The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1916-10-27
RIP VAN Wrinkle

uerly of Ohio county. Mr.. Benton
recently visitco the scene of his boy
hood days a.d in these articles he
gives us his views of Ohio county
as Il was in former years and is
now. contrasting conditions. No of
The series follows;
After an absence of many years
] recently arrived at Hartford
on a visit to the home of my child
hood. / expected to find many of the
old,iandmarks changed and especial
~ TO meet many new, as well as to
miss many of the older faces of 9th
er years. =
geographically the old town was
unchanged. barring its modest little
railroad that has come since my day.
A good sprinkling of new residences;
a few stores and most notably, the
new school building, together with
the disappearance of two old mills
and the appearance of two new ones
differently located, were among the
changes noted. The one time Jock
CIV lot" near the bridge had been
supplanted by shops and residences
But taken as a whole the town wore
a familiar air. The town pump in
front of the court house remained as
of the years gone by, popular place.
Even the group of old chairs on the
corner near the hotel, where men
gather as of old, to exchange the
news and gossip of the day, were
still there. But the occupants of the
chairs and curb stones were chang
ed.
A few of the old familiar names
remained-but their faces showed
the march of the years had worn
wrinkles into the features and the
steps faltered as they walked. Be
hind the counters were new faces
and as / walked along the streets
such remarks were heard. as who
is that old man going down the
street" Old man indeed, thought, !
l recalled the story of Rip Van
Wrinkle. who awoke from a twenty
years sleep. His beard had grown
long and his gray locks hid his face |
from view. His old gun was rusted |
from long neglect and the stock had /
decayed and fell to pieces when he /
swayed to shoulder it. What did IL /,
all mean? He would hurry home |
and ask Gretchen. his patient frow, /
to explain it to his bewildered mind. |
But alas, Gretchen was gone and for /
gotten. |
Thus | felt isolated. Gray haired .
men greeted me by my first name /
So long since had been called War |
rem" that / was in doubt as TO who /
was addressed at first. / could count |
on my fingers those | had known in !
the town in my day of'young man
hood: John and Pete Thomas, Lige |
Williams, Capt. Cox. Jim Ford, these !
OF the older set; with sprinkling of |
the younger set, not over half doz-
en- remain. Hes dead He lives /
in California or Texas, or Arkansas, |
or Oklahoma, or Illinois -scattered /
to the four corners of the land, are
many of those ! knew as boys in my
time.
So / hied to the country TO seek
surviving relatives, and friends.
met some who had been pupils OF
mine in the country school OF fifty
years ago, and they introduced me to
their grown up children and grand
children. AS | passed the farms of
my boyhoOd days, recognized the
hills and fields, but the houses have
been multiplied and changed. And
the old farms have been cut up into
smaller holdings.
Z The FLATS" where roamed the semi
wild hogs-and where hunted squir-
rels, coons, and nuts have been clear
ed and ditched, and are now corn
fields and meadows. The roads have
been improved, but still lacking in
lne eSSenlldl tlculeHl VI pclulduchSc
--macadam. But these changes will
come, no doubt, as time goes by.
found telephones in the most re-
mote farm houses and organs or pia-
nos in the company rooms And
screens covered the doors and win
dows, and tooth picks on the ia
bles--all unheard of innovations in
my days in that country. Truly the
march of progress had surely found
its way into Ohio county. can but
conjecture what will happen there
in the next forty years.
While much progress has been
made, there are a few things yet to
come to pass before the ideal farm
life will be attained To some of
these | will call attention in sub
sequent letter.
W. c. BENTON.