Evening star., 1907-09-03
iREELEY'S EARLIEST WORK
Practice of Marking Interesting Spots
With Tablets.
DUPLICATION IN NOMENCLATURE
Appropriate Names Furnished by In
dian Tradition-Millions Invest
ed in Summer Resorts.
BY WILLIAM L. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

correspondence OI ne Stdf ana tne OnlchSO
Record Herald
BENNINGTON, VT, August "a, 1907.
The little village of Poultney. about six
| miles by carriage road from Rutland, was
at one time the home of Horace Greeley
and George Jones. the founder Of the New
York Times and one of Mr.. Greeley's most
active rivals. who worked in the same
printing office. Mr.. Greeley was born at
Amherst, N H. in 1911. His father, Zac-
cheus Greeley, had a small rocky farm,
which would not support the family. and
they had hard time of it. Horace was a
sickly child. a small. delicate baby, with
large head and precocious intellect. The
traditions of his childhood are quite re-
markable. They say that he could read
almost as soon he could speak, and his
| mental attainments developed in the dis
trlct school made him the wonder of that
part Of the state. His career in the acad-
emy was brilliant that the neighbors
wanted to chip in and pay his expenses at
college, but his father was SO proud that
he refused the assistance. and Horace lost
the education he would have priced so
highly.
When he was about ten years old his
fathers farm at Amherst sold by the
sheriff to satisfy debt, and the family
removed to West Haven Vt. where the
rest of his childhood was spent. When he
graduated from the high school his repu-
tation as a scholar made 1t easy for him
10 OBTAIN an apprenticeship IN the ONCE
| of the Northern Spectator of Poultney.
which was a very influential journal in
those days. And there. between the ages
of sixteen and eighteen. he learned the
printers trade His first editorial work
was done in the meantime, 1t being
tomary there as elsewhere in those days.
hands to contribute items of interest and
editorial comment to the pages of the paper.
A few years later the Greeleys removed to
Erie. Pa and Horace went with them.
Stephen A DOUGLAS born Brandon
eight miles north of the residence Of Sen
ator Proctor. and learned the trade OF
cabinet maker there.
The granite for the new IS, 00O. 900 union
station at Washington and the new $1,000,
900 National Museum comes from Bethel. VT.
Nearly all the graphite used in the man
ufacture of lead pencils in the United States
comes from a mine at Ticonderoga near
| the famous battle-ground.
Summer Homes and Tourists.
Robert T. Lincoln has a beautiful summer
home at Manchester, VT, few miles north
of Bennington.
Manchester is becoming quite a popular
resort. There is fine hotel there and peo-
pie are beginning to discover the attrac-
tions Of the Green mountains
The number of automobiles in this coun-
try Is quite remarkable. You see more of
them than Of carriages on the country
roads and in the neighborhood of the pleas
ure resorts. The roads are excellent. as
IuIe anu lHtIe Is Ho HloTe uettSH COuu-
try for an automobile tour than the Berk
shire hills. the Green mountains. the White
mountains, the Adrondacks. the valley of
the Connecticut and the Hudson. While
the United States lacks the historic scenes.
the picturesque ruins of Europe and the
peasant homes and stately chateaux of
Normandy and the valley Of the Loire
nevertheless there is a great deal of local
history that interests us ALL and 1t Is par
ticuarly fascinating to search the local rec
ordS and the cemeteries for your own
cestors and for the famous people who were
born and lived in this part of the world.
Every town and village in this portion of
New England has descendants scattered
automobiles became fashionable. many of
the grandsons Of New England have been
visiting the places where their fathers and
grandfathers were born and finding out
something about their forbears.
AS we have been going about in New
England l have made some surprising dis
covery almost every day; some peculiar bit
of history; peculiar interest; some strange
event that has escaped the general knowl-
edge Of men, and some association like
that of Horace Greeley with the little
weekly paper up at Poultney. and Stephen
A. Douglas with a cabinet shop at Bran
don. These things are known to the local
oracles and they love to relate them In
almost every town there Is some man who
has made it his business his pleasure to
keep account at least to remember
the incidents and the genealogy of the
place. And when 1 find him by inquiry of
the postmaster or at the livery stable l
can fill several pages of a note book with
out the slightest difficulty.
MARKING Historic Snots