The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-19
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY
(Continued from Eleventh Page.)

| DTlnSS us under the Splendld canopy O1
 naples at Hockanum. There is rest anG quiet here, yet none of the languor o1
 other shady spots. The landscape itself
 is old, but it is not hoary; it is instinct
 with present vigor and life. Generation
 has followed generation in many fami-
 lies under the shade of the same old
 trees, yet there is no decadence, but in-
 stead perfect readiness for all the con.
 ditions and improvements of modern life
 and business.
 All along the highway we are shown
 places of traditional and historic inter-
 est. Now it is the oldest house in Con-
 necticut, modernized only as to window l lights; or it is the rambling home where lived Gideon Wells, secretary of the
 navy for Lincoln. Here in Glastonbury
 is the home of Abby Smith, who pro-
 tested against taxation without repre- sentation. The Smith sisters-there
 were five of them, all strongly individu- al and tellectuaI-believed, as did the
 men who made teapot of Boston har-
 Dor years before, that taxation without | representation is tyranny. As they had | no husbands to represent them, and | they were denied votes or a voice in | town meeting" they refused to pay | taxes. The annual confiscation and sale
 of some of their cattle by the officers of i the law attracted the presence and sym l pathy of those who believed with them. | Wendell Phillips was among those who | assisted in the yearly protest, genera | tion back.
 Abby Smith was the head of the fami- Ixy ha tod ,tu
 sister Julia, who survived her, transla- ted the Bible literally from the original tongues" as she writes in the preface to
 the book. T continued my labors, and
 wrote out the Bible five times-twice
 from the Greek, twice from the Hebrew
 and once from the Latin. It took me about seven years to accomplish the five translations."
 Hard by is a prosperous settlement whence is sent out shaving soap to lath- CT half the world. Further along we come upon a woolen mill famous for it's fine cloths-so fine that no tariff tinker ing or public depression can prevent their profitable sale.
 The farming of the Connecticut valley is not yet greatly specialized It is mixed husbandry, of which the keynote is stock and the dairy. Tobacco has been leading crop, and is still much grown Here and there the fruit busi- ness has found converts, and of these the most prominent is J. H. Hale of South Glastonbury. As We rest for an hour upon the broad porch which at taches to the house his grandfather built a hundrd years ago, MT. Hale tells us the dramatic story of his fight to make peach-growing a success here; and he adds the details of the two thousand acre peach plantation he has brought to successful fruiting in far-away Georgia. We ascend Mount Gideon with him, and, standing upon an outlook in the center of prosperous orchard, enjoy the glori- ous panorama of valley, river and hill, our vision ranging unchecked to the hills of Holyoke in Massachusetts. MT. Hale owns the landscape: "A rich New Yorker paid one hundred thousand dol lars for one painting by Munkacsy, and it is the same every day in the year. Here I have fifty better pictures every day in the year for nothing!" One high topped and wide branching oak, which was mentioned in the title deeds of 1884 as the great oak of Glastonbury"
 What is there to see along country road? Everything. Drive into the country with a city child. Watch it's eyes. Take note of the things it sees. It sees the commonest things-the things you have known so long that you cannot recall the time when you did not know them The childs first interest is in the animals. They are most like itself. There is bond of sympathy. The child has not yet learned to be con- scious of it's thoughts. We have thought and studied so much that the child nature is suppressed and we will not be happy with common things. The child sees duck a pig under the barn, a COW, a cat on the fence, dog, horse and it's colt, an old shoe on the stone- pile; and it is happy The driver sees nothing and grumbles of the bad roads.
 On down street." as the residents have it, is another notable oak, well into the town limits of South Glastonbury. An ancient citizen, bending a little un- der the weight of three quarters of a century, tells us that in his grandfath- CTS time this oak served as a public whipping-post. What tales of pain and humiliation must be engraved upon some of the inner rings of this monarch, probably lusty tree long before Co., lumbus pointed west the cookies shells which started Spain upon the career which ended at the international whip ping-post!
 On an arched and picturesque stone bridge we cross the pretty Roaring brook'' and the road rises sharply. again giving us a glorious view, this time toward the hills of the south about Mddletown. Again in the meadows we find the roadside heavily wooded. A giant white ash stands in a broad stretch of grass Another tumbling brook marks an old-time mill site. A quick turn of the level road, and we touch the rivers edge, with an exquisite glimpse, across Siam bridge, of the misty distance in the waning afternoon.
 The trolly car lines are doing much to make the country attractive. They will | solve many of those perpleXing agricul- , tural problems which are associated | with the isolation of the farmer. They | are contributing powerfully to the so- | cial improving of the country. Next l fall one can travel all the way from | Springfield to Hartford on electric cars. | At the present time there is break of | only three or four miles. A charming | feature of this line is the fact that it does not desecrate the trees and high