Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1907-09-06
COMMUNICATION.

+ litor, Essex County HERALD:
Dear Sri have IN my possession
copy of the Vermont Issue for August,
containing an article entitled, NV ide
open Town" which have had occasion
to note carefully because OF its reference
to me. On account of the gross misrep-
reservations contained in this article,
am constrained to answer not for myself
only but for the town in which live,
and in which | have achieved whatever
prosperity has come to me.
The writer starts out with the by
pothesis that prohibition is the most
effective method of controlling the traffic
in intoxicating liquor, that there is no
other method of controlling it, and that
whoever favors any restricted system
of license is not only wrong but dis
honest. He assumes that any license
advocate is a friend of the tipping shops
aud the tipplers. He talks of "hlear
eyes, blue noses and bloated faces" be-
ing much in evidence in Island Pond.
1t seems to me that the writer who
pretends to have witnessed these things,
must have a strong imagination. | can-
not recall a single person in Island Pond
of the sort described. There may be
some and probably are, but they are
wide and far between, and no more than
in any other town of similar size in the
state. A large majority of our citizens
are eminentIy respectable and cannot he
affected by the structures of any third
rate temperance publication.
am reminded in this connection, of
the words of Quintilian, who says "An
evil speaker differs from an evil doer
only in opportunity, lib. xiii, 9, g.
Brighton is one of the most beautiful
towns in New England, situated two
Thousand feet above the sea, on the
shores of beautiful lake, an island
in the centre, covered with forest of
evergreen, so symmetrical and graceful
i'll form as to invoke spontaneous ex-
clamations of admiration from all visit
ors-a perfect gem carved by the hand
of the Master Sculptor. The mountains
and hills around us are rugged and of
SURPRISING beauty. The men who live
about us are as rugged physically, mem
tally and morally as the circle of noun
tains which surrounds us. Yet the repre-
sentative of the state anti saloon league,
whose duty it is to maintain truth at
all hazards, comes here and pronounces
upon us the culse of hell,--and offers an
excuse for US as follows: 1--WE are too
near Canada and New Hampshire, and
the people vote as they drink"
| should like to know what citizen of
Brighton is so unpatriotic, so contempt
ible, as to furnish anyone, no matter
what his calling or sphere of life, with a
nucleus for the scandalous article to
which have referred?
The writer commends +. M. Bartlett
P. II. Dale, Geo. S. Robinson, and S. ID.
Hobson. No one doubts the sincerity
of these gentlemen, but don't believe
anyone of these ever said that Island
Pond had passed the period of possible
redemption or that the majority of on,
good citizens are drunkards. After
praising Mr.. Bartlett, the writer in al
most the same breath, criticises the
town grand jurors severely for not en-
forcing the temperance law. The writer
evidently does not know that Mr.. Bart
lett is one of the town grand jurors. |
am further of the opinion that, if the
condition of total depravity represented
by the writer has existed in town since