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1770.

RUTLAND

1870.

CJomteiniiiiisil CdotDFataoia

SETTLEMENT OE RUTLAND, VT.,

Octoler 2il, 3il, 4tli and 511i, 1870,

INCLUDING THE ADDRESSES, HISTORICAL PAPERS, POEMS, RESPONSES
AT THE DINNER TABLE, ETC.

COMPILED BY
CHAUlsrCY K. WILLIAMS.

RUTLAND :
TUTTLE & COMPANY, PRINTERS.
1870.

OFFICERS OF THE CELEBRATION.

WILLIAM Y. RIPLEY, President.
Vice-Presidents,
JOHN B. PAGE, EDWIN EDGERTON,
FRANCIS SLASON, THOMAS J. ORMSBEE,
JOHN CAIN, LORENZO SHELDON,
LUTHER DANIELS, JAMES BARRETT,
JAEMS McCONNELL, CHARLES CLEMENT,
H. HENRY BAXTER, AZOR CAPRON,
JOHN PROUT, WILLIAM Y. W. RIPLEY.
CHAUNCY K. WILLIAMS, Recording Secretary.
HENRY HALL, Corresponding Secretary.
HENRY F. FIELD, Treasurer.
EDWARD H. RIPLEY, Chief Marshal.
LEVI G. KINGSLEY, JOHN A. SALSBURY, R. M,
CROSS, Assistant Marshals.
;.; B 5 -^ b S"
V

INDEX

Addresses.
Alvord, Benjamin 81
Butler, James Davie 46, 89
Cain, Jolin - 100
Duuton, Walter C. 93
Griggs, J, Grafton 101
Hall, Henry 16
Nicholson, David E. 81
Ripley, Wm. T. 15
Ripley, Wm. Y. W. 8P
Smith, Warren H. 87
Tuttle, Georee A. 96
Veazey, W. G. - 79, 119
Williams, Chauncy K. 25

Aiken, Rev. Silas 33
Antiquarian Museum, 104
Ball, Rev. Heman — Notice of 33
Baptist Church, - - - 38
Barrett, James — Response of 78
Butler, James D. — Oration of - 46
Butler, James D. — Response of 89
Cain, John — Response of 100
Carpenter, Rev. A  Notice of 35
Catholic Churches, 43
Century, The Dead (Poem) 70
Circular of Invitation, ^ viii
Committees, - vi
Congregational Church, East Rutland, 31
Congregational Church, West Rutland, 37
Concert, Promenade, - - 103
Cunningham, Rev. O. — Notice of 39
Decorations, ' 116
Dinner, - - 78
Dorr, Mrs. J. C. R. (Poem) 70
Drury, Rev. Amos — Notice of . 30
Dunton, Walter C  Response of 93
Early History of Rutland, - 16
Ecclesiastical History of Rutland, 35
Episcopal Church, 35
Erench Catholic Church, - - 43
Fuller, F. A.— Response of - - 78
Griggs, J. G.— Response of 101

-n

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

The subject of an appropriate celebration of th'e Centennial
Anniversary of the Settlement of Rutland was freely discussed,
and a committee was appointed to make all necessary arrangements_
The Committee of Arrangements, as finally constituted, consisted
of—

William Y. Ripley,
Chauncy K. Williams,
Henry Hall,
J. W. Cramton,
Henry Clark,
John Cain,
Dr. L. Sheldon,
T. J. Ormsbee,
J. L. Billings,
A. H. Post,
J. A. Salsbury,
B. K. Chase,
J. N. Baxter,
M. Goldsmith,
R. Barrett,
G. A. Merrill,
J. B. Page,
R. R. Mead,
John H. Hazleton,
Evelyn Piei'point,
Horace H. Dyer,
J. M. Hall,
L. G. Kingsley,
Chester Kingsley,
M. G. Everts,
Charles Sheldon,
John A. Sheldon,
B. W. Marshall,
J. C. Dunn,

H. H. Paine,
Chauncey Thrall,
G. C. Hathaway,
H. H. Baxter,
Francis Slason,
Nahiim Johnson,
F. Chaffee,
H. R. Dyer,
William Gilmore,
B. R. Greeno,
B. F. Blanchard,
Dennis Smith,
J. M. Mead,
J. McConnell,
L. Chatterton,
Porter Howe,
Moses Hawkes,
W. G. Veazey,
Alonzo Kelley,
Joseph A. Deland,
Luke Ward,
E. Boardman,
Judson Gorham,
Jacob N. Bailey,
J. G. Griggs,
Franklin Billings,
James L. Gilmore,
Walter C. Landon,
John Landon,
Harry Mussey,

Luther Hayward,
Henry Hayward,
Z. V. K. Wilson,
Charles Clement,
B. H. Burt,
Albert Landon,
Edward H. Ripley,
P. K. Osgood,
Reuben R. Thrall,
Augustus Reed,
Azor Capron,
James Barrett,
William Y. W. Ripley,
Charles H. Joyce,
Jared Long,
Moses Hayward,
Jirah Vaughn,
Amasa Pooler,
John Strong,
S. W. Rowell,
H. F. Field,
Eli Farmer,
Isaac C. Reynolds,
Erastus Wells,
John' Engram,
James B. Porter,
George Graves,
Alanson Dyer,
Judah Dana,

This Committee organized by the election of William Y. Ripley,
Chairman, Chauncy K. Williams, Recording Secretary, and Henry

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. VU

Hall, Corresponding Secretary, and appointed from their own num
ber an Executive Committee of thirteen, to whom they committed
all the details of the celebration. .
The Executive Committee consisted of William Y. Ripley,
President ; Chauncy K. Williams, Recording Secretary ; Henry
Hall, Corresponding Secretary ; John Cain, Lorenzo Sheldon, Ben
K. Chase, Horace H. Dyer, John M. Hall, Levi G. Kingsley, Geo.
C. Hathawaj', Henry R. Dyer, William Gilmore, and William Y.
W. Ripley.
The Executive Committee, at one of their earliest meetings, ap
pointed the following Sub-Committees :
Finance — John W. Cramton, Levi G. Kingsley, William Gil
more, Ho]-ace H. Dyer, John M. Hall, Henry F. Field.
Invitation and Reception — Henry Hall, George A. Merrill,
Henry Clark, Edward H. Ripley, Charles Sheldon. To which were
subsequently added, to assist in reception of guests, George A.
Tuttle, William A. Burnett, Gershom C. Ruggles, Geo. H. Cheney,
J. Grafton Griggs, William Y. Ripley.
Order of JSxercises — John B. Page, William Y. W. Ripley,
John N. Baxter, Charles Clement, Wheelook G. Veazey.
Relics — ^^Lorenzo Sheldon, Ben K. Chase, James C. Dunn,
R. R. Mead, Henry R. Dyer, Alpha H. Post, Albert Landon, Thos.
J. Ormsbee.
Decorations — George C. Hathaway, Edward H. Ripley, B. W.
Marshall, Frederick Chaffee, Henry F. Field, Chester Kingsley, R.
M. Cross.
Salutes — ^Henry R. Dyer, Franklin Billings, Martin G. Everts,
Chester Kingsley, Charles H. Joyce.
Music — John N. Baxter, Henry F. Field, John Strong.
Location of Tent, etc. — George C. Hathaway, Henry R. Dyer,
Horace H. Dyer.
On Trades — N. L. Davis, N. F. Page, Newman Weeks, Albert
H. Tuttle.
To Prepare Posters, etc. — Ben K. Chase, Chester Kingsley.
The Executive Committee, met once each week, and some
weeks twice, fi-om the time of their appointment until the day
of celebration, for the purpose of making and perfecting arrange
ments.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

The following circular of invitation was issued and signed by the
General Committee, and by the Sub-Committee of Reception and
In-vitation.
RUTLAND CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
To the former Residents of Rutland, Vt., and their descendants:
You are hereby cordially invited to attend and participate in the
celebration of the centennial anniversary of the first settlement of
Rutland, to be held the 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th days of October next.
The order of exercises will be substantially as follows, viz. :
Sunday Evening, Oct. "id. — Sermon by the Rev. John Todd,
D. D., of Pittsfield, Mass., with appropriate music.
Monday, Oct. 3d. — Reception of Guests.
In the evening. Old Folks' Concert, at the Opera Hall, in ancient
costume, with ancient music, vocal and instrumental.
Tuesday, Oct. 4:th. — Visit to the Quan'ies,; and other places of
interest. In the evening. Address by Heni-y Hall. Subject : " The Early
History of Rutland." Address by Chauncy K. Williams. Sub
ject : " The Ecclesiastical History of Rutland."
Wednesday, Oct. 5th. — Forenoon. Procession. Or&tion by
Rev. James Davie Butler, LL. D., of Madison, Wisconsin. Poem
by Mrs. Julia C. R. Dorr. Dinner in the pavilion.
Afternoon — Toasts, responses, addresses, anecdotes, biographies,
etc. '
Evening — Fireworks, Promenade Concert.
It is desirable to know if your attendance is probable. Ancient
documents and relics gladly received.
WILLIAM Y. RIPLEY, President.
CHAUNCY K. WILLIAMS, Recording Secretary.
HENRY HALL, Corresponding Secretary.

Snitlsmid ^eetoimialc

rniSTf r>A.Y.

The opening sei-vices connected with the Centennial Celebration
of the settlement of Rutland took place at the Congregational
Church, Sunday evening, October 2d, 1870. At an early hour the
people began to assemble from all sections of the town, and fi'om
the neighboring towns, until the Church was filled long before the
services commenced. At least fifteen hundred persons were seated
in the audience room. In the arch, in the rear of the pulpit, were
the figm-es 1770 — 1870, wrought in evergreens. The former,
trimmed with stars of white, emblematic of the past, and the latter
with stars of red, emblematic of the active, lively present. On the
table, in front, were three beautiful boquets, and others were
distributed about the desk, and rare plants decorated the pulpit,
giving a pleasant, agreeable and cheerfiil appearance. Among
these was particularly noticeable a "Century Plant,'' a beautiful
and appropriate reminder of the Centm-y, the completion of
which was to be commemorated.
At 7^ o'clock the services were commenced by the rendering of
the voluntary by the chou-, accompanied by the children occupying
the balcony, near to the orchestra, which lasted nearly half an hour.
Rev. James Davie Butler, LL. D., of Madison, Wisconsin, a
native of the town, then read selections of Scripture, being
PSALM CXXIL
T A Song of Degrees of David.
1. I -was glad -when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
3. Our feet shall stand -within thy gates, 0 Jerusalem.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAX.

3. Jerusalem is bnilded as a city that is compact together :
4. Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, mito the testimony of Israel,
to give thanks nnto the name of the Lord.
5. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the honse of David.
6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee.
7. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within Ihy palaces.
8. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, peace be within thee.
9. Because of the house of the Lord our God I wiU seek thy good.
The following hymn was then sung by the choir, being 363 of
the Sabbath Hymn Book:
Lift np your heads, eternal gates !
Unfold, to entertain
The King of Glory ; see ! he comes
With his celestial train.
Who is this King of Glory — who ?
The Lord; for strength renowned;
In battle mighty ; o'er his foes
Eternal Victor crowned.
Lift np yonr heads, ye gates ! nnfold,
In state to entertain
The King of Glory ; see ! he comes
With all his shining train.
Who is the King of Glory — who ?
The Lord of hosts renowned ;
Of glory He alone is King,
Who is with glory crowned.
Prayer was offered by Rev. Aldace Walker, D. D., of Wallingford,
formerly for many years the honored pastor of the Congregational
Church in the West pai-ish. He gave thanks that the fathers
planted here in oui- history the institutions of religion, and that
they had been bequeathed to the chUdren even to our day, and for aU
the mercies vouchsafed to this people through these hundi-ed yeai-s.
Dr. Walker then read the following hymn, (36 Sabbath Hymn
Book,) which was sung by the choir :
Come, sound his praise abroad.
And hymns of glory sing :
Jehovah is the sovereign God,
The rmiversal King.
He formed the deeps nnkno-wn ;
He gave the seas their bound ;
The watery worlds are aU his o-mi,
And all the solid ground.
Come, worship at his throne.
Come, bow before the Lord :
We are his work and not our own •
He formed us by his word.
To-day attend his voice,
Nor dare provoke his rod ;
Come, like the people of his choice.
And o\m yonr giacious God.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

The venerable Rev. John Todd., D. D., of Pittsfield, Mass., a
native of Rutland, then delivered an eloquent and instructive
discourse, as follows :
DR. TODD'S SERMON.
You are aware, my friends, that your beautiful town, lying under
the shadows of the Green Mountains, far above the tide waters —
now just one hundred years old — famed for its beautiful scenery —
the quiet home of intelligence, refinement, and all that makes life
pleasant, is destined very fast to lose its old appearance and change
its character. Enterprise, has pushed business into it ; wealth has
been sleeping under your fields, waiting only for skill and labor to
come with the mallet and chisel, and awaken it into beautiful forms,
and it is fast becoming a new thing. The chrysilis state between a
quiet town and a city is fast developing into a city — in name as well
as in reality.
Your children will never remember the place as you have done.
When the town began its existence, it early introduced an orthodox
ministry, and also fi-ee schools. I want to take this occasion, of
the birth-day of the town, to recall to yom- minds what the gospel
has, through this and similar towns, done for the world, and lead
your thoughts to look on the fact that here is a Christian mountain
town, which, for one century, has been throwing out its influence —
one town among the hundreds of similar ones in New England. I
invite youi- thoughts to the sacred words found in
PSAJLMS LXXII: 3.
" The mountains shall bring peace to the people."
It is remarkable that the mountains are brought into notice so
often, while God was making His revelation to our world. Their
hoary peaks were often illuminated by the Divine Presence, and
were the places on which the Most High set his feet, or paused in
His chariot of power. Your minds at once turn to them, as you
see how flinty Sinai stands, as if awe-struck by what he had
witnessed ; as Pisgah looms up silent and solitary, the watcher over
the Prophet's grave ; as mighty Lebanon lifts up his huge form,
which Moses pronounced "goodly;" and as Carmel looks off into
the blue sea, still holding the spot in his shadows, where Baal and
God met, and a nation was brought back from idolati-y. You think,

RUTLAND CENTEXNIAI-

too, of Tabor and Hermon — the latter, the spot on which spirits of
just men made perfect, met the Son of God and talked of his death,
which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem — ^while the glories of a
deathless world smTounded him ; of Olivet, over which His weary
feet often ti-od, and fi-om which, when His work was done. He went
home. You are thinking of the mountains where he prayed all
night — ^where no ear heard, but the ear of the Father; and you
seem to wonder how it was that mountains seem to occupy so
prominent a place in your Bible. To such places David fled fi-om
his persecutor, and in then- caves and dens, those of whom the
world was not worthy often hid, and m their solitudes, trembling
piety had to pray and sing in a hushed voice.
Men have always loved mountains. Perhaps, the reason is to be
found in om- natm-al love for what is grand, mysterious, solitary and
unknown. We all know that there is no rank vegetation on their
sides to decay, and, therefore, the air that plays around their tops
is pure ; that the streams that come fi-om then- heights, tinkling like
the sound of golden balls in a silver cup, are so clear that they re
mind us of the river of life ; that the little lakes and reservoirs hid
in the recesses of the mountains ai-e the head-waters of fertility ana
beauty, as they grow into rivers ; that every particle of the hard
rock which the lichen gnaws out, roUs do-^-n to fertelize the land ;
that the mountains are the physical sources of peace, the barriers of
invasion fi-om hostile armies, and thus bring " peace to the people;"
and we know they are sources of peace in a moral sense, in that the
human mind cannot but feel the effects of theu- lofty grandem-, —
the passions hushed in then- solitudes and silence. Mountain people
have ever been noted for the fleet foot, the strong, nervous, elastic
form, the cheerful face, the bright eye, and the clear intellect. The
last people with whom you would want to measure physical strength,
or meet in battle, would be men who, fi-om infancy, have breathed
the mountain air. And in the intellectual and moral battles of life,
they fall behind none. It is not the Swiss merely who long to re-
tm-n to their huge sweUing Alps, and their deep, almost sunless
valleys, but all, who have spent their childhood under the shadows
of a gi-eat mountain, long, when absent, to return to them. You
see but a pai-t of the mountain, but the imagmation rounds out the
unseen side. You see only its outline, but you know that it has

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

rocks and caverns -within, and the wild animals to creep, and the
wild birds to sing, on its sides, so covered with its curtain of blue.
But our text looks to something higher yet. The mountains may
fling their shadows over the plain where peaceful homes are nest
ling — where families may grow up untempted, and uncontaminated
by vices, where the tastes may remain simple, where the mind may
receive its first impressions from nature — and a beautiful manhood
may be developed — but this is not all ! The mountains where the
Prophet saw, were gilded by the light of the latter day, and they
become enobled, as does everything which the light touches. How
everything on earth, or in the heavens, is enobled by this dispen
sation ! The sparrows and the lilies are dignified into teachers.
The coin in the fish's mouth teaches all natives that they must pay
their taxes and support civil government. ¦ " The King's Son,"
spoken of in our Psalm, has but to call the fishermen fi-om their
little boats, and they became Apostles. He sends his messengers
into heathenism, and turns and raises heathen into churches, to
whom such profound Epistles as that to the Romans are addressed.
His Gospel raises the poor and the lowly into disciples and martyrs
and missionaries, and the feeble became as the house of David, and
the house of David as the angel of God. It leads you to the
manger to see Him whom the star points out. It takes you 1io the
snows of the North, and to the burning sands of the Equator, and
shows you noble men and women, counted by hundreds, who leave
home and the comforts of civilization that they may tell the story
of Redemption to the heathen. It creates a self-denial that knows
no limits, even to the laying down of life.
If, then, the tendency of the Gospel is thus to raise and dignify
small things, so that the little chest, called the ark, shall be held in
everlasting remembrance — so that the soiled and weai-y feet coming
over the mountains to bring peace, shall be '* beautiful" — so that a
.cross of wood shall be more honored than all the carvings of art —
so that volume containing God's words shall be the book of the
human race, you will not then deem me perverting that text, if I
lead your minds at this time to consider the blessings which the
Gospel conveys to the world by and thi-ough a single mountain-
town. Many of oui- New England towns are one hiindi-ed yeai-s old at

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

least. Many of our western towns are fifty years old — others not
half of that ; but the time will come, when all this will be called
the early history of our country, and all these cities and villages
will seem to have been built at the same time, and the whole
counti-y settled together. What are a few centuries in a nation's
life? Now go back a century — when the white man plunged trembl
ingly into the forest, and came to the spot where the beautiful town
now stands. His first object is to find a spring of water — near
which he is to erect his little log cabin. There are no roads, but
the trail of the Indian. There are no neighbors — no forests yet
cut down, no fields sown, no mills to grind his food or saw his lum
ber ; no trading post where he may relieve a want ; no physician
when he is sick ; no school for his child ; no property by which he
can supply his necessities. His music is the ring of the axe, and
the falling of the trees. The night is made more solitary by the
hooting of the owl, and the scream of the wild beast. When he
buries his dead, he himself must make the coffin, dig his grave, and
without a bell to toll, or a minister to offer a prayer, he must bury
the dead under the tall tree. The pioneer must struggle with
poverty, take nature in the rough, let sunshine into his house and
heart by his own industry and struggles. His food is the plainest,
his dress is the simplest, his home the most humble, and the only
thing that cheers him is hope, that his children will reap the benefit
of all this self-denial. But the poor man brought his Bible with
him, his education with him, his shrewdness with him, and his
brawny arm and cheerful courage. He must live and die poor.
But the light of the Gospel shines upon the first dwelling that is
reared, and that becomes a controling power in all the future history
of the town. Go there a century after this. That beginning has
become a mighty power. The same old mountains lift themselves
up there, but the forests are gone, the pleasant roads and bridges
are all built, and a town, gi-owing, thriving,jprosperous, is thra-e.
The fields are under high culture, the meadows glow with beauty,
and the town sits like a queen crowned with a wreath of beauty.
The sources of her power, are the Church of God  ^the most
prominent object which meets the eye of the stranger, a place of
worship, biinging the mind into contact with the Infinite— a place

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

of conscience, where the avrful, "thou shall not," rings into the ears
of the soul — and a place 6f teaching and of thought, where the
mental and moral faculties are made to nestle among the pillars of
truth. Near by, the pride of the town, is the school-house — never
forgotten — and lest one central light will not be convenient for all,
these school-houses are erected all over town, so that no little child
shall become foot-weary, and no child shall be deprived of the privi
leges of the free school. These are not heathen schools, nor infi
del schools, but, so far the contrary, that the Bible is the standard
of morality, and its words, like the dews of Heaven, fall gently
upon the young heads. This free school is a mighty power, and it
lifts every child up, so that he becomes an intelligent man."
Industry is another power. If any one thinks that the forest and
the desert has been made to blossom as the rose, that all these
beautiful homes, and these public buildings, the mechanics' shops
have been erected, all this property accumulated, these factories put
in motion, these objects of conveniences and refinement made com
mon, -without an industry that was untiring, increased and well
directed, he knows little about it The Christian home now stands
where the bear lay down a century ago. Property is power, and
property is the daughter of industry. The people own the land in
fee-simple, till it with free labor, and, at night, having no theatre
to compel by its glare and unholy excitements, they lie down under
¦fhe shadow of the Most High. By this time, the town is sur.
rounded by a cordon of similar towns, and having its centre, its
ehm-ches, its fi-ee school, and its hum of industry. One town acts
upon another ; make an improvement in one — buUd a good school-
^louse in one — do a generous, noble act in one place, and you elec
trify all that surround you. The example of what is good is seen
and copied. Each town is a little Republic by itself, and the most
perfect Republic in the world. Public sentiment settles everything,
and these sister-towns act and re-act upon each other as diamonds
are polished by diamonds.
Now, let us look at the methods by which the power of a moun-
tam town " brings peace to people." It is sometimes thought such
a place has no great influence, because it is small, obscm-e and un-
kno-^n. But let us not forget the power of example. Let one
atrocious murder be committed here — 'let one horrible deed be con

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

summated here, and the report shall be transmitted all over the
land. Rear a beautiful church, or any other perfect edifice here,
and you will have men come fi-om all parts of the land to view the
model. Raise up a skillful surgeon here, and his fame will be
known over half the continent. Educate an eloquent preacher
here, and hundi-eds of chm-ches will be tm-ning their eyes towards
him. Manufactm-e any one perfect article here, and it will go over
the world (I may mention the name of Fairbanks, as an illustration).
Make a model school, or strike out in any'dii-ection in that which is
valuable to the world, and your town becomes a power. Scores of
towns feel the influence, and while they may envy you, are very
sure to imitate you.
Another means of power which such a town has, by which to
bring "'peace to the people," is by slight but frequent contact.
Suppose the merchants in such a place are high-minded and fair,
that public sentiment frowns on what is mean and contemptible,
will it not have an influence far and near? You send upright and
intelligent men to your Legislature, to your Congress, to your Con
ventions, to the places where jDublic opinion is created, and laws are
enacted, do they not carry and bring back an influence ? Does
Congress ask how large the village is in which the man resides who
has the power to lead them, and stand or walk with any load cast
upon him, whether it be praise or blame ? Then, our people travel
everywhere, see everybody, hear everybody, talk with everybody,
and are being educated all the time, in the cars, at the watering-
places, and then they come home, as the bees do, having collected
something from every flower, and all to make the hive stronger. It
is in these mountain towns that we look for strength, for defenders,
when it is necessai-y to appeal to arms, and for defenders of educa^
tion, morals, religion, and all that beautifies humanity. These are
the best specimens of republicanism we have, and these are the
tnie models of republics ; and on these the great Republic of the
world rests.
In laying the walls of the new Capitol at Albany, the engineer
had to take into consideration how much pressure a single square
foot of ground would bear ; then the weight of the foundations,
the weight of the walls, of the slate roof, the weight of the timbers,
of the books in the libraries, the weight of the men when the build-

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

ing should be full, the weight of the snow and ice that may lie on
the roof, and the weight of the winds that may press against its
sides and roof! You will not be sui-prisedto learn that the founda
tion walls to hold up all this pressure had to be eighteen feet thick,
and 50,000 tons of stone put in them, and the tower has its foun
dation of solid masonry 110 feet square. And yet all this rests
upon the little, small stones that underlie all — unseen and unknown !
So this vast Republic rests upon these little town republics which
underlie the whole, and which are its real foundation. Don't tell
us that these are not aU needed, and all beautiful, precious stones !
Another way by which " the mountains bring peace to the peo
ple," is by the men who are educated in these towns, and then emi
grate all over the land and the world. We should be surprised to
know how many they are in number, how varied in position, how
strong and beautiful in character. Thh-ty years ago one of our
Piedmont counties had sent out 200 college-educated men, and of
these, eight were representing as many sections of our country in
. Congress, at one time, that was then a very growing country. Fol
low that stream of young men who have gone to the great cities,
who have spread themselves over the West and South, who have
had a voice in the Senate of the nation, who have been the educa
tors of our youth, our physicians, to stand between the living and
the dead ; our lawyers and judges, to protect men in their rights ;
our preachers of righteousness, to be pastors of our churches ; our
home missionaries on the prairie, and our foreign missionaries in
the distant and dark places of the earth, and then tell us, if you
can, what fertility and beauty and blessings this stream of manhood
has carried over the world ! This is not wealth that they can-ied ;
for all we had we put into their heads and hearts, but it was char
acter, intelligence, habits of economy, industry, self-reliance, tem
perance, sobriety and indomnitable perseverance. AU this they
carried away, and planted the same again and again, and spread it
all through the land. I don't eulogize the gold they have gathered,
the property they have accumulated, but the success which they
wrenched, often in the most trying circumstances, and amid the
greatest obstacles.
We may dig out the marble and the iron with which our hills are
stored ; we may send the products of our machinery and spindles

10 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL,

even into the deserts of Africa ; we may lay the ends of the earth
under contribution for what we make, but this is not the peace that
''the mountains bring to the people." Our gloi-y is the men that
we raise, the character we send forth, the influence that we diffuse,
the power that we impress upon other little communities all over
our country, and, indeed, all over the world !
But don't many of these young men make shipwreck ? Undoubt
edly. They are so many individual swimmers where the tides
surge and whirl, where the sharks play and devom-, and where men
draw each other under the waves ; and is it any wonder that, in
hazards so great, some, nay, many, must be engulfed and lost ? My
wonder is that so many go out, in all the inexperience of youth,
exposed as they are to temptations unspeakably great, and manfully
stand, and come back to us the pride of their homes, the admu-ation
of their friends, and the honor of then- native towns. All that
character was planted here, and is the growth of home culture.
And there are heroes, too, who have not risen, it may be, to emi
nence ; but they resisted great temptations, and wrestled with great
dangers. The brightest robes, it may be, will hereafter clothe those
who have done great deeds ; but we are no less affected by the
thought that they ^ear " white robes " who " have come out of
great tribulation." And he is a hero who has met and resisted the
fu-es of temptation, with no smell of fire upon his garments.
We are often so much struck with the wealth which history
throws up in its path, that we may forget something better than
this. There has always been wealth in the world. Old Rome
gathered the conquered wealth of all nations. They could spend
the revenues of a kingdom on a single supper. They had wealth
enough, but there were two difficulties which the • gospel in the
mountain towns in a measure con-ects. The first is, it distributes
property 'with a good degree of equality. In Rome the property
was in few hands ; the rest did not know enough to obtain it. In
telligence does not make the intellects all equal, but it tends to
eqality, and in proportion as intelligence and education are equally
diffused, in that proportion is property equally distributed ; and this
has been the glory of our mountains ; that is, they have not created
greath wealth ; they have held it, equally distributed — that is, to a
very good degree. But there is something better still ; and it is :

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 11

we are learning, as we read om- duty under the light of the sun of
righteousness, the right use of moneys. It is our glory that the
boy whom we educated and sent out, by and by comes back, not
merely a grown up man in city-made clothes ; not merely a rich
man ; but he comes back a benevolent man ; one who knows that
the highest ends to which he can put his money is to aid humanity,
and do good to man. It is a part of the power of a mountain town
that its wealth at home is so equally distributed that all may be ed
ucated — all go out, if they choose, carrying all their example and
character, and throwing it into other regions, and using what is
acquired for the good of men and the glory of God. These towns
have their representatives scattered abroad, some manning our pul
pits, the moral pillars of granite, around which opinions shift and
whirl like sand in the winds ; some to be missionaries in the far-off
regions of earth ; some at the West and South — feet beautiful, be
cause they bring peace and publish glad tidings. They come do-wn
upon the people as rain upon the mown grass, in the form of edu
cators and teachers, physicians, merchants, and la-wyers, and judges,
and legislators, and Sabbath School teachers, and preachers of the
gospel. The schools and colleges that grow up all over the land-
and even in foreign lands, have then- roots in these mountain towns.
The temporal prosperity of our churches comes out of the brain of
om- pastors, and their spiritual prosperity out of then- hearts.
I am not to allow that the mountain towns are mere feeders of
our cities ; that all our talent and worth emigrate and flow away
into our great centers. I am not to allow that the wheels of civil
ization and of wealth move only in cities, and that our young men
can be anything unless they go off into a crowded city. You might
as well say that a young tree can never grow erect, lofty, or broad
and majestic, if it grows out on the hillside, and is not lost in the
forest, where the trees are all alike. I am not to allow that the
beauty and glory and strength of our mountain towns is of no value
till they are poured into the great city and are lost, as mountain
brooks are sometimes swallowed up in gi-eat, muddy lakes, sending
up miasmas and fevers, and decay and death. I verily believe that,
let a young man put forth the same efforts, and make the same self-
denial here at home that he is compelled to make when he goes

12 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

abroad, in nine cases out of ten, in twenty years he would be a
broader man, and have more influence in the world.
Thus "the mountains bring peace to the people." Thus the in
fluence of a single mountain town in New England is gi-eat. In
quire where our ablest men were born and educated, men who are
princely as merchants, men who adorn the professions, the bar, the
pulpit, the halls of legislation, the benches of justice, and you will
be utterly amazed to find the early homes of these men. Wealth,
in order to roll the wheels of business, gathers together in cities,
just as waters gather in clouds, only to be redistributed again.
Fashion tries to crowd in and deck itself with some of this wealth.
and walk in a vain show ; but the highest glory ever predicted of
cities is, " that they shall flourish as the grass of the field." If now
you are looking for a young man who is to have broad shoulders,
one who is to bear gi-eat responsibilities in life, where do you look
— in the great city, or in such a mountain town as I am describing ?
Which congregation, taking years in succession, requires the most
deep, brain-created sermons — that which is in the city, or that which
is among the mountains ? I know that it is the latter. Thus these
mountain towns are the head-springs of good to the world ; the
mountains bring peace to the people. Their mission and power is
to affect human character, and to bless every generation. This has
ever been so ; and now that communication is so easy and so direct,
this power is to be ever increasing. The streams sent out are grow
ing larger and deeper, and more constant. And from the beautiful
elms that shade our streets, fi-om the sweet flowers that adorn our
homes, from the school-house that receives our children for train
ing, firom our churches, on whose tops the morning and setting sun
loves to gild ; from these Christian homes, which are raising noble
sons and beautiful daughters to go out and away in order to bless
the world ; fi-om the blue mountains that stand around us under
theii- summer veil or wintery covering, I hear but one voice — " none
of us liveth to himself," for we live to "bring peace to the people."
We do not forget that it was the little hill-town that sent out a .
Samuel, a gi-eat prophet in Israel ; a Joseph, the Savior of a nation ;
that it was Bethlehem where David spent his youth, and Nazareth
where the Son of God spent his. We do not forget that God has

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 13

ever honored the mountains and the hills. And while population
and industry and wealth pour into such a to\^Ti, effacing the old
landmarks and creating new powers, we will not forget the past,
the unseen, almost unknown power they have been silently exertmg
upon the world. The mustard seed has been planted here. The
leaven has been hidden here ; and God has been walking over these
mountains, watching over the people, guarding them in times of
darkness, and making them to be a blessing to the world. The
rains that have fallen here, the dews that have bathed these hiUs,
and the fertility that has clothed them, have not been used up here.
The waters and dews have gone down to lower and drier places,
and beautified them ; and still more, we have no doubt that from
these mountain hights a great multitude have gone to skies that are
never cloudy, to fields that never lose their green, to homes that are
never saddened by sorrow, or made gloomy by death ; and we have
no doubt that in that loved, deep, sweet song of Heaven, "Worthy
is the Lamb," there are many voices that once sang with us in their
pilgrimage, and learned the song here.
We change. Under the old regime the church had compai-atively
little to do except to enjoy her beautiful inheritance, and live in
peace and quietness. Her temptations were few. Her children
might walk the streets and not be ruined ; but now floods roll in
upon us. All things are changed, and we must now do where we
once could meditate ; we must meet the hurries and excitements of
the age by counter-activities. Earth is becoming small, and we are
called upon to act, to work; to sympathize with humanity, to use
our property, to receive our destiny into that of the human race, as
no other times have demanded. Everything is quadrupled — activ
ity traced, books, expenses of all kinds, and so must increase the
labors and the charities of the people of God. The reservoirs
which you make at the foot of the mountains increase your own
business capacities, and so also increase the wealth of others all
along to the sea ; so also must we make the mountain towns to be
intellectual, spiritual resei-voirs to fertilize the land, sending down
larger, purer streams as long as streams flow.
Finally, remember that, though the lines have fallen unto us in
pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage, we want something

14 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
better. This is not our best. We want something more abiding,
where we shall not walk to-day, and to-morrow be dying — where
we and our families shall not be crushed by death. And our text
tells us that " The mountains shall bring peace to the people ;" that
under om- own Redeemer, the cold rocky mountain shall send out
streams of salvation, and under His gi-eat power we may rest for
ever. The floods may come — but whosoever believeth in Him, shall
never be " confounded."
Our building may shake — but whoever believeth in Him shall
never " make haste" — to get out of it.
Our earthly building vasij fall — but whosoever believeth in Him
shall never " be ashamed" — because we have built on a false foun
dation. My dear friends, — Just seventy years ago, wanting one week,
there was a man child born in your village. He was carried away
in the arms of his father, while an infant ; he was, at a very early
day, left an orphan — he has battled with poverty and difficulties ; he
early laid himself on the altar of God, to live for the good of
humanity ; he has seen many soitows, but more joys ; he has labored
in his poor way, and with such talents as God gave him with his
might ; but, Oh ! the sheaves he has been permitted to lay at the
feet of the Master have been too few ; the good he has accomplished
has been too small ; the zeal with which he has toiled has been too
cold ; but though he can bring you but a few withered leaves to.
night, he is grateful for the privilege of greeting you in your high
prosperity, rejoicing with you in what your town has done for
humanity, and though only claiming to be one of the humblest sons
whom you have sent out, give thanks to God for the honor which
no other man can ever have — that of preaching the first Centennial
sermon that can ever be preached in Rutland.
The concluding prayer was offered by Rev. James Davie Butler,
who invoked the blessing of the Father upon the word spoken,
that it might make its impression upon the hearts of the vast audi
ence assembled to do honor to the fathers who planted the insti
tutions of religion and education among these mountains.
The following hymn, read by Rev. James Gibson Johnson, pastor

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 15

of the Congi-egational church, was then sung by the chou-, joined
by the congregation: From all that dwell below the skies,
Let the Creator's praise arise ;
Let the Redeemer's name be sung,
Through every land, by every tongue.
Eternal are thy mercies, Lord ;
Eternal truth attends Thy word;
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore.
Till suns shall rise and set no more.
The congregation was dismissed with the benediction by Rev.
Dr. Todd.

SECOND r»A.-sr.

Long before the hour of eight o'clock, p. m., the time appointed
for the commencement of the exercises, the Opera House was well
filled to hear the addresses of Henry Hall, Esq., on the "Early His
tory of Rutland," and of Chauncy K. Williams, Esq., on the
"Ecclesiastical History of Rutland." At the horn- of opening the
exercises the band played a lively aii-, after which the president of
the occasion, Wm. Y. Ripley, Esq., advanced to the front of the
platform and introduced to the audience Rev. B. M. Hall, who
knelt and offered a fervent and devoted prayer to the Most High,
retm-ning thanks for His graciousness in preserving our ancestors
through the trials which they had to undergo, and raining His
blessings upon them and theu- posterity.
At the conclusion of the prayer, the president arose and said his
voice was so weak as to be inaudible to most of the hearers, but he
had prepared a few words of welcome, which he had transcribed to
paper, and would have them read. Gen. W. Y. W. Ripley then
took the paper and read the welcome address, as follows :
ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
Ladies and Gentlem,en: It has been thought fit on this, the one
hundredth anniversary of the settlement of our good old town of
Rutland, to celebrate the event by in-viting all the natives and for-

16 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

mer residents who have gone out from among us, -with thfeir
descendents and our other fi-iends, to meet us on this occasion. We
thank you for your presence. We welcome you most cordially to
Our hearths and our homes. We welcome you to the scenes of
your former joys and your former trials. We welcome you to the
banks of the Otter, to the shadows of Killington and Pico. We
welcome you to the gi-een hills of Vermont, and though you will
witness many sad changes, and miss many of the old landmarks,
and the familiar faces of loved and dear fiiends, we trust you will
find many changes for the better, and hope that on the recurrence
of the second centennial anniversary of the settlement of our town
that your great-gi-andchildren's children may, with the blessing of a
good Providence, meet our great-grandchildren's children under the
folds of our national banner, spangled with an hundred stars, with
our constitution unimpaired, with just and equal laws honestly
administered, citizens of the freest, the happiest and the best coun
try on the globe. We again greet you with a hearty and a cordial
welcome. Henry Hall was next introduced to the audience by Gen. Ripley,
and proceeded to address them as follows : '
THE EARLY HISTORY OF RUTLAND.
On the 2d day of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress voted
unanimously in favor of national independence.
John Adams, attributing to this vote the importance which the
world has since appropriated to the renowned Declaration of Inde
pendence, adopted two days later, wrote to his wife, on the 3d day
of July, as follows :
"The 2d day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch
in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be cele
brated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.
It ought to be commemorated by solemn acts of devotion to
-^JjQiiglity God. It ought to be solemnized -with pomp and parade,
with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations,
fi-om one end of this continent to the other, from this time forwai-d
fore-vrmore." This notable prophecy expresses the Anglo-Saxon idea of patri
otic celebrations: first, gratitude to Heaven; next, jubilant joyous-

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 17

ness. Our national character adds another feature, viz: speechify
ing — sometimes spread-eagle bombast, sometimes commanding
eloquence. Town anniversaries add two other features, viz ; social
family visiting and local historic sketches.
Rutland rejoices in a name illustrious with the ducal coronet —
the highest rank of a subject — a name that has for ages flashed
along the page of history, in the di-ama, on the battle-field, and in
the councils of a great nation, — a name that was time-honored
before William the Conqueror crossed the English Channel.
Different governments, at different times, have claimed the right
to rule over our hills and valleys. Once, ere Rutland was, the
lillies of France floated supreme on Lake Champlain, asserting and
exercising sovreignty over the soil watered by the tributaries of that
Lake. For several years the early settlers of Rutland looked fondly
to the Lion and the Unicorn as the banner of theif pride ; for sev
eral years these early settlers shared with England the honor of
calling Shakspeare and Milton fellow countrymen. For thirteen
years Rutland owed and rendered fealty and allegiance only to the
bannered pine of Vermont. And when the Stai's and Stripes, Hail
Columbia and Yankee Doodle properly became a part ot our inheri
tance Rutland was twenty-one years old, and her population 1450.
During the old colonial wars, no white man dwelt within our
borders. During our four gi-eat national wars, Rutland bore the
banner of freedom, full high uplifted against foreign foe and domes
tic traitor, on many a fierce field, from the walls of Quebec to the
halls of Montezuma.
Once Rutland was famous for its pipe-clay and linseed oil ; to-day
Rutland sends her mai-ble westward and southward beyond the
grave of De Soto, and eastward to the land of Columbus and Gali
leo, of Raphael and Michael Angelo. Rutland seems a young
town, yet she has a newspaper that rivals the London Times in age.
Rutland is the grave of the grandfather of one of the nation's great
est thinkers, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Rutland has been the home of eminent men : Nathaniel Chipman,
one of the ablest lawyers and statesmen of New England ; his
brother Daniel, eminent as a lawyer, pre-eminent for conversational
power; John A. Graham, the first lawyer located in Rutland, half
dandy, half humbug, yet with talent enough to attain notoriety in
2

18 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
England and eminence in New York ; Jesse Buel, the founder of
the Albany Cultivator; Thomas Green Fessenden, the bearer to
England of Rutland's great philosophical blunder. From a
London prison he sent forth his Hudibrastic poem ; he founded
the New England Farmer, and was the friend of Haw
thorne. John Mattocks, the unlearned but capable and eccentric
judge ; Samuel Williams, the studious jihilosopher and dignified
historian ; Gov. Israel Smith, so successful in life, so sad near death ;
Charles K. Williams, so able, so learned, so uncorruptible, so charm
ing in conversation, so kind and wise a friend in council ; James
Davie Butler, the mechanic, the merchant, the scholai-, the wit; the
great landholder, the energetic, the enterprising Moses Strong, who,
it is claimed, man-ied a descendant of Cotton Mather; the shrewd
and capable Robert Pierpoint, descended from a favorite officer of
William the Conqueror ; the very able Robert Temple, of the same
family as Lord Palmerston, like Gen. McClellan, a descendant of
Gov. Bradford of the Mayflower, also a descendant of the good
Godiva, wife of the Mercian Earl Leofric, the Saxon king maker,
one thousand years ago; George T. Hodges, the cautious, suc
cessful merchant, polished in his manners and prudent in his habits ;
William Page, the diligent attorney, the safe and upright cashier;
Walter Colton, the popular author, the herald to Christendom of the
discovery of California gold ; James Meacham, the loveable man,
the eloquent preacher ; Edgar L. Ormsbee, brilliant with thought,
the pioneer of marble and railroad enterprise ; Solomon Foot, the
prosperous politician, the President of Conventions and Senates;
James Porter, the good physician ; Jesse Gove, the gentlemanly
and genial clerk; Rodney C. Royce, the popular young lawyer;
Gershom Cheney, John Ruggles, Edward Dyer, Avery Billings,
Samuel Griggs, Benjamin ^glanchard, the Meads, Chattertons, Rey
nolds, Purdys, Sheldons, Smiths, Reeds, McConnells, Barns, Greens,
Kelleys, Thralls, Wm. Fay, Charles Burt, Benjamin Lord, Nathan
Osgood, Osgoods, Greenos, Farmers, and hosts of other noble citi
zens. Nearly a century and a half ago, Rutland was the focus of Indian
travel. Otter Creek to the north. Otter Creek to the south. Castle-
ton River to the west. Cold River to the east, indicate the most
convenient routes for travel or freight from Lake Champlain to Fort

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 19
Dummer. Massachusetts sold her goods at Fort Dummer cheaper
than the French sold in Canada ; hence a brisk trade across our
State. In 1730, James Coss and twelve Caughnawaga Indians
arrived here in seven days from Fort Dummer, coming by way of
Black River, Plymouth Ponds and Cold River. They reach Otter
Creek, Sunday evening, May 3, 1730. Monday they made canoes.
They were thus employed when a squaw, left behind the day
before, rejoined them with a newly born papoose on her back.
Tuesday it rained. Wednesday they rowed thirty-five miles down
Otter Creek. Coss' journal mentions the two falls in this town,
without comment.. He calls Otter Creek black and deep, and
praises the soil. Probably this was not the first visit of a white
man to Rutland, for in King Williams' wars soldiers passed from
Massachusetts to the Lake ; but it is the first where we are able to
identify the man and the time.
The French and Indian wars sweep the Indian trade of Massa
chusetts out of existence. And now, instead of canoes laden with
furs, tallow and goods, the war paint, tomahawks, scalping knives,
muskets, swords, British and French uniforms gleam through the
foliage, all along our borders, from the roaring Winooski to the
swift rushing, arrowy Wantastiquet. Indian raid and English scout
pass and repass the mountain gorges.
'In 1748, sixty scouts came over from Black River; forty go down
Otter Creek on the east side, and soon repass the mountains ; twenty
go north on the west side of Otter Creek, imprudently expose
themselves to the enemy at Crown Point, are swiftly pursued up
Otter Creek and down West River, and when thrown off their
guard by being near home, they are ten-ibly defeated in Windham
county. Many a poor captive passes through our town, to suffer for years
in Canada. How absorbing is our interest in the trials and hard
ships endured by the captives Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Howe ! The
grandfath^er of President Labaree was a fellow captive with Mrs.
Johnson. This party dined in Rutland, at the junction of East
and Otter Creeks, the principal diet being sausages made of bear's
meat. In the year 1759 Rutland saw brave sights: eight hundi-ed New
Hampshire troops, with ax, shovel and hoe, cutting down trees and

20 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
leveling hummocks, making a road fi-om Charleston, N. H., along
Black River and Otter Creek, to Crown Point, N. Y., crossing
Otter Creek at Center Rutland ; soon after, four hundred fat cattle,
in five droves, going over this new road to diminish the scurvy at
Crown Point. Toward the last of November came Major Rogers
and his surviving heroes, nearly one hundred in number. They had
been absent from Crown Point two months ; they had destroyed that
great pest to New England, the Indian village of St. Francis, on the
St. Lawrence, near Three Rivers ; they had been pursued by supe
rior numbers, shot at and starved ; they had recruited at Charleston,
and now were returning, along the new militaj-y road, to Crown
Point, the headquarters of Gen. Amherst.
The ancestors of Charles Burt, Joel Beaman, and Rev. Drs.
Charles and Aldace Walker and others, went over this road, or its
predecessor, the old Indian path, during the Colonial wars.
When at length the English flag floats in triumph from Florida
to the St. Lawrence, the New England soldiers remember the fer
tile soil, the valuable trees and the convenient water privileges that
so abounded in the Green Mountain territory. And although New
York had, in 1750, put forward a claim to this State, yet, in 1761,
New Hampshire issued sixty charters for towns in Vermont.
The charter of Rutland was dated the 7th day of September,
1761 ; it is now extant in fifteen pieces; it cost about $100; it was
procured by Col. Josiah Willard of Winchester, N. H. The first
named grantee is John Murray, an Irishman, the principal citizen
of Rutland, Mass., and the man, probably, that named this town.
The grantees are chiefly of New Hampshire, — none of them ever
lived here ; among them were the captives, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs.
Howe, and the familiar names of Bardwell, Hawks, Willard, Stone,
Arms and Field. The grantees claimed that the charter was
granted to them "as a reward for their great losses and services on
the frontier during the late war."
Rutland was also gi-anted in 1761, by the name of Fairfield. The
grantor was Col. John Henry Lydius of Albany ; he claimed by
deed of the Mohawk chiefs and confirmation by Gov. Shirley of
Massachusetts, as royal agent. But the act of Lydius which most
interests us now, was his employment of a surveyor to survey Otter
Creek. The surveyor came from Connecticut; his name was Asa

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 21
Peabody. Peabody is now so distinguished a"[name that we are
intei-ested to learn tradition says it signifies "The Mountain Man,"
and is derived from a relative of Queen Boadlcea, who retired on
the suicide of his monarch to the Welsh mountains. I have seen
the original record of this survey, on one half sheet of foolscap, —
over one hundred surveys, with points of compass, distances, cur
rents, rapids, falls, affluents and islands. His survey, or measure
ment, made Center Rutland Fall 26 feet, and the Sutherland Fall
150 feet (the latter now estimated at 118 feet).
Between the charter and the settlement of Rutland eight and one-
half years intervene ; George II. had taken Vermont from Massa-
chusettts and given it to New Hampshire ; George III. takes Ver
mont from New Hampshire and gives it to New York, but forbids
New York granting the lands ; New York speculators petition the
New York government for the charter of a new town, to be called
Socialborough, to include Rutland, Pittsford and part of Brandon ;
the New Hampshire grantees file a caveat, and the grant is post
poned several years, although the York petitioners had sent up the
Scotch surveyor, William Cockburn, to survey the premises.
Meanwhile, John Murray sells his right in Rutland, about three
hundred and fifty acres, for 2s., or over ten acres for Ic. During
this interval, also, John Chipman and fifteen other young men from
Salisbury, Conn., pass thi-ough town with cart and oxen, along the
banks of Otter Creek, on their way to Addison county. When
they had passed Sutherland Falls, they convert the trunk of a large
tree into a boat, load the boat with their provisions and farmino-
utensils, attach their cart to the rear of the boat, and then row
the boat and drive the oxen northward.
The ever-active Skene is at Whitehall ; the idle British officers
leave their garrisons on the Lake, prospecting for land speculation ;
Yorkers, New Hampshii* men and Lydius are busy with survey and
deed ; the southern part of the county rings with the ax of the
wood chopper and the merry prattle of children ; Clarendon is set
tled two years before Rutland.
James Mead was the first white man that ever settled in Rutland.
In 1764, he and several other men, with their families, emigrated
from Nine Partners to Manchester, Vt. Nine Partners was joined
on the east by Salisbury, the northwest corner town of Connecti-

22 , RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
cut. Mead, acting as agent for others, soon became acquainted
with this town. It was on the 30th day of September, 1769, that
Mead made his first purchase in Rutland, and that same day he sold
half his purchase. He bought twenty rights ; he sold ten rights ;
there were seventy rights in the whole town ; one right contained
about 350 acres ; so that Mead retained about 3500 acres. The
price alleged in the deeds for the purchase was £100, or $333.33;
price of sale £40, or $133.33. If the deeds say true, Mead lost
£10 in the trade, and paid $200, or less than six cents per acre for
the land he retained. Mead's daughter, Mrs. Smith, thought he
paid for the land in horses. He bought of Nathan Stone of Wind
sor ; he sold to Charles Button of Clarendon. Both Stone and
Mead in their deeds describe Mead as of Manchester, in the county
of Albany and Province of New York. These twenty rights of
Mead and Button, each owning one-seventh part of the town, were
located in the southwest part of the town, undivided.
That same fall Mead built him a log house, half a mile west of
Center Rutland, near the banks of West Creek. In this imme
diate vicinity there was an ancient clearing, made by a community of
decidedly democratic proclivities, neither Mohawks nor Algonquin?,
neither Yorkers nor Green Mountain Boys. They had no churches,
no court-houses, no ballot boxes, no rum, no tobacco; they were
models of industry and thrift, yet, unversed in law, they had not
secured their title to the property by any proper legal deeds, and
Mead did not hesitate to appropriate to his own use both their
meadow and their dam.
The first settlement of Rutland occun-ed in March, 1 770. Mead
was now forty years old ; he had a wife and ten children ; his old
est child, Sarah, at the age of seventeen, was the wife of Wright
Roberts. These thii-teen persons were three days moving from
Manchester to the present Wells meadows. They came not along
the valley of Otter Creek, but over the uplands west, stopping the
first night in Dorset, the second in Danby, — passing through Tin-
mouth, West Clarendon and Smithtown. Coming through Chip-
penhook, Sarah and Mercy riding on one horse and Roberts on
foot, driving the cows, far in rear of the others, lost their way.
Before wandering far they found the house of Simeon Jenny, a
noted Yorker and Tory. He showed them where to go.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 23

The third evening they camped on the present farm of Robert
Chapman, in Clarendon ; but a warm supper, the browsing of the
horses, the moonlight glittering on frosty foliage and snow draped
earth, cheer them on to finish their journey before sleeping. Late
in the evening, on foot, on horseback and in the sleigh, they reach
their log house. But this building has no roof, and it is too near
the Creek : snow, water, ice and cold make it unavailable.
Near by, on a more elevated site, is a wigwam, with perhaps nine
or ten Caughnawaga Indians around a cosy fire. Mead applies to
share the wigwam. The Indians shake their heads, talk Indian,
then rising and throwing their hands apart, they cry, " Welcome !
Welcome!" gather up their trajis, abandon their hut to the pale
faces, and quickly build another, for themselves. So on the 16th of
March, 1621, Samoset enters the village of Plymouth and cries,
"Welcome, Englishmen! Welcome, Englishmen!" In that wig
wam the Mead family lived until late in the Fall, when they built a
substantial log house, in which they wintered.
As early as May, 1770, Thomas Rowley was in Rutland survey
ing lots. In the year 1770, three children were born in Rutland.
The first of the Anglo-Saxon race, whose manifest destiny it was, to
be born in Rutland was William Powers, son of Simeon Powers, a
cooper from Springfield, Vt. This birth, occun-ed the 23d of Sep
tember, 1770. The second child born in town was Capt. William
Mead, who died a few years since in Granville, Ohio. He was the
son of James Mead, and was born one day later than Powers. The
¦ third child was Chloe Johnson, daughter of Asa Johnson, from
Williamstown, Mass. She was born October 3, 1770, these first
three births occurring within ten days of each other.
Simeon Powers, his wife Lydia and their first born child had
settled, in the spring of 1770, west of Otter Creek, on the present
Kelley farm. In the Fall, William Dwinell and wife came and lived
with his relative. Powers. These four families, Meads, Powers,
Dwinells and Johnsons, are the only white persons positively known
to have lived in Rutland in 1770, although the surveyor Rowley's
record shows a clearing "by one Brookway." Thus the population
of the town, in the Fall, was about two dozen.
It is said that, a few days before the birth of William Powers,
his mother and others were upset in a boat on Otter Creek, a short

24 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
distance above Center Rutland Falls. She floated down near the
brink of the Falls, where she caught hold of a slippery log, and
held on till rescued.
In 1870, Rutland has 2000 families and 10,000 inhabitants. The
cash value of the town is several millions of dollars.
In 1770, the best land sold for a few cents an acre; there was not
a wagon or bridge in the town ; Mead kept a boat each side of
Otter Creek at Center Rutland; there was scarcely any land fitted
for plowing ; trout and venison were plenty, giain scarce ; no grist
mill nearer than Skenesborough and Bennington; Mead had an
iron hand mill that ground corn coarse. Wild leeks, butternuts,
wild berries, shad plums, maple sugar and fowl abounded. Nor
may we disdain to mention two social companions, parting presents
to the Meads from their Manchester friends, viz : a cat, and a lap-
dog rejoicing in the name of "Fancy."
Thus far we have condensed or omitted history. Now we can
only index our materials. In 1771, New York granted a charter of
Socialborough, in direct violation of the King's order. Again
Cockburn, the Scotch surveyer, is here; he sui'veys the road, now
Main street; Mead and Johnson stop him; men dressed as Indians
threaten him, and he leaves. In 1772, Rutland sends a delegate to
the Manchester Convention, and the Convention sends delegates to
England. In 1773, Rutland had thirty-five families, a clergyman
comeSj a log meeting-house is built, a church is formed with fourteen
members, four out of town, two from the west side of the town ami
eight from the east. In 1774, the will of Daniel Harris is made, a
will that, creating an estate-tail, roused Vermont with law doctrines
that have so often skaken Westminster Hall. In that year New
York condemned two Rutlanders to death without trial, and Rhode
Island sent two men to encourage emigi-ation from Rutland to
Sherburne. In 1775, Rutland sent soldiers to the capture of Ticon-
deroga and the seige of Quebec. During the Revolutionary War,
Rutland furnished Bowker, the President of the State Conventions,
had two forts and two militia companies, over eighty taxable inhabit
ants and two representatives to each session of the Legislature,
the land of three Tories was confiscated, and the town was honored
by a visit from the illustrious Kosciusko, the Washington of Poland.
In 1786, an anti-court mob, a miniature Shay's Rebellion, reeled

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 25

through our streets, and the courts of justice were paralyzed. In
October, 1804, the seventh and last Legislature met in Rutland, in
the midst of a violent snow storm.
And now abruptly we close our theme. To some, all study of
the past is useless antiquarianism. To the servant of the great
Hebrew prophet, it seemed that he and his master stood alone,
begirt with a vast host of beleaguering foes. The Lord opened his
eyes, and now the mountain sides are flashing and burning with
horses of fire and chariots of fire round about Elisha. So the
patriot, musing o'er his country's history, hears the rustling wings
and sees angelic forms hovering and stooping to bless the pieople
who remember and honor the noble dead.
At the ct5nclusion of the address the Band played a popular air.
Gen. William Y. W. Ripley then introduced to the audience
Chauncy K. Williams, Esq., who delivered the following address on
THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF RUTLAND.
There are certain times, seasons, periods and events which ahways,
to a thinking mind, present peculiar claims to our thoughtful atten
tion. Such, for instance is the termination of the old year, and the
commencement of the new. If so with years, much more so with
centuries and half centuries. The Mosaic law requii-ed that they
should "hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout
all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee
unto you." (Lev. xxvrlO.) In comjDliance with this command
during that dispensation, and ever since down to the present time,
centuries have formed divisions for man, and the lapse of then-
principal and ordinary divisions or parts have been marked with
peculiar emphasis. From this naturally comes our Centennial and
semi-Centennial celebrations. It is not, as many profess to think,
an idle and unmeaning custom and ceremony. It has its seat and
birthplace in the heart of each and all of us, and is a j)art of our
very human nature. We and our children delight to celebrate with
appropriate ceremonies our birthdays — as we now propose to cele
brate the birthday of our town and community. Such customs
and celebrations form landmarks to connect those of us who, by the
blessing of God, are permitted to be now here present, both with

26 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
those who reduced the wilderness to fertile plains and flourishing
villages, but to those who will succeed us in the responsibilities
which devolve upon every citizen, who is worthy of the name of
citizen, to sustain those municipal and religious institutions, with
out which all would be confusion and anarchy.
It would be appropriate, pleasant and instructive, if upon this
occasion, standing in a room dedicated to music, and occupied as a
place of religious worship by one, if not the youngest, of the
churches and religious societies in the town, I could spend the few
moments allotted me in speaking of the difference and changes
from and between 1770 and 1870, and of the lessons taught and duties
devolved upon us by the changed situation of aflairs. When we
contrast these two distant periods of time, and remembet- that what
was then, to use a threadbare expression, a "howling wilderness,"
are now cultivated fields, then a barren waste, now large and thriv
ing villages, then a pathless forest, now cut up and gridironed by
railways,then the hut and wigwam of the Indian, now magnificentt
public and private buildings, then the only religious worship was
that of the simple Indian, and his only church or temple was the
vast and uncovered forest, now in costly churches, built with the
best architectural skill, with spire j)ointing heavenward — and in the
interior, furnished with seats Splendidly upholstered, chandeliers and
all that wealth, art and skill can contribute to render it rich and
attractive to the eye, luxurious to the mind, and pleasing in every
respect. But I must forbear, and leave these pleasing and instruct
ive topics to other, abler and worthier hands. The few minutes
allotted to me this evening will not more than suffice to give in the
briefest possible manner the historical and biographical data and
facts connected with some fourteen different churches or religious
societies and organizations, and of their numerous pastors, so far as
it may be proper and my limited time and the material at hand may
present. It may be proper here to remark that in the minds of the
first settlers of this country, and more particularly those of New
England, although they abhored the idea of any connection between
Church and State, yet, after all, in some respects, the matters of
civil and religious polity were intimately connected. They emi-
gi-ated mainly from religious motives, or, as they themselves
expressed it, to "caj-ry. forward the reformation." It was manifest

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 27

to them that religious freedom could not exist without civil liberty,
and it was equally manifest to them that civil liberty, or any gov
ernment short of anarchy, could not exist unless it was founded and
formed upon the corner-stone of religion and religious worship.
Hence the first thing done was to lay the foundation and establish
a form of civil government. This done, then they commenced to
make provision for the support of public worship and for the enjoy
ment of Christian institutions and ordinances. This was also true
of Vermont. In Bennington, which is the oldest of our chartered
towns, in the records of their first proprietors' meeting the first act
after the election of officers was the appointment of a "committee
to look out a place to set the meeting-house." The same is true of
the early settlers of Rutland. All through the early records of the
town will be found votes in reference to the employment of preach
ers, providing places of public worship, and kindred subjects. To
show the nature of these votes, we give the record of the town
meeting of January 4th, 1781 :
"Voted, That Mr. Gideon Miner, John Johnson and Joseph
Bowker, Esq., act as a committee to endeavor to provide a preacher
of the Gospel for this town.
"Voted, That the above committee apply to Mr. Mitchell of
Woodbury as preacher aforesaid.
" A motion being put to know whether it was the minds of the
town to settle a minister as soon as they can fina one that they can
be agreed on, it was voted in the affirmative."
It is to be regretted that the records of the transactions of our
fathers for the first years of the settlement of the town are not
extant, so that we could, on this occasion, give the first votes and
action in relation to this subject, for we doubt not that we should
find here, as elsewhere, that this was among the earliest things
acted upon.
The proper ecclesiastical history of Rutland may be said to have
begun in 1773, when, on the 20th day of October, the first Congi-e-
gational church and society was formed in Rutland, with fourteen
members, namely: Joseph Bowker, Sarah Bowker, William Rob
erts, Eben Hopkins, Samuel Crippen, Daniel Hawley, Charles
Brewster, Abraham Jackson, John Moses, Enos Ives, Jehiel
Andi-ews, Sarah Andrews, Annah Ives and Mehitable Andrews.
Over this church was settled the Rev. Benajah Roots. This was

28 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

the tenth church in the State, the second west of the Green Moun
tains and the first in the county of Rutland.
Rev. Benajah Roots was born in Woodbury, Conn., in 1726. Of
his early life nothing, as far as I know has, as yet, been ascertained.
After, for those days, the usual preparatory course, he entered
Princeton College, then more generally known as the College of
New Jersey, where he graduated in 1754, the seventh class, under
the Presidency of Aaron Burr, who was the father of the Vice
President of the United States of the same name. There were
nineteen (19) in his class, of which number, twelve (12) are known
to have afterwards preached the Gospel. Immediately after gTadu-
ation he commenced the study of theology under the direction of
the Rev. Dr. Bellamy, of Bethlehem, iConn., who was at that day
one of the most prominent and leading men among the clergy of
New England. Two years after leaving college he commenced
preaching at Simsbury, Conn., and soon after received and accepted
a call to become pastor of the church at Simsbury, Conn., and he
was ordained over the church and society there on the 10th day of
August, 1757. During the last years of his connection with that
people there seems to have been some difficulty between himself and
a certain portion of his people on doctrinal points. In 1770, by a
concurrence of sentiment between him and his congregation, a
council of ministers was called to decide between Mr. Roots and
his church, and to hear and give their sentiments upon sundry
exceptions said members had to make to some of Mr. Roots' doc
trines, and also to some instances of his conduct relative to church
discipline. It seems that no formal charges were made, but it seems
that there were some matters upon which the pastor, church and
congregation differed, and it was thought best to take the advice of
the council. " The Result of that Council," and also "A few brief
remarks" in reply to that result, written by Mr. Roots, were pub
lished the same year. The result of the council, however, did not
provide for a dissolution of the pastoral relation, but, on the con
trary, resolved that "they hoped that one and all will study the
things that make for peace and mutual edification." This did not
settle the controversy. In less than two years the "consociation"
was convened at Simsbury to hear and determine upon a complaint
charging Mr. Roots with "holding and publishing sundry unsound,

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 29
dangerous and heretical doctrines, and of some instances of conduct
contrary to the Scriptures."
The consociation did not sustain the charges which relate to his
character and conduct as a pastor, but they think that in some
instances he hath delivered unsound doctrine, but not of that import
ance necessary to occasion a separation between minister and peo
ple — and they think if both pastor and people will exercise candor,
character and becoming prudence, they may yet live comfortably
together. From aU the evidence we have been able to obtain, we
believe that the clergy generally sympathized -with Mr. Roots, and
we have further reason to believe that this trouble was but the fore
runner of the protracted and bitter controversy between the Ortho
dox Congregational and the Unitarian churches which broke out a
few years later, and which, in the opinion of some, has not yet been
settled. Soon after, in 1771, he was dismissed from the church in Sims
bury, and almost immediately came to Vermont. Quite a number
of the earliest settlers of Rutland were from Simsbury, Conn., or
from the neigboring towns, and it was undoubtedly for this reason
that Mr. Roots came here. The church was organized as stated,
and Mr. Roots was ordained here.
There were here at that time about thirty (30) families, and he was
engaged here to preach for five (5) years. In consequence of his
settlement he also received a right of land, which by the charter
was reserved to the first settled minister. He remained as pastor
of this church until his death, which occurred March 16th, 1787, in
the 62d year of his age.
As first constituted, there were only thirteen (13) members, and
there were six (6) additions to it down to 1784-5, when there was
a powerful revival, which brought into the church forty-five (45)
persons. We have not time now to speak of the result of his minis
trations, but must pass to his successor.
Rev. Lemuel Haynes, in his day and generation, was one of the
most remarkable men in Vermont. Fifty years hence it may be,
and probably will be, difficult to apprehend the difficult position in
which not only he, but also the people of that parish were placed
in employing such a clergyman to minister unto them. Mr. Haynes
was a partially colored man, his father being of unmingled African

30 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
extraction, and his mother a white woman of respectable parentage.-
His name was that neither of his father or mother, but (probably)
that of the family under whose roof he received his birth. He was
born at West Hartford, Conn., July 18, 1753. When .he was five
months old he was carried to Granville, Mass., and bound out as a
servant until he was 21. During a revival he became a ijrofessor
of religion, and being persuaded that it was his duty to become a
preacher of the Gospel, he commenced the study of the ministry
with Rev. Daniel Farrand of Canaan, Conn., and on the 29th of
November, 1780, he was licensed to preacli. On the 9th of Novem
ber, 1785, he was ordained to preach at Torring-ton, Conn., the
Rev. Daniel Farrand pi-eaching the sermon. After remaining in
Torrington a short time he took a missionary tour through Ver
mont, at the request of the Connecticut Missionary Society. The
result of this trip was that he was invited to settle in West Rut
land, where he remained till May, 1818, when he was dismissed
From here Mr. Haynes went to Manchester, where he remained
three years, and in February, 1822, removed to Granville, N. Y.,
where he passed the last eleven (11) years of his life, dying there
on the 28th of September, 1833.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Amos Drury, who was born at
Pittsford in 1792, and studied theology with Rev. Josiah Hopkins
of New Haven, and also at the Auburn Theological Seminary. He
was ordained at West Rutland June 3d, 1819, and dismissed in
April, 1829. On the 6th of May following (1829) he was installed
pastor of the Congregational church at Fairhaven, where he
remained until the 26th of April, 1837, when he was dismissed, and
June 29th, 1837, he was installed over the Congregational church
at Westhampton, Mass.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Lucius Linsey Tilden, who was
born in Cornwall in 1802, and graduated at Middlebury College in
1823, and after spending some time in teaching he commenced the
study of theology at Andover Theological Seminary, where he
graduated, and was settled over this church in March, 1830, and
dismissed in March, 1839.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Aldace Walker, D. D., who was
ordained and installed on the 30th of December, 1840, and was
dismissed in 1862. He remains with us to the present day, minis-

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 31

istering in Ploly things to the people of our neighboring town of
Wallingford, where he was settled or commenced to labor in 1862.
Next to Rev. Dr. Aldace Walker came the Rev. Henry M.
Grout, a graduate of Williams College, in the class of 1854, who
was ordained September 1st, 1858, and installed on the 26th of
August, 1862. He removed to Massachusetts in 1867, and was fol
lowed by Rev. George L. Gleason, who was ordained February 1st,
1866, and installed at West Rutland October I7th, 1867, and dis
missed on the 22d of March, 1869. The present pastor of the
church is the Rev. James R. Bourne, who was ordained in 1859,
and ordained pastor of the church January 12th, 1870.
On the 22d of October, 1787, the town was divided into two
parishes, by the following bounds or division line: "Beginning at
the center of the north line of said town, thence parallel with the
east and west lines of the town till it strikes the Otter Creek, thence
up the Creek as the stream runs to the south line."
The church in the east jjarish was established October 5th, 1788,
with 37 members.
Rev. Mr. Ball makes a minute, in what is now the first volume
of their church records, that the only record found by him when
he came here (in 1797) .was a. short note on .the back of a confession
of faith, signed by Augustine Hilbred, Moderator, giving an
account of the establishing of the church, in which Pittsford, West
Rutland and Poultney with their members assisted — and that the
church was established "upon the plan of the Convention of the
West District of Vermont, which was supposed to be agTeeable to
the Gospel." They did not, however, adopt all of the articles of said
convention, but made one or two exceptions. During the preaching
of Dr. Williams "the half way covenant," as it was called, was
adopted, but was discontinued in 1797, as Dr. Ball says, because "it
was- supposed to be unwarrantable and defective."
The pulpit was supplied by different candidates till near the close
of the year 1788, when Rev. Samuel Williams, LL.D., was employed.
He continued to supply the pulpit until October, 1795, when he
relinquished preaching, and was succee4ed by Rev. Heman Ball,
D. D. Since the death of Dr. Ball there have been five pastors —
Rev. Charles Walker, Rev. William Mitchell, Rev. Silas Aiken, D.
D., Rev. Norman Seaver, D. D., and Rev. James Gibson Johnson.

32 RUTLAND centennial:

Rev. Heman Ball, D. D., son of Chai-les Ball,, was born in
Springfield, Mass., July 5, 1764, and gTaduated at Dartmouth Col
lege in 1791. He studied theology with the Rev. Joseph Lathrop,
D. D., of West Springfield, Mass., and was ordained pastor of the
Congregational church here, February 1st, 1797, the sermon being
preached by Rev. Dr. Lathrop, and remained pastor until his death.
In 1794, he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Yale
College, and that of D. D. from Union College in 1816, and was
one of the Trustees of Middlebury College from its organization
until his death.
Several of his sermons were published, among which was one on
the death of Washington, and an Election Sermon in 1804.
Rev. Dr. Sprague says: "He was highly respected for his talents
and virtues, and exerted an extensive influence in the church." He
died here, December- 17th, 1821, and was buried in the West street
cemetery, and is the only clergyman who has died during his pa^
torate of this church.
Rev. Charles Walker, D. D., was born in Woodstock, Con
necticut, in 1791. He studied theology at Andover (Mass.) Theo
logical Seminary, graduating in 1821. He was odrained pastor of
the Congregational church here, January 1st, 1823, and was dis
missed March 14th, 1833. He was installed over the Congrega
tional church in (the east village of) Brattleboro, January 1st, 1835,
and was dismissed February 11th, 1846, and on the 27tli of Decem
ber of the same year was installed over the Congregational church
in Pittsford, and was dismisssed December 6th, 1864, since which
time he has resided in Pittsford "without charge.''
He received the honorarary degree of A. M. from the University
of Vermont in 1823, and from Middlebury and Dartmouth Colleges
in 1825, and that of D. D. from the University of Vermont in
1847, and has been a trustee of Middlebury College since 1837.
He delivered the annual Election Sermon before the Legislature
of Vermont in 1829, which was published, as were also some of his
occasional sermons.
Rev. William Mitchell, son of John and Abigail (Waterhouse)
Mitchell, was born at Chester, Conn., December 19th, 1793, and
graduated at Yale College in 1818. He studied at the Andover
Thelogical Seminary, graduating there in 1821, in the same class

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 33
with his immediate predecessor. Rev. Dr. Walker, and was licensed
June 5th, of the same year, by the Middlesex (Conn.) Association,
and engaged as a Home Missionary in Northwestern New York.
He was ordained October 20th, 1824, and was settled over the
Congregational church in Newtown, Conn,, from June, 1825, to
May, 1831.
He was installed pastor of the Congregational church here,
March 14, 1833, and was dismissed June 2d, 1846, He was acting
pastor in Wallingford from August 8th, 1847, to March 28th, 1852.
In the fall of 1852, he became agent of the Vermont Colonization
Society, and served in that capacity three years ; after this he served
some two years as agent of the New York, and then of the New
Jersey Colonization Society.
In 1858, he removed to the residence of his son, John B. Mitch
ell, at Corpus Christi, Texas. During his residence there he organ
ized a church at Casa Blanca, about forty miles from his residence,
to whom he preached two Sundays monthly till the war scattered
them. About a year before his death he organized a Presbyterian
church at Corpus Christi, and by his own exertions secured the
funds for a church building, which was partly erected at the time of
his death. He died August 1st, 1867, of the yellow fever, which
also carried off two others of his household.
On the 21st of April, 1847, Rev. Henry Hurlburt was unani
mously given a call to become pastor of the church. In pm-suance
of this call Mr. Hurlburt came to Rutland and preached some time,
but on the second day of October, 1848, he informed them that
owing to the condition of his health he must decline the call. He,
however, remained here and occupied the pulpit some weeks longer.
Rev. Silas Aiken, D. D., son of Phineas and Elizabeth (Pat
terson) Aiken, was born at Bedford, N. H., May 14, 1799, and
gi-aduated at Dartmouth College in 1825, with the highest honors
of his class, being valedictorian. He studied theology with Rev.
Bennett Tyler, D. D., and Prof Howe, and was ordained pastor of
the Congregational church in Amherst, N. H., March 4, 1829, and
was dismissed March 5, 1837, having accepted a call to Park Street
church, Boston. He was installed over that church March 22, 1837,
and resigned his pastorate and was dismissed in July, 1848. March
28, 1849, he was installed over the Congregational chm-ch here,
3

34 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

Rev. Benjamin Labaree, D. D., President of Middlebury College,
preaching the sermon, and was dismissed, at his own request, July
1, 1863, from which time until his death he remained in Rutland
without a charge. He had been at different times Chaplain of the
Massachusetts Senate,- Trustee of Dartmouth College, Member of
the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commission
ers for Foreign Missions, Du-ector of the Prison Discipline Society,
etc. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from
the University of Vermont in 1852. He died here April 14, 1869.
Rev. Norman Seaver, D. D., son of Norman and Anna Maria
(Bigelow) Seaver, was bom in Boston, Mass., April 23d, 1834,
and graduated at Williams College in 1854. He studied theology
at the Andover Theological Seminary, graduating there in 1860.
He was ordained here as colleague pastor with Rev. Dr. Aiken,
August 29th, 1860. On the resignation of Dr. Aiken, July 1st,
1863, he became sole pastor, and was dismissed in September, 1868,
at his own request. December 30th, 1868, he was installed pastor
of the Fii-st Presbyterian church (Henry street), Brooklyn, N. Y.,
where he now is. He received the honorary degree of D. D. from
Middlebury College in 1866.
Rev. James Gibson Johnson, the present and sixth pastor, is a
native of Providence, Rhode Island. He prepared for college at
Washingtoij, D. C. (where his mother now resides), and entering
Union College, at Schenectady, N. Y.; gi-aduated there in the class
of 1863. He studied theology at the Princeton (New Jersey)
Theological Seminary, and graduated in 1866.
He was ordained at Newburyport, Mass., December 27th, 1866,
and was settled over the Second Presbyterian church in tfiat city,
where he remained until October 1st, 1868, when he resigned.
Immediately after his resignation he embarked on a tour through
Europe and the East, and was absent about a year. Returning
October 7th, 1869, he took up his residence in New York city,
where he continued to reside until his acceptance of the call, April
1st, 1870, to the pastorate of the Congregational church here, and
was installed April 21st.
In 1788 a petition was presented to the Legislature of Vermont
fi-om a part of the inhabitants of Rutland and Pittsford, being in
what is known as "Whipple Hollow," asking tor the establishing

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 86

of a parish by the name of "Orange Parish." The petition was
referred to a committee, and on their report the request was refused.
They however organized themselves into a parish, built a meeting
house and employed the Rev. Abraham Carpenter as their pastor,
who remained with them until his death. He was what was called
"a strict Congregationalist,'" and in 1773 or 1774 was settled acord-
ing to the rules of that denomination in Plainfield, N. H., without
any action on the part of the town. In March, 1779, the town
voted to accept him as the minister of the town, and by this action
he received the right of land belonging to the first settled minister,
consisting of three hundred and sixty acres, and worth probably
about the same number of dollars. He continued to preach there
eight or ten years longer, preaching in his own kitchen, in private
houses or in the open air, until he was dismissed and came to this
town. He remained connected with the "Orange Parish" until his
death, which occurred in September, 1797.
The first notice that we have of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in Rutland, is a notice that appearea in March, 1784, that Rev. Mr.
Chittenden would deliver a sermon to the Episcopal society, in the
State House, Rutland, and on the 30th of September of the same
year it was announced that "A Protestant Episcopal Church is
formed in Rutland and vicinity under the pastoral care of Mr.
Ogden." No results appear to have followed from this organization,
although the annual conventions of the Church were held in Rut
land, and the parish was represented by lay delegates in 1795, 1802
and 1807. In 1817 another attempt was made, and February 19th
of that year " The Protestant Episcopal Society of Trinity Church,
Rutland," was organized by the Rev. George T. Chapman, then of
Greenfield. Mass. On the 13th of September, 1818, Bishop Gris-
wold, of the Eastern Diocese, visited Rutland, and in his annual
address says that this Church "have been very desu-ous to obtain
the permanent services of a settled minister, and have manifested
a very laudable liberality in oflering to subscribe for his maintenance.
They have been disappointed and disheartened."
In 1826, "St. John's Church, Centreville, Rutland," was received
into connection with the Convention, and Rev. Louis McDonald,
as Minister, in June, 1826, reports that "ser-vices have been kept
up between this and the East Parish alternately since February last."

36 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

In 1831, Rev. Moore Bingham officiated for some time, but for how
long I have been unable to ascertain, as "Visiting Minister" of St.
John's Church, and from this time that Church seems to have ceased
to exist.
In January, 1832, Rev. John A. Hicks accepted the Rectorship
of Trinity Chm-ch, — and from that time the real existence of the
church may be dated, — a chm-ch building was soon erected, which
was consecrated by Bishop Hopkins in May, 1833.
Rev. John Augustus Hicks, D. D., was born in New York city,
February 21, 1800, and graduated at Columbia College in 1823,
and at General Theological Seminary in 1826. He was ordained
Deacon by Bishop Onderdonk, in Grace Church, Jamaica, August
22, 1826, and ordained Priest by Bishop White, May 28, 1828, in
Philadelphia. He was for a short time Assistant Minister to the
Rev. Evan M. Johnson, in Jamaica and Brooklyn. He was Rector
of Trinity Church, Easton, Penn., from April 1, 1827, to April,
1831, when he accepted a call to St. John's Church, Troy, N. Y,
which he resigned in January, 1832, on being invited to the rector
ship of Trinity Church, Rutland. He remained in Rutland twenty-
eight years, resigning July 7th, 1860, to accept the Willoughby
Professorship in the Vermont Episcopal Institute, with the general
charge of the Theological department, he having been a member of
the Board of Trustees from its organization in 1856. In 1865 he
resigned his trusteeship and professorship, and had since that time
devoted himself to missionary work in Georgia, Milton and Fan-fax.
He had been a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese
for over twenty years ; a member of the Board of Trustees of the
General Theological Seminary; a member of the Board of Law
Agents since 1847, and since 1857 Secretary and Treasurer of the
Board. He represented the Diocese of Vermont in General (Tri
ennial) Conventions of the Church for the United States at ten dif
ferent times. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from
the University of Vermont and from Trinity College. He died at
Burlington, November 4th, 1869, at the age of 69 years.
On the resignation of Rev. Dr. Hicks, the Rt. Rev. John Henry
Hopkins, D. D., LL.D., D. C. L., Oxon., officiated until the first of
October, 1860, when he was elected and accepted the office of Rec
tor for two years.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 37

Bishop Hopkins was born in, Dublin, Ireland, January 30, 1792,
and came to America with his parents in 1800, and was educated
chiefly by his mother. He was originally a maker of iron, then
studied law and was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession
at Pittsburg, Pa., and was rapidly rising to eminence, when, in 1823,
he left the bar for the ministry, and was ordained a Priest in May,
1824, and immediately became Rector of Trinity Church, Pittsbm-g.
In 1831 he resigned, and became Assistant Minister of Trinity
Church, Boston, where he remained until he was elected the first
Bishop of the separate Diocese of Vermont, in May, 1832, and was
consecrated in New York, October 31st of the same year, by Bishop
White. He immediately came to Vermont, accepting, at the same
time, the Rectorship of St. Paul's Church, Burlington. He resigned
the Rectorship of that Church in 1856, in order that he might
devote himself more unreservedly to Diocesan works and the build
ing up of the "Vermont Episcopal Institute." He died at Burling
ton, Januai-y 3d, 1868.
Rev. Roger S. Howard, D. D., succeeded Bishop Hopkins, and
became Rector December 1st, 1861, and remained until June, 1867,
when he resigned. Rev. Dr. Howard was a native of Vermont,
and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1829. He represented the
town of Thetford in the Legislature of Vermont in 1849. He sub
sequently studied for the ministry, and, before coming to Rutland,
was Rector of a Church in Greenfield, Mass., and subsequently in
Portland, Maine. From here he went to Woodstock, and on the
first Sunday of July, 1867, became Rector of St. James' Church.
He remained here some over a year, and then resigned to accept
the Presidency of Norwich University and the Rectorship of St.
Mary's Church, Northfield, where he now remains. Rev. Dr.
Howard, was succeeded by Rev. John Milton Peck, who assumed
the Rectorship of the Church, August 1st, 1867, and remained here
three years.
In 1859, an Episcopal Church and Society was organized at West
Rutland, by the name of Grace Church, and was admitted into
nnion with the Convention of the Diocese, June 6th, 1860. This
church never had a resident Rector, but Rev. D. Willis of Gran
ville, N. Y., had pastoral charge during a portion of the years 1859
and 1860. After him. Rev. Albert H. Bailey took charge of the

38 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
parish as its Rector, commencing June 17th, 1860, officiating ore-
half of the time. Since the close of his labors the parish has
become practically extinct.
The Baptist church in Rutland was organized in 1823, and Rev.
Hadley Proctor was the first settled minister, commencing his labors
in 1827, and remaining here seven years, until 1834.
He was born at Marblehead, Mass., in 1794, was converted when
seventeen years of age, and became a member of the Baptist church
at Newton, Mass. He was licensed by that church "almost imme
diately thereafter to preach." He commenced the study of theology
with Rev. Dr. Chaplin and. removed with him to Waterville, and
graduated in 1823, in the second graduating class of that institution.
From Waterville he went to China, Maine, and was ordained over
the Baptist church in that place in 1823, and remained there until
he came to Rutland. From here he went to Brandon, and was the
preceptor of the Seminary until 1836, when he again became pastor
of the church here. In 1837 he was again called to the Baptist
church in China, and remained with that people' until his death,
April 12th, 1842.
In 1834 and 1835, Rev. Samuel Eastman was pastor of the church.
After the second removal of Mr. Proctor, Rev. Arus Haynes
was called to succeed him, and was ordained pastor of the church
in the fall of 1837, and dismissed in 1840.
He was born in Middletown, in this county, in August 1812, and
graduated at Brown University in 1837. In 1842 he was settled
over the Baptist church in Jersey City, N. J.', and remained there
until 1848, when he became pastor of the church in East Brook
lyn, N. Y. In 1851 he made a journey to Europe, in hopes of
restoring his impaired, health, but not succeeding, he returned to
this country, and, in 1852, resigned his pastorate. In the winter of
that year he went to Key West, Florida,, and died Mai-ch 31, 1853,
while on his return home.
The next pastor was the Rev. Joseph M. Rockwood, who was
ordained and settled February 9th, 1842, and dismissed in Septem
ber, 1849.
He was born at Bellingham, Mass., in 1818, and graduated at
Dartmouth College in 1837, studied theology at the Seminary in
Waterville, Me., and at the Newton Theological Seminary.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 39

He was succeeded by Rev. Leland Howard, who was settled in
1852, and dissolved the pastoral relation in 1860.
He was born at Jamaica, Vt., October 13th, 1793, and was bap
tized in Shaftsbury by Rev. Isaiah Mattison, when about seventeen
years of age, and from this time commenced to preach. In 1814
he commenced the study of theology with Rev. Joshua Bradley of
Windsor, and closed his studies with Rev. James M. Winchell of
Boston. He was ordained November 16, 1817, at Windsor, in this
State, and settled as pastor of the Baptist church in that town, and
remained until 1823, when he became pastor of the First Baptist
church in Troy, N. Y. In 1828 he returned to Windsor and
remained until 1833, when he was installed over the First Baptist
church of Brooklyn; he left there in 1837, and preached a year in
Meriden, Conn,, and in 1839 was settled in Newport, R, I., and in
1840 at Norwich, N. Y. From 1843 to 1847 he was pastor of the
Fifth Street Baptist church in Troy, and fi-om there, in 1847, he
went to Hartford, N. Y., where he remained until he came to Rut>
land. In addition to his regular pastorate here, he, from time to
time, supplied the pulpit in the absence of a regular pastor. He
was Chaplain of the House of Representatives of Vermont in 1831,
and of the Senate in 1861. He died May 5th, 1870.
The next pastor was the Rev. Francis Smith, who commenced
his labors on the first Sunday of May, 1860, and preS,ohed his fare
well sermon July 27th, 1862.
He was born at South Reading, Mass., July 12th, .1812, and
graduated at Brown University in 1837, and pursued his theological
studies at Newton Theological Seminary, gi-aduating there in 1840.
He came to Rutland from Providence, R. I., and after closing his
labors here returned to that place
Rev. Mr. Smith was succeeded by Rev. J. C. Femald of Cam
bridge, Mass. He was oi'dained to the ministry here, March 23d,
1864, and became pastor of the chm-ch. He remained but a short
time. Rev. Orlando Cunningham supplied the pulpit fi-om November,
1865, to August 5th, 1868.
He was born in Rockingham, Vt., January 31st, 1814, and after
studying theology with different clergymen, was ordained at Prince-
on, Mass., in November, 1841, and was settled over the Baptist

40 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL."

church in that place, and remained there until 1843, when he went
to Sterling, in the same State, and was pastor of the Baptist church
until 1850. In 1850 he was settled at Middlefield, Mass., and
remained until 1855, when he received and accepted a call to the
Baptist church in Lebanon, Conn. In 1865, on account of a failure
of his eyesight, he resigned his pastorate and came to Vermont to
recuperate. During the summer and a portion of the fall of that
year, and until he came to Rutland, he supplied the pulpit of the
Baptist church in Bellows Falls. Since he closed his connection
with the church in Rutland he has continued to reside here, but
has preached, at times, to different vacant churches, and is now and
since May 1st, 1870, has been jsreaching to the church in Westhaven.
Mr. Cunningham was succeeded by Rev. Edward Mills, who
commenced his labors as pastor of this church, November 1st, 1868.
Rev. Edward Mills was born in Rochdale, England, June 30th,
1828, and came to the United States in January, 1831, studied the
ology with his pastor. Rev. Henry F. Lane, of Lawrence, Mass.,
and was licensed to preach by the First church of -La-wrence, May
1st, 1860, and was ordained pastor of the church at Hermon, N. Y,
June 20, 1861. He resigned July 9th, 1862, and immediately
became pastor of the church of Adams Center, N. Y., where he
remained pastor until May 1st, 1865, when he was settled at West
minster, Mass. From here he removed to West Troy, N. Y., and
remained pastor of the Baptist church in that place until his settle
ment over the Baptist church in Rutland.
Rutland was formerly included in the Brandon circuit of the
Methodist church, — but at what time Rutland became a separate
station and had a preacher assigned to it and regular service, I have
been unable to ascertain. Without access to the records of the
church, the first preacher whose name I find as stationed here is
Rev. F. W. Smith, in 1834 and 1835. From that time, at least,
there were regular Methodist sei-vices at Center Rutland, and a
church or chapel was erected there. The following are the preach
ers and dates, as near as I can ascertain them without reference to
the records; 1838, William F. Barnes; 1841, E. Hall; 1842, M.
Townshend, Thomas Hunt; 1843, William Griffin, William H.
Hull; 1844, William Griffin; 1846-7, H. Warner, Jr.; 1848-9, A.
Lyon; 1850, C. Barber; 1852, William Ford.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 41

On the 12th day of March, 1853, James L. Slason and William
A. Burnett were appointed a committee to make arrangements for
Methodist preaching at the East Village during the year. They
immediately took steps to employ a preacher, and to procure a place
for holding meetings, and, strange as it may seem now, they were
refused the Court House, although it had been before, and was then
and for some time thereafter, used by other religious societies. The
result of their arrangements may be seen from the following
" Notice," which was left at every house in the village :
"Providence permitting, there will be Methodist preaching at
the Railroad Depot in this Village, next Sunday afternoon at 5
o'clock, by Rev. John Parker, of the M. E. Church. Yourself and
family — all are invited to attend Per order of the Official Board.
William A. Burnett, Secretary.
Rutland June 10, 1853."
The service was held, and from that time to the present there has
been a Methodist church in this village. Steps were at once taken
to erect a church building, the corner stone of which was laid July
27, 1854.
After this year the church in this village and at Center Rutland
were united, and down to 1863 two preachers were stationed here,
one for each church. The following are the names of the clergy
men and the years of their service: 1853, John Parker; 1854,
Alexander Campbell, Angelo Carroll; 1855, Alexander Campbell,
A. Carroll; 1856, John Kiernan, J. W. Carhart; 1857, John Kier-
nan, C. H. Richmond; 1858, C. R. Ford, Edwin H. Hynson; 1859,
C. R. Ford, Geo. S. Chadbourne; 1860, M. Ludlum, W. W. Atwater;
1861, M. Ludlum, W. W. Atwater; 1862, Geo. S. Chadbourne, J.
E. Metcalf; 1863, Geo. S. Chadbourne, Edwin H. Hynson; 1864,
Alexander Campbell, Geo. S. Chadbourne; 1865, A. Campbell, J.
W. Elkins; 1866, D. W. Dayton; 1867, D. W. Dayton; 1868, A.
F. Bailey; 1869, A. F. Bailey; 1870, Barnes M. Hall.
I regret that I have been unable to give biographical memoranda
in reference to the different Methodist pastors, but the peculiar
nature of that ministry, particularly the shortness of their ministra
tions here, as elsewhere, has rendered it impracticable, if not impos
sible, to obtain the facts necessary, and I am therefore compelled to
pass with this brief, imperfect, and to me, at least, unsatisfactory
sketch.

42 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
Prior to 1837 there was no organization of the Roman Catholic
Church in Rutland, and in order to attend the services of their o-wn
church, the members of the denomination were compelled to, and
did, go to Castleton and other places. During that year, or the
next, this was made a "missiouary station," and the Rev. J. Daly,
a very learned and eccentric man; occasionally held services here
and at other pioints in Western Vermont.
The Rev. Z. Druoii came here as a missionary in 1854, and in
1855 established St. Bridget's Church at West Rutland and St.
Peter's Church in East Rutland, both, however, in the same parish.
He remained here until January 5th, 1857, at which time the parish
was divided and became two separate parishes. Rev. Charles J.
Boylan at that time took charge of St. Peter's Church, and remains
Parish Priest to the present time. A small church was built in St.
Peter's parish in 1855, and the corner-stone for a large, commodious
and elegant church was laid July 5th, 1869, by the Bishop of the
Diocese of Burlington, assisted by a number of clergymen, and
which is now rapidly approaching completion.
Upon the division of the parish, January 5th, 1857, Rev. F.
Picart became Pastor of St. Bridget's Church, where he remained
until November, 1859. He was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Lynch,
by whose exertions the funds for the erection of the beautiful church
at West Rutland were collected. He continued pastor until Octo
ber, 1869, when he was succeeded by Rev. Charles O'Reilly, the
present Parish Priest.
About May, 1869, a Roman Catholic Church was organized from
our French population, under the name of " Eglise du Sacre Coeur
de Marie" (Church of the Sacred Heart of Mary), with the Rev.
Louis Gagnier as Parish Priest. They for a time met for worship
in Chaffee's Hall, on Merchants' Roav, but almost immediately took
measures for erecting a church building on Lincoln avenue, which
was so far completed as to be ready for use in the spring of 1870.
Rev. Louis Gagnier remained Pastor until September, 1870, when
he was succeeded by the present Pastor, Rev. J. M. Cloarec.
The Universalists organized a society here about the year 1853,
Rev. Charles Woodhouse supplying the pulpit. He remained here
some two years, and was succeeded by Rev. H. P. Cutting, who
only remained a short time. Their place of meeting was in the

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 43

hall of the building on the corner of Merchants' Row and West
street. After Mr. Cutting left the society became practically extinct.
In February, 1858, a religious society calling themselves "Chris
tians," founded, if I mistake not, hj Elder Miles Grant of Boston,
was organized by the name of "Christ Church." They, in 1860,
built a church or chapel on West street, which is now known as the
"Free Christian Chapel." The first regular preacher was Elder
Matthew Batcheldei-, who remained about three years, and was suc
ceeded by Elder H. F. Carpenter, who was followed by Elder Geo.
W. Stetson. The church is now, and has been for some time,
vacant. A Liberal Christian society was organized in Rutland, July 20th,
1867. Since the society was organized it has been supplied
from one to five Sabbaths each by Rev. Dr. Stebbins and Rev.
William Tilden of Boston, Rev. J. F. Moors of Greenfield, Mass.,
Rev. Mr. Reynolds of Concord, Mass. In addition to these tem
porary supplies, Rev. C. A. Hayden of Boston supplied the pulpit
one-half of the time for six months. Rev. F. W. Holland was
employed by the society from the second Sunday of February to
the second day of August, 1869. He was succeeded by the Rev.
L. W. Brigham, who commenced his labors on the third Sunday of
September, 1869, and remained until the second Sunday of Septem
ber, 1870.
We have thus imperfectly passed in review the different religious
societies in Rutland and their several pastoi'S, and trust that we have
succeeded in rescuing some facts and dates from oblivion, and
placed others, which would soon be forgotten, in a form in which
they may be preserved.

Note. — As the last pages of this address are passing through the press, we are
pained to learn of the death of the Rev. Charles Walker, D. D., the second pastor
of the Congregational Church of the East Parish of Rutland, which occurred at
Binghamj)ton, N. Y., Monday, November 38th, 1870.

44 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

TniR,i:> i>A.^sr

OLD FOLKS' CONCERT.
We extract from the Rutland Herald the following account of
the Old Folks' Concert on Tuesday evening:
The Old Folks' Concert at Ripley Opera Hall, last evening, will
long be remembered by our community as one of the happiest and
most delightful features of this joyous, festive Centennial; and for
ourselves we can but express grateful thanks to all who contributed
to its success. It was a happy conception, and most admirably
carried out. Not a little of the praise so universally bestowed is
due to the Wales Cornet Band. North Bennington may well be
proud of it, as we are of our Rutland Choral Society. Every ticket
was sold by noon of yesterday, and to say there was a full house
does not at all express the idea. It was piacked, jammed, and long
before the curtain rose hundreds or more had gone away, unable to
gain a foot place on the floor of the Hall. As previously announced,
the orchestra consisted of the above named band. Mrs. W. N.
Oliver of our town appeared as soprano soloist, Mr. S. C. Moore of
Burlington as pianist, our townsman, Mr. J. N. Baxter, as solo flutist,
with our Rutland Choral Society, under the direction of R. J.
Humphrey, for the chorus. Of the band we have only good words.
They have most agreeably disappointed our community. Their
full band introduction to the second part of the evening's entertain
ment was certainly very finely given, and, as an unusual character
istic of such music, we noticed that it did not seem to oppress the
ear of the listener, although confined, as it was, within the walls of
a concert room. We attributed this in part to the fact that they
played so well in tune, depending upon their harmony rather than
their brass for effect. When they go from us they will bear with
them the thanks and kind wishes of a host of friends in Rutland.
Of Mrs. Oliver's singing we cannot say too much. Her praise
was in all mouths. She seems to have fairly captivated our com
munity by her bird-like purity of tone and sweetness of voice and
manners. She completely reversed the old adage that "a prophet
is not without honor save in his own country." In singing the old
Scotch ail-, " Within a mile of Edinboro' town," she received the

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 45
especial compliment of applause at the end of each stanza, and in
recognition of the encore, at the end of the song repeated the last
verse. She next sung "Thou Everywhere," with a flute obligate,
admirably executed by Mr. Baxter, accompanied by Mr. Moore,
which was encored, when they favored the audience with a new,
fresh bird song by somebody who knows how to write songs to
please an audience. The "Italian Waltz," Mrs. Oliver's last song
on the programme was also something new to a Rutland audience,
and the most difficult bit of execution we have known this lady to
have ever attempted. She was again encored, and, in response,
sung " Waiting," by Willard, taking the high E in the cadenza with
perfect ease and precision. The degree of excellence to which this
Jady has attained as an amateur is, we think, something remarkable,
and is justly deserving of hearty commendation.
Mr. Moore was quite too sparing of his solo playing to fully sat
isfy his audience. He played but once during the evening. We
cannot give the title of the delicate morceau he favored us with,
but it was exquisitely rendered, as is everything he performs. He
is a great favorite with Rutlanders, and cannot come among us too
often. We enjoyed an unwonted pleasure in listening, as we have not in
years before, to Mr. Baxter's liquid flute. He performed an over
ture from one of the Italian operas delightfully. If it was as easy
to play the flute as he makes it seem, we should all be flutists.
"May his shadow never be less."
Last, not least, we desire to say a few words in honest praise of
what has ]?een accomplished by our Rutland Choral Society. And
just here we cannot give too much credit to Mr. R. J. Humphrey,
their excellent and indefatigable conductor. He has been identified
with the society from its beginning, and without promise of reward
has labored incessantly for its welfare. From feeble beginnings he
has seen the society come to be one of the established institutions
of our county. Then- performance last night was truly gratifying
to all who listened. They showed marked improvement since their
last appearance not long ago at the same place. They sing in bet
ter tune, and the several parts were much more evenly balanced
than ever before. We noticed that many tearful eyes bore testi
mony to their effective singing among the older portion of the audi-

46 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

ence while the old fugue tunes were being sung, their memoi-y
doubtless quickened by the quaint tableau of the spinning-wheel
and yarn-swifts in the corner. But in our mind the grandest, noblest
feature of the entertainment was when, in instant recognition of the
first notes of the closing piece of the evening, the entire audience,
without a word or hint, voluntarily rose and joined in our sublime
national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner."
A rich display of the occasion, which we had almost omitted to
mention, was the display of the "Flood-wood Militia," dressed and
undressed, between the first and second parts of the concert. Their
drill, pei-hai:)s though not according to Hardee's tactics, was for the
occasion much more pleasing, eliciting Rounds of applause, and
though they beat a hasty retreat, there was none able to Chase 'em.

At ten o'clock on Wednesday, being the fourth and last day ot
the Centennial Celebration, a large audience assembled at the Opera
House, when the Rev. James Davie Butler, LL.D., a native of Rut
land, but now a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, delivered the
following address :
ADDRESS OF REV. JAMES DAVIE BUTLER, LL.D.
Eighteen hundi-ed and eighty-seven years ago, and perhaps on
this self-same day, imperial Rome was celebrating one of her cen
tennials. The cry of the heralds was, Oonvenite ad ludos spec-
tandos quos nee spectavit quisquam nee spectaturus est, " Assemble
yourselves and behold a spectacle which no one has ever beheld, or
will behold again." The festival lasted three days. Every nio-ht
was enUvened by dances, every night and every day was solemnized
by sacrifices. The choral ode had been composed by the poet Hor
ace, then at the height of his fame. Its intricacies made Byron,
and still make classical tyros hate its author, but its patriotic and
exultant strains i^eie equally perspicuous and welcome to thrice nine

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 47

youths and as many maidens, no one of them bereaved of either
father or mother, who formed the choir which rung them out in the
Circus Maximus. It was a happy era. Legends regarding the
Trojan origin of Rome had just been crystalized, as in a mammoth
Kohinoor, in the ^neid of Virgil. The city which Augustus had
found brick he was fast transforming to marble. The temple of the
war-god, Janus, was shut, for there remained no foes to conquer
worthy of the Roman steel. Rome was the onl/ universal empire
the sun ever shone upon, and hence was gi-eater than all which
had gone before, or that were to come after her. She only wore
without corrival all its dignities. Such was a centennial in the most
high and palmy state of the Ca3sars.
What is ours to-day? We celebrate the arrival of the first pil
grim-train which here settled. One century ago a dozen people
entered this valley with a view to make it their home. They brought
with them nothing save what they could carry, either on their own
backs or on pack horses. No farmer's ox-team had as yet been
driven over the mountain. They had not much of education or
property. Their houses were of logs, low, narrow, and destitute of
furniture. For twenty years the title to their lands hung in doubt
before them. They were far fi-om markets Vhere they could sell
what they did not want, and buy what they did. War to the scalp-
ing-knife soon raged around them, and that for seven years. For
forty-nine years there was no church really in this village. The
recruits who joined the first comers, some of them outlawed by
New York, — others deserters from more than one army, — others
leaving their country for their country's good, or having lost caste
there, remind one of David's partisans when "if any man was in
distress, or if any man was in debt, or if any man was discontented,"
they betook themselves to his cave in the cliff. Moreover, during
forty years of the nineteenth century Rutland was notorious as a
case of an-ested development, like the legendary monkeys who were
intended for men, but whose creation being begun on Saturday
afternoon, was stopped in accordance with Connecticut Blue Laws,
by the coming on of the Sabbath, while they were still "scarce half
made up." Hence a satirist would say that Rutland «vas fitly named
after the smallest county in England, and one chiefly famous for
producing the smallest specimen of a British dwarf It is clear.

48 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

therefore, that the pompous ceremonial of this week, in honor of
the birth of a town so insignificant long after its cradle years, may
appear the comedy of "Much Ado about Nothing," — like the sacri
fice of an ox on an altar dedicated to a fly. To what purpose is
this waste? Imperial Rome and Infantile Rutland! That was to
this, Hyperion to a Satyr.
Nevertheless, townsmen, you, like me, have beheld with equal
wonder and delight the primitive pettiness of Rutland after long
burial come forth in a better resurrection and swelled to fair propor
tion, thanks to my lifelong friend, Henry Hall. Minutiae picked
from the worm-holes of long vanished days, and raked from the dust
of old oblivion, struck by his wand, rejoice, like Pompeii, in newness
of life. His historical regenerations brought to my mind the mosaics
in St. Peters, in elaborating which there was keenness discriminating
multitudinous shades of color, patience imitating them all in a sort of
porcelain types, — ingenuity ranging them bit by bit till all jagged
atoms are fitly joined together, and a species of genius sprinkling
curious touches even to the i^erfection of a faultless pictm-e.
But how has Mr. Hall been able to discover all things from the
very first? This is a hard question, and yet I can answer it
Drowning men remember a great deal they had forgotten. There
fore Mr. Hall has had all the oldest inhabitants ducked in Otter
Creek, and held under water till near the drowning point. When
they came to from strangulation he sat by and noted down their
revelations from first to last.
Your pleasure in surveying Mr. Hall's portraiture of Rutland pri
meval,— perhaps I ought to say paradisaical, — has been unmixed.
But mine has not On the other hand, my thought has been, " What
shall the man say that cometh after the King?" The truth is that
Mr. Hall, and he only, holds the key to everything worth knowing
regarding antiquarian Rutland, while I have long been, not only far
from such keys, but divided by oceans and continents from the very
key-holes. Accordingly, when invited to speak on this anniversary,
I could not forget a minister who had agreed to preach on a text
sent to him in a sealed envelope, and which he was not to open
until he had stood up for his sermon. The envelope contained noth
ing but a sheet of blank paper. One blank page betokened my
ignorance of Rutland archives, — ^the other my inability to unroll

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL, 49

them. Concerning that preacher the story is that, gazing on one
blank page, he exclaimed, "Why, here in nothing!" and then,
turning the sheet over, added, "AndLo! here is nothing!" But
then, his good angel coming to his rescue inspired him to add,
"Nothing! nothing! why, out of nothing God made the world, and
so my subject shall be the creation." I cannot boast of such oppor
tune inspirations, and, in my western home stri\-ing to vie with Mr.
Hall in reference to those local details by which he has made the
past re-live and look us in the face, I should be dropping buckets
into empty wells, and growing old with drawing nothing np, while
my chronicles of Rutland, through lack of local coloring, would
resemble that picture of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea which
was all one dead wall or barn door of Spanish brown. When
the artist was asked, "Where are the Children of Israel?" the
answer was, "They have all passed over" — and when the question
recurred, "Where are the hosts of Pharaoh?" "Why they,'' said
he, "they are all drowned."
After all, as a child of Rutland, as the son of a man who settled in
this town in the second decade of its existence, and made it his home
during more than half a century, — yes, as myself a Rutlander who,
while traveling more than half rbund the world, has still retained
an untraveled heart" I would fain speak to you as I can, — though I
cannot as I would. Nothing on one page, and nothing on another,
suggested a sermon on creation out of nothing, so the founding
of Rutland, which we now commemorate, — a mere blank as it
regards my means of knowledge, and, when antiquaries have done
then- utmost, a blank to all who care only for the sensational, brings
to my mind a creation of which I now propose to speak, a creation
not natural, but social and political.
It is often said, "How much there is on board every ship not
noted in her bill of lading." In like manner the Rutland pioneers
brought with them not a little that no sharp eye could detect
in their scanty outfit Those of them who were most eager to
escape from the past, those who had deserted then- native lands
lacking both inheritance and occuf)ation there, as it were instinct
ively, established institutions analogous to those on which they had
tm-ned their backs.
In reference to law, theii- spifit was that of the forefathers oi
4

50 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

Connecticut, who voted to be bound by the laws of Moses till they
had time to make others better. As to the execution of law, they
appointed the needful officers and backed them up by the whole
force of the community. A convicted ciiminal could not get
reprieved for a second trial unless some reliable man would volun
teer to be hanged as his substitute if legal trickery should clear him,
as Ethan Allen once volunteered in Bennington. Some of them
were ignorant, but you have heard how early they established a
school and built a school-house. Too many of them were personally
irreligious, but they soon called a minister and reared a sanctuary,
though rather far off, — and out of the way. Moreover, the Rut
landers brought Avith them to their new abode the township system
in which they had been nurtured. That style of local government
for maintaining the neighborhood poor, as well as for providing roads,
bridges, police, schools and churches, in the way which seems best
to a majority of the citizens convened in a town or church meeting,
was long deemed an expedient too simple and natural to deserve
any fame, but since the eulogies of the philosophic De Tocqueville it
has become famous as the best illustration extant of pure democracy.
States made up of such elements are immortal, and
"Vital in every part,
Cannot but by annihilating die."
I need scarcely add that the Rutland community, like sister town
ships, by sending delegates to conventions and then to a Legislature,
gave a specimen of many slender democracies woven together in
one web of representative union, like Esop's feeble arrows gathered
together into a strong sheaf, or, better, like the soldiers in an army
co-ordinated, and subordinated, till each does what he can do best
and all are correspondent to the command of him who can guide to
the noblest achievement.
The word "Town," then, which Texans to this day define "a
place where whisky is sold," to a Rutlander meant protection, edu
cation, social ill y, religion, — mutual relations which
"Bide each on others for assistance call.
Till each one's weakness grew the strength of all."
In the next place, the event which we have gathered to hold in
remembrance has come to seem to me more memorable than I at
first thought it, as a representative specinaen of colonization.
Colonization has been one of the great means by which man has

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 51

improved his condition. Such his been its tendency among Jews
downward from -when Abraham he.ird the voice of God, saying,
"Get thee out of thy country, and I will make of thee a great
nation." See Carthage a colony of Tyre. See Grecian colonists
spreading from tha farthest shores of the Black Sea to the Sicilies,
where they developed great Greece. See Rome becoming a tree
like that in the visions of Daniel, the height thereof reaching to
heaven, and the sight tiiereof to -the end of all the earth, through
surrounding herself with a hundred annular rings of colonies, each
including the growth of all former time. See European barbarians
swarming from their northern hive, and thus civilized and christian
ized. Sow does colonizing cultivate? Through a change of base men
secure a vantage-ground for a new start after failure, they gain a
fair field for new experiments, they plunge into that necessity which
is mother of invention, — they cast off in their long march valueless
heirlooms, mental no less than material, — they are roused to the
utmost endeavors by new hopes, new havings, new potentialities of
progress. O, the blood more stirs to rouse a lion than to start a
hare. Looking forth on new heavens and a new earth, they become
new men themselves, rejuvenated where all is young, as if they had
discovered the fountain of youth for which the alchemists and Ponce
De Leon sought so long.
In the occupation of the new world by the old, so far as these
tendencies, of colonization have had free course, they have been
glorified. However inferior the Spanish colonies may be to old
Spain, the Creoles there seem neither inferior to their own ancestors
nor lower in culture than they would have been, had those ances
tors never crossed the sea. The Irish by emigration have inherited
what is often called " Kingdom come," as truly as the Israelites did
by their journey to Egypt before the King arose who knew not
Joseph. In only three Irish counties do the highest wages of farm
laborers amount, besides board, to twenty-five cents a day.
It is a puzzle to many that the bubble of Mormonism proves so
permanent a delusion. There would not be truth enough in it to
make a lasting lie, were it not that colonization is a physical bless
ing to almost all Mormons. They whom their overcloyed countiiss
vomit forth, come from the workhouses of England, from the mines

52 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

of Wales, from the marshes of Denmark, or from soils where they
must sow a bushel in order to reap a peck. Here they have bread
enough and to spare, they own houses and lands. — possessions at
home beyond their dreams. They have discovered America and
America has discovered them. Their hearts with glad surprise to
higher levels rise.
Thus removal to America has lifted Europeans to a higher level
than they could have attained on the continent of their nativity.
For the same reason, a similar advancement has been promoted by
subsequent colonizations Avhich I may call intra^continenta\, or
within the continent. Just one centm-y ago England essayed by
paper proclamations and surveyors' chains to dam up the migrational
wave which then first began to roll inland from the Atlantic States.
" She might as well go stand upon the beach.
And bid the main flood bate its usual height."
Now had she been able to keep all whites east of the Alleghanies,
then at this day how few our numbers, how small our territory, how
scanty our exports, how effete our elements of prosperity. But
what have our domestic wanderers sought? Mines as in California,
furs, lumber, -Water privileges, — ^but above all, land privileges, 
broad acres for grain or grazing. They were born too late to mas
ter land, — at least much of it, in the homes of their birth — but in new
States it was within their grasp. Becoming landlords, they became
lords of the land. They reached the standpoint which Archimedes
sighed for in order to move the world. No sooner are farmers
established in any region than all varieties of artisans, traders and
professional men flock thither — to build their houses, furnish them
clothing, furniture, l^oreign gewgaws, buy their produce, as well as
dose them with pills and preaching, pumps and politics, lectm-es
and liquors.
In this rise and progress of society every member comes to face
that experience which, according to the proverb, teaches even fools.
The fleas which vex a dog as he lies in his kennel he does not notice
when he is chasing game. No man long mistakes his calling, but
the chances multiply that he will be placed in the niche he was
ordained to fill.
In new communities wages, measured by the price of wheat, are
enormous. They are also high in money. With a view to keep

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 53

them down, one of the earliest laws in Massachusetts forbade any
one to give or take more than two shillings for a day's work.
Mauger all this, prices went up. When the carpenter had finished
the town stocks, his charge seemed so exorbitant that the indignant
magistrates forced him to sit as the first culprit, with his own feet
fast in his own handiwork.
In States new born no tall trees keep down the underbrush, —
every man's energies find ample room, an exciting object, and often
an ideal elenient in whose ennobling stk he feels himself self-
exalted. Hence an idler is there a monster, and pauperism is well-
nigh unknown. A boy who had grown up in Ticonderoga as a
pauper migrated to St. Louis and there became worth more than all
the inhabitants of his native town. Like Saul, he went out seeking
asses, but he found a kingdom. Crimes, also, in new States, —
except those springing from sudden passion,- — are few.
" So the pure limpid stream when foul with stains
Of rushing torrents and descending rains,
Works itself clear, and as it runs refines,
And a new heaven in its fair bosom shines."
The first steps of the movement, intra-continental and trans-con
tinental, I date just one century ago, and simultaneous with the
planting of Rutland.
Two years before, in 1768, Carver returned to New England
from exploring the upper Mississippi, and first proposed opening a
passage across the continent, as the best route for communication
with China and the East Indies. In 1769, Pontiac, the evil genius
so long repressive of western adventurers, perished. In the same
year, Daniel Boone first saw the Kentucky. In 1770, forty Virginians
reached the Cumberland, Carolinians penetrated to Natchez, Con
necticut men were at Wyoming, — were seeking land grants on the
lower Mississippi, — ^were claiming eight hundi-ed miles west of the
Alleghanies. Hear the prophecy of these last knights errant, — one
that we see more than fulfilled:
"In fifty years," said they, " our people will be more than half
over this tract, extensive as it is ; in less than one century the whole
may become even well cultivated. If the coming period bears due
proportion to that from the landing of poor distressed fugitives at
Plymouth, nothing that we can fancy of the state of this country
at a period equally future, can exceed what it will then be."

54 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

Besides all this, I have chanced to discover an event that took
place on the self-same year and month and day which we now com-
memorate,^ — one hundred years ago this day, — and which emphatic
ally marks that era as the day-spring of colonization breaking over
the hmits of the Atlantic colonies. In the very hours when the
first comers to Rutland were here arriving, George Washington on
horseback was making his first day's march in a nine weeks' expedi
tion beyond the Vii-ginia mountains in search of western lands, —
farms which had been gi-anted his soldiers by the Legislature. His
journal thus opens:
"October 5th, 1770. — Began a journey to the Ohio in company
with Dr. Craik, his servant and two of mine. Dined at Towlston
and lodged at Leesburg, distant from Mount Vernon about forty-
five miles."
This coincidence in the movements of Washington and of the
Rutlanders should seem to us as remarkable as a cat's eyes coming
just where there are holes in her skin, then seemed to the liege lord
of both of them, George III. Neither Rutlanuer nor Washington
was content to vegetate like the rhubarb pie-plant under a barrel
and see the world only through its bung-hole.
The hamlet here a hundi-ed years ago was Lilliputian, almost con-
temjotible in itself. Yet it was the baby figure of a giant mass,
henceforth to come at large. It was among the first outbreaks, or
rather inbreaks, of the irrepressible Yankee. That Yankee spirit, —
colonizing in order to cultivation and culture, — my eyes have seen
its miracles beyond the Missouri, beyond the Sierra Nevada, in
Hawaiian Honolulu, in Egyptian Thebes, in Syrian Beyroot.
Thus the spring which here gushed forth, a century ago, was one
head of a river that was to flow on and on making glad the cities
of the world. To what shall I compare this fountain? It seems
to me like a picture of the signing of the Declaration of our Inde
pendence,— small to the eye, great to the mind. To the eye it is
fifty men in plain clothes, in a room plainly furnished, writing tleir
names. To the mind it is nothing less than the laying of the cor
ner-stone of the empire of hope.
She that lifts up the manhood of the poor,
She of the open heart, and open hand.
With room enough about her hearth lor all m-ankind.
Mr. Hall's pictures of Rutland in its swaddling-clothes seem to

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 55

me the best that can be painted by one shut up to his sources of
knowledge. But he was not an eye-witness how Rutland began to
be, and I doubt if he ever had an historical talk with no more than
one ante-revolutionary seitler, or if he ever entered a town not yet
five years old.
Nevertheless, the truth is that history repeats itself What Ver
mont was in 1770 Nebraska is in 1870, or rather all social eras are
co-existent and contemporaneous. Accordingly whatever Mr. Hall
has described from tradition my eyes have seen beyond the Mis
souri. Voyaging up that river I have sailed up the stream of time.
Let Mr. Hall go out West, and there, names and dates being
changed, he shall behold as waking realities what, after all antiqua
rian researches here, must remain the baseless fabric of a vision.
The Rutland " of the dark backward " he shall there survey cut out
of the distant past and brought safe into the present. How shall I
pardon him that he has not long ago pilgrimed where such ravish
ing views of settlements in babyhood are as familiar as babies them
selves? Why seeks he the living among the dead?
Many years ago, happening by lucky chance to procure a license
for myself and friends to inspect the iron crown of Lombardy, on
arriving at the cathedral where it is enshrined I discovered a score
of people in the treasury admiring a fac simile of that hoop of gold
lined with the iron which is reputed to have formed one of the nails
by which Christ was crucified, a crown which Lombard kings and
German emperors for twelve centuries have worn at their corona
tions. Astonished at the interest these devotees manifested in the
mock diadem, 1 invited them one and all to enter the sanctuary with
me and delight themselves with its time-honored original. That
vision was 'to them beatific.
Mr. Hall's mosaic has shown you a fac simile of an incipient
commonwealth. In the great valley of the West such beau ideals
are daily realized, so that your bodily eyes may gaze in broad day
ujoon whatever he has contemplated only through the moonlight
of memory, and has shown only to your mind's eye.
It were, perhaps, natural to expect that a speaker in the position
now assigned me, would contrast Rutland to-day with its aspect in
1770. But the Rutland of to-day is known to you and unknown
to- ma. If, therefore, 1 should expatiate on that theme, I must fai-e

56 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
as I did two years ago in the University of Athens, when showing
the students how to pronounce their vernacular Greek. Again,
how shall one contrast something with nothing? and in 1770 Rut
land was still nothing in respect to the works of man, while, as to
the works of God, — aside from the destruction of forests, — all things
remain as at the first. The mountain forms and their sky lines,
here as round about Jerusalem,^ — thank Heaven, — can never be much
changed. I see them to-day just as I saw them when my eyes first
learned to delight in them as the heaven-kissing wall of a valley
embosoming all the sweets of nature, while excluding the cares and
sorrows of the world. I see them as my father saw them in 1786,
and as the first comers saw them sixteen years before. Well has
some one asserted that no man is ever homesick for his natal soil,
unless its scenery is such that he can find his way home without a
guide-board. The reason is that only in such places are the features
of Mother Nature unmistakable. When a man born on a prairie,
or in Chicago, returns to it after long absence, the places that had
known him know him no more. Nor yet does he know the places.
He cannot recognize the face of his own mother.
It is on this account that the highlanders have a contempt for
lowland regions. Accordingly, when a Dutchman was quoting the
grandiloquent hexameter of a patriotic Holland poet, Tellurem
fecere Dii, sua litora Relgae, the English of which is that, " while
the Gods made all the rest of the world, the Dutch created Hol
land," he provoked my Green Mountain pride so that I could not
help retorting, "The Dutch made Holland, did they? I should really
think they did ; it looks as if a Dutchman had made it."
"Holland that scarce deserves the name of land,
As but the offseouring of British sand,
This undige-sted vomit of the sea,
Fell to the Dutch by just propriety."
But the characteristic features of Rutland, even to the utmost
bounds of its everlasting hills, the trinity of goodly mountains,
Killington, Pico and Shrewsbury, were not made by hands, or only
by Sis hands "which by His strength setteth fast the mountains
being girded -with power."
But while the earth abideth forever, one generation passeth away
and another generation cometh. Our fathers, where are they?
" Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 57

Meeting lately in Iowa a Rutlander who forty years ago was living
here with me, we sat down and talked over the occupants of every
house at that time in this village. Only two or three could we remem
ber as dwelling where they then dwelt, — "a gleaning of gi-apes when
the vintage is done.'' The pioneer Madame Williams, mother -of
the Governor, the lady ancient and honorable, of whom my earliest
feeling was, — "Ndr spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as
I have seen in her autumnal face," had already passed away. We
recalled Temple, the excellency of dignity; Williams, the genial
judge, whom I have seen weep as he sentenced a culprit; Walker,
the minister, who was to me more awe-inspiring than the whole
papal conclave in after years ; Hodges, our merchant prince ; Strong,
rightly named, for he was strong indeed; Royce, the most popular
of men, and Ormsbee, the most acute ; Alvord, from whose cabinet
shop Congressman Meacham had just gone to college, and who was
just about to send General Benjamin Alvord to West Point.
Senator Foot we first saw when, the Castleton Seminary proving
Tbankrupt, he was admitted to the Rutland bar. Who then could
prophesy that he would live to preside over the national Senate?
As little did Page, in the bank, foresee that he was training up a
Governor. Green, Porter, Fay, Lord, Burt, Gove, Hall, with more
others than I can mention, crowded upon our memories and tongues,
"And every lovely feature of their life
Did come appareled in more precious habit,
Thau when they lived indeed."
I see here a centenarian city, but my eyes seek in vain a cente
narian citizen. I saw one ten years ago in the capital of Wisconsin.
I was there making a Fourth of July oration, and there sat before
me the only revolutionary pensioner surviving in the State, — a hun
dred years old, — his youth passed in New England, his middle life
in New York, his age on the Mississippi. I called him a three-fold
man, — who had fought his country's foes on the land and on the
sea, and, if his Maker had given him wings, he would have fought
them in the air. "Look," I cried, "with all your eyes on what you
never saw before, and never will see hereafter !"
The people took the horses out of the old man's can'iage, and
drew him themselves in triumph round the park.
Thus would we delight to honor a Rutland centenarian, did
Heaven vouchsafe us one at this centenary.

58 RUTLAND CENTENNIjVL.

On this day of commemorating our ancestors who stood here a
century ago, it is impossible not to contrast the loorlfl as they saw
it with what our eyes to-day behold.
1770! In that year George the Third, who, according to English
wits, reigned as long as he could, and then mizzled and misted, and
who, even when crazy and clapped into a strait jacket, refused to
believe himself a limited monarch, chose Lord North for his prime
minister, who for a three penny tax on tea bartered away the bright
est jewel of the crown, and, on the next morning after the time we
are hallowing as the birthday of Rutland, the British monarch, see
ing a cannon fired twenty times in a minute, pronounced it an argu
ment no Bostonian could resist. Yes, a hundred years ago all
England hugged the delusion that five thousand of her soldiers
could subjugate America. She had just bullied Spain into evacuat
ing the Falkland Islands, but was not without fears of France. In
Paris the Abbe Raynal was just propounding his theory that
Americans had " degenerated through transplanting, as if nature had
punished men for crossing the ocean." He fortified his philosophy
by the facts that Indians have no beards, and so passed for men
half finished, as well as that "of those Americans educated in
Europe not one had risen to any great perfection in the slightest
pursuit; and of those who had staid in their own country not one
had distinguished himself by superiority in those talents which lead
to fame." Austria, loving darkness rather than light, rebuffed the
emperor who strove to deliver her, till he wrote as his own epitaph,
"Hie jacet one who failed in all that he ever undertook.'' Prussia,
which up to the Seven Years war had been asking- pardon of her
neighbors for being born, had already aggrandized herself by shar
ing in the first partition of Poland. Russia had just banished the
Jews, and for the first time gained decided advantages over Turkey,
and was sending a fleet into the Mediterranean. Denmark bom
barded Algiers, but so feebly as to embolden the pirates there.
Capt. Cook was circumnavigating the globe, though as yet only a
lieutenant. The first Napoleon and Wellington, — both children of
the same year, — were still unweaned in their cradles. The two first
settlers in one Vermont township had been in it almost a year before
either knew that the othei- was there. Their non intercourse was
of a piece with that in the great world. Countries separated by a

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 59

hundred miles of geographical distance were put asunder a thousand
miles by mutual contempt, and then touched one another at only a
few points, while now no king can turn over in his bed without dis
turbing the slumbers of a dozen neighboring potentates.
1770! Then the natural sciences were still in embryo. It was
«leven years afterward when Cavendish, by decomposing water, laid
the corner-stone of chemistry. It was sixteen years afterward
before the twitching of a frog's leg led Galvani to originate the
science which embalms his name, and which now, like Puck, puts
a girdle round the earth in forty minutes. It was seventeen years
afterward when Werner published those ideas on stratification which
gave birth to geology.
1770! One year before, Arkwright had invented the spinning
jenny, — a contrivance surpassing the hand wheel as much as the
sewing machine surpasses the hand needle, but which has itself
been improved every year since. It was twenty-three years after
ward when Whitney devised the cotton gin, without which the
jenny would have been idle half the time for lack of cotton to spin.
1770! One year before, and when Fulton was four years old,.
Watt had obtained his first patent for the steam engine, which has
done more for England than all the treaties she ever made and all
the battles she ever fought. It was eighteen years afterward when
Darwin uttered the poetical prophecy, —
"Soon shall thine arm, unconquered Steam ! afar,
Drag the slow barge or drive the rapid car " —
a prediction not fulfilled till the first passenger railway was com
pleted -fifty-five years after. Two years after 1770, Bridgewater,
the originator of the canal system, died in full faith that the chief
end for which rivers were created was to feed canals, and that canals
could never be superseded.
1770 ! Forty-four years were to roll on before the first issue by
steam of the London I'imes, a thunderer whose peals the news
paper press the world over has always been proud either to echo or
to counterblast.
1770 ! The death of Whitefield befell on the fifth day before that
which we keep as the birthday of Rutland, and the death of Benning
Wentworth, the New Hampshire Governor who chartered it, was
on the sixteenth day after. Up to this time no Bible had ever been

60 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

printed in America. That very year the first missionary was sent
to Labrador by Moravians, but none went abroad from non-Mora
vian England till 1793, nor from the United States till nineteen
years later, 1812.
1770! Though Berkeley had four and forty years before sung
in poetic rapture, "Westward the course of empire takes its way,"
the thirteen colonies had then no more than nine institutions which
had even the name of colleges, — and New England only four, — one
of those, Dartmouth, born that same year, and still an Indian school.
1770 was a dark year for America. Then martial law was
declared in Massachusetts. Then its royal governor offered £l0O
for the name of the author of a pasquinade on the royal judges,
posted on Boston town house. Then, on the 5th of March,
was the Boston massacre, described in all sermons as the blood of
innocence crying from the ground. Then the liberty pole in New
York was cut down by red-coats. Then tyrannical taxation di-ove
to non-importation, iea-totallers gave up tea, as sea-tottlers give up
every thing in heave-offerings, and all the Harvard and Princeton
graduates were dressed in homespun. The commencement themes
at Princeton were, "Non-importation the glory of America." "The
right to resist a bad King." "All men by nature free." The ah"
was full of rumors about France and Spain combining against Eng
land, and myiiads were longing to see their stepmother fall into
such a necessity as would prove their opportunity. Such was 1770 1
What is 1870? That truly is a blind man's question, like asking,
"Why does beauty please us?" The answer ought to be that epi
taph of Sir Christopher Wren which we read beneath the dome,
radiating toward every quarter of the earth and directing its con
vergent curves to Heaven, which he had reared so broad and high
as to transcend all others save the mu-acle of Michael Ano-elo. The
felicity of its position gives sublimity to Wren's epitaph, namely :
Si monumentum requiris, circumspice ! — If you seek his monu
ment, look around you ! When we look around us here, where can
we turn that our eyes do not rest on monuments of the last century?
In Rutland we see such monuments not only in every human work,
everything whatever graven by art and man's device, but in most
of the inventions of which these works are specimens. I mean

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 61

agricultural machinery, which has made farming a sedentary pur
suit ; postal facilities " which waft a sigh from Indus to the pole ;"
drawing-room cars like the Queen City, combining in one the bed
of Morpheus, the boudoir of Venus and Apollo's chariot of fire ;
photography, which makes the sun stand still and paint our jjor-
traits ; locomotives, megatheria mightier by far than all the mam
moths of Siberia ; and the telegraph, which, though it hath no
tongue, doth speak with most miraculous organ.
It is no more than sixty-five years since the first whittes crossed
the continent in our latitude. Last '^eax an iron river had flowed
across it from ocean to ocean. Already its banks swarm with set
tlers, even as an unbroken oasis skirts the Suez canal all through
the desert. Rutland had seen twenty one years when the first new
State was added to the original thirteen. Twenty-four have now
been added. Vermonters are in them all, and everywhere at home.
Long after Rutland began to be, a Vermont judge was in a minority
of one when he refused to recognize any title to a slave except a
bill of sale in the handwTiting of the Lord Almighty, but we behold
all Americans concurring in his opinion, and by the Fifteenth
Amendment filling up the "great gulf fixed" which so long severed
the North and the South. African enfranchisement was as though
the Vatican Laocoon should be released from the serpent who has
so long held him in stony coils,
" As if he whom the asp, in its marble grasp, «
Kept close and for ages strangled.
Got loose from the hold of cacli serpent fold,
Aud exulted, disentangled."
Time fails me to descant on the increase within a hundred years
of churches at home and of missions abroad, like the spring-time,
leaving no corner of the world untouched ; on common schools,
good enough for the best, while cheap enough for the poorest ; and
of travel, long the luxury of the few, now the necessity of the mil
lions, and confessed to be, next to falling in love, the best means of
making up for the lack of a liberal education.
"The eye affecteth the heart." No man who saw 1770 also sees
1870. It has, however, been my lot to survey Europie twice, with
an interval of a quarter of a century between my visits. My sec
ond journey, in 1867, was gladdened from first to last by the
advancement I everywhere beheld from the status of 1842. Having

62 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.,

been drawn by horses from Glasgow to Naples, as well as through
out Germany, I was the more exhilarated, while careeiing over
those routes and five times as far, with locomoti\-es. My first jour
ney was as "through a hedge of thorns," owing to passport vexa
tions ; on my second no passports were needed, save in Russia and
Rome. Having of old been in suspense for a month without Ameri
can tidings, I felt a double zest in daily telegrams by the trans-
Atlantic cable.
Revisiting France, I was astonished at the inci-ement of her com
mercial marine in Bordeaux ^nd Marsailles, at her steam lines across
our ocean and to every Mediterranean port,, at the peerless archi
tectural improvements along Parisian streets, and at the World's
Fair, uniting mankind as Babel had dispersed them, — the blight,
consummate flower of all civilizations, — a concentration of curiosities
such as no man had seen before, and such as I fear none of us will
. live long enough to see again.
As a youthful student, I had rambled through Germanj^ when its
governments were forty save two, so small that I had ridden by
diligence through seven of them in one day, and those " dissevered,
discordant, belligerent." In middle life, I gazed on Germany con
solidated in a Union worth as much to its citizens as ours is to us,
united as one individual soul, and therefore confident against a
world in arms. The statue of Luther, which I had seen excluded
, from the Walhalla, I lived to admire enshrined in that temple of
glory, while Catholics, vying 'with Protestants, delighted to honor
the dedication of his monument in Worms.
On my early pilgrimage I had been a looker-on in Vienna, and
judged it a Gibraltar impregnable to refoi-m, and all Austrif^ incura
bly conservative of medieval follies. But the summer before my
later tour, the needle guns at Sadowa pierced the cancer of Haps-
burg conceit, not hurtfully but healingly.
"As ho who struck at Jason's life.
Aiming to make his purpose sure.
With a malicious, vengeful knife,
Did wound him but to cure."
But no part of my second journey was more jutilant than my
Italian tour. I had left in Italy eight principalilies ; when I returned
all had become one kingdom, — all but one half of the old pope
dom, — a kingdom with monasteries abolished and primary schools

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 63

established, and those on Vermont models, thanks to the Vermonter
who represents us in Florence. In Milan I addressed a band of
seventeen theological students, who had been .collected by another
Vermonter, our consul there. Venice, so long drugged as with
burglar's chloroform by Austria, I rejoiced with as she clapped her
hands in new-born transports. The lion of St. Mark, so glorified
by her artists, there half appeared pawing to get free, then sprang
as broke from bonds, and rampant shook his braided mane. But for
Napoleonic intervention, I should have hailed Rome as the Queen
of all Italy. In fact, I came to the Pope while his temporal power
hung in doubt before him, the gates of Rome walled up or with
earthworks before them, sand-bags on the ramparts, loopholes for
riflemen knocked through the ancient walls. The speech of the
people, no less than the aspect of the place, betokened that Italy
bides its time to perfect its union and regain its time-honored head.
In England, between my two visits there had been progress upon
progi-ess : extensions of the ballot, anti-corn laws, disestablishment
of the Irish church, insuring a similar reform of the English, — boons
I had not at my first coming dared to hope for, — my eyes at length
beheld. In 1842, trial by jury and open courts were scarcely known out
side of England and France. They were distrusted by Germ.^n
judges ; but a quarter of a century later I observed that they had
crossed the continent to Moscow. When I said to a provincial
Russian, in my hotel there : " Let us walk to the jialace where the
crowns, sceptres, jewels and thrones of the ten kingdoms, which
Russia has successively absorbed, are reposited." " Nay," said he ;
"let us rather visit first the Hall of Justice, whei-e jury trials were
first witnessed, last November."
During my first sojourn in Naples, I counted the heads of sixteen
malefactors, hanging high on the outer wall of the jorison. When
I was last abroad, no such sight shocked me, even in Grand Cairo.
In '42 I had seen many women harnessed, and drawing coal
carts — in '67 I saw none. At the former date, beggars were every
where as numerous as at the latter, only in Spain and Egypt. Hav
ing on one journey heard our country commiserated as lacking
union between the Church and the State, on another journey I heard
it, in the self-same countries, admired and envied, owing to the

64 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

self-same lack. When I was first abroad, and news came of that
tempest in a teapot. Dorr's Rhode Island rebellion, "Alas for you ! "
cried German friends, "you have no standing army ! and so you
are alike defenseless against foes without and foes within." Every
where was our Union compared to a meal bag open at both ends.
My second travels were just after that meal-bag had been tied up,
and pinned with a million bayonets, and I spoke with few Euro
peans who did not confess exemption from a standing army to be
the climax of our blessings, and the climax of their own curses to
be the military incubus.
But for standing armies, who believes that France and Prussia
would be at war to-day? The sight of means to do ill deeds makes
ill deeds done. But for warriors ready at hand, those nations would
have been reconciled before they could get ready to fight, just as in
the quarrels of lovers it is jDroverbial that they make friends before
they get through returning their kisses and other love tokens.
My later travels also carried me into regions before unvisited, —
into Spain, in the lull before the revolutionary earthquake, and there
I was promised, the religious equality now enjoyed where, eleven
years after the founding of Rutland, a heretic had been burnt alive.
My travels carried me among Russian serfs just emancipated, but
each on his own patch of land, and, like those used to the dark,
seeing much by little light. They carried me into Egypt, where I
voyaged on the man-made river which, navigable for all craft that
can sail out of London, cutting asunder two continents and halving
the distance between all commercial emporiums, will transport
Christendom throughout the Orient. They carried me into Turkey,
where I saw the Sultan on the very day when, a newspaper full of
satire on his administration falling into his hands, he demanded all
the past and all the future numbers of that print. They carried me
among the Sandwich Islanders, who ate up Capt. 'Cook long after
the era we now call to mind, but whom I saw doing more, in pro
portion to their ability, to maintain Christian institutions than we do.
On the whole, I stand before you as an eye witness of such pro
gress, during one-quarter of the last century, as you know well
from other sources to have been sweeping on throughout that entire
cycle. History has been called "the stern-lights of a ship, which illu-

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. ,

minate only the wake it leaves behind." Let me rather liken it to
the head-light of a locomotive, which throws its splendors forward
along the track it is about to traverse. Whether we look at Rut
land, or our country, or the world, the century now closing- abounds
in auspicious omens for the period until the Rutlanders of 1970 shall
here meet, as we are met to-day. What has been will be, as surely
as the Missouri, which has flowed two thousand miles to Nebraska,
has thus gained more strength to flow further, sjoreading broad and
more broad till it reaches the sea.
It can hardly escape our notice that advancement in the world at
large, and pre-eminently in Rutland, has been accelerating as the
century has rolled on. During the last third of it there has been
as much progress as during the two previous thu-ds. I might use
stronger language. Improvement, which entered Rutland on an
ox cart, long ago mounted the steam engine. Tramp, tramp, along
the land she rides. Splash, splash, across the sea. In 1842 I was
at a dinner in Rome on Washington's birthday, and one toast was,
"The Yankees! in 1676 they beat King Philip, in 1776 they beat
King George, and in 1876 they will beat all the kings of the earth!"
A republican Napoleon, the Prince of Canino, was called up to
respond, and asked to have the last date read again, as he did not
hear it, and then said he feared that in 1876 there would be no
kings left to beat. Since that dinner, how many a potentate has
been discrowned ! While we have been preparing for this festival,
the Napoleonic balloon, that had soared so high, has collapsed, —
Just like bubbles when they burst.
All at once and nothing first.
In view of improvements marching on with an ever quickening pace,
I feel that the organizations of the twentieth century for enlarging
the domains of knowledge, as well as for diffusing among men
principles which will promote the gi-eatest good of the greatest
number, must be such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered the heart of man. Let us trust that one of these
ameliorating elements in the coming age will be Peace — till the
weapons of Mars, as in a Pompeian painting, shall all become the
playthings of Cupid, "Let us have peace!"
Fellow Townsmen : Though my remarks have run through a
wide range, I hope they have not outrun the boundaries of the time.
5

66 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

All are but parts of one stupendous whole. There is a greater as
well as a lesser Rutland. Its men have gone further than its mar
ble. New wine will burst old bottles. As the Athenians bounded
theu- valley, — one not unlike this, — north by rye, south by vines,
east by wheat and west by olives, so the Green Mountain Boy, who
has his birth here, will have his being wherever he can best make
his own the boons best worth having. In 1860, three-fourths as
many Vermonters were residing elsewhere as within their own
State. One year ago last September, on the cone of a Hawaiian
volcano, I encountered one long resident there, a nephew of Luther
Daniels, and whose sister had been among my earliest sweet
hearts. One among our early members of Congress used to say that the
yellow butter and white girls of Vermont were better than the yel
low gu-ls and white butter at Washington. No doubt they always
will be ; and yet Green Mountain Boys will wander to Washington, —
yes, to all golden gates. Nevertheless, they will hold fast their
individuality, as tenaciously as that Englishman did who, when
afraid of chills in Indiana, was assured by his landlady that he
was out of danger, because he canied with him so many British
au-s, such a John Bull atmosphere, that he would be safe while all
Hoosiers were shaking.
Rutland will grow beyond the dreams of its founders.
Its honors with increase of ages grow.
As streams roll down, enlarging while they flow.
But those born here, becoming continentals, will build up other
Rutlands in Nebraska. New wine will burst the old bottles. A
Rutlander, once a schoolboy here with me, Moses M. Strong, thirty-
three years ago staked out a town twelve days' journey west of
Lake Michigan, now my home and the capital of Wisconsin,
which has three times the population of Vermont.
Farmers in this half bushel have hoed among rough stones till
they have beaten them all smooth ; they will be off for prairies
where there are not stones enough to give stone bruises to their
barefooted boys, or to free homesteads (which yield even the slovenly
farmer from each acre thirty bushels of wheat, forty of barley, fifty
of oats or seventy-five of corn, and where at harvest time the farm-
ei-s first fiU up all out doors with their crops, and then gather the

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 67

remnant into barns), or to grazing grounds where steers gain three
pounds a day. Thus their plows, as was well remarked by the ear
liest and best historian of Vermont, " will enlarge the boundaries
of the habitable creation."
Some outside pressure is indeed needful to push one nurtured
here out of this amphitheatre into that Mediterranean valley where
he will never see a mountain until he gets faith enough to move one,
but when he has once possessed a prairie it is harder to draw him
east again than to move a mountain, or even a meeting-house.
Hence, he is like one of his own contrary calves. You must pull
his ears off before he will begin sucking, — and then you must pull
his tail off before he will stop.
Again, according to the census of 1860, the males in Iowa out
numbered the females by more than thu-ty-nine thousand. No
wonder when you tell an lowan he ought to take a wife, he answers :
"Whose -wife shall I take?" and that railroad conductors, at refresh
ment stations, cry out: " Twenty minutes for dinner and Chicago
divorces." On: the other hand. New England had nearly thu-ty-
seven thousand more females than males. In this heyday of
woman's rights will the fair, like Jepthah's daughter going up and
down the mountains, bewail theu virginity in Vermont, where they
can no more find husbands than hair on a bald head,, or than Spain
can find a king? — or will they hunt husbands in the West?
Neither. Nevertheless, where the carcass is the eagles will be
gathered. Green Mountain girls will cross the Missouri in order to
visit some cousin, or to teach, or even to do plain sewing. But school
houses are Cupid's mouse-traps. Theu needles may be warranted
not to cut in the eye, but it will turn out that that is more than can
be said concerning the users of them.
Where angel visits are few and far between, men cannot pass by
ano-el's unawares. A Vermont girl must be greener than her native
hills, or the Iowa lady she goes to see will be soon writing back to
her mother in this style : "My son Boaz and your daughter Ruth
no sooner met but they looked, no sooner looked but they loved, no
sooner loved but they sighed, no sooner sighed but they asked one
another the reason, no sooner found the reason but they sought the
remedy and so they have made a pair of stairs to man-iage, which
they will incontinently climb."

68 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

In the future, more and more Rutlanders becoming not only
continentals but cosmopolitans, leaving those who will, to sluggar-
dize at home, will see abroad the wonders of the world, — earth's
kingdoms and theu glory. Notwithstanding they will return, as I
did, from all continents of memory to our own, as the continent of
hope. Standing in Karnac, Jerusalem, Thebes, Rome, where stones
themselves to ruin gi-own, are gray and death-like old, I have been
haunted by thick-coming forebodings, but after all my hopes pre
dominate. By our government uncursed with standing army, aristocracy, or
hierarchy, by the peaceful crusaders who pilgrim hither in ever
gi-owing hosts, by the legacies we inherit from all civilizations, by
enlightenment through the school and press, and religion through
the pulpit, here pre-eminently pervasive, by our Union consecrated
by myriads of good men who died that it might not die, and have
passed on From glory here to glory where,
The banner blue in field of air
Is bright with stars forever there
Without the stripes of red.
By aU these tokens is ours sealed as the continent of Hope.
Its honors with increase of ages grow
As streams roll down enlarging while they flow.
Through broader climes than Roman eagles saw
Why boast we liberty restrained by law ?
Why call we classic spoils from foreign loi-e ?
Why people sons of evei-y race our shore ?
No sword unsheathed, no hiss of murderous ball
The book of knowledge legible by all ?
Hunger unfelt, commerce a silver cord,
Why false philosophy at length abhorred,
The tongue, the pgn, the pencil's mysteries,
The press, an earthquake impulse, wherefore these ?
Must these all plunge as down a cataract
And tragic scenes of anarchy enact ?
Nay, God ordained these marvels to emerge
Where all the ends of earth and time converge.
God, who an end secures by tiniest mote
01 myriads that in boundless ether float,
And choicest wheat from mildewed harvest gleans,
Much more shall wonders work by wondrous means,
Wheretore has he throughout our borders wrought.
By enginery transcending human thought ?
Sure the day dawns when all shall hail as queen
The Bride of God, arrayed in heavenly sheen.
Townsmen! sweet is this reunion, like the evening gathering
together those whom morning had scattered. Worthy is it to be
called a jubilee and proclaimed in the old Hebrew fashion with
silver trumpets. It is a scene, take it for all in all, we ne'er shall

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 69

look upon its like again, — the hospitable home-keepers bidding us,
outsiders, come and see them every week and stay a fortnight
everytime. It reminds me of a way-side settee along the highways
in Germany, beneath shade or fruit-trees, — a shelf behind its back
on which way-farers may rest theu burdens, a fountain and flowers
before it, the road trodden and to be trod in full view, castle,
cathedral, city, in the distance.
Coming up to this convocation of old fiiends who make the world
warmer and of new friends who make it wider, we seem like those
climbing different sides of the same mountain, rising to broader
views, and drawing nearer at once to each other and to heaven. It
is next to the recognition of friends in the skies. Speaking in a
lighter vein, — no ingredient is wanting for concocting a bowl of
soul-full punch — Where strong, insipid, sharp, and sweet,
Each other duly tempering, meet.
Of com-se I mean teetotaler's punch, — ^the bright, champaigny
" old particular" brandy punch of genial and congenial feeling.
It is good to be here, and we would fain clip the wings of so good
a time, — or like Joshua bid the sun stand still. Should we be
taking leave as long a term as we have yet to live, the lothness to
depart would grow.
But it is not permitted us to tabernacle on the Mount of Trans
figuration. Yet this crisis soon past in time will always be present
in its influence as the ter-centennial commemoration of the Reforma
tion by Germans in 1817, is said to have reformed Germany.
Two soldiers who had served under the bravest of brave officers,
-visiting his gi-ave whetted their swords on his tombstone. At the
sepulchres of our fathers may we gain double strength to dare, do,
and endm-e. And as we go down from this mount of beatitude
om- mutual -valedictories may well be these memorable words —
"Forever, and forever farewell ! Townsmen !
If we shall meet again we do not know.
Therefore our everlasting farewell take.
If we do meet again, then we shall smile.
If not, why then this parting was well made."

70 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

After the address of the Rev. Dr. Butler, the following Poem,
written for the occasion by Mrs. Julia C. (Ripley) Dorr, was read
by her son, Russell R Dorr :
THE DEAD CENTURY.

1770—1870.

I.
Lo ! we come
Bearing the Century cold and dumb!j
Folded above the mighty breast
Lie the hands that have earned their rest ;
Hushed are the grandly speaking lips ;
Closed are the eyes in drear eclipse ;
And the seulptered limbs are deathly still.
Responding not to the eager will,
As we come,
Bearing the century, cold and dumb I
II.
Lo ! we wait
Knocking here at the sepulchre's gate !
Souls of the Ages passed away,
A mightier joins your ranks to-day;
Open your doors and give him room
Buried Centuries, in your tomb !
For calmly under this heavy pall
Sleepeth the kingliest of them all,
While we wait
At the sepulchre's awful gate!
III.
Tet — pause here
Bending low o'er the narrow bier!
Pause ye awhile and let yonr thought
Compass the work that he hath wrought-
Loolc on his brow so scarred and worn •
Think of the weight his hands have borne;
Think of the fetters he hath broken,
Of the mighty words his lips have spoken
Who lies here
Dead and cold on a narrow bier!

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

71

IV. ,
Ere he goes
Silent and calm to his grand repose, —
While the Centuries in their tomb
Crowd together to give him room,
Let us think of the wondrous deeds
Answering still to the world's great needs,
Answering still to the world's wild prayer.
He hath been first to do and dai-e!
Ah ! he goes
Crowned with bays to his last repose.
V.
When the earth
Sang for joy to hail his birth,
Over the hilltops, faint and far.
Glimmered the light of Freedom's star. ^
Only a poor, pale torch it seemed —
Dimly from out the clouds it gleamed—
Oft to the watcher's eye 't was lost
Like a flame by fierce winds rudely tossed.
Scarce could earth
Catch one ray when she hailed his birth!
-VI.
But ere long
His young voice, like a clarion strong,
Rang through the wilderness far and free,
Prophet and herald of Good to be !
Then with a shout the stalwart men
Answered proudly from mount and glen.
Till in the brave, new, western world
Freedom's banners were wide unfurled!
And ere long
The Century's voice, like a clarion strong,
vn.
Cried, "0 Earth,
Pseans sing for a Nation's birth!
Shout hosannas, ye golden stars,
Peering through yonder cloudy bars !
Bum, 0 Sun, with a clearer beam !
Shine, O Moon, with a softer gleam!
Join, ye winds, in the choral strain!
SweU, rolling seas, the glad refram!
While the Earth
Pseans sing for a Nation's birth!"

72 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

VIII.
Ah ! he saw —
This young prophet with solemn awe —
How after weary pain and sin.
Strivings without and foes within.
Fruitless prayings and long suspense.
And toil that bore no recompense —
After peril and blood and tears.
Honor and Peace should crown the years !
This he saw
While his heart thrilled with solemn awe.
IX.
His clear eyes
Gazing forward in glad surprise.
Saw how our land at last should be
Truly the home of the brave and free ! —
Saw from the old world's crowded streets,
Pestilent cities and close retreats,
Forms gaunt and pallid with famine sore
Flee in hot haste to our happy shore,
Their sad eyes
Widening ever in new surprise.
X. ^
From all lands
Thronging they come in eager bands ;
Each with the tongue his mother spoke ;
Each with the songs her voice awoke ;
Each with his dominant hopes and needs,
Alien habits and varying creeds, —
Bringing strange fictions and fancies they came,
Calling old truths by a different name,
When the lands
Sent their sons thither in thronging bauds.
XI.
But the Seer —
This dead Century lying here —
Rising out of this chaos, saw
Peace and Order and Love aud Law!
Saw by what subtle alchemy
Basest of metals at length should be
Transmuted into the shining gold.
Meet for a king to have and hold.
Ah, great Seer!
This pale Century lyihg here !

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 73

ZII.
So he taught
Honest freedom of speech and thought ;
Taught that Truth is the grandest thing
Painter can paint or poet sing ;
Taught that under the meanest guise
It marches to deeds of high emprise ;
Treading the paths the prophets trod
Up to the very mount of God!
Truth, he taught.
Claims full freedom of speech and thought.
XIII.
Bearing long
Heavy burdens of hate and wrong.
Still has the arm of the Century been
Waging war against crime aud sin.
Still has he plead Humanity's cause ;
Still has he prayed for equal laws ;
Still has he taught that the human race
Is one in despite of hue or place,
Even though long
It has wrestled with hate and wrong.
XIV.
And at length, —
A giant arising in his strength, —
The fetters of serf and slave he broke,
Smiting them oflf by a single stroke !
Over the Muscovite waste of snows,
Up from the fields where the cotton grows,
Clearly the shout of deliverance rang
When chattel and serf to manhood sprang,—
As at leng-th
The giant rose up in resistless strength.

XV.
Far apart, —
Each alone like a lonely heart, —
Sat the Nations, until his hand
Wove about them a wondrous band ;
Wrought about them a mighty chain
Binding the mountains to the main !
Distance and time rose dark between
Islands and continents still unseen,
While apart
None felt the throb of another's heart.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

XVI.
But to-day
Time and space hath he swept away!
Side by side do the Nations sit, ,
By ties of brotherhood closer knit ; —
Whispers float o'er the rolling deep; —
Voices echo from steep to steep ; —
Nations speak, and the quick replies
Fill the earth and the vaulted skies;
For to-day
Time and distance 'are swept away.
XVII.
If strange thrills
Quicken Rome on her seven hills ;
If afar on her sultry throne
India wails and makes her moan;
If the eagles of haughty France
Fall as the Prussian hosts advance.
All the continents, all the lauds, |
Feel the shock through their elapsed hands,
And quick thrills
Stir the remotest vales and hills.
XVIII.
Yet these eyes,
Dark on whose lids Death's shadow lies,
Let their far-reaching vision rest
Not alone on the mountain's crest ;
Nor did those feet with stately tread
Follow alone where the Nations led ;
Nor these pale hands, so weary-worn.
Minister only where States were born.
These clear eyes,
Soft on whose lids Death's slumber lies,
XIX.
Turned their gaze.
Earnest and pitiful, on the ways
Where the poor, burthenod sons of toil
Earned their bread amid dust and moil.
Saw the dim attics where, day by day.
Women were stitching their lives away.
Bending low o'er the slender steel
Till heart and brain began to reel,
And their days
Stretched on and on in a dreary maze.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 75

XX.
Then he spoke ;
Lo ! at once into being woke
Muscles of iron, arms of steel,
Nerves that never a thrill could feel !
Wheels and pulleys and whirling bands
Did the work of the weary hands,
And tireless feet moved to and fro
Where the aeliing limbs were wont to go,
When he spoke
And all his sprites into being woke.
XXI.
Do you say
He was no saint who has "passed away?
Saint or sinner, he did brave deeds
Answering still to Humanity's needs ;
Songs he hath sung that shall live for aye;
Words he hath uttered that ne'er shall die;
Richer the world\han when the earth
Sang for joy to hail his birth,
Even tho' you say
He was no saint whom we sing to-day.
XXII.
Lo ! we come
Bearing the Century, cold and dumb !
Folded above the mighty breast
Lie the hands that have earned their rest ;
Hushed are the grandly-speaking lips;
Closed are the eyes in drear eclipse;
And the seulptered limbs are deathly still,
Responding not to the eager -will,
As we come
Bearing the Century, cold and dumb !
XXIII.
Lo I we wait
Knocking here at the sepulchre's gate!
Souls of the Ages passed away,
A mightier joins your ranks to-day;
Open yonr doors, ye royal dead.
And welcome give to this crowned head!
For calmly under this sable pall
Sleepeth the kingliest of ye all,
While we wait
At the sepulchre's awful g.ate I

76 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

XXIV.
Give him room
Proudly, Centuries ! in your tomb.
Now that his weary work is done
Honor and rest he well hath won.
Let him who is first among you pay
Homage to him who comes this day.
Bidding him pa.'ss to his destined place,
Noblest of all his noble race I
Make ye room
For the kingly dead in the silent tomb !'

THE PROCESSION.
Immediately after the close of the exercises at Opera Hall, a pro
cession was formed, being one of the largest and most orderly ever
seen in Rutland, and moved in the following order, under the direc
tion of Chief Marshal Gen. E. H. Ripley and Assistant Marshals
Col. L. G. Kingsley, Major John A. Salsbury, Major R. M. Cross
and Capt. Harley Sheldon:
1. Wales Cornet Band, followed by a company of Continental
militia, and, in comparison, a company of the militia of to-day.
2. Nickwackett Engine Company, No. 1, 61 men, Capt. S. G.
Staley, with engine and hose cart, di-awn by a double team of horses.
3. Washington Engine Company, No. 2, E. F. Sadler foreman,
50 men, engine drawn by two horses, and hose cart by two.
4. Killington Steamer, No. 3, drawn by fom- horses, and its hose
cart drawn by two. C. Kingsley foreman, and the full company
turned out.
5. Hook and Laader Company, No. 1, George W. Hilliard tore-
man, 45 men, with their truck decked -with evergreens and flowers,
and preceded by a band of martial music.
6. St Peter's Cornet Band of Rutland.
7. Hibernian Literai-y Society of Rutland, Dennis Kingsley and
Edward Lyston, marshals.
8. St. Patrick's Benevolent Literary Society of West Rutland
Robert Monaghan, M. Duffy and M. Meagher, marshals.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 77

After these came individuals representing the costumes, etc., of
" ancient " days, among which was a representation of a surgeon of
the Revolutionary Army, a commissary of the same period, and
other characters, both male and female, representing the same period.
Next in order came a representation of the wares of some of our
principal merchants, personified in the manner in which the wagons
which bore them were laden. First was a wagon di-a"\^Ti by six
horses, a la tandem, alternate white and black, representing the
grocery business of Chester Kingsley at the "Old Red Store." A
Wardwell stone channelling machine, drawn by two pairs of fancy
matched horses. G. F. White had a wagon drawn by fom- oxen,
and on it was reclining a monument representing the withered
trunk of a tree, or "the flower is faded and the limbs are broken."
This monument was very large, weighing several tons. B. W.
Marshall represented his grocei-y business in a heavy laden wagon.
H. R. Dyer followed with a team representing steam and gas
fitting. Howe's candy manufactory was represented by two double
teams, with an assortment of the proprietor's goods. Paine, Bow
man & Co. had in display a fine assortment of manufactured
goods and ¦ cloths, and with the goods were their operators, both
male and female, seemingly as busily at work as when in the
store. Levi G. Kingsley had two wagons of upholstery goods, with
fine exhibitions of shelf hardware and mechanics' tools. D. Ver-
der had a portion of the goods from his bakery out in a wagon
drawn by the black horse. George W. Chaplin, Jr., had a fine dis
play of furniture and upholstery goods, and Newman Weeks, in
the same line, had, beside two chairs made one hundred- years ago,
a display of furniture and upholstery work which was creditable.
W. B. Mussey's grocery wagon was decked with the goods of his
line, and the three teams of G. H. & H. W. Cheney bore evidence
that they kept a good variety, and were not to be counted as minors
in the grocery line. Dunn, Sa-wyer & Co. had three teams in the
procession, laden with peddler's goods, hardware and house furnish
ing goods, including stoves, etc. Spencer, Sawyer & Co. had their
laro-e candy wagon in the procession. The Rutland Manufacturing
Company had a large wagon, piled mountain high, almost, with
chairs. Abbott & Whitman had a display in the shape of a light
express wagon. C. W, Nichols, photographer, had his camera out.

78 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

When the procession, after marching through several of the prin
cipal streets, arrived at the pavilion it broke ranks, and some five
or six hundred sat down to partake of the dinner.
THE DINNER.
After the dinner had been disposed of. Gen. William Y. W. Rip
ley, acting as President, made 'a few brief remarks appropriate to
the occasion, and in closing called upon Mr. John Strong, the
toastmaster of the occasion, who came forward and offered as the
first regular toast :
Rutland — Like a good mother, she welcomes her sons who have
sustained and exalted the family name abroad, and who, returning
from distant places, testify by their pj-esence to-day that they hold
in affectionate remembrance the town that gave them bii-th.
The response was made by James Barrett, who said, in substance,
it was a singular thing that one not a perfect speaker should be
called upon to respond to this toast, and while he could not respond
as he would wish to, Mr. Barrett related some amusing anecdotes
of the early history of Rutland, among which was that in a former
period when the people from the country around came to trade
they tasted the liquors in every store, and after ai'riving at the
place where they considered the best liquors were kept, there they
bought their goods. .But these times wei-e past, and now we have
a town and a community of which every one can feel proud.
In response to the same toast. Rev. Stephen C. Thrall said, on
being called upon : I sincerely regret that this welcome Vermont,
and particularly Rutland, has extended to her children, has taken
my voice away so that I cannot, as I would like to, respond appro
priately on this occasion. Looking, he said, about the continent,
and standing on the Sierra Nevadas, on the borders of the Missis
sippi, or wherever his lot ha^ been cast, he had ever with pride
remembered Vermont, not populous at home, but extensive abroad,
and it has ever been my pride that wherever I met a Vermonter he
was true to the manor born. Douglas said Vermont was a good
State to go from, and it is not less true, I find, that it is a good
State to come back to. On no place on earth have we seen such
beauty, and we say to our noble mother. We thank you, and will
bear your memory to our homes and to our graves

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 79

Mr. Frederick A. Fuller being called upon, arose and made a
happy speech in response to the toast. His remarks were composed
chiefly of anecdotes referring to the elderly citizens of Rultand,
many of whom, though now non-residents, were present, especially
alluding to the humorous traits of the character of Rev. James
Davi^ Butler, when doing business with his father in Rutland thirty
years ago.
The second toast was,
Vermont — Her place among the States, established by the bravery
of her "Green Mountain Boys," has been gloriously maintained by
a people already distinguished for industry and virtue; by her
statesmen, eminent in the councils of the nation; by her judges,
learned in the law and fearless in its administration ; by her soldiers,
first on every battle-field of the republic, from Ticonderoga and
Plattsburgh to Gettysburgh and the Wilderness ; and above all by
her women, who, true to their duties as wives and mothers, with all
the sacred precincts of home, have, by the influence of then- virtues
and the careful training of their children, exalted us as a people.
Gen. Ripley expressed the regrets of Gov. Stewart and Messrs.
Redfield, Phelps, Poland and others, who had expressed their desire
to be present, but were unavoidably absent, and in a happy manner
introduced Col. W. G. Veazey to respond.
Col. Veazey said, in substance, after saying that he was unex
pectedly called upon to respond to sentiments other than Vermont's
soldiers, that the thought occurred to him that he should decline a
response, but it occurs to me, said Col. Veazey, that it would be
even a greater impropriety on an occasion like this not to say a
word for our grand old State. Although Vermont was settled long
before Rutland's charter, our State as well as our town were the
product of the century just closed, a centary more fruitful of gi-eat
men and great events than history has chronicled. Our climate
makes the State the resort of the invalid, while her scenery attracts
the tourist and artist. The speaker paid a tribute to Vermont's
statesmen and its long succession of names, from Prentiss and
Phelps to Collamer and Foot, second to none the continent ever
produced. In the judiciary a succession of men adorned the bench
of our State, and sustained its eminence; they were those to whom
none could point as dishonest, corrupt or unfit for their position,
and whose ability and wisdom was unsurpassed by the bench of any

80 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. '
State in the great sisterhood of States. As regards Vermont in
battle, he said that Vermont had been called the legitimate child of
war, and truly, for her territory was the battle gi-ound of the origi
nal tribes which inhabited her borders. So through the Colonial
and French wars it was the pathway of contending troops, and then
came the struggles of the New York and New Hampshire ®rants,
in which as a battle-ground she was historically distinguished. He
reverted in unqualified terms of praise to the conduct of' the Green
Mountain Boys in the Revolution, and to the grand figure of Ethan
Allen on the parapet of Ticonderoga on the 10th of May, 1775,
when he demanded its surrender by the authority of the Continental
Congress — when he compielled the surrender of the British to the
coming American republic. In the battle of Bennington he would
not attempt to detail the achievements of the Green Mountain Boys,
they had been so grand; but in 1812 they sustained at Plattsburgh,
Niagara and Crown Point the reputation they had won in the pre
vious war. In the Mexican war Vermont furnished her full quota
to the national cause, and in it one of her bravest sons, the gallant
Ransom, fell. In the war of the rebellion she furnished 84,000
men, who participated, and with glory, in every battle fi-om Big
Bethel to Appomattox. They struck the first blow in Virginia at
the outbreak of the war, and were the first troops to enter Rich
mond on its surrender. At Lee's Mills the lamented Reynolds gave
up his life, and at Bull Run Vermont. troops largely contributed to
the safety of the national capital. On the Peninsula they were
firm, and in the Seven Day's fight they never failed to punish the
enemy. History, he said, will record that a son of Rutland as
surely and effectually saved our army from defeat at Malvern Hill
as did Col. Warner more than any other man than Stark contribute
to our success at Bennington. At South Mountain, Antietam, St.
Mary's Heights, Gettysburgh, they were the same, and in the Shen
andoah valley Sheridan knew by their intrepid valor that he could
turn defeat to victoi-y. . Col. Veazey paid a handsome tribute to
to Col. Roberts, who fell at Baton Rouge, and closed by saying
that Vermont's sons were a class of men who knew they had rights,
and knowing, dare maintain them. ^
Gen. W. Y. W. Ripley followed in a tribute to the brave men of

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 81

Vermont, and feelingly implored their descendants to preserve the
relics of their memory in their hands at present, that the future
might revere those who so nobly lived and died.
Gen. Ripley said, to the subject of "The Ladies," embraced in
the concluding sentiment of the toast, he would call his friend,
Hon. D. E. Nicholson, whose anticipated response would fully jus
tify the fitness of the call.
Mr. Nicholson responded that he duly appreciated the distin
guished honor of being thus commended to this particular sen
timent. As a Rutland county man by bii-th, whose mother,
now in her sainted grave, and whose wife and daughter all
had a Rutland county origin, he should justly be condemned if he
was wanting in appreciation of the value of such companionship.
What has been said here and elsewhere of the distinguished Chris
tians, philanthropists, patriots and sages could never have been true
if woman, the mother of them all, had been less than an exalted
being, and the perpetual homage of man's heart has been to the
Great Creator of all, that when beholding the solitary, pitiful and
helpless condition of the father of the race. He benevolently created
for him companionship, -with such social, intellectual, moral and
material adaptations, as had served not only to perpetuate, but to
exalt the race.
The third toast was
The Early Settlers of Rutland^— TrvLe descendants of the Puri
tan stock, they builded better than they knew.
Gen. Benj. Alvord of the U. S. army responded as follows :
GEN. alvord's address.
When I first received the invitation to share in this celebration it
seemed impracticable to accept, but every day which elapsed cour
vinced me that my heart would gravitate in this direction, and that
it was a duty to make an effort to attend. During all my wander
ings to the remotest corners of this Union, throughout the last
thirty-seven years, I have never failed to recur with pride and pleas
ure to Vermont and to Rutland.
The attachment of those born in mountain regions to their homes
is proverbial. The discharge of my official duties has carried me
to the most celebrated mountain regions of this continent; those of
6

82 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
Central America, the snow white peaks which border on the north
west Lake Nicaragua, the principal of which is the volcano of
Mombacho; those of the valley of Mexico, Popocatepethl, and
Iztaccihuathl, and Toluca; those of the Sierra Nevada range in
California, and of the Cascade range in Oregon and Washington,
and those of the Rocky Mountain ranges of Colorado and Utah
Territories. However deep the enjoyment received from such
scenes of grandeur, they always only served to can-y my memory
and imagination back to these lovely green mountains, whose quiSt
beauty is unsurpassed. I know that it will be said that such senti
ments have their origin in the charms and fascinations of youth.
But it is fitting that here, on our return to the land of our birth,
such feelings should be indulged. Let them not be despised! If
Heaven, in showering upon you other blessings, has also imparted
a love of nature, an appreciation of your beautiful scenery, and a
keen relish for the wonders and splendors lavished on this material
world, let them be highly esteemed. Contrast the ideas of the
native of a level prairie in the West with the sensations awakened
here! By cultivation he may acquire such tastes, but his birthright
has comparatively a limitation, a tameness and' a monotony which
excite the pity of exultant mountaineers ! It should certainly be
to-day a cause for holding in grateful remembrance our hardy ances
tors, who one century ago choose their homes in such pleasant
places, that they bequeathed to their posterity such influences, and
Buch sublime inspirations. There are some not open to such mag-
nitism. There are those who, under the shadow of Killington
Peak, can without emotion witness the lovely clouds move to and
fi-o, and the cultivated valleys smiling between mountain slopes, and
the meandering river gliding through gi-assy meadows. I say there
are those who can gaze at such scenes and tm-n upon them only a
vacant and uninterested eye, buried in the cares and clogged by the
surroundings of the busy world. But their effect upon the genuis
of your population, upon the character of the most enterprising
and susceptible, is undoubted ; above all upon the scholai-s of your
State. From one end of this Union to the other, Vermonters can
be found remarkable for their clear heads, their hardihood, and if
scholars, for their acute, robust intellects and poetic sensibilities.
It is customary in Massachusetts to boast of Berkshire county,

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

and the array of distinguished characters who have originated there.
Berkshire is the mere oflshoot, the last descending ridge of the
Green Mountains, which Vermont condescends to give Massachu
setts. If the scenery of Berkshire and the lovely estates at Lenox
and Stockbridge of the Sedgwicks, Fields, Rockwells and Bryants
can awaken admiration, — for still stronger reasons should Vermont
indulge a little pardonable exultation, rioting- as she does in the
Green Mountains (par excellence), in the very backbone and lofty
summit of those mountains. Why do not the Aspinwalls, and
Carys, and other men of wealth, who went to Berkshire in search
of a mountain home, come up here and get the Simon-pure article?
I feel certain that the Rev. Dr. Todd, now a resident of Pittsfield,
in that county, however attached to his Pittsfield home, will admit
the force of my recommendation. Why ! from the seat of Aspin-
wall and other of those millionaires they point to what they call
mountains ! A few years since I was delighted to make a visit to
that county, filled with such charming society, such refined and hos
pitable residents, — but I aver I could not find in all Berkshire county
an elevation as high as your "Pine Hill."
The Pm-itans settled Vermont. From Connecticut and Massa
chusetts they came here to seek their fortunes. All my military
life I have been on our extensive frontiers in contact with pioneers.
I know well their vutues, their hardihood, their enteiprise. I h^ve
delighted to watch the growth and expansion of infant communities.
Our ancestors came to the New Hampshire Grants deeply imbued
with all the best traits of the Puritan race. It is true that time and
the progress of world wide ameliorations have not failed to soften
the severities and banish those peculiarities of the. Puritans which
were objectionable, — ^and it must be a source of satisfaction that the
doctrines of toleration had their birth on New England soil, and
were soon instilled into her whole population. But if these princi
ples of toleration had their birth in Rhode Island, the news of yes
terday shows that their last most signal consummation will be wit
nessed in Rome. As the people of the Papal States have voted for
annexation to the Kingdom of Italy, King Emanuel will soon enter
Rome as his capital, followed, I predict, by the Protestant mission
aries now tolerated in Florence, and the two Vermonters, Geo. P.
Marsh and Hiram Powers, now m Florence, will witness this

84 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
momentous revolution. I must add that I doubt not that it was
mainly owing to the vigorous action of Mr. Marsh that those mis
sionaries received toleration in Florence.
The Puritans were distinguished for their love of religion, pure
and undefiled, theu manly simplicity, pure morality and love of
learning, their hardihood, industry and untamable spirit of inde
pendence, for their love of liberty, for theu patriotism, courage and
gallantry in battle. It is not necessary for me to descant on these
qualities. But they are in-wrought into the character and stamina
of their descendants, and are prominent in every achievement for
-which, far and near, they have been distinguished, from the days of
the Revolution to the present hour. They are disseminated all-over
this Union, and theu virtues and characters adhere to them wher
ever they go. In action they are shown by vigor, perseverance and
success; in science by logical acumen and inventive genius; in
scholarship and literature by originality, breadth of views, depth of
learning, racy wit and humor, brilliant fancy and fertility of
resources ; in statesmanship by dignity of character and unwavering
adherence to principles — principles avowed, known of all men, and
whose germinations can be traced in the history of the country.
These qualities are higher and better than mere wealth. We can
not regret that you have here no worshiping of mere wealth, no
courts or costly crowded capitals, reeking in corruption, intrigue
and effeminacy. The office-seeker here has little upon which to
feed and batten. Better to be a thrifty people, plain in manner,
reverencing God and respecting yourselves, than one pampered by
overgrown fortunes, a country which knows not true glory, and
seeks no higher good than riches, — -where hungry sycophants throng
with supplication all the departments of the State.
Well did a Puritan writer say, "I wish to belong to a State in
the character and institutions of which I may find a spring of
improvement which I can speak of with an honest pride ! — in whose
records I may meet good and honored names, and which is fast
making the world its debtor by its discoveries of truth, and by an
example of virtuous freedom."
The question occurs. Has this Puritan character borne generous
fruit? In pure and applied science, in oratory and metaphysics
and literatm-e, in poetry and a,rt, the educated men living in the

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 85

State, or sent forth by Vermont, have made theu mark throughout
the world. The names of James Marsh, George P. Marsh, S. S.
Phelps, Charles K. Williams, Collamer, Foot, Horace Green, Saxe,
Powers and Meade, are a sufficient response, known, some of them,
to the whole civilized world. And it was fitting that the State
which produced the best living American sculptor should also find
in its exhaustless quarries the best marble for purposes of art on
this continent, and thus spread the name of Rutland to all lands.
The student, residing here far from the distractions of more popu
lous haunts, has had time and opportunity to dive deeper into the
recesses of science. Vermonters are noted for their liberal culture,
and in public life for their national sentiments. They have not been
narrow-minded. They have not been eaten up -with sectionalism
or provincialism. Their State pride, however intense, has not
diminished their love and devotion to the Union and the national
government. In time of deliberation and counsel, they have been
for peace and averse to war. But their hearts have embraced the
whole counti-y, and have instantly rejected every proposition looking
to a dissolution of the Union. This brings us to say that the
descendants of the Puaitans have stood the test of the gi-eat civil
war, in which their best qualities have been conspicuously mani
fested. Look at theii- promptitude, their manly spirit, their martial
enthusiasm, their noble deeds, their devotion to the flag and to the
cause of liberty. Let Grant, Sheridan and Meade be consulted as
to the bearing of the Green Mountain Boys!
How consoling it is to reflect that the war was one for principle,
for the unity and pei-manent peace, freedom and tranquility of
America, — ^whose immediate consequences have been so immense
and fundamental. What a vi-vid contrast to the war now raging in
Europe, — a war for mastery merely, a war for a pretendea equilib
rium or balance of power, a war having its origm in mere jealousy.
Had the rebellion succeeded, large standing armies would have hov
ered around a boundai-y line, and we too would have been led to
study an American balance of power, eternally subject to chronic
commotions and fruitless wars. The German soldier, whose deeds
now extort the admiration of the world, has some characteristics quite
Similar to those of the Puritan soldier of the days of the common
wealth. The same simplicity, steadiness and energy, the same hardy

86 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

physique, the same instructed and educated soldiership, the same
thinking bayonet, and the same terrible earnestness of purpose.
At the height of our civil war the rebels raised the cry of "Puri
tan," and tried to make it odious, and they would announce that
10,000 "Puritans " or 10,000 "abolitionists" had landed at certain
points on their coast. It happened at that date that two powerful
steam rams for our na-vy were about to be launched, and our
lamented President, Mr. Lincoln, named one "The Puritan" and
the other " The Dictator." These names were very significant, were
very suggestive, and had a pregnant meaning, judged by the train
of events which followed. We heard nothing more afterwards of
the word "Puritan'' as a term of reproach, and all idea of "cutting
off New England" from the republic was abandoned.
In the war it is but simple justice to say that Rutland sent forth
her full quota, heroes who returned with honorable records, show--
ing that they were worthy sons of a State whose expressive motto
is "Freedom and Unity," — a motto seemingly selected by our ances
tors, and with prophetic insight to suit just such an emergency as
the late rebellion. We trust tliat ever in these mountain regions
the country can find a lofty patriotism and a martial spirit, which can
promptly send a heroic band to fight its battles, worthy descendants
of the ir6n framed and lion-hearted Puritans who gained renown in
the days of Milton and Cromwell. The name of Milton is sug
gestive of the highest virtues and the most brilliant inspirations of
the Puritans He mingled his religious faith with his poetic aspi
rations, and said at an early age, "The great achievements of poetry
must rest in devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit who can enrich
with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out His Seraphim with
the hallowed fire of His altar to touch and pm-ify the lips of whom
he pleases." In these pure mountain heights and among these
lovely valleys, a race kindred to that of Milton and Hampden have
every influence favorable to success in poesy, in learning, as well as
in action.
What image more suggestive than a fountain, a bubbling, living,
perennial fountain, perchance embowered with verdure and foliage,
springing up in a moutain glen? Your hills are filled with lakes
and fountains. In poesy the Greeks had the Castilian fount on the
Heights of Parnassus. Palestine had the fount of Siloam, where,

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 87

in the Jewish dispensation on the last day of the Feast of Taber
nacles, an annual libation of its crystal waters was poured oiit,
emblematical of the Holy Spirit and a coming Savior. To this
Isaiah alluded when he said, "With joy shall you draw water out
of the wells of salvation." And the same prophet said of the Gen
tiles, "Their pastures shall be in aU high places, they shall not
hunger or thii-st; neither shall the sun or heat smite them; for He
that hath mercy on them shall lead them ; even by the springs of
water shall he guide them."
A birthplace is a fountain-head, whence should a fountain of
rejuvenation flow p^re, sparkling waters to gladden, vivify and
fertilize the vale of life. A return to it takes the memory back to
youth and all its gilded hopes, joys and enjoyments. To carry
youth forward into age, and let the mind remain equally susceptible
of vivid impressions and generous impulses, should be the aim of
every Christain.
Here I watched the clouds and stars, and commenced with the
cheering smiles of a mother's love to learn my first lessons of science
and religion. Can influences thus planted in the nlidst of these
lovely mountains ever die out? Like Wordsworth, who was born
and spent his days under the shadow of Skiddaw, in the Cumber
land Mountains, and among the lovely lakes of Windermere, I can
exclaim, "My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky !
So was it when my life began ;
So is it now I am a man !
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die !
The child is father of the man ! —
And I could wish my days to be,
Bound each to each by natural piety."
Gen Alvord was followed by Rev. Aldace Walker, D. D., of
Wallingford, formerly pastor of the Congregational church at West
Rutland. He gave a brief sketch of the Congregational church in
this town, with notices of Rev. Benajah Roots and Rev. Lemuel
Haynes. We regret that we are not able to give his remarks in full.
The fourth toast was
Rutland — Rapid in gro-wth, wonderful in development, her past
honorable and distinguished, her present happy and prosperous, —
her future is in her own hands.
To which Warren H. Smith, Esq., responded substantially as fol-

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

lows : Prominent among the subjects presented in this toast is the
"rapid growth" of Rutland. I am supposing this is a reference to
the modern history of the town. Many listened to, and all have
the opportunity of reading, the published addresses (of Henry Hall,
Esq., and Chauncy K. Williams, Esq.,) upon its early history. My
personal acquaintance with this -town began in 1848. Prior to that
time, as I learn, the town had remained nearly or quite stationary,
celebrated, and very justly, for its age, its distinguished citizens,
including several Governors of the State, eminent and incorruptible
judges, a long list of able lawyers, distinguished divines and staid
and substantial business men in all departments of industry.
Taking 1848. as my starting point, I feel justified in saying that
the "rapid growth" of the town since that date has justly been the
pride and boast of its citizens. It -was about that date that new
life, enterprise and energy seemed infused into the whole business
and diffused among the mass of the people of the town, and hence
its progress, rapid and resistless, in all that constitutes material
growth. Statistics, always tedious in detail, best demonstrate this.
In 1848 the population of this town was about 3,900-^now about
11,000. Then there were about 600 voters — now near 2,000.
Then the appraised value of her taxable property was $1,120,000 —
now $4,960,000. But the material growth has been still more
apparent in the village of Rutland. At the date named it consisted
only of Main street and the road towards Castleton, with no dwell
ings below the brow of the hill ; now hundreds of acres all around
us are covered with comfortable houses and pleasant homes and
many stately mansions. Then her business center consisted of some
half dozen old wooden one-story stores and shops, scattered around
Court House square ; now we have our Merchants' Row and Center
St., lined for long distances on both sides with massive blocks of three
and four stories, filled with elegant stores, affording us a business
center unequalled in the country. Then we had but a single news
paper, the Herald, worked upon the hand press ; now three weekly
and one daily papers, all fom- power presses. Then but one school-
house and 130 scholars; now fourteen large and substantial school
rooms and 1700 scholars. Then but three churches, and poorly
filled; now seven, and more being built. Since that date, railroads
'connecting us with all parts of the country and fi-om all directions

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 89

center here. Marble interests were then just beginning to be devel
oped, which since have produced supplies for the whole country.
In view of these facts, who can gainsay the "rapid gi-owth" of
this town? We claim that it is unequaled in Vermont, and unsur
passed in New England. It is also noticeable that the prominent
business men of the town at the date named were in the decline of
life, and most of them have gone to theu honored graves, and that
the very large proportion of the business men of to-day are in theu
prime, in the full vigor of life, — men who have contributed largely
to make the town what she to-day shows herself That she is
"happy and prosperous,'' this occasion and as you see her speaks
more eloquently than any words I can utter.
What shall be her future? With such elements of success, such
master minds, such energy, such enterprise and industry as has
produced what you see, gives abundant promise for her future rapid
growth in all that is good and great.
The fifth toast was
The Orator of the Day — Eminent alike as a scholar and divine,
his eminence, honorable to him, has honored us.
In response to this toast, the orator, Prof James D. Butler, spoke
as follows :
Mr. President and Townsmen: "Eminent alike as a scholar and
divine!" What a non-committal toast! Its language is as ambigu
ous as the utterances of the political candidate, Mr. Facing-both-
ways." A man may be "eminent alike " who is not eminent at all.
The sentiment reminds me of a horse-dealer who flourished of old
not far from Rutland, and who, wishing to get rid of a vicious ani
mal advertised him as "equally kind in saddle and harness," and
warranted him to be up to the recommendation. Nor did he long
lack a purchaser. No sooner, however, did the buyer harness his
horse than he was run away with and his wagon broken to pieces.
Thereupon he called on the horse-dealer and demanded damages.
But the dealer said to him, "Have you tried yom- horse m the sad
dle?" "No;" said the buyer. "Why," returned the other, "if you
had mounted him he would certainly have thrown you off, and so I
hold that the beast is everything I wan-anted him,— that is, 'equally
kind in saddle and harness.'" In calling one "eminent alike as a
scholar and divine," your toastmaster seems to have shii-ked responsi*

90 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

bility no less dextrously than the horse-jockey did. On the whole,
however, I am inclined to think the words "eminent alike as a
scholar and divine " were intended for a compliment. But viewed
in that light they force me into a difficult dilemma now that I am
called up for a speech. For how shall I speak? Suppose I try to
prove the toast a truthful assertion, and that I am an "eminent
scholar and divine," then you, and everybody, wiU say, "Thou
bearest witness of thyself, thy witness is not true," and you will
charge me with forgetting Solomon's injunction, " Let another man
praise thee, and not thine own lips."
But, on the other hand, suppose I prove by all manner of logic
that I am no scholar, and no divine. Then, while you would admit
that I made out my case conclusively, you would charge me with
insincerity like that of the bishop, who, when he hears of his elec
tion, cries out, '¦'¦Nolo EpiscopariV — or rather you would compare
me to the most beautiful belle m Rutland, who, when she would
rouse her admirers to double raptures in her praise, glances in a
muror and exclaims, " How like a fi'ight I look ! was ever any being
so horrid?" i
Through hopes of contradiction she will say,
"Methinks I look most wretchedly to-day."
So my words of self depreciation, one and all, would be set do-wn
as prompted by "hopes of contradiction." Accordingly, whether I
speak for, or against, the toast proposed, I should myself be tossed
higher than any bull-fighter I ever saw in Madrid, on one or the
other horn of a dilemma.
But in my despair how to meet the demands of my toast a hope
rises upon me, for I have been invited to say a word as a substitute
for Col. G. A. MerrUl, whom his duties in the State Senate prevent
fi-om meeting with us at this table. And yet the idea of serving
as a substitute is not altogether flattering. Only a substitute, only
a substitute, — substitute for George A. Merrill !
Yet who'll my claims to thanks dispute
As an unflinching substitute?
For ol all heroes new and old,
Where can be found a chief more bold
Than he who on this speaker's block,
As gazing-stock and laughing-stock,
The gauntlet for his brother runs
And braves the blows that brother shuns ?

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 91

Who'll then my claim to thanks dispute
As G. A. Merrill's substitute ?
A villain once of blackest guilt
His brother's blood had basely spilt,
Impelled by fiendish thirst for gold,
In fair Vermont in days of old.
Suspected, seized and put to trial,
Convict too clearly for denial,
The rascal stood upon the scafibld;
Tet justice of her dues was baffled.
The murd'rer's lawyer 'd found a flaw,
Some jot or tittle, form of law, —
A subtlety not worth a word,
Unheeded when the case was heard.
And so had from the judge gained leave
For a new trial, by reprieve.
Then murmurs rose from all the crowd,
Whispered at first, but soon more loud :
"No longer shall he live," they cried,
" By whose cursed hand his brother died;
His guilt is clear, to-day unbind him —
To-morrow who'll know where to find him?
Who'll trace him through law's trackless maze?
Who'll guard his dungeon nights and days ?"
"Teomen," 'twas said, "here come from far,
Risen before the morning star,
O'er hill and dale, through mud and rain,
And sacrificing hay and grain,
Tou've hastened to behold this hour —
A spectacle unseen before.
Lose not your day, — let not your eun
Descend, tUl he see justice done;
Nor let us quit this village green
Till we our hanging scrape have seen."
Then rose the shouts both thick and fast,
To hang- the culprit in hot haste,
Till, perched upon a neighboring stump,
Huge Ethan Allen with a thump
Of club herculean on an oak,
Enforced attention while he spoke: —
Friends ! Give this guilty rascal law,
And if his lawyers find a flaw
Therein, why, let him live, like Cain,
By conscience he'll each day be sl*in.
Nor fear that hanging scrape to miss
In which yon hope to taste such bliss,
For, if the wretch reprieved to-day,

92 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

Escape you through the law's delay,
Or slyly slip its meshes through,
I, Ethan Allen, ever true,
Who ne'er have disappointed you,
I'll stand the rascal's substitute.
Jack Ketch shall bind me like a brute
And hang me high on gallows tree,
A rarer show for you to see."
To-WTismen, in Allen's shoes I stand.
For G. A. Merrill's fled the land,
Tet shall not you, as critics, lack
A victim now to hew and hack.
While Merrill then at large may roam.
To execution, Lo ! I come !
Who'll then my claim to thanks dispute
As G. A. Merrill's substitute ?
Col. Men-ill as a railroad superintendent was expected to speak
in the line of his profession, although those of us who have ever
heard the car whistle are ready to think that the locomotive may
be left to speak for itself
Regarding railroads, few men have had more experience as trav
elers than has fallen to my lot. My first car ride was thuty-two
years ago, and I have been riding ever since. My journeyings have
been as a preacher, a lecturer, and a tourist in search of knowledge.
In 1843 I traversed most of the Em-opean roads then in operation,
and a quarter of a century afterward was nol^ only on the new
European lines, but on others in Asia and Africa. Last year I
swept the whole length of our trans-continental line to the Pacific.
If one should praise the bridge that carries him -well over, then
I ought to praise railroads, for they have never harmed a hair
of my head. In my Oriental travels I became convinced that in
the material force of steam there Im-ks a tremendous moral power.
"What do you call yom- donkey?" I asked of the Arab urchin
whose beast I was riding to explore the ruins of Egyptian Thebes.
His answer was, "Merkeb Babour," a name which I soon found
signifies "steamboat." So the most common charcoal sketches on
the rocks of Syria are intended to shadow forth the locomotive.
For many reasons, my conviction is firm that steam will can-y
Christendom, — and that as a Christianizing conqueror, — ^through
and through the Moslem world.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 93

If I were the only speaker, I would delight to expatiate on rail
roads in their diversified influences, — and especially as just now, and
notably in Nebraska, preceding settlement and quickening its pace
a hundred fold, — ^but I can only allude to a few facts in this our
home field. The earnings of all the roads centering in Rutland
have been tripled during the last six years. Forty-eight trains now
enter or leave Rutland every twenty-four hours, and some one of
them is passing over its line during every minute of every secular
day. Arrangements have been p.erfected for building a new rail
road west of Lake Champlain, which will within two years insure
Rutland an additional line of steam communication with Montreal.
Believing that this progress in railroads and these prospects are
due as largely to my friend Col Men-ill as to any other man, I beg
leave to close my speech -with a sentiment in his honor :
George Alfred Merrill — May he continue to rub the Aladdin's
lamp of railroads until all the miracles they have wrought shall be
forgotten among the greater muacles which they shall hereafter
work. The sixth toast was
The Poetess of the day :
" And, long as poetry shall charm mankind.
Her flowing numbers will admirers find."
Responded to with music by the Wales Cornet Band.
The seventh toast was.
The Elderly Citizens of Rutland.
Responded to briefly and humorously by Jesse L. Billings.
The eighth toast was —
The Adopted Sons of Rutland. — We recognize their worth and
the advantages of their accession, and gladly extend to them equal
rights and privileges with those to the " manor born."
To which Hon. Walter C. Dunton responded as follows :
It was not my fault that I was not born in Rutland, although I
dearly love the little town so closely nestled under the Green Moun
tains, in an adjoining county, where I was born, yet, if Ihad hadany-
thing to say as to the location of my bu-th place, I am quite sure
that I should have been born in Rutland. However, I did the next
best thing that I could, I man-ied a Rutland girl " to the manor
born" for my wife, and our only child was born here ; and if no
unforseen event changes my purpose, I shall spend the remainder of

94 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

my life in Rutland, and, although an adopted son, will endeavor to
be true and faithful to the town, which, when commencing the
practice of my profession, extended so cordial a welcome to me,
not only to me, but to all of her adopted children.
It was my fortune to spend a few years in the west, and become
somewhat acquainted with western men, their enterprise, activity
' and treatment of strangers ; and I have often remarked that I could
content myself to live in no other eastern town than Rutland,
which more closely resembles, in the character and enterprise of her
inhabitants, the thriving and prosperous towns of the west than
any other town in all New England. And in no respect is this re
semblance greater than in the cordial welcome extended by her in
habitants to all worthy persons coming here to reside. Rutland
most emphatically, in the language of the sentiment to which you
have called me to respond, " extends to her adopted sons equal
rights and privileges with those accorded to her oldest inhabitants."
The people of Rutland have ever been ready to bestow honors
upon those to whom honors are due, alike upon all, irrespective of
the place of their birth or former residence, as the honorable
positions assigned by them to many of her adopted sons will attest,
of whom time on this occasion forbids me particularly to speak.
Allow me, native citizens of Rutland, at this time in behalf of
the other residents of the town, who form no inconsiderable part of
your inhabitants, to thank you for your generous treatment of us.
Be assured that it is duly appreciated and will never be forgotten
by us, and that it will continue to be in the future, as it has been
in the past, our utmost endeavor and greatest pleasure to co-oper
ate with you in promoting the future prosperity of the town, and
in making Rutland what her location and great natural resources
have designed her to be — one of the most prosperous, thrifty and
enterprising inland towns in New England. We will extend the
same cordial welcome to others who shall hereafter come here to
reside, which you so kindly extended to us ; and we are happy to
unite with you to-day in welcoming to our homes and our firesides,
the former residents of the town, many of whom went forth to
mould and form the institutions of the new states of the great
West, and there occupy positions of honor and trust, and of
whom you have just cause to be proud. Let us, fellow citizens,

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 95

not only continue to develop the resources of our town, and in
crease its prosperity, but also continue to " build school houses and
raise men," so that those whom we shall hereafter send forth will
honor both themselves and the town by their intelligence, and be
as highly esteemed and useful citizens as those whom we are to-day
so happy to welcome.
¦As it is getting late, allow me, Mr. President, to close by offer
ing the following sentiment :
The Native Citizens of Rutland — Generous, hospitable and
enterprising ; the town is alike indebted to them for her prosperity,
and her adopted sons for their success.
The ninth toast was
The Centenarian — The connecting link between the past and the
future. To which A. A. Nicholson, Esq., responded in the following poem :
THE CENTENARIAN. I.
He stands upon the shadowy verge
Of life's remotest shore,
While ancient mem'ries oe'r him surge
With deep and solemn roar !
And once again he seems to live
Amid the fervid glow
That lighted up the ways of life
One Hundred Tears Ago !
II.
The summer skies seem fairer then —
The birds of Spring more gay.
And every hope was loftier
Than those of stern to-day !
And each pulsation of the heart
Was quicker in its flow,
And yielded back a deeper thrill
One Hundred Tears ago !
III.
The eyes that sparkled brightest then
No longer wake or weep,
And locks that paled the raven's plume
Are frosted where they sleep !
The blandest smile has wan'd in night —
The step inflrm and slow,
That led the wild and giddy dance
One Hundred Tears ago !

96 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

IV.
He lingers near the stormy past
Like mourner near a tomb,
Still watching for some olden joy
To lighten up the gloom !
Tet from the past no rays sublime
His yearning heart can know
Like those that gilded life's young dream
One Hnndi-ed Years ago !
V.
Like ancient forest tree he stands
Unrifted by the blast,
And links with centenarian strand
The Present and the Past !
And who among this festive throng
His wintry years shall sum.
And bear the burden he has borne,
One Htmdred Tears to come ?
The lateness of the hour compelled the postponement of further
remarks, but as responses had been prepared, we give the two
remaining toasts, with the responses prepared for the occasion.
The tenth toast was
The Press — The great educator of modern times. May its
teachings ever be worthy of its immeasurable power.
The first response was by Mr. George A. Tuttle, senior proprietor
of the Herald, who was to have remarked:
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentleman: I exceedingly regret that
the committee who were charged with the duty of providing for
the intellectual part of this entertainment should have thought flt
to place my name upon their list to respond to the sentiment just
read, and I now also -wish to offer my protest to being appointed to
speak after such eloquent responses have been made by those whom
I am to follow, for my theme is an humble one, and I claim no ora^
torical gifts. But we are here to celebrate our centennial anniver-
saiy and to greet old friends, and I have no heart on this occasion
to shrink any responsibility which may be thrown upon me.
Whatever I may say will be more of a historical character, —
entering largely into and embraced in the histoi-y of our town, —
than any effort for oratorical effect.
My first acquaintance with the press dates back a little over forty
years, when my apprenticeship commenced, and it affords me pleas

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 97

ure to look back and review the improvements in my day. There
were then few daily papers published in our country, and a far less
number of weeklies than now. If I recollect correctly, there were
but two dailies published in New York. They were about two-
thii-ds the size of the present Daily Herald, printed on coarse
type and largely devoted to commercial interests. I recollect
reading in an early number of one of them a notice calling the
attention of the business public to the fact that that paper, in con
sequence of having reached a daily circulation of about 1300 copies,
mostly among the merchants and business men of the country,
offered peculiar advantages to advertisers. It was printed upon a
hand press, and it took two men five hours to print a single side
of it
There were no lightning presses in those days capable of turning
off their 20,000 impressions an hom-, and there was no occasion for
them, for there were no telegraphs, no railroads or ocean steamers
to give quick transit of news from place to place and from all parts
of the earth. News thii-ty days from England was considered vei-y
fresh, aud more ordinarily it was forty days old when received. It
took ten days to get news from New Orleans, and about six months
from China. '
But what a change forty years has wrought. There is now in
New York, including daUy, weekly and monthly issues, one hun
dred and seventy-one newspapers, devoted to every branch of indus-
ti-y and every department of literatm-e. Fomteen of these are
dailies, some reaching a circulation of nearly one hundred thousand
copies per day, and a single one taxing the capacity of two large
paper mills to supply the white paper, and in the aggi-egate giving
employment to millions of capital and an army of workmen.
Events transpiring now m. any part of Europe in the evening are
transmitted by ocean cable and chronicled the next morning in the
dailies throughout the country in season to be read by om- people
before breakfast Important local events are also flashed over the
teleo-raph wii-es of the country, and are read simultaneously in New
York, New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco. Such
has been the growth of the press in forty years.
In the days of our fathers, the press fulfilled an important mission
in diffusing intelligence among the people and fm-thering the
7

98 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
advance of civilization. But how much greater to-day is its power
for good or evil. And how importai;it is it that it should be, not
only zealous and patriotic, but elevated and pure.
When I reflect upon the weighty responsibilities resting upon the
conductors of the press of our time, I almost feel like invoking
upon them from Heaven divine guidance and protection, that they
may be saved from the corrupting tendencies of the age, and that
their mission may be nobly accomplished in furthering the ^-eat
interests of brotherhood and humanity.
I come now to the press of Rutland, and in whatever I may say
in relation to its histoi-y, I must be pardoned if a little vanity is
manifested on my part, as I have been personally identified with it
for over thirty years, and feel a just pride in the position it has held
and the work it has done.
The first newspaper published in Rutland was established by
Anthony Haswell, June 18, 1792, and was called the Herald of
Vermont or Rutland Courier. Thirteen numbers of it had been
published when the office was burned and the paper discontinued.
In 1793, Mr. Lyon commenced the publication of the Farmers'
Library, which publication was continued for about two years
when the concern was purchased by Judge Samuel Williams and
Rev. Samuel Williams, LL. D., and on the 8th day of December,
1794, the first number of the present Rutland Herald was issued
by them.
Copies of all these papers are now on exhibition at the Museum
Hall, and contrasted with the papers of to-day show what changes
and improvements seventy years have wrought. Those early papers
on exhibition are a little larger than a sheet of foolscap paper, and
are printed on very large type.
The Herald was continued by the two Williams' until the first
part of the present century, when it fell into the hands of the late
William Fay, who was connected with its publication nearly all the
time until his death in 1839. It y^s published under the names of
William Fay, Fay & Davison, Fay, Davison & Burt, Ephraim
Maxham, and Fay, Brown & Co. After the death of Mr. Fay, its
publisalion was continued for a short time by Horace T. White, and
then by Whit3 & Guernsey.
In 1843 or 1844 the Herald was purchased by Geo. H, Beaman,

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 99

who continued its publication to 1853. After that it was published
for a short time by Mr. L. Barney, and was purchased of him by
Mr. Chauncey H. Hayden. He published it for about two years,
when he died and the paper fell into the hands of the present pro
prietors. It has since been published by G. A. Tuttle & Co., Tuttle
& Gay, Tuttle, Gay & Co., and now by Tuttle & Co., — he who now
addresses you all of the time holding a connection with it.
The Rutland Daily Herald was first published April 29, 1861,
and has been continued up to the present time, a part of the time
as a morning and evening paper. It grew out of the exi
gencies of the late war, — was started as an experiment, — and has
become one of the fixed institutions of Rutland.
Whatever success the Herald has had financially, when I look
back upon its illustrious founders and its subsequent guidance under
the direction of some of our best men now gone, I cannot repress
a feeling of pride in the belief that the Herald has performed no
humble part in furthering those instrumentalities which have made
Rutland what it is to-day, and that its mission has been one of
good. It has had its faults. But I believe it has ever been the
object of all its proprietors so to conduct it as to serve the best
interests of morality, religion and humanity.
The other papers of Rutland have been : the Union Whig, first
issued in 1849, and published for about two years; the Rutland
Courier, first issued August 14, 1857, by John Cain, and contmued
to to-day ; the Rutland Independent, commenced July, 1866, and
still continued.
There have also been published at various times and for short
periods: the Rural Magazine, a literary publication ; the Vermont
Courier, the Vermont Farmer, the Guard of American Liberty,
What's the News? and several other papers of minor importance.
All these papers have done more or less in moulding the senti
ment of the people, and many of them have aided much in for
warding the growth and prosperity of Rutland. And when we
look around and witness the virtue and intelhgence of our people,
who can say their mission has been in vain, or that their "teachings
have not been worthy of theii- immeasurable power," and, judging
from the past, who will not feel assm-ed that their future -will be one
of usefulness?

100 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

The following is the response of John Cain, Esq., of the Courier,
to the same toast :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: The toast I am called
upon to respond to is rather a dry toast, since my neighbor Tuttle,
of the Herald has eaten all the butter off, and I -will, therefore,
like the clergyman who took the brief text, "God is love," expand
a little and talk about old times.
A long time ago, when Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of
Eden, theu first born child of all the earth was little Cain. No
child was ever born before, and Mother Eve felt proud and delighted.
Cain grew up to be quite a boy, and he has been continually raising
Cain ever since the day he was born. Cain had a brother by the
name of Abel, who was noisy, boisterous, and a very wicked man.
He attacked his brother while under the influence of some new
cider made from the apples Mrs. Adam advised her husband to eat.
Cain, in self-defense, slew his brother Abel, and that was the end
of him. A short time after, and according to the laws of nature
ever since, Cain felt inclined to take to himself a wife, and his
mother recommended him to go into the land of Nod to do his
courting. Now, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, if Adam was the first
man and Eve the first woman, there were only three human beings
on all the earth after the death of Abel. Why then does Cain go
into the land of Nod for the purpose of getting him a wife? Who
could he find there ? Did Cain and Abel have a sister? Even were
this so, what was she doing down in the land of Nod? Why was
she not at home with her parents in the Garden of Eden? Who
could she have been visiting away off in this land? But whether
at home, or off on a visit, does any one believe that she would
marry her own brother? This is too horrible to believe, and as we
have never heard of the "old folks" making a fuss about Cain
taking him a wife, we do not believe in any such theory.
The Rutland Independent once said that Cain got his wife out
of a second story window of a brick house, one mile southwest of
this place. If this were so, I ought to know something about it,
and think it could have no reference whatever to old Cain, the son
of Adam and Eve, but to a veiy remote descendant of theus, who
married some thirty-six years ago, when guls were as plenty as

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 101

blackben-ies. Here present, Mr. President, I see the venerable
Elder Packer, 85 years of age. He has married as many couples
as any clergyman in Rutland county. I have often asked him to
explain to me -as to who it was that Cain took for his wife, how long
they were courting, and whether Adam and Eve approved of the
match? All I could ever learn from him and other divines was
that Cain found her in the land of Nod.
As we have met here to-day to celebrate the one hundredth anni
versary of the organization of Rutland as a town, and as
" A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men,"
I would ask Dr. Todd, Rev. Dr. Butler, Elder Packer and other
clergymen here, to search the Scriptures and report to us, at this
place, one hundred years from to-day, who Cain took for his wife ;
and as we all claim to be descendants of Cain, whether she was a
black woman or a white woman.
To the eleventh toast. Agriculture, J. Grafton Griggs was to
have responded as follows :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: When I look upon the
green pastures of these hillsides, when I wander through the mead
ows bordered by these beautiful streams, when I see these cottage
homes or more stately mansions nesthng so sweetly in these happy
valleys. — I can hardly believe that only one hundred years ago
Rutland was an unbroken wilderness, and had remained so, for
aught we know, from the dawn of creation.
Who first came here to subdue this wilderness? What class of
men were they? Was it the merchant? Did he come to open
trade, -with his boxes and bales of goods, with savage hearts and
red men more savage? Was it the lawyer? Did he come, with
his briefs under one arm and Blackstone under the other, to explain
and expound to the bears, wolves and panthers the awfiil majesty
of the law, and how for the consideration of one of theu pelts he
could show them how they could evade that law? Was it the
physician? Did he come here, -with his pills and potions, offering
to row these wild men and beasts over the river Styx at two dol
lars a stroke of the oar?
No, sir ; none of these. It was the agiiculturist who came first,
and he bore on his shouldei- that simple instrument the ax, which,

102 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

in New England, has been a mightier implement in civilization then
the pen or sword, or both combined. With this he" swept away
the accumulated rubbish of centuries, and caused the sunlight of
heaven to fall un obscured on this virgin soil, giving .life and happi
ness to men !
Mr. President : Dp the spirits of departed ones ever visit earth ?
Do they sometimes come to view the scenes of their sojourn while
here? Then, I doubt not, but the souls of Timothy Boardman,
James Mead, Zebulon Mead, Wait Chatterton, Maj. Cheney and
their associates are hovering within the folds of this pavillion. All
honor to then- sacred memory ! They caused the wilderness to bud
and blossom as the rose ! They plowed the first furrows in this
soil. They sowed in those furrows the seed of that prosperity
which we reap to-day.

THE PROMENADE CONCERT.
We copy from the Rutland Herald the following account of the
closing exercises of the Centennial Celebration :
The Promenade Concert that was held in the mammoth pavilion,
was a fitting " finale" to the Centennial Celebration. The music
was excellent, and whatever may be said of Vermont bands, the
music furnished last night was of a high order. The pavilion was
handsomely decorated and tastily lighted, reflecting great credit
upon those that had the matter in charge. When we entered the
pavilion, there must have been over a thousand present, still, all
had plenty of room, and but for the number of different faces one
would meet in a promenade, we would say that there were few
present. Dancing commenced at 10 o'clock, and was entered into with a
zest that was refreshing. Everybody danced, old and young, rich
and poor, high and low. Dancing was indeed the order of the
night! We saw many that had not tried the "mazy measures" in
many a long year, again wooing the fickle godess, Terpsichore.
Quite a number figui-ed in the costume of " ye olden time." We

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 103

have place only for a few particularly noticeable for the antiqueness
of their costume. Miss Merrill wore a white crape dress, spangled,
that was worn by Madame Williams at a Commencement Ball at
Yale College,, in 1808. It was much admired; the dress was
itself a study, and brought the costumes and manners of our grand-=
mothers vividly to our eyes. Miss Goldsmith wore a handsome
green brocade, over a white wrought^muslin, and had her hair
in keeping with her dress. Miss Dorr was elaborately dressed in
a white satin skirt, with black russet waist and mutton leg sleeves,
that were quite overpowering. She wore, in lieu of a necklace, a
medallion, as was the fashion long ago. Miss Cain was tastily
dressed in a white silk, with a garnet velvet tunic, and was the
happy possessor of a medallion. Miss Owen wore a white satin
wedding dress, imported from Ireland in 1770. Miss Nott wore a
white crape dress, and followed the fashion plates, if they had such
things in those days, rigidly. Miss E. Hall was handsomely attired
in a green satin, tastily looped over white ; the effect was striking.
Miss C. Hall wore a black velvet jacket and pink satin dress, with
black face flounces ; it was much noticed. Miss Harris was dressed
in a striped satin, and wore a yellow silk scarf, and her hau pompa
dour, as was the fashion long ago. Several ladies personated prim
spinsters of bygone times. Huge tortoise combs and large fan, and
work bags, were worn with grace.
Messrs. Kingsley, Liscomb, Baxter, Salsbury, etc., represented
the Continental soldiery. Messrs. Hathaway, Cross, Dorr, etc., old
style gentlemen.
It was a queer sight to see matronly ladies, with caj)s and spec
tacles, courtesying and balancing to sack coats and spike tails;
Washington's own tried veterans of Valley Forge, doing the
"gallant" to demure-looking ladies in scant satin skirts and short
waisted dresses ; gay old fops dancing those " horrid round dances,"
as though " sich things" had been known in theu day. It was a
gay sight, and those that appeared in costume are deserving of a
great deal of credit for their pains.
The Centennial was happily terminated. Much has been said,
pro and con, in regard to its merits as a whole, but reviewed in the
light of its Promenade Concert, it was a success, and one that will
" ne'er be forgotten till every rafter in the place is rotten."

104 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

ANTIQUARIAN MUSEUM.
As a Memorial of the Centennial of Rutland would be incom
plete without a description of the Antiquarian Museum, and the
relics therein contained, we give herewith, with a few alterations
and corrections, the description thereof as published in the Rutland
Daily Herald: _
The relic, or memorial department, is in itself a museum of antiqui
ty, and is well worthy of a visit from all who may come to our town
during the present week, as well as from our own citizens. For
here are found reminders of " our grandfather's days," and of days
far more remote ; and when we look upon the articles of wearing
apparel, of household furniture, the implements of war, agriculture
and mechanism used by them, and compare them with those used
by us at the present day, we can but wonder how our forefathers
existed under such difficulties as they had to contend with, ;wheh we
consider that with all modern means of livelihood by which we are
smTounded, so many of us are still discontent, and feel a void which
genius, and the arts and sciences are constantly laboring to fill.
The display is in the building adjoining the Bardwell House
Block, which -will be open every day during the celebration.
Our attention was first called to the military branch of this
museum, and in it to the gun, now the property of Dr. C. L. Allen,
which was formerly owned by Gen. Ethan Allen, the leader of the
Green Mountain Boys. The gun was owned and used by Ethan
Allen about ] 760. Ethan Allen and Robert Torrence were inti
mate friends when they were young men, and exchanged guns for
keepsakes. Robert Torrence gave the gun to his gi-andson, Orleans
P. Torrence, from whom it was obtained by its present owner. Be
side this gun is one taken from Long John, an Indian, at the Battle
of Bennington, by Captain William Jenkins, whom many of our
citizens remember as one of the wealthiest men and lai-gest land
owners in this section. The Indian afterwards resided here, and is
undoubtedly remembered by our oldest citizens. It is the contri
bution of Miss Isabella M. Brown, which lady makes several valu
able contributions to the display, which we shall take occasion to
mention hereafter.
Next comes a gun, the barrel of which was earned by Lieutenant

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 105

Zebulon Mead in the French and Indian war — ^was used on Lake
Champlain, when Old Put was taken, and was taken into Ticon
deroga on the 10th of May, 1775, when Ethen Allen was there,
and was carried in the Revolution by Henry Mead. It is the con
tribution of their descendant, Joel M. Mead.
Besides these guns were a Continental $4.00 bill, a piece of
Haytien money, a fragment of a Boston play-bill of March 10th,
1797, by G. C. Hathaway ; a musket flint-lock, old Continental, by
C. Carpenter ; a musket, flint-lock, old. Continental, by Darius
Carruth ; a musket, flint-lock, old. Continental, by S. Hinckley ; a
musket, flint-lock, old. Continental, by B. Capron ; a musket, flint
lock, 1812, by Mrs. Foster ; a musket, flint-lock, old. Continental,
A. Buck ; a musket, flint-lock, 1812, S. P. ; a musket, flint-lock,
old. Continental, E. P. ; a Queen's arm, old. Continental ; a gun,
T. S. Gilson ; a breech-loading musket, brought fi-om Quebec,
Louis Martell ; a gun, old, by Amos Pike ; a gun, old, by S.
Hinckley ; a Continental sword, by same ; a Continental sword,
old, by L. Long ; a sword found on the farm of William Lincoln,
in Shrewsbury, about 1800, supposed to have belonged to some one
of Burgoyne's officers, it being found where it is sujiposed his army
crossed the mountain, by Parkhurst ; a sword, captured from the
Hessians by Gen. Stark, at the Battle of Bennington, and now
owned by his sister's daughter, by J. C. Dunn ; a sword captured
fi-om the Hessians at the Battle of Bennington, by Jonathan War
ren ; a Scotch sword, by James Thompson ; a sword, old, by Wm.
L. Dyer ; a English sword, caj)tured at the South, by — Peverly ;
a pair horse pistols, old, by Azor Capron ; a cartridge box, by
Jonathan Warren ; a powder-horn, very old, by J. Warren ; a
powder-horn, by James Pooler ; a powder-flask, by Eli Farmer ; a
powder-horn, used by Captain Jenkins in the war of 1812 ; a
powder-horn, seventy-five years old, by A. S. Cramton; a pair
horse pistols, which belonged to Captain Jenkins, 100 years old or
more ; a military hat, very old, by J. Warren ; a Captain's hat, 80
years old, used by Captain Bachot, by J. C, Dunn ; a pair saddle
bags, over 90 years old, by A. Reed ; a pair saddle-bags, old, by A.
Capron ; a Hessian coat and hat, by H. R. Dyer ; a " Red Coat,"
by A. Capron ; a Indian frock, captured from the Indians at the
time of the massacre in Iowa, Peverly.

106 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

In ancient books and periodicals, we noticed a Bible 109 years
old, used by Mrs. H. H. Albee's great grandfather; Vols. 10, 11
and 12 of Spooner's Vermont Journal, printed in Windsor in
1792-3-4, presented by M. Cook ; Copies of the Rutland Herald
of 1808, 1820, and 1827, and Burlington Centinel of 1812, by
Horace Kingsley ; a Dictionary dated 1777, by T. K. Horton ; a
Geogi-aphy dated 1797, by J. Carruth; a Geography, 1789, by the
same ; a book, " Kingdom of Algiers,'' very old, by Mrs. H. H. Al-
bee ; a parchment indenture, made in 1785, by Eli Farmer ; a bundle
of -wi-its of 1815, and a shinplaster issued by Vermont Glass
Factory of Salisbury, of the denomination of $1.75, dated 1814,
by William Y. Ripley ; a copy of Spooner's Vermont Journal, of
1799, by G. C. Hathaway, and a Vermont Gazette of 1799, by the
same ; a Psalm book 105 years old, by Dr. J. D. Green ; a book
entitled, "Christ, the King Witness of Truth," dated 1744, by H.
II. Paine ; a singing book of 1708, by the same ; Edinburgh Dis
pensatory of 1805, by Dr. C. Porter; Treatises of 1750, by H. W.
Porter ; a Book of sermons, very old, by A. H. Post ; five Books
of Moses, 1737, by Miss Pierpoint ; a work of John Knox's Writ
ings, owned by James Fergu»on, of Barnet — the owner being now
past 99 years of age, and the book over 300 years old, presented by
J. C. Dunn, of Rutland.
Passing this department, we take up a case that stands next in
order, and find in it a soup turreen, and a wash-bowl and pitcher,
by Mrs. C. B. Davis ; a sugar bowl, very old, by Jonathan Warren ;
a pitcher, 113 years old, owned by Addison Buck; 1 sugar-bowl
and creamer, vei-y old, by Mrs. P. M. Lamphear ; one gravy dish,
over 100 years old, by Mrs. Buckham; a turtle-shell imitation
crockery plate, by Mrs. G. A. R. Bissell, which was her father's
grandfather's, and now over 200 years old; a tea cup, 140 years old,
by Dr. Cyrus Porter ; a slop-bowl and plate, by Mrs. Sarah T.
French, which her grandmother had at the time of her marriage,
108 years ago ; one plate, very old, by Miss Mary Baxter ; ofie
china tea cup and saucer, 150 years old, came from Holland, by the
same ; a punch tumbler, very handsome and old, also a wine glass
and hand bellows, all very old, by the same lady ; a set of china
purchased 50 years ago, by Miss Isabella M. Brown, the former
property of and pm-chased by her mother ; one china creamer, 80

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 107
years old, by the same ; one china child's cup, very old, by the
same ; one cream pitcher, 130 years old, by Miss Pierpoint ; one
mug, 115 years old, by A. S. Cook, of Brandon; one pepper-box,
85 years old, by Charles J. Randall; one jjewter porringer, 110
years old, by Mrs. Cyrus Porter, and a silver-plated lamp, 60 years
old, by the same ; an ink-stand, 108 years old, by A. B. Jones ; six
teapots, of ancient patterns, age unknown, and a spittoon, also very
old, by Dunn, Sawyer & Co. ; a teapot, sugar-bowl and creamer,
86 years old, by J. G. Pitkin ; a spy glass, very aged, and known
to have been used by mariners in olden times, also a tinder-box used
by Capt. Ebenezer Markham, going through the woods from Maine
to Nova Scotia in 1796 ; a pair of silk stoQkings worn by Captain
Markham, February 7th, 1775, on the occasion of his marriage ; a
vest worn by him two years earlier ; a frisk worn by Mrs. Mark
ham before her marriage ; a waist worn by the same lady, and a set
of coin balances used by Capt. Markham in the West Indies in
1768, all presented by J. B. Spaulding, who likewise shows a baby's
shirt worn by the late Hon. Isaac Kellogg in 1776. Then there is
a bull's-eye lantern, very old, by Dunn, Sawyer & Co. ; a wooden
sugar-bowl, 125 years old, by Mrs. H. Glynn ; a fish spear, very
old, by Miss Pierpoint ; several stone arrow-heads, by A. H. Post ;
one by James Buckham, picked up 60 years ago ; two wooden
arrows, feather-tipped and steel.pointed, taken, with fifteen others,
from the body of a soldier ; they were shot into him by the Indians
during the late war in the Rocky Mountains, and brought home by
William A. Blossom, son of William R. Blossom, of Pittsfield, Vt.,
who was a soldier in the late rebelhon ; one very old timepiece, by
H. L. Gray ; a dagger, very old, by A. H. Post ; a cocoanut tunnel,
97 years old, by D. Hall ; three spectacles and cases, one 100 years
old, one 107 years old, one 115 years old ; a handkerchief-bag, 80
years old, a nightcap, 80 years old, a pocket, 80 years old, a collar,
very old, all by Mrs. Nathan Howard ; a tortoise-shell back comb,
very old, by Mrs. Isaac McDaniels, and two of the same by Mrs.
Cyi-us Porter ; a cane by S. Hinckley, which was the property of
the gi-eat grandfather of Gilbert Preed, and now known to be over
200 years old; a mirror, known to be over 215 years old, and now
in the hands of the fourth generation, by J. C. Dunn ; a mirror.

108 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
which was brought over in the Mayflower, by D. K. Hall ; a razor
and case, over 80 years old, by Friend Weeks.
In other parts of the room we noticed one tray, made in England
150 years ago, by Miss I. M. Brown ; one buch bark basket, made
by an Indian named " Long J6hn," by the same ; two pitch forks,
very old, by James McConnell; a bit stock, 1782, by T. A. Boai-d-
man ; a pod auger, 105 years old, by Oliver Tinney ; a pe-wter
plate and tea salver, over 100 years old, by R. E. Pattison ; a pew
ter plate, 60 years old, by F. A. Burk ; a wooden plate and pe-wter
plate, 70 years old, A. Reed ; three pe-wter plates, very old, by L 
R  ; five pewter plates, very old, by S. G. Dunton ; a pe-wter
plate and basin, vei-y old, Mrs. E. W. Huntoon ; two pewter dishes,
1776, by A. B. Allen ; a pewter plate, one of a set buried at the
tune of Burgoyne's surrender, remaining buried 52 years on the
farm in Addison, Vt., known as the late Hon. John Story's farm,
by J. B. Spaulding; a pe-wter plate, very old, by Mrs. Ira Fisher;
an 18-inch pewter platter, belonging to Miss I. M. Brown's father's
gi-eat aunt, vei-y old, by Miss I. M. Brown ; a tea tray, very old, by
the same ; a pewter mug, 95 years old, by Miner Hilliard ; a whet
stone, very old, by the same ; a wooden skimmer, 105 years old, by
F. Weeks ; a pewter platter very old, by D. S. Squires ; a pewter
plate and two spoons, by Mrs. B. Parker ; a foot-stove, 100 years
or more old, by J. Haskell ; a brass kettle, 95 years old, by E.
Boardman ; a brass kettle, 137 years old, by T. L. Fisk ; an earthen
arm flask, 97 years old, by A. Reed; a pipe and tobacco box, 80
years old, by Mrs. Nathan Howard ; a wooden salt morter, 150
years old, by Mrs. Caswell ; a wooden mortar, 100 years old by F.
Weeks; an iron kettle, over 100 years old, by Miss Pierpoint ; a
brass dish and warming-pan, very old, by S. G. Dunton ; an ax, used
by the great grandfather of John C. Thompson, which has passed
down three generations, by A. H. Post ; the eye and tongue of the old
court house bell, taken from the ruins, by C. Carpenter ; a table,
chair and trunk that was J. C. Dunn's mother's grandmother's, very
old, by J. C. Dunn ; two old silk hats, by Dr. C. Porter ; two chairs, of
a set used in the flrst State House in the State of Vermont, located
in Rutland, on West street, in the dwelling more recently known
as the Jenkms farm house, it being 86 years since it was used for

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 109
the sittings of the Legislature ; a chair manufactured 97 years ago
at Portsmouth, N. H., by S. D. Peverly ; a large armchair, 110
years old, by Joseph Tower ; a double chair, very old, by James
McConnell ; a wagon-chair, 60 years old, H. Mussey ; two upholstered
Gothic chairs, 60 years old, by Cyrus Porter ; a pair swifts, 87
years old. Miss Pierpoint ; a small, round dining table, used by
Capt. Jenkins, 90 years old ; a work-basket, very old. Miss Pier
point ; a large basket, old, by the same ; a hair trunk which was used
by Capt. Jenkins when a young man, it is 50 years since he died, at
the age of 67 years. An iron pot, 90 years old, taken by the
Indians at the burning of Royalton ; an arm-chair, 100 years old, by
James Holden ; a chair, 107 years old, J. C. Dunn ; an arm-chair,
120 years old, Eli Farmer; an arm-chair, very old, Mr. Haskell; a
rocking-chair, 70 years old, R. L. Perkins ; a small spinning-wheel,
75 years old, F. Weeks ; a small spinning-wheel, very old, S. Green;
a double linen-wheel, 127 years old, by A. H. Post ; a wheel-head,
over 100 years old, Mrs. B. Parker ; a pair of swifts, 86 years old,
by Joseph Tower ; a plastering trowel, and a coffee-mill, 107 years
old, by F. Weeks ; a dish tub, very old. Miss Pierpoint ; a gi-ain-
riddle, very old, D. S. Squires ; a pair shoe-buckles, 100 years old,
by the same ; an adze, very old, by James McConnell ; a pau of
wooden shoes, by B. TUley ; a warming-pan, 125 years old, by D.
S. Squires; a warming-pan, 150 years old, Mrs. Carswell; two grind
stones, old, Dunn, Sawyer & Co. ; two worsted combs, over 100 years
old, James McConnell ; two worsted combs, 100 years old, by D. S.
Squires ; an hetchell, 100 years old, James McConnell ; an hetchell,
very old, M. Hilliard ; an hetchell, 65 years old, by Levi Long ; a
tape loom, 100 years old, James McConnell ; two loom reeds, 92 years
old, James McConnell ; a pair of cards, 80 years old, Mrs. Sarah
Tower ; two planes and veenering saws, very old, N. J. Green ; a
pair of andirons, 60 years old, Dr. C. Porter ; a flax-brake, 70 years
old, Henry Mussey ; one hand fan, 100 years old, D. H. Squires ;
one flax-brake, very old, Azor Capron ; one wooden plow, made by
Stephen Holt, of Pittsfield, the first settler of that town, and one
wooden plow, 100 years old ; one large plow, very old, by A. H.
Post ; one long handled hay-fork, very old, by James McConnell ;
one wooden box, made by the Indians, and found in an old build
ing at Comstock's Landing 25 years ago, McDuie ; one loom shut>-

110 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

tie, very old, used by J. C. Dunn's gi-eat gi-andmother, by J. C
Dunn ; one pair of moccasins, very old, by the same ; part of a
wedding dress of Mrs. Noah Thompson, formerly of Bridgewater,
made with her own hands from flax, in the year 1766, by Stillman
Atwood ; one christening blanket for children, 175 years old — it
was once lined with pink silk and bound with braid ; one linen
pocket handkerchief, old, S. G. Dunton ; one wooden tea-tray, very
old, history unknown, Mrs. Rufus Long ; one silk shawl, very old,
Miss I. M. Bro-wn ; one piece copper plate, 90 years old, T. K.
Horton ; one blanket, 115 years old, brought from Holland by Miss
Brown's great grandmother, by Miss I. M. Brown ; one coverlid,
supposed to be 125 years old, and was the proj)erty of Mrs. J. C.
Thompson's great gi-andmother, J. C. Thompson ; one tin baker,
very old, the property of the late Robert Pierpoint ; one letter,
July 5th, 1784, by G. C. Hathaway; one genuine authograph of
Sir John Franklin, by A. A. Nicholson ; one frame containing a
New Hampshire $4.00, 1780 ; and also a striped worsted vest, made
by Jennette Riche, in Scotland, in 1740, for her intended husband,
Andrew Lackey. She also made a wedding-dress at the same
time, and her husband's ^est was patched with her dress. It was
brought from Glasgow to this country in the year 1783, by James
Ferguson, and his wife and three children, in the ship Laura (Jamp-
den, Capt.. Gildrist in command. They were bound for Phila^
delphia ; 300 Irish and 40 Scotch aboard the vessel, and were nine
weeks crossing the ocean, and the vessel run aground near New
castle, Delaware ; the 40 Scotch landed, and walked 40 miles to
Philadelphia. It is now owned by James Ferguson, of Barnet, Vt.,
the gi-andson of Andrew Lackey and Jennette Riche. A Com
mission to Lieut. William Dyer in the Vermont Militia, in 1812,
signed by Jonas Galusha, (governor ; also a poi-trait of Samuel
Dyer, a soldier of the Revolution, painted in 1845, and his account
book, commenced at Cranston, R. I., in 1784, and closed at Ches
ter, in this State, in 1814, exhibited by James H. Dyer, grandson of
William, and grea1>grandson of Samuel Dyer. A twenty dollar
bill on the Bank of Plattsburgh, contributed by Rodney Pierce, of
Brandon, who has had it in his possession 50 years ; he received it
at par just before the bank failed. A Bible, owned by James Mead,
first settler of the town, contributed by R. R. Mead, it was printed

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. Ill
in 1791 ; a copy of Virgil, printed in 1515, edited by Sebastian
Brant, and containing 204 very curious wood cuts, and an English
version of Homer's Iliad, by George Chapman, printed in 1610,
both contributed by Judah Dana ; H. R. Dyer contributes apooket-
book and papers, 101 years old ; Maria Cook, a lot of bills dated
1816 ; " The History of the Low Countrey Warres,'' printed in
1650 ; The Social Harp, printed in 1801 '. Travel in Germany and
Elsewhere, printed in 1454; a paper of 1795, and an Almanac of
1798, by C. Carpenter ; a letter -wr-itten by Nicholas Goddard of
this place in 1797; a bottle presented at the battle of Bennington
to Jonathan Haynes, gi-andfather of B. H. Haynes, by a Hessian ;
a punch bowl 90 years old by F. B. Eustis ; a picture of Gen. Israel
Putnam, very old and dingy ; a picture of Mrs. Rebekah Freeman
of this town, who died in 1862, aged 97, taken when she was 91
years old, -with various other books, pictures and literary curiosities,
mostly Bibles and prayer books, showing our forefathers to be a
godly people.
Among other attractive articles on exhibition were a chair for
merly owned by John Adams of Killingby, Conn., gi-eat^grand-
father of Amasa Pooler, by whom it was presented ; the wedding
apron of Abigail Leonard, wife of Rev. Warham Williams, mar
ried in 1728, and also five silver table spoons, apart of her marriage
portion (Rev. Warham Williams was son of Rev. John Wilhams,
taken captive at Deerfield, Mass., 1704, and brother of Eunice
Williams, grandmother of Rev. Eleazer Williams, celebrated as the
Dauphin, or "Lost Prince," and supposed by many to be really the
son of the unfortunate Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette of France.)
Also table and tea spoons belonging to Rev. Samuel Williams and
his wife, Jane Kilborn Williams, married in 1768. All these arti
cles were brought to Rutland in 1792, by Rev. Samuel Williams,
and now owned and contributed by Mrs. John Strong of this town.
(Rev. Samuel Williams was the historian of Vermont, and founder
and first editor of the Herald.) Here also was a "letter written
by our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ, found under a great stone, 65
years after his crucifixion," and reprinted in London in 1791; a
smoking tongs, brought from England before the Revolutionary
war, by Rev. Mr. Carpenter, owned by J. B. Kilburn ; a powder
horn 112 years old, by H. Bateman; a dentist's turnkey, 1720,
. V

112 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

owned by Dr. Cochran, West Rutland; a tobacco box, 1760, con
taining knee buckles, sleeve buckles, and an ancient coin once worn
about the neck of an ancestoi-, placed there by a " seventh son " as
a charm against "Kings' evil," by Dr. Cochran. The Doctor also
has a compass of the make of 1720, and a fine looking side saddle,
labeled " hands off" (for which we commend him), as well as other
relics which contributed to make up the exhibition; a blanket 125
years old, owned by Mrs. J. C. Thompson; an iron pot 99 years
old, taken by the Indians at the burning of Royalton, owned by
A. H. Post ; a walking cane, a peculiar looking affair throughout —
it was made of wood from the rebel steamer "Merrimac," headed
by a miniature cannon made from brass from the "Congress,'' and
surmounted by an iron head made from the iron of the "Cumber
land." It will be remembered that the Congress and Cumberland
were sunk by the Merrimac near Fortress Monroe in. 1862, and
finally that the monster rebel ram was driven back to her quarters
up the James River, as well as her consorts, the Jamestown and
Yorktown, by the little so-called Yankee cheese-box, "the Monitor") ;
a plate brought from China 150 years ago, and used by the great-
gi-andfather of Mrs. J. N. Baxter, with a curious monogram "O. E.
C." in center; hatter's cooling iron, the one with which Anthony
killed Green in a hat shop on Main street, Rutland, 1814, owned
by Dr. Orel Cook ; a brass pan brought to this country by Roger
Williams. In the jewelry department were many objects which we consid
ered more than noticeable, among them a clock made in 1580, pre
sented by Dr. Abell, the astronomer, to Ben K. Chase, Rutland ;
Gen. Stark's dram cup, presented to him by Hannah Dalton ; locket
with portrait and hairwork, contributed by Mrs. Baxter ; a pair of
knee buckles worn by Prince Robinson, of Washington's Black
Regiment ; a pin ball made in 1768 ; a key and seal worn by Judge
Briggs about 70 years ago; knee buckles worn by Major Post 105
years ago ; a pencil carried by Daniel Webster 30 years ago ; a silver
spoon formerly the property of Sybil Huntington ; a slipper worn
by Sally Cluff over 100 years ago; a sun-glass over 100 years old;
a pail- of spoons 100 years old, the iiroperty of Mary Young ;
spoons made by Lord & Goddard of Rutland, its first jewelers ; a
spoon presented by Gen. Israel Putnam to his oldest daughter on

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.'' 113

her marriage, about 106 years since; spoons 109 years old; a shirt
brooch, L. L. Whitcomb; a watch made in 1785; sleeve buttons
made in Scotland; buttons Avorn in 1759 by Mehitable Sperry;
sleeve buttons worn 68 years, by A. Chase and 109 years old; a
shirt brooch made in 1773; shell cased watch worn by John Han
cock, made in 1676; celebrated watch "Tempter," made between
1775 and 1800; Washington watch; English watch made in 1803;
alarm watch bought in 1820 by Wm. Cawley; a gold Macedonian
coin known as a double drachma, whose value when coined was
$3.33. It is 2,200 years old, and as Lysimachus, tutor of Alexan
der and one of his great generals, caused gold coin to be stricken
with the portrait of his great master on them, and fi-om the near
resemblance of the head on this coin to the bust of Alexander
found at Tivoh, the ancient Tiber, in the year A. D. 1 779, it may
with certainty be regarded as a genuine portrait of Alexander the
Great, and hence possesses a value to the lover of antiquity impos
sible to compute ; a solid silver flagon 102 years old, the property
of Mrs. Jane Kilborn WiUiams, contributed by Mrs, Gov. Williams ;
a table spoon 146 years old, the property of Mrs. Leonard, con
tributed by Mrs. Gov. Williams; two tea spoons formerly owned
by Miss Jane Kilborn, now owned by Mrs. Gov^ Williams ; a sugar
tongs 102 years old, formerly owned by Mrs. Jane Kilborn Wil
liams, contributed by Mrs. Gov. Williams; a pin, earrings and
sleeve buttons, 102 years old, belonging to Mrs. Gov. Williams ; a
plate belonging to Mrs. Sikes, great aunt to Queen Emma of the
Sandwich Islands, 120 years old ; two pairs of shoe buckles, 125
years old, owned by Mrs. Gov. Williams ; a pan- of ear rings worn
by Phineas Pratt of New Ipswich, N. H,, about 1780, contributed
by Mary E. Ripley ; a shirt and sleeve buttons worn by Surgeon
Hodges when on Washington's staff, contributed by Hugh H. Bax
ter ; a breastpin, 1785, Mrs. Howard; a ring, style of 1785; a bull's
eye watch, made in 1720; a belt plate worn by Gen. Ellas Buell of
Albany, in 1779.
Returning to the general department we found an hour-glass of
100 years ago, the contribution of Eli Farmer; the Ulster Co.
Gazette of January 4, 1800; the Northern Spectator, printed in
Poultney in 1826; an ancient and modern suit of clothes by Mr.
Watkins ; a pair of vases, known to be 1000 years old, and theu
8

114 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
history was lost, believed to be very ancient, presented by a Man
darin (Chinaman) to W. Y. Ripley some years since; a pair of
stays worn of Mrs. Capt. Jenkins in 1785, contributed by Miss Isa
bella M. Bro-wn ; a wedding vest, by W. Y. Ripley ; a pistol carried
by Gen. Washington as late as 1 776, a piece of gun and balls found
after the battle of White Plains, and a looking-glass owned by
Maiy Chilson, the first white woman in America north of the old
Mason and Dixon Une, contributed by Ezra Edson of Manchester ;
a bonnet presented by James McConnell, of the fashion of 1830 —
an old scoop, but not a "love" of the present day; a worsted comb
used by the grandmother of O. H. Rounds in Scituate, R. I., 125
years ago ; an embroided skirt 60 years old, by Mrs. L. G. Kings-
ley. The contribution of John Cain, made for his son, Capt. Aveiy
B. Cain of the U. S. army, who for years has been in army life on
the frontier, was noticeable, and attracted more handling by visitors
than it would were it om-s. It consisted of a pipe of peace pre
sented by Red Cloud, two arrows captured from the Cheyennes in
battle, needle cases made by Sioux squaws, pantaloon stripes worn
by a Sioux chief, match safe, tobacco box, pouch and beads, by the
same tribe, a blanket and earrings presented Capt. Cain by the
Navajoes. Near by this collection was a sampler worked in 1800
by Mrs. Avery Billings of this town, the contribution of Miss Kate
Connell; James Buckman's coat, worn at his wedding in 1778, a
coarse article of goods, but which cost $8 per yard at the time of
its purchase, was shown by J. C. Dunn; a quilt 125 years old, and
a coat worn by Chapman Mattison 82 years ago, was furnished by
O. H. Rounds; a fox muff bought in Albany in 1782, and beside
it a set of mink furs, said to be old (which we doubted) ; an infant's
dress skirt made in 1808, shown by E. B. Holden ; a breastplate
picked up by Christopher Rice of this town on a rebel battle field,
and worn by him, after the derision of his comrades, at the battle
of Locust Grove, where it was struck by a ball which would
undoubtedly have penetrated the wearer's vitals but for it. The
ball flattened is shown with the plate.
Passing along, we came to an oil painting of Major Eaton, and
beside it one of his wife, both made 85 years ago, and in the same
department an oil painting of Nathaniel Gove, and adjoining it
those of Jesse Gove and his wife ; an embroidered pictm-e made

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL 115

by Mrs. J. C. R. Dorr's gi-andmother in France, over one hundred
years ago ; bills of the old Vermont State Bank, a bill on the Bank
of Windsor, veiy old, and one on the Franklin Bank of Boston,
were presented by Judah Dana; a bunch of arrows, with theu
quiver, taken from a Sioux chief in battle by Capt. Wm. J, Cain,
another son of our neighbor of the Courier, and by him presented to
Master Hugh Baxter ; and a copy of the New England Courant, pub
lished February 11th, 1723, owned by Joseph Adams of Cavendish,
and presented by Newman Weeks ; also copies of the first volumes
of the Rutland Herald, by a gentleman from Saratoga, whose name
we did not learn ; and an important document, a charter signed by
Cadwallader Colden, Lieut. Governor of New York, to Nathan
Stone and others of a township of land in lieu of Rutland, which
had been granted to them by the Governor of New Hampshire, and
afterward chartered by the Government of New York to other
parties, dated July 15th, 1774, belonging to Chauncy K. Williams.
In our further peregrinations of the hall we observed saddles and
harnesses as old as 80 years, bedspreads, quilts, handkerchiefs, agri
cultural implements, and various other things which we would like
to mention, but which we have neither time nor space to do, and
which for aught more we can do must pass into oblivion.

THE PAVILION.
The Pavilion or tent in which the dinner was served, and in
which was held the Promenade Concert, was situate on the lot
purchased by the town, on which to erect a Town Hall, on the
south side, and at the foot of Washington street. It was two
hundred and ten feet long by sixty-six feet wide, and fully capable
of seating three thousand persons. The walls were nine feet high,
and the roof some twenty-five feet at the ridge, the whole supported
by six stout masts. From the ridge of the roof to the top of the
wall on the sides were hung streamers of alternate red and white
bunting at close intervals, while on the ends were numerous
streamers, emblematic of the national ensign, carried out from the
centre at the top down to either corner. Around the tent, at the

116 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

top of the wa'l, were interwoven stripes of red and white bunting,
which hung gracefully, and were at once ornamental and attractive.
About the middle of the tent, and in front of the stage, from the
roof depended the stars and stripes, on either side of which, and
extending to both ends, were hung numerous flags and banners of
various nations. The platform was in the center, on the west side,
and in full view and easy hearing distance of all parts of the house.
For the purjiose of lighting it in the evening, pipes were laid and
connected with the gas works, and to these were attached one
hundred and thirty-eight burners, some of which were arranged in
the form of stars.

DECORATIONS.
The following is substantially the Herald account:
The decorations on account of the Centennial Celebration were
extremely appropriate in every respect, and reflected honor upon
our citizens, who thus evinced their determination to contribute to
celebrating the anniversary of the settlement which gave our town
a name and place in history second to none in our commonwealth.
One of the most beautifully decorated buildings in the place was
the Opera House, whose inner appearance, with flags, streamers,
mottoes, coats of arms, shields, evergreens, flowers and other orna
ments decking the walls, ceilings, stage, galleries, and every availa
ble place for such ornamentations, made it resplendent with beauty
and admired by all who entered it during the week. Externally
the building was proportionately beautified, fiags and banners being
displayed from every window and appropriately hung on the walls
and over the door. Extending across the street from the Opera
House was a line of flags, in the center of which was a tablet in
the shape of a shield, with the inscription on the side, " Washington
promulgated our principles, Warren died in their defense — we
intend to perpetuate them." On the reverse of the tablet was,
" The Memories of the Fathers are the Inspiration of her Sons"
the whole bordered with the Stars and Stripes.
In the tent, besides the decorations we have already mentioned,
we could not but notice behmd the stage a painting which was a

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 117

globe resting on a shield, surmounted by the American eagle, with
the motto "E Pluribus JJnum" in his beak, the whole surrounded
by wreaths of the olive branch of peace. On the opposite side of
the hall was an allegorical painting of '¦^America — as it was and
is," and on each of the six masts, besides pictures of some of our
elderly and deceased prominent citizens were trophies of flags and
the coat of arms of some one of the six New England States. At
the Central House a line of flags extended across to Kingsley &
Sprague's block, in the center of which was a banner bearing on one
side the motto, " Our Fathers left us the glorious legacy of Lib
erty — m,ay loe transmit it to posterity — have virtue to merit and
courage to preserve it," and on the other side, "Stain not the glory
of your worthy ancestors, but like them resolve never to part with
your birthright." Other street decorations were made at the foot
of Center street, where there was a line extended from the top of
Morse's block to the Bates House, on which was a banner girded
with evergreens and inscribed, " Welcome to Rutland" and on
either side of it an American flag. Outside of the flag on the left
was another of blue and white blocks arranged diagonally, under
neath which were the figures "1770," and on the right one of red
and white blocks arranged in the same way, with the figures under
neath of "1870." Other street decorations were admired which
led from La;ndon's block to Clark's block on Merchant's Row, from
the Stevens House diagonally to Verder's block on Center and
Wales streets, and from the residence of H. R. Dyer to the Strong
mansion on Main street, as well as one at the head of the same
street. An arch erected on West street, opposite the old State
House, by the members of Nickwacket Engine Company, was very
appropriate, and elicited the commendation of members of the pro
cession, and, indeed, of all who passed under it. It was tastefully
trimmed with evergreens and flowers, and ornamented with Ameri
can, Turkish, Irish and State flags, and spoke well for the patriot
ism of the members of the company who constructed it. Colonel
Veazey, who had his own house decorated very finely, appreciating
the efforts of the boys, furnished them during the night of their
work with edibles and etceteras, for which they desire us to return
him this public expression of their thanks. The arch was inscribed,
'¦'¦Nickwacket No. 1, in honor of the old State Souse." The old

118 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.
State House, the present residence of Martin Spaulding, was orna
mented with flags and labeled with a brief history of it from its
building to the present time. Of other decorations we can only
say that nearly every house and business place along the line of
march of the procession showed some emblem of decoration. The
ones which most particularly attracted the attention of passers were
the Herald building, decorated finely outside and centered with a
shield bearing the inscription, " The Rutland Serald, the oldest
paper in Vermont, — established Decetnber, 1794." In the building
the stores of Tuttle & Co. and Fenn & Co. had flags displayed in
profusion. Morse's block and the building of the National Bank of
Rutland had numerous flags displayed, as had also Dr. Pond at his
drug store ; the same was true of the Bates, Central and Bardwell
Houses, the Independent office. Courier office, Paine, Bowman &
Co., George H. Palmer, Newman Weeks, Ben K. Chase, George
W. Chaplin, H. W. Kingsley, O. W. Currier, Lewis & Fox, Clark
Bros. & Marshall, J. W. Stearns and others whom we do not now
remember. The establishments of R. M. Cross & Co., B. H. Bm-t,
George W. Hilliard, Allen & Higgins and the Rutland Boot and
Shoe Company, were the richest looking on Merchants' Row in this
respect, and the ornamentations we are pleased to learn proved pay
ing advertisements for their enterprising proprietors. The private
residences which looked the best were those of Gen. Wm. Y. W.
Ripley, Thomas MoLaughhn, J. N. Baxter, B. H. Burt, Martin G.
Everts, Mrs. Gov. Williams, Dr. Haynes, George H. Palmer, Geo.
C. Royce, Albert H. Tuttle, Rev. E. Mills, Geo. A. Tuttle, H. C.
Tuttle, F. C. Sherwin, Charles J. Powers and James Ban-ett, while
at the residences of Hem-y Hall, Gov. Page and many others whose
names and location we cannot here call to mind, very creditable
displays of flowers, wreaths and the national bunting were made.
In these decorations the good taste and materials of Lamphrell &
Jdarble, practical decorator, of No. 357 Commercial street, Boston,
was very apparent.

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 119

COL. VEAZEY'S REMARKS.
The response of Col. Wheelock G. Veazey to the second regular
toast, and of which an abstract is given in another page, through
inadvertence was not received in season for insertion in its regular
order, and we therefore give it here.
It is proper to remark that it was expected that the Governor of
the State, Judge Poland, and other distinguished citizens of the
State would respond to the toast generally, and it was not until
almost the last minute that Col. Veazey understood that he was to
speak, except to the military part thereof
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
If I were to point you to the greatest glory of Vermont, I think
I should direct your view to the -wonderful autumrial beauty that
now clothes our mountain slopes, so far sm-passing anything that
art has ever been able to attain. I might properly refer, also, to
the healthfulness of our climate, which, with the beauty of her
scenery, makes Vermont the resort of the invalid and the tourist.
But there is another aspect in which to speak of our State.
Although Vermont had a settlement many years prior to the
date which the charter of the town of Rutland bears, yet it is
scarcely a violation of fact to say that our State is a product of the
century just closed, which, historically considered, has been more
fruitful of great men and gi-eat events than any which history
chi-oniclos. But, though a product of this wonderful era, her worth,
her honor, her importance as a State is measured rather as a pro
ducer. In this respect, as in , beauty of scenery and healthfulness
of climate, she stands pre-eminent. In art, her soi;is are rapidly tak
ing rank "with the most distinguished artists that the western world
has produced ; in laws and institutions, eminent jurists and states
men have said, that she presents, on the whole, the best model of
any people on earth. This, perhaps, is the best criterion of the
purity and ability of the public men who have, under a general
guidance of the people, shaped and moulded her laws and institu
tions. But, independent of this, the character of her executives
throughout the entire succession has been the pride of Vermonters,
Good government, protection of person and property, fi-eedom of

120 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

thought and action, liberty without license, have been the fruits of
their faithful administrations.
Among the best products of Vermont, we may safely name her
judiciary. The names of PheljDS, Royce, Williams, Collamer, Red-
fleld, and many others that have adorned the Bench of Vermont,
are among the highest of modern judges. Could we be assm-ed
that the centm-y to come will have a judiciary in Vermont equal to
that of the century past, it would be the strongest assurance of the
preservation of our liberties, and the prosperity of our Common
wealth. Equal in character and ability with her executives and
judiciary, stand her statesmen. Indeed, in many instances, the
same men have aided to establish and maintain the proud position
of Vermont, as governors, judges and legislators. In the civil
service, Vermont has never been excelled by any State in the emi
nence of her public men.
There remains to speak of Vermont on the battle fields of the
Republic. And yet the sentiment to which I am called upon to
respond, comprehensively covers the whole ground : " Foremost,
from Ticonderoga and Plattsburgh to Gettysburg and the Wilder
ness." Vermont has been called "the legitimate child of war." It
is a curious fact of history that the territory now constituting Ver
mont, was more a battle-ground of fierce aboriginal tribes upon the
north, west and south, than a home or possession that any tribe
claimed. So, through the Colonial period, it lay in the pathway of
British and French armies contending for supremacy in the new
world. After this came the contention arising out of the double
system of grants from New Hampshire and New York. Resist-
ence to the unwarranted and unjust jurisdiction of New York was
the occasion of that military organization known as the Green
Mountain Boys, afterwards famed in the great struggle that resulted
in severing this nation from an empire, and lifting it to the dignity
of independent national existence. The grand figure of Ethan
Allen on the heights of Ticonderoga, in the gray of the morning
of May 10th, 1775, proclaiming- the authority of the Continental
Congress, and compelling the first surrender of the British flag "to
the coming Republic," has been the inspiration of Vermonters
thi-ough the succeeding generations. The preservation of the
honor and integi'ity of the Republic has ever been to them the

RUTLAND CENTENNIAL. 121
most glorious cause, the most exalted duty, in the performance of
which they have held life as but an idle breath. When they planted
our starry flag on the ramparts of the Hessian, at Bennington, the
American heart was filled with joy and hope, and the success of the
American cause passed from the possible to the probable. When,
in 1812, the pestilence of war again breathed upon us, the lines of
Vermont flamed along our Northern border, at Plattsburgh, at
Niagara, at Crown Point, achieving glory worthy of Ticonderoga
and Bennington. In the war with Mexico, though our people were
not in full political sympathy with its object, yet when declared,
and the national fame became imperiled, partizanship was buried
in patriotism, and Vermont furnished her full quota, and con
tributed the brave and brilliant Ransom to the country's cause.
Next came resistance to the assaults of treason, in which 34,000
Vermonters participated with distinguished honor. They struck
the first blow in Virginia. They were the first to enter Richmond.
They set an example of gallantry at Lee's Mills that was never sur
passed, and Rutland there lost the brave and noble Reynolds. They
were firm amid confusion at Bull Run, and their firhmess con
tributed largely to the salvation of Washington. They were
patient and persistent amid the disasters of the Peninsula, and
through thei seven days humilating conflict, never declined a battle,
or failed to punish the enemy in every instance of his attack upon
them. History will one day record what is now not generally
known, that a *son of Rutland, here present, as effectually and
surely contributed, by his personal exertions, to save our army
from defeat at the desperate battle of Malvern Hill, as Warner con
tributed to the victory of Bennington. At Fredericksburg, South
Mountain and Antietam they bravely bore our banners to victoi-j-.
At Gettysburg, they stood in the pivotal point of our lines, in that
pivotal battle of the war, as firm as the hills of their Green Moun
tain State, and after three days of stubborn fighting of 200,000
men, they dealt the blow that ended the battle of Gettysburg,
which, in brilliancy, is not eclipsed by the resplendent glory that
for half a century has steadily rested upon the field of Waterloo.
In the Shenandoah Valley, their unyielding presence convinced the
gallant Sheridan that he could turn defeat to victory. Th,ey were
» Lieutenant Colonel Wm. T. W. Ripley.

122 RUTLAND CENTENNIAL.

also on that outstretched battle-field, from the Rapidan to the Op-
pomattox, running through from May to April, where the scythe of
death sw^ept as it never swept before, every day garnering up laurels
that would have adorned the chaplets of Roman Emperors, in their
triumphal returns from the conquest of Empires. They were at
Baton Rouge, where another son of Rutland, the gallant Colonel
Roberts, fell. They were everywhere, indeed, throughout the vast
arena of conflict, making up a record which the most brilliant
achievements of war never eclipsed ; and, thank God, they never,
throughout the four years of fighting, lost a flag. May we not
reasonably expect that in all the accomplishments of Vermont in
the century to come, she will scarcely, at its end, be able to point to
a nobler record than that of her brave sons in the gigantic struggle
which resulted in lifting the cruel yoke of slavei-y from the necks
of a race of human beings ?
Mr. President, I am mindful that I must close. I have said that
the century we are to-day, in a certain sense, reviewing, produced
Vermont. Vermont in turn has produced that which, it is said, in
the highest sense, constitutes a State, " Men, high-minded men,
who know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain ! "

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 01436 1894