The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1921-11-04
MIR. HOWE in NEW ENGLAND
Continued From Last Week.

| dCCOunI. TUT JWcuIy-SCNeh year ;
two men had traded with each other.
Finally, the week / was there, one
paid the other a difference of $38,
and both balanced their books. was
told that in that town an account is
not considered old until the lapse of
ten years; then the man who believes
he has a balance coming to him be-
gins to fuss around and demand a
settlement.
Everyone who visits Barre, VT. will
long remember a statue erected in
memory of Burns, the poet. Barre
has a good many Scotch citizens, and
they seem to be responsible for this
work of real art. The statue is
colossal in size, and stands in the
centre of public park. 1t is of
granite, and the carving was done, l
presume, by Italians, good many of
whom are employed there and at the
marble quarries at Rutland. Both
these have resulted, in the course of
years, in huge industries, and most
of the work is called monumental;
that is, gravestones. You may send
a photograph of a deceased relative
to either place, and it will be re-
produced in marble or granite with
great cleverness. There are more
real artists, possibly, at Barre and
Rutland, than in the dissipated Latin
quarter in Paris. l saw a number of
these at work, mainly with power
drills: the hand chisel used by
Michaelangelo has been supplement
ed by machinery. One old italian
gentleman was pointed out in the
marble town who has several sons
almost equally clever.
Some of these unusual men pro-
duced the Burns statue at Barre: l
did not hear the name of the artist,
but regard him as a wonderful man.
On the four sides of the base support
ing the figure are scenes from the
life of Burns. One represents a man
in field, contemplating a flower he
has plucked, and holds in his hand.
And it is a very impressive picture,
although cut out of granite, an ex-
ceedingly hard material
There is some friction between the
granite and marble men: a granite
man told me marble was as soft as
chalk, whereas granite was the Rock
VI fSco. OIlC Dali hldiiy L was lOibj
spent 100000 last year in spreading
the Rock of Ages story by means of
advertisements in the Saturday Even
ing Post.
My recollection is that / saw more
Italian artists at Rutland than at
Barre, but the Burns monument of
granite impressed me most, although
there is a bridge of white polished
marble in Rutland of impressive size
and beauty. This was erected in
memory of Redfield Proctor, who es-
tablished the great industry. This
man became governor of Vermont,
United States senator, and secretary
of war in President Harrison's cabin
ct, but at one time he handled
truck in assisting in loading cars. He
was a marble enthusiast, and for
twenty-one years his company paid
dividends of only seven-tenths of one
per cent per annum. Today the bust
ness is probably very successful; but
few remember the long, discouraging,
profitless days of the founder, now
dead and gone. Redfield Proctops
son, Fletcher, succeeded to the bust
ness, and also became governor of
his state, but the struggle for sue
cess continued so long that Fletcher
Proctor is now dead, and the presi-
dent is another remarkable man.
In the4ourse of my travels I was
once shaved in a barber shop at Will
liams, Arizona. In the BARRIERS cup
case was a cup marked ed De For
rest, No. l." and another marked ED
De Forrest, No. g." The barber said
there was still another Ed De For
rest in town, who patronized a rival
shop.
At a town in Tennessee, I found
two barber shops within a few feet
of each other, and each was called
"The City Barber Shop"
As a later development of travel,
I note that in Bradford, VT, there
were once two newspapers, each call
ed The Opinion, and the editors
quarreled so scandalously that a
peace maker purchased both, and
issued one paper called The United
Opinion.
The Puritans, Heroes of the Rev
olution, etc. did not love each other
as we are expected to love each
other in this later day: in fact, from
1771 to 1891 the people of Vermont
thought so little of the people around
them that they did business as an i'm
dependent republic, and some of their
arguments with New York amounted
almost to war. Ethan Allen and the
Green Mountain Boys, generally
supposed to have achieved promin-
ence during the Revolutionary war.
really began their march to fame by
taking up arms to fight the New
Workers.
New England is noted for unusual
names. A man named Remember
Baker was associated with Ethan
Allen in command of the Green Noun
tain BOYS.
| confess | went to New England
expecting to find quaint characters, /
but did not see many; the people are
much like those I have known all
my life The houses are a little |
older than in the West: the indus /
tries a little different met two
very nice men who operated a whet- 4
stone factory-but I heard no Yankee 1
drawl: in short, found your rela-
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