USA > Vermont > Rutland County > The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 2 > Part 12
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The teacher would call the school to order and invest one of the scholars with the rule whose duty it was to pass the rule to the first transgressor of the rules of school, who relieved guard, and passed it to the next de- linquent, and so on, with the comforting as- surance whoever got the rule twice, or had it when school closed should have it applied to his own palm. The plan served its purpose ; order and stillness prevailed. These ferul- ings were no joke.
We have seen ridges raised on both the hands of a delicate girl who would laugh in the face of the master while a cowardly boy would make a loud ontery and be let off ea- sily. It was a matter of principle with the children not to cry if they could help doing so.
When flagellations failed, we were some- times required to extend our arm at a right angle with a heavy rule or book in our hand, the master standing near to rap our knuckles if our arm fell below a horizontal line. Or we would be seated on an andiron or a block of wood near the chimney-corner, which would be called a dunce-block and the schol- ars be required to point the finger of scorn at us, and when wholly incorrigible, as a last resort we would be placed between two girls. We wilted then. But alas ! such was the hardening nature of this capital punishment its frequent repetition reconciled us to it, and -as we grew older, we even began to relish it.
Arithmetic was taught the boys, and need- lework the girls (in Summer), all learned reading, writing and spelling. Proficiency
in spelling was the test of scholarship. Web- ster's old spelling book was at our tongues end and the English Reader learned by heart. The teacher would set our copies and mend our goose-quill pens and pay little fur- ther attention to our writing. The solution of the problems in Adam's old arithmetic was the work of years. Grammar was stud- ied by the large boys in winter. We remem- ber all our teachers by name. Augustus Frank who was member of Congress from Genesee County, N. Y., was our first teacher. Daniel Dana, a veteran old teacher, known all over town, was another. Mary Lee, who married Rev. Allen Graves and went mission- ary to Burmah, was another. Under these favoring circumstances we were graduated at the old "Braintree " school-house at the age of 14. The last teacher who gave the fin- ishing touches, we recollect was employel at the extravagant price of $ 7., per month of 26 days. Our school only numbered from 60 to 80 scholars.
Fifty years ago there were not half a doz- en carriages in town, and those, old quill- wheel concerns. The common farm-wagon was the vehicle of pleasure as well as of business.
The power-loom, the spinning and sewing machines had not been heard of. Instead of the clumsy iron hoe, shovel and fork, we have the same articles of steel. It may safely be assumed that two-thirds of the la- bor of farming and nine-tenths of the labor of manufacturing are saved by the imple- ments and machinery now in common use.
Fifty years ago water for household and farm use was obtained from a spring or brook, or perhaps from a well, while now al- most every house and yard is supplied either through pipes or by the aid of pumps. The well-sweep is swept away.
HARD TIMES AND SEASONS.
During the winter of 1780-81 snow fell to a great depth. It is handed down by tradition, 50 successive days the snow did not melt on the south side of buildings. This severe weather fell with crushing effect on our settlers, poor- ly supplied with forage for their cattle and comfortable dwellings for themselves. In 1789, there were short crops and great desti- tution ; in 1805, no rain from seeding-time in Spring, to harvest time-an almost utter loss of Spring-sown crops.
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But 1816, in our remembrance, was the great year of famine; ever since referred to as the cold summer. There was scarcely a bushel of corn raised in town, and great des- titution and distress the following winter and spring; many cattle perished and many people were reduced to the last extremity. When harvest time came, in 1817, those who had early crops dividel with those who had none; some of the grain being cut so green it had to be kiln dried before it could be ground into flour. It was not the habit of the people to lay up stores beforehand, and we had then no West to supply us with bread.
The last fifty years there has been no gen- eral failure of crops, though in 1826, the grasshoppers consumel nearly every green thing. They were different from the ordina. ry grasshopper and filled the air in such numbers as al:nost to cast a sha low, and the next year the caterpillar, or army worm strip- ped fruit and forest trees of their foliage, and marched from west to east in search of fresh fields. In the west part of the town many fruit trees and most of the sugar maples were destroyed. Since then the labor of the hus- bandman has seldom been unrewarded.
With many of our fathers the one absorb. ing sentiment was the establishment of homestead and its perpetuation in the family. For this they planned and toilel; privations sweetenei by the thought, they were prepar- ing a home for themselves and those dearest to them and with pride and complacency looked upon the fields they had rescued from the domain of nature, the buildings and im provements they had made.
Not content merely with a homestead for themselves, many of them made the greatest exertions to settle all their children around them and become a patriarch in their midst. The absorbing thought of their old age, was how to dispose of their paternal acres that they might remain integral and undivided in the family.
Nor was this attachment confined to the parent. How many pleasant memories clus- ter around the spot where our childhood was passed. With what undying interest do our minds revert to the scenes of our early life, the streams in which we bathed and angled, the hills on which we gathered nuts and hunted game, the mountains where we picked the berries, the fields and the gardens through
which our earliest footsteps roamed, the or - chard whose every tree had a name, the school-house where our young ideas learned to shoot, the play-ground where we followed our sports.
But the children, allured by flattering pros- pects elsewhere, left the paternal mansion, some never to return, and many times draw- ing after them those very parents who hal fondly hoped here to spend their declining years and lay their bones. The fever of em- igration pervadled whole families and com - munities. They gathered up their house- hold goods and followed in the wake of the setting sun.
Where now are the Chipmans, the Fitches, the Hascalls, the Adamses, the Porters, the Harmons, the Strongs, and hundredsof others that occupied these lands and fille Your high places ? Our fathers, where are they ? Our children, where are they ? How few of the loved homes of our fathers are retained by their children !
ANTI-SLAVERY.
The first instance on record of the manu- mission of slaves by military authority took place in this town in 1777. Capt. Ebenezer Allen, in command of a company of Col. Her- rick's regiment of Rangers, while on a scout- ing expedition within the British lines, cap- tured two slaves. In a rescript dated 'Head Quarters, Pollet, 24th Nov. 1777," he sets them free .*
Among those of our native and adopte.l citizens who have been conspicuous in their advocacy of equal rights we may mention Willian Marsh, Rev. Beriah Green, Rev. Fay- ette Shipherd, Ozias Clark and Paul Hulett. Wilham Marsh lifted his voice, wieldled his pen, and emptied his purse in behalf of lib- erty. Beriah Green consecrated his splendid gifts of oratory to the promotion of the saine great object, and was untiring in organizing and concentrating effort to bear on the great question. Fayette Shipherd employed his graceful and impressive powers of elocution to educate the masses and imbue them with the spirit of liberty. Ozias Clark and Paul Hulett wero steadfast old " wheel. horses." On one occasion when we were present tho trustees of the Congregational church refused to open their doors for an anti-slavery lecture, and when Deacon Clark sent for the key it
* Seo Vol. II. p. 580.
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was refused. "I can get that key said he, and strode off down the road-and he got it. We were not then conscious of the malignant power of slavery, to effect the overthrow of which has cost our country so many thou- sands of lives and so many millions of treas- ure.
Among our earliest and foremost advocates of temperance were Rev. Fayette Shipherd, Col. Ozias Clark, Dea. Joseph Porter, Sylves- ter Pitkin and John Fitch.
GAME.
An anecdote is told of Elisha Pratt, father of Capt. James Pratt. In common with other settlers he was sometimes in a state of great destitution. One Sabbath morning, while en- gaged in reading his Bible, his wife discov- ered a fine buck in his wheat field near by and handed him his rifle saying, there is a noble buck, out there, we are almost starv- ing, had you not better shoot him ? No! he replied, The Lord hath sustained us and kept us alive thus far, and if it is his will that we should have that deer to keep us from starv- ing He will cause it to come some other day. The deer did make his appearance another day and was secured.
In so high estimation were deer held that before the organization of a State government regulations were made to protect them from destruction from December to June. Deer- rifts were among the first officers elected in town, whose duty was to enforce these regu- lations.
The abundance of game, as well as the ne- cessities of their situation, led our fathers to cultivate a taste for hunting, trapping, etc. On one occasion Ansel Whedon, who was sec- ond to none in relish for these sports, went out cooning alone and having treed the coon climbed the tree to shoot his game; but the night being very dark he could get no sight at the animal. He came down, built a huge fire at the foot of the tree and watched till daylight revealed a large bear, at which he fired, wounding her severely, when she fell into the bed of coals. Suddenly rising from this uncomfortable spot she made a spring with terrific growls at her enemy, who made good time for the top of a small tree, where he remained closely besieged until his voice echoing through the woods brought timely aid.
The bear is not yet wholly extinct. Solo-
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mon Reed, who lives in the southeast corner of the town near Dorset mountain, can tell you capital stories of his encounters with them, even during the last few years.
Beaver meadows, are found in various parts of the town. The last beaver seen in town was killed by Ansel Whedon about 1800, in a corn field, with his hoe. Otters and minks were more plentiful. The latter is found quite frequently now. Dr. Thompson quotes the price of mink skins in 1842 at from 20 to 40 cents, according to quality. Two mink- pelts were recently sold, one for $10 and the other for $11. Old hunters say that formerly musk-rat pelts were worth more than mink. The former are caught quite often. Within a few years Joshua Potter killed an otter near his residence. Charles Jones killed an- other measuring 5 feet 8 inches, but none have been recently seen. A few foxes are yet found. One of the most exciting sports of the age is to set a hound after a fox, who moves in a circle round his hole, giving the sports- man an opportunity to bring down the game. This mode of hunting is however about dis- continued and most of the foxes taken now are caught in traps. Once in a few years grey squirrels are plenty and occasionally a black squirrel is found. The raccoon is some- times started in a corn-field. Skunks still in- fest our poultry-yards and woodchucks our meadows; the skins of the latter sold a few years ago as high as a dollar and a half a piece ; they are worth less now. In our boy- hood pigeons were so numerous as almost to darken the air in their annual migrations, but of late years few are seen. The eagle built his nest on the most inaccessible clifts of our mountains, but is not often seen now. The hen hawk and the crow remain and are almost the only legitimate game among birds. A few partridges whirr past us in the forest and occasionally wild ducks flit over our streams. The quack of wild geese is heard periodically from above the clouds. Indian river was the favorite and last fishing ground of the Indians in this part of the country. To this they paid annual visits long after its occupation by the whites. The locomotive is on the trail of the Indian who hunted and fished on what is described in the old deeds as the Indian river plain. Trout are still caught here, but the sportsmen do not allow them to attain much growth. As game receded to the northern forests our old hunt-
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ers and trappers followed on. Some at the present time make an occasional trip and bring home trophies of game and fish.
USAGES, CUSTOMS AND OBSERVANCES.
Our fathers, tried in the fires of the Re- volution which had consumed their substance, were men of nerve and great physical power. We have heard and read of their first years of life in the woods; of their rude cabins without doors and floors; how the storms beat through their bark roofs, and wild beasts howled around their dwellings by night; how they had no cellars and nothing to put in cellars; how scanty their wardrobe, and how a kettle or two, a few pewter plates and wooden trenchers, two or three knives and forks, some three-legged stools and a straw bed in the corner constituted their house- keeping articles; how they would have no bread for weeks together and but a scanty supply of meat ; how the children went bare- foot the year round and often supperless to bed; how that they would go 30 or 40 iniles to mill on horseback and sometimes used their own back.
But amid all they kept heart and hope and bravely triumphed. They were kind and friendly, ever ready to assist each other, and in their recreations would gather from all parts of the town, and no feeling of exclu- siveness would mar their enjoyments.
Attached to old Connecticut; her laws were reenacted, her local festivities observed and Election cake eaten with as keen a relish as when in their own loved down-country home. Cheerful toil was the rule. The work of the day done they would meet in each other's houses and pass the evening hours.
True to the traditions and supersitions of early New England, they brought with them, with many substantial virtues, a belief in ghosts, respect for dreams and hatred to In. dians, which constituted the staple of their conversation. The children with mouth and ears agape drank in these wondrous tales, till every white object was a sheet- ed ghost and every dark one a wild beast „or Indian. In their work as well as play the settlers grouped together. To build a house, clear a fallow, or harvest a crop, they would combine their strength and be sure to get through in season for a game. Athletic exercises, wrestling, ball-playing, etc., were their favorites. Tune wears on ;
their cabins are exchanged for substantial domiciles, and the homespun age commences. The grand old central fireplace radiant with sparkling flame; the spacious kitchen with its oaken floor; a loom in one corner and spinning wheels all around; its ceiled walls decorated with the products of the spindle, while overhead hung festoons of dried apples and circlets of pumpkins. The shelves of the pantry glisten with burnished pewter and the trusty rifle hangs over the mantel-"()ur middle age, the happiest time in old Vermont history."
The sturdy farmer in his leather-apron, and troops of boys in roundabouts are bust- ling around, while the busy housewife and her bevy of rosy cheeked daughters clad in the garments their own hands had spun and wove and put together, completed the picture. Without, the well-filled granary, the well- stocked stable, the orchard, the sugar-bush, the golden wheat field, the valleys standing thick with corn, the tapering well-sweep from whose point swings,
"The old oaken bucket, the iron bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well."
Within is heard the clatter of the loom, the hum of the busy spindle, without the clangor of the flail and ax.
The men and boys have their hunting-par- ties, trainings, raisings and huskings, and the women their quiltings and apple cuts. Did you ever attend an old fashioned apple-cut ? We have, and even its memory warms the blood chilled by the frosts of sixty winters. How much of fun and frolic! Every house and cabin gives up its juveniles who flock to the rendezvous, single, in pairs and in groups. The younger strata fill up the corners and vacancies. Amid the wagging of tongues and bursts of laughter the work goes merrily on. Soon the last basketful is reached and disposed of, pans and peelings gathered up and the pie passed round. Then comes a calm, but it is only the stillness that precedes the storm. Somne wide-awake girl attacks a fellow and brings him up standing in the middle of the floor, the whole company circle around them, from stairway and chimney- corner they come and round and round they go.
The scene changes and snap and catch-em is the play. How some of those girls would run ! What a spring in their instep ! What fox-like doubling on their track ! It was all
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your neck was worth to catch them as they scampered round the ring, over chairs and across the hearth. But when fairly hunted down they did turn at bay and with disordered hair, flashing eye, crimsoned cheek and pant- ing breath, fell into your arms; what a glori- ous surrender !
The ring breaks up and round the chimney to the tune of " The needle's eye, you can't deny," march on the gleeful throng. Little fellows raise their tiny hands that some six- footer may pass under. Kissing and laugh- ing is not done by rule, and lads and lasses run wild with unfettered sport. But apple- cuts must have an end, perhaps among the sinall hours of the next morning. Then comes the trying time! things are hustled on; the boys stand hat in hand; some have lost their tongues ; the bold win and off they go. Hearts are broken, but they will heal and break again.
Old time marriage observances also claim a notice. Vehicles being scarce, we will mount the aspirant for matrimonial position on his trusty nag. He reins up beside some convenient stump and with one bound the blushing bride is on the pillion. On they speed to old Squire Adams or the minister, who receives them with a genial face and a merry twinkle of the eye. The pair are united, the silver dollar paid and home they go. Perhaps a signal horn sounds on the distant hillside, then the drums rattle, the horns blow, the pans clatter and a motley throng gathers at the matrimonial quarters. If the latch- string is out all goes well ; a merry hour they spend and home they go.
But among the sweet and pleasant gather- ings of the olden times we may not forget the sugar party. Sugar-making is an unroman- tic business, but when through the openings of the forest you discover a party of young men and maidens, including the girl you love best, coming to enjoy a sugar treat, how de- licious the, repast, as the happy group gather round the smoking kettle and help them- selves.
In these homespun times family visits were made in the evening. Instead of the afternoon tea-party both sexes met in the evening when a substantial table was spread, perhaps a turkey or spare-rib was roasted, at least, the best the house afforded was abund- antly furnished.
With our fathers the Sabbath commenced at sundown on Saturday and closed at the same time on Sunday. Preparations for Sunday living were made on Saturday ; the pudding boiled, so that by evening, business of all kinds was suspended and the Sabbath was strictly observed. Sunday evening was a sea- son of relaxation. Families visited ; there was a reunion of friends and lovers and a good time generally.
Funeral rites were attended with more so- lemnity and ceremony than at present. The deceased, borne on men's shoulders, whatever the distance, and attended by pall-bearers, was carried silently and reverently to the last resting place. At the grave, which was always closed before the assembly withdrew, it was expected that the father or husband or next friend would tender the thanks of the mourners.
Ordinations and quarterly meetings were occasions of great interest and attended by all the country round. Baptismal rites, when performed by immersion, were seasons of special interest. A procession would be formed, preceded by the elder and deacons and followed by the choir, candidates and congregation, would repair to the river side, the choir singing hymns as it moved on.
Church music, though perhaps devoid of the accuracy of its present development, was spirit stirring. In the ear of what old citi- zen do not the notes of Father Griswold, Benoni Adams and Seth P. Sheldon, still linger ?
Our churches were then unprovided with stoves or furnaces which were poorly com- pensated by footstoves. At noon in winter the whole congregation would repair to their homes or some neighboring house to partake of refreshinents and replenish their foot- stoves. Our old churches were large struct- ures, cool and airy in summer, and decidedly so in winter. Furs were greatly more in use than at present and served a good purpose. But the churches were well filled.
A few gentlemen of the old school sported the beaver hat, silk stockings and velvet small-clothes, while the masses were clad in homespun. Ladies of any pretensions were arrayed in scarlet cloaks, gold beads and muff and tippet of large dimensions.
It was required of boys to bow on enter- ing a house, or passing a person in the street, while the salutation of the girls was a curious
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movement, involving the falling and rising inflection of the joints."
MERCHANTS.
In the minds of many the name of mer- chant is associated with fraud, deceit and ex- tortion. We have been there, and we do not endorse the charge. We propose to enumer- ate those who have been engaged in this business in this town for the last century.
At the village we begin with Col. William Fitch, who was a kind of commissary to Col. Herrick's regiment of Rangers in 1777. Af- ter him were Joel Harmon, Ephraim Fitch, Dorastus Fitch and Silas Fitch, Phineas and Return Strong, Hart & Judson, Reed Edger- ton, George H. Purple, Horace Clark, Russel C. Wheeler, Harvey Baker, William Wallace, Thomas J. Swallow, George Edgerton, Martin D. Strong, David Whedon, Jr., Hiram Wick - ham, William Sheldon, John Allen, Henry W. Leach, Daniel H. Bromley, Adams L. Bromley, Rollin C. Wickham.
Charles W. Potter, James Rice, Daniel W. Bromley and Collins Blakely are in business now. At the factory village, the agents of the Pawlet. Manufacturing Company, John Guild, Milton Brown, William Sheldon and Marson Edgerton kept store. There was also a Union store here in 1851, Daniel H. Brom- ley, agent. In the south part of the town, Stephen Pearl, at an early day, and later, Judson & Baker; near the centre, Elkanah Cobb and Andrew Henry ; at West Paw- let, Joseph Ackley, Seely Brown, James S. Brown, Ira Goodrich, Theron Norton. Fayette Buckley, Sylvester Norton, Elihu Orvis, Elisha Marks. Ira Marks. Union store, 1851-52, Theodore Stevens, John J. Woodard, William Sheldon, Thaddeus D. Sheldon and Judson R. Harlow, agents ; Jeremiah Clark, John J. Woodard, Reuben Marks, Hiel Hollister Martin V. B. Pratt, James Houghton, Frederick M. Hollister and John A. Orr. Mr. Pratt still follows the business. At North Pawlet a Union store, Division 230, was kept from 1851 to 1861, Lewis Lincoln, agent.
MARKETS.
When the town was generally brought un-
· Called a " Courtesy " a pretty salutation when pret- tily made ; but which only now and then a naturally born graceful girl, or cunning coquette, had the knack of making .- Ed.
der cultivation, Lansingburgh at first and afterwards Troy were our principal markets. Cattle and sheep were mostly driven to Boston.
The expense of transportation to Troy for many years was-only 25 cents per hundred, and coarse grains would hardly admit of transportation even at that low price. The current of trade was changed to some extent when the northern canal was opened about 1820, though many still continued to haul their freight direct to Troy. On the opening of the railroad in 1852, freight business was done almost exclusively through that chan- nel. The occupation of the teamster was gone. Our present principal articles of ship- ment are cheese, butter, wool and potatoes, to which may be added fruit and poultry to a limited extent.
PHYSICIANS AND DISEASES.
Our early physicians were among the most noted in the State. Dr. Lemuel Chipman being the first president of the Vermont Medical Society and Dr. John Sargent the first president of the Rutland County Medi- cal Society .
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