The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-11-20
Towns" Mr.. Nutting writes as fol

Towns Mr. Nutting writes as fol-
lows:
1 of we were asked TO select an
attractive large town of Vermont,
We should perhaps name st. Johns
| bury. This community, in its edi-
fees, its institutions, and its inhab-
itantS, approaches in some degree
toward an ideal Named by Ethan
Allen, developed commercially by
the Fairbanks family, a fine type of
the Yankee manufacturer Of the
days before the Civil War, thew l.
lagc Of st. Johnsbury gives just
the sort of environment to make it
a desirable habtation. The broad
street, where many dwellings stand
oack at a dignitied distance, is a
foe example of comfort without
grandeur. While Vermont is too
young to possess many good old
houses, there is one on this street,
the Paddock Mansion, which gives
tone to the entire town. 1t is said
that one of the original Fairbanks
brothers made its shutters.
Besides having a notable man
sion, st. JohnSbury is dignified by
several stone churches, and,
through the munificence of the
Fairbanks family, by a fine edifice
combining library, art gallery, and
rluseum. The old academy is an
other characteristic feature of this
village, being, it is said, the most
progressive, most prosperous, best
attended, and for college prepare
tory work, the most successful in
ststution in the state. The rail
road and its concomitant evils are
kept in a valley below the wide
street. Fine elms abound. The
maple sugar and syrup industry is
largely centered here, and also its
product in candies. The scale
works stand by themselves on a
love level from the rest of the
town so as not to intrude on the
residences.
"St. Johnsbury is a pleasant GEN.
! ter for touring, either into the Yer
mont hill towns, of which Danbury,
lying next, is said to be the most
! beautiful, or toward Lake Will
| loughby, a drive unsurpassed, or
to the upper Connecticut and the
fmuges of the White Mountains.
at is gratifying to find, also, in
this town a good and leavening
number of those citizens who en-
body the much maligned, but alb
! sclutely necessary, New England
ideals: a live conscience, an active
inquiring mind and a vigorous ac-
CePtance of the work and problems
o. life as they find it. Perhaps
it would not be too much to say
that such a town in its ideals and
its practical influences means more
to America than many other Amer
lean towns Of ten times the pop
ulation."
Mr.. Nutting selects Lake Will
loughby as the queen lake Of
them all. He writes under the cap
ton Lakes of Vermont" as fol-
lows
"The lake, which is only burge
oninc brook, needs our glances of
admiration as we leave the subject
of streams.
"Fairer than all the daughters of
pride among the lakes of Vermont
lies Willoughby, the queen Of them
all Thanked by twin cleft cliffs
rising to mountain dignity, sur
rounded by birches, "divinely tall
and most diveinely fair" colored
with a richness no gem can rival,
WjIloughby became known for its
drawing power even before the
] White Mountains. A great many
Years az GA hotel of pretensions
stood near it, and the sophisticated
! city dweller came to wonder and
Wei ship at the pure, mysterious
waters of the lake. But the trend
OF travel shifted, and Willoughby
wa forgotten or sighted by all ex-
cept those few who felt more deep
ly and understandingly her stately
beauty. The completion of a good
I highway past her shores is at
length re-aWakening US to the at
fractions of lake more neglected