Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1913-03-07
More Early Vermont ouaintness,

was written by Joseph A. Peck Of this
village and the subject the writer's
grandfather.
The interesting article on "Quant
Vermonters" in the December number
Of this magazine recalls the writer's
grandfather whose quaintness was
typical in many ways of the Vermonters
of his time.
He was born in 1900 in Cornwall on
the farm on which his father and mother
had settled when they arrived from
Connecticut in 1888 on their wedding
trip, the groom astride a small black
mare and the bride up behind on a pillion
according to the custom of those days.
1t is an interesting fact that during
the Ia years the farm was in the fam
lily there never was horse owned on it
that was not descendant of the little
black mare on which Jacob Peck and
his bride started on their honeymoon
into practically unknown wilderness
and life of great uncertainty. The
descendants of the mare were bred into
the Morgan stock and the result was a
race of hardy and serviceable horses.
One of them was sometimes driven to
Canada and back on two successive
days, arriving as fresh as at the start.
The writer knows of the remarkable
endurance and intelligence of one that
was for years much beloved member
of his fathers family.
The bridegroom had been in Cornwall
before the outbreak of the Revolution,
and had made a pitch" and built a
blacksmith shop of logs He was by
trade a farrier and steelyard maker, a
farrier being a blacksmith and steel
yards pronounced stily'rds) being the
primitive scales in use at the time. His
marriage and settlement on his pitch
had been postponed by the outbreak of
the Revolution during which he served
in the army as farrier
He had large family of which the
subject of this sketch was one of the
youngest When the writer first knew
him he was over so years of age. At
about that time he broke a hip in an
accident on the road and while he re-
covered enough to be about the farm,
he never thereafter went to town "
(Middlebury). He died in 1897 at the
age of 81, never having seen an electric
light, an electric car. or telephone.
Ia he 60 &c I, =,
last without modern artificial aids, was
a well read" man for his time, was
well informed on general geography,
remark ably in touch with current
events considering his faculties for get
ting information and was always an in
teresting conversationalst to young or
old.
Many times he pinched the wrter's
leg above the knee, asked his weight
and height, adding: They always
called me six -footer but never quite
measured it On receiving an answer
to his question; What did they tax
you for them pants?" he would say:
Il paid two dollars for these but
guess tn was little dear" During
the nearly two decades of the writer S
acquaintance with him he wore the
same 'stove pipe" hat from which the
fur was practically gone the first time
the writer sawit. He was picturesque
sight summing himself beside the house,
thin, old man, smooth shaven, with a
clear, keen eye, wearing his high hat
and smoking a clay pipe.
In the early part of the century June
Trainin' Day" was the festal day of the
year for young and old of both sexes.
On the second Tuesday in June all male
citizens not exempt through age or in
trinity were expected to gather at the
common center lin Cornwall at 1.-The
Corners" still so called for an annual
practice in the art of war; somewhat
farcial to be sure, but doubtless inspir-
ing in patriotism, especially in view of
the nearness in both time and place of
the war of 1872 This primitive militia
was armed with whatever was available
from flint-locks to broom sticks.
Alanson Peck was captain of the Corn
wall company and is still referred to by
his fellow townsmen as "Cap'n" Peck.
Many times has the writer's father
described his boyhood life on the farm;
how his mother used to scour, dye,
comb and spin the wool his father
took from the sheep, knit it into socks
and mittens, and weave it into cloth for
their clothing, which was made by tailor
essess who went from house to house,
"whipping the cat" He has often re-
called the hum of the spinning wheel,
the click of the knitting needles and the
thump of the loom. His first pair of
"pants" were made by the mother of
the late Darwin Rider, known to many
Nprn1ontars now liVinp a. for manu-