The Press., 1901-01-03

REV. E A. BURNHAM.
 leadings. It Is often difficult to see at the moment what is Gods hand and what Is our own handwriting attempted in our own strength, but the look back wonder fully stimulates the intelligence to dis criminate and strengthens the faith in the guidance of Him we serve.
 This is especially the time to call to at- tention the vital truth-vital for us to-day, in 8 symbolic sense as it was more liter ally for the chosen people to whom 1t was uttered-"I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God"
 1. Looking back from fifty years ago.
 Probably there is not one of us pres ent here who stood in what is now Staff ford Springs, in 1883, and who can tell from personal observation the growth and changes that have taken place since that time and up to the year 1850 Then the only house in this valley was the old Springs House. A few years later the Childs house stood near 1t, probably on the present site of the Episcopal church.
 To those of us who were here in 1850, it was even then "far cry" to the first days of the town, settled in 1719, up on Stafford Street, now Q85O) rapidly trans ferying most of it's interests and inhabi- sss.sss aso the Springs, through which, two years ago 1S4S), the surveyors laid out the line of the New London, Willimantic and Palmer R. R. that has so revolu- tionized the business affairs and so ma terially added to the facilities of commun ication here.
 True 1t is that the old meeting house on the hill still stands, and it's slender au- dience still gathers to the peal of the old bell which rang out it's first note over the body of young John M Grant, whose un- timely funeral service was held in the other meeting house, the second one that was built during the year '39
 But, even so, the rattling stage coach. en route from New York to Worcester and Boston, no longer Is followed by nu- merous eyes that peer curiously at it from behind the closed shutters of the ''front rooms" along the street, as it pulls down, "through loosely built village upon street over very elevated ground" to use the words of the president of Yale college, Rev. Dr. Dwight, and with crack of the whip pulls up before the door of the Old Blue House.
 The old post rider no longer brings his mail in the Tapping saddle bags, that is, Tapping, if the horse trots. He only came once week. Perhaps the reason for this tardy postal delivery is found in the record of historian, who says that, His arrival was generally about noon, when he expected to dine with his family. He recited all the news and gossip, gathered on the route, in minutest detail, and he never was in haste, except in his rapid talk"
 By the way, he seems to have been especially named for his business. His name was Ryder.
 We may not stop to speak, however, of | the settlement of the town in 1719, of Dr. Willard's old store and his later manage ment of the Springs and also of that of another about which John Adams wrote, "One, Child has built small house with in few yards of the spring, and here some of the lame and infirm people keep. They have built shed over little reser- voir, of wood, about three feet deep, and into that have conveyed the water from the spring, and there people bathe, wash | and plunge, for which Child has eight pence time."
 We may pause only to accord the fact that the Doctor and ColonialC ColonelJ oseph Warren, just missed being land holder | here, and that .John Adams and General Lafayette both visited Stafford. Let us mention though what gay watering place this was. A writer speaks of the springs as having those days ''the reputation for curing the gout, pulmonary, mysteries, etc., and is the New England Bath, where the sick and rich resort to prolong life and acquire the polite accom- plishments."
 During the Revolution the iron in- dustry fiourished here, l. e., from 1775 to 1895, and Stafford castings had a wide reputation for excellence throughout the army. The deposits of ore were, how ever, eventually exhausted
 There had been three Congregational meeting houses on the Street and, even lr 1850, their comforts and adornments were considered meagre enough.
 The first one was built in 1723, and wal of necessity superseded by another one. l We can readily judge what this neces sity was if we note that, at the tim,
 when Rev. John Willard was called tt
 what proved to be his fifty years pas