Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1910-01-19
A Notable Word About Vermont.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

TIVdls OHc ID JIC OCdubJ OEOO VI viz
continent. The Pacific coast has
wonderful scenery. The Yosemite,
andCanyon of Arizona and the
Yellowstone are overwhelming.
The Rocky Mountains are majestic,
sublime, terrible. The prairie slopes
from the Rockies to the Mississippi
have their seasons of beauty and at
all times their resistless charm. The
Great Lakes have their queenly rule
and the Eastern ranges stretch In emo
less variety from Canada to the Gulf.
But Vermont as whole has all otner
sections beaten. Her medley OF moan,
tains and valleys, brooks, rivers ana
lakes; the Kaleidoscope procession
of her trees and t1owers-oeautl1ul
alike in form and color and each
heautv changing with the seasons;
the dazzling splendors of her winter
annarel : the wonderful architecture
and the exquisite decorations OF the
ice King: hospitable climate and
a benignant sky; all consplre to make
Vermont foremost In natural beauty:
Perhaps this very PROPULSION OF
beauty accounts for some lack OF ap-
preciation of it on the part of Yer
monters themselves. 1t seems to me
sometimes as if Vermonters resented
the beauty of the state, holding, 1t &C
countable for the lack of whatever
they want and do not have. never
note a place of particular beauty IN
Vermont that | do not expect IL TO pc
destroyed Cf it be destructlple) py
the time | CINE again. My natlVe
village Morrisvine, which has the
most beautiful location in the world,
no longer has a grove within miles of
it's postoffice big enough to shelter
this association if it desired an out,
door session. The last time heard
Senator Dillingham; speak was In a
glorious grove near Morrisvllle. IL
was one of natures most splendld
cathedrals. The next time L came
the grove was gone and 1T was the
very last one adjacent to the village.
The grandest trees | ever knew grew
by the great falls of the Lamollle at
Morrisville. They sung tome In my
childhood, telling me wonderful Lales
of the centuries before my time. Ipey
were sacrificed for net pront OF
something like two dollars and nall.
A Morrisville man commented Win
evident satisfaction on the ease Win
which he had made ten dollars. ne
had sold thousand Christmas trees
at a penny each. Do you remember
the grand old trees that once stoou
over the highway leading into Mont
pelier from the south! 1ney were
slaughtered for song.
Vermonters seem to have an inner
tied hostility to trees. l remember
a Vermonter who went to Kansas In
early days and located claim. Inc
hundred and sixty acre tract he had
newly acquired had on it one lone cot
tonwood tree. The first day. work OF
our Vermont friend began by cutting
down this tree. He felt it his duty
to 'clear his land"
If there be a beautiful stream in
Vermont, there is unrest in the com
munities through which it runs until
it has been filled with sawdust, rem
dered uninhabiCable for fish and unfit
for the uses of either man or beast.
In short, | do not think l exagger-
ate when / say that in Vermont man
has done very little to assist the Gre
ator in preserving and exchanging
the natural beauty of the state. YER
monters in this respect seem to wan
tonly throw away what all other sec
tions of the country are spending time
and money to secure.
If it be urged that Vermonters can
not afford, pecuniarily, to pay atten-
ton to the identifying to the state,
IlN duSWGT Is LudL LLlS OSdubyS pIOp
erly considered and properly treated,
will be the states greatest asset. AS
the millions of both people and dol
lars multiply in the West and South
there should be every year a greater
and greater migration to Vermont
for summer residence. This should
mean to Vermont what it means to
Switzerland, namely: enormous pc.
p cuniary advantage without any loss
of independence on the part of the
people or any surrender of anything
that should be kept.
Good roads should everywhere en-.
courage the modern motorist. He
spends money wherever he goes.
First class hotels are as necessary
as good roads. Perfect water, per
feet drainage, perfect picnic and
camping grounds. every opportunity
for fishing, boating, golfng, riding
and driving-all these will conjure
money out of the west and south into
your pockets and that is where you
want it.
/ am not asking that you abandon
any perfectly natural and proper
method of moneymaking. The lum-
boring industry should go on of
course, but it should be conducted in
COuSeINdIlNc way EdJIeT IMAM III
reckless and extravagant way. Your
state is already moving towards re
form in this direction, but it is not
likely to move to fast or too far.
Next | should say Vermont is noted
for her conservatism. Her statutes
have been well drawn and her lega
decisions have been good authority
throughout the land The state has
led all others in adherence to sounC
principles in making her laws. She
has avoided the fads and freaks
which have come so often to the sur
face in the legislatures of most Of
the larger states. From free silver
and free trade to the initiative anc
the referendum she has avoided the
patent contrivances of statesmanshiE
and government, invented chiefly fol
the benefit of ambitious individuals
and has persisted in being a genuine
republic, with the town meeting fol
a corner stone and with common sens,