The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-04-18
klPLlNe supERFLuous
Vermont surfeited with Distinguished
Natives When she Admitted Him

SDllt years ukDt Dul oNNunlunhlly ont
sees In print references to the fact that
he once lived there, coupled with ex-
pressions Of surprise that a cosmopol-
tie should have selected a little Yer
mont town as place Of residence.
This shows lamentablc ignorance OF
the advantages OF Bratteboro In par
tlcular and Vermont In general. AS
for the town, there seems to be some
thing In the very air conducive 10 men
tai activity, and SO accustomed are its
inhabitants to the rise TO eminence
of their neighbors that when a VIII
liam Morris Hunt, l.arkin G.. Mead.
or Mary h. wilkins comes promi-
nently before the public, they are
neither astonished nor unduly elated;
they simply say. why. of course"
This subtle influence extends to things
material once knew an estlmable
lady, resident OF Worcester, Mass,
who assured me the oysters she ate
when visiting Brattleboro were super
ior to those she got at home, and Wor-
cester Is several miles nearer salt
water. Doubtless, had the Puritans
possessed a better knowledge Of geog-
raphy, Bratileboro would have been
settled before Boston. Knowing all
these facts one understands why Fan
ny Fern" wrote: 1T Is a wonder every
body does no, live IN Brattleboro"
As for the state at large. II offers ad-
| vantages as great as are found else
where In the Union. | will not en-
| large OH the scenery, though II Is well
known that the late Professor Smith
| Of the University of Vermont pronoun-
ced the view from the graveyard at
| Charlotte equal TO any In Switzerland;
| that the late DR.. Prentiss made sim
liar remark concerning the country
about Dorset and that the late William
NJ. Evarts when approaching Windsor
on his summer vacations, felt thrill
as the steeple of the Congregational
church doomed into view such as he
never experienced in front of the
Doge's Palace In Venice. Consider the
comforts enjoyed If you are a resident
of the Green Mountain state. You
build your house with lumber from Bur
lington. you weigh your farm produce
on scales made in St .Iohnsbury. you
put your valuables In a safe invented
by Silas Herring. Vermonter; in
your hours of leisure you lure the trout
with flies made In Manchester; chores
done, your daughter diverts you by
performing on an organ made IN Brat
tleboro: II you choose TO leave the
shadow of the Camels Hump or Kill
ington Peak and visit the strange cit
les, you are taken 10 your hotel room
In an Otis elevator, the product of Yer
mont brains you die consoled by the
fact that even without your vote the
state will 20 Republican at the next
| election; the monument placed over
you will be white marble monolith
from Proctor
Nermonters are sometimes twitted
with being slow. Ga woman has been
known to wait % years before apply
ing for a divorce from a man who had
deserted herr and 1t is true that II
load OF wood is promised for tomorrow
you will be lucky if you get ii a week
from date. but this indispostion to
hurry has its advantages and has al
ways prevented the state from going
to extremes The progressiyeness OF
the people is shown IN many ways.
Yachting caps are no longer worn at
| milking time. though they are said 70
be in Connecticut and Rhode Island,
and the sturdy plowmcn OF Athens
and Ayery's Gore sport the latest style
OF automobile cap. In politics IL is the
same. Take the town Of St George
with three republican tickets in the
field and less than 30 voters. ! haye
been told that at a state election once
there most of the candidates were
members OF the same family. Surely
| 81, .fnft
| Clark of the Oregon, who made that
notable trip from the Pacific to the
Atlantic at the time of the Spanish
War.
The state has almost forgotten that
II produced Brigham Young, Hebar c.
Kimball and John Humphrey Noyes, 1t
has been so busy giving birth to public
men like Stephen A. Douglas, Mat
thew Hale Carpenter, Alphonso Taft,
| Chester A. Arthur. Levi p. Morton,
George F. Edmunds, Lucius +. Chit
| tenden, John c. Kasson, Ethan Allen
Hitchcock, William F. Villas. Redfeld
| Proctor and Henry Clay Ide: such
scholars as Asahel G. Kendrick, Thorn
as ]. Conant and George p. Marsh;
such photographers as Henry and b.
| Franklin Stevens. AS for heroes,
| what's the matter with George Dewey?
| 1t may be objected that some of these
men attained eminence after leaving
the state nevertheless, the hand that
rocked the cradle had good deal to
| do with It, William II. Taft and Chas.
w. Fairbanks, who are examining the
presidential chair with interest at pres
ent, are sons of Vermonters. You
may not have observed that when chief
| justice is needed in any state Green
Mountain boy is chosen, as rule.
Not long since four great railroads
went into the hands OF receivers, all
OF them Vermonters. Jacob M. How
ard who drew up the first Republican
platform, was born In SALISBURY.
Nor are the women behind the men.
Myra Colby Bradwell OF Manchester
was the first woman in the United
| States to apply for admission to the
bar; Caroline Burnham of Montpelier
the first woman to graduate at the med
ical department Of the University of
| Pennsylvania. The first woman to re-
ceive q Phi. d. at the University of
Michigan was put through college by
Lucinda Stone, she that was" Hins
dale of Hinesburgh. When Mrs. Hum
phrey Ward wanted an American her
oine she did not go to Virginia or Cal
ifornia, she found just what she want