Putnam patriot., 1928-07-05
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pawn or mush-and-milk, which the English usually called hasty-pudding.
 The cursing Bell
 The cursing bell was used by the Church in dealing with animals
 within the first ten years of the sixteenth century, Bartholomew Chas- senec, then a young French avocat, who became a distinguished jurist won his spurs at the bar by his ingen- uity in defending the Rats of the Prov ince of Autun who were charged with the crime of having eaten the barley crop. He urged that his clients, like other defendants, were entitled to no- tice before condemnation. When they failed to appear in court in obedience to the proclamation published from the pulpits of the parishes, he argued that their non-appearance was due to the vigilance of their mortal enemies, the cats, and that if person be asked to appear at a place to which he couldn't come in safety, the law would excuse his apparent contumacy. Years later, at the height of his fame, in 1540, he insisted upon the same principles in defending the persecuted Waldenscs
 
 contending that as it had been estab- lished in the Rat case that even ani- mais should not be adjudged and sen- tenced without hearing, all of the safeguards of justice should be thrown around the accused"
 "A Chronological List of the Pro secution of Animals from the Ninth to the Twentieth Century, begins with the case of moles in the valley of Aosta. and closes with that of fierce dog who aided murderers in crime in Switzerland and was tried as an accomplice as late as 1906. Mr. Car son says:
 "The wide distribution of time and territory shows how persistent and prevalent the practice was and cor rec.s any notion of it's being due to local passion or territorial supersti- tion.r
 According to Mir. Carson the explan- ation of this mental and moral atti- tude can be traced to the belief of the ancient Greeks. who held that murder. whether committed by man, a beast or an inanimate object. such as dead ly weapon, unless properly expiated, would arouse the furies and bring pestilence upon the land. The media val church taught the same doctrine but substituted the demons of Chris tian theology for the furies of classic mythology.
 Many are familiar with the story of the Massachusetts parson 'Who hung his eat on Monday for killing a rat on Sunday"
 Now we sing the praises of our ln- dependence Bell, known to every school boy and girl of the grammar age. We sometimes forget how young the ehil- dren are.
 A "Propriety"
 Tn 1793 number of inhabitants of Arlington formed "Propriety" for es- tablishing a library. This was called the Social Library of Abingdon and 8 hundred volumes procured. In 1904 Junior Library" was formed. In 1915 union of the Social and Junior libraries became the United Library of Abingdon.
 In early days brooms were manufac- tured here by Albert Smith. Often ! times brooms were made in the homes of the New Englanders by whiting [ down an oak stick or by uniting tiny twigs, as they do now in localities far removed from general stores. Road machines were made by George W. Taft as early as 1873 on which were taken out a number of patents from time to time. finally developing the New Model Champion" The growth l of the business increased and in 1886 he became associated with a firm in Pennsylvania and he removed his works to that place.
 Agriculture is the principal indus try of the locality. and these are the people that bring historical knowledge 1 with them, living actively in the pres ent out of the active life of the past. "Wc dream of the household band; Of the hills and the rills, the wales
 and the dales,
 Of our dear old farm lands. Prom the first hour to its last;
 Backward and forward in search of
 good,
 In memory and wishing cast.