New-York tribune., 1903-03-08

ASHFORD CHURCH
here. but neither supports a preacher. Here Is
/ a class Of people who might be called the noun
tain whites Of Connecticut These poor whites
of the North are becoming new class in New
England that is being made out OF the oIo
New-EngIand blood, degenerated to its present
condition These are the heWers OF wood ana
drawers Of water for the better classes. They
! nave no ambitions are improvdent, Ignorant
often not able to read or write, loose in their
family relations, which is, by the way. one or
the curses of Connecticut socially corrupt, given
| to hard cider drinking, and often 20 the opium
habit Their religious perceptions are dulied
| and what ideas they have are simply traditional
| They herd together, as in one such house
found the patriarch OF the tribe, perhaps Sixty
years DID, with his wife. son and an orphan
grandson. With them we're another son. his
wife and his i've children: then another daugnT
| ter, with her husband and three small chill
dren. and still another daughter, with her hus-
band and infant. They were all living COM
pIacentIy on what odd Jobs they could pick up.
| Vice and filth reign IN some Of these places
called homes. It is a kind OF barbarism that
differs from the city slum only in its stagnant
inertia, and touched as little by uplifting in
| fuences as if in the heart of Africa. A few
| days ago the body of a dead woman and mother
kind within thirteen miles of the city of New
Haven. 1t would be better to send poor
| family to the slums of New-York than to let
/ them live in such conditions.
Another element that is entering into this
/ degenerate condition of Connecticut rural dis
tricts is the deterioration OF the country schools
| It Is very easy for a country child to slip
| through such schools and hardly learn to read
| OF write. Politics and penuriousness have more
! to do with our country schools than those Of the
cities, and political bosses and political corrup-
/ tion are rivalling, in many OF these old towns
! that Of the worst cities.
! with these present conditions Of our country
life it is not difficult to understand why re-
/ Hgion is on the decline. In these towns the
/ church as institution is hardly holding its
| own, and is having very little intellectual lead
| ership. The white meeting houses OF two gen
erations ago still command many Of the hilltops,
| but on Sundays the long professions OF car
riages and wagons filled with families OF church
! goers things OF the past. The wagon sheds
are generally too extensive for present needs.
In one town of four hundred inhabitants and
| three churches, one has an attendance OF thirty
! five. another OF twenty and the third Of eight.
! In another town Of six hundred people there are
| sixty church members. often half dozen per-
sons or some one family bear the entire SUD-
pert Of what was once aycommunity institution
In seventy-two Congregational churches in these
towns, having 5.915 members, there were 237
additions last year, but there were also $50
deaths or removals. leaving 6 net loss of 93
Moreover % Of these churches added no new
members. and 10 others only 13 by letter from
other churches, so that 33 of these 70 churches
received no new blood from among the younger
element. OF the 325 Congregational churches in
the State, IS received members last year
and IA lost in membership
"Of the villages themselves It could be said
that sordid materialism or animalism seems to
be literally growing about the doors. There is
a belt, or region, between towns that presents
frontier conditions Most of our brutal crimes
occur in these regions. Absolute heathenism
seemingly regns now in whole sections once oc-
cupied by the best types OF Christian manhood
More children out OF religious teaching than in
the churches and schools losing ground, the
places Of the old families being taken by for
eigners to the extent sometimes OF from 90 to 20
per cent, mostly Catholics. and yet not taken
care Of by their own church-these are some Of
the conditions that face the observant student
Of New-England rural neighborhoods.
"A partial regeneration is coming in the re-
turn to the country of the city people for sum-
mer homes. and by the thrush Of the aliens.
The latter have come into these decrepit towns
in large numbers, Russian Jews, Swedes, Ger
mans and Italians, an invasion numbering thus
far from is 10 SO per cent Of the native popu-
lations. There are extensive settlements OF these
people where once were aristocrattc neighbor-
hoods OF New EngIanders. Some Of these peo-
pie buy their own farms outright; others come
as hirelinEs and with industry become
property owners themselves. The Irish are at
present the great proportion Of these aliens, and
then. in descending scale, the Germans, swedes,
English, Scotch, Canadian French. Danes Poles.
Italians, Russians Bohemiaus, Hungarians,
Lithuanians. Welsh, Firms. syrians, etc. In one
OF these country towns three stages OF Ameri-
can settlement are represented-there is a rem
nant Of the old Pequot Indian tribe. some eight
or ten families. with their own observances;
then the Characteristic Yankee element, and,
lastly the Russian Jews, Swsdeg, Poles and Ca
madam French. AS rule this forGign element
is here to stay, and is sober. prudent, hard
working and ambitious. They send their chill
dren TO the w-England rural schools with
e great deal more strictness than their New
England neighbors.
Race distinctions are some time to pass away
in the inevitable lntermingIing Of all these mixed
bloods, and 1t is perhaps in this that the So
luton to the problem Of the resurrection of the
| w-EngIand rural districts Ia TO be found"