The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-02-20
CHAPTER ONE
In Which We Consider Paris, Yer
mont and Our Homefolks From the
Standpoint of Our Newspaper Of
flee.

Up here in the center of Vermont
in valley enclosed by the virile sum-
n1its of the Green Mountains, is the
little New England town of Paris.
1t is a neighborly state-a neigh
borly little town. 1t is lovingly known
as "back east" to large numbers of
Yankee folk who in their young man.
hood or womanhood have mistakingly
left it to pursue tickle fortune in states
afar. 1t is called cup north" by
those southerners who know US only
from our prominence in the weather
reports or think of Vermont as open
for travel couple of months only in
the summer time. City folks believe
it virgin breeding ground for the tribe
whose name is legion, of which it is
popularity said there is zone born
every minute" and it is half-seriously
believed that when we travel beyond
the skyline we saw oval, l swami,
have hayseed in our hair, dandruff on
our collar, a jug of applejack under
one arm and hold up the traffic gap
ing at the four story buildings. AS
for the country at large, it thinks of
us as a quiet little state, smelling
mostly of new-mown hay and cow
barn, chiefly valuable to the union as
a producer Of turkeys for its Thanks
giving dinners, maple sugar for its
breakfast pancakes or pretty school
na'ams for its western romances.
Strange are the conceptions of a
place acquired from hearsay. For
Vermont is merely a lively, hustling
up-to-date little commonwealth, too
occupied with minding her own bust
ness to pay much attention to other
people's;a pastoral dream in the sum-
mel. and a coal-man's dream in the
winter-representative Yankee land
dotted with progressive little COM
munities which have more miles OF
paved streets per capita than New
York, more shade trees than oul
street department can care for and
more industries than can find en-
ployees.
Once upon a time our town consis-
ted merely of few houses, two gen
eral stores, printing office, post
office, and blacksmith shop, barn
acled about country crossroads.
8 Today Main Street is a thorough
Il fare two miles long with mile o
q modern business blocks at one enc
q and an equal distance filled with pre-
tentious residences at the other. Sid
n streets have been laid out by enter
y prising real estate men; Main, Mapl
and Walnut streets have been pave'
with material on when our approprl
q ate quota of Ford automobiles ski
a badly in wet weather. New structure
& have arisen where twenty years ag
B fat, sociable New England home
II steads stood behind white rail fences
q banked with hollyhocks and cinnamon
B roses.
On the main street of Paris, be
tween the Oddfellows hall and Eo
wards Brothers Cigar Store, datin
back to the early days of the com
lnunity, is dingy brown building tina
has always housed printing Office
q In this building during the pas
thirty-seven years, two men hay
been publishing a small-town ever
ing newspaper. One of them is
kindly, grizzled philosopher by tt
name of Samuel P Hold. The othe
is his partner-the humble scrit
who sits before this battered old e.
change table recording this narrativ
1t is a town landmark-this new
paper office of ours. Our sign
The Paris Daily Telegraph
is weather-beaten and the letters al
well-nigh indistinguishable Our pri
New England housewives caustical
remark that our office windows al
two blots on the escutcheon of Il
town, while the big green curtain
behind them, pulled up only on SUI
days or holidays, have become ca
vas mortuaries for most of the u
: lucky flies and moths that have fou,