USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont; with descriptions, physical and topographical > Part 3
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But by the fear and love of God, you must seek above all things else, to perpetuate and extend the praise of your state; thus rendering stable her blessings and
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institutions. " Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." " Wisdom is the pearl of great price ; and the fear of the Lord is the begin- ning of wisdom, and to depart from evil is understand- ing." Attentively study the bible. Its literature, as such, excels that of every other book in the world. It stands unrivaled in sublimity and beauty ; in tenderness ; in narrative and in poetry. Milton read it daily and drank deeply of its spirit. Hence it was in a measure that he produced an Epic Poem, which according to Johnson " is the second in the world only because it was not the first." Let it be made one of your classics ; a book not to be read only ; but studied and recited, and explained by teachers in its comparative literary excellences. You may thus have a strong hope, not only of promoting genuine learning and sound morals, but the honor of your state. What is far more impor- tant, you may have hope that the Spirit will accompany the word and inspire that knowledge, which will stand by you at the judgment when the secrets of all hearts will be revealed : that Spirit to whom Milton devoutly prayed-
" Thou, O spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know'st ; * * What in me is dark,
Illumine :
That I may assert eternal Providence
And justify the ways of God to men."
You are not qualified for the duties of life till your 3
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minds are imbued with the fear and love of God. You are not prepared for its vicissitudes without them. These are your only security for your persevering fidelity to the trust confided to you ; the only assurance that your whole course will reflect credit on your native state ; sustain and increase her reputation in the Republic. They are the only safeguard of your own reputation, and perseverance to the end in well doing.
This goodly heritage you may preserve, and increase the praise of your state by the cultivation of manly sentiments. Such were the sentiments pre-eminently of your early predecessors. A good example in this respect have they left you ; noble sentiments animated their bosoms, and were breathed forth in their words and actions. Imitate their example, and let the same spirit of freedom and independence inspire your hearts and govern your conducts. The children of freemen in a sense somewhat peculiar, a corresponding obligation rests on you to maintain the character untarnished. Discrimi- nate between genuine freedom and licentiousness. The reign of salutary law, is the reign of circumscribed liberty. Submit to such restraint, for without it, liberty loses her safeguard ; and having little or no assurance of security in your rights and enjoyments, you would be only nominally free. You would' draw towards the borders of slavery. Cultivate then a knowledge of the true principles of liberty ; the rights of man, and frown on tyranny in all its forms ; the usurpation of power and oppression. Assert and maintain the claims of justice and equity. Free in your spirits as the moun-
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tain air you breathe, your sentiments will be manly, and lead to manly conduct. You will not cower before the menacing eye of the tyrant ; but bid defiance to his denunciations, and rise superior to the intimidations and the feelings of servitude. 1142585
This feeling of freedom will also guard you against the servile influence, growing too often from the love of money ; the absorbing pursuit of the times. Great is the homage claimed by overgrown wealth ; and its attend- ant power, and advantages, and ostentations hold many minds in obsequiousness. They control in a measure public opinion, and establish a kind of tyranny to which you may find it difficult not to succumb. But to yield entirely to its sway is debasing, and an impediment to mental culture and independence. While then you duly estimate the use of money, and encourage the acquisi- tion of a competence ; be not awe-struck at its tinsel flattery, and bow not to Mammon, " the least erected spirit that fell from heaven." There are other things more excellent ; and which cannot be purchased with silver and gold ; a mind endowed with a free and manly spirit ; well cultivated, and a heart stayed by the anchor of faith.
Equally inconsistent with such a character would be yielding to effeminacy and the allurements of ease and pleasure. The youth of Vermont should be the last to be captivated with the blandishments of refinement and self-indulgence ; the last to relinquish an elastic, hardy temperament. The example of your predecessors for- bids such a retrograde ; the whole line of the mountain
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population forbids it ; your own situation and comfort forbid it. The fathers of your state scorned the syren song of indolence and self-enjoyment. Supineness and ease marked not their course. They cowered not before the mountain tempest, or the whirlwind of political com- motion, or the storm of war. Shall the blessings and privileges thus secured to you, be lost or perverted by the want of self-denial or vigilance ? Will you suffer your comparatively favorable circumstances to enervate your energy and resolution and make you a puny race, afraid to ascend and overlook the summits of your moun- tains ; turn your backs upon the winds that roar among your forests ; and cover your faces and hide from the driving snow storm? Shall the healthful, blooming complexion once so common on your hills and along your rivers and vallies, become pale and wan like the victims of the ague and fever on the fens and marshes of the south and west ? You will feel keenly the vigors of your northern climate, in proportion as you render your bodies tender and delicate by wrong training and nursing. Through mistaken notions of gentility and exquisite appearance you may become too susceptible, and shiver before the keen winds of the north, which would only fan the early fathers and mothers of your state.
Cultivate then physical energy ; bodily health, for mental vigor and elasticity depend much on this. At any rate, the mind cannot be long and profitably exercised, unless the faculties of the body are in a healthful tone. As dwarfs and pigmies are formed by
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early subjecting the bodily frame to narrow, straitened chests and boxes ; so the mind by yielding to the pres- sure of tyranny, to the love of money, the arrogance of ostentatious, overbearing wealth, and the fascinations of ease and pleasure, may be reduced to Lilliputian dimen- sions. In such circumstances you would find yourselves illy prepared for the changes of a Vermont winter ; and in some of its sudden gales might lose your foot-hold. By the union then of mental and bodily resoluteness and vigor, you may with the Divine blessing, pass your time pleasantly, and not only keep the vantage ground given you, but rise higher.
In this way you would be qualified, and feel disposed to keep the possession of the hills cleared and made ready to your hands by those who have gone before you. In this the writer uses not figurative language; but it is true to the letter, that many of the hilly and exposed parts of Vermont, as it is related in the sequel, are in danger after having been subdued, fenced, and occupied by buildings and cultivators, of being deserted, and going back to a state of nature, regained by the bear and wolf. Have you not observed one and another of your acquaintance retreating from elevated, windy positions into the lowlands ; and taking shelter in the vallies and cavities ; behind projecting mounds and clumps of trees ? Have you not seen and known one building after another taken down and rebuilt in a more retired, quiet place ? Now is there not somewhat of retrograde in this ? May it not go too far ? But you will say, may we not choose our own situation, and meliorate our circumstances ?
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Must we live on ground so exposed, that both hands sometimes are scarcely enough to keep our heads cover- ed, because our fathers lived there before us ? Was it not enough that they encountered the winds of these unprotected ridges for half a century till their heads were assimilated to the frosts and snows around them ? Do we not hear it said by one and another, and our elders too, "I have lived on this hill long enough ?" " I mean to move down to the foot of it."-" The snow drifts have burrowed me up here often enough ; I intend going to a warmer country." " Must we stay, till all leave us but such as are unable to make good their retreat."
Choice of situation in which to live, is indeed free to all in itself considered ; and exchange of place is often desirable and advantageous ; and many mutations have been happily made. The writer could not but admire the filial affection of the young man, who had made provision to move his aged father to the flat, at the foot of the lofty bleak hill, on which he had long toiled and buffeted the storm of many a winter. But age had now crippled him, and he could do little more than listen to the howling of the tempest and look at the drifting snow. The son was disappointed in his intentions ; for death removed the father to another world, before he had time to carry them into execution. In relating it, he was grieved that his purpose had been frustrated.
Motives like these would surely justify you in doing what you can to accommodate the aged and infirm, in retired and quiet situations, many of which are to be of
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found in your own state. But frequent as they are, they are insufficient to contain all, young and old. All cannot live upon the banks of the rivers; or in the ravines and openings between the mountains ; or in the · village, and centre of business. Some must dwell on the sides and summits of the hills. As well might all pursue similar employments, as claim like situations as places of residence. Agriculture is your principal pur- suit ; and the hills often present superior advantages to the farmer. If these are to be deserted, where will be your means of sustaining the increasing inhabitants of the Green Mountains ? In the beauty and grandeur of prospects, the advantage is almost exclusively on your side as occupiers of these overlooking elevations. They furnish summer abodes most delightful ; and enjoying the cool and reviving breezes undulating around the uplands and hill tops, you may commiserate those pent up between the hills, sweltering under the scorching rays of mid-summer's sun. Do not these advantages in a measure compensate for the inconveniences of winter ; and reconcile you to a hill residence even if it shall have a northern bleak exposure ? Surely you must feel reluctant at relinquishing entirely the high ground occu- pied by your fathers ; and give up conquests made upon the dominions of the forests. The pride of ancestry, and the fear of deterioration, one would think must not only stimulate you to keep the ground already wrested from nature ; but to make further inroads upon her terri- tories. Raise still higher the standard of subjugation ; and let the rays of the sun into some other yet untouched
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" contiguity of shade." " Green Mountain Boys," de- scendants of those, who held fast the " New Hampshire grants," surrendering the cleared hills back to the beasts of the forest ; and chased by the catamount, wolf and bear to the rivers, into the lowlands and cavities of the mountains ! Instead of following the eagle to the " clefts of the rock," turned back by the hootings of the screech- owl! The stranger, perhaps the friend of your father, from a distant state, calls on you, at your residence on the flat, or in the valley ; perhaps a traveler from abroad. He eyes with silent emotion the neighboring eminence. He wishes to ascend it and view the surrounding scenery. Your hospitable reception of him, gives him confidence to ask you to accompany him. You cannot refuse, but conceal your aversion to the effort. He admires the prospect, but observes the marks of former residences ; 1 footsteps of an old settlement ; evidences that the hill top on which he stands had been trod by human feet before in the ordinary pursuits of life.
In answer to his inquiries, you have to confess the truth ; that your predecessors cleared that hill and lived and died upon it ; living to a good old age, robust and hale. But say you " we could not stand it. It was too cold, windy and snowy. We had to give it up and go down to the flat, and valley, shielded by the surrounding hills from the piercing northern blasts. We are more tender and delicate than our fathers and mothers. We cannot endure such hardships as they encountered." A compli- ment this indeed would be to them ; but a confession from you, one would think accompanied with blushing.
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
The following stanzas taken from the Knickerbocker, may not be inappropriate in this place.
" THE HILLS." " THE hills !- the "everlasting hills !" How peerlessly they rise, Like Earth's gigantic sentinels Discoursing in the skies. Hail ! Nature's storm-proof fortresses, By freedom's children trod ; Hail ! ye invulnerable walls, The masonry of God !
When the dismantled pyramids Shall blend with desert dust, When every temple made with hands Is faithless to its trust, Ye shall not stoop your Titan crests, Magnificent as now ! Till your Almighty Architect In thunder bids you bow !
I love the torrents, strong and fierce, That to the plain ye fling, Which gentle flowers drink at their goal, And eagles at their spring ; And when arrested at their speed By winter's wand of frost, The brilliant and fantastic forms In which their waves are tossed.
Glorious ye are, when noon's fierce beams Your naked summits smite, ' As o'er ye day's great lamp hangs pois'd In cloudless chrysolite ;
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Glorious, when o'er ye sunset clouds Like broidered curtains lie : Sublime, when, through dim-moonlight, looms Your special majesty.
I love your iron-sinewed race- Have shared their rugged fare- The thresholds of whose eyrie homes Look out on boundless air : Bold hunters, who from highest cliffs The wild goat's trophies bring,
And crest their bonnets with the plumes . Of your aerial king ! .
I love the mountain maidens- Their step's elastic spring
Is light as if some viewless bird Upbuoyed them with its wing ; Theirs is the wild, unfettered grace That art hath never spoiled, And theirs the healthful purity That fashion hath not coiled.
Mountains ! I dwell not with ye now, To climb ye and rejoice- And round me boometh, as I write A crowded city's voice ; But oft in watches of the night, When sleep the turmoil stills, My spirit seems to walk abroad Among ye, mighty hills !
Cherishing such an attachment to your native state ; its founders and institutions, you will encourage the literary and scientific productions of your countrymen, rather than those of foreigners. Works of merit you will of
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course honor, from what quarter soever coming. But you will not surely approve every thing of this kind because it is foreign, nor reject it because it is American : other things being equal, the latter should claim your prefer- ence. Even agricultural societies in awarding pre- miums, give a preference to animals of a native growth and pure American breed. Why not do so with regard to mental productions ? Would it not be patriotic ; and a merited frown on those publishers, who are flooding the country with foreign reprints at a rate so cheap as to discourage native writers ? Well may we be reproached for the want of a national literature, so long as our Belle-lettres, and works of science and history come principally from abroad. Being reprinted here without the purchasing of the copyright, wealthy and indepen- dent book establishments can afford them cheaper than they could similar works of our own countrymen. For the authors must of course be paid something for their labor, and the publication made out from manu- scripts. These reprints will continue to inundate the reading world, so long as they are demanded and wel- comed by the public.
If your school books for improvement in reading are filled with selections of foreign composition, will not the rising generation be imbued with a foreign, rather than a national literature? Is it not time that the taste and habit in this respect were corrected? If we have no writings suitable for schools, let it be known and confessed, and the aid of foreigners humbly craved.
Besides if your school books are always, as they now
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are, to be mere compilations ; consisting of as many different subjects as chapters, what permanent effect can they have on children and youth? They may improve in enunciation by the use of them ; and is not this all ? But if works on some connected and important subject, one of an historical narrative were placed in their hands, they might be treasuring valuable information while making improvement in reading. They might be laying up facts relative to their own country, of which they should not be ignorant.
Lend your influence and example then to patronize meritorious scholars of your state and nation. Let the books read in your primary schools, be those which describe things around you ; events and historical facts, worthy of remembrance. Let them be such as will inspire the young with a love of their own country ; and furnish them with the outlines of its history ; the features of its government and institutions. See that they are such as will imperceptibly imprint on their minds, the very knowledge which will be wanted in subsequent life ; and while in the pursuit of elementary studies, furnish them with facts and illustrations not easily forgotten. If the following pages should be found conducive to this ; a suitable reading book for schools ; the design of the writer will be accomplished ; and therefore while bespeaking their candor, and favorable regard as far as deserved, it affectionately dedicates itself to the youth of Vermont.
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CHAPTER II.
General description of the state .- Its name .- Surface .- Exterior appearance .- Its shape, and boundaries .- Road from Brattle- boro to Albany .- Scenery near Bennington and Manchester .- Former and present stage route across the mountain .- Road on the banks of the Battenkill, through Arlington .- Deceptive appearance of the distant prospects .- Variegated appearance in Rutland county and Addison .- Chimney Point .- The coun- . try along Lake Champlain to Burlington and St. Albans .- Franklin County .- Prospect from Westford .- Soil on the Con- necticut river .- On the hills and vallies east side ; and on the west side of the mountain .- How enriched .- Interval .- Hills .- Soil near Rutland, Middlebury and other places .- Gardens and productions of Burlington .- Franklin county compared with other counties .- Crops produced, how abundantly .- Agricul- tural fair at Sheldon .- Cattle, beef and pork .- Dairies .- Butter, Cheese .- How put up for market .- Wool .- Extensive flocks. -How kept .- Honey Bee .- Patent Hive .- Sugar.
VERMONT was the last settled of the New England States ; and admitted into the Union not till after the Revolutionary war. It is divided by the Green Moun- tains, which run from north east to south west, its whole length; the eastern border being washed by the Connecticut river, and the greater part of the western by Lake Champlain.
Its name is descriptive of the mountain which passes
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through it, and was probably suggested by the evergreens which adorn it. It is composed of two words, which signify verdant and mountain. No state is more appro- priately named. No one in the Union has more beauti- ful and sublime mountain scenery. It presents many interesting and magnificent prospects.
That portion of it, which is situated on the east side of the mountain is uneven and hilly, especially in the south eastern part, the interval on the Connecticut being narrow. In the northern part, the surface is less un- even ; the margin on the river wide, affording rich meadows and arable land, which are highly cultivated, and divided into beautiful farms.
It presents on the map a figure of four unequal sides. The eastern line follows the winding and irregular course of the Connecticut, and is somewhat the longer side ; being about one hundred and ninety miles. The northern. line is that which separates it from Canada, and is more regular, running from north east to south west, and is about ninety miles long. The western border is also very irregular, particularly that part washed by the waters of Champlain, which indents it with numerous bays, coves and inlets, forming beautiful Islands ; and a large one called Grand Isle, and which of itself makes a county. The southern part of this line, separating it from New York, is more regular. On the south it is divided from Massachusetts by a comparatively straight line of about forty miles in length.
The southern part of the state is very uneven, the hills approaching to the very bank of the Connecticut,
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and almost to the line of New York. For a number of years, the stage road from Brattleboro to Albany went directly over the highest ridges, and in many places is fearfully steep. The route is now more circuitous and less arduous, following the course of streams, winding round the hills, and leading you unexpectedly by a gentle declivity into Bennington or Manchester, if you wish to visit Saratoga Springs. If the present route is less difficult and laborious, a desirable relief to the horse, it affords fewer points of extensive and beautiful prospects to the traveler. The original direction of the road for twenty miles was mostly through the forest, over steep hills, and through deep vallies, with here and there a clearing, and a dwelling with its hospitable sign, surmounted by a rudely carved mountaineer, brandishing in the whistling wind, some implement of husbandry. On its summit, the lofty beeches and birches, bear the initials of many a traveler, which now like many other records of this world, are overgrown with moss, and will soon become illegible. But this route presents very extensive and interesting prospects to the east, south, , and particularly to the west.
From the summit near Bennington the prospect at a clear rising sun is majestic beyond description. The rays of the sun lead your view distinctly to, and even beyond the Helderberg, some forty miles beyond the Hudson, and down that river below the Catskill moun- tains. The mind is filled and elated with the contem- plation, and an early ride of ten or fifteen miles to reach this point with the rising sun, is richly rewarded by the
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pleasure of the scene. It is one calculated to impress the mind with reverential and grateful thoughts of God, and through his works let it run up to his throne in thanksgiving and praise.
In passing this twenty miles of steep hills, and deep vallies, the stage required no more time than in going over the same distance on a level road. The time lost in going slowly up the steeps, was regained in going rapidly down the declivities. So rapid was the descent, that one needed steady nerves to abide it ; and yet no instance of being upset on this most difficult place of crossing the Green Mountains has been known, while on the level road from Bennington to Troy it has often been overturned. This mountain turnpike had become so proverbial, that a gentleman from Boston, passing it with his horse and chaise, said, " that if he had found it no more than perpendicular, he would have been satisfied ; but coming to the places where it leaned the other way, it was hard scratching." But this is now one of the deserted ways of this world, and the new way runs a more easy course, and none need hesitate encountering it.
The scenery around Manchester is delightful ; and to a stranger, very impressive. Indeed on visiting it for the first time, one is surprised that the inhabitants are apparently so unconscious of the unusual delineations of nature with which they are surrounded. One sees not how they can pursue their ordinary occupations and keep their eyes from becoming fixed on the interesting scenes, which the Spring, and Summer and Autumn
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present them. But Winter too, has its attractions in her snows and frosts which cover these lofty eminences, rendering them in appearance still more elevated and grand, overhanging the shrubbery and evergreens with their white drapery.
In the sultry season of July and August, the traveler, returning from Saratoga Springs, crossing the Hudson near the battle ground at Stillwater ; and passing through Unionville, has a delightful entrance into Vermont. The road running on the banks of Battenkill, and it seems difficult for art, having ample means at command, to contrive a route more engaging, or better calculated to please and animate the mind through the medium of the eye. The interchange of sun and shade; of gentle rising hills ; and of pleasant vallies ; of water flowing smoothly along in one place ; and in another, murmuring over the rocks and precipices, becomes more and more interesting as you leave the borders of New York. In passing through Arlington, the road on the margin of the river is nearly level, but skirted by gradually ascend- ing hills and mountains ; and in the sultry sun of Au- gust, the scenery around you will animate and cheer you, leaving impressions on your mind not easily effaced. You will remember a ride through Arlington during the fiery reign of Sirius, as long as you live. In some places the ascent from the stream and road seem so gradual and regular, that one would think them the work of art; in another, so abrupt and disjointed and irregular are the eminences and ridges, that the spectator regards them as the works of nature in one of her wild-
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