The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-07-29
GOOD OLD TIMES"

GOOD OLD TIMES"
a shrewd observer and student
who signs himself "E. A. F." and
whom The Banner suspects to be that
keen old Yankee, Erastus Fitch of
Wilmington has written a letter to
the Wilmington Times in which ne
shows up the humbug of that much
: exploited good old times" theory.
The letter is as follows and what he
says about Wilmington apples equal
ly well to other towns:
Meeting a former resident who
presented the novel spectical of
Wilmingtonian deploring and
lregretting the decadence and
decline Of his native town
suggests comparison be-
tween the then" and now" To
make the contrast striking one need
80 back to farther than is spanned by
the memory of persons now living.
To the time when a four-horse team
took the farmers butter and other
produce to Boston and brought back
on its return goods for the country
Istores.
Gould the two pictures be drawn,
what contrast! Not one building in
the village that it not in better re-
pair; more convenient and more at
tractive, to say nothing OF the many
new ones that have been built
1T was the days of the stage coach
the tallow dip and the whale oil
lamp; the homemade clothes, the
COW hide boots and shoes; pleasure
wagons" without springs; churches
without fires; schools without text
books; up and down" saw mills;
boards planed by hand; shingles
split and shaved; the roads running
over the highest hills; ten cent letter
postage and envelopes unknown.
Magazines were rare and newspapers
few and far between Getting an
education was reserved for the few.
Ministers preached fire and brim
stone; doctors gave calomel and bled.
kill or cure" was their motto
Teachers used the rod and BOARDED
round
For diversion there were fast
days" and the lend OF the world
craze of 1913. Two things that have
passed should have been retained
the od-fashioned lyceum and the
old-fashioned singing school.
Not a railroad or rural free deliy-
cry for the farmers.
Not a sewing machine moving
machine or creamery, not telegraph
or telephone wire, putting the town
and its individual citizens in touch
with the great outside world. No
paper to make records of transpiring
events. No railroad, no automobiles,
no bells, no Club house, no Raponda,
no fountain, no town-clock, no water
system. blessing the village homes
and horses with the water of mount
ain springs, no fine school building
or library or Memorial Hall. Looking
back to that day is suggestive of
Hoods song.
mo sumo moon
No morn-no noon,
No dawn-no dusk-no proper time
OF day,
NJ Nhg -AO tai AIAg WV
No distance looking blue,
No road-no street-no tother side
the way"
Contemplating all this we may
egard. even reverence the fathers
and mothers of three generations
lgo but longing for the good old
ines TO come back again is another
natter.
IAN oak getting back to the acorn
n a chicken into its shell again
would be about as much to be de-
sired. The decline or decadence of
Wilmington" had for its foundation
md justification, the fact that in the
outskirts of the town there are some
abandoned farms. Conditions have
hanged. il is true. but not for the
worse By any means Some OF these
arms. owing 10 location and lack OF
other natural advantages ought never
o have been tenanted They are
worth more for wood and timber
than as homes for civilized, goth
| century men and women.
"As Jupiter with his revolving
moons 800 years ago, furnished the
| astronomer, KEEPER, the slEht vi
miniature solar system. hung in
the evening sky so Wilmington with
its unique and wonderful equipment
is one of natures beauty spots hav-
ing most of the advantages and but
few OF the disadvantages OF the large
city, with future possibilities OF
] growth and development sufficient
and promising enough to crafty the
reasonable ambition of her most OPP
tmistic and enthusiastic admirers.
Progress, not decline is the watch
word
This and even more is character
listic of her citizens. New times de-
mand new measures and new men, the
world outgrows what in our fathers
day was best