The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-01-20
VISIT TO
ARMoUR'S BoYHooD HOME
Chicago TribuneD

Syracuse, y. Y.-'There, that's it."
The driver refined up his horse at
point where the well Travelled highway
stopped short as if it had been cut of
with a blow of a cleaver-
Where? Which, asked his fare,
puzzled.
why. Stockbridge," the driver re-
piled. place where Phil Armour used
to live when he was a boy and all that.
Meetin' house where his ma used TO go
to church, sweep of the drivers
arm to the right called attention TO a
modest spire rising gracefully beneath
the hill-"hotei where his pa. used to
git a drink when he was thirsty least
ways where he could "a got drink II
he'd wanted to, for it's ben there long
enough" and the left arm described an
arc that included rambling old struc-
ture which one would not have TO look
at twice to recognize as a turnpike inn
of Olden times. while the modern lager
beer sign showed that hospitality WaS
stin dispensed at the old stand
And that was StOclCbridge! No
wonder a youth like Phil Armour left
it as early as he could. There was lit
I tie opportunity in a place like that to
become a millionaire. Why, man
1 with $500 in the bank might set himself
up for rich in Stockbridge.
Arriving at the little hamlet after the
drive of eight or ten miles from Oneida
D
/ may easily believe that he has come to
/ the jumping off place and that beyond
/ is chaos.
/ 1t was on the day of Philip D. Ar
! mouT's funeral that the correspondent
| visited StOckbridge. To many of the
! inhabitants he carried the first news
of Mr.. Armour's death.
/ I suppose" said one when the name
/ of Armour was mentioned, that he's
maxim consid'a able money out O. that
! bUtcherin' business.
/ He must be independent wealthy by
this time. 1 knOw'd him when he Wore
cOwhide boots an yarn mitt'ns an
{ didn't have a cent more mOney'n he'd
/ conveniently spend. Dead. Ye don't
say. Well, well, welli At any rate,
/ Phil never forgot the old place, did he,
| Jared?"
And Jared moved to "Reminiscences.
I told how Phil Armour was one o. the
most magnanimOuS men, an come o
one o the most magnanimOus families.
/ take EN- as a hull, that he was ever
( acquainted with or had the good fOrtin'
! to meet. Why, he gin $500'-and then
followed a list, perhaps not complete or
even strictly accurate, OF AIT. Armour S
/ generous charities, but certainly
/ enough to prove TO JaTed's mind the
/ former StOckbridge boys ''magnanim-
ity-"
At the Hotel De Van Loon-the De"
having been supplied by a waggish
sign painter on the strength Of the
prOprietor's initial ID" for David
( there was a gathering that afternoon
I of old. gray bearded men who knew
/ Phil Armour before he left for the gold
/ diggings away back in the time Of the
I forty miners"
Know Phil Armour" said Landlord
/ Van Loon, with an air of importance
( and both thumbs in the armhOles of his
waistcoat. IF you want to find a
man that knOw'd Phil Armour you
don't need to go no further. You're
lookin' at one now. Yes, sir. this is
me, an 7 knOw'd the ArmOUrs like my
own brothers,
1t turned out. however. that Mr. Van
/ Looms acquaintance was chiefly with
] Philips brother Herman, or 'Pernie, %
as he was nicknamed in the provincial
dialect, and he soon had to yield the
floor to the man who shook hands with
/ Phil Armour before he went away TO
the gold diggings and shook hands with
him again when he came back home
| but he still lowered on the edge of the
/ company, prompt with suggestions.
And, speaking of the local dialect, il is
something not to be accounted for.
| Watson Armour, Philips brother. is
called ''WadsOn," or ''Wad' for short,
and his father, DanfOrth Armour,
/ "DandfOrd." This may be a relic of the
early Dutch, but why should a Dutch
man call Herman "Pernie2'
Philip Armour and his brothers and
sisters, Simeon, Watson, Charles, JO-
seph, Herman, Maryette and Maria,
did not go to school at SIOckbridge vii
lage. but attended the district school
at Valley Mills. in StOckbridge town
ship, so named when the railroad was