The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-10-18
AS SEEN BY A VISITOR
Editor ". L. Hindley Writes Of a Trip
Through Bennington County


fifI
Editor n, |. HIndley Writes of a Trip
Through Bennington County
One Of the least advertised gems Of
Vermont scenery is Emerald Lake in
Dorset We passed it Wednesday
evening about 4:3O when the white
birches were reflected in the trans.
lucent green Of the water and the late
sun just touched the shores in re.
fected glory, The naples and other
hardwods were already tinged with
the rainbow hues OF autumn, the sky
above was ieeced with fugitive clouds
and the water threw back all with
the fidelity of slverglass m rror.
1t needed the lens and brushes OF
Wallace Nutting to do justice to the
picture. and yet no lens. pencil or
color box could reproduce those tints
or give even an approximate idea OF
the beauty Of the scene. Emerald
Lake IS easily one OF the loyeliest
places in Vermont and will well re.
pay visit any time between May and
November.
The Soldiers home in Bennington
Is litt,e-known state institution, yet
II draws twenty-odd thousand a year
from the state treasury and about ten
dollars per month per inmate from
the federal government, II has sixty
ed inmates at present. and the insti-
tuition. growing out OF an original
ground plan of about one-ffth Of the
present Dimensions, deserves very
we'll OF the taxpayer.
Superintendent and Mrs George p
Martin and son Arthur S. Martin are
in charge and the job OF treating kind
iy considerably and yet with regard
TO safety and convenience the mostly
disabled and often helpless old sol
diers in their care is most exactng.
The Home is situated some dis
tance from the road with a grove Of
trees and a huge fcuntain.pool in
front OF IL, the fountain said to be the
highest in the world" The water
supply is brought from an adjacent
mountain, many hundred feet above
the level OF the Home itself
The grounds and original building
were q gift to the state from the Tre-
| nor W. Park estate and were former.
ly occupied as home for destitute
children. Practically every inmate
has separate roC m, and everything
seems clean, showing the result of
unremitting attention on the part Of
the staff and employees.
IL is, OF course, impossible to go
through the Soldiers Homo without
feeling of sadness This is only in
part due to the feeble condition of
the veterans themselves In fact,
many of tho latter are remarkably
cheerful and show a wonderful dc.
gree OF vitality for what they have
been through,
To begin with, as the visitor looks
at the framed cabinet of photographs
Of former trustees and sees there the
pictured faces Of Redheld Proctor,
L. A. WoC dburN George r. Childs,
Hugh Henry, Levi c. Kingsley. John
II. Gouldng and many others, he
must realize how deeply connected
the institution is with the past-that
| past of brave deeds. glorious sacri.
, fee, resplcndent service and then old
age, physical failing and the long roll
for the mustor-call in the Grand
Army of Eternity
1t hardly needs the bodies bent with
age and twisted by suffering, the wax
like faces of the bcdridden. the feeble
gait and trembling limbs TO hring
back to us of later generation the
story of the great sacrifice
One needs but to read the roll of
the dead and gaze on the hundred
simply marked graves in the cemetery
OF the Home TO realize what It cost
to preserve the Union and what our
duty is to the survivors who are pass
ing their last days in the shelter of
the institution.
To tell the story another way Look
ing back through a file of biennial re
ports we read as far back as 1904 of
! 107 old soldiers on the rolls-prac.
ticaly the full capacity of the Home,
then of 92, 6S and down to the pres.
ent, when from so to 60 actually liy-
ing in the institution is about the
average.
There is one pleasant thought about
It; No legislature within my mem
ory at least, has ever hesitated a
moment to make such appropriations
as have been necessary to support
the Soldiers Home. 1t is the least
Vermont can do
The refrigerator plant in Arlington
is a vermont industry that we don't
hear much about, but It's lively
place, nevertheless, redolent with tn,
pleasant odor of spruce and hard