Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1921-09-28

In this way history is eked out to
go round fairly and the town feels
itself town again-or is it an in
corporated village?
Manchester, VT, also differs from
what it would call Manchester, Eng,
in the possession of real oldest in
habitant. This is a kind man of a
type generally only seen in portraits
of Uncle Sam. That is to say, he is
the long and lean type which most
Americans are not, and he really has
goatee and can spit a great dis
lance. He has adapted himself ex-
traordinarily we'll to modern condi-
lions, in that he sits on his "front
porch" with his legs on the railing
in the true old style while he gives
modern advice to motorists and tells
them not to try to get to Walling-
ford by way Of Peru, but to keep
right on through East Dorset. This
advice is more valuable than might at
first sight appear, since the broad
way which leads to destruction
only goes on for about half a mile
is more seductive to motorists, with
all it's macadamized pretensions, thin
is what is called "dirt" road-a
good hardy, willing little road
which, if you follow it, will take you
up to Canada.
Manchester, VT, is like many New
England towns except that it is more
beautifully situated. I saw a scarlet
tanager just before reaching it, and
a yellow oriole shortly after leaving
it. These gaily-colored birds have an
almost tropical suggestion, and it is
hard to get away from the sensation
that they must have escaped from
somewhere. In effect they are rather
rare. New England elms line the
street of Manchester, VT, their foun-
tain-like shape making Gothic arches
right over the street. A second row,
planted well back on the grass,
shades the low-browed wood houses
whose deep verandas and cool dark
ness contrast with a sunlight so gilt
tering that it almost suggests effer-
vescence. Incidentally, most of these
towns in the "Granite state" are
paved with white marble. It is marble,
1t is cheaper, if less appreciated, than
concrete. You have an uneasy feel
ing of walking on tombstones, OF st
least OF spelling something rich and
rare. Round Manchester, Vt, you
see the quarries from which the
white blocks are hewn. Some of
them have filled up with water of
translucent green or blue-veritable
Roman baths of imperial days. And
so the white and green suggestion
repeats itself as does the glitter and
almost the electric quality of the
sunlight.
While Manchester, VT, is the pref
test of little towns and is duly proud
Of itself, it does not perhaps realize
how much it owes to it's surround
| ings. For it's surroundings are enor-
nous in extent, far too enormous to
be realized by any little town which
is interested in the sewing class and
the church-meetings and the white
clad summer visitors at the hotel.
Leaving behind you the Mohawk trial
to the right, you wind your way up
through green mountains, passing
through a wide valley which gives
you views on every side. This is a
road which touches Manchester, VT,
but really it goes on forever-at
| least it will tire you out long before
you have exhausted it. The noun
| tains are really green; they are not
obscured by atmosphere. And the
distance is dark blue, and the sky
glitters.
On the patches of upland pasture
daisies grow and black-eyed Susans,
ana now and again as you dip down
again the dust-red day lilies highten
the color scheme. If you think of it,
it is rare to find valleys and noun
tains and shaded roads and views all
together. But the way up the valley
is on mountain side, and the valley
is very wide, and half the time you
are getting the thrill produced by a
mountain road which suddenly turns
a corner and drops down sheer on
one side. And suddenly you will
come upon lake, the only fiat thing
in all the countryside And it is blue
and pine-shaded, and if you are wise,
and sometimes if you are not, you
will not bother about drying, but will
stop and take a dip in the sun
warmed water. And there are lots of
| these lakes, and they are all blue and
shaded. This is really Gods own
country, with a lavishness of beauty
which seems almost wasteful And
in the heart of it is set Manchester,
| Voryoo,f = .