Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-08-18
Country Taverns Going.

Country Iaverns cong.
Now and then the days news bears
some bit of relic that sets going recol-
lection Of stories of the old arder of
New England manners and institu-
tons. Just now comes the informa-
ton that Paradise tavern has been
sold. Its barns-the ranging stables
were never other than barns in the
language that belongs to the same
! period-and its sheds will be removed,
the house will be restored to its old
colonial simplicity, and an apprecia-
tive new owner viii make ii his coun-
try home. The splendid landscape
that was enjoyed by the traveller of
years long past, even though he had
been transported through days
| journey of landscapes, will be made
availabl TO the friends from town.
| But with all the restoration of the
/ house, there will be no bringing back
of the particular romance of the host
elry, save in the stories that will be
refreshed for the guests who gather
around its fireplace.
| Paradise tavern has been brought
Idown from the remote past of the
iMayside inns, when stages rolled over
country roads now either become au
| tomobile highways or relegated to
lhalf-overgrown wood roads, and has
had another period of accommodating
interest in years when men of distinc-
ton have found il a welcome resort.
Great literary names are associated
with it; presidents have found ii good
for quiet pleasure; young men at col
,lege not far away have resorted to it
for the dinner in honor of their
friends and Paradise comes down to
its diversion to private ownership
with continuing chapters of interest
None of the later ones have done bet
ter than to make it an exception in
its ancient class most of which have
fallen away or remain in rather shah
by old age. Its golden period was
when the stage rolled up with its pas
Isengers on outside and in, its proud
ldriyer with long whip and firm hold
Ion the leather ribbons guiding wheel
horses and leaders with equalizing
lskill, and the loafers and half-employ-
led better sort of the village gathered
Fabout the door to study its human
freightage and possibly gain some
new knowledge of the world with
(which the numbering vehicle furnished
the liveliest il not the sole commune
Ication.
Where is Paradise tavern? Does il
tmatter? 1t is only concession to the
lcuriosity of modern type that brooks
mo omission from the story Of the
news to say that it is in Stamford.
VT, in the milder Green hills, where
they moderate their height towards
the Massachusetts boundary. nearer
to North Adams than any other town
grown large enough to have a mayor.
and so not remote from Williams Col
llege. No guide is needed to it for the
! people of the corners of the two states
Iwho have had their taste of its hos
!pitality and whose fathers and grand
. fathers knew it when it was not a
singular exception of roadside resorts
of quality and trade.
II New acquaintance with the old inns,
. tsueh of them as remain, is being af-
forded by the swift cars that are run
I ming over the old stage routes. Some
iof them are finding a new possibility
OF business in harboring the tourists
, that race where there predecessors of
a few generations ago crawled over
country roads. Others are being
transformed, like Paradise tavern, in
to private country places. They are
lstanding in for the rediscovery Of the
remote but beautiful places that the
new means Of travel is making pos
sble. And while there is a glow of
romance over the stage travel, there
is no possibility that the swift modern
Tourist would endure the old means
lof travel Have they heard it describ-
led by some passenger who was COM
lpelled to use it? Then they know that
lH was not without it's deprivations.
The horses that moved grandly into
the village under the crack of the
whip and stirred by the blast Of the
horn that told them as well as the
passengers of approach to resting
place, were slow movers out on the
long. stretches. The old pictures, eth
err of print or story, never show the
tagging and plodding horses of the
distances between the towns.
Let the romance of the old days be
unmarried. The forgetfulness of their
ldeprivations need not be disturbed
Nevertheless the Paradise inns are I'M
leniably more agreeably reached by
40-horsepower propulsion than 4-horse
pulling. 1t is fine to summon the old
stories that cling to the ancient inns.
IT, 0rav IN he IF later Hons