Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-07-27
A LONG WAGON TRIP
FIFTEEN HUNDRED MILES IN A "PRAl-
RTE SCHOONER"

until Wlttln u lew uhNS, u real pIdillc
schooner, says a Cornwall correspondent.
Magazine illustrations have made US
familiar with their appearance, but a
real emigrant wagon loaded with typical
westerners close by ones doorstep
seemed like a story-book materialized.
"Twenty-four years ago said Mr..
Preston Bean, the owner of the two
wagons that passed through here re-
Gently, my wife and | and our one
child in a party of seventeen started in
wagons from Addison county, Vermont,
bound for the western states. This
year. on the Sth of May, we began our
homeward trip, with our two grown up
sons and three daughters, in these two
wagons which you see"
With true hospitality, Mr.. Bean Of
fered his callers at their camp by the
roadside the two chairs they had brought
with them, and in which he and another
member of the family were resting after
their days Journey.
did you find any difficulty in getting
provisions on the way" was asked.
"No," said Mr.. Bean 1--WE got plenty
of provision. but we're mostly troubled
for grass for our -four horses. Through
New York it is very dry and hay is
scarce"
"Yes, and its awf1lly billy through
there said Mrs. Bean. Folks have
been awful good to US and some have
been awful mean. There in New York
they tried to drive us away from the
roadside. One man said We shouldn't
camp for the night. We knew the law,
though, and that it would let US stay
t~wenty-four hours on the highway. He
wanted to come" she said. pointing to
Mr.. Bean, "but ! had rather of stayed.
We had fields of corn and potatoes out
there. Here your cornfields are hardly
big enough for a mess O green corn"
she added with a laugh. "We did not 90
through the big cities when we could
avoid it, but we saw lots of the world.
Yes, we saw enough" she said decidedly
"Once one wagon wheel dropped of on
the electric car track; that was in
Cincinnati. They are real good there
and won't run Over any one. We came
through Rome and Utica. Those are
beautiful places. Folks have taken us
for gvpsies a good deal and been opposed
to us on that account
''We have been well all through the
nine weeks since we started said Mr..
Bean" but the Oldest boy and girl are
homesick now. They say you get mp
early in the morning and look around
and all you can see is a lot of hills.
Where we were we could see for thirty
,,,1.- -, =, -t-,t,f, ", ,.,4 rfAs- ..-.-
the upper part of the wagon and in that
way have two beds. one above the other.
The upper one we take down through
the day. FIVE of Us sleep in one wagon.
No. showers do not wet through the
cover much. unless there i wind, then
it beats in ome One night the wagons
were headed the wrong way and it
rained in hard at the front opening"
Mrs. Bean was cooking supper in a
kettle over a bed Of Goals. II was the
last supper on the long Journey. \
table was made on the ground by plac-
ing the two spring seats side by side.
On the cloth over these. plates were laid.
~ am making soup now" she said.
"Sometimes I have fried meat and
cooked potatoes"
\ shaggy shepherd dog lay on the
ground at some distance. He seemed to
be happy and quite at home.
1--WE gave him away" said Mr.. Bean,
'for We thought it was too far for him
to travel. The night before we started
he came back, and so we let him come
along"
The horses were looking well con
sidering the distance they had Travelled.
Fifteen hundred miles by rail they call
it" said Mr.. Bean, but we have come
much further than that"
Did you map out your Journey be-
fore YOU started:" was asked.
mo, we didn't" he replied; 'but
could have come quicker if We had, as
we often went out of our way"
Folks back there in Illinois wanted
us to write for the papers when we got
here, said Mrs. Bean, but | amt no
hand or | would
Mr.. Bean is a tall, pleasant-faced man,
with iron grey beard and hair. His wife
is a fleshy, light haired woman and an
easy talker. The whole family looked
remarkably clean and tidy considering
the long tourney they had taken. Their
dress was that of the usual farmers
family at home. Mr.. Bean, particularly,
was looking forward to meeting old
friends and relatives who live in
n%eighboring towns and anticipating the
making of a new home here in Vermont.
a Vermont Highwayman.
An attempt at highway robbery was
made in the bridge neal Tabor's farm in
Montpelier Thursday night, but the mer-
ry gentleman of the road did not make
the haul he intended and, IN fact, mar
rowly escaped with a broken head. u.
w. Foster resides on Summer street in
the city of Barre, and was walking to-
ward that engaging town, and wishing
he was in possession of an automobile.
When he entered the bridge the bold
highwayman stepped out from a shadow,
~ ,r-,,I nnI ,,nIn la-I r. IL