USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > St Johnsbury > The town of St. Johnsbury, Vt. ; a review of one hundred twenty-five years to the anniversary pageant 1912 > Part 6
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fate, but adore in humble gratitude that goodness which has spared such invaluable blessings so long. On that goodness I rely for comfort and support thro the residue of my life ; " again, "on the Rock of Ages, on which foundation alone all is safe."
Very interesting as revealing his serious thought and pater- nal solicitude, is a letter addressed to Hon. Daniel Cahoon of Win- chester, N. H., in whose family his son Josias Lyndon, had been placed, at the age of fifteen years. He says in part-
"The favorable manner in which you express yourself respecting Lyndon gives me the highest satisfaction. I find by his letter, that he is, as you ex- press it, contented ; and more so, he is very happy in your family. As I have the vanity to think he does not want for natural abilities it affords me particular pleasure that he is under the direction of a person capable of im- proving them to advantage. Your attention to him particularly in forming his moral character and conduct, will bind me in gratitude beyond the power of expression. He is at an age when pernicious principles too easily sway the ductile mind. I must therefore entreat you my dear friend, by all the tender feelings of a parent, to watch over him, to check his irregular follies whether of conduct or sentiment, and in short, make him if possible what you would wish him if he were yours. Pardon, my dear sir, this importunity which I can assure you, proceeds not from distrust of you but merely from anxiety for him, and which as a father, you must at times most sensibly feel in yourself.
I have to acknowledge the goodness of GOD in favoring me with a com- fortable measure of health, although the climate disagreees with my con- stitution. My love and respects wait on Mrs. Cahoon, and regards to the family. And that Heaven may preserve and bless them and you, is the sin- cere wish and prayer of-Your Friend and Humble servant."
JONA. ARNOLD.
This letter, written and franked in Philadelphia by Congress- man Arnold, was dated Feb. 9, 1783, just ten years before his death. It is noteworthy for the insight it gives to the heart of man. He had the satisfaction of seeing the fulfilment of his high hopes for the son, who however survived him only three years.
Announcement of Dr. Arnold's death was made in Providence, March 9, 1793, as follows :
THE HON. JONATHAN ARNOLD, ESQ.
who departed this life at his home in St. Johnsbury in the State of Vermont, was a native of this town, born Dec. 3, 1741, and descended from one of the
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first settlers. He was Representative in the General Assembly and Assistant to the Governor and Council. He was educated a Physician, and was chosen by this State, in the late war, Director of Hospitals. He also during the war commanded the Independent Company of Grenadiers of this town.
"Among first traits of his character was a peculiar accuracy in penman- ship and excellence in composition ; this qualification, at an early period in his life recommended him to the office of Clerk of the Superior Court, a place which he filled, as he did every other office, with singular ability, integrity and applause. He had a rare taste for music and poetry, and was himself a proficient in both. His knowledge was practical, and the objects of it were the best interests of society. The improvements made by him in mechanics evince the force of an original genius. His capabilities were general and varie- gated as the acts of human life, all of which he seemed calculated to advance and improve.
"He took an active and zealous part in establishing the independence of this country. He hailed men of all nations as his brethren, and gloried in the doctrine of their natural equality. His social virtues are not to be for- gotten. He was an entertaining companion and a faithful friend. He had power to strike the attention, engage the affections, and attach the heart in the bands of friendship; to smooth the wrinkled front of care, and calm the mind in friendly relaxation. Let the reader figure the most extraordinary as- semblage of virtues and abilities-these were all seen in the real life of DR. ARNOLD."
We may be allowed to question whether the real life of the man could have ever rounded up to the extraordinary assemblage here suggested. But as citizens of St. Johnsbury we of a later century are not averse to any good words so spontaneously spoken of our Town Father.
The correctness of one clause of the above paragraph, relating to penmanship, is certified on a letter that may be seen at the Athenaeum. It is dated St. Johnsbury, August 19, 1790, and on this coarse old sheet of paper the handwriting of Dr. Arnold stands out strong and bold, not unworthy to be ranked with the famous signature of his compatriot John Hancock. In this letter reference is made to the lonely circumstances which occasioned his trip down below and the romantic doings narrated in the preceeding chapter.
The following paragraph from a letter addressed to His Grace the Duke of Montrose by Lieut. Col. John A. Graham LL. D. was published in London:
"The first principal proprietor of St. Johnsbury, Vt. was the truly pa- triotic and learned Dr. Jonathan Arnold, who is now no more. The Doctor
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emigrated from Providence in the State of Rhode Island. How sincerely his death is lamented, those only who had the happiness of knowing him can tell. His son Josias Lyndon was bred to the law, to which profession he does honor. With the Greek and Roman authors he is familiar, and how- ever strange it may appear, perhaps Mr. Arnold is the only person in Ver- mont who is perfect master of the the French language and who speaks it in its utmost purity. St. Johnsbury lies on the Passumpsic River and to this town is attached some of the best land in the State."
JOSIAS LYNDON ARNOLD ESQUIRE, referred to in the above quotation and foregoing paragraph, was born April 22, 1768, and came from Rhode Island to St. Johnsbury in 1793, succeeding to his father's position in the town. His life, though short was uncommonly brilliant in prospect. He was graduated at Dartmouth College with high honors in the class of 1788, admitted to the bar in Rhode Island, elected tutor in Brown University, received in 1791 the de- gree of A. M. from Brown and was admitted ad eundem at Dart- mouth and Yale. He married Miss Susan Perkins of Plainfield, Conn., removed to Vermont in 1793, where he died of hemoptysis July 7, 1796 at the age of 28 years.
The year following his death a volume was published in Prov- idence, entitled : Poems by the Late Josias Lyndon Arnold Esq. of St. Johnsbury, Vt. From the preface, written by James Burrill Jr, the following paragraph is taken.
A SCHOLAR AND POET
"Of Mr. Arnold's merit as a man and a scholar, impartiality will say much and even envy something. While in Dartmouth College he had given splendid proofs of his poetical talents, and acquired the reputation of un- common attainments in all the ornamental and useful branches of literature. His acquaintance with the Greek and Latin classics, and the best English writers in history and the belles-lettres was intimate. His knowledge of the vernacular and learned languages was critical. With an imagination bold and fruitful he possessed an understanding cool and discriminating. Indulg- ing in the fanciful flights of the muse he was equal to the calm discussions of reason. His penetrating physiognomy denoted the strength of his under- . standing and the keeness of his observation. No one of his age received more flattering proofs of public approbation. His political prospects were bright and promising and few have had stronger reasons for attachment to life ; but alas! the strength of his constitution was unequal to the energy of his mind."
Mr. Arnold's verse has little permanent value except as illus- trating the literary tastes of that period in New England ; largely
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imitations of the Latin and Celtic poets, with odes and epigrams of a moralizing turn. The most graceful versification in the book is entitled
LINES ON A YOUNG LADY'S TAKING A VOYAGE
"Ye winds, be hush'd-forbear to roar Ye waves, nor proudly lash the shore ; Be hush'd, ye storms, in silence sleep, Nor rage destructive o'er the deep. ASPASIA sails-and at her side The Beauties on the ocean ride.
"Rise, Neptune, from thy coral bed, And lift on high thy peaceful head ; Calm with thy rod the raging main Or bid the billows rage in vain. ASPASIA sails-and at her side The Graces on the ocean ride.
"Attendants of the watery god Ye Tritons, leave your green abode ; Ve Nereids, with your flowing hair Arise and make the nymph your care. ASPASIA sails-and at her side The Muses on the ocean ride.
"Thou sea-born Venus, from thine isle Propitious on the voyage smile ; Already anxious for the fair, Thy winged son prefers his prayer. ASPASIA sails-and at her side The Loves upon the ocean ride.
"Let ALL attend-and bid the breeze Blow softly-bid the swelling seas Swell gently-for such worth before The ocean's bosom never bore. ASPASIA sails-and at her side The Virtues on the ocean ride."
Arnold's fondness for Greek and Latin literature appears in numerous vesified translations from the poets-Catullus, Horace, Theocritus and others. Introductory to one of these he avows
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himself an admirer of the quaint rugged style of Sternhold and Hopkins, and adopts it for a translation of the Horatian Ode
EXEGI MONUMENTUM
1. "Of fame a mighty monument In time erect will I, Than brass more hard and durable, Or eke eternity.
4. "Nor yet of time, full fwift that flies, The tooth devour fhall never ; For ftand fhall this fame monument Like rocks and mountains ever."
Published in Dartmouth Eagle, 1793
Howbeit, literature in its visible embodiment is not proof against the ravages of the book worm ; wherefore this
SACRIFICE OF A MOTH TO THE MUSES
"Approach, O Moth, thou puny creature ; Approach, thou prodigy of nature ; Who bearf't about a body fmall But yet a belly vast withal. Thou dost with facrilegious jaw The poet's facred labours gnaw ; Lo ! the examples thou hast left Of thy voracity and theft. Here's Lesbia the Muse's child, And fweet Catullus almost fpoil'd Virgil, renowned for Epic ftory-
*
Step forth, thou villain ; Step forth, meet punishment to pay For all thy crimes!"
The monster is summarily executed, his skin punctured with stabs is dedicated to the Nine Muses to be set up as a trophy on the heights of Parnessus.
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A touch of local interest contrasting aboriginal scenes with the ripening cornfields of the town in the month of September 1790, survives in the
ODE WRITTEN ON THE BANKS OF PASSUMPSIC RIVER
"PASSUMPSICK hail! who glid'ft along Unknown to melody and fong, * * * * *
Reflecting in thy watery glafs Wide fpreading elms and baffwoods high And pines that kifs the ambient fky.
"Thy ftream which runs like fancy's child, Irregular and fweetly wild, Oft on its margin has beheld The Sachem and his tawny train Roll the red eye in vengeful ire And lead the captive to the fire.
"Now fairer fcenes thy banks adorn ; Yellow wheat and waving corn Bend in gratitude profound As yielding homage to the ground.
"PASSUMPSICK, hail! who glid'ft along The theme of many a future fong ; Had'ft thou a wifh, that wifh would be Still on thy banks fuch fcenes to fee. Where innocence and peace are found While vice and tumult vex the earth around."
J. L. Arnold at the date of his death was town clerk and rep- resentative to the General Assembly. Had he lived he would have ranked among the cultured and influential men of the state. His widow, Mrs. Susan P. Arnold, was remarried and removed to Woodstock, but St. Johnsbury retains thro her a quasi-claim of re- lationship to her distinguished son the Hon. George P. Marsh, the accomplished linguist and author, member of Congress from Ver- mont, 1842-1849; United States Minister to Turkey 1849-1853; and to the new Kingdom of Italy, 1861-1882.
In a writing by one of the early town officers we find this al- lusion to the Arnolds : "The father had chosen for his family
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seat a plain near the south part of the town. The son occupied the same. They looked to that spot as the seat of the future vil- lage ; the design being to parcel out the plain into small lots suffi- cient for garden and necessary buildings. Everything was favor- able. The leading roads almost unavoidably centered here. The situation was favorable for building. On its border were excel- lent seats for mills, and for all kinds of machinery requiring the aid of water. The short life of the father, and still shorter of the son, blasted all these prospects and destroyed the design of the Doctor, which was to build up a city around him."
The Arnold's were buried in the old grave yard that had been deeded to the town by the Doctor in 1790. The family lot was near the north west corner. When this ground was appropriated for the Court House in 1856 they were reburied in the Mount Pleas- ant Cemetery. Near the height of land beside the main road is the plain marble stone that carries on its east face the inscription
HON. JONATHAN ARNOLD
Died Feb. 1, 1793. Aged 52
The Arnolds traced their family origin to Yuir, King of Guent- land and Yuir, second son of Cadwaladr King of the Britons. He built the Castle of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales.
REDISCOVERY OF THE TOWN FATHER
In the summer of 1898 a gentleman from New York City spending a few hours between trains in St. Johnsbury called at The Sheepcote on Park Street. He expressed great interest in the attractiveness of the village, which, as presently appeared, meant more to him than to the ordinary stranger. For here, in 1792, was born his grandfather, Goy. Lemuel Hastings Arnold, son of Jonathan and Cynthia Hastings Arnold ; he himself being the third of that name and his young son the fourth. An important result of that pleasant call was, some while later, a proposition to present to the town an oil portrait of its founder. The painting was according executed by Richard Criefield, a New York artist
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from a miniature supposed to have been made in Philadelphia in 1782, while Dr. Arnold was a member of Congress in that city. This portrait done on porcelain, was given by Gov. L. H. Arnold to his daughter Mrs. Aborn of Orange, N. J., and is the only original likeness known.
On the 25th of Nov. 1898, Mr. Lemuel H. Arnold and his family came on from New York. They were met by a company of citizens who had assembled in the Art Gallery of the Athe- naeum where the picture had just been hung. After a few grace- ful words from the donor the veil was drawn, and, for the first time in our lives we looked on the face of our Town Father. What we saw was not the rugged features of a pioneer woodchopper, but a courtly figure in velvet and ruffles, with powdered hair, of refined and benignant countenance.
This was the man who, early and late and against great odds, had defended in Congress the little sovereignty set up and pluck- ily maintained for fourteen years by the Green Mountain Boys- who had brought to the founding of this town high distinction as a legislator and able leader of men. The portrait hangs in the north alcove of the Art Gallery and bears the following inscrip- tion :
JONATHAN ARNOLD
FOUNDER OF ST. JOHNSBURY PRESENTED TO THE TOWN BY HIS GREAT GRANDSON LEMUEL HASTINGS ARNOLD 1898
LEMUEL HASTINGS ARNOLD the first, son of Jonathan and Cynthia Hastings Arnold, was born Dec. 29, 1792, in the old house at the head of the Plain. He was educated at Providence and Dartmouth College, class of 1811; was Governor of Rhode Island 1841-1842 ; a member of Congress 1845-1847 ; died at Kingston, June 27, 1852. At the time when he was a candidate for the office of Governor, the political journals of the day disclose a curious bit of information cited against him. "During the canvass and in the heat of the electioneering campaign conducted upon the high pres-
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sure principle, a zealous Jackson man lustily accused Mr. Arnold of having been born in Vermont!" Notwithstanding this untoward circumstance he was elected by a handsome majority and did honor to the state of his birth as well as the state of his adoption. "Gov. Arnold was a man of very high character, much respected for his many virtues public and private," "an accomplished scholar and ripe statesman."
A DWELLING HOUSE
"Now wyll I shewe hystorycallye ye forme and fashyon of that thynge." Bale
THE FIRST HOUSE IN ST. JOHNSBURY
In the spring of 1787 Dr. Arnold got an up and down lumber saw into position at The Falls near the present village water works. Here were turned out the boards and timbers which he presently jointed together into a small dwelling house just above the Park that now bears his name. Except the little clearing he had made at this point the entire Plain was a dense forest. This was the first and for a long time the only framed house in the township. It was evidently intended for temporary housing only, a lodge in the wilderness. It was low posted, 24 by 30 feet square, of rough boards, unclapboarded, roofed with split shingle. A cobble stone fireplace and chimney furnished necessary comfort and cooking facilities. Four years later the cobblestones were pulled out making way for brick, manufactured on the hillside by Asa Lee, a brickmaker recently arrived in the settlement. The interior of the house was described by someone who remembered it in its first estate as being pretty much all one room. There were six arm chairs that had been brought up from Rhode Island. One of them still survives in this vicinity. The house fronted the east, the large room was presumably the south gable end look- ing toward the street that was to be.
This one room arrived at some measure of distinction in the little community, becoming the center of various happenings, social, business, official and other, which would naturally call the six arm chairs into requisition. In it was held the first Proprietor's
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Meeting of August 6, 1787, at which the undesignated Township Rights were drafted for, the lots having first been shuffled and then drawn by Daniel Cahoon, Jr., and William Trescott. Here the organization of the town was effected in 1790 at "the first town meeting ever held in said town." In this room on the 17th of January, 1793, a bright fire blazing on the hearth, Eneas Harvey and Rhoda Smith produced the requisite legal publication and were "joined in marriage by Jonathan Arnold, Esquire, in the presence of several witnesses"-the first wedding party in our town.
In the third year a shadow fell upon the house, when its gentle mistress, Mrs. Alice C. Arnold, succumbed to the rigor of pioneer life, leaving a little daughter, Freelove, in its lonely rooms. Old Aunt Ruth, attended to the domestic affairs ; she was the negress who had been given as a slave to the Arnold family in Rhode Island ; she was set free, but chose to remain a servant for life, and lived in the service of the family in this town 53 years. She was kind and trusty and capable, a fine specimen of her race.
To this house in the wilderness, so unlike the well-appointed home of her parents in Charlestown No. 4, Dr. Arnold brought his third wife, Cynthia Hastings, after the romantic events of Nov- ember, 1790, narrated on page 59. Her son, Lemuel Hastings Arnold, born under these low rafters the year following, lived to become distinguished among the Governors of Rhode Island and a member of Congress.
The house, more or less improved was occupied by Dr. Arnold during the six years of his life here ; then by his gifted son, Josias L. Arnold, whose career of brilliant promise continued only three years,-his widow, Mrs. Susan P. Arnold, afterwards removed to Woodstock. William C. Arnold, 1st, another son, was then master of the house for some years, after which it was abandoned by the Arnold family altogether.
Unfortunately it did not immediately arrive at its baptism of fire, but as time went on it fell into ill condition and for a long time it stood an empty and unsightly reminder of the primitive settlement. Children began to be shy of it especially toward nightfall. They heard wierd talk that 'twas a haunted house,
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whatever that might mean. Longfellow had not then explained that
"All houses wherein men have lived and died Are haunted houses."
So the children of 1840 looked askance at the old deserted house and went on wondering. It seemed inclined to hug more closely to mother earth as it grew aged and infirm. "The last time I was there," said George Aldrich, "the door sill was lower than the ground outside." Soon the earth would have it altogether; "nos habebit humus." On the morning of June 8, 1844, the spot where it stood was marked by a heap of smouldering ashes. What had happened is told by a contemporary writer :
"The old Arnold House at the head of the Plain, the first framed house erected in this town, and whose darkened and ragged walls had sent forth dark shadows for some time past, last Saturday morning a little before one o'clock, as if to make amends for the past, lighted up and burning with in- tense brightness illumined the night the whole region around. In half an hour the old patriarchal heap expired in its own brightness. When morning was fully come, casting a glance toward the scene of its location, we beheld some of our citizens to whom by long residence in this place, this old house had become familiar, with slow pace and mournful sadness treading the spot, calling to mind the story of the lamentations of Marius amid the ruins of Carthage."
Now inasmuch as the Presidential election that year did not come on till five months later, the picturesque and entertaining story that this old derelict was bon-fired by the Locofoco boys in their exuberant demonstrations for Polk, will have to be dropped amongst the chips of local folk lore.
Undoubtedly the primitive structure, having quite outlived its usefulness did the best possible thing for itself by vanishing from the scene in a blaze of light. The town met with a most serious loss in the early death of. Dr. Arnold ; had he lived he would doubtless have erected on that spot a building more worthy of his ideals and of his rank as a man, that might continue to front the noble street that he opened through the forest. As to this little box of a house that so inadequately represented the founder of our town, neither our curiosity nor our liking for old time relics would
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delight in such a dilapidated specimen sitting permanently on the scene. The little park with lawn and trees and ornamental foun- tain fringed with baby carriages of a summer's day much more pleasantly perpetuates the name and site of the first framed house in our town.
A HOUSE AT THE FOUR CORNERS
William Comstock Arnold, son of Jonathan, built a large square house on the height of land near the Four Corners, in 1798. The material used was mostly pine. Much of the inside finish was brought by ox team from Connecticut. The floors were of two- inch pine plank, tongued and grooved. The rafters were mortised into a ridge pole of pine seven by seven inches thick. "The broad stairs still give back a resonant ring, with never a creak ; and on the second floor may be seen one corner of what was orig- inally a ball room, with the floor marked in diamonds to aid in toeing the stately minuet."
This building stood for about eighty years unpainted ; it is still firm and plumb on its original foundations ; the hand made clapboards are fastened to their place with old hand made nails. For one hundred years it was occupied by the Arnolds ; it is now owned by Guy C. Wright and is known as the Century House of the Four Corners.
VII
LOCALITIES AND EVENTS
EDSON'S TAVERN-NEWSPAPERS-THE MISSING WHEEL-PUL- PITEERING-THE FOUR CORNERS-FARM HANDS ENCOURAGED -GOSS HOLLOW-A LITTLE ROMANCE-GENERAL OF MILITIA -MILITARY DISPATCHES-NEW BOSTON-LITTLE YORK- SANGER'S MILLS-SUNDRY LOCALITIES-THE EAST VILLAGE- HARVESTING APPLES
AT THE EDSON TAVERN
In 1797 Nathaniel Edson built what was then the most no- table house in the town, on the plateau overlooking the Passumpsic River meadows a mile south of the present Center Village. It was more widely known after 1810 as the Butler place; occupied by Major Abel Butler and his descendants, three generations. Today the house looks as if conscious of a pristine glory long since de- parted ; some hint of which may still be detected in its dignified outline, its antique doorway, its capacious old chimney. The ground in front, now a dumping place for old iron and miscellane- ous junk, was once the spacious Green, enlivened by the tramp of militia at June trainings or by the out spread tables of festive junketings.
When the house was new it was considered a good place for town meetings. In 1798 a vote was passed that the town will agree to hold their meetings at Esquire Edson's house in the
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