USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont; with descriptions, physical and topographical > Part 9
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to their limbs. In this way they become capable of making great bodily efforts, and enduring much fatigue. In some instances, athletic, robust, and somewhat ele- vated bodily structures are seen like that of Ethan Allen, which made his English captors doubt the strength of their prisons to hold him. Three or four of such frames a little more than ordinary, happened to go in company from the same town, with pork and poultry to Boston. The attention of the Bostonians was arrested at their formidable appearance ; and after buying their 'notions,' wanted to know if they were not the biggest men in Vermont ? "No," said they, "compared with some there, we are babies."
Their ordinary employments also unite in rendering them hardy. They are mostly husbandmen. Culti- vating the soil is the great business of Vermonters. Much was done formerly in lumbering; and to some extent, this is now a business pursued by them. The pines bordering on the Connecticut are becoming scarce ; and the making of shingles, sawing of boards, and haul- ing of logs, are being confined to the interior. There is indeed a boundless source of hemlock and spruce, in working of which many are engaged.
These are employments, which strengthen the physical faculties. In subduing the soil, naturally tough and stuborn at first, particularly on the hills, and in the southern parts of the state, bodily efforts, and mental resources are necessary. In converting the lumber of their mountains into articles for transportation and sale, and forwarding them to market, by sledding, carting,
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rafting and boating, energy, resolution and perseverance are requisite. The making of sugar from the maple; a business pursued to a considerable extent in the spring, is laborious, and calls into exercise mental and bodily resources ; and aids in strengthening the human consti- tution.
These things have contributed to make the inhabitants of Vermont, and to keep them a hardy population. Generally speaking, they have this one important part of temporal happiness, the union of bodily and mental elasticity and vigor ; "sound minds in sound bodies." Generally, for it would be strange if there were no exceptions ; none afflicted with feeble constitutions ; none rendered inactive and irresolute by wrong treatment in their youth ; and by self-indulgence and dissipation ; none unable through the want of exercise and fortitude and self-denial to ascend the high ridges and lofty mountains by which they are surrounded. Vice and intemperance have disabled many, otherwise hale and strong in mind, and benevolent of heart ; making them cower and shiver beneath an October breeze, who once could face unmoved the tempest and drifting snows of mid-winter. What is meant to be said, is, that although Vermont is not a soil and climate which produces natu- rally dwarfs and pigmies, in either body or mind ; it is not denied that sometimes those of dwarfish dimensions are found among its inhabitants. Distant may be the day, and never arrive, when the vices and luxuries of older, or more spontaneous districts, shall render them a degenerate and sickly race ; effeminate and irresolute.
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Another trait of character in the Vermonters, is frank- ness. In their deportment at home, and abroad; in their intercourse with one another, and with strangers, you generally find them open and explicit. If they cannot carry their purposes without equivocation and duplicity, they feel better satisfied with failure than suc- cess by such unworthy means. This, it is believed, has been found true, more or less by strangers, who have resided temporarily among them. They would scorn to take the advantage of the ignorance of such, and make them the dupes of their artifice. Should residents among them of this description be imposed upon by some unworthy individuals, they would find ready and warm advocates to redress their wrongs. Vermont is a poor place for deceivers and imposters to find favor when their true characters are once known. This open-heart- edness may indeed encourage the approaches of villains, who may for a while conceal their purposes, and be suc- cessful. But when once understood; and they will sooner or later come in contact with such as are not slow · to understand, retributive justice will follow them with no doubtful pace. When accosted by travelers civilly and directly, they will answer directly and with corres- ponding seriousness. But if they have reason to believe that no serious object is in view by the parlance, they will be found at home in such manœuvering. They will be ready at indistinctness and circumlocution, to the heart's content of any who wish to make the trial.
Thus they disclose their minds unreservedly, relative to their public agents, and the measures of government ;
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and without reserve, say of " all who act in the public. eye, or speak to the public ear," what they think. What they approve, they do it cordially ; and as heartily, what they disapprove. This is also done face to face, and not clandestinely by detraction and insinuation. In short, it is a frankness, which is warm-hearted; and not cold and distant ; but often making those who come within its influence either cordial friends, or cordial ene- mies. This is the state of the case as it is often, and the lines of distinction are clear as the noon-day sun. There is no possibility of blending them.
They are also enterprising. This is implied in what has already been said in the alterations and improve- ments in their public roads, and buildings ; and on their farms, draining their lowlands ; filling up the vallies, and leveling down the hills. These are not the works of those, who are satisfied to endure evils rather than exer- cise self-denial and fortitude in removing them, and trying the means of melioration. Not content with securing or even enhancing their present privileges, they are constantly seeking new means of improvement, new sources of gain ; and of enjoyment. New vallies are explored by the husbandmen among the mountains, made rich by the decomposition of vegetable matter, washed down from the surrounding hills by the rains of centuries. Inventions are constantly making to facilitate the clearing of land, and eradicating the stumps and roots from the soil; and rendering the surface smooth and easy to pass and repass upon it. Their swamps and sloughs, before neglected, and esteemed nuisances, are
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now becoming invaluable as furnishing exhaustless sources of manure for their uplands. To more valuable purposes are turned their streams and ponds of water, as means of irrigating their meadows in times of drought. Thus the products of their farms in some instances are doubled. The rivers, creeks, bays, and inlets of their lakes are traced and explored with untiring zeal for water power; and new places for mill-seats, fac- tories and machine shops of various descriptions.
Thus extensive establishments of this kind are becom- ing more and more flourishing by the enterprise of individuals and companies. These you may see particu- larly at Springfield, Perkinsville, Bennington, Brattleboro, Middlebury, Winooski, Manchester, Bellows Falls, and other places. New uses are sought and made of their woodlands and forests ; making them sources of profit by transporting fuel to the neighboring villages, and factories and shops; and timber and lumber for the puposes of building, and furniture, and implements of husbandry ; and for machinery. Increased attention is also paying to the quarries, and beds of granite, marble and free stone, and lime and slate ; and additional profits derived from them by the more frequent use made in buildings and fences. Even the caverns and bowels of the mountains are more and more 'ransacked ' for sources of gain ; and in some instances, perhaps, " for treasures better hid." Thus there are extensive beds of iron ore at Bennington and Plymouth, where furnaces have kept their livid fires kindled day and night for years in succession. In Somerset and Chittenden are
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also extensive mines ; at the latter place also are mines of manganese, used much in book establishments ; and of a better quality than is often found. But in visiting the mines in Chittenden, the excavations and works connected with them, your attention will be unavoidably attracted by the extensive and majestic prospects at the south, which are here presented to you.
In ways similar to these, is Vermont shown to be an enterprising state ; and this is becoming more and more a trait in her character. This is seen also in the con- stant improvements made here in agriculture. This, as a science, both in theory and practice, is better under- stood than in many of her sister states. The farmers are much in the habit of reading agricultural publica- tions ; and willing to make experiments in husbandry. They plow and hoe but little ground, but do it well, and have good crops. They obtain more by the acre, it is believed, than the farmers of Connecticut, and some other states, where the custom is to plow and hoe double the quantity of ground. They are attentive to their seed grains ; selecting and exchanging them to the best advantage in securing good crops; and is of the first quality : introducing from abroad often the most approved kinds. In their potatoes, which in variety and richness and abundance are unrivaled, they are con- stantly making trials to improve and perfect the yield. This is a product of their farms more and more used as food for both man and beast. Indeed several starch factories in the north part of the state, work up vast quantities of them ; and thus encourage the enterprising
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spirit of the neighboring farmers. In some seasons, thousands and tens of thousands of bushels, are trans- ported to New York; and other cities farther south, through the water conveyances of lakes, canals and rivers. Loads, after loads; team after team from the interior and eastern parts of Chittenden and Franklin counties, crowding to the landing places at Burlington, St. Albans, and other lake ports, you may see, as you travel through this delightful region, during a mild autum- nal Indian summer.
Further proof of this, is in the fact, that so many of her sons and daughters are scattered more or less over the union, engaged in the various pursuits of life. In mechanic arts, in husbandry ; in mercantile pursuits ; in the various professions ; in engineering and surveying, you will find employed enterprising Vermonters success- fully, one or more in almost every town and district of this extensive country. Their character for this active, business spirit, secures them employment wherever they go; and they do not often betray the confidence reposed in them.
The people in Vermont are intelligent. This is another characteristic trait. It is indeed true by the last census, that the number of those who cannot read is comparatively greater than of some other states, particu- larly Connecticut. But this is owing probably to the disadvantages of schooling in the early settlement of the state. So unsettled and disturbed the condition of things then was, that the district system did not for sometime acquire much regularity. But it is not believed that of
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those under sixteen years, there are more here who cannot read, than in the same number in any section in the country. The schools are now under good regula- tions ; as much spirit and animation and interest mani- fested by the scholars ; and the instruction is as thorough, and extending to as many branches. The annual duration of the district schools may be less than in some other commonwealths; but it is not believed that the scholars, as a body, in the elementary branches, will be found behind those of the same age and class in whatever direction you go.
But the ability to read ; and the habit and love of reading to acquire knowledge and information are two distinct things. The extensive school funds possessed by some states ; the number of local districts, and com- parative easy access to them, summer and winter, may have happily conferred the ability to read and write on the entire population. But unhappily, this is as far as some go in these places. They make little, or no use of this ability, farther than to be able to prove that they have not lost it by reading in large letters the commission of the officer taking the census. Such there are, more or less, in all communities. But the inhabitants of this state generally, seem to avail themselves of this privilege conferred upon them in childhood. They are thus distinguished for general information ; extending their knowledge beyond the mountains, which surround them ; and often limiting to a narrow compass their prospect. They seem emulous to enlarge their views of things, and to extend them over the globe, to know what the
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world at large is doing, and to keep up with the times. While their first attention and efforts are directed to the duties of their several callings and employments, they do not neglect to acquaint themselves with the condition of their fellow men in different parts of the world. They employ their leisure moments in acquiring a gene- ral acquaintance with science and literature, and with the history of the world. In conversation you will find them ready on subjects of common interest and concern. You will often be delighted, as well as surprised, at the knowledge discovered by many, in ordinary occupations of life, on various topics, history, biography, chemistry, belle-lettres, geography and national policy.
From such citizens to select an enlightened and inde- pendent jury for any cause, one well versed in the forms and ceremonies of courts of justice, would not be a diffi- cult task. The Vermont tribunals would not suffer in this, nor in any other respect, be it said with due defe- rence, in comparison with her sister states. To such hands, the interests, the property and lives of her citi- zens may be safely entrusted. The writer once witness- ed a jury in Connecticut being charged by a district judge of the United States court, keep their seats, till told by the judge himself to ' rise.' That a Vermont jury would have waited till thus instructed, or admon- ished, he does not believe ; but is confident that the judge rising and addressing, "gentlemen of the jury," would have been instantly followed by a simultaneous rising, on the part of those receiving the charge. These things are not named for invidious comparisons. Far
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be it from such design. That state was named, because it is called, and deservedly so, ' the Athens of the union,' and if Vermont comes nearly even sides with her in intelligence, she will not in this respect fall behind the other states. It is too, to counteract the prejudices and hasty assumptions prevailing in some parts unfavorable to Vermont ; that it is a place ' fit only for bears and owls ;' and that its inhabitants shun the light, and are . buried in ignorance; and, as to all improvements in civilization and the refinements of society, bound fast in the frosts of apathy. The writer has opportunity of knowing somewhat of both Connecticut and Vermont ; and, loving as the apple of the eye, and venerating the institutions and habits and customs of the former ; in justice to the latter, he is constrained to say, that in general information and intelligence she is in advance of her; and in the state of society, not much in the rear.
Here, lest it should be thought by some that some- what of the foregoing has the appearance of a defence and encomium, it may be said, that such is the design, so far as to repel unfounded aspersions and unprovoked attacks ; and to commend where commendation is de- served. It is fashionable in many places, to stigmatize Vermont, as ' the land of Hemlocks,' and her people as a cold, phlegmatic, frost-bitten race, half civilized and half barbarian. The writer remembers seeing when very young, printed caricatures of the rencountre in congress between Roger Griswold of Connecticut, and Matthew Lyon of Vermont, at the expense of the latter, of
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course, as he was probably most in fault. But that was not enough ; Vermont itself must be caricatured as a · land of bears, wolves and catamounts ; that is, settled by a people, resembling these animals in their temper, and manners and customs. Prints of this kind were about that time, and in consequence truly of that affray, circulated in Connecticut ; and even found their way into her schools, leading the young to imbibe strong pre- judices against the state thus portrayed. Thus, as they increased in years, they increased in antipathy towards the new state ; and seemed to look suspiciously at the green mountains north of the bay state. They felt some as a worthy clergyman did, who lived long and died at the foot of the mountain in that state : He was willing to settle in any place where the Providence of God might call him, " if it might not be in Vermont." But if that same Providence, contrary to their wishes sent them to that land of ' fugitives ;' they perchance began to let go their hasty, early impressions. On a thorough acquaintance with them, they saw not why the great body of Vermonters should be stigmatized ; be- cause Roger Griswold threw upon Matthew Lyon, the reproach of the wooden sword ; and because the latter should spit in his face for it; and because the former belabored his shoulders with the hickory, in the hall of congress.
But from that time, strong prejudices have been retained in many parts of our land against this state ; and editors of newspapers now, if they wish to amuse their readers with a tale of outlandish manners and
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occurrences, would be very likely to make Vermont the seat of the drama, and Vermonters leading actors in it. It is then to counteract these mistakes and antipathies, that the foregoing remarks have taken a turn, which might be perverted without, and with it, may perhaps by some, this explanation. A long and intimate ac- quaintance with them, and personal knowledge of facts on the ground, authorize, it is thought, what has been said in their favor. It is regretted that it had not been done by an abler hand, and in a better manner. It will only be added in this digression, that hickory grows in Vermont too, as well as in the land of steady habits ; and New York ; and not hemlock alone ; but Beech and maple ; hard maple ; rock maple; curled maple ; an article when wrought and polished, as comely and beau- tiful, as it is tough and enduring, and that the 'king of birds' sometimes hovers around their tops, and lights upon their trunks, and the cliffs of her mountains.
In further proof of the intelligence of Vermonters, it may be said, that the district schools receive a certain sum from the government of the state ; (a cent on a dollar of the grand list;) on condition of each district ·raising an equal amount; and keeping a school in operation so many months of the year. By this public provision, a healthful tone is given to common educa- tion ; and most of the children and youth are brought within its influence ; and they seem to prize the privi- lege put into their hands more than some others, pro- vided with more ample funds. It is believed that Ver- mont has furnished her proportion of good teachers of
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primary schools ; and that they stand on vantage ground at the west and south, whither many of them go, both male and female.
Hospitality is another trait in the character of the green mountains. The writer has resided at the south ; and known somewhat of the manners and customs of the Marylanders, bordering on Virginia, famed for its hospitality. Report speaks short of the truth with regard to the cordial welcome and entertainment of those, who, with credentials clear, go among them at the calls of duty, and for the purposes of information. The sparse population of farmers and planters on the banks of the rivers and creeks, isolated from one another, knowing little of taverns and hotels, except in their villages, open their doors with great kindness to the stran- ger and wayward traveler. They make him feel at home ; and urge his stay as long as suits his conve- nience ; and if he should happen to be an associate for- merly at school, the tarrying must be measured not by days, but by weeks. In traveling in Vermont, he has been reminded of those kindly customs, by meeting some- what similar tokens of good will in faces never before seen. Convenient public houses indeed abound in the vallies on the hill roads of Vermont ; and therefore the reasons to the same extent for the rites of private hospi- tality here, as at the south, do not exist. But if night overtake you in some sequestered spot, short of the vil- lage inn, and you enter the first dwelling, perchance you will witness the kindly countenances, and hear the unaffected salutation, " Take a chair, friend,"-" Tarry
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with us to night, you shall be made welcome." A plen- tiful repast, the produce of your host's farm ; with the clear honeycomb from the drawer of Weeks's patent hive refreshes your spirit. If an honest heart shines in your countenance, it well bespeak for you confidence and kindness in every part of the state; but not less warm will be the reception as you go north over the hills and through the vallies of Lamoille, Franklin and Caledonia. It may be blunt and abrupt at times ; but the hospitality will be unaffected, and most of those, who, as visitors have traveled up and down its hills, will speak well of Vermont kindness to strangers ; and with pleasure, remember instances of it felt.
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CHAPTER IX.
Character continued .- Originality .- Illustrated .- Baptist clergy- man .- Constable .- The taking down a house of Divine wor- ship .- Building another .- Prosecution .- Court of experi- ence .- The bible cited as authoritiy .- The sign of the Green mountain tavern .- Singular punishment inflicted .- An instance of mischief making .- The false alarm .- Its consequences .- Breaking roads after drifting snow storms .- Assault and battery .- A lawsuit .- Freemen's meeting .- Town meeting .- The Vermont originality seen .- Freedom of their elections .- Extending to all classes .- Clergymen not excluded .- Baptist clergymen in several instances governors .- Anecdote of one .- A singular character.
SOMEWHAT of originality is also found in the character of the Vermonters. They have in a measure, their own way of doing things. They are not mere copyists, inquiring, what are the customs and practices of the bay state, and in Connecticut, or New York, her neighbor, and now the empire state, and making them the rule of their conduct. While they claim the right to transact their concerns in their own way, adopt their own customs and manner of address and intercommunication ; wear their own habiliments, and in their own style, they yield to others the same freedom. They will not trouble themselves greatly about the costume, or the visage, or
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broken accents of strangers and foreigners, whom Provi- dence may throw in their way ; nor put themselves to great inconvenience to view all the particulars of their mode of appearance so different from others. Unsparing to singularity, for the sake of singularity, they are not ashamed to be seen going to Boston in caps made of their own mountain fur ; in striped woolens manufactured in their own dwellings; in vehicles constructed by them- selves ; and drawn by horses of their own raising. Num- bers going in company, as farmers often did, to market, before railroads were so frequent, they were known by the way as Vermonters. Their appearance made known the place of their sojourn before "any sound escaped from their faces." But all doubts would vanish, hearing as the dwellers by the way might, "flunk and flumux," and other similar idiomatic expressions, descriptive of their aversion to "backing out and eating up their own words."
The writer knew a venerable baptist clergyman, who having scruples against receiving wages from his flock, fed them gratuitously with spiritual food, and his own family with the produce of his farm with temporal ; go to Boston late in the season, with three yoke of oxen drawing on runners a kind of ark of his own construc- tion, loaded with dressed hogs of no puny dimensions. The spectacle was no every day's one. The snow leaving him unexpectedly, his triple yoke carried him through the mud safely home in his own way 'spite the gaze and wonderment' of bay state boys. A constable also of early times, he knew on a cold November's morning,
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go two or three miles, bareheaded, on some hasty, catch- pole errand, doing the business in his own way.
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