Year: 1870

From the Regster.l


MiddIebury.


1t is gratifying to one whose home has
been Middlebury, and who feels an inter
est in her welfare, to see at each success
siye visit such striking signs OF future
activity and prosperity. The old place
has been indulging in long, long snooze,
whose silence has been broken only by
the steady thunder of the falls, wasting
their giant power for naught, or the moe
turnal horns of marauding sophomores.
Middlebury has borne patiently with the
horn and jubilee Of musically inclined
students, in the lack of other tumult to
disturb her, but / doubt not that more
accountable to the ears of her people is the
moan and hum of the big saws, that al
night long, since their song of life and
labor in the hollow below the falls, and
that the grinding of the handsome Star
Mills which take their grain and grind It
Exceeding small" is more satisfactory
to them than the hideous grinding
of horse fiddles. Not only about the
falls at Middlebury is the silence of
stagnation broken by the sounds OF indus
try and activity, but away to the east, up
and down the long line OF the quarries,
the drills, and engines, and saws, tinkle
and clang, and rasp a discordant hymn to
toll. and poor, beautiful little Belden's


that holds tender place in our memories


has been profaned by the coarse hand OF
labor, and has exchanged its quiet roman


tic beauty for a scene of toll, litter and
confusion, while its waters that have so
long sung their sylvan song of peace and


repose are forced into the service OF man


to whirl the great wheel that shall set the
saws dancing in the mill away up on the
| hill He who stands to-day upon the
summit of Chipman's Hill may not con-
fine his attention to the familiar sight OF
| long trains of cars sweeping through the


valley to the west, but turning his eyes to
| the east NAV there witness the novel spec
| tacle of the locomotives gliding through
the lately deserted swamps and pastures,
bearing away the precious white olocks
that are the tokens of future wealth
| and power to our town; and we trust
the day is not far distant when he may
see from another direction the trains COM
ing and going, showing that another ay-
enue to wealth, growth and Importance Is
opened to us. Middlebury has long pos
sessed a refined and elevated society LII
has cherished an aristocracy OF education
rather than of wealth. In no place In
! Vermont can a more critical and discern
ing audience be collected than here yul-
gar shows and theatrical clap-traps have
ever come 10 grief in this place, while
managers of entertainments that appeal 70
a refined taste, and cultivated intellect,
with matter classical in it's nature and In
the manner of its presentation, have neY-


er been obliged 10 complain of Middlebury


audiences as ungenerous or unaPprecla-


tive. The elegant new school building


upon whose perfect proportions II Is
pleasure for the eye TO rest, Is proof OF
the truth of my remark, and although L


believe one individual in town was heard
TO declare in language more forcible than
refined, that "the floods, the hurricanes,


and the id school house were going to


ruin u.s." still the people of Middlebury as
a whole are proud OF their pecuniary
.-ffort, of their beautiful school house, the
finest in the state, and the well ordered


school within its walls. 1t is needless


to state that my remark about "refine-
| ment &c. does not include the above men
toned person, neither do they include the
two respective citizens who resorted to
such primitive manner of gettling their
accounts the other day. | am forced &c


make another exception. A young man


whom had always considered as a model


of prosperity and morality informed me
that a company was building or had built
A dam at Vergennes which caused Lemon
| Fair TO overflow its banks, and the far
l mers along that stream were about to
/ hold meeting TO consider the expediency
| of sueinC the dam company" at Ne-gen-
mes. To be sure after all have said Mid
dlebury always has been an old fogy, OF
the track and behind the times, but now
that she seems t. be thoroughly awake al
last, we hope she will give her sister
sleeper, Vergcnnes, a gentle nudge, and
remind her that /" it is tine 70 get up.
/ Not the least important 'wake-Hp' in Mid
1 dleburv has been exhibited in the I'm.
proved appearance of the Register, which
seems to be still sound generally on ques-
tions of public interest, although 1 am
forced by climate conviction TO believe
| ii is a little ahead of the times on the wo-
man question. Apropos of the woman
question l have a statement TO make
/ which may be of interest TO the advocates
of woman's rights. Charles q. Steele, OF
Middlebury, has for some time had IN his
employ two women who have been en-
gagged in the feminine avocation OF chop
ping cord wood. These women, am In
| formed, have been regularly into the


woods, mile away, all winter, and put


up their cord of wood daily, besides cook
ing the dinner for their husbands. My


informant was fellow laborer who says
| that these amazonian females swung the


axe with all the Drawn and skill OF their


husbands, and stood the weather as weii


as the toughest old settler on the JOB.
Such women need not plead for THEN


rights they can fight for them.


| DoN GLAND.