The Republican journal., 1916-10-26


little Stoughton altogether. Stoughton
has a right to be dingy and dusty and
altogether unattractive for it is busy
manufacturing town and cannot stop to
be fussy about mere externals. There
are more shoe factories and rubber fac
tories and wooden mills and such things
here than ever saw punched together in
a town of the size The foreign elephant
is everywhere in evidence, for people of
all nationalities make up the forces en-
ployed in the factories. There are some
handsome residences here, of course.
and few handsome public buildings and
churches, but they do not offset the gen.
eral dinginess-on the contrary thew
withdraw themselves from it and seem
to frown upon the near approach of SO
much untidiness. My location near the
railroad station gives me, of course, the
noisiest, dirtiest, most unpleasing as
pect of the town. Across the street is
house which in former days must have
been rather pretentious mansion. Now
it has fallen from its high estate, and up
and down it's battered old steps there
comes and goes man, feeling his way
by means of cane. A blind man-and
they tell me that he lost his sight in
his youth, by being struck across
the eyes with a bottle, in bar room.
AS l see him standing there mornings,
for
ing to see the world about him, wonder
that the sight is not warning to some
OF the young men who pass him there
but alas! it seems to be a warning but
little needed. Yesterday man handed
me clipping which he had cut from
newspaper for my benefit, knowing that
l came from Marie. docs your hus-
band believe in prohibition" "About
the same as he does in ghosts. He ad-
mits that there might be such a thing,
and the mention of it scares him dread
fully" That man is not alone, in nv
opinion. l have found one place in the
heart of Stoughton that is clean and
quiet, and peaceful and beautiful-its
cemetery. Away back in the beginning
of things here an ancestor of mine sign
Ell his name as witness to the deed of
land from the India;:s to VIM. Stoughton;
and so went searching for the last rest
ing place of some Of those far away kin;
but they tell me that the town was first
settled down at West Stoughton, where
a tablet marks the site of the first house.
and where there is an older cemetery
One man, knowing of my quest, claimed
sort of relationship because his grand
mothers maiden name was Harriet
Newell. "She was the best woman that
ever lived' he said; and he brought me
an old picture to see, which seemed to
bear out his statement, for the old face
was one of rare sweetness. But the re-
lationshlp bubble burst when the man
later discovered or remembered that her
maiden name was Harriet Newell Little
field.
My boarding place is mile away, but
it is ideal when it is reached. AS my
day is over at p. M, my evenings are
pleasantly spent there. The house is
new cement bungalow, built by the
young couple in the real country among
real pine trees; and it is planned for real
comfort. Just back of 1t is a smaller
house, where the father and mother of
the young man live independently, and yet
near enough to make it practically one
family. The mother is an artist of won
derful talent, and the walls of both
houses are hung with her paintings. Ny
Sundays have been spent with Mrs.
Bowley at Canton Junction, and as her
home is another new bungalow, my mind
is well stored with ideas concerning that
| 'tungle" of my own-which will prob
ably always remain a mere dream. The
view at Canton Junction is superb. From
the hill where the house is built, one
looks away across the Milton Meadows
to Norwood in the distance, and with the
trees between wearing their autumn
| foliage the scene is remarkably beauti-
full Last Sunday we walked down
through the woods and found enough
chestnuts to whet our appetites for
more, but the squirrels and the boys had
been before US, and even little Gid's
sharp eyes failed to find more than
genteel sample. The Neponset river
runs through the meadows, and the place
reminds me of the Intervale at Mont
vile. Can l bestow any higher praise
upon it?
| 1t is matter of regret that owing to
the distance and my Sunday hours
| "from to 10 a. m. and 5 to o. M" is
the rule here-prevents the little visit to
New Bedford, which before leaving
Middlebury had rather planned for. A
cordial invitation from "Clint," with an
attractive car line map showing just how
the trip could be take was alluring
enough to dream dreams about-but once
in Stoughton-well they are putting a
new tin roof over the Office today-the
pounding is the finishing touch like
the poor fellow in Tennyson's "Maud''
Il wonder why they did not bury me