The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-07-06
etc, all Of whom were his per.

lei Niles, etc, all OF whom were his per-
sonal friends.
In 1888, most of the name emigrated,
with the patriarch, to Ohio. Several OF the
sons lived to great age, the last and young
est dying a few years since, at ninety.hve.
In 1883, on a sloppy March day, Gen.
Walton drove to the mills and engaged the
writer as an apprentice in the office OF the
VERMONT WATCBMAN. 1 remained but q
few weeks, as my family were to remove to
Ashtabula, Ohio, and l decided to 90 with
them. e.. 7. Walton, IT, was editor: He
studying law. A young "jour" was named
Houghton, aud l think 1t was he who, in
his paper at Galena, named Grant for the
presidency. Knapp and Jewett printed
the (anti-Masonic) Journal, and Isaac Hill
on q new Washington press, and an old
Ramage stood in the room. 1 have a sam
pie now OF q piece OF test work given me
by Gen. Walton, "McDuffie's Oratory."
Perhaps you can find 1t in a paper Of April
or May, 1888. 1 saw the site of the State
House being prepared for the foundation,
but never saw the building. Lieut.. Gov.
Egerton was superintendent and foreman
OF the work at three shillings per day-the
only instance OF that official ever receiving
any remuneration, perhaps. Montpelier
was then an official nest, rather crowded.
Senators Prentiss and Upham, with any
number Of judges and ex-judges, with the
full complement Of State officials, resided
there.
But Waterbury was remarkable as a
nest OF rather quarrelsome politicians.
Its "%street" had but small population, all
its children being taught in one room. ("I
can smell 1t yet.") 1t had one doctor, and
one church and minister, but Of politicians
whom / remember, here Is a category: Ezra
Butler, Judge, member Of congress, gov
$3.50. A-l a-,rsIsro rnnrn fhot ~ q nf Of
fetal nature; Gen. JOIN Peck; Lucius b.
Peck, member of congress; H.. f. James,
member OF congress, and long State treas
urer; Paul Dillingham;, member OF congress
and governors; W. p. Dillingham;, governor
(born after my time), and Matt Carpenter,
exported to Wisconsin. What the more
recent record has been l am not informed.
Some others in Waterbury attained distinc-
ton. j. Henry by a patent medicine;
George Gale, founder of a town, college,
etc, in Wisconsin; j. Il. Sanborn, father OF
the greenback, system in the war epoch;
several generals-Wells, Henry, ETC., l can
not identify.
/ have not seen Vermont in sixty-fve
years, but have memories, still, Of the
"Chin" and the Hump" both seen from
my fathers farm, of the terrible flood, in
1880, that sent all our colony out OF the State.
The street. was nearly an island, as at
the falls water rose, in the gorge, seventy
feet.
1t one time 1 could sing Of the land
"By the gently flowing Merrimac' where wild
And the S%ssutifui Connecticut rolls down its Joy
Gus tide,
= III p' waves divide, .
long to hail at morning those old ~sentinels and
The Pinte-cilad and rock erestedh irlsi. .
And still to gaze at evening" mutely telling days
As light recedes, still upward moves a changeful,
shadowy line"
Very sincerely and respectfully,
c.. G. CALKINs.
Berkeley, Cal, June 4, 1898.
The writer Of this interesting letter is the
father of Lieut.. Calkins, navigator of the
the battle in Manila bay. Lieut.. Calkins
was appointed to the naval academy at An
napolis by James A. Garfield in 1867. He
was then seventeen years old and was the
first cadet chosen from Ohio by competitive
examination. Eleven years ago the family
siding in California. Mr.. Calkins, senior,
is eighty years old and in excellent health.
AS navigating officer of the Olympia on
the day Of the battle, Lieut.. Calkins led the
squadron by the aid OF his own chart, into
and around the bay. The dispatches have
told how the chart was then discarded and
the work finished by a splendid dash
through the nearer but deadlier channel.
In the second part of the engagement the
Baltimore led, in the track previously
marked by the Olympia. The lieutenant,
thus released from the constant duty of
coming" the ship and squadron, sought
for permission to capture the Spanish adj
miral, who had left his burning flagship
and was on his way to another, but Adj
miral Dewey would not allow the attempt
to be made.
Distinction of various kinds has come to
the lieutenant in the course OF his life. His
labors for the improvement of the condition
of American naval seamen received great
attention from William G. Whitney when
that gentleman was Secretary of the Navy,
and many Of his ideas were adopted, not
ably in the establishing OF training ships
where the youth of the country could be
prepared for the service.