Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-11-17
WANTS NO CHI ANGE
Former ResidentAgainst Chang
ing the Name of Island Pond
to BrightOn-Says Nothing Is
To Be Gained BY Change.
Billerica, Mass, Nov. 9, 1916

Editor of the HERALD:
read in one of your last issue,
that a movement is once more on
foot to do away with Island Pond"
and have Brighton Lake" and
Brighton" village. This will be a
splendid thing to do for this is an
age of changes, and we are as moth
ing unless we put on certain
amount of style. We used to have
'inf1uenzy," now we have "la grip
pe." we used to have bad cases of
stomach ache, now every we'll regu-
lated family has at least one case of
appendicitis" We used to go out
and get lob" nowadays we ac-
cept positions" So to be in the
swim you must not live in, or near
Island Pond" but rather bask in
the sunshine of the highsounding
name Brighton" and Lake" In
cidentally it will show the world how
much higher plane you live on than
those benighted people down the
line who still stick to "Bryants
Pond" albeit that body of water is
three times as large as your own
beautiful sheet, which has endeared
itself in the hearts of generations as
Island Pond. see my old friend Dan
Stern wants to change it. Now, see
here. Dan, you're all right, but you
was born far away across the ocean;
you had, or have father, mother,
sisters, brothers, and the name of
the old home town is dear to you.
Would you like to get your home
paper and find they had changed the
name of your native village to some
smoother name, but not associated
with any of your home test guess
not. Well, that's the situation. The
name Island Pond is extremely dear
to many because of associations.
Do you suppose our old friends away
out in California want to have the
identity of Island Pond lost? Do
my wife and children want it chang
ed? Does John Bartlett, out in the
great West? Do the Cabanas, the
Gonyas, the members of the Clark
Ladd family want to see a strange
name in the place of the one that
has been in their hearts so long?
should say not! The proposed
change is purely mock sentimental
ity, the real sentiment is in clinging
to the old name which was good
enough for men and women to live
under, to be married under, to be
fathers and mothers under, and tc
die under, and to be carried in the
hearts of natives of the town who
have strayed to distant states.
AS a business proposition the
change is impracticable. For many
years the United States government
has recognized the port of IslanC
Pond. The station has been known
under that name by shippers fol
years, and a change in name tC
Brighton would entail immense labor
and confusion in handling govern
ment business. The same is true o.
the postoffice, and it would be the
height of folly to have part of the
place Brighton and part Island Pond
and | doubt if the government
would make any changes in then
part of the business.
Brighton Lake" may be much
more aesthetic name than "lslant
Pond, although | don't see why
and perhaps it isn't up to me tt
butt" into this discussion
but there are many ties that binC
me to Island Pond that would seen
broken if | had to consider Brighton
in that connection. Dan think
a pond must be a frog hole, so | sup
pose that body of water up the lin,
is a gem because it is called Lake.
1t don't make any real difference
and there is nothing to be gained b.
the change. Handsome is tina
handsome ues," and "a rose by an,
other name would smell as sweet,
and when some of the young peopl
of your town go out to make home
elsewhere, as many will, you cal
call the village and the water by an!
euphonious name you want to, Their
be but one present in their thought
and that will be ISLAND POND.