St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-08-21
St. Johnsbury Pageant A Success
Thousands Of People Pleased With The Historical Repre-
sentation of 125 Years of the Towns Life Setting
for the Exhibition Grand and Picturesque.

throughout the Pageant was one o.
the most appreciated features. DR.
Arnold was impersonated by hi
great grandson, Lyndon Arnold, o.
this place. DIR. w. G. Kicker was
General Whitelaw.
The Pioneer Village
The third episode gave a picture
of the social and business life of st
Johnsbury from 1890 TO 1900. Al
the home of the Sanger family sew
eral families of neighbors gather fol
good time, coming in Their OK
carts and some Of them bringing
their spinning wheels WITH them that
no time may be wasted. A few come
on horseback and many bring with
them food in wooden trenchers. The
old family names of the town are
brought into this episode, Hawkins,
Shorey, Roberts and others An
event of the day is the coming of the
post-rider, Bill Trescott, (F. S. Har-
riman) with his tin horn and his
saddle bags. While the women are
preparing supper, the men talk of
the coming town meeting and some
of the business to come up then, the
election of a town representative,
the placing of a bounty on wolves
and the purchasing of a set of
weights and measures.
After this episode was the first
interlude. 1t personified the Fields
and Streams and is a pretty picture
of their meeting with the Future to
whom both appeal and she alternates
between them for a time but at last
the Rivers seize her and carry her
away with them.
Founding of the First Church
The fourth episode showed the
founding of the first church in 1909.
This is the old church at st. Johns
bury Center and it's history is most
interesting. There are 10 people
who gather because they must have
a church" and of that number 13 are
women. The scene was quietly inn
pressive: DR.. Edward T. Fairbanks
was the moderator, Hubbard Law
renee; DR.. G. H. Merrill was Rev.
Leonard Worcester; Elisha May, Dea-
con David Stowell and Rev. Paul
Dwight Moody, the clergyman called
to become pastor of the church, the
Rev. Pearson Thurston. A curious
incident in this scene is the coming
of the constable to warn the minister
out of town lest he become a town
charge. If so warned he could not
call upon the town for assistance.
One of the most humorous bits oc-
Cured in this episode and was the
presentation of Mr.. and Mrs. Wing
and their nine children to the new
pastor. Mr.. and Mrs. Mackay were
Mr.. and Mrs. Wing and nearly nine
families were represented in their
offspring. The old-time rendering of
the hymn "The New Jerusalem" was
feature of this episode.
Invention of the Scales
The fifth episode was the inven-
tion of the scale in 1880. First a
load of hemp was weighed on an old !
fashioned wooden-beam scale, then |
the new platform scale, invented by
Thaddeus Fairbanks is brought in |
and made use of. Henry Fairbanks |
took the part of his father, Sir Thad- |
deus, and A. F. Stone impersonated |
his grandfather, Gov. Erastus Fair
banks.
In the sixth episode a company of
friends were gathered to witness the
coming of the first train over the |
railroad. This was in the year, 1850.
Joseph Fairbanks represented his
grandfather, Joseph P. Fairbanks; |
Miss Cornelia Fairbanks, Mrs. Jo-
seph P. Fairbanks; Mr.. and Mrs |
Herbert Balch were Mr.. and
Mrs. George w. Ely; Mr.. |
and Mrs. w. j. Bigelow, Mr.. and |
Mrs. A. G.. Chadwick; c. G. Bingham,
Capt. James Ramsey; Wellington |
H. Tinker, Willard Brockway; E. A
Silsby, John H. Paddock and Mrs |
Joseph Fairbanks, Mrs. Thayer. An |
orange was shown in this episode as
a great curiosity of the day
The secoLd interlude was anus
ing, representing the trade of the
world. OF course no one but George
EV. Young, although he has left /
Vermont to make his home in Massa-
chusetts, could be Uncle Sam. He
wears the costume of red, white and |
blue made familiar by the comic |
press. Representatives of the vari-
Gus nations of the world have dis
putes and all come to Uncle Sam who |
with his tiny balances settles their
disagreements. 1t is a merry scene
with the orchestra playing Yankee
Doodle and gives the watchers a /
happy, patriotic feeling.
Episode seven is making st. /
Johnsbury the county seat. The
scene is laid in the present court
house grounds at the time when the
bodies are being moved to the new
Mt. Pleasant cemetery. While the
bodies are being moved the fore
man of the men doing the work con-
verses with a man from Danville and
a farmer, regarding the objections or
the residents of Danville to having
the county seat removed to st.
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