The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-12-23

prayer, but could not be found, so Mr.
Woodwork was invited to officiate.
The story of that prayer may better
be told in the language of d. p.
Thompson, who had a personal ac-
quaintance with Uncle Ziba" and had
from the mouth of the old parson some
of the information he used in his his
tory of the town. Thompson says:
After an unusually brief introduce
tory address to the throne of mercy
he was hurried by his feelings at once
into the political spirit of the meet
ing, and poured forth a torrent of
blessings on our rulers for their far
seeing wisdom and noble patriotism
resisting the aggressions of British
tyranny. He then turned to the enc
mics of the war and the enemies of
our blessed-blessed country and be-
gan to ask Gods pity on their blind
ness and his forgiveness of their trea-
sonable dereliction of patriotic duty.
and still more reasonable opposition
to the wise measures of our God APP
pointed rulers, in language which di-
rectly involved the rebuke of some
scathing satire. At this stage of the
prayer, one of our village Democrats,
who was a wicked wag as well as a
hot politician, and who was standing
at the end of the platform, within
reach of the heated speaker, reached
over and sharply punching his ex-
tended leg, in low, eager, half-whis-
pered tone, exclaimed:
THAT is right. Give it to 'em-give
it to EN-, Uncle ziba.'
And Uncle ziba did give it to EN-
on that occasion in manner and with
a severity which was perhaps never
paralleled by anything ever heard pur-
porting to come in the shape of a
prayer"
A cemetery is not the place where
one would look for joke, but one Who
has read this passage relating to the
prayer cannot forbear smiling at the
inscription on uncle Zibas" head
stone:
Elder Ziba Woodwork, pastor
of the Freewill Baptist Church in
Montpelier, Died November 81,
1926, in the Gath year of his age"
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the child
rem of God"
ID. p. ThOmpsOn's Grave.
1t is surprising that no stone marks
the resting place of D. P. Thompson.
He was prominent man of the town
for many years and held frequent Of
fetal positions. His History of Mont
pelier will not rank high as an his
torical work. There are numerous
omissions and frequent inaccuracies,
while about a third Of the work is
devoted to his philosophical reflections
and comments. Yet, it is valuable in
that it preserves information that
would otherwise have been lost Mr..
Thompson had the advantage of Sc
curing first hand information from
the older residents, such as Ziba
Woodwork, the first town clerk,
George Worthington, who married a
daughter of Col Davis, Thomas DAY.
is, Jonathan Shepard, Daniel Bald
win, Samuel Goss and others to whom
he gives full credit in the preface to
his work. OF Mr.. Thompson's writ
Green Mountain Boys, first published
in 1910, which passed through more
than fifty editions before the death of
the author He also published May
Martin, or the Money Diggers,"
Locke Amsden, or the School Mas
ter" "The Rangers, or the Tory's
Daughter" Tales of the Green Noun
tains," "Gaut Gurley, or the Trappers
of the Umbagog," and "The Doomed
Chief, or Two Hundred Years Ago"
none of which passed through
less than six editions, and some of
them were republished in England.
He was easily the most distinguished
literary man Montpelier had produc-
ed. His grave is in prominent posi-
tion in the cemetery and the graves of
his children are marked by modest
headstones, but nothing shows where
were deposited the remains of the nov
elst and historian.
Thompson's history was written in
accordance with vote of the town.
At the March meeting in 1859 the Sc
lectmen were authorized to contract
with some competent person to write
the history of Montpelier. Mr.. Thomp-
son, who was then we'll known as a
writer, was employed to do the work.
There is no evidence that any contract
was ever made, but the work seems to
have been burriedly done, for when
the March meeting of 1860 assembled
the history had been completed and
published and the town voted Mr.
! Thompson two hundred dollars "as a
gratuity," not in fulfillment of con-
tract.
| In the Elm Street cemetery are the
tombstones of some of the prominent
early residents, such as David Wing
Jr., Nicholas Baylies and William
Tuthill, but more of the early resi-
dents were at first buried in the older
cemetery and their remains were later
removed to Green Mount. Side by side