Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1917-02-02
NEwFANE.
Old Times Recalled

the last issue of The Phoenix brings
to the mind of Mrs. M. o. Howe
then nine years old, the summer of
1854, when Carrie Haynes taught u |
term of school in the old schoolhouse
on the hill in what is now Wardsborol
Center, then Unionvile.
Mrs. Howe remembers that q blond
youth, much resembling the portrait
of r. A. Fitch taken when he was 25,
visited the school the last day and car
ried away the beloved teacher from a
mournful group of girls.
The summer Mrs. Howe was three
she started in to go to school-thisI
was in 1S4S. Ann Grover was the
teacher, who taught several terms both
summer and winter.
There were about 60 pupils in the
winter, boys and girls, some of them
men and women grown.
Osmer Fits taught one winter when
Janet Rice, Lydia White, Emmaette
White, Carrie and Hannah White, FL
yira King, Sarah, Maria and Hattie
Allen, Ruth Taylor, Mary Ann and
Roxy White were some of the "bigI
girls" and Emory, Horace and Bis
sell Mason, Moth and Lyman Grover,
Leroy Smith, David French, Joseph,
Rufus, Charles and Willie White and
their cousins, George and Erastus
White, George and Webster Derby and
Foster Taylor were some of the "big
boys"
Irene Dexter, Fidelia Kidder, Phi
lena Dowley Ga sister of George Dow
ley), Ben Barnard of Peru, Avian
Parkhurst, Mary Kidder of Stratton,
Miss French of Dummerston, who
taught in 1852, Miss Livermore of
Jamaica, Miss Huntington, Mary f.
Farnsworth, who was afterward the
second wife of Sidney Sherman, Car.
rie White, C. p. Stickney of Brook.
line, who taught in 1857, and Frances
Twitchell were some of the early
teachers, not emitting William Con
key of Townshend, who was q univer.
sal favorite.
Carrie White, afterward a graduate
of Mt. Holyoke, took the pupils
through Colburn' arithmetic and
drilled them faithfully in common
fractions.
Large families were then the rule
There were five pupils from the Grover
farm, now owned by William Fitzpat
rick, and the Orcutt girls, Lura and
Franc, and their brothers, Wales and
Dwight, from what is now the Boyd
farm farther up the HILL and also Ju.
liza Eaton from Alfred Eaton s farm
house, now deserted. Four girls from
Peter Whites, now the 'Gilfeather
farm, used to walk two miles to school
in summer.
Long classes were lined up for
spelling contests and Mrs. Howe some
times spelled down the school,
Reading in concert was a favorite
exercise. "The Boy Stood On the
Burning Deck" "The Old Oaken
Bucket" "The Old Arm Chair, /"
'"The Cold Winds Swept the Noun.
tain s Height" etc, were favorites.
How those youngsters would read:
| Il am not old, I cannot be old
Later these boys marched away to
fight FOR their country. Erastus White
lost his life in the battle of the Will
derness. Willie White died of
measles in Washington. Mrs Howe s
uncle, Welcome White, went down
and brought the body back and the
funeral was held in the Congregational
church at Wardsboro City. Members
of the Sth Vermont, Wardsboro boys
then in camp at Brattleboro, attended
the funeral and acted as bearers:
Wayland Fairbank, Mason and Ly-
man Grover, Webster and Henry Der
/ By Rufus and George A. White, Da-
vid French. John Ramsdell John
White, Albert and Edward Bissell.
Leon Fellows was at home over Sunday.
| Mrs. +. 4. Whtcomb will go Saturday
to Boston for brief stay.
The board of civil authority held "A meet
ing Saturday at the Newfanc Inn.
Mrs Charles Rawson of Springfield
spent the week end with her father, Emery
| Howard.
Mrs. James BettcrIy of Dummerston
Hill spent the week -end with her daughter,
Mrs. j. +. Whitaker
Mr. and Mrs. Cushman of Brattleboro
were guests over Sunday in the home of
their daughter, Mrs. Will Hazelton, who is
| i'll with measles
Beginning next Sunday evening the reg
ular preaching services, which were discon-
tinued for a few weeks, will be resumed
in the Congregational church.
! The Homeland Circle met "Wednesday
afternoon with Mrs W. II. Goodnow. The
topic for the day was The Schaufiler Train
ing School in Cleveland, Ohio The social
hour following was a very pleasant occa-
sion Delicious refreshments were served
by the hostess.