Putnam patriot., 1929-12-05

Aad Chaplin. on the old road to Willi- Aantic and Hartford there lies a strange geographic dividing line. This invisible boundary, as we have Aequently stated ia The Patriot, narks the trend of trade. of news in ssxest and, in a certain sense of com n4rcial activity between the north sast and the southern portions of Con- necticut. From Phoenixville to the Northeast, all roads point to Boston &nd Worcester as the two large cities >f the section. To the southwest all rsads point towards Hartford and tbence to New York. Now happily, All of this has been changed. The Hidden barrier has been pierced and with one stroke of the Road Commis- rsoners spade Hartford has been drought nearer and more accessible 10 northeastern Connecticut than ever before.
 By the new road leading through Phoenixville to Mansfield and Coven- ny into the highway at Bolton Notch, Hartford is brought ten to twelve miles nearer. No longer does the traveller from this section of the state lave to take the circuitous--and ire suently crowded road-whieh leads shrough Chaplin and Willimantic to Andover and thence to the junction at Bolton Notch. Hartford has become, as it should be, directly accessible. No longer do we have to travel into Rhode Island and Massachusetts to visit the larger centres for with Hartford di- rectly at hand Connecticut people will want to visit the capital of their own state in preference.
 Any Connecticut citizen has right to an interest and q pride in Hartford, one of the most beautiful and attract i've of all New England cites. While, for fear of spreading a propaganda distasteful to local merchants, one kesitates to mention the excellence of Hartford shops, it is a granted fact that in this day of automobile travel people do go Co the larger eenters and they frequently trade there. This is no reflection on the excellence of the stores in their home communities. It ss simply the desire of the shopper to enlarge his buying horizon.
 A Ride About the City
 But Hartford has other attractions. Take a sunny day and ride quickly over the new highway which opens up a hitherto almost unknown section of fhe state. An hour or so and the mo- tor will cross the great stone bridge with it's inadequate memorial to the late Morgan C.. Bulkeley and the eapi- tal city with it's towers and pinnaeles lies before you. Skirting the river and it is only a moment before you are in the very heart of the city itself If you are early, we advise visit to the Morgan Memorial which was erected by the late J. P. Morgan to the memory of his father, Junius Spencer Morgan. Here in galleries which are sadly crowded with rich collection of objects you will find much to interest
 On recent visit We began with the basement of the Memorial where we saw the exceptionally fine collec. ton of American Colonial furniture assembled by Wallace Nutting and purchased by the present head of the House of Morgan and presented 10 the Museum One who would know the furniture of the Colonial period with especial emphasis on that of Connecti- cut would do we'll to study the Nutting collection and the attendant excellent Seymour collection.
 Then, if you have the slightest in- terest in modern French pictures there is at present on the second floor of the Memorial gathering of Pleas SO. Derain and Nlaminck and their brethren which will or will not inter. est you. Of the group you Will ind that the Derain pictures are probably the most interesting and the least astonishing as works of art
 One should not visit the Morgan Memorial without turning into the Colt wing which connects the Memo rial with the aged Hartford Athene- um. As an example of the horrors that could be acquired with greai wealth in the early and late Victorian days the furniture and decorations oi the former Colt home on Wethersiel' avenue probably remain as unique Q any American city possesses. Vases statuary. paintings of the variety tha come down to descendants who do no know what to do with them, aboun' in the Colt collection. You may call all terrible but one cannot but predie that when a century or so has passed the Colt collection will be looked upol as most valuable study in the habit and tastes of that period of wealti which followed the Civil War.
 The Capital and Trinity
 Then. if the motor is handy, why no take turn about the city?
 You will see the filigree Capitol. al feminine a building as ever housed the sturdy representatives ot town ship and borough Nearby is the ex cellent State Library building design ed by the late Dom Barber, who wa' also architect for the great Traveller tower which dominates the city ans the land for miles around. Drive ou under the trees of what was once beau tiful and exclusive Washington street take q right turn and mount the slop ing hin of Vernon street and you VII find yourself on the campus Of Trinity College. far too little known to Con nectieut people yet a beautiful eolleg' on a beautiful site. Walk back of th' college buildings where from th' ridge on which the unfinished quad rangle arises, you may look across th' wide valley that stretches east to thu Pennington mountains with the rouns knob of Talcott Mountain persistentlN commanding the range.
 pacl fn the business section you VII