Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-09-10

preciate their work and those who
once lived in these towns and moved
away feel like the town correspon-
dent has sent them a personal,
weekly letter. While it is human
TO kick, the home folks like to see
their names in print and find out
what their neighbors have been do
ing. Long life to the town CORE
spondent. II Bradford Opinion.
The Fern Picking Industry.
Fern picking is a little side in
dustry which brings some ready
money each year into certain rural
districts of Vermont. At the pres
ent time about % men are gather
ing the fronds in Chittenden. The
pay to the pickers, 20 cents per
thousand, seems small, but they
make better than ordinary day
wages in healthfuI outdoor occu-
patton. The shipments from the
gathering in ChittenGen frequently
amount to $500 pounds a day. The
ferns are sent to a company in
Springfield, Mass, to be placed in
cold storage, and the main sales
for decorative purposes will not
take place until the holiday
season. The greatest fern picking
takes place in the mountain towns
of Searsburg and Woodford in Ben
nington county, where for weeks
before frost blights the specimens,
whole families of men, women and
children are busy in gathering the
beautiful ferns which later will
adorn homes and studios in the
metropolis - Brattleboro Reformer.
The Spread of the Vacation Habit.
In a previous generation, vaca-
tons were the rare exception.
Ministers and teachers got them.
Business men didn't usually care to
quit. If they withdrew their noses
from their ledgers, they might lose
$3.50. That would be terrible.
AS for working people getting any
outing, that was unheard of.
Factories probably worked in a
more unremittting way then. Or
ders were given for large lots
long time ahead. Most shops were
busy in summer making goods for
the next winter. Today more or
ders are given for quick deliveries.
Factories run at high pressure,
then times are dull. Many work
men may not get any formal and
regular vacation but there are
times when the shop is shut down
when they get all the loafng they
care for.
A farmers wife some years ago
who took a ten dollar bill and went
over in the next state to visit a
relative, was declared by heraneigh-
bors to have committed an act of
folly. Farmers worked from dawn
to dusk in simmer and during the
winter they hibernated.
To-day the farm people do a
great deal of travelling. Not in
summer, as they have too large in
terests to stake. But read 1.-THE
rural correspondence of any country
paper during other parts of the
year. Notice what lot of going
and coming there is. Farmers and
their families may not go much to
costly hotels. They may be able to
afford it as we'll as many of ssthe
people that do. They don't care
for bridge and tangoing and safter-
noon tea and piazza gossip. If they
want time off, they visit friends and
relatives, look over other sections of
the country, and see how iother
farmers are doing it. Their time
off perhaps pays them better re-
turns in money than any week IN
the year.
So the American people have
their going shoes on. In the case
of people of wealth, it gets to the
point of mere restlessness. with
most others, there is no more travel
than is needed for diversion and
for an intelligent conception of
other parts of the country. - [Rut-
land News.
Peace in Vermont.