Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-07-25
LAND OF THE LEAL-HEARTED.
Words about the Beauties of Greens
boro and Vicinity.

Two score years ago, save one, 7
iourneyed by the way Of Boston from
the banks of the Hudson to the valley
az the swift Lamoille at Greensboro
Bend. There were then but few
dwellings il the hamlet and these
llalf-hidden bv great piles of cedar
fence posts. The sawmilI was in op-
Grafton with Mr.. Delano as superin-
tendent and Bruce Cuthbertson had
established a general store. The road
leading to the village was, except for
a few rods, bordered By the virgin
forest, and seemed lonely lane to
nowhere. when George GuthDertson
carried me to my first appointment IN
the United Presbyterian church at
Greensboro.
Though the date was the first Of
May, the lake was still ice-bound and
there was little promise OF smiling
springtine In field or forest. The
summer visitor had not then discover
sd Greensboro and d staid <congreaa-
Ion Of Scottish country people had
-atheIed ia the meeting house TO hear
.ne strange preacher.
Wife and little daughter had been
eft with relatives IN New York and
Jersey City; but it was arranged that
The minister should be entertained
lrst at William Wilson's by Bear
mountains foot, and then when llacS
we're in bloom he was kindly well
eoned as q guest in the pleasant home
Of Mr.. and Mrs. Thomas Gebbie. So
he saw the cheerful labor of the busy
days of spring work, and when the
roads were moved as the first task of
shaying," an invitation came that he
should become pastor of the flock that
had waited on his ministry in the
passing weeks. Then kind hands
helped to order home in the village,
and the presbytery came and laid
their hands on the head of the candi-
date and installed him October 23d,
1878.
This pastorate was short, but long
enough to fix in the minister's heart
through all his wide wandering since,
an abiding appreciation alike of the
sterling worth of character among
those who fondly referred to the place
of their births as "the land of the leal,
and among their neighbors of Pilgrim
ancestry and Puritan training. So
it was joy to pay a brief visit to
Greensboro in 1896, and again in 1901
for nine weeks, to stand in the famil-
lar pulpit, though not q few we'll
known forms were wanting in the
pews before him. 1t was in those
winter weeks that he wrote, 1The
Land Of Snow" (see st. Luke's Gar
den) recalling how he had gazed on
pictures of magic beauty, from his
home in the village, when the evening
sunlight fell through the cleft in the
western hills to paint the changing
colors of natures palette on Wheel
ock's snowy heights.
In the passing years, the minister
went here and there, from Maine to
Colorado, 1aboring IN city or country
side, learning by letter at intervals Of
events in Greensboro, till the invita-
tion came once more to visit the
scenes whose beauty grows with re
newed acquaintance. So he journeyed
in the pleasant springtime, marking
the panorama of field and forest,
mountain and stream, to see Mount
Mansfield still clothed in winters
snowy robes, while the meadows of
the intervale were like "field of the
cloth of gold" with the cowslips' aure-
ate bloom.
There was change, indeed, improve
ments at the Bend and at the village,
summer cottages by the lakeside and
meeting houses modernized past all
recognition. But the bright waters
of the lake, as of old, still reflected
the glory of the sky above them and
lapsed in gentle music the changing
contour of its shores; and, best of all,
during the weeks that passed too
swiftly, received right royal well
come in familiar homes whose foun-
dations were laid long ago by the
true-hearted forefathers who now
sleep their last sleep IN Gods acre
under the hill hv Greensboro VILLAGE
Albert S. Stewart.
Newburgh -the-Hudson, July IT.