of good old Puritan stock and had
all of the virtues and few Of the faults of
the early settlers of Massachusetts, and
Connecticut, from which states they
came They were little cold in their
manners. They had no patience with
the freaks and pranks OF the academy
students. If they loved one another they
never made any violent demonstration
of their affection. They were all church
goers and eminently sound in the essen
tails" of the faith of their fathers. They
showed their Puritan ancestry and pro-
clivities in nothing more clearly than by
their UNI Christian names. Peacham had
it's Adam, Abel, Enoch, Seth and Zadok
and even Noah had survived the flood Of
time and had his namesake there. Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob were represented;
but the comparatively decent Esau was
somehow forgotten. Moses, Aaron and
Joshua were familiar characters in the
town. David, Jonathan and Joab, even
the victimized and murdered Uriah, all
had their representatives. The ancient
prophets, those grand old political and
religious retormers and other famous
characters of Hebrew story were not for
gotten and Peacham had its Joel, Amos,
Obediah, Ezra, Zachariah, Nehemiah. Jer-
emiah, and Ezekiel. Daniel, the appela-
ton of an ancient worthy who had the
Yankee "cuteness" to confne his prophe-
cies to events which had already taken
place, was popular name.
No man or woman could be found in
town who was not more familiar with
Old Testament history than with the
history of their own times. No baby
was in fashion or perfectly lovely" unless
it bore an Old Testament name. 1t is
reported that in the early days Peacham
mother gave birth to triplets and it was
decided by the pious parents that they
should be named after the three ancient
worthless who had such a pleasant time
in the fiery furnace, and be called respect
lively, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
But before the day for the christening
arrived the lucky little cherubs-to use a
phrase of dear old Isaac Walton
winged their fight to other climes."
One old Scotchman of the Cameron clan,
weary or Disguised with this biblical
nomenclature, if l may give new mean
ing to the word, swore great oath that
the next child born in Instantly, whether
male or female, should be named after his
infdel friend or idol, Thomas Jefferson.
In due time the child was born, but alas
to the great chagrin and disappointment
Of the free-thinking Scotchman, it was
girl Nevertheless, faithful to his oath,
he named it Thomas Jefferson. The child
grew to become beautiful and brilliant
woman who married a citizen of
Peacham, whose name, if given, most of
the old students Of the academy would
recall. History gives the earlier Thomas
Jefferson the credit of being the father of
the democratic party, but this later
Thomas Jefferson had the unique and
greater honor of becoming the mother of
numerous and worthy race.
Sunday was great day in Peacham
forty or fifty yearsag On that day the
venerable citizens of the town and the
academy students gathered at the "Bell
church" and it literally became meet
ing house" of all the people. There David
and Asaph read their psalms. There the
boys raised Gain" in the gallery, tying
knots in the bell rope, while Abel at
tempted to ring the bell below. Then it
was that the ancient legend was reversed,
and it was Abel who had malice and
murder in his heart. How the men and
boys gathered around the door of the
church on Sunday mornings to witness
the motley arrivals there! Delegations
came from he south part" and the least
part" temperance people from Water
street, economical people from Penny
street, and very nice people from Fucker
street, and glorious girls from every
where with the roses Of health upon
their cheeks and blushing as if they had
been clandestinely kissed by breezes from
Devil Hill. AS the bell ceased to toll, the
minister assembled the pulpit, the congre-
cation quietly gathered into the building
and as the last new bonnet moved up the
broad aisle" and became located in its
waiting pew the services began.
O holy Caaba of my youth! The ex-
hortations, the prayers, the music
heard within thy walls have never been
forgotten and the pictures of the features
of the dear old friends who occupied the
familiar pews are all fresh in the gallery
of my memory and will remain there
foreverl
One custom obtained at Peacham before
the clock was placed in the tower of the
church, which none OF the older students
OF the academy can have forgotten-that
survival OF the ancient curfew-the ring.
ing Of the church bell at nine O'Clock al
night. At that hour, summer or winter
year after year, the sound Of the great
bell echoed over the hills of Peacham.
often wondered in my youth how the
old sexton dared on dark and stormy
nights to go to the lonely common or
the hill, enter the dismal and gloomy
church, surrounded by the graves of the
dead, to ring that curlew bell. Otter
since those early days as have thought
of this custom l have been reminded o.
the musical lines of Moore:
Those evening bells Those evening bells
How sweet tale their music tells
OF home and youth and the early times,
When first heard their soothing cl INES >
How many times when seated alone If
a distant farmhouse, winter evenings
reading by the light of single tallow