The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1907-09-19
TEE LATE CENTENNIAL ExER-
CTSEs AT PERU.
lssfess u Hon, Dsyis X. Ssmsnss
Of Manchester on Some hisierssai
EsceIgestSns d The Peru
Church.

Ihnrch.
TY,s And inrirssoa q yesr co'H.
+ iasr 10 lss.d III ~ giginR nolts ~.
,s.sal rrailseiions ., is's PERI eharea
sAaps y rs ~ shock i"f shen
make my ampsAl plignnaags 70 fsfs }
sssl al,eoi q, yeuag A. Cd S.beu 'si
tA.s .aah Al slle agn a n. bai shea J
.ssu, hack ihe years ! end 4 Sai -
,rarr nga. 10 yosr committee may %
t.agaoaod and may. perhaps ro"e'"
allowance sog aay shortcomings ~ my
rssMafk.
A Modern scientist hss asserted snAi
snAa hAs 40 bassncSs 10 hive after BE-
Il 0g years n agc According 20 th'
iheary sss0gld have bocn 10 ns erase
eight years ago. and u yoa agree ~1ii
him you May, Il yDa please. r'gArd me
A. ghosf. tpcok. an appArii1on' =
'ssAds", "A ihe Asrlesi Greeks termed
4. baI he message bring you from
she grave 10 nsi 10. " warning ba'
rzihef .; good cheer
wssh 10 say al tho beginning thai
have always been glad ihai was born
and brought up Ia Pera. Why, rather
lhnH IN Large plHee where there Are
many more adrAnlAgcsf Because, here
acquired mAny good habits which
have lasted inc through liie sud no
bad ones. sixty years ago u would
have been impossible for a boy or
young man. Il he bad been SO minded,
10 have found evil companions with
which 10 associate. The moral aimos.
pherc ~ the place Was AS pure a. The
mountain air which tbs people breaihed,
There was no town Ia The state quite
like Il. This may seem All exagRer-
assd statement, but the facts wall war
rant il. Juai before aud after the civil
war taught school and lived for a longer
or shorter time ia 10 towns and eight OF
the counties Of the state and was well
acquainted with the state Of society IN
each. when told thu, was from
Peru they would ask. Where is itf'
Ny reply would be. II, il mountain
town in the north part Of Bennington
county. where everyone Is industrious
and makes a good living, but where no
one i rich, town where there has
not been pauper IN 70 years, town
where there i no babitnal user OF IN
losicaLng liquor, where no one has
ever been arrested for crime and where,
~ far as / know or have heard, no
criminal oifcnsc has been committed:
town where many more than one
half the people who are old enough are
hAbiiuAl attendants at church, town
where latin and the higher mathe-
mates are laugh, in some OF the com
mon schools and where the people do
not even try 10 cheat each other IN
a hase trade OF course this broad
statement was sometimes doubted, but
II was literally true.
lived year in st. johnsbury,
which likes 10 be considered a model
town, and il il a model town in most
respects. The Fairbanks Brothers
started the scale business there 10
years ago, and they were men OF the
niwness ~nrrnrtef ana did everything
possible 10 aid the churches and schools
and built up a model community, but
being center Of industry their best
efforts could not prevent the entrance
Of few undesirable people who would
sci liquor on the sly, get drunk and
commi, minor offenses and fall upon
the town for support. Taking that
town as model il will be seen that. in
some respects at least, Peru was the
better town.
The question now comes up, how
did Il come about that this town at
tanned such high standingi To find
the answer we must 20 back 10 the
first settlers. They came mostly from
Massachusetts, and New Hampshire
and were descendants OF the carly
Puritans. Peru was essentially pur-
iian colony The following names
comprise most of those who came early |
and remained here all their lives and
gave character TO the town; You will
observe that almost all the given names
are from the Bible which shows the
character OF their fathers: Reuben
Bigclow, Benjamin, Josiah aud Stow.
ell Barnard, Jesse Brown, Sen, Aaron
Beard. Sen, Joel Adams, Sen. Ezra
Chandler. John, Edmund and Israel
Baichelder Joel Lyon. Gen. Peter
Dudley, Elijah Simonds and his two
grown up sons, David and Asa, and
Parker wyman, Sen.
just why they came 10 this rocky,
billy country covered with very
heavy growth of forest. 40 far from
older settlements, when there were
much better locations nearer civiliza.
sion is hard 10 tell. unless. like the
Pilgrim Fathers. they wished 10 get
whee no one else would be likely 10
come, II this WAS their object they
succeeded for no other class Of people
ever came inlo this wilderness for
many years at least. Another reason
may have been. that they were mostly
young men just starting in life, poor
IN this worlds goods and land here
was considered almost yalueless. And
thus they came, hui how they ever gos
started IN life il hard 10 tell. There
wAs no road for many miles worthy
The name. II IL true that Stark and
hB lilale army blAxed trail through
the town and across The mountain ten
Year, befow bal il had become over.
grown and distracted with fallen trees.
They could have brought vesy little
with them aud could raise nothing the
siri year. They selected their loca.
lions. baih rude cabins and cleared