Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1915-10-29
A HOLLAND TRIP
keen Observations Of the Present Ihrown
on a Screen OF the Past
A Day Of New Impressions and old
Memories

IL was nilN years since uhI HNtu
in Holland Therefore we decided To
so 10 Holland. The day was right.
There was the thrill of morning. The
myriad ears of trees wore their PEN
dants, The bleat of the tethered calf
rose from the orchard.
The chauffeur with AN economical
eye on the end of the day burned his
fuel sparinely. The submarine was TO
be put to great test, for we were To
return VIA Breakneck, II feasible.
4 mile along lies the cemetery,
where my grandmother sleeps. Ina
cocksure youth | wrote the copy for
her inscription, and ia later years
found | had mlsspeled her name In
two places ON her tombstone. | am
thinking OF ehiseiing the missing let.
tefs above and using earets beneath. |
never pass without grieving over my
eafelessness. My sense of guilt In
passing errors on TO posterity is appal-
ling.
These state roads are slick.
Why do SO many farmers store their
tools in the open2 MIR, Mccormick adj
mtted to me once that he made a pile
out of foolish farmers who use star
light for their tool sheds, Mr.. dc
Cermick said he Ind never axured
how much he had made.
| never pass the deputy shefiff's
house without looking at the barn and
the garage opposite to speculate on tho
location of the cell. | figure 1t is In
the far end of the garage.
Village Corners, peaches and poultry
flash by. liz the woods on the Leba-
non road Il believe that Is what they
call 10 IA farmer approaches ASLEEP as
he sits stoopingly, reins In hand, on
the seat OF his market wagon. Or Is
he drunk? Scorn lines every face in
the automobile. The horn arouses tho
man. He is young, oronzed, good
looking, sober. Blushing and still
holding In his fingers salesbook and
! pencil, he seizes his reins.
To the no theast loom The twin spires
of Charlton, even as used TO loom from
| Woodstock Hill those OF Dudley, in
lhe days when Dudley had twin spires.
| To the north the most conspicuous OBJ
! jecl in Southbridge is the new tatho-
! tic church, which know has carved
and decorated interior in truthful
keeping with the resliul outside.
Where do the inmates OF the south
bridge poorhouse keep themselves2Ihe
place looks neat and prosperous, but |
never see any sign of life. Are the
able bodied in the fields and the ann-
dry, rs | suspect, and the iniirm IN the
sun parlor? But why isn't the sun
parlor on the sunny side?
Why does the trolley and the fast
train between the manufacturing town
and the big city kill the formers hotelsY
| When Jim Richards drove team wag-
on and coach from Providence there
was good tavern in Southbridge.
Why die nj the Dresser House survivor
II Southbridge hasn't any longer
| iirstclass hotel 1t looks rs II she would
have some time another railroad.
| Heaven sent macadam rolls and pIis-
tens In long, narrowing ribbons from
beneath the rear rubbers, e Joy tc the
driver. trolley car cutting over .
| pasture will always be m incongfuity,
suppose, until gas sausages and
heavier than air machines become Or
binary.
The old foundry between Stufbfidge
and Eiskdale Is still aglow. Bare arm
ed foundry men, seated on unbufied
water mains, were smoking their post
dinner pipes. Somehow we missed
! E.ast Brimiield, and II you bear too TAR
| to the north you get upon the Brook
field road and miss the Brimfield road.
1t was on the road between Fiskdale
and Holland that | got stuck in drift
In Elder stones little old blue Sleigh
borrowed. Both traces snapped. My
father left my mother and me In tho
sleigh and chartered yoke OF oxen
and sled, with a farmer and his hired
| man. They put the sleigh and us up
on the sled. The oxen dragged the
horseless sleigh and as 10 the long red
farmhouse opposite the row OF sugar
naples. never knew why, but the
woman and her daughter rs soon as
We entered 10 thaw out whisked every
dish and the cloth from the supper
table. She, TO her daughter, referred
to my father, who was Congregations
alisf,. In whisper, as the Holland
| priest Ii cost my father So TO drag
the outfit through the drifts to Marm
Kinney's fireplace. high tire and
steaming bounty. Everybody and
everything rode but old Charley, the
four legged home missionary, who fol-
lowed faithfully through the snow, his
check rein slipped over sled stake.
Was 1t the Marvins or one Of the al
lied safe families that had show
place on the left rs you enter Brim-
field, with row In front OF rampant
horse head hiIching posts, like knights
of the chess boaFd7 The house, high
rambling mansion, but now on tne
down grade, Is still there. One knisns
after half century Is stiil uncaptuseu
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