Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-09-14
TARRY AT HOME TRAVELS.
Edward Everett Hale writes Of Yer.
mont and Duriington.

mont and darlington.
U-rom The Outiook)
Vernon. Ia region Of wonderful pic
turcsouc beauty. The fields are very
fertile. and il has proved to have great
agricultural resources. For myself, I
have never scon fields of clover which
compared with the rich clover fields of
Vermont when clover liz in blossom. I
suppose there are such fields else where,
but never saw them. All the same the
first white settlement of Vermont was as
late as the year 1924, when FORT Dunn
nIor. in the southern part of the State.
was built by the Province of Massachu-
sets ta But, as has been said. no consid-
cradle number of settlers went in until
tho Peace of ii62 made that frontier
Of New England secure against foreign
INVASION II was "A frontier State. and.
as said in speaking of Maine just row,
it was n field of war, not of peace.
For some reason or ether there were
no native residents there at the time
when our first white colonists landed. so
men say. 1t was by sort of common
consent on the part of the Indians who
lived in Now Hampshire. Massachusetts,
and New York. think. that when in
hunting. the Indians mot each other
| there they did not cut each others
throats. am art 10 think, however.
| also. that If n party Of Tfoquos crossed
| from central New York into that region.
| they would have fought against the In
dians of New England. who were their
standing enemies. Remember that the
| Irouuois vocabulary was absolutely diff
| fetcnt from that of the New England
tribes. and SO were their methods of
social life and their warfare. Has any
ono ever heard of New England Indian
| burning n prisoner TO death. as tho 1ro
ouos undoubtedly did?
| ANYWAY. what is sure Is that there
WIS no resident population of Indians.
| though in summer they went down to
| Lake Champlan. having fishcd and
| hunted deer up and down through the
valleys.
While the New hampshire mountains
rest mostly on granite. the mountain
range of the Green Mountains which
runs through Vermont rests on states
and sbalcs which were often tipped up
almost pcrpcndcularly.
| SO it happcs that the mountains of
Vermont are more picturesque. on the
| whole, than are the New Hampshire
mountains. That sort OF puddirgy as
| poet which people crticise in our dear
| Mount Washington hardly appears in
| the Greer Mountains. For the same rea-
son the river eorgcs arc more like the
canons of the West than any other val
lcys in New England. The story is a
| familiar one Ct the country doctor who,
pressing his horse homo at midnight over
| II bridge which he had crossed by day
| light, found tho horse very unwilling to
| go. 1t proved next day thai he had
| pressed tho horse along a stringpioce Of
| the bridge. from which the boards had
been washed away since he passed early
IN the day. This story Is told, perfectly
| authenticated should say. Of one of
| the streams which flows into Lake
| Champlain. 1t is told Just well
authenticated in Berkshire county III
Massachusetts. The reader nay Judge
| whether the same thing happened twice
What I know is that it might have hap
pencd ut either of these eoigos. The
walls of the torrent in both cases are Il
sort Of slaty shalc which rises pcrpen.
dcular from the water.
The civilized history Of Vermont be-
gins only when tho incursions Of Indians
and Jcsuits ceased with Wolfe s victory.
Then began n SORT of enthusiasm for
settlement of those beautiful valleys.
There are still eXtant the records of
the parties which were sent in ono or
another town OF Connecticut. Massachu-
setts or New Hampshire. and some Of
their marching songs. Thus there grew
up the sturdy set Of Green Mountain
hoys who give such picturcsqucness tn
the history of that whole region. In III
the English governors Of Canada hoped
that they should seduce these people
(, ON allc glance to the Continental Con-
: gross. which had never done anything
for them. one Of them was imprudcnt
: enough to ask Ira Allen TO accept the
govcrnorship Of Vermont as "A premium
to he paid him IL re would give ovci
Vermont TO the Kings troops and Roya
allegiance, "YIa offered to make me gov.
crnor Of Vermont" said Allen, "tht
same as the devil offered Jesus Christ
all the kingdoms Of the world and th.
! poor critter did not own an inch of tho
Kingdoms of the world. and no moro dc
tho governor OF Canada own AZ. inch OF
; Vermont" %
From that day 10 this day Vermont
has earned the name. among people wht
knew ANYTHING about it. Of mode
democracy wish that one Of TIE IN
q tHlliSfnL CWlSS WI't'IS w PDNtInfntn
, would come over here to see how tho,
, do things in Vermont. You soc. thcr.
I are no very lase cities. Burlington. tn,
I largest Of them all, is a model city 70
- tic world to take Tote OF and keep il
1 nemory.
. like ii put in here n description q
, Burlington wnich ! made in n speed
= bt fore Alpha Delta Phi at it's annua
. convention in New York in 1888 I ha,
had. not long before, friendly passag
with Matthew Arnold. who had sal,
rather carelcssly that there was moth
ing "distinguished' in America I said
"Whcn heard in conversation thi
| criticism, which ! have never soon. abou
the absence Of anything distinguished
in our cities. asked myself what wa
V the last American city ! had visited il
I nv winter travels. As it happened.
). was one of the smallest OF American
cit:es-the city OF Burlington. in tn
Z State of Vermont. ! may be told tina
there was nothing distinguished there
"a Perhaps not: but }row that, as VIC en-
J. tered the town. rs looked back on tn
n Green Mountains, which had been whit
|. with snow all day. but We're now ros
= red in the glory Of the setting sun.
$ though II was ono of the noblest vision
J. / had ever looked uron. turned bac
q To look upon the clouds OF sunsct-tO SCI
;, | Ia, ou,,y tho cup hp won't dOu,,, bf