The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1919-10-17

About midway along the northern
border of Vermont is beautiful Lake
Memphremagog, about half of it is in
the United States and the other half
in Canada; it is long and narrow, oc-
cupying a geologic rift, and is sur
rounded by rich farm lands; at its ex-
IRENE southern end there is, or once
was. a tourists hotel; one OF the
railroad lines between Boston and
Montreal passes through the town;
wears ago fair sized side-wheel
steamer piled on the waters; and its
name was
Lady of the Lake
a name which was then to be found
on many similar pleasure boats in all
English speaking countries, which was
evidence of the popularity of Walter
SCOTS poems, which were carried in
all the school readers of the day, and
recited every Exhibition day" on the
school platforms. My duties and in
citations taking me in those days to
many seaside, lake and river summer
resorts saw many pleasure boats so
named and found another interesting
fact; many of the commanders Of
these boats were
Real Characters.
And according to Webster that
means unique or extraordinary indi-
viduality; al person characterized by
peculiar or notable traits; a person
who illustrates certain phases of char :
acter." 1t is pleasant to recall them
the captain of The City of Richmond
Ia Maine city,, whose route was on
the Maine coast between Portland and
Mount Desert island; another was
Capt. Wadleigh of "the Lady" on Lake
Winnipesaukee, The poet Whittier's
favoritc summer resort in New Hamp-
shire; he was tall, very dignified and
always wore a buttoned-up Prince Al
bert coat, usually walked with cane,
and was quite unerring in his judg-
ment whether to invite the passenger
whom he had been entertaining, i'm
parting information, into his little Of
flee, from which they would come out
wiping their lips; another was the very
interesting commander of the Island
Wanderer, the boat that carried par
ties from Alexandria Bay on forty
mile trip in and out among the Thou
sand Islands of the St. Lawrence, who
would point out the places mentioned
in Cooper's Pathfinder; another en-
gaging man was he who piloted the
little steamer on Lake George forty
years ago, which lake under the name
of Horizon had been immortalized by
Cooper in his Leather Stocking tales,
whose particular gift was to sing THE
Sword of Bunker Hill.' which he did
we'll and always to the delight of his
not THE .sfoc C
that / have known was Capt. Fogg.
who occupied the stage, or rather the
pilot house. on Memphremagog: in
former days that whole region had
been favorite operating place for
smugglers, and Capt. Fogg had an
abundance of legends to tell of their
exploits and would localize their
haunts about the lake; the latter's
name is of Indian extraction, and its
ending is the name of the northern, or
Canadian, extremity and
Magog
was ever reminding bible readers OF
the Hebrew name; the captain did not
live in fog If he carried it on him,
and his entertaining stories, with the
beautiful water and land views made
memorable sail with him.
But that which has now drawn my
thoughts to that region is of wholly
different character. The township on
the east side of the lake lying i'll Yer
mont is Derby, and the family nam :
of those occupying the farms showed
at once the fact that most of the early
settlers had come from southern New
England: the prevalence of Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut family
names proved this; another fact which
confirmed the origin of those first
inhabitants was the presence OF al
academy, the like of which are found
all over Yankee land and have largely
aided in making it what it has been
Among the families Of this town
was one whose name has been borne
one noted college professor in one Of
the southern New England. states
Two weeks ago i write about some
features of heredity; scientific mer
when discussing this subject otter
refer to what they call "Reversion Of
Type" and / have been reminded o.
that fact by part OF the history of one
of those families; memory takes me
back to army days, or rather nignts
when the sentry post was under bis
trees, and when the clouds hid the
moon and stars that was a very dark
spot; recall one such night with .
bowling storm and SO dark under ths
trees that myself and the man on the
next post, each getting little off tn,
path suddenly confronted and chal
lenged each other. Leaning back &C
back against tree on such night {
young boy confided to me story of !
hard-hearted father, but noticed hi'
voice checked when he spoke OF hi
mother. In this northern Vernon
family have mentioned there wer,
four boys, all OF whom gave HONORABLE,
service to their country, and three o
them In the same Massachusetts regi
nnent and one OF them my tent ant
blanket mate; and on a night similar
! to the one spoken of above he gave m,
DARK bit Of family history.