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RADCUFFE COLLEGE UBRARY(
WOMAN'S ARCHIVES j
i
aift of i
Mr# & Mrs Lyman ^\--?cher Stoire
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THE
LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS
A COLLATION
OF THE
HISTORICAIv, BIOGRAPHICAI., AND I^ITERARY
REMINISCKNSES OF THE TOWN OF
I,ITCHFIEI.D, CONNECTICUT
EDITED BY
George C. BosweivI.
' That old town, more typical than any other, I think,
of Conne6licut institutions and life"
Gov. Ingersoll, Banquet to Chief Justice Seymour
litchfield
Alex. B. Shumway
1900
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COPYRIGHT, 1899
BY GEORGE C. BOSWELL
?^.
/ ; : /
I
THE HARTFORD PRESS
The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company
1900
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bi^ nattot (Coton are 4Bebicateb to
Mt. lUonarb ;^tone
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/
Pr?fac(?.
The Litchfield of to-day is in many respects
a modern town. Its stores, with scarce an
exception, are as new as those of Seattle or
Tacoma ; its churches have all been built
within the memory of men and women who
worship in them. And while for more than a
century the beauty of its situation and the
charm of its streets have been justly cele-
brated, yet it is within recent years that all
this has been greatly enhanced by the Village
Improvement Society, and by the enterprise
and philanthropy of its citizens.
But no stranger who walks beneath the ven-
erable elms on its broad park-like streets, or
looks upon its comfortable and stately homes,
but feels that he is on historic ground, — and
he is right, for there is scarcely a town of its
size, even in New England, that can compare
with it in memories of more than local in-
terest.
This is the home of the Wolcotts and
Beechers. This is the native town of men
whose careers have been as dissimilar as Ethan
(5)
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6 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Allen, on the one hand, and Horace Btishnell
and Charles Loring Brace, on the other.
Litchfield has been the seat of the first Law
School in America, of Miss Pierce's Seminary,
and of the Morris Academy. In the first of
these schools, John C. Calhoun studied ; in the
second, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and, for a time,
her brother, Henry Ward Beecher; in the
third, John Brown. Every one of the old
houses in the town has a story full of interest
to those who dwell here, and in many instances
of nearly equal fascination to anyone who
cares for the history, the biography, the lite-
rary reminiscences of his country.
Let no one suppose, however, that the glory
of Litchfield is all in the past. To be sure, in
one respect this town can never be like the old
Litchfield, — a trade center, the fourth town in
population in the state. Modern industrialism
has sought the valleys, and this hill town has
become a summer resort. Once Litchfield was
famous for its schools, and we should not be
surprised if the time would soon come when it
should be known again as an educational
center ; for where could be found a place more
suitable for a great school which would make
the traditions of Miss Pierce's realities once
more?
And even now the men are here who could
constitute the faculty of a summer Theological
School that would draw students half across
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PREFACE. 7
the continent. President Timothy Dwight,
Professors Hoppin and Harris, — not to know
these names is a confession of intellectual
darkness.
And in the winter time, when this town is
supposed to hibernate, even then a Law School
might be put in operation. Litchfield has
never lacked since the time of the first Oliver
Wolcott one or two citizens who have been
either governor or chief justice, but until these
last days it has never had a man who has given
new dignity to both of these offices. Let the
chief justice preside, and if a coadjutor is
needed, there is one here whose name for a
hundred years has carried with it leadership at
the bar.
This book is confessedly concerned with the
days that have passed into history ; it only
touches the present incidentally, but it has
been compiled in sight of the park, the church,
the stores, the life of the town to-day.
Every citizen of Litchfield should know and
treasure the memories of this town. They are
not to be regarded as bits of bric-a-brac, old
china, and choice linen, to be looked at with
passing curiosity, and then stored away. Not
at all, — these memories are the atmosphere in
which the hills about us are clothed with
beauty, — they give vitality to the air we
breathe.
This Book of Days is necessarily fragment-
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8 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
ary, but we hope that the compilation has been
so far successful that it will put the reader in
touch with the humor and pathos, with the
achievement and heroism, that have made this
town upon its "Western Hill" illustrious, so
that whether one's sojourn here be for a week
or for threescore years and ten, he may feel in
the life of to-day the stimulus of that which is
vital in the past, and that he may —
"At noon-day in the bustle of man's work-time
Greet the unseen with a cheer ! *'
The editor of these pages takes this oppor-
tunity to thank the large number of persons
who have made the work of compiling this
book possible ; to them he has been indebted
for information, the loan of pamphlets and
books, the free access to valuable libraries rich
in all that pertains to local history.
The publication of this book at a low price
has been made possible by the generous sup-
port of the business men and citizens of Litch-
field, and by the energetic canvass made by
a committee of the Ladies Aid Society of the
church of which the editor is pastor. Mr. Wil-
liam H. Sanford, G. A. Marvin, editor of /;/
Litchfield Hills^ J. Deming Perkins, and Dwight
C. Kilbourn have kindly loaned a few of the
plates used in this book ; while a number of
persons have contributed to the expense of its
illustration.
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PREFACE. 9
The publishers of the copyrighted books
from which large citations have been made,
Harper & Brothers, Fords, Howard & Hurl-
but, and Houghton, Mifflin & Co., have granted
the editor privileges for which he gladly makes
acknowledgment here. A similar courtesy has
been extended by Governor Roger Wolcott,
representing the interests of his- family in the
Wotcott Memorial Volume.
Litchfield, February 22, 1899.
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Wolcott House — Photograph 1898, Frontispiece,
Oliver WoLcoTT, Jr., Facing 17
Tapping Reeve, ** 19
Residence of J. Deming Perkins, . . '* 23
Origen Storrs Seymour, . . . . " 32
The Fuller Elm — Ice Storm of 1898, . •• 37
Residence of Mrs. H. B. Belden, . . ** 38
The Blizzard DRirr at Dr. H. W. Buel's, " 47
The Tallmadge House, . . . . •• 49
Benjamin Tallmadge, •' 50
Residence of Col. George B. Sanford, . • 59
Henry W. Buel, '* 60
Site of the Beecher House, . . . " 65
Lyman Beecher, " 82
North Street, '* 84
The Fire Department Building, . . '* 87
Litchfield before the Fire, . , . ** 91
The Beecher House (recent photograph), . '* 100
On Bantam River, "102
Oliver Wolcott "108
The Casino, ** 110
St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church, . ** 113
The Wolcott House — Photograph 1895, . " 114
(10)
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
II
The Reeve-Woodruff House,
The Congregational Church, . . . "126
Litchfield Rebuilt, . . . . . ••128
Residence of Prof. J. M. Hoppin, . . •• 137
John H. Hubbard, ••152
The Beecher House, " 157
The Seymour House, " 162
The Old Meeting-House, . . . . •• 163
James Gould, " 169
Residence of Mrs. N. R. Child, . •• 172
Daniel Sheldon, '* i73
A Glimpse of West Street, . . . '• 176
Frederick Wolcott, ••179
Charles B. Andrews, . . ** 182
South Street, •• 185
George C. Woodruff, "197
The Methodist Episcopal Church, . . ** 199
St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, " 204
Facing 117
For full-page illustrations of the Hawkhurst and of
the United States Hotels y see the Advertising Supple-
ment,
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LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
As stated in the preface, special permission has
been granted by the publishers of copyrighted books
from which frequent quotation is made in these
pages.
The quotations from members of the Wolcott
family are taken from the Wolcott Memorial Volume;
those from the Beecher family are taken (unless
otherwise specified) from \h& Autobiography and Cor-
respondence of Ly man Beecher^ published by Harper
& Brothers. ^
In other cases, where simply a name is given at
the close of a quotation, the matter quoted is the
report of a conversation with the editor of the Book
OF Days.
The quotations from the writings of Henry Ward
Beecher have been taken, in many instances, not
directly from the books named, but from that excel-
lent compilation by Eleanor Kirk, entitled Beecher
as a Humorist, published by Fords, Howard &
Hurlbut.
Many brief statements of fact, such as quotations
from the town records, are taken from the well
known authorities on local history, Woodruff,
Kilboume, and the Litchfield County History, — for
other unsigned paragraphs, the editor is responsible.
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LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
JaQdary i.
1777. — Oliver Wolcott writes a New Year's
letter to his wife :
"Take care of your Health; make the cares
of Life easy. Prosperous and happy Times
I trust will return to our Country, and that
God will grant us the Peace and Prosperity of
former Days, — a Happiness which I most sin-
cerely covet, tho' I trust I shall never wish
for Peace with the Loss of the Security of my
Country. For what is there which we can
leave our Children equal to the Advantages of
civil and religious Liberty?"
1872. — The Shepaug Valley Railroad (as it
was then called) was opened to the public.
January 2.
You will have troubles, but when they come
don't dam them up; let them go down stream
and you will soon be rid of them. — Lyman
Beecher.
JaQuary 3.
O for a boy's appetite! We needed no morn-
ing bell. Hunger used to awaken us betimes.
(13)
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14 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
We plunged into our clothes, . and darted for
the kitchen, where stood Rachel, black as night,
with a loaf of bread white as milk. She cut a
slice an inch thick, smooth as a line had meas-
ured it. It needed neither sauce nor butter.
It was a mere morsel, sent before, to hold the
citadel until breakfast could come to the res-
cue! So it was every day, and during all our
growing years. — Henry Ward Beecher : Star
Papers,
JaQuary 4.
So do thy children, Litchfield, owe to thee.
And thy hard treatment, what they've come
to be; —
A vigorous race from a harsh nursery.
For when thy skies have smiled, and wept,
and scowled.
And thy winds cut, and sighed, and swept,
and howled.
And they have borne the various buffeting
They Ve had to bear, — they can stand any-
thing. —
John Pierpont : Litchfield County Centennial,
JaQdary 5.
In the winter of 1740-41, a man came from
Cornwall to purchase some grain for himself
and family, who were in great need, and was
directed to Deacon Buel. The stranger soon
called and made known his errand. The Dea-
con asked him if he had any tnojiey to pay for
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JANUARY. 15
the grain. He answered affirmatively. "Well,"
said the Deacon, "I can show you where you
can procure it." Going with the stranger to
the door, he pointed out a certain house to him,
saying, "There lives a man who will let you
have grain for your money. I have some to
spare, but must keep it for those who have no
money y — Rev. Grant Powers: Kilbourne's His-
tory,
JaQuary 6.
One of the oddest native characters was Mr.
B , an ardent defender of the doctrine of
election. One day while "argyfying" with a
neighbor at dinner, he lifted a morsel of beef
on his fork, asserting, " I have no more doubt
of the doctrine of election than that I shall eat
this meat." With the emphasis of his gesture,
the meat flew off and was instantly devoured
by the family dog. — Clarence Deming: Yankees
and Yankeeisms.
JaQuary 7.
1863. — John W. Birge, born. He became
major-general in the ill-starred Patriot War in
Canada, in 1837-8.
JaQdary 8.
Poganuc was a place where winter stood for
something. The hill, like all hills in our dear
New England, though beautiful for situation
in summer, was a howling desolation for about
six months of the year, sealed down under
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l6 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
snow and drifted over by winds that pierced
like knives and seemed to search every fiber of
one's garments, so that the thickest clothing
was no protection. — Harriet Beecher Stowe:
Poganuc People.
Jai^dary 9.
The fire that illuminated the great kitchen
of the farmhouse was a splendid sight to be-
hold. It is, alas, with us only a vision and
memory of the past ; for who in our days can
afford to keep up the great fireplace, when
the backlogs were cut from the giants of the
forest and the forestick was as much as a
modern man could lift ? And then the glow-
ing fireplace built thereon ! That architec-
tural pile of split and seasoned wood, over
which the flames leaped and danced and
crackled like rejoicing genii — what a glory it
was! The hearty, bright, warm hearth in
those days stood instead of fine furniture and
handsome pictures. The plainest room be-
comes beautiful and attractive by firelight,
and when men think of a country and home to
be fought for and defended they think of a^
fireside. — Harriet Beecher Stowe : Poganuc
People.
JaQdary 10.
1738. — Ethan Allen born in Litchfield. Two
years later his parents removed to Cornwall.
1785. — Oliver Wolcott writes to his son
Oliver :
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OLIVER WOLCOTT, JR.
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JANUARY. 17
"Sir: Your letter of ' the 4th instant is re-
ceived. The Character of the young Lady,
whom you mention as the object of your
Affection, justifies your Choice, and receives
the Approbation of your Parents. And if you
shall wait upon her here, when you shall come
to see us, it will increase the Pleasure of the
Visit."
Japuary n.
1760. — Oliver Wolcott, Jr., born in the home-
stead on South street. He succeeded Hamil-
ton as secretary of the treasury in Washing-
ton's administration, and was governor of Con-
necticut 1817-27.
January 12.
The Litchfield of Wolcott's boyhood is de-
scribed by Gibbs in his Administrations of Wash-
ington and Adams :
" At a period much later than this Litchfield
was on the outskirts of New England civilization
and presented a very different aspect from its
now venerable quiet. The pickets which guard-
ed its first dwellings were not yet decayed.
The Indian yet wandered through its broad
streets, and hunters as wild as our present
borderers, chased the deer and the panther on
the shores of the lake. The manners of its
inhabitants were as simple and primitive as
those of their fathers, a century back, in the
older settlements on the Connecticut. Trav-
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^ i
l8 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
eling was entirely on horseback, except in win-
ter, and but a casual intercourse was carried
on with distant towns. Occasionally and more
frequently, as they became more interesting,
tidings reached them from Boston, and even
from the old world."
Ja^dary 13.
181 1. — Would now write you a long letter,
if it were not for several vexing circumstan-
ces, such as the weather, extremely cold, storm
violent, and no wood cut ; Mr. Beecher gone ;
and Sabbath day, with company, a clergyman,
a stranger ; Catherine sick, Rachel's finger cut
off, and she crying and groaning with the
pain. Mr. Beecher is gone to New Hartford
to preach and did not provide us wood enough
to last, seeing the weather has grown so ex-
ceedingly cold. — RoxANA Beecher : Letter to
Esther Beecher.
January 14.
Three years old was I, when singing, she left
me, and sang on to heaven where she sings
evermore. I have only such remembrance of
her, as you have of the clouds of ten years ago,
faint, evanescent, and fed by that which I have
heard of her, and by what my father's thought
and feeling of her were ; it has come to be so
much to me that no devout Catholic ever saw
so much of the Virgin Mary as I have seen in
my mother, who has been a presence to me
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TAPPING REEVE.
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JANUARY. 19
ever since I can remember. — Henry Ward
Beecher : Abbott's Life.
January 15.
Tapping Reeve came to Litchfield a few
years before the Revolution. For a time he
was chief justice of the State, but his fame
rests upon the fact that he was the founder in
1784 of the first Law School in America. He
was its Principal for nearly forty years. C. G.
Loring said of him: "He was, indeed, a most
venerable man in character and in appearance —
his thick, gray hair, parted and falling in pro-
fusion on his shoulders, his voice only a loud
whisper, but distinctly heard by his earnestly
attentive pupils. He was full of legal learn-
ing, but invested the law with all the genial
enthusiasm, and generous feelings and noble
sentiments of a large heart at the age of eighty,
and descanted to us with glowing eloquence
upon the sacredness and majesty of law."
Jaijdjary 16.
Tapping Reeve loved the law as a science,
and studied it philosophically. He considered
it as the practical application of religious prin-
ciple to the business affairs of life. He wished
to reduce it to a certain, symmetrical system of
moral truth. He did not trust to the inspira-
tion of genius for eminence, but to the results
of profound and constant study. I seem to see
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20 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
even now, his calm and placid countenance
shining through his abundant locks, as he sat
poring over his notes in the lecture-room, and
to hear his shrill whisper as he stood when
giving his charge to the jury. — Judge Church:
Litchfield County Centennial.
Jaijijary 17.
The printed catalogue of the Litchfield Law
School contains a list of graduates from 1798,
no register having been kept for the first four-
teen years. Of this number sixteen became
United States Senators ; fifty, Members of Con-
gress; forty, Judges of higher State Courts;
eight. Chief -justices of States ; two. Justices of
the United States Supreme Court ; ten. Gover-
nors of States; five. Cabinet Ministers (Cal-
houn, Woodbury, Mason, Clayton, and Hub-
bard) ; and several foreign ministers ; while
very many were distinguished at the bar. —
J. D. Champlin, Jr.: Litchfield Hill.
January i8.
Judge Reeve delivered his lectures in his
office. The building stood next to his house,
but has since been moved, and is a part of Mr.
Daniels' residence, opposite the Hawkhurst.
Judge Gould, after he became associated with
Judge Reeve, also gave his lectures in his own
law office on North street. This building is
now known as the Carter tenement, and is
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JANUARY. 21
located on the Bantam road, one mile from the
village.
Jaijdjary 19.
1752. — James Morris, Jr., born. After serving
with distinction in the Revolutionary War, he
founded, in 1790, Morris Academy, for many
years one of the most famous schools in New
England. His Statistical Account of the Towns of
Litchfield County is one of the early authorities
on local history.
January 20.
Henry Ward Beecher in his Star Papers says
of his school days : —
" In winter we were squeezed into the recess
of the farthest corner, among little boys who
seemed to be sent to school merely to fill up
the chinks between the bigger boys. . . . Our
shoes always would be scraping on the floor, or
knocking the shins of urchins who were also
being * educated.' All of our little legs to-
gether ( poor, tired, nervous, restless legs, with
nothing to do) would fill up the corner with
such a noise, that every ten or fifteen minutes
the master would bring down his two-foot hick-
ory ferule on the desk with a clap that sent
shivers through our hearts, to think how that
would have felt if it had fallen somewhere else;
and then with a look that swept us all into
utter extremity of stillness, he would cry,
* Silence ! in that corner.'"
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22 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Japaary 21,
1776. — Litchfield men enlist for eight weeks'
service "to defeat certain Wicked Purposes
formed by the instruments of Ministerial Ty-
ranny c"
1777. — Oliver Wolcott writes to his wife on
the anniversary of their wedding : " You are
more especially intitled to a Letter of this
Date, as it is an important Anniversary in our
Lives which can not fail of Producing in me
the most agreeable Recollections. My distant
Situation does not diminish my Regard for you
and my Family. I feel the warmest Wishes for
your Welfare, and hope that it will please God to
bestow upon you and our Children every Bless-
ing. I am not able to give you the least Advice
in the Conduct of my Business. Your own Pru-
dence in the Direction of it, I have no doubt
of, I only wish that the cares which must
oppress you were less. But if the present
Troubles shall terminate in the future Peace
and Security of this Country (which I trust
will be the case), the present Evils and Incon-
veniences of Life ought to be borne with cheer-
fulness."
Japtjary 22.
All Litchfield has read and enjoyed Mrs.
Jeanie Gould Lincoln's charming story: — An
Unwilling Maid. It is easy to pass over some
minor inaccuracies^ such as where the author
speaks of the Wolcott house as a manor house,
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JANUARY. 23
or has the King George statue melted after the
Fairfield Raid. And while no British officer
was ever kept prisoner in the north chamber,
yet it is certain that if Geoffrey Yorke had been
kept in durance there, Mariann would have
taken Betty's part, and the romance would
have run its happy course in actual history.
From the standpoint of history, the author
has made one serious mistake which it is hard
to overlook. She leads the reader to believe
that Mrs. Wolcott died before the Revolution.
Had this been so, it is doubtful if Oliver Wol-
cott's name had been signed to the Declaration
of Independence. The reason why it was pos-
sible for him to be away from home in the
interest of his country during the greater part
of the Revolution was that his wife was a
woman thoroughly capable in the manage-
ment of the interests of his home and business.
If we remember the patriotism of Oliver Wol-
cott, we should not forget the equal devotion
of Laura Collins, his wife.
Jaijuary 23.
Although Julius Deming died in 1838, his
fame as a business man has never been
eclipsed. He came here from Lyme about
1 781, and for over fifty years was one of the
foremost merchants in the State, importing
many of his goods directly from London. The
great house he built on North street was a
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24 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
source of wonder in its day, and now is one of
the best examples in New England of the
household architecture of a century ago.
Jaijaary 24.
1 791. — A post-office is opened in Collier's
Printing Office. The Post will ride to New
York once a fortnight, and to Hartford once a
week.
January 25,
Long live the winter nights, with the homely
fare of apples and nuts, and no stronger drink
than cider ; and a merry crowd of boys and
girls, with here and there the spectacled old
folks ; all before a roaring hickory-fire, in an
old fashioned fireplace, big as the Western
horizon with the sun going down in it, and
with a roguish stick of chestnut wood in it,
which opens such a fusilade of snaps and
cracks as sets the girls to screaming, and
throws out such mischievous coals upon the
calico dresses as obliges every humane boy to
run to the relief of his sweetheart, all on fire !
— Henry Ward Beecher : Eyes and Ears.
January 26.
For several years Aaron Burr made his
home at his sister's, — the first Mrs. Reeve.
During this time he studied theology for a
while with Dr. Bellamy at Bethlehem. Bel-
lamy was one of the greatest controversialists
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JANUARY. 25
of his time. His library was made up chiefly
of the works of infidels and heretics. Those
books evidently prevailed in Burr's mind over
his teacher's arguments. Burr and Reeve,
what a contrast ! the one ruled God out of his
thoughts ; the other has made this hill holy
ground.
Japaary 27.
1776. — Judge Reeve writes to Aaron Burr :
"Amid the lamentations for the loss of a
brave,- enterprising general [Montgomery],
your escape from such imminent danger to
which you have been exposed has afforded us
the greatest satisfaction. The news of the
unfortunate attack upon Quebec arrived among
us on the 13th of this month Your
sister enjoys a middling state of health. She
has many anxious hours on your account ; but
she tells me that, as she believes you may serve
the country in the business in which you are
now employed, she is contented that you should
remain in the army. It must be an exalted
public spirit that could produce such an effect
upon a sister so affectionate as yours."
Jaijuary 28.
Conscience, for the obedient, has sounds
more pleasant than music; but for the trans-
gressor, peals more terrific than thunder. —
Lyman Beecher.
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26 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Jaijaary 29.
One day a prosperous old farmer came into
Judge Gould's office and said," I wish you would
draw up my will." " Very wxll," said Judge
Gould ; " give me some idea of what you want
done." The farmer was imbued with the old-
time notions of the property rights of women.
His unmarried daughters had for years helped
accumulate his property; but when it came to
to making his will the father had no thought
of them, but wished to leave all he had to his
sons. When Judge Gould found this out, he
exclaimed, " I won't draw up any such will, and
if I were a daughter of yours I'd dance on your
grave before you'd lain in it a month ! " — J.
Deming Perkins.
Japaary 30.
Judge Gould was a critical scholar, and al-
ways read with his pen in hand, whether law
book, or books of fiction or fancy, for which he
indulged a passion. In the more abstruse sub-
jects at law, he was more learned than Judge
Reeve, and as a lecturer more lucid and me-
thodical. The Common Law he had searched
to the bottom, and he knew it all — its princi-
ples, and the reasons from which they were
drawn. As an advocate, he was not a man of
impassioned eloquence, but clear and logical,
employing language elegant and chaste. —
Judge Church : Litchfield County Centennial.
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JANUARY. 27
Jaijdjary 31.
I never had any trouble with my people. If x
anything came up, instead of going and trying \
to put broken glass together, I always tried to )
preach well, and it swallowed up everything. )
— Lyman Beecher.
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pebmary i.
It seems odd to think of Litchfield as a
manufacturing town, yet when Morris wrote
his Statistical Account ^ not far from 1815, there
were in existence "4 forges' for iron; i slitting
mill; I oil-mill; i paper-mill; mail manufactory;
6 fulling-mills; 5 grist-mills; 18 saw-mills; 5
large tanneries, besides sundry others on a small
scale; 2 comb manufactories; 2 hatters' shops; 2
carriage makers; 2 carding machines for wool;
I machine for making wooden clocks; i cotton
manufactory."
We ^yho know Litchfield as a summer resort
feel more at home when we turn to another
page of his Account and read, " Few places yield
finer views. From some of the eminences
may be seen the hills on the eastern side of the
Connecticut River, and the Catskill Mountains
on the west of the Hudson. One of them is
about a mile northwest of the court-house, from
which there is an enchanting view."
pebmary 2.
Waggons, drawn either by one or two horses,
are much used by the inhabitants of Litchfield.
The first pleasure carriage (a chair) was
(28)
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FEBRUARY. 29
brought into this town by Mr. Matthews, mayor
of New York, in the year 1776, and is still in
use here; the first umbrella in the year 1772. —
Morris' Statistical Account.
This author also states that there are in the
town " I phaeton, i coachee, and 46 two-wheel
pleasure carriages."
pebraary 3.
1776. — Oliver Wolcott writes from Philadel-
phia, — " The Ladies, I hope, will still make
themselves contented to live without Tea for
the good of their country."
pebraary 4.
1819. — Harriet makes just as many wry faces,
and loves to be laughed at as much as ever.
Henry does not improve much in talking, but
speaks very thick. — Letter from the Beecher
Household.
Children grow up — nothing on earth grows
so fast as children. It was but yesterday and
that lad was playing with tops, a buoyant boy.
He is a man, and gone now. — Henry Ward
Beec HER : Children.
pebraary 5.
Second-hand text -books are common enough
now, but a hundred years ago, when books cost
more, the stoutly bound volumes often passed
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30 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
through a half dozen hands before they were
laid aside. Mr. J. Deming Perkins has in his
library an algebra of this kind which was used
in Yale College and is inscribed with the names
of six owners, — Uriah Tracy, Harvey Chase,
A. B. Reeve, and J. Deming, Jr., among them.
The last named made this entry, — " Engaged
this book to A. B. Reeve on condition that he
lets a lad from Litchfield have it in preference
to any other, and exacts the same promise from
him to whom he sells it, ad infinitiiniy
February 6.
About 1863, Edwin McNeill, who had been
a successful railroad builder elsewhere, re-
turned to his native town. He was instru-
mental in having a new road put through to
the Naugatuck station. Then he tried to have
the Boston & Erie Road, then stopping at
Waterbury, take a northern route not far from
Litchfield. Failing here, he projected the She-
paug Valley Railroad. The stock was taken
by towns along the line, and by private parties
to the amount of $400,000. By the time the
road was finished, a first and second mortgage
had been placed upon it to meet the expendi-
ture of $1,000,000 involved in construction and
equipment. As a financial project, the road
brought disaster to all concerned. Mr. Mc-
Neill died a year or so after the completion of
the road, leaving an estate nearly wrecked by
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FEBRUARY. 31
the venture. As a monument of public spirit,
and as a permanent benefit to the towns along
the line, the railroad has been an unqualified
success. — Condensed from an article by George A,
Hickox^ Litchfield Enquirer^ March 14^ iSgS-
pebriiary 7.
During the building of the Shepaug, I
chanced to meet W. H. Barnum on a railroad
train. He introduced me to another fellow-
passenger, Collis P. Huntington, who evinced
much interest in the Shepaug. "When you
you get that road finished," he said, " I want
you to send me a pass. I have every reason to
remember the Shepaug Valley, for when a
young man, I trudged through it as a pack-
peddler. Every dog in all that region barked
at me." — J. Deming Perkins.
pebmary 8.
When I was soliciting subscriptions to the
stock of the Shepaug Valley Railroad, I met
with a great deal of very stubborn resistance.
I recollect very distinctly one rich farmer down
the Valley who would have nothing to do with
the scheme but denounce it. Some years after
as I was riding on the cars, this man was a fel-
low passenger. He came across the aisle, and
said : " Mr. Perkins, do you remember me ? "
" Oh, yes, very well indeed, " I replied." When
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32 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
we met last," said he, " I did not believe much
in this railroad, but if any one proposed to take
the tracks up now, there would be a riot in the
valley." — J. Deming Perkins.
pebmary 9.
1 804. — Origen Storrs Seymour, born. He was
a lifelong resident of the village. For several
terms he was a representative in the General
Assembly, and in 1850 was speaker of the House.
After serving four years as congressman, he
was made judge of the Supreme Court of Con-
necticut, holding office from 1855 to 1863, and
from 1870 to 1874. He retired from the bench
at the age of seventy, having been chief justice
during his last year of service. From 1865 to
1880 he was a member of every Triennial Con-
vention of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
1896. — The Methodist Episcopal Church of
Bantam is organized.
pebruary lo.
1824. — Thomas K. Beecher, born. Elmira,
New York, claims him as one of its foremost
citizens, — pastor of Park Church for a life-
time.
pebmary ii.
1840. — The Housatonic Railroad opened as
far as New Milford. With the building of this
road, the New York and Albany stage, which
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ORIGEN STORRS SEYMOUR.
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FEBRUARY. 33
used to roll through these Litchfield streets at
unearthly hours in the morning, is heard no
longer. Or are the older inhabitants right,
and can there still be heard above the winter
gale the rumbling of the heavily laden stage,
and the hoof -beats of the four strong horses ?
pebruary 12.
Judge Seymour was eminently and prover-
bially kind to all, high or low, rich or poor.
His every act, and look, and word gave evidence
of this. It was the recognition of this trait
that called forth the facetious and rather ex-
travagant remark I once heard from a lawyer
of this state, to the effect that if Judge Sey-
mour decided a case against a man, the latter
always thought he had won the case. — Judge
LooMis : Addj'ess on Judge Seymour.
pebraary 13.
1899. — After a week of bitterly cold weather,
when the mercury at its highest was only a
few degrees above zero, and at its lowest
threatened to disappear altogether, the blind-
ing snow of a great storm filled the air.
Nothing but the blizzard of 1888 has surpassed
it. Drifts ten feet high were common enough;
in some cases, the snow reached to second-
story windows. From Monday noon till
Wednesday night, Litchfield was under the
snow blockade.
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34 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
pebmary 14.
Judge Seymour's conduct on the bench is
sketched by ex-Gov. Hubbard in an address
before the Hartford Bar : " I have never
known a judge more scrupulously watchful of
the movements of a trial, more intent on the
precise matter in hand, more completely totus
in tilts , . . He used, as you will remem-
ber, to take very few notes of evidence; but his
ears and memory were marvelously alert to all
the disclosures of the case. He had a habit of
listening to an argument. with closed eyes —
owing, I suppose, to weakness of vision; but
how sleepless his attention and reason were !
and how those shut eyes of his used to open
with mild surprise, sometimes with expressive
reproach, at any perversion of fact or law, or
any other abuse either in matter or manner of
the just liberties of argument. A casual ob-
server might have supposed him a sleepy, if
not a sleeping, judge. But he was never thus
for a single instant."
pebmary 15.
Judge Seymour was made chairman of the
commission which was appointed in 1878 to
prepare the new code of civil procedure. " By
this work more than all else he has done," says
ex-Gov. Hubbard, " he has left his mark on the
jurisprudence of the State. The fame of the
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FEBRUARY. 35
best lawyer ordinarily goes with him into his
coffin; but I cannot doubt that this service of
his will make his name and fame abide in
honor, when the lives of the rest of us are as a
watch in the night that is past." — Address before
the Hartford Bar.
F^bmary i6.
Origen Storrs Seymour had made an envia-
ble record as judge of the Superior Court,
1855-63. Upon the expiration of his term of
office in the latter year, the Democrats were
defeated after the bitterest conflict the State
has seen. Judge Seymour was a Democrat,
and the Republican legislature refused to re-
elect him. In 1870, however, a Republican
legislature appointed him to the Supreme
Court. In 1873 he became chief justice, retir-
ing a year later because reaching the constitu-
tional limit of age.
pebraary 17.
The great white house on South street, two
doors beyond the Beckwith block, is the home
of Mr. Morris W. Seymour. The house was built
by Ozias Seymour, and when it was ready for
occupancy, his son. Judge Seymour, at that
time a young boy, carried into the house the
first article taken there. In that house, he
made his home for the rest of his life.
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36 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
pebruary 18.
Such a thing as a novel was not to be found
in our house. And I well recollect the des-
pairing and hungry glances with which I used
to search through father's library, meeting only
the same grim sentinels, BelVs Sermons^ Bogue's
Essays^ Bonnefs Inquiry^ Toplady on Fredestina-
tton, Horseless Tracts. There, to be sure, was
Harmer on Solomons Song, which I read and
nearly got by heart, because it told about the
same sort of things I had once read of in the
Arabian Nights. And there was The State of
the Clergy during the French Revolution, which had
horrible stories in it stranger than fiction. —
Harriet Beecher Stowe.
pebraary 19.
In Lyman Beecher's library, " there was a
side closet full of documents, a weltering ocean
of pamphlets, in which I dug and toiled for
hours to be repaid by disinterring a delicious
morsel of Don Quixote that had once been a
book but was now lying in forty or fifty dissecta
membra, amid Calls, Appeals, Sermons, Essays,
Reviews, Replies, Rejoinders. The turning up
of such a fragment seemed like the rising of an
enchanted island out of an ocean of mud." —
Harriet Beecher Stowe.
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FEBRUARY. 37
February 20.
1809. — Henry W. Wessells, born. What
would we not give for an autobiography of this
veteran soldier ? General Wessells graduated
at West Point in 1832, won his spurs in the
Seminole war, and was given a gold-mounted
sword for his valor on Mexican battlefields.
He was in California in '49, — saw no end of
service on the frontiers, till called East in 1861.
Wounded at Fair Oaks, he soon took the field
again; towards the close of the war he was
captured by the Confederates.
" Gen. Wessells," said the Enquirer at the time
of his death, "was a man of quiet demeanor,
the furthest possible from the domineering old
soldier of the stage, temperate in habit and
language, as clean and pure, as well as gallant,
a soldier as ever spent his life in the hard mil-
itary service of our regular army."
1898 — The ice storm which began Saturday
evening, February 19th, was at its height, and
continued with but little abatement for forty-
eight hours. This proved the most destructive
storm on record. Every tree in the town suf-
fered. Many were snapped off ten or fifteen
fe^t from the ground. The venerable elm in
front of Mr. Fuller's, laden with tons of ice,
crashed into the street. For days the sidewalks
were impassable, filled with a tangled mass of
broken limbs. Millions of icicles hung from
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38 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
the electric wires which sagged in great loops,
and finally broke. The very blades of grass
stood up stalagmites of ice.
Febraary 21.
1767. — Abraham Bradley, born. From 1799
to 1829 he was First Assistant Postmaster-Gen-
eral of the United States. He drew and pub-
lished a map of all the post roads in the Union
with the post-offices and distances clearly de-
fined.
pebraary 22.
1757. — Ephraim Kirby, born. He published
in Litchfield the first law reports ever issued in
America. He was appointed in 1804 United
States Judge for the Territory of Louisiana,
but died while on his way to the South.
pebmary 23.
The house on South street now the residence
of Mrs. H. B. Belden, is one of the most nota-
ble in the village, both for its present attract-
iveness and its past history. Here lived the
last King's attorney of the county, Reynold
Marvin. His daughter, Ruth, married Ephraim
Kirby. Their grandson, Kirby Smith, was the
famous Southern general. Just north of the
house stood a little office where Col. Kirby pre-
pared the first law reports ever published in
this country.
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FEBRUARY. 39
Febraary 24.
1786. — I suppose you expect to hear of a
wedding or some such high matter, but I assure
you I have better news to tell you, which is no
other than this, that your sister Mariann is not
going to be married at all. The night after you
left us, Mr. W. and his family, which consisted
of Mrs. G. and his boy Nat and his dog Caper,
arrived here, and Saturday they set off for
Albany, but before they left us, it was agreed
that there should be a total cessation of hostili-
ties from this time henceforth and forever,
Amen. I could add hallelujah^ for my very soul is
in raptures at the deliverance. . . . You may
tell people that this business is at an end, but do
not show this letter to any living mortal. . .
In true singleness and sincerity of heart, I am
my dear brother, your loving and affectionate
sister until death, Mariann Wolcott.
Mariann Wolcott was in very truth An Un-
willing Maid. She did not marry Mr. W.,
neither did she marry (as the story book says)
Geoffrey Yorke, late in His Majesty's service.
She became the wife of Chauncey Goodrich of
Hartford, a leading citizen of the State in his
day, lieutenant-governor, congressman, and
United States Senator.
pebraary 25.
1810. — Lyman Beecher preached his trial
sermons in Litchfield. He was pastor here for
sixteen years.
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40 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Febraary 26.
A Mr. B. , before driving from his farm
to town used to delay long delivering what he
called his " last words." His vexed hired man
at last broke out, " Mr. B. , you'd be an
awful bad man to die ; you'd have so many last
words that the undertaker's bill would come in
before yer was dead." — Clarence Deming :
Yankees and Yankeeisms,
pebmary 27.
Two years before the outbreak of the Revo-
lution, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., then a young boy,
made his first trip to New Haven. On his way
thither, he tells us, he met Parson Leaven-
worth : " On inquiring my name and placing
his hands on my head, he inquired whether I
intended, if I was able to be like old Noll, a
Republican and King Killer."
pebmary 28.
The old musical bell up in the open belfry
was busy tolling. It was the only thing that
was allowed to work on Sunday, the bell and
the minister. The bell rope was always an ob-
ject of desire and curiosity to our young days.
It ran up into such dark and mysterious spaces.
What there was up in those pokerish heights in
the belfry tower we did not know, but some-
thing that made our flesh creep. Once we ven-
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FEBRUARY. 4I
ttired to pull that rope. It was a bold and ven-
turesome thing we knew. But a sorcery was on
us. It came gently and easily to the hand.
We pulled again. " Dong ! dong ! " went the
bell. The old sexton put his head out of the
door when, on that particular morning, service
had begun, and said in a very solemn and low
tone, " Boy ! boy, you little d , you ! " and
much more I presume, but I did not wait for it,
but cut round to the other door and sat all
church time trembling, and wondering whether
he would " tell my pa ; " and if he did, what he
would say, and more especially what he would
do. — Henry Ward Beecher: Going to Meeting, ^
pebmary 29
When I was a boy, nothing suited me so well
as to have my father whip me when my clothes
were on. Then I could bear it with the most
equanimity. It was when he took me at ad-
vantage in the morning before I was dressed,
that I did not like whippings. — Henry Ward S
Beecher : The Conflicts of Life.
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/I\arGl? I.
The month of March had dawned over the
slippery, snow-clad hills of Poganuc. The cus-
tom that enumerates this as among the spring
months was in that region the most bitter irony.
Other winter months were simple winter^ cold,
sharp, and hard enough, but March was winter
with a practical application driven in by winds
that pierced through joints and marrow. Not
an icicle of all the stalactites which adorned the
fronts of houses had so much as thought of
thawing ; the snowbanks still lay in white bil-
lows above the tops of the fences ; the roads,
through which the ox-sleds of the farmers
crunched and squeaked their way were cut
down through heavy drifts, and there was still
the best prospect in the world for future snow-
storms ; but yet it was called " spring." — Har-
riet Beecher Stowe : Poganuc People,
/I\arel? 2.
1 7 16. — Col. William Whiting, John Marsh,
Thomas Seymour, committee for Hartford, and
John Eliot, Daniel Griswold, Samuel Rockwell,
committee for Windsor, acquire from the In-
(42)
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MARCH. 43
dians the title to the land of the original town-
ship of Bantam or Litchfield. The price paid
was ;^i5 ; the deed was signed at Woodbury.
f[\aTQ\) 3.
As some of our readers may be curious to
know the names of the Indians mentioned in
the paragraph for March 2, we record them
here : Chusquenoag, Corkscrew, Quiump, Mag-
nash, Sepunkum, Poni, Wonposet, Suckqun-
nokqueen, Toweecume, Mansumpansh, Kehow,
and Norkgontonckquy.
/narel? 4.
" Memorandum, — Before the executing of this
instrument [the deed of March 2, 17 16], it is to
be understood that the grantors above named
have reserved to themselves a piece of ground
sufficient for their hunting houses near a
mountain called Mount Tom."
/I\arGl? 5.
" A blue bird ! Impossible, so early in March.
You must be mistaken."
" No, come to the door, you can hear him
just as plain."
And sure enough on the highest top of the
great button-ball tree opposite the house sat
the little blue angel singing with all his might,
— a living sapphire dropped down from the
walls of the beautiful city above. — Harriet
Beecher Stowe : Foganuc People.
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44 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
f[\arQ\) 6.
1894. — Rev. D. D. T. McLaughlin writes the
following lines :
TO THE FIRST BLUEBIRD.
Welcome, little bluebird,
Perched upon the topmost bough ;
How thy note, anew heard.
Lifts me from the miry slough.
O, so blithe and joyous.
With thy whistle shrill ;
What, would care annoy us.
With determined will ?
Welcome, little bluebird,
Harbinger of joyous spring ;
How that note, anew heard.
Wakes my soul again to sing.
Bring along the chorus
Of the feathered throng ;
Music warbling o'er us
All the summer long.
Courage, little bluebird.
Though the chilling storm thou meet ;
For that note, anew heard,
Says, " The Spring you soon will greet."
Yes, the buds are swelling,
Winter, hie thee home ;
For that note keeps telling,
•• Spring has almost come.*'
Welcome, little bluebird.
With thy whistle, strong and clear ;
For that note, anew heard.
Brings again my childhood's cheer.
He who rules the seasons,
Cares for even thee ;
So my glad heart reasons,
He will care for me.
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MARCH. 45
marel? 7.
1757. — Ashbel Baldwin, born. He was or-
dained deacon by Bishop Seabnry at Middle-
town, 1785. His ordination was the first Prot-
estant Episcopal ordination in the United
States. From 1785-93 he was rector of St.
Michael's.
(Harel? 8
It sometimes happened, that when we were
busy about the " chores," we discovered a nest
brimming full of hidden eggs. The hat was the
bonded warehouse, of course. But sometimes
it was a cap not of suitable capacity. Then
the pocket came into play, and chiefly the skirt
pockets. Of course, we intended to transfer
them immediately after getting into the house;
for eggs are as dangerous in the pocket, though
for different reasons, as powder would be in a
forgeman's pocket. And so, having finished
the evening's work and put the pin into the sta-
ble door, we sauntered toward the house, be-
hind which, and right over Chestnut Hill, the
broad moon stood showering all the east with
silver twilight. All earthly cares and treas-
ures were forgot in the dreamy pleasure ;
and at length entering the house, — supper
already delayed for us, — we drew up the chair
and peacefully sunk into it, with a suppressed
and indescribable crunch and liquid crackle
underneath us, which brought us up again in
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46 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
the liveliest manner, and with outcries which
seemed made up of all the hen's cackles of all
the eggs which were now holding carnival in
our pockets ! Facilis descensus Anerni, sed rev-
ocare gradum^ etc., which means it is easy to
put eggs into your pocket, but how to get tliem
out again,, that's the question. And it was the
question ! Such a hand-dripping busin.ess, —
such a scene when the slightly angry mother
and the disgusted maid turned the pockets
inside out !
We were very penitent ! It should never
happen again ! And it did not, — for a month
or two. Henry Ward Beecher : Eyes and Ears.
(narel? 9.
We wish our neighbors would only lend us
an urchin or two to make a little noise in these
premises. A house without children ! It is
like a lantern, and no candle ; a garden, and no
flowers ; a brook, and no water gurgling and
gushing through its channel. — Henry Ward
Beecher : Children.
(HarGl? 10.
Mrs. Reeve [the Judge's second wife] was the
largest woman I ever saw, with a full ruddy
face that had no pretensions to beauty ; but her
strong and cultivated mind, her warm and gen-
erous feelings, and her remarkable conversa-
tional powers made her a universal favorite.
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Q
Q
<
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MARCH. 47
She was both droll and witty, while she made so
much sport of her own personal appearance
that it removed all feeling of its disadvantages.
/ — Catherine Beecher. ^
/I\arel? II.
I wish every day I could go down with you
to see Mrs. Reeve and the Judge, and regret
that I did not see them oftener when I was
where I could. I am resolved, when I come
again, to see them every day. I charge you to
improve your opportunites of visiting them
faithfully, for you will not often meet their like
in this world. In the next we shall have no
lack of such society — I mean in a better
world. — Mary Hubbard : Letter to Mrs. Beecher,
(1)3 rel? 12.
1 888. — The wind blew a perfect blizzard all
day and the drifting and falling snow made
even main streets almost impassable. Monday
night the storm continued with increasing fury,
and buildings rocked as though in a storm at
sea. — Enquirer.
marel? 13.
1888. — On Tuesday morning the wind had
lessened, though still blowing a gale, with the
thermometer at or near zero. . . . The
most remarkable drifts are at Dr. [H. W.]
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48 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Buel's. One, a little west of the house, nses
about 20 feet, to a level with the eaves. There
is an addition on the west of Dr. Buel's house,
reaching about to the eaves, which is almost
completely covered by the snow, so that our
reporter, walking along the top of the drift,
passed completely over the roof of this part of
the house, and down on the northern side.
There is a drift on the east which is even
higher, shutting up one of the library windows
completely, and reaching nearly to the top of
one of the large firs which form a hedge on that
side of the house. — Enquirer.
The last of this drift did not disappear till
June.
(Harel? 14.
1888. — The wind is northeast, and consider-
able snow is still falling. People are about on
snow shoes, " skees," and snow shoes extempo-
rized out of boards, some carrying groceries to
those in great want. . . . Little business is
doing. Most of the stores are closed. A few
are open with people standing about compar-
ing notes about tunneling to their woodsheds,
drifts over second-story windows, and other
marvels of the great storm. — Enquirer.
It was not until Friday, March i6th, that
the Shepaug was running. A cut below Lake
Station was drifted in to the depth of twenty-
two feet.
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MARCH. 49
(Harel? 15.
Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, the friend of
Washington and Lafayette, and one of the most
picturesque figures of the Revolutionary War,
was a native of Long Island. He came to
Litchfield at the close of the war. and resided
here for over fifty years.
(HarGl? 16.
1784. — Col. Tallmadge married Mary Floyd,
daughter of Gen. Floyd of Mastic, Long Island,
a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
He ha ' previously purchased of Thomas Shel-
don tne property still .known as the Tallmadge
Place. In Old Litchfield Houses it is stated that
"in the southeast room of his residence, the
Colonel had his office, and here every morning
his wife used to powder his queue."
This house was owned for twelve years by
Gideon H. Hollister. In the southeast room
of the second floor, so Mrs. Hollister tells me,
he wrote his History of Connecticut. ^
The house is owned at present by Mrs. W. C.
Noyes, a granddaughter of Col. Tallmadge.
/I\arGl? 17.
Col. Tallmadge was rather above the ordi-
nary stature, well proportioned, dignified, and
commanding. His step, even in his last years,
was firm and elastic, his body erect, and his
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50 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
whole carriage possessed of a military dignity,
in which was combined the model of both the
soldier and the gentleman. His countenance
was indicative of intelligence, firmness, and
sincerity. — Laurens P. Hickok : Address on
Col, Tallmadge,
/I\arel? i8.
Col. Tallmadge was a member of Congress
from 1800 to 1 81 6. "He was appointed on
some of the most important committees, espe-
cially that on military affairs, of which he was
for some time the chairman. His religious
character while in Congress was so well under-
stood and so highly appreciated by the Chris-
tian public, that petitions involving religious
interests were generally committed to him to
be presented before the House. — Laurens P.
Hickok : Address on Col. Tallmadge,
(Harel? 19.
To hear Dr. Lyman Beecher read the Bible
at family prayer in such an eager, earnest tone
of admiring delight, with such an indescribable
air of intentness and expectancy, as if the book
had just been handed him out of heaven, or as
if a seal therein was just about to be loosed,
was enough to impress one with the feeling
that he was ever on the search into the deep
things of God's word. — Charles Beecher.
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MARCH. 51
f(\arQ\) 20.
One thing is certain, the custom of family \/
prayers, such as it was, was a great comfort. .
Even though the chapter were one that she
could not by possibility understand a word of,
yet it put her in mind of things in the same dear
book that she did understand ; things that gave
her strength to live and hope and die by, and it
was enough ! Her faith in the invisible Friend
was so strong that she needed to but touch the
hem of his garment. Even a table of geneal-
ogies out of kis book was a sacred charm, an
amulet of peace. — Harriet Beecher Stowe .y
Poganuc People.
/T)arel? 21.
Judge Reeve, as eminently as John, might be
called the loving disciple. I am aware that
with many intellect is idolized, and the affec-
tions depreciated, but in a world where intel-
lect was common, and unfeeling selfishness is
common, a heart filled naturally and by grace
with the fullness of love is like the sun dis-
pelling the darkness and dissolving the ice of
the frozen regions, and calling into being by
its rays, vegetation and life and joy. — Lyman
Beecher : Address on Judge Reeve.
/T)arel? 22.
1777- — Oliver Wolcott had heara from Dr.
Smith that the family had been inoculated for
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52 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
smallpox, and writes from Philadelphia to his
wife : " I perceive that Mariana has had it bad,
he writes very hard. I am heartily sorry for
what the little Child has suffered, and very
much want to see her. If she has by this lost
some of her Beauty, which I hope she has not,
yet I well know she might spare much of it and
retain as much as most of her Sex possesses."
1837. — The ice storm of this and the succeed-
ing day damaged timber and orchards in the
town to the extent of $100,000.
/narel? 23.
1 721. — The first white child is born in Litch-
field. Her name was Eunice Griswold. She
married Solomon Buel.
n\arG^ 24.
1802. — Charles P. Huntington, born. He
became judge of the Superior Court in the city
of Boston.
f[\arQ\) 25.
Mother was an enthusiastic horticultui*alist in
f . all the small ways that limited means allowed.
Her brother John, in New York, had just sent
her a small parcel of fine tulip bulbs. I remem-
ber rummaging these out of an obscure corner
of the nursery one day when she was gone out,
and being strongly seized with the idea that
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MARCH. 53
they were good to eat, and using all the little
English I then possessed to persuade my broth-
ers that these were onions such as grown peo-
ple ate, and would be very nice for us. So we
fell to and devoured the whole. . . . Then
mother's serene face appeared at the nursery
door. ... I remember there was not even
a momentary expression of impatience, but that
she sat down and said, " My dear children, what
you have done makes mamma very sorry ;
those were not onion roots, but roots of beauti-
ful flowers ; and if you had let them alone, ma
would have had next summer in the garden
great beautiful red and yellow flowers such as
you never saw." — Harriet Beecher Stowe.
/T)arGl? 26.
When I was a law student (1823-25) a few
old gentlemen still retained the dress of the
Revolution. It was a powdered queue, white
topped boots, silk stockings, and breeches with
buckles. I can remember to have seen David
Daggett, chief justice, and a half dozen others,
walking in the streets with this dignified dress.
It is vain to say that the present dress is at all
equal to it, — in what ought to be one of the
objects of good dress, — to give an idea of dig-
nity and respect. — E. D. Mansfield : Personal
Memories,
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54 LITCHFIELD BOOK' OF DAYS.
/T)arel? 27.
At Easter-tide, when winter struggles in vain
against the on-coming spring, and when the
words, " Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to
dust " fade out before the radiance of "I am
the resurrection and the life," the '* quiet gate "
on the Torrington road becomes the entrance
into the larger life beyond.
The lines quoted under March 28th, were
written in boyhood by Prof. E. T. McLaughlin.
All that is mortal of him rests in the God's-
Acre of which he sings, but the soul of him has
seen and heard the wonders of the better
country.
f[\aTQ\) 28.
A WINTER WALK.
(torrington road.)
A winding walk soft paved with snow,
On either hand against the skies,
Streaked with the ruddy sunset-glow,
White mantled trees arise.
No sound : the very wind is still.
Tired by long waiting into sleep ;
No hurrying brook or wild birds trill
Disturbs the silence deep.
The wintry forest scene appears
The tranquil vestibule of peace ;
From wistful hopes and haunting fears
We win a sweet release.
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MARCH. 55
And so we walk the winding way,
Dismissing thought, content to feel
What eloquence can never say,
Or clearest thought reveal.
And through this quiet gate we peer
Into the hidden land ; ah well !
What wonders we may see and hear,
When we with silence dwell !
— E. T. McLaughlin: Enquirer,
/T\arel? 29.
Prof. E. T. McLaughlin, from whom we have
just quoted, grew from boyhood to manhood in
Litchfield, graduated at Yale in 1883, and con-
tinued there as fellow, instructor, and professor
until his untimely death ten years later. Two
years is a long time in the thronging life of a
great university. Yet when the class of 1895
came to graduate, the class poem was an In
Memortam of Prof. McLaughlin, while the most
striking paragraph in the class oration was de-
voted to the brilliant teacher of English litera-
ture. These are its closing words : " I cannot
express all I feel of emotion and tenderness for
the life that is no longer lived among us.
Many of you knew him better than I, but the
refining influence of that noble spirit is the
best thing I carry away from Yale."
/narel? 30.
1788. — Amos M. Collins, born. He was an
eminent merchant and philanthropist, mayor
of Hartford, 1843-46.
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56 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
marel? 31.
Let not your heart be troubled. Give thanks
greatly for the good ; and at whatsoever times
you are afraid, trust in the Lord. — Lyman
Beecher : Letter to Catharine Beecher,
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f\pr\l I.
1724. — John Marsh chosen agent of the
town, "to represent their state to the General
Assembly concerning the settlement and con-
tinuing of their inhabitants in times of war and
danger."
f\pri\ 2.
Some time in April, 1785, the South Farms
Society voted that "the meeting-house com-
mittee shall have good right to furnish I^um,
Grindstones and Ropes sufficient for framing the
meeting house according to their best discre-
tion."
/Ipril 3.
William Norton came to church on runners
for twenty consecutive Sundays during the
winter of 1872-73. — Leonard Stone's Diary.
This is a good record for the snow, and for
Mr. Norton, too.
/)pril 4.
State elections used to be held on the first
Monday in April.
" When a fall of snow became moist under an
election-day sun, so as to pack easily into balls,
3* (57)
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58 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
the heart of every true Litchfield lad thumped
with delight. Then half a dozen of the most
agile of us would ' shin * up the lightning-rod
to the belfry, forty or fifty feet above, and,
secure in our perch, pelt mercilessly the help-
less and somewhat profane crowd of sovereign
voters." — Clarence Deming : A Yankee Toiun
Meeting,
/^pr" 5-
The snows passed away like a bad dream,
and the brooks woke up and began to laugh
and to gurgle, and the ice went out of the
ponds. ... In a few weeks the woods, late
so frozen — hopelessly buried in snow-drifts —
were full of a thousand delicacies of life and
motion, and flowers bloomed on every hand.
"Thou sendest forth thy spirit and they are
created; and thou renewest the face of the
earth."— Harriet Beecher Stowe : Poganuc
People.
/Ipril 6.
1785. — John Pierpont, born. He became one
of the most eminent of Unitarian preachers, a
powerful advocate of the anti-slavery and tem-
perance reforms, and one of the leading men
of letters of his time.
/Ipril 7.
181 7. — Our election has been held this day.
In this village. Gov. Smith had 222, and your
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APRIL. 59
humble servant 322 votes. I own that I am
pleased with obtaining the majority in this
Town, as every possible exertion has been
made to oppose me. I know that seven-eighths
of the Town are pleased with the result,
though many dare not confess it. I know my
Conn. Comrades well ; when a strange animal,
as they consider me, comes among them, they
first attempt to knock him on the head. If
they find him too strong, they will make peace
on pretty fair terms, and like him the bet-
ter for having resisted them. — Oliver Wol-
COTT, Jr.
This election was one of the most decisive
in the history of the State, resulting in the
downfall of the Federalist party, and the dis-
establishment of Congregationalism.* Added
bitterness was given to the conflict because
Wolcott had been one of the most honored of
Federalists in the country, but was now the
candidate of the Democratic party in a cam-
paign that proved to be the death struggle of
the Federalists. He alludes to himself as a
stranger to Litchfield, from the fact that for
years most of his time had been spent in
Washington and New York. In the former
city, he was Controller and afterwards Secre-
tary of the Treasury. In the latter city, he
was judge of the United States Circuit Court.
When that office was abolished, he entered
♦ See Lyman Beecher's Comment, Oct. 5.
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6o LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
business life, and was founder and first presi-
dent of the Bank of North America.
1820. — Henry W. Buel, bom. He founded
Spring Hill Sanitarium in 1858, and became
one of the leading physicians of the State.
" He was so much of an educated Christian
gentleman that it was comparatively easy for
him to do that which would give a man peace
at the last." — Dr. G. W. Russell: Hartford
Courant.
" There will be a great many people who will
be glad to see Dr. Buel's picture in the Book of
Days," said some one while this book was going
through the press.
At his first surgical operation. Dr. Buel
offered a prayer, and in that spirit he fulfilled
his ministry of healing, helping men to realize
that the Great Physician is not far off.
/Ipril 8.
1794. — Edmund Kirby, born. He served
through the War of 181 2 and the Mexican War,
attaining the rank of colonel.
flpril 9.
In 1817, the year Oliver Wolcott, Jr., was
elected governor, he enlarged the house on
South street, built by Gen. Wadsworth in 1799,
and is said to have lived there in a style never
before attempted in Connecticut. The present
owner of this historic house is Col. George
Bliss Sanford.
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HENRY W. BUEL, M. D.
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APRIL. 6l
f\pnl 10.
1776. — Oliver Wolcott writes his wife :
"Your Cares and Burdens must be many and
great ; but put your trust in that God who has
hitherto supported you and me ; He will not
fail to take Care of those who put their Trust in
Him."
/)pril n.
The first Oliver Wolcott set out thirteen
button-ball trees in the village, naming them
after the original States. These trees were not
set out in a row, but were planted here and
there on the main streets. Two of these trees
are still standing ; one, on East Street near the
Ebenezer Marsh House ; the other, in front of
the Roman Catholic Church. The latter tree,
it is said, was named Connecticut.
/)pril 12.
After Dr. Pierpont had become one of the
most distinguished Unitarian clergymen in the
country, he revisited Litchfield. At once a dis-
cussion arose in the Congregational church as
to whether he should be asked to preach.
Finally, a compromise was reached. He was
invited to make the long prayer. And he did
it. He might just as well have preached the
sermon, for he prayed for nearly a week ! — J.
Deming Perkins.
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62 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
/Ipril 13.
1789. — Ephraim Kirby's law-reports, the first
to be published in the United States, are adver-
tised by the Monitor as " just published at this
office, and ready for subscribers and gentlemen
disposed to purchase, for which most kinds of
country produce will be received."
/)pril 14.
1778. — Times, I admit, are bad, but I do not
believe that God will consign this country to
Destruction. Light in due time will arise, and
the Happy Days of Peace, fair, equitable, and
just Peace will return. — Oliver Wolcott.
1802. — Horace Bushnell was born "in an old
house, now gone, at the fork of the roads, and
opposite the Episcopal church in Bantam."
When three years of age, he removed with his
parents to New Preston.
Bushnell was pre-eminently the preacher's
preacher, — the most original and stimulating
thinker in the realm of theology that America
in this century has produced.
/ipril 15.
I was only a tender, rubicund mollusk of a
creature at the time when I came out in this
rough battle with winds, winters, and wicked-
ness ; and so far from being able to take care
of myself, I was only a little and confusedly
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APRIL. 63
conscious of myself, or that I was anybody;
and when I broke into this little, confused con-
sciousness, it was with a cry — such a dismal
figure did I make to myself ; or perchance it
was something prophetic, without inspiration,
a foreshadow, dim and terrible, of the great
battle of woe and sin I was sent hither to fight.
But my God and my good mother both heard
my cry and went to the task of strengthening
and comforting me together, and were able ere
long to get a smile on my face. My mother's
loving instinct was from God, and God was in
love to me first, therefore; which love was
deeper than hers and more protracted. Long
years ago she vanished, but God stays by me
still, embracing me in my gray hairs as ten-
derly and carefully as she did in my infancy,
and giving to me as my joy and the principal
glory of my life that he lets me know him, and
helps me with real confidence to call him my
Father. — Horace Bushnell : Life and Letters,
/Ipril 16.
Horace Bushnell was born in a household
where religion was no occasional and nominal
thing, no irksome restraint nor unwelcome vis-
itor, but a constant atmosphere, a commanding
but genial presence. In our father it was char-
acterized by eminent evenness, fairness, and
conscientiousness ; in our mother, it was felt as '
an intense life of love, utterly unselfish and un-
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64 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
tiring in its devotion, yet thoughtful, sagacious,
and wise, always stimulating and ennobling,
and in special crises leaping out in tender and
almost awful fire. If ever there was a child of
Christian nurture, he was one. — George Bush-
NELL : BushnelVs Life and Letters,
/Ipril 17.
F. Ratchford Starr, after a successful busi-
ness career in Philadelphia, came to Litchfield
some thirty years ago, bought property on
Chestnut Hill, and began farming for recrea-
tion. He soon added to his land, and estab-
lished the Echo Farm Dairy. No one has done
justice to the sights of Litchfield who has failed
to visit this model dairy.
/Ipril 18.
The reader may want to know how I suc-
ceeded in my first and only attempt at plowing.
Everything being ready, and not a few look-
ers-on to witness results, I started on a course
due south, at least it should have been, but
certainly was not. Though " due " there, I
never reached that point. It was an ordinary
plow I had, yet it acted in the most extraordi-
nary way, going southeast and then southwest.
Indeed, the oxen proved so stupid that they
could not be made to "head" as I ordered
them. ... At times they were bound N.
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APRIL. 65
N. W., then N. N. E., though " due " south, and
I began to suspect that I was driving a more
intelligent team than I had at first supposed,
and that the knowing creatures, aware of my
fondness for sailing, were "boxing the com-
pass " for my gratification. — F. Ratchford
Starr : Farm Echoes.
/Ipril 19.
I remember standing often in the door of our
house and looking over a distant horizon, where
Mount Tom reared its proud blue head against
the sky, and the Great and Little Ponds, as they
were called, gleamed out amid a steel-blue sea
of distant pine groves. — Harriet Beecher
Stowe.
/Ipril 20.
To the west of us rose a smooth-bosomed
hill, called Prospect Hill ; and many a pensive,
wondering hour have I sat at our playroom
window, watching the glory of the wonderful
sunsets that used to burn themselves out amid
voluminous wreathings, or castellated turrets
of clouds — vaporous pageantry proper to a
mountainous region. — Harriet Beecher
Stowe.
/)pril 21.
" On the east of us lay another upland, called
Chestnut Hills, whose sides were wooded with
a rich growth of forest trees, whose changes of
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66 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
tint and verdure, from the first misty tints of
spring green, through the deepening hues of
summer, into the rainbow glories of autumn,
was a subject of constant remark and of pen-
sive contemplation to us children." — Harriet
Beecher Stowe.
/)pril 22.
In April, 1723, the inhabitants voted to build
their first church ; and the house was finished
within three years. It was built in a plain
manner and without a steeple. Its dimensions
were 45 feet in length and 35 in breadth. . . .
At the raising of this building, all the adult
males in the whole township being present,
sate on the sills at once. — Morris' Statistical
Account.
/Ipril 23.
1749. — The first St. Michael's church was
raised. It stood about a mile west of the Court
House. It was named at the request of John
Davies, who had been for some years the only
Episcopalian in the town.
/)pril 24.
1875. — The Village Improvement Company >;
is organized at the home of George M. Wood-
ruff. The following were the first officers :
George M. Woodruff, President ; Mary C. y
Hickox, Secretary ; Grace N. Gates, Treasurer.'
Up to the time of its celebration in the
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(
APRIL. 67
summer of 1895, this society raised and ex-
pended for the benefit of the village, $15,253.70.
The concrete walks, the street lamps, the
stone watering trough in the center of the
village, are some of the evidences of its work ;
while through its public spirited initiative,
householders have been stimulated to give ,
added care to their own private grounds. This /
society has been the determining factor in
making this venerable town one of the most '
beautiful of summer resorts in all New
England.
/Ipril 25.
Tapping Reeve "was quite absent-minded.
One day he was seen walking up North street '
with a bridle in his hand, but without his horse,
which had quietly slipped out and walked off.
The Judge calmly fastened the bridle to a post,
and walked into the house oblivious of any
horse." — E. D. Mansfield : Personal Memories,
/Ipril 26.
A number of stories concerning Judge
Reeve's absent-mindedness have come down
to these later days. It is part of local tradition
that one day he borrowed a gun of his neigh-
bor. Major Seymour. Weeks after it was found
where he had left it, leaning against a bean-
pole, but meanwhile entangled by the rapidly-
growing stalk.
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68 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
On another occasion, a passenger on the mid-
night stage from New Haven made an urgent
call at the Judge's for a legal document in his
possession. All night long the search was kept
up, but in vain. Some time after the paper
was found — stuffed in the bung of the vinegar
barrel.
/Ipril 27.
1777- — News of the Danbury Raid reaches
town.
" About one o'clock we were alarmed. Our
people turned out spiritedly ; came up with the
rear of the enemy at eleven the next day, a lit-
tle below Wilton meeting-house, and pursued
them aboard their ships." — Dr. Reuben Smith
Letter to Oliver Wolcott,
/Ipril 28.
1741. — Col. Beebe, born. He was distin-
tinguished in the French and Revolutionary
conflicts, and held many civil offices in his
native town.
1777. Paul Peck was slain in the Wilton
skirmish. He was the most famous hunter of
his day. Father Mills of Torringford, in preach-
ing on the folly of self-conceit, told of a Berk-
shire fox who had eluded so many snares and
hunters and hounds as to become careless.
" He enters Fat Swamp at a jolly trot, head
and tail up, looking defiance at the enemies he
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APRIL. 69
has left so far behind him. But, oh ! the dread-
ful reverse ; in the midst of his haughty rev-
erie, he is brought to a sudden and everlasting
stop in one of Paul Peck's traps."
Fat Swamp is the fertile valley just south of
the Ripley place.
/Ipril 29.
1 7 19. — Fifty-seven deeds were made out to
the original proprietors of the township.
/Ipril 30.
When I first came here, I was presented by a
friend with numerous valuable cuttings, and
felt in duty bound to give them my personal
attention. They were all planted with the
utmost care, perhaps too much of it, for not one
of them took root, so far as could be seen. It
did not occur to me to ask the members of the
Chinese Embassy, when they honored me with
a visit a year or two ago, whether they had
heard of, or seen, before leaving China, any of
these cuttings or the results of them. I had
planted them years previously upside down,
and if they appeared anywhere, it must have
been at the antipodes. — F. Ratchford Starr :
Farm Echoes,
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/nay 1.
1789. — A meeting of leading citizens is held at
the house of David Buel. They " associate and
mutually agree, that hereafter we will carry on
our business without the use of distilled Spirits
as an article of refreshment, either for our-
selves or those whom we employ, and that
instead thereof, we will serve our workmen
with wholesome food, and common simple
driaks of our own production." — Litchfield
Monitor, May 25, ijSg.
While this is not the "first Temperance
Organization in the world,'* nevertheless, the
signing of this agreement is one of the most
noted landmarks in the history of the Temper-
ance Reform in America, — antedating Lyman
Beecher's " Six Sermons " by more than thirty
years.
1898. — G. P. Colvocoresses, Lieutenant Com-
mander of the Concord, takes part in the battle
of Manila Bay. In a letter of his published in
the Enquirer, he says : " We were under the fire
of more than a hundred guns for over four
hours, and I cannot imagine ships being han-
dled with more skill, or men behaving with
greater coolness and courage, than did ours."
(70)
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MAY. 71
Eight Litchfield men were in the service of
the country during the Spanish war, — three of
them were under fire at the front.
may 2.
A few days after the meeting at David Buers,
just alluded to, Jedidiah Strong signed the
Temperance Resolutions with a commendatory
note.
As one reads his name in this connection,
even at this late date, it is with a feeling of
sadness. Strong was a man of considerable
ability, and a successful politician in his day ;
even in the times of the Wolcotts and chief
Justice Adams, and Tapping Reeve, he sat in
thirty sessions of the legislature, was a mem-
ber of the Continental Congress, and held other
positions of trust. But domestic troubles came,
resulting in a divorce ; then strong drink
helped him on the downward road. He died
in poverty, and no man knows the place of his
burial. The only memorial that is left of him
is the milestone at Elm Ridge :
33 Miles to
Hartford
102 Miles to
New York
J. Strong
AD 1787.
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72 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
may 3-
What a preponderance of motives in favor of
doing right ! How small the inducement to do
wrong ! The first is to the second as a million
to one. — Lyman Beecher.
may 4-
1 79 1. — Robert Pierpont, born. He became
lieutenant-governor of Vermont and judge of
the Supreme Court of the State.
may 5-
i8i2. — Luke Lewis moved into his house on
East street. There had been a heavy snow the
night before, and the moving was done with
ox-sleds. — Old Litchfield Houses.
may 6.
Litchfield being a frontier town when it was
first settled, the inhabitants were often alarmed.
In May, 1722, Captain Jacob Griswould \sic\
being at work alone in a field abont one mile
west of the present court-house, two Indians
suddenly rushed upon him from the woods,
took him, pinioned his arms, and carried him
off. They traveled in a northerly direction,
and the same day arrived in some part of the
township, now called Canaan, then a wilder-
ness. The Indians kindled a fire, and after
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MAY. 73
binding th^ir prisoner hand and foot, lay down
to sleep. Griswould, fortunately, disengaging
his hands and his feet, while his arms were yet
pinioned, seized their guns, and made his
escape into the woods. After traveling a small
distance he sat down and waited till the dawn
of day. . . . The savages awoke in the
morning, and finding their prisoner gone, im-
mediately pursued him ; they soon overtook
him, and kept in sight of him the greater part
of the day. . . . Near sunset, he reached
an eminence, in an open field about one mile
northwest of the present court-house. He then
discharged one of his guns, which immediately
summoned the people to his assistance. The
Indians fled and Griswould safely returned to
his family. — Morris' Statistical Account,
may 7-
A Mrs. Sanford in South Farms cleared her
dooryard by cutting with her own hands one
tree a day, while her husband was engaged in
more pressing farm work. It was she who,
before even a bridle path had been opened
through the woods, used to walk to Litchfield
meeting-house on Sundays carrying her shoes in
her hands to be worn only in the village. When
we consider such exertions, need we wonder
that many years later, when the younger Wol-
cotts and others set the elms in our village
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74 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Streets, the old men groaned : " We have worked
so hard and just got the woods cleared off, and
now they are bringing the trees back again ! "
— Esther H. Thompson : Enquirer,
may 8.
In the early days, the hostess of the village
tavern was asked by an Indian for supper and
a drink. As he had no money, she refused
him, calling him a worthless and good-for-
nothing fellow. A white man overhearing the
conversation, took pity on the Indian, ordered
supper for him and paid the bill. When the
meal was ended, the Indian said he would like
to tell a story to the hostess and to his bene-
factor :
" The Bible say, God made the world, and
then he took him and looked on him, and say,
* it's all very good.' Then he made dry land
and water, and sun and moon, and grass and
trees ; and took him and looked on him, and
say, * It's all very good.' Then he made beasts,
and birds, and fishes ; and took him and looked
on him and say, * It's all very good.' Then he
made man ; and took him and looked on him,
and say, * It's all very good.' Then he made
woman ; and took him and looked on him, and
he dare no say one such word." The Indian
having told his story withdrew. — Condensed
from D Wight's Travels,
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MAY. 75
may 9-
The sequel to the story of the preceding
paragraph relates to the captivity of the white
man. Years after, while in the wilderness, he
was carried captive by the Indians to Canada.
After spending some months there, an un-
known Indian met him and ordered the white
man to follow him. They traveled together
for many days. At length, "they came one
morning to the top of an eminence presenting
the prospect of a cultivated country, in which
was a number of houses. The Indian asked
his companion whether he knew the place. He
replied eagerly that it was Litchfield. His
guide then, after reminding him that he had
so many years before relieved the wants of a
famishing Indian at an inn in that town, sub-
joined : " I, that Indian ; now I pay you ; go
home." Having said this, he bade him adieu ;
and the man joyfully returned to his own
house. — Condensed from DwighVs Travels,
/T)ay 10.
1725. — The town "voted and agreed that
there shall forthwith be erected one good and
substantial Mount, or place convenient for
sentinels to stand for the better discovering
the enemy, and for the safety of said sentinels
when upon their watch or ward ; that is to say,
one Mount at each of the four Forts."
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76 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
/nay II.
My grandmother, Ann Catlin, when a little
girl, was playing in the yard, and thinking she
saw a band of Indians coming up the hill, ran
in terror to her mother saying, "The Indians
are coming, and we shall all be killed." The
dreaded Indians proved to be a cavalcade of
relatives, old and young, in every imaginable
sort of conveyance, coming to do honor to the
birthday of Mrs. Catlin. Her housewifely
anxiety was relieved as to the entertainment
of so many guests, by the thought that her
capacious brick oven was at that moment filled
to overflowing with good things, and that the
honey from a hive of bees had that very morn-
ing been secured, and that a cart, seemingly
supplied with creature comforts, was approach-
ing. — Mrs. Mary A. Hunt : Enquirer.
(Tliay 12.
1777. — Gov. Franklin is confined in our gaol,
and a constant guard kept. We trust he will
find it difficult to escape, should he attempt it.
— Dr. Reuben Smith : Letter to Gen. Wolcott.
Hon. Wm. Franklin was the son of Benja-
min Franklin, and was the Tory governor of
New Jersey.
may 13-
1793. — Samuel S. Phelps, born. He was the
son of Captain John Phelps, proprietor of the
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MAY. 77
United States Hotel in the old days. He
became judge of the Supreme Court, and United
States Senator from Vermont. His son is E.
J. Phelps, one of the best known of the public
men of to-day.
may 14.
Vermont is a child of this County. We gave
her her first Governor, and three Governors
besides ; as many as three Senators in Con-
gress, and also many of her most efficient
founders and early distinguished citizens. —
Judge Church : Litchfield County Centennial.
/nay 15.
The attitude assumed by Vermont in the
early stages of the Revolutionary War, in
respect to Canada on the north, and the
threatening States of New York and New
Hampshire on either side, was peculiar and
delicate, and demanded the most adroit policy
to secure her purpose of independence. In
her dilemma, her most sagacious men resorted
to the counsels of their old friends of Litchfield
County, and it is said that her final course was
shaped, and her designs accomplished by the
advice of a confidential council, assembled at
the house of Gov. Wolcott in this village. —
Judge Church: Litchfield County Centennial.
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78 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
/nay i6.
1740. — "Voted, that whosoever shall Kill and
Distroy any Rattle Snakes, within the bounds
of the town, any time before the tenth day of
December next, bringing the tayl and som of
the flesh to any one of the Selectmen of the
town, shall have three pence for each snake."
may 17.
There, on the topmost twig that rises and
falls with willowy motion, sits that ridiculous
but sweet singing bobolink, singing, as a
Roman candle fizzes, showers of sparkling
notes. — Henry Ward Beecher : Eyes and Ears,
/T)a*y 18.
Every thoughtful, right-minded farmer has
an inspiration not found in any other calling.
He works God's earth, preparing it for the de-
sired crops, and when all is ready he plants the
seed. There his work ceases. He can do no
niore, for God alone can "give the increase."
In due time myriads of blades of grass or grain
make their appearance as so many messengers
sent \ij the Almighty to tell him of the coming
harvest. He reverently feels that God and he
have worked together, and goes forth with
grateful heart to receive the ripened grain
direct from the hand of the Creator. — F. Ratch-
FORD Starr : Earm Echoes.
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MAY. 79
(T\ay 19.
1780. — The Dark Day throughout New Eng-
land. The darkness came on about ten o'clock ;
candles were lit in the houses; lanterns, carried
on the roads. To multitudes, it seemed as if
the end of the world were at hand.
1 7 8 1 . — Washington breakfasted in Litchfield,
en route to Wethersfield.
/T)ay 20.
When General Washington passed through
Litchfield in the Revolutionary War, the sol-
diers, to evince their attachment to him, threw a
shower of stones at the windows of the Epis-
copal Church. He reproved them, saying ; " I
am a Churchman^ and wish not to see the church
dishonored and desolated in this manner." —
Anna Dickinson : Narrative of the Episcopal
Church,
/T)ay 21.
1864. — The Second Connecticut found itself
for the first time face to face with the enemy.
Yes, that dingy looking line, slowly moving to
the north along that slope, a mile and a half in
front of us, was a body of real, live Johnnies ;
and those puffs of smoke in the woods below
were from the muskets of rebels, who were
firing on our pickets. . . . Late in the
evening we silently moved out, following the
5*
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track of the troops who had preceded us, and
began that long and terrible series of marches
which were continued almost without a breath-
ing spell, until the first of June. — T. F. Vaill :
History of the Second Connecticut,
/T)ay 22.
1898. — Auxiliary No. 16 of the American
National Red Cross Society was organized in
the Town Hall. Up to September 23d, $820
and a large amount of material were contrib-
uted. Twenty-three sewing meetings were
held with an average attendance of twenty-
two. The ladies in Bantam, Milton, and North-
field co-operated in the work.
The Red Cross work calls to mind the still
larger work done during the Civil War, and
leads one to think of that memorable Sunday
in the Eighteenth Century when a messenger
came breathless into the meeting-house, and
Parson Champion read to the people " St. John's
is taken ! " But there is news that the soldiers
are in great destitution. There is immediate
need of clothing. That afternoon, not a woman
was at service. " On that usually still Puritan
Sabbath afternoon, there now rang out on every
side the hum of the wheel and the click of the
shuttle. . . . Many years after, when a ven-
erable old man, Mr. Champion was asked by
his granddaughter how he could approve such
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MAY. 8l
a desecration of the Sabbath. He turned on
her a solemn look and replied simply, " Mercy
before sacrifice."
/nay 23.
At a local sword presentation during the Civil
War, I heard one of the orators exhort the
ladies not to forget the soldiers in the hospital
as well as on the field. "For," added he,
" there's more what is not slewed on the field
of battle than what is killed by ball." — Clar-
ence Deming : Yankees and Yankeeisms
/nay 24.
Hezekiah Murray, seventy or eighty years
ago, became a total-abstinence man, and refused
in any way to abet the use or traffic in intoxi-
cants. He had had a still costing a hundred
dollars put upon his premises, but he deter-
mined it should never be used for distilling.
He plead with Dr. Beecher, who said of him,
" He would not give me peace ; he stood up in
the middle of my floor, and counted the names
of my people who had died drunkards, and of
those who were going to ruin. ... Do you
believe after that I made flip with a crowbar? "
Murray's earnestness was an important fac-
tor leading to the " Six Sermons on Intemper-
ance."
Years after, when Murray had passed away,
a strip of copper from the still was sent to Dr.
Beecher. " Do you remember Hezekiah Mur-
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^2 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
ray?" said the writer. "Yes," replied he,
springing to his feet, " he was one of God's no-
blemen." — Condensed from an article in Boston
Recorder^ Feb. 5, i86j.
/nay 25.
One of the first converts under Lyman Beech-
er's Litchfield ministry fell into intemperate
habits. This led the doctor to prepare his famous
^ Six Sermons on Intemperance. " I wrote under
such power of feeling as never before or since.
Never could have written it under other cir-
cumstances. They took hold of the whole con-
gregation. Sabbath after Sabbath the interest
grew and became the most absorbing thing
ever heard of before. A wonder — of weekly
conversation and interest, and, when I got
through, of eulogy; all the old farmers that
brought in wood to sell, and used to set up
their cart- whips at the groggery, talked about
it, and said, many of them, they would never
drink again." — Lyman Beecher.
I didn't set up for a reformer any more than
this : when I saw a rattlesnake in my path, I
would smite it.-/ Lyman BEECHER.^
(Tliay 26.
Here is a characteristic advertisement taken
from the Monitor of one hundred years ago :
" Whereas Anner my wife hath eloped from
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LYMAN BEECHER.
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MAY. 83
my bed and board. All perfons are forbid
trufting her on my account as I will pay no
debts of her contracting after this date. All
thofe indebted to me are forbid making any
payments to her."
may 27.
William Norton, who has handed down to the
present generation many incidents of the
former times, is responsible for the following
anecdote :
When the great elm at the jail corner was a
slender tree, it was used as a whipping-post.
The culprit was tied to the tree, and could put
his arms clear around it. When one of the
Seymours was sheriff, he was obliged to inflict
the old-time penalty upon two men, the one an
Indian, the other a white man. The Indian
bore it stoically without a murmur ; but the
white man, at the first lash, screamed. The
sheriff had not the heart to make the next blow
so heavy ; still the culprit continued his outcry.
Each succeeding blow was lighter, and the
offender got off with scarcely any injury, — save
perhaps to his vocal chords.
/T)ay 28.
The County Jail is now known as " Benton's
Inn," from the genial Civil War veteran who is
the jailor. We are sure that if Mayor Mat-
thews were his guest, he would give as good an
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84 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
account of him as he did of Major Seymour a
hundred years ago.
When Rev. James Taylor was pastor of the
Methodist Church in 1874, he instituted regu-
lar religious services at the jail. His success-
ors maintained his work until 1877, when Rev.
D. D. T. McLaughlin became chaplain. Since
he passed away in 1895, his wife has continued
his work. The Enquirer justly said of him :
" The good that he has done and the lives that
he has redeemed, since he has been chaplain at
the jail the past eighteen years, can never be
known until the books are opened at the Judg-
ment Day.**"
may 29.
Of course you will often walk under the great
elms on the North street. Tell me whether
they really touch the skies as it used to seem to
me, and if they yet hold mysterious conversa-
tion when the wind moves in their tops ; and
find out what they say, if you can, for I never
could. — Henry Ward Beecher : Letter to Fanny
Fern,
/nay 30.
1778. — Richard Skinner, born. He became
chief justice and governor of Vermont.
1780. — Henry Seymour, born. He became a
distinguished citizen of Central New York.
Gov. Horatio Seymour was his son.
1789. — James Collier, born. He was the first
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MAY. 85
civil officer of the Federal government in San
Francisco.
(Hay 3<-
1778. — Horatio Seymour, born. He was for
twelve years United States Senator from Ver-
mont. It was his nephew and namesake who
was the Democratic Presidential candidate in
1868.
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Jijpe I.
1776. — Oliver Wolcott writes from Philadel-
phia to his wife : "It is now a long time since
I have been here, and I do most sincerely wish
to return to the Pleasures of a domestick rural
Life. . . . Here I see little except human
Faces which I know not, and numerous Piles of
Buildings which have long since satiated the
Sight, and the street rumble is far from being
musical. But as I was not sent here to please
myself, I shall cheerfully yield to my Duty."
1864.— Battle of Cold Harbor. The Litch-
field county regiment lost 81 men killed; 212
wounded {^^ fatally) ; 15 missing.
"About three o'clock the order was re-
ceived for the Second Connecticut to advance .
The first battalion went at double-quick across
the open field under a whizzing of lead that
dropped somebody at every step, into the wood
under fire every moment thickening, and in a
moment with unbroken ranks confronting the
enemy in their entrenchments, and but for a
strong abattis of pine boughs would have gone
over them like Niagara. But there the fight
began, and there our men fought like lions,
and there fell and died without the slightest
(86)
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JUNE. 87
sense of pain, many, oh how many, of the
noblest men that ever saw the light. . . .
They took the entrenchments, they made more
than five hundred rebel prisoners and sent
them to the rear, and held the line. — Adjutant
Vaill : Newspaper Correspondence,
1892. — The Fire Department Building is
formally opened. This handsome and lavishly
equipped club house, — for such it is, — is the
gift of a public-spirited citizen, Mr. J. Deming
Perkins.
There was a time when the facilities for
fighting fire were insufficient, though to be
sure, it rained sometimes. But, with the intro-
duction of city water and the building of the
Fire Department House, the efficient volunteer
firemen were not only adequately, but ele-
gantly, equipped for service.
Jdpe 2.
You can have no idea of the intense anxiety
in Litchfield in the days following Cold Har-
bor. It was the same after every great battle
in which Litchfield troops were engaged. The
telegraph wires had more news than they could
carry. It was impossible to get details. All
we knew was, that a terrible battle had been
fought, and that a great number were either
dead or wounded. As Mr. Hubbard was Con-
gressman, our house was a rendezvous for peo-
ple hoping and fearing for news. They would
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88 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
often stay till late at night. I particularly
remember one woman from Goshen who waited
till eleven o'clock, and then went home, cheered
with the thought that no news was good news.
She had just gone, when we received word that
her husband was among the slain. — Mrs. Abby
J. Hubbard.
Jul?*? 3-
You can stand over in the neighborhood of
the West District schoolhouse, and see the
smoke from six farm houses, where their dead
were brought back from the Civil War. Three
sons of the Wadhams family were slain within
three weeks. When Deacon Adams went over
to break the news of the death of one of them,
he was on his way back to the village, when
he was told that another had fallen. — Mrs.
Abby J. Hubbard.
Such funerals as we had in those days ! I
shall never forget them. I had the stage line
then, and (will you believe it ?) when the war
was over, I brought up from the Naugatuck
station all that were left from a company that
went from this town. I carried them all up in
one stage drawn by four horses. — George
Kenney.
}aT}<i 4.
During the summer of 1720, the first settlers
arrived. Captain Jacob Griswold of Windsor,
John Peck of Hartford, and Ezekiel Buck of
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JUNE. 89
Wethersfield, brought their families here, built
log houses on their home lots, and moved into
them.
Jul?? 5-
" Mother, I don't want to go to school."
" You don't wish to grow up a dunce, do you,
Henry?"
"Yes, marm."
"What? Grow up like a poor, ignorant
child, go out to service, and live without know-
ing anything ? "
"Yes, marm."
"Well, suppose you begin now. I'll put an
apron on you, and you shall stay at home and
do housework. How would you like that ? "
" Oh, do. Ma ! "
Sure enough, we were permitted to stay away
from school, provided we would "do house-
work " ; and all summer long our hands set the
table, washed dishes, swept up crumbs, dusted
chairs, scoured knives ; our feet ran of errands,
besides the usual complement of chores in the
barn. — Henry Ward Beecher : Star Papers,
Jap? 6.
Col. Matthew Lyon, who figured in public
life in the early part of this century, having
been congressman from Vermont and after-
wards from Kentucky, is remembered here as
a friendless Irish lad who was sold, to pay his
passage, to Hugh Hannah. After an alterca-
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9© LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
tion with his master, he ran away from him.
Years after Hannah attributed Lyon's success
to the corporeal lessons which he had given
him. Kilbourne, who tells the story, says that
the price paid for the boy was a pair of stags
valued at ;;^i2.
Jul?? 7-
1797 — The Monitor contains the following
advertisement, prefaced with a rude cut of a
man going along the highway with a stick and
bundle slung over his shoulder :
" Ran away from the fubfcriber, about the
13th inftant, a mulatto fervant Jep 21 years old,
about five feet 7 or 8 inches high, underftands
the trade of a Bloomer, will probably feek em-
ployment in that bufinefs. All Perfons are
forbid harboring, employing, or dealing with
faid Jep upon the penalty of the Law. — David
Welch."
Jd9(? 8.
On a sultry morning in June, John Davies,
Jr., started for church on horseback with his
wife behind him on a pillion, when a shower
arose. Near Bradleyville there came a blind-
ing flash, accompanied by a terrific peal of
thunder which brought a scream from the lady,
to which her husband replied, "Keep quiet,
Molly, we are four miles nearer the burying
ground than when we left home." — S. : Enquirer,
November, 1895.
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THE FIRE DEPARTMENT BUILDING.
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Jui?(? 9.
In Litchfield, when I saw a thunder-storm
coming up, I used to run into the house and
ask my mother to let me put on my old clothes
and go out into the rain ; for nothing was so
grand to me as being out in the tempest, and
seeing the elms swayed and the long drought
broken by the coming on of the storm. I ex-
ulted ; and though the birds were all gone, I
was there to sing. — Henry Ward Beecher :
Lectures on Preaching,
Jdije 10.
1773. — Roger Skinner, born. He became
prominent in public life in the state of New
York, and was for some years judge of the
United States District^ Court.
Jdije 11.
1886. — Fire breaks out at a little past one in
the morning. The Court House and Mansion
House are destroyed, and all buildings from
Dr. Beckwith's residence on South street, to a
brick building thirty feet west of the Court
House on West street. " The rapidly burning
mass of wooden buildings, with the Mansion
House towering up in the center, and the
Court House on the right, the air full of flame
and cinders (one of the latter was found six
miles away at the foot of the lake), made a
splendid if terrific picture." — Enquirer.
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92 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Jdije 12.
There are only two or three things required
for a good stone wall. It must be made so
that chipmonks can run in and out, easily ; it
must have woodbine enough in spots ; it must
have a deal of mosses growing on it ; and it
must be broad enough on the top for one to
walk on. I know of nothing else which a good
wall requires. — H. W. Beecher : Eyes and Ears,
Juije 13.
1781. — The first meeting of St. Paul's Ma-
sonic Lodge held, Rev. Ashbel Baldwin pre-
siding as master.
Jdije 14.
181 1. — Harriet Beecher, born. Her home
was here until her father was called to Han-
over Street Church, Boston, in 1826.
Mrs. Stowe loved Litchfield. Her best book
for reading in this town is Poganuc People^ —
photographic in its accurate delineation of the
Litchfield she knew, and touched with the skill
of a great literary artist. In sending a presen-
tation copy to Oliver Wendell Holmes, she
wrote : " It is an extremely quiet story for
these sensational days, when heaven and earth
seemed to be racked for a thrill ; but as I get
old, I do love to think of those quiet, simple
times, when there was not a poor person in the
parish, and the changing glories of the year
were the only spectacle."
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JUNE. 93
Mrs. Storrs O. Seymour, who was a personal
friend of Mrs: Stowe in her later years, used
occasionally to send her flowers from her
mother's grave or from the garden of Judge
Reeve's house, where Lyman Beecher doubt-
less called on June 14, 181 1, to tell his friend
of the birth of his daughter.
JtJQ*? "5-
Mrs. Storrs O. Seymour, while residing in
Hartford, frequently saw Mrs. Stowe. After a
visit from her in the winter of 1889, she made
the following memorandum, which now appears
in print for the first time :
"I once showed Mrs. Stowe a copy of her
autobiography which had been given me, and
she was much interested in looking over the
pictures with me. *My portrait,' she said (the
first one in the book), *was taken by a Mr.
Richmond ; he used to talk to me and keep me
laughing; I suppose so I should have a pleas-
ant expression.' Of her father's, she said ;
* That is my dear father ; that looks as he used
to, when he came into the room where we
children were all frolicking; he would stop
and look at us with that pleasant, amused
expression on his face.'
" Her sister Catharine's, she said, ' was like
her, only it looked cross, and she was not
cross.' Of her brother, Henry Ward's, she
exclaimed. ' Oh ! there is Henry ! that looks
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94 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
just as he used when he went into his
pulpit, as much as to say, *hefe I am! per-
fectly fearless ! I am going to say just what I
think right, no matter what anyone says about
it;
" Of her mother she spoke, very tenderly and
beautifully, and of her husband also.
" She told me about each of the houses she
had lived in, and with very great feeling of the
old home in Cincinnati.
" When I opened at the last picture of her-
self, she said : * I like that better than any I
ever had taken ; they used to make such dread-
ful pictures of me,' and then went on to tell me
of a gentleman who, when introduced to her,
said : * Why, Mrs. Stowe, is it possible this is
you? You are quite a good looking woman;
all the portraits I ever saw of you made you
out dreadfully homely.' "
Jd9? i6.
1823. — It was about the middle of June that
my father and I drove up to Grove Catlin's
tavern on the Green. One of the first objects
which struck my eyes was interesting and
picturesque. This was the long procession of
school girls coming down North street, walk-
ing under the lofty elms, and moving to the
music of a flute and flageolet. The girls were
gaily dressed and evidently enjoying their
evening parade, in this most balmy season of
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JUNE. 95
the year. It was the school of Miss Sally
Pierce. — E. D. Mansfield : Personal Memories.
Jupe 17.
Miss Sarah Pierce opened a school in this \/
town, for the instruction of females, in the /
year 1792, which has justly merited and '
acquired a distinguished reputation. — Morris'
Statistical Account.
This school was doubly famous, both for its
teachers and for its students. Sally and Mary
Pierce and John P. Brace were pioneers in
the field of higher education for women. Be-
sides the Beecher children, there were many
other pupils whose names are well known. In
the long list, we note the names of Mrs. Mar-
shall O. Roberts, Mrs. Cyrus W. Field, Mrs.
McCuUough, wife of the Secretary of the
Treasury, Mrs. Bliss, and Mrs. Van Lennep,
the missionaries.
Jape 18.
Boys have nothing to do but to set each
other on to mischief. They pull off buds
from the unblossomed rose bushes ; they pick
cucumbers by the half-bushel that were to
have been let alone ; they break down rare
shrubbery to get whips, and instead get whip-
pings ; they kill the guinea-pigs ; chase the
chickens ; break up hens' nests ; get into the
carriages and wagons only to tumble out, and
set all the nurses a-running ; they study every
6*
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means of getting under the horse's feet, and,
as of the more dangerous act they are fond of
tickling their hind legs and pulling at their
tails; they fill the already fed horses with
extra oats, causing the hostler to fear for his
charge's health, since he refuses oats at the
next regular feeding ; they paddle in all the
mud on the premises; sit down in the street
and fill their pockets with dirt ; they wet their
clothes in the brook, tear them in the woods ;
lose their caps a dozen times a day, and^ go
bare-headed in the blazing sun ; they cut up
every imaginable prank with their long-suffer-
ing nurses when meals are served, or when
bedtime comes, or when morning brings the
washing and dressing. They are little, nimble,
compact skinfuls of ingenious, fertile, endless,
untiring mischief. They stub their toes, or cut
their fingers, or get stung, or eat some poison-
ous berry, seed, or root, or make us think that
they have, which is just as bad ; they fall down
stairs, or eat green fruit till they are as tight
as a drum, and yet there is no peace to us with-
out them, as there certainly is none with them.
— Henry Ward Beecher : Sfar Papers,
Jdi^e 19.
1809. — Lewis B. Woodruff, born. He was
"one of the most distinguished jurists Litchfield
has produced. His long judicial career in the
city and state courts of New York culminated
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when President Grant appointed him federal
judge for the Southern District of New York.
The bar and the press received the news of his
appointment with marked enthusiasm, and
when he had finished his life-work, a few years
later, even so irresponsive a paper as the New
York Post said, " It would be difficult to find a
better representative of his class than Lewis
B. Woodruff, late United States circuit judge."
1826. — Charles Loring Brace, born. It is a
singular coincidence that two of New York's
foremost citizens of recent years should have
been born on the same day of the month, in a
quiet New England town.
Jdpe 20.
1826. — The Litchfield County Post issued its
first number. During the editorship of Henry
Adams, a few years later, it received the name
by which it is now known. The Litchfield En-
quirer. It is the oldest paper in the county.
1864. — This was the most intolerable position
the regiment was ever required to hold [in the
entrenchments before Petersburg]. We had
seen a deadlier spot at Cold Harbor, and others
awaited us in the future ; but they were
agonies that did not last. Here, however, we
had to stay^ hour after hour, from before dawn
until after dark, and that, too, where we could
not move a rod without extreme danger. ....
Do you like to drink warm water ? Then enlist
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98 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
in the next war and stay twelve hours in a hole
in the ground, without shelter from the fierce-
ness of a Virginia sun in June, with bullets
passing two feet above your head, with dead
bodies broiling all around you, and with two
tin canteens of muddy water. — T. F. Vaill :
History of the Second Connecticut.
Jdi^e 21.
Charles Loring Brace's curiosity on subjects
of history was insatiable, until his questions
and his father's elaborate replies became a
torment to the young ladies of the school.
When finally the child selected the dinner hour
to propound his queries, and their teacher laid
down his carving knife and fork, and the roast
grew cold, the pupils after suffering thus
silently and hungry on several occasions,
rebelled. Charles was threatened. If he did
not stay away with his questions, he should be
kissed. Dreading this terror, after the manner
of small boys, he desisted. — Life end Letters.
Jijije 22.
In Kilbourne's Biographical Notes, Charles
Loring Brace is mentioned as a literary man
who has written some pleasing volumes of
European travel. " He is now secretary of
the Children's Aid Society in the city of New
York." It was there that Mr. Brace accom-
plished his life work. In the annals of Ameri-
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JUNE. 99
can philanthropy, no name stands higher. He
was pre-eminent both in practical achievement
and in a wise understanding of all that per-
tains to the field of philanthropy. His Gesta
Christi is a book that has received world-wide
recognition.
• Jdije 23.
1790. — Freeborn Garrettson, accompanied by
his colored servant Harry, enters Litchfield.
They preached the first Methodist sermons
delivered here. " I found freedom in preach-
ing from ' Enoch walked with God.' " The
sermon was delivered in St. Michael's church
before a large congregation. Garrettson left
Harry to preach another sermon, and went on
to the center of the town ; the bell rang, and
he preached to a few in the Presbyterian meet-
ing-house, and lodged with a kind churchman.
During his visit, " I preached," he says, " in
the skirts of the town, where I was opposed by
, who made a great disturbance. I told
him the enemy had sent him to pick up the
good seed, turned my back on him, and went
my way accompanied by brothers W. and H.
I found another waiting company in another
part of the town, to whom I declared, * Except
ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' In this
town we have given the devil and the wicked
much trouble ; we have a few good friends." —
Stevens : Memorials of Methodism.
It is pleasant to remember that the Episco-
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pal and Congregational churches were open
to the early itinerant. His colaborers did not
fare so well generally. Jesse Lee, the founder
of Connecticut Methodism, preached his first
sermon in Norwalk. After trying in vain to
secure a private house for service, he asked
permission to preach in an orchard. The lady
owning it objected on the plea that the people
would tramp down the grass. He preached on
the highway, and the common people heard
him gladly.
JdQe 24.
1813. — Henry Ward Beecher, born.
Oq one occasion Mr. Beecher was introduced
to an English audience as the son of the dis-
tinguished Dr. Beecher. To those of us who
have the Litchfield perspective he is always
that. We are not unmindful of the later fame
that came to him and to his sister Harriet, but
to us they are the children at the parsonage ;
and as we pass by Prospect street they seem
even yet to be playing on the lawn.
Jdi^e 25.
Oh, there is not a place in the old Litchfield
house where I was born that is not dear to my
eyes ! I go back there sometimes ; and the
last time I went I chose not to go in the glare
of day, they had so changed the place. But I
stood at twilight when -just enough darkness
had come down to hide the changes, and yet
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THE BEECHEK HOUSE. Rectnt Photograph.
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JUNE. lOI
there was light enough to throw up above the
horizon and against the sky the substance and
form of the old house. It was full to my
thought of my father and my mother, of my
sisters and brothers. My heart blessed the old
house for all that it had had in it ; for all the
care it had had ; for all its sweet associations.
It was stained through with soul color. It was
full, as it were, with the blood of life. — Henry
Ward Beecher : Lectures on Preaching.
Jdije 26.
1 81 9. — About this time Henry Ward Beecher
went a-fishing. He tells of it in Eyes and Ears :
" A bare-footed boy might have been seen on a
June afternoon with his alder-pole on his
shoulder, tripping through the meadow where
dandelions and wild geraniums were in bloom,
and steering for the old saw-mill. As soon as
the meadow was crossed, the fence scaled, and
a descent begun, all familiar objects were gone,
and an overpowering consciousness of being
alone set one's imagination into a dance of fear.
Could we find our way back ? What if a big
bull should come out of those bushes ? What
if a great big man should come along and carry
us off ? . . . .
"But no sooner did we see the sparkle of
the water than our soul grew calm and happy
again.
" Now, for the first time in our lives, we put
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I02 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
on a worm. We threw in the hook, and
trembled all over with excitement !
" The hook and bait fell upon the wrinkled
water, went quietly down the stream, and
swept in near the shore, where some projecting
stone roofed over a little pool. Out of that
pool our little eyes saw something dart, and our
little hands, all a-tremble, felt something pull.
In an instant, with a spasm of energy, we drew
back the line ; there was a flash in the air, —
a wriggling flash, — and something smote the
rocky, gravelly bank behind. Scrambling up
we found a shiner j but alas ! smashed to pieces.
Soon another and another fared in like man-
ner, and it was long before we could subdue
our nerves so as not to dash the fish to pieces.
Our courage grew every moment. What did
7ve care if there was a bull in the bushes !
What if a beggar man should come along !
What if a great black dog should — but that
thought was a little too serious. Black dogs
were terrors not to be lightly thought of, even
by a six-year-old urchin who had caught fish —
alone, too ! And so gathering up two roach
and three shiners, we started home. Up the
sloping hill we ran, till our father's house
shone out from among the trees; and then,
with the dignity and nonchalance of a con-
queror, we prepared to make a triumphal
entrance. Since then we have fished in many
a stream and lake, and in the deep sea, but
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JUNE. 103
never with half the exhilaration of that first
joyful hour on the Bantam."
Jijije 27.
1858. Henry N. Hudson became rector of
St. Michael's church. Mr. Hudson is remem-
bered as a man of fine literary tastes, who had
made something of a study of Shakespeare.
He became one of the foremost American
editors that the great dramatist has had.
As a preacher, Mr. Hudson had some gro-
tesque mannerisms. He would hurl out a
statement, and then would stand watching his
audience to see its effect, but with a peculiar
facial contortion that had to be seen to be
appreciated.
Jdije 28.
A child that has not ridden up from the
meadow to the barn on a load of hay has yet to
learn one of the luxuries of exultant childhood.
What care they for jolts, when the whole load
is a vast and multiplex spring ? The more the
wagon jounces, the better they like it ! Then
come the bars leading into the lane with maple
trees on either side. The limbs reach down
and the green leaves kiss the children over and
over again ; so would I, if I were a green leaf,
and not consider myself so green after all! —
Henry Ward Beecher : Fruits^ Flowers^ and
Farming,
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I04 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Jupe 29.
I remember hearing father say with a sor-
rowful countenance, as if announcing the
death of some one very interesting to him,
" My dear, Byron is dead, — gone,'' After being
a while silent, he said. " Oh, I'm sorry Byron is
dead. I did hope he would live to do some-
thing for Christ. What a harp he might have
swept ! " The whole impression made upon
me by the conversation was solemn and pain-
ful. — Harriet Beecher Stowe.
JdJ9e 30.
One very hot day in summer, and in the
afternoon, I was in church, and Dr. Beecher
was going on in a sensible, but rather prosy,
half sermon, when all at once he seemed to
recollect that we had just heard of the death of
Lord Byron. He was an admirer of Byron's
poetry, as all who admire genius must be. He
raised his spectacles and began with an account
of Byron, his genius, wonderful gifts, and then
went on to his want of virtue and his want of
true religion, and finally described a lost soul,
and the spirit of Byron going off, wandering in
the blackness of darkness forever ! It struck
me as with an electric shock, and left an im-
perishable memory. — E. D. Mansfield: Per-
sonal Memories.
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July I.
With the Fourth of July so near at hand, our
thoughts naturally go out to Judah Champion
and to Oliver Wolcott. Like Isaiah and Heze-
kiah, our own prophet and statesman stood
side by side in a time of stress and storm.
While the parson's well-known prayer sounds
a little too much like the imprecatory psalms
to suit this Christian dispensation, we may be
certain that the Lord knew that it came out of
the heart of as true a patriot as America had.
The prayer was delivered in the meeting-
house which stood where the soldier's monu-
ment now stands. In the audience were Col.
Tallmadge and his cavalry regiment, for they
were spending a Sabbath in the village while
on their way to the front. But enough, — here
is the prayer :
" O Lord, we view with terror the approach
of the enemies of thy holy religion. Wilt thou
send storm and tempest to toss them upon the
sea and to overwhelm them upon the mighty
deep, or to scatter them to the uttermost parts
of the earth. But, peradventure, should any
escape thy vengeance, collect them together
again, O Lord, as in the hollow of thy hand,
(105)
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Io6 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
and let thy lightnings play upon them ! We
beseech thee, moreover, that thou do gird up
the loins of these thy servants who are going
forth to fight thy battles. Make them strong
men, * that one shall chase a thousand, and two
shall put ten thousand to flight.* Hold before
them the shield with which thou wast wont in
the old time to protect thy chosen people.
Give them swift feet, that they may pursue
their enemies, and swords terrible as that of
thy Destroying Angel, that they may cleave
them down when they have overtaken them.
Preserve these saints of thine. Almighty God,
and bring them once more to their homes and
friends, if thou canst do it consistently with
thine high purposes. If, on the other hand,
thou hast decreed that they shall die in battle,
let thy spirit be with them and breathe upon
them, that they may go up as a sweet sacrifice
into the courts of thy temple, where are hab-
itations prepared for them from the founda-
tions of the world."
Jdly 2.
There is another prayer of Father Champion's,
not so much of a classic as the one 'just quoted,
but still worthy of remembrance. The parson
was ati ardent Federalist. He received the
news of John Adams's election to the presidency
with delight, but it was very hard to learn that
Thomas Jefferson, that arch- Republican (to
use the old phraseology), was vice-president.
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JULY. 107
When Sunday came he prayed fervently for
the president, and then added, '* And, O Lord !
will thou bestow upon the vice-president a
double portion of thy grace, for thou knowest he
needs it !''
Jt»iy 3-
This is the day when firecrackers are bought,
and when, for these many years, preparations
are made for the great bonfire at the Center.
As it is a long wait till midnight, we may
beguile the time with a story. Captain Alva
Stone, a Civil War veteran whom everyone
loves, told it to me in his inimitable way. As
I write, I see again his keen, bright eyes, and
note his eloquent cane giving emphasis to what
he said.
" There was one night when the * Glorious
Fourth ' was ushered in with a roar and
racket that I can hear yet. The first stroke of
the clock had scarce made itself heard, when
the church bells rang out, guns were fired, fire-
crackers went off by the pack, — and mingled
and jumbled with all this noise were blasts
from tin horns, and shouts from enthusiastic
* Young America.'
" I had had a broken sleep during the earlier
hours, but now I was wide awake. The first
fifteen minutes I rather enjoyed the fun, then
I wished for quiet ; at the end of half an hour
I grew a little impatient. Was this outlandish
din to go on forever ? Then I got downright
7
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Io8 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
mad, and vowed that if I could ever get hold
of the young fellows ringing those church
bells, I would give them a flogging. By and
by this feeling wore itself away, and I was lost
in admiration of their indomitable persistence.
"In the morning, as I was on my way up
town, I hailed the first boy I met, and said,
* My boy, did you have a hand in that bell-
ringing?' *Yes,' said he. *Well,' said I, *I
admire your pluck and endurance. Take
this ! ' — and thrusting my hand into my pocket,
I gave him all the loose change I had."
July 4.
1753. — Judah Champion is ordained pastor of
the Congregational church and continues in
that relation for fifty-seven years, having the
assistance of a colleague during the last eleven
years.
Thy Reverend Champion, — champion of the truth ;
I see him yet, as in my early youth ;
His outward man was rather short than tall,
His wig was ample, though his frame was small,
Active was his step and cheerful was his air.
And oh how free and fluent was his prayer !
— John Pierpont: Litchfield County Centennial.
1776. — Oliver Wolcott signs the Declaration
of Independence.
Bold Wolcott urged the all important cause,
With steady hand the solemn scene he draws ;
Undaunted firmness with his wisdom joined,
Nor kings, nor worlds could warp his steadfast mind.
— Joel Barlow : Vision of Columbus.
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OLIVER WOLCOTT.
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JULY. 109
Oliver Wolcott was appointed first sheriff of
this county in 175 1. For forty- six years he was
continuously in public life, and died while Gov-
ernor of Connecticut. During the Revolution,
as member of Congress, and as a general in the
army, he rendered indefatigable service to the
Patriot cause.
1826. — The semi-centennial of the Declara-
tion of Independence was elaborately cele-
brated. At the Congregational church the
Declaration " was read by T. Smith, Esq., in a
manner well worthy of that most eloquent and
interesting document." J. P. Brace was the
orator of the occasion. The citizens then went
to the banquet at the Court House. The list
of toasts was interminable. The Cause of the
Greeks was drunk in silence, and the Patriots of
the South American Republics were not forgotten.
At last the citizens retired, and the "gentle-
men of the Law Office " had eight more toasts.
Six Southerners spoke. The last sentiment
responded to in this New England town was :
" The enemies of John C. Calhoun ; may they
be lathered with aqua fortis and shaved with a
hand-saw ! "
1876. — At the Centennial Celebration in
Litchfield, the Declaration was read, as in 1826,
by Truman Smith, who had meantime been
senator from Connecticut. The Historical
Address, a model of accuracy and compactness
was delivered by George C. Woodruff.
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1893. — The Casino is formally opened.
Alexander McNeill was the first to suggest the
building of this fine club house. Back of the
building are ample grounds for tennis and
golf. Votaries of the latter game will also find
links on the slope of East Hill. Were
" Penelope," — to whom Kate Douglas Wiggin
has introduced us, — making her progress
through East street or West street of a summer
morning, she might think she were in a town
in the highlands of Scotland.
July 5-
1784. — My dear Eliza: You want to know
what we are about on this Western Hill. Since
you will not be so good as to come and see, I
will tell you that our sister Laura is thinking
and dreaming of her Beloved. As my soul was
not made to be puffed away in sighs, I spend
many an hour of clear comfort in the Grove, the
Bower, and my Chamber. At this delightful
season when all nature is singing, I think it
best to dismiss all our cares, and give them a
parole till sullen Winter returns, when we can
think of nothing else ; and I believe after all,
Eliza, there are few of us that have not our
pensive moments, — and at every season. For
myself, I will confess that I have often at
this very summer retired to the brink of a
purling stream, and thought how convenient a
place it was for a despairing lover to end his
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JULY. Ill
days ! I have recommended it to two or three,
but they are not yet far enough gone to take
the leap. — Mariann Wolcott : Letter to Miss
Stoughton (Mrs. Oliver Wolcott^ /r,),
Jaly 6.
Were we writing a formal history, large
space would be given to Seth P. Beers. A
native of Woodbury, for over fifty years he was
a leading citizen here. His career culminated
in his appointment as sole School Commis-
sioner of the State. For nearly a quarter of a
century he administered the school fund with
such ability that Connecticut still owes his
memory a debt of gratitude.
He was a self-made man, and, mindful of his
own early struggles, aided and encouraged
many young men here and elsewhere to a suc-
cessful career. Prof.' Beers of Yale is his
grandson.
July 7-
As we pass by St. Anthony's Roman Catholic
church we are not thinking of the mediaeval
saint gone to his reward near eight hundred
years ago, but our imagination calls up the
picture of a Litchfield woman, Miss Julia Beers, \>^
the real founder of this strong parish church.
She was the daughter of Seth P. Beers.
While at John P. Brace's school in Hartford
she met James R. Bayley, a gifted young
student at Trinity. Those who knew them
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112 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
both well, believe that they were engaged to be
married. Bayley subsequently studied under
Dr. Jarvis at Middletown, but instead of
becoming a clergyman in the Protestant Epis-
copal church entered the Roman Catholic
priesthood. To-day he is remembered as an
archbishop.
Nine years passed away, then Miss Beers
was baptized a Roman Catholic by the friend
of her school days. She lived for a time at the
Convent of Mercy in New York. But the
rigors of the religious life proved too much for
her constitution. After a trip abroad she
returned to Litchfield. Through her instru-
mentality the fine location on South street was
secured for her church. The Catholic Transcript
has reason enough to pay her a noble tribute.
We quote one of its paragraphs :
*' It was she who cared for the altar, for the
instruction of the children whom she tenderly
loved, and for the guidance and encourage-
ment of the whole congregation ; for when, as
often happened in those days of difficult travel,
the priest did not arrive at the hour expected,
she would gather the waiting people upon their
knees, and lead them in the rosary and other
devotions. On those Sundays when there was
no mass, the people met at her house where
she gave instructions to the children, after
which all joined in the rosary. This was to
her a work of love, and was continued with
ardor while she remained in Litchfield."
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ST. AiNTHONV S KUMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
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JULY. 113
She was not disinherited • by her father,
though it is true that her portion of the estate
was held in trust for her during her lifetime.
After the death of her parents, she went to
Rome, where she died, and is buried.
Jdly 8.
1888. — St. Anthony's Roman Catholic church
is dedicated by Bishop McMahon. Rev. T. R.
Sweeney was parish priest at the time. He has
been succeeded by Rev. P. H. Finnegan and
Rev. P. M. Skelley. Would that Father
Smith, who used to come all the way from
Alba ay forty years before to administer the
mass to the few scattered Roman Catholics,
could have been present on this eventful day !
And James Morris, Jr., too, our old-time his-
torian, with the pen of a ready writer ! He
would have had to revise his famous Statistics a
bit, for this is what he wrote not far from 1815 :
" Only two European families have settled in
Litchfield ; they came from Ireland and were
respectable."
July 9.
1776. — The leaden statue of King George
in. at Bowling Green, New York, is pulled
down by the Sono of Liberty. It was subse-
quently broken up and sent to General Wolcott.
Ebenezer Hazard, who wrote about this time to
General Gates, was right in his conjecture that
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114 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
the redcoats "would have melted majesty
fired at them."
Jdily 10.
Just when the King George statue arrived in
Litchfield we do not know, but when it did
come, this was what was done with it : " Fred-
erick Wolcott, who was a boy at the time,
informed me a few years ago that he well
remembered the circumstance of the statue
being sent there, and that a shed was erected
for the occasion in an apple orchard adjoining
the house, where his father chopped it up with
the wood axe, and the * girls' had a frolic in y
running the bullets and making them up into
cartridges." — ^George C. Woodruff: History
of Litchfield.
A memorandum in General Wolcott's hand-
writing states that 42,088 cartridges were made.
Jdjiy 11.
As New York city was in the hands of the
British during most of the Revolution, New
England's line of communication with the
American army in the Middle States lay
through Litchfield and the Hudson river posts.
This place naturally became an important
depot for military supplies. One storehouse
was at the head of North street, another
on the site of the present Court House.
A workshop for the army stood on East street,
just west of the cemetery. The old jail which
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JULY. 115
Stood on East street, about where the school-
house stands, is where Governor Franklin was
confined.
JiJiy 12.
1814. — "Dear Sister, — I arrived vSaturday at
sunset, and found all well, and boy (Henry
Ward) in merry trim, glad at heart to be safe
on terra firma after all his jolts and tossings.
I left my goggles in the paper box for combs, "^
on the toilet table where I slept the first night,
the night we turned everything topsy-turvy to
make room for the influx of company. . . .
Pray save me some pink seed of your double
pink, and lay me down some honeysuckle of
all sorts that you have, and save me a striped
rose. I have never seen one. Good night. —
RoxANA Beecher : Letter to Harriet Foote.
July 13.
Hiel Jones, in virtue of his place on the
high seat of the daily stage that drove through
Poganuc Center on the Boston turnpike, felt
himself invested with a sort of grandeur as
occupying a predominant position in society
from whence he could look down on all its
movements and interests. Every housekeeper
charged him with her bundle, or commissioned
him with her errand. Bright-eyed damsels
smiled at him from their windows as he drove
up to house doors, and of all that was going on
in Poganuc Center or any of the villages for
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Il6 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
twenty miles around, Hiel considered him-
self as a competent judge or critic— Harriet
Beecher Stowe : Poganuc People.
July 14.
Hiram Barnes, whose home was a little house
by South Bridge, was a typical, joll}^ stage-
driver whom Mrs. Stowe has no more over-
drawn in her **Hiel Jones" of "Poganuc Peo-
ple " than she has his wife, " Nabby Higgins,"
who is a composite character depicting in part
the dear old bright-eyed Aunt Emily Addis of
our early recollection, and, in part, her sister
Sally, who became Hiram's wife. — Esther H.
Thompson : Enquirer.
July '5-
1829. — The Congregational Church dedicates
its third house of worship. This is the present
Armory Hall. On the same day, Laurens P,
Hickok was ordained pastor. His ministry
here was most fruitful. Many aged persons
look back with affection and respect to him.
Dr. Hickok subsequently became widely
known as an educator, and the author of books
in the realm of ethics and psychology.
Jijiy 16.
How well I remember Judge Reeve's house,
wide, roomy, and cheerful. It used to be the
Eden of our childish imagination. I remember
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JULY. 117
the great old-fashioned garden, with broad
alleys set with all sorts of stately bunches of
flowers. It used to be my reward, when I had
been good, to spend a Saturday afternoon there,
and walk up and down among the flowers, and
pick currants off the bushes.
— Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Jjly 17.
In after years, wherever Lyman Beecher
went, those families he was accustomed often-
est to visit on terms of closest intimacy, he was
wont to call his '* Judge Reeve places." —
Charles Beecher.
Jdly 18.
Judge Reeve's house was built in 1773. How
many illustrious memories gather about the
home of the founder of the first law school
in America ! There are other places that are
holy ground than those over which a bishop
has read words of consecration. Here is one of
them. While this house stands it bears wit-
ness to a life that was lived on the heights.
We may smile at the Judge's absent-minded-
ness, but should we forget to revere his mem-
ory, the very stones of the town would cry out
against us.
This house was the home, too, of Sally Burr,
and of her cousin Amelia Ogden, and of Eliza-
beth Thompson. Here Aaron Burr and Theo-
dosia Provost and Lafayette were entertained.
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And, in recent years, an added interest has
been given to the house from the fact that it
was the summer home of Judge Woodruff of
the United States Circuit Court. Here he lived,
a worthy successor of the great and good judge
before him ; here, too, in a like faith, he passed
away.
July 19.
1825. — I thought last evening our street pre-
sented the most solemn scene I had ever wit-
nessed. I left the house of a dying saint (Mrs.
S.) about nine o'clock. Many persons were
hanging about the doors and yard in perfect
stillness. I crossed the street and stepped
softly into the anxious meeting, where a hun-
dred poor sinners were all on their knees before
God, and your father was in the midst, plead-
ing with strong cries and tears for the mercy
of God. Around the doors were a number of
people, solemn as death. I could not but say,
" How awful is this place ! This is none other
than the house of God and the gate of heaven."
— Mrs. Lyman Beecher [Harriet Porter].
Jdly 20.
This town was originally among the number
of those decidedly opposed to the movements
of former revivalists [at the time of the Great
Awakening], and went so far in a regular
church meeting called expressly for the pur-
pose under the ministry of the venerable Mr.
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JULY. 119
Collins, as to let them know, by a unanimous
vote, that they did not wish to see them. The
effect was they did not come. The report
circulated that Litchfield "had voted Christ
out of their borders." It was noticed by some
of the older people that the death of the last
person then a member of the church was a
short time before the commencement of our
revival. — Rev. Dan Huntington : Kilbourne's
History.
Jdly 21.
1861. Battle of Bull Run. Mrs. Hubbard
informs me that when the news of this crush-
ing defeat reached town, John H. Hubbard
went into the yard where some men were
painting the summer-house and told them to
stop work. "This is no time to spend money
for such improvements. The government
needs every dollar now." That summer-house
was not painted till after the war was over.
Mr. Hubbard spent his money freely during
the war in recruiting troops, and in assisting
the families of soldiers at the front. He was
congressman from 1863 to 1867. As he was an
ardent Administration man, Lincoln liked and
trusted him. As Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard on
one occasion were attending a White House
reception, Lincoln spied them over the heads
of those nearer him, and called out heartily,
" Why, here comes Old Connecticut ! "
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120 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Jdly 22.
1 791. The Episcopal church was offered at
Litchfield, and here I preached, with very little
faith, on the love of Christ. I thought Morse's
account of his countrymen is near the truth.
Never have I seen any people who could talk
so long and so constantly and so seriously
about trifles. — Francis Asburfs JournaL
Jdly 23.
Bishop Asbury, from whom we have just
quoted, was the founder of American Metho-
dism. In two respects he is not only un-
equaled, but unrivaled by anyone in the
history of American Christianity. In arduous-
ness of service who can compare with him ?
For forty-five years he traveled, mostly on
horseback,. over six thousand miles a year, and
averaged one sermon a day. And what of
tangible results? "When he commenced his
labors in this country there were about six
hundred members ; when he fell it was victori-
ously at the head of two hundred and twelve
thousand." That was in 181 6. In 1864 Lincoln
wrote : " The Methodist church sends more
soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospital,
more prayers to heaven than any other."
Even here, in the home of the Beechers and
Bushnell, the visit of that Apostolic man is a
noteworthy event.
On that July day he preached in weariness
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JULY. 121
and discouragement, and then, mounting his
horse in front of Old St. Michael's, he jour-
neyed out of sight over the Litchfield hills.
July 24.
Until the Meadow Street Church was built
in 1837, the early Methodists met in private
houses and then in the Town Hall. In the
great old-fashioned kitchens at Jacob Morse's,
Sr., or at ** Uncle Ben " Moore's, and at similar
homes, they prayed and sang with such fervor,
that local tradition has it, that when they met on
Plumb Hill, they could be heard all the way to
Town Hill. But, tradition aside, as we catch
glimpses of their meetings through the gather-
ing mist of the years, we may be sure that the
voice of their supplications was heard on high,
and that there the names of these men and
women, now for the most part forgotten, are
written out in full in the Lamb's Book of Life.
July 25.
1794. — William A. Bradley, bom. He be-
came postmaster and mayor of the city of
Washington.
July 26.
1 815. — Payne Kenyon Kilbourne, born.
From 1845 to 1853 he was editor and proprietor
of the Enquirer, In 1859, he published his
" History of Litchfield," put in type by himself.
Mrs. Hollister informs me that he also collabo-
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122 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
rated with Mr. Hollister in the latter's History
of Connecticut, to the extent of furnishing'
much of the data for that work, and verifying
many of its facts.
July 27.
1837. — The Methodist Episcopal Church
dedicates its first house of worship, the building
now used as a Masonic hall.
Jacob Morse, Sr., cut the timbers in his
woods and contributed them, while the great
old-fashioned latch and lock were the gift and
handiwork of " Uncle Ben " Moore. Look at
them, next time you go through Meadow
street, for they are fitting memorial of a char-
acter that was as old-fashioned and solid as
the lock. Stories of " Uncle Ben*s *' versatility
still linger. Give him the opportunity, and he
could conduct a prayer meeting for an hour
unaided, and make it interesting, too. Sing-
ing, prayer, exposition of scriptures, exhorta-
tion, — through them all heaven's sunlight
shone.
One who remembers him writes : " He was
tall and erect, with steady blue eyes, long,
straight hair, and solemn dignity of manners.
In extreme old age, he was blind, and his thin,
white hair, parted in the middle, fell to his
shoulders.*'
Jijly 28.
1 72 1. — The first white male child is born in
Litchfield, Gershom Gibbs by name. He be-
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JULY. 123
came a soldier in the Revolution, was taken
prisoner at the downfall of Fort Washington,
and died in captivity.
181 9. — Leverette W. Wessells, bom. He was
sheriff of the county for twelve years, organ-
ized the Nineteenth Connecticut Volunteers,
and was quartermaster-general during the ad-
ministration of Gov. Andrews.
Jijly 29.
1866. — George A. Hickox became editor of
the Enquirer^ which he conducted with marked
ability for twenty-five years. His successors
have been C. R. Duffie, Jr., and George C.
Woodruff. No higher tribute could be paid to
the present management than was given by
G. W. Newcomb during the Arctic weather of
February, 1899. " What are you doing in town
to-night, are you here to summon a doctor ? ' '
" No, Fve come to get the Enquirer ! "
Jijly 30.
A. B. Shumway has been connected with
Litchfield journalism even longer than Hickox
or Collier. He came here as foreman in 1859.
The Enquirer^ in its seventieth anniversary
number, says of him: He "has served continu-
ously in that position ever since, save for a gal-
lant three-years record as an officer of the
Nineteenth Connecticut, and for a brief period,
1 865 -'66, as business manager. The record of
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124 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Captain Shumway is an enviable one, and we
believe that there is hardly a printer in the
country that can equal, let alone surpass, it."
He has had the satisfaction of being unofficially
the dean of a school of journalism. Among
others trained in this office, have been E. W.
Addis, long an editor in the state of New York,
Fred E. Ives, who has won fame and fortune in
photo-engraving, and George C. Rowe, a lead-
ing colored man of the South, preacher, edu-
cator, and editor of the Charleston Enquirer,
July 31.
Litchfield journalism looks back to Thomas
Collier as its founder. He established the
Monitor in 1784, the same year the Law School
was founded.
" No mines of coal, with its bitumen fat,
Sleep in thy breast — thy granites tell us that ;
Yet have thy laboring Colliers done their part,
Thy head to enlighten, and to warm thy heart.
Their Sibyl leaves upon the winds were thrown,
For others' benefit, if not their own."
— ^JoHN PiERPONT : Litchfield County CentenniaL
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f\ti(jast 1.
1865. — Litchfield gives a rousing welcome
to the soldiers returned from the war, about
three hundred of whom were present. There
was a procession and speech making, a parade
of "phantastiqnes," and no end of decoration
and illumination. •
/lijgijst 2.
Sometime in August, 1723, Joseph Harris
was shot and scalped by the Indians. His
body was found on the plain, since known as
Harris Plain, not far from where the road
turns to Milton.
/)u$ust 3.
1893. — The Litchfield Historical Society is
organized. It is to be hoped that the time will
soon come when this organization will be ade-
quately housed, for there are in the homes of
this town many articles of rare historical inter-
est which would be of tenfolii more value if
collected and arranged under the auspices of
this society.
/)d$USt 4.
I have prided myself not a little upon having
excellent barns. . . . No wonder, then,
(125)
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126 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
that I was somewhat taken aback a few months
ago, when addressed by a tramp, who pointed
to my largest and best barn, and asked what
building it was. Upon being told that it was a
barn, he replied, " Oh, I thought it was a poor-
house. They have poorhouses just like it in
the old country. " — F. Ratchford Starr :
Farm Echoes,
/iu^dst 5.
I read and hear much that is absurd in re-
gard to " points " in Jerseys, and long ago made
up my mind that my schoolmaster was very
remiss in not teaching me how to spell that
simple word. I spell it " pints,** and am fully
convinced that the chief " point " of a cow is in
the number of pints she yields. — F. Ratchford
Starr : Farm Echoes.
/)(j$dst 6.
1873. — The present Congregational church
is dedicated. Rev. Henry B. Elliott was act-
ing pastor. • His successors have been Rev.
Allan McLean and Rev. Charles Symington,
both of whom died at the same age, while in
the service of the church.
"The two men finished their work in the
strength of their years, and the church is left
once more in the mystery of life and death in
its immediate presence. The church life may
well be in close sympathy with the unseen
life when such messages are sent to it. And
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AUGUST. 127
what are the messages but the same that have
been given to all the ages and in all Christian
experience, that the unseen sphere is close to
the seen ; that the door from the one to the
other may open easily and at any time ; and
that when it opens, and we are ready, all is
beautiful and under the Father's care." — Presi-
dent DwiGHT : Address on Rev. Charles Syming-
ton.
Rev. John Hutchins, the present pastor, came
here in 1895.
1806. — The Democrats protest against the
imprisonment of Editor Osborn. At sunrise
seventeen guns are fired, a procession com-
posed of men from far and near parade the
streets, a public meeting is held, followed by a
collation. Osborn was editor of the Witness, a
rank Democratic paper in this stronghold of
Federalism. He had been convicted of libel
against Julius Deming, and had been impris-
oned. His friends claimed he was shut up in
an unwholesome room with the worst crim-
inals. Naturally, Democrats everywhere were
stirred up, and Litchfield Federalists came in
for no end of denunciation.
/liJ§dSt 7.
Two colored men were discussing the demon-
stration of August 6, 1806. "What does it
mean ? "
" Why, don't you know ? This is leap year,
and the Fourth of July has come around again."
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128 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
/iuQdst 8.
1888. — Fire bells ring at 12.30 a. m. The
Beach building on West street is on tire. Two
hours later, four business buildings are de-
stroyed, and the new court house, which had
just received its last coat of paint, is ablaze ;
and like its predecessor of two years before
goes up in fire and smoke.
/)U$U8t 9.
Sunday was to me the most uncomfortable
day of the week, from the confinement in dress
and locomotion which it imposed on me after
Prayers and Breakfast. I was taken by my
mother to a Wash Tub and thoroughly scrub-
bed with Soap and Water from head to foot. I
was then dressed in my Sunday Habit which,
as I was growing fast, was almost constantly
too small. My usual dress at other times was
a thin pair of Trousers and a Jacket of linsey-.
woolsey ; and I wore no shoes except in frosty
weather. On Sunday morning I was robed in
Scarlet Cloth Coat with Silver Buttons, a white
Silk Vest, white Cotton Stockings, tight Shoes,
Scarlet Cloth Breeches with Silver Buttons to
match my Coat, a close ' Stock, RufHes at the
Breast of my Jacket, and a cocked Beaver Hat
with gold laced Band. In this attire I was
marched to the Meeting House with orders
not to soil my Clothes, and to sit still, and by
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AUGUST. 129
no means to play during meeting-time. — Oli-
ver WOLCOTT, J Re
f\t}^tlSt 10.
Parson Champion succeeded Parson Collins,
our first Minister, Doctor, and Justice of the
Peace. Mr. Champion was a pleasant, affable
man and a sonorous, animated Preacher. I
liked loud preaching and suffered only from
the confinement of my Sunday dress. Mr.
Champion not unfrequently exchanged Sunday
services with a neighboring Parson, whose per-
formances were most uncomfortable. They
were dull, monotonous, and very long, in the
afternoon they frequently exceeded two hours,
As I was not allowed to sleep during meeting
time, my sufferings were frequently extreme.
— Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
/Id^dSt 11.
After service new toils awaited me. Our
Sunday was in fact the old Jewish Sabbath,
continued from sunset to sunset. In the inter-
val from the end of services in the Meeting,
House until sunset, my father read to the fam-
ily from the Bible or some printed sermon,
and when he was done, I was examined by my j
mother in the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. ;
I learned to recite this in self-defense ; and I
comprehended it then as well as at any time
afterwards. When this task was ended, I was
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130 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
allowed to resume my ordinary Habit. It ex-
hilarates my spirits, even at present, to think
of the ecstacies I enjoyed when I put on my
Jacket and Trousers and quit my Stockings
and Shoes. I used to run to the Garden Lawn
or into the orchard ; I would leap, run, lie down
and roll on the grass, in short play all the gam-
bols of a fat calf when loosened from confine-
ment. — Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
f^iK^ast 12.
1776. — David Matthews, the royalist mayor
of New York, who was a political prisoner in
Litchfield, writes to his wife : " Ever since my
arrival here, I have been at the house of Capt
Moses Seymour, who, together with his wife,
have behaved in the most genteel, kind man-
ner, and have done everything in their powei
to make my time as agreeable as possible. He
is a fine merry fellow, and she is a warm Prot-
estant ; and if it was not the thoughts of home
were continually in my mind, I might be happy
with my good landlord and his family."
/lu^ijst 13.
185 1. — This was the first day of the Centen-
nial Celebration of the organization of Litch-
field County. A vast throng from all parts of
the County and from distant places gathered at
West Park. Samuel Church, at that time chief
justice of the State, delivered an historical ad-
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AUGUST. 131
dress. John Pierpont, the celebrated Unita-
rian clergyman and man of letters, was the
poet of the occasion.
•• Thy fathers, Litchfield County, are at rest :
Thy children meet to-day to call thee blest.
Honored and loved as by them all thou art,
They leave their homes, and gather to thy heart.
To see once more thy venerable face,
Once more to feel thy motherly embrace.
Each other's voice to hear, to clasp once more
Each other's hand, still warm, and to implore
God's blessing on thee, for all coming time."
— John Pierpont : Litchfield County Centennial,
/IdQust 14.
1851. — On the second day of the Centennial
celebration, Horace Bushnell delivered one of
the noblest orations known in the history of
American oratory. His " Age of Homespun "
is a magnificent tribute to the services of un-
historic and forgotten men and women, who,
after all, have done more than the illustrious
few to make the history of the County w^hat it is.
/lu^dst 15.
If you ask who made this Litchfield County
of ours, it will be no sufficient answer that you
get, however instructive and useful, when you
have gathered up the names that appear in our
public records, and recited the events that have
found an honorable place in the history of our
county, or the republic. You must not go into
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132 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
the burial places and look only for the tall
monuments and titled names. . . . Around
the honored few, here a Bellamy or a Day
sleeping in the midst of his flock ; here a Wol-
cott or a Smith, an Allen or a Tracy, a Reeve
or a Gould, all names of honor — round about
these few, and others like them, are lying mul-
titudes of worthy men and women under their
humbler monuments, or in graves that are hid-
den by the monumental green that loves to
freshen over their forgotten resting-place ; and
in these, the humble but good many, we are to
say are the deepest, truest causes of our happy
history. — Horace Bushnell : Litchfield County
Centennial.
/Id^dst 16.
Litchfield has always been famed for lon-
gevity, and Harriet Beecher Stowe's words
still have application : " Nobody ever seemed \
to be sick or to die either, at least while I was
there. The natives grew old till they could I
not grow any older, and then they stood still,
and lasted from generation to generation."
Mrs. Mary Adams, mother of Chief Justice
Adams, was born in 1698, and died in 1803, and
so had the very unusual experience of living in
three centuries. And, as if this were not enough,
she rode on horseback thirty miles in one day
after she had passed her one hundredth year.
The oldest person in the town at present is
Miss Rebecca Osborn, in the ninety-eighth
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AUGUST. 133
year of her age. She was born in the house
she now lives in ; her father was also born in
that house, which was built by her grandfather
in the last century.
/)ij§u5t 17.
1774. — The inhabitants of Litchfield, in legal
town meeting, protest against the operation of
the Boston port bill, and authorize subscriptions
for the relief of the poor in that town.
On the same day, Aaron Burr writes from
the home of his brother-in-law. Judge Reeve :
" Before I proceed further, let me tell you that
a few days ago, a mob of several hundred per-
sons gathered at Barrington, and tore down the
house of a man who was suspected of being
unfriendly to the liberties of the people, broke
up the court then sitting at that place, etc. As
many of the rioters belonged to this colony,
and the Supreme Court was then sitting at this
place, the sheriff was immediately dispatched to
apprehend the ringleaders. He returned yester-
day with eight prisoners, who were taken with-
out resistance. But this minute there are enter-
ing the town on horseback, with great regular-
ity, about fifty men, armed each with a white
club, and I observe others continually dropping
in.**
/liJ§iJ8t 18.
1837. — The Milton Episcopal Church is con-
secrated by Bishop Brownell.
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134 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
/)d$U8t 19.
1798. — The Milton Congregational Church is
organized. The Third Ecclesiastical Society-
had been organized some years before, and
there had been occasional preaching at Milton,
as the following minute of 1779 (exact date not
given) shows : " Voted, That we will hire Mr.
Stephen Heaton to preach with us seventeen
days, for which we agree to give him thirty-five
bushels of wheat or equivalent in money, to be
paid by the 20th of November, 1780."
1808. — Frederick Henry Wolcott, born. He
was one of the sons of Frederick Wolcott.
After a business career in New York, he re-
tired in middle life, and gave himself entirely
to philanthropic work. He was one of the most
influential Presbyterains of his day, and sat for
several terms in the General Assembly of that
church.
/ld§U5t 20.
One of my temptations to an afternoon walk
was to meet the girls who, like ourselves,
were often seen taking a daily walk. Among
these were the Wolcotts, the Demings, the Tal-
madges, the Landons, and Miss Peck, who after-
wards became my wife. The Demings were
always my warm friends, and to them I
am indebted for many a kindness at a time
when I was ill and weak, and the bystanders
hardly expected me to live. Of the Wolcotts
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AUGUST. 135
there were four, and I think now, as I did then,
that I never beheld more beautiful women
than were Hannah and Mary Ann Wolcott.j
Many a time have I met them on North street, 1
when it was a pleasure to look upon them,
with the clearest complexions of white and red,
the brightest eyes, with tall aiid upright
forms, and graceful walk. These ladies would
have attracted admiration in any place in the
world. — E. D. Mansfield : Personal Memories.
/)d$U8t 21.
Hannah and Mary Ann Wolcott, alluded to
in the quotation for August 20, were the daugh-
ters of Frederick Wolcott. If the men of the
Wolcott family were distinguished for sev-
eral generations, the women were no less^
so. Every one in Litchfield, save some of the
younger school children and recent summer
boarders, knows what Senator Tracy said
in reference to Mrs. Oliver Wolcott, Jr. Dur-
ing the second administration of Washington,
no one was more admired in the society of the
Capital than the wife of the Secretary of the
Treasury. Mr. Liston, the British minister, said
one day to Senator Tracy, "Your country-
woman, Mrs. Wolcott, would be admired even
at St. James." "Sir," was the reply, "she is
admired even on Litchfield Hill."
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136 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
/)d$U8t 22.
Judge Reeve was noted for his chivalrous
devotion to woman, both in and out of the do-
mestic circle. His first wife, the sister of
Aaron Burr, was a delicate invalid, confined to
her bed for many years, and various interesting
stories are told of his tender watching and
unwearied care. He was a great admirer of
female beauty and also of female talent, and
various anecdotes were current of his chival-
I rous sayings. Among others^ this especially
' attracted my childish interest, that he never
saw a little girl, but he wished to kiss her, for
if she was not good, she would be ; and he
1 never saw a little boy, but he wished to whip
him, for if he was not bad, he would be. —
Catherine Beecher.
/Iu§d5t 23.
1780. — Washington and Hamilton enter-
tained at Oliver Wolcott's, en route to West
Point.
While Frederick Wolcott was a Yale student
(he graduated in 1787), he received many a
bright letter from his sister Mariann at Litch-
field. Under this date (year not given) she
writes :
' ..." Verily, Frederick, there is no sense
I in living in this world; if I had one wing, one
' single pinion to buoy me up, I would endeavor
to keep aloof from it.
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RESIDENCE OF PROF. J. M. HOPPIN.
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AUGUST. 137
" I expect to see you at Commencement. I
shall go with — my Papa. I believe we shall
come in a carriage for the sake of confabula-
tion. I have been dancing all the* forenoon,
and my hand trembles so that I can hardly
write intelligently. We dance again this even-
ing, and we all wish for your company. Mean-
time you are poring over some antiquated sub- i
ject that is neither instructive nor entertaining.
You cannot say so of our dancing, it is an
amusement that profits the mind. . . .
" Heaven bless you. — Mariann."
1 79 1. Clark Woodruff, born. He became
oiie of the leaders of the Louisiana bar, and
judge of the eighth judicial district of the state.
/luQust 24.
The oldest house on North street is the one
owned by Prof. J. M. Hoppin. It was built in
1760 by Elisha Sheldon, who, as judge and
member of Council, exerted much public influ-
ence in his day. His son, Samuel Sheldon,
used the house as a tavern, and a famous one
it was, too. Washington was entertained there,
spending a night in the northeast room. Sub-
sequently, the place passed into the hands of
Uriah Tracy, the brilliant United States sena-
tor. Here are enough memories to last a
house forever, but we have only touched upon
the first fifty years.
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138 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
/luQiJst 25.
In this century, the house has been known
as the Gould House, and latterly as the Hoppin
House. James Gould was a son-in-law of Sen-
ator Tracy, and associate and successor of
Tapping Reeve in the famous Law School.
We have already alluded to the fact that his
lectures were delivered in his office, which
stood just south of the house. Prof. James M.
Hoppin, known everywhere to students of the-
ology and art, and to lovers of good literature,
bought this house of Judge Gould's daughter
in 1 871; and has made it his summer home
ever since. Miss Jeanie Gould Lincoln, in
writing An Unwilling Maid^ though she speaks
of the Wolcott House, is thought to have been
writing more from her memory of her grand-
father's home in North street.
/lUQdlSt 26.
When Congress sat in Philadelphia, a Litch-
field County man was seen driving a drove of
mules through the streets. A North Carolina
member congratulated the late Mr. Tracy upon
seeing so many of his constituents that morn-
ing, and inquired where they were going, to
which he facetiously replied, that they were
going to North Carolina to keep school. — Judge
Church : Litchfield County Centennial.
Truly this is an age of destructive criticism.
Prof. Hoppin, the owner of Senator Tracy's old
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AUGUST. 139
home, claims this anecdote for a Rhode Island
congressman.
/luQust 27.
1826. — I hope to begin to preach in about five
years, and so our dear mother's prayers will be
answered. I found a paper the other day
written by her in which I find she used to rise
before day to pray, and that she used to dedi-
cate her sons to God to be his servants in his
cause. — William Beecher.
The passage in Uncle Tom's Cabin where
St. Clair describes his mother's influence is a
simple reproduction of this mother's influence
as it has always been in her family. — Harriet
Beecher Stowe.
f\(l(jllSt 28.
I could give you introductions to numbers of
most excellent people. Litchfield was famous
for good society. I would send you notes, but
you would have to deliver them in the grave-
yard, always hospitable to the dead, and inhos-
pitable to the living. And yet if you should go
over to the east of the town, and wandering in
the burial ground, you should find a slone
marked Roxana Foote Beecher, please uncover
your head, and drive from your mind all but
heavenly thoughts. — Henry Ward Beecher :
Letter to Fanny Fern,
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I40 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
f\a^a$t 29.
1792. — Frederick A. Tallmadge, born. For
many years he was one of the foremost citizens
of New York, president of the State Senate,
member of Congress, Recorder of the City, and
Superintendent of the New York police.
1804. — Joshua Huntington Wolcott, born. He
became a member of the famous Boston house,
A. and A. Lawrence & Co. During the Civil
War he was treasurer of the Boston Sanitary
Commission. Gov. Roger Wolcott of Massa-
chusetts is his son.
The village library, which dates from the
spring of 1862, was named, a few months after
it was established, the Wolcott Library, in rec-
ognition of the generosity of Joshua Wolcott,
and in respect to the honored name he bears.
f\(i(sast 30.
1832. — Edward W. Seymour, born.
Judge Fenn, his colleague in the Supreme
Court, wrote of him as follows, upon learning
the news of his sudden death in 1892 : "The
eldest son of the late Chief Justice Origen S.
Seymour, he inherited the rare judicial tem-
perament, the calm, candid, impartial judg-
ment, the love of mercy-tempered justice, so
essentially characteristic . of his father. Edu-
cated at Yale College, a graduate of the famous
class of 1853, studying law in his father's office,
early and frequently called to represent his
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AUGUST. 141
native town, and later his Senatorial district in
the General Assembly, a useful member of
Congress for four years, having in the mean-
time, by devotion to his profession, as well as
by natural ability, become the acknowledged
leader of the bar in the two counties of Litch-
field and Fairfield ; certainly it was the princi-
ple of natural selection which three years ago
led to his choice as a member of our highest
judicial tribunal, — the Supreme Court of
Errors of this State."
J. H. Olmstead of Stamford, in speaking be-
fore the Fairfield County Bar, said :
" He wore the ermine so modestly, and was
so kind and considerate on the bench. He re-
garded the feelings of the counsel, whether old
or young, as well as the feelings of the parties
and all connected with the cases on trial. Dur-
ing the brief time he was on the bench, he
proved himself a model judge, giving great
promise of the future. . . .
But paramount to all else in the life of Judge
Seymour, stands out the fact that he was a true
Christian gentleman. . . . The life and
character and death of such a man is refresh-
ing to believers in these materialistic days."
f\a(^ast 31.
Personally, Judge [E. W.] Seymour was one
of the loveliest of men, a favorite with his
class in college, the life of all companies,
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142 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
always respected, always beloved. As it
should be with every man, his ways grew more
serious with age, but his wit was as ready, as
spontaneous as ever. His talk was always
refreshing to young and old, always kindly,
always cleanly. To his strong attachment to
his church, to his family, and to his home, his
whole life testified. — G. A. Hickox : Enquirer.
There was no one who took more account of
the common, everyday affairs of his street
associates, interesting himself in all that went
for their happiness, the improvement of their
places, and the good of the town. He knew
every shrub and tree that had been planted,
had probably leaned over the fence and talked
with the owner about it. . . . Plain people
trusted him, and voted for him, too; politics
had little to do with it.
He "liked dumb beasts, and they trusted
him,** he knew birds well, knew all the wood
roads where the cypripediums and wild calla
grew, and took the neighborhood boys with
him to get them. I thought myself fairly keen
in the getting of rare wild flowers, but I
seldom made a find that wasn't an old story to
the judge. — Dr. H. E. Gates ; Enquirer.
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September i.
Moses Seymour, a native of Hartford, came
to Litchfield in early manhood. He distin-
guished himself in the Revolution, held various
offices of public trust, and was town clerk for
thirty-seven years. His wife was Molly, the
daughter of Ebenezer Marsh. Their family
consisted of five sons and one daughter. Two
of the sons, Ozias and Moses, were sheriffs of
this county, another, Epaphroditus, became a
bank president in Brattleboro, Vermont. The
careers of the two other sons, Henry and
Horatio, we have noted elsewhere ; the daugh-
ter became the wife of Rev. Truman Marsh.
Septe/nber 2.
Is there anything so delicious as roast pig,
thought Oliver Wolcott, as he surveyed a fine
litter in his barnyard. " Here, Pompey," call-
ing to his faithful slave, "take two of these
pigs up to Parson Champion with my compli-
ments.'*
No sooner said than done; the pigs are
caught, and, despite their squealing, put into a
bag, which is securely tied. It is quite a trip to
the parson's, and as Pompey passes the house
of Major Moses Seymour he determines to find
(143)
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144 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
refreshment for his journey in the smiles, and
perhaps the doughnuts and coffee, of Phyllis in
the kitchen. While he is regaling himself
within. Major Seymour is enjoying himself
without. Had he been a man of letters, he
might have meditated upon the deliciousness
of roast pig, and have anticipated Charles
Lamb in his famous essay. But he is a man of
action. He has opened the bag, let out the
pigs, and put two puppies in their place.
Pompey appears at last, and finishes his
journey. When the bag was opened. Parson
Champion was in no mood to enjoy a joke, and
gruffly ordered Pompey home to his master.
The poor slave was about speechless with
astonishment, and when he got back to Major
Seymour's again, he was glad to tell his story
to the good major, who showed his amazement,
and was kind and sympathetic. " Pompey,
you had better step in and tell Phyllis about
it," said Major Seymour ; and while the slave
was in the kitchen, quick hands freed the
puppies and put back the pigs.
A few moments later Oliver Wolcott, as he
listened to Pompey's incoherent explanations,
thought the man must be drunk or out of his
head. "Why, what are you talking about?
Open that bag and let the pigs out." And
sure enough there they were. " Pompey have
you stopped anywhere on the way?" "Yes,
sah ; yes, sah ; just a minute at Major Sey-
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SEPTEMBER. I45
"Well," said his master, "that ex-
plains it all."
S?pt(?mb?r 3.
Old Dr. Champion in the latter part of his
ministry thought he had sinned away the day
of grace, and that he was going to hell ; and
he never showed himself so much a Christian
as in the disposition which he manifested at
that time. If it was God's will that he should
go there, he was willing to go. He did not
know what he should do in hell, till one day he
solved the question satisfactorily in his own
mind, and said, " I will open a prayer meeting
there ! " He thought it would afford him some
balm and consolation. I do not think that man
ever got there. — Henry Ward Beecher :
Sermon — Sin against the Holy Ghost.
Sept^mb^r 4.
1777. — Morris Woodruff, born. General
Woodruff was a lifelong resident of the town,
and was repeatedly, almost continuously,
entrusted with public office. He represented
the town in fourteen sessions of the legislature,
and was magistrate of the county for twenty-
six years. Upon the Litchfield of his day and
upon the church of his choice, he left a deep
impress by reason of his integrity and force of
character.
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146 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
On one occasion, Morris Woodruff, upon his
return from the legislature, was much annoyed
to find that some of his directions concerning
farm work had not been carried out. Salmon
Brown, a brother of the famous John Brown,
who was in Mr. Woodruff's employ, consoled
him by saying, "Gin'ral, Gin'ral, don't you
know that if you want anything did, you must
did it yourself?" — George M. Woodruff.
S^pt^mb^r 6.
John C. Calhoun studied law under Tapping
Reeve. The following reminiscence of his
Litchfield life is taken from a book highly
prized by collectors of Americana — "The
National Portrait Gallery," New York, 1835 :
" It was in the debating society of this place,
where the most agitating political topics of the
day were discussed before crowded meetings,
that Mr. Calhoun, who was ever the champion
of the republican side, first developed his great
powers of parliamentary debate. It was his
custom even then to prepare by reflection and
not by arranging on paper what he meant to
say, and not by taking notes of the arguments
of others. A good memory preserved the
order of his own thoughts, and a wonderful
power of analysis and classification enabled-
him to digest rapidly, and to distribute in their
proper places the answer and refutation of all
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SEPTEMBER. I47
the arguments of the speakers, however nu-
merous, whom he followed."
September 7.
John C. Calhoun boarded for a time at the
McMartin Place on Prospect street. The
house was at that time the boyhood home of
Hosea Webster, Mrs. H. B. Belden's father.
He very well remembered helping Calhoun set
out some of the trees in front of the house.
The elms in front of Dr. Page's are also
claimed as his. Calhoun seems to have
boarded in about as many houses as Washing-
ton was entertained in. The southeast room
of the second floor of the house now the
Episcopal rectory was his room for a time.
This was the house that Samuel Seymour
built in 1784. His son Charles, when eighty-
seven years of age, came on to attend the
golden wedding of Judge and Mrs. Seymour.
He searched the garret for a fishing-rod he
had left on the rafters forty-five years before,
but unfortunately looked in vain.
September 8.
• I very well remember going back, after hav-
ing arrived at years of manhood, to the school -
house where I did not receive my early educa-
tion. I measured the stones which in my child-
hood it seemed that a giant could not lift, and
I could almost turn them over with my foot !
9*
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148 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYa
I measured the trees which seemed to loom up
into the sky wonderously large, but they had
shrunk, grown shorter, and outspread narrower.
I looked into the old schoolhouse, and how
small the whittled benches and dilapidated
they were, compared with my boyhood impres-
sion of them! I looked over the meadows,
across which my toddling feet had passed.
They had once seemed to me to be broad fields,
but now but narrow ribbons, lying between the
house and the water. I marveled at the appa-
rent change which had taken place in these
things, and thought what a child I must have
been, when they seemed to me to be things of
great importance. The school ma'am — oh
what a being I thought she was, and the school-
master — how awe-struck I was at his presence.
So looking and wistfully remembering, I said
to myself, " Well, one bubble has broken." But
when you shall stand above, and look back
with celestial and clarified vision, upon this
world — this rickety old schoolhouse earth, it
will seem smaller to you than to me that old
village school. — Henry Ward Beecher : Ab-
bott's Life.
Septe/nber 9.
E. D. Mansfield in his Personal Memories gives
the following glimpse of Judge Gould's lecture
room : " At nine o'clock we students walked
iijto the lecture room, with our note books under
our arms. We had desks, and pen and ink to
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SEPTEMBER. I49
record the important principles and authori-
ties. The practice of Judge Gould was to read
the principle from his own manuscript twice
distinctly, pausing between and repeating in
the same manner the leading cases. After the
lecture we had access to the law library to con-
sult authorities."
September lo.
1805. — John Pierpont, born. He became
judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont.
1862. — The Nineteenth Connecticut Volun-
teers marched in from Camp Dutton and re-
ceived an elegant stand of colors from Mrs.
William C. Noyes, her husband making the
presentation address.
September ii.
Miss Pierce's schoolhouse was a small build-
ing of only one room, probably not exceeding
30 feet by 70, with small closets at each end,
one large enough to hold a piano, and the others
used for bonnets and over-garments. The
plainest pine desks, long plank benches, a small
table, and an elevated teacher's chair consti-
tuted the whole furniture. When I began
school there, she was the sole teacher. In pro-
cess of time her nephew, Mr. John Brace, be-
came her associate. — Catherine Beecher.
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ISO LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Sept^rnber 12.
Mr. Brace was one of the most stimulating
and inspiring instructors I ever knew. He was
himself widely informed, an enthusiast in bot-
any, mineralogy, and the natural sciences gen-
erally, besides being well read in English clas-
sical literature. . . . Much of the training
and inspiration of my early days consisted, not
in the things I was supposed to be studying,
but in hearing while seated unnoticed at my
desk, the conversation of Mr. Brace with the
older classes. — Harriet Beecher Stowe.
September 13.
1795. — Joseph E. Camp, ordained. He was
the first pastor of the Northfield church, which
he served forty-two years. On one occasion,
he went over to preach at the Wolcott church,
which was in such straits that it could not sup-
port a settled minister. He gave out as his
opening hymn a selection from Watts :
•' Lord, what a wretched land is this
That yields us no supply."
A smile stole over the congregation, and was
in no wise lessened when the chorister an-
nounced very audibly the tune — " Northfield."
September 14.
My servants had gone out for the' evening,
and I had just put the children to bed, when
Mr. Hubbard came into the house, and told me
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SEPTEMBER. 15I
that a number of enlisted men had just come
to town, and that there were no preparations to
receive them at Camp Button, and that the
hotels were full. " They must be taken care
of, for they are going out to fight for us." So
I looked up all my bedding, and then went in
to Miss Ogden's and borrowed of her. That
night nineteen soldiers slept in our house. —
Mrs. Abby J. Hubbard.
September 15.
1862. — The Nineteenth Connecticut Volun-
teers, after giving three parting cheers for
Camp Button, moved to Litchfield Station,
en route for the seat of war.
September 16.
John Brown attended Morris Academy with
his younger brother Salmon. A story of the
two brothers is told, how John, finding that
Salmon had committed some school offense,
for which the teacher had pardoned him, said
to the teacher : " Mr. Vaill, if Salmon had done
this thing at home, father would have punished
him. I know he would expect you to punish
him now for doing this, — and if you don't I
shall." That night finding Salmon was likely
to escape punishment, John made good his
word, — more in sorrow than in anger, — giving
his brother a severe flogging. — F. B. Sanborn :
Life of John Brown.
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152 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
September 17.
1862.— The Battle of Antietam. The Eighth
Connecticut, containing two companies of
Litchfield County troops, was engaged in this
fight. Three men from this town were slain
on the field.
September 18.
John H. Hubbard, Congressman during the
Civil War, writes from Washington to his wife:
" How hard it is for me to be kept from you !
I think I can appreciate the great sacrifice of
the men who leave their families to fight for
their country. Is it not a wonder that more of
them do not desert or die with homesickness?
Poor fellows ! Many of them will come home
to die in poverty and obscurity in spite of their
brave generosity. I hope that their wives and
children will continue to love them, and that
God will help them."
September 19.
1864.— The Battle of Winchester. The Nine-
teenth Connecticut had been reorganized at
Alexandria, and was known in its fighting days
as the Second Connecticut Artillery. It was
part of Gen. Upton's brigade that saved the day
at Winchester. The regiment was under fire
from the middle of the forenoon till about sun-
set. T. F, Vaill tells the story of those fatal ten
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JOHiN H. HUBBARD.
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SEPTEMBER. I53
minutes which wrought as much havoc as all
the rest of the day :
** The enemy's artillery, on a rise of ground
in front, plowed the field with cannister and
shells, and tore the ranks in a frightful man-
ner. Maj. Rice was struck by a shell, his left
arm torn off, and his body cut almost asunder.
Maj. Skinner was struck on the top of the head
by a shell, knocked nearly a rod with face to
the earth, and was carried to the rear insensi-
ble. Gen. Upton had a good quarter pound of
flesh taken out of his thigh by a shell, and was
laid up for some weeks ; several other officers
were also struck, and from this instance some
idea may be gained of the havoc among the en-
listed men at this point.*'
The regiment lost that day one hundred and
thirty-six killed and wounded, fourteen of
whom were officers. Three men from this
town were among the slain; a fourth, mortally
wounded, died a few days later.
Sept^mb^r 20.
Take the report of my doings on the platform
of the world's business, and it has been naught.
But still it has been a great thing even for me
to live. In my separate and merely personal
kind of life, I have had a greater epic trans-
acted than was ever written, or could be. The
little turns of my way have turned great
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154 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
changes, — what I am now as distinguished
from the merely mollnsk and pulpy state of in-
fancy ; the drawing-out of my powers, the cor-
recting of my errors, the winnowing of my
faults, the washing of my sins, that which has
given me principles, opinions, and, more than
all, a faith, and as the fruit of this, an abiding
in the sense and free partaking of the love of
God. . . . What a history of redemption
and more ! — Horace Bushnell : Life and
Letters.
S^pt^mb^r 21.
Reckon as thy jewels, then,
Thy saintly women and thy holy men.
— John Pierpont : Litchfield County Centennial.
September 22.
1849. — The first passenger train runs over
the Naugatuck railroad to the terminus at Win-
sted.
5epte/nber 23.
Mother was one of those strong, restful,
widely sympathetic natures in whom all around
seemed to find comfort and repose. She was
of a temperament peculiarly restful and peace-
giving. Her union with the spirit of God, un-
ruffled and unbroken even from childhood,
seemed to impart to her an equilibrium and
healthful placidity that no earthly reverses ever
disturbed. — Harriet Beecher Stowe.
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SEPTEMBER. 1 55
September 24.
The communion between my father and
mother was a peculiar one. It was an inti-
macy throughout the whole range of their
being. Both intellectually and morally, he re-
garded her as the better and stronger portion
of himself, and I remember hearing him say
that after her death, his first sensation was a
sort of terror, like that of a child suddenly shut
out alone in the dark. — Harriet Befcher
Stowe.
S^pt(?mb^r 25.
1816. — Roxana Beecher died. Mrs. Reeve,
in a letter written at the time, says: "Her
soul lighted up an d^ gilded the way as she en-
tered the valley of death. She made a very
feeling and appropriate prayer in my hearing.
She told her husband that her views and antic-
ipations of heaven had been so great that she
could hardly sustain it. She dedicated her sons
to God for missionaries. Mr. Beecher then
made a prayer, and she fell into a sweet sleep
from which she awoke in heaven."
Harriet Beecher Stowe writes : " There was
one passage of Scripture always associated with
her in our minds in childhood ; it was this —
* Ye are come unto Mt. Zion, the city of the liv-
ing God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels ; to the gen-
eral assembly of the Church of the first-born,
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156 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
and to spirits of jtist men made perfect/ We
all knew that this was what our father re-
peated to lier when she was dying, and we often
repeated it to each other. It was to that we
felt we must attain, though we scarcely knew
how."
S^pte/nber 26.
1776. — David Matthews, the royalist mayor
of New York, writes from Litchfield : " The
committee have been compelled to request my
removal in order to pacify some people. They
insist I can blow up this town. Oh, that I
could ! The sheriff has given orders that I
shall not approach the gaol, lest the doors
should fly open and the prisoners escape. I
should not have returned to this cold wilder-
ness had not the sheriff of Hartford declared
he must lock me up in gaol. **
5<?pt^mb^r 27.
Shortly after his mother's burial, Henry
Ward Beecher was discovered under Sister
Catherine's window, digging with great zeal
and earnestness. She called to him to know
what he was doing, and, lifting up his curly
head, with great simplicity he answered, "Why,
I'm going to heaven to find ma." — Harriet
Beecher Stowe.
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SEPTEMBER. 157
S^pt^mb^r 28.
1738. — Town of Goshen is organized in the
house of Deacon John Buel, West street, Litch-
field.
S(?pt(?mb^r 29.
1864. — Seth F. Plumb, for whom the Grand
Army Post of this town is named, was killed
at Chapin's Farms, Va. An army letter, writ*
ten at the time, bears the following tribute :
" Fairer character never graced a soldier's uni-
form, and he lives embalmed in the affections
of home and in the hearts of his comrades. He
led in the closing prayer of that last meeting
before the fight, and his last words, as the col-
umn moved for the charge, were respecting
*that good meeting' and the preciousness of
Christ to the soldier."
5(?pt^mb^r 30.
182 1. — Edward Beecher writes at the close
of September : " Harriet reads everything she
can lay her hands on, and sews and knits dili-
gently. Henry and Charles go to school. Henry
is sprightly and active, and Charles as honest
and clumsy as ever.
" And what shall I say more ? Shall I speak
of our orchard, from which the gale blew ofi^
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158 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
apples enough for twenty barrels of cider, and
wherein are yet cider and winter apples with-
out number? Or of our cellar, wherein are
barrels small and great ; moreover bins, boxes,
and cupboards, which I have arranged, having
cleansed the cellar with besom, rake, and wheel-
barrow? Or of the garden, in which are weeds
of divers kinds, particularly pig ; yea, also beets,
carrots, parsnips, and potatoes, the like whereof
was never seen ?
" Hear now the conclusion of the whole mat-
ter. The family at Litchfield to the family at
Guilford sendeth greeting, hoping we meet
again in this world and rejoice together in the
next."
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Oetob(?r I.
No town-meeting in a New England commu-
nity would be complete without its auction.
. . . Everything is there, from a broken
sewing-machine down to a rusty chain or a
nicked axe old enough to have figured in the
familiar legend of Washington's boyhood.
Over all this conglomerate of truck stands the
auctioneer, a predominating figure at Litchfield
town-meetings, long to be remembered, and
now, at seventy- seven, so old as to be a social
landmark of the village. Tall and angular,
with spectacled nose like the beak of a Roman
galley set on the face of a Socrates, a voice like
that of the Numidian lion, a ready tongue and
a wit whose Attic salt Time has not even yet
freshened, he does more to enliven a Litchfield
town-meeting than all other characters united.
Consistent piety, kindly and generous temper,
and a simple, unaffected life round off the per-
sonality of a man who, more than all the rest,
seems to me to symbolize the spirit of those
town-meetings at which he has been auctioneer
for time out of mind. Good old Tom Salton-
stall ! Long may he live to knock down to the
highest bidder the archaic kettle and the pris-
lo (159)
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matic-hued bedquilt ; and at that Great Town
Meeting where we shall gather when time and
eternity meet, may no figure more sinister than
his be there to bid us welcome. — Clarence
Deming : A Yankee Town Meeting, [1882.]
O;;tober 2.
1780. — Major Tallmadge accompanies Major
Andr6 to the foot of the scaffold at Tappan.
Years after, he wrote : " I became so deeply
attached to Major Andr6 that I can remember
no instance when my affections were so fully
absorbed in any man. When I saw him swing-
ing under the gibbet, it seemed for a time as if
I could not support it. All the spectators
seemed to be overwhelmed by the affecting
spectacle, and the eyes of many were suffused
in tears."
Oetob(?r 3.
In another portion of the book* reference
has been made to the famous Agreement of
1789, and to Lyman Beecher's "Six Sermons"
delivered here and subsequently in Boston.
These are conspicuous landmarks in American
Temperance Reform. What more fitting way
to commemorate them than by casting a vote
for No-License at the Town Election.
* See pages 70, 82.
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OCTOBER. l6l
" The commerce, therefore, in ardent spirits
which produces no good, and produces a certain
and immense amount of evil, must be regarded
as an unlawful commerce, and ought, upon
every principle of humanity and patriotism and
conscience and religion, to be abandoned and
proscribed." — Lyman Beecher : Six Sermons
on Intemperance,
Oetober 4.
1858. — The town authorized the construction
of Center Park at private expense. This park
originated m the thought of Miss Mary Pierce,
who gave money for grading and fencing it.
The East and West parks were graded and
planted with trees in the summer of 1836. Dr.
John Wolcott was the moving spirit in this im-
provement, and Henry L. Goodwin and D. C.
Bulkley had much to do with the planting and
care of the trees. About the time the Center
Park was put in order, a young college grad-
uate, George M. Woodruff by name, had more
trees set out in the east end of East Park.
October 5.
181 8. — By the ratification of the new Consti-
tution, the Congregational churches of the
state of Connecticut are disestablished.
Lyman Beecher's comment is not only inter-
esting historically, but is especially pertinent
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in these days of ecclesiastical unrest in Old
England :
" It was as dark a day as I ever saw. The
odium thrown upon the ministry was incon-
ceivable. The injury done to the cause of
Christ, as we then supposed, was irreparable.
For several days I suffered what no tongue can
tell for the best thing that ever happened to the State
of Connecticut. It cut the churches loose from
dependence on State support. It threw them
wholly on their own resources and on God."
1880. — Origen Storrs Seymour and Lucy M.
Woodruff, his wife, celebrate their golden wed-
ding.
'• These two are wedded fifty years,
For fifty years two hearts are one,
And in this mild October sun
There is no sorrow in their tears."
— Gideon H. Hollister.
October 6.
The golden wedding of Judge and Mrs. Sey-
mour, bringing together many distinguished
people from far and near, was the most nota-
ble social event in the history of Litchfield.
Not far from this time, three couples closely
connected celebrated their golden weddings.
On one of these occasions, there sat down at
the same table, Judge and Mrs. Seymour, Mr.
and Mrs. George C. Woodruff, and Mr. and
Mrs. James B. Parsons.
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THE OLD MEETiNG HOUSE.
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OCTOBER. 163
October 7.
That fellow 's so contrary that he hates to do
the very thing he wants to, if anybody else
wants him to do it. If there was . any way of
voting that would spite both parties and please
nobody, he'd take that. The only way to get
that fellow to heaven would be to set oiit to
drive him to hell ; then he'd turn and run up
the narrow way full chisel. — Sheriff Dennie on
Zeph Higgins — Poganuc People.
October 8.
In his Yankee Town Meetings Clarence Dem-
ing tells of the attempt of a vociferous lawyer
to browbeat the Moderator : " Mr. Moderator,
for three years you have decided this question
the other way." " All right," was the response,
"if I have decided the question for three years
wrong the other way, all the more reason why
I should decide it right now."
October 9.
The old Litchfield " meeting-house " stood in
the middle of the " Green " very nearly at the
intersection of the two main streets of the town.
There it stood, solitary, solemn, and lonely.
There was not a single line or fixture in it sug-
gesting taste or beauty ; but that which the
architect had neglected, the worshipers sup-
plied. The hearts of thousands of men and
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164 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
women who had worshiped there from child-
hood to old age had thrown the color of the
deepest feelings upon the gaunt old church, and
no doubt in their eyes the old wooden meeting-
house looked more beautiful than the Parthe-
non to the Greeks.
The building was square, with two stories of
windows and a high steep roof on which the
snow had hard work to lie in winter. The
windows were large, with panes of glass six by
eight in size, full of warts and wrinkles, through
which external objects were seen by our young
eyes in the most grotesque distortion. — Henry
Ward Beecher : Going to Meeting.
Oetober 10.
The glory of our meeting-house was the
singers' seat, that empyrean of those who re-
joiced in the mysterious art of fa-sol-la-ing.
'There they sat in the gallery that lined three
sides of the house, treble, counter, tenor, and
bass, each with its appropriate leader and sup-
porters. There were generally seated the
bloom of our young people, sparkling, modest,
blushing girls on one side, with their ribbons
and finery, making the place as blooming and
lively as a flower garden ; and fiery, forward,
confident young men on the other. — Harriet
Beecher Stowe.
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OCTOBER. 165
October II.
I remember the wonder with which I used to
look from side to side when treble, tenor, /
counter, and bass were roaring and foaming, ;
and it verily seemed to me as if the Psalm were ,'
going to pieces among the breakers ; and the !
delighted astonishment with which I found that I ,
each particular verse did emerge whole and!
uninjured from the storm. — Harriet Beecher/
Stowe,
Oetober 12.
But even Sunday cannot hold out forever,
and meetings have to let out sometime ! So
at length a universal stir and bustle announced
that it was time to go. Up we bolted ! Down
we sat as quick as if a million pins were stick-
ing in our feet ! The right leg was asleep !
Limping forth into the open air, relief came to
our heart. The being out of doors had always
an inexpressible charm, and never so much as
on Sunday. Away went the wagons ! Away
went the people ! The whole Green swarmed
with folks. The long village streets were full
of company. In ten minutes all were gone,
and the street was given up again to the birds.
— Henry Ward Beecher: Going to Meeting.
0(;tob?r 13.
When the day was done and the candles
were lighted, and the supper was out of the
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way, we all gathered about the great kitchen
fire; and soon after George or Henry had to go
down for apples. Generally it was Henry. A
boy's hat is a universal instrument. It is a bat
to smack butterflies with, a basket for stones
to pelt frogs withal, a measure to bring up
apples in. And a big-headed boy's old felt hat
was not stingy in its qualities; and when its
store ended, the errand would always be re-
peated. To eat six, eight, and twelve apples
in an evening was no great feat for a growing
young lad, whose stomach was no more in
danger of dyspepsia than the neighborhood
mill, through whose body passed thousands of
bushels of corn, leaving it no fatter at the end
of the year than at the beginning. Cloyed
with apples ? To eat an apple is to want to
eat another. — Henry Ward Beecher: Fruits^
Flowers^ and Farming.
Oetob(?r 14.
Rev. Dan. Huntington, who was ordained
Pastor of the Congregational Church in Octo-
ber, 1798, wrote the following well-known de-
scription of the Litchfield of his day:
" A delightful village on a fruitful hill, richly
endowed with its schools, both professional
and scientific, and their accomplished teachers;
with venerable Governors and Judges; with its
learned lawyers and Senators, and Representa-
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OCTOBER. 167
tives, both in National and State Departments;
Litchfield was now in its glory."
October 15.
1724. — A Town Meeting orders a " Memo-
rial of the distressed state of the Inhabitants
of the Town of Litchfield; which we humbly
lay before the Honorable General Assembly
now sitting in New Haven." . . . "Many
of our Inhabitants are drawn off, and the duties
of Watching and Warding are become very
heavy."
0(;tob?r 16.
1820. — William Guy Peck born. He gradu-
ated at West Point, was with Fremont in his
exploring expeditions, and was a member
successively of the faculties of West Point,
University of Michigan, and Columbia College.
October 17.
1777. — Captain Moses Seymour commands a
Litchfield company at the surrender of Bur-
goyne. A few days later he attended a dinner
at which General Burgoyne was called upon
for a toast. Every voice was for the moment
hushed into the deepest attention, as he arose
and gave — "America and Great Britain against
the world." — Kilbourne's History.
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October i8.
1816. — "An Association of Young Men desire
the First Ecclesiastical Society to accept a
Stove and Pipe for their meeting-house/'*
Fire ? Fire ? A fire in the house o' God ?
I never heard on't. I never heard o* hevin fire
in a meetin'-house. — Zeph Higgins in Poganuc
People.
0(;tober 19.
1864. — The battle of Cedar Creek. At sun-
rise, all unexpectedly, Early's troops swooped
down upon the federal lines, and the northern
soldiers, after vain resistance, fled pell-mell
through the valley. Then Sheridan rode from
Winchester, and defeat is turned to victory.
In the language of Pat Burmingham that
night, — "We're back again at the old camp
and the Johnnies are whipped all to pieces."
In proportion to the number of troops en-
gaged, the Second Connecticut lost more
heavily than in any other battle, not excepting
Cold Harbor.
Oetober 20.
Judge Reeve was the first eminent lawyer in
thi^ country who dared to arraign the common
law of England for its severity and refined cru-
elty in cutting off the natural rights of married
women, and placing their property as well as
* See November 20.
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JAMES GOULD.
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OCTOBER. 169
their persons at the mercy of their husbands,
who might squander it or hoard it up, at their
pleasure. . . . All the mitigating changes
in our jurisprudence which have been made to
redeem helpless woman from the barbarities
of her legalized tyrant may fairly be traced to
the author of the first American treatise on
The Domestic Relations. — Hollisters Connecticut.
October 2L
"Gould's Pleading" is one of the most con-
densed and critical pieces of composition to be
found in our language, and is of an original
character. He had at first contemplated a more
extended treatise, but while he was preparing
materials for it, the announcement of Chitty's
work on the same title induced him to change
his plan. As it was presented to the public,
" Gould's Pleading " is, therefore, only a sum-
mary of the original design ; but for clearness
and logical precision it is surpassed, if at all,
only by the Commentaries on the laws of Eng-
land. — Gideon H. Hollister : Banquet to Chief
Justice Seymour.
Oetober 22^
Judge Gould carried to the bar the same
classical finish which appears in his writings. It
would have been impossible for him to speak
an ungrammatical sentence, use an inelegant
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expression, or make an awkward gesture. His
arguments were expressed in the most brief
forms in which a speaker can convey his
thoughts to his hearers. He seldom spoke
longer than half an hour, and in the most im-
portant and complex cases never exceeded an
hour. He could shoot a quiver full of shafts
within the circle of the target with such cer-
tai^ty and force that they could all be found
and counted when the contest was over.
As a judge, his opinions are unsurpassed by
any which appear in our reports for clearness
and that happy moulding of thought so pecu-
liar to him at the bar and in social conversa-
tion. — Gideon H. Hollister : Banquet to Chief
Justice Seymour,
October 23.
The schoolhouse was in the street near the
N W. corner of my father's Home Lot, and
was about twenty rods from home. The street
was nine or ten rods wide and the hillocks were
covered with whortleberry bushes, which were
tall enough to hide a young man or boy from
observation. It was an excellent place for
truants and used for that purpose by many of
the larger Boys of the School. When I had
attained the age of six or seven years, I was
told that it was time for me to go to School. I
was accordingly dressed in my Sunday habit,
and sent out, whip in hand, on a Monday morn-
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OCTOBER. 171
ing. I was the smallest and most tender boy
who appeared, with a pale face and white hair.
— Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
Oetober 24.
The Master was a stout, rough man, and I
think it was probable he was a foreigner.
When I was called before him, he, judging from
appearance, took me between his knees and
with a ferule and Dilworth's Spelling Book in
his hands offered to instruct me in spelling
words of several syllables. My astonishment
and indignation exceeded all bounds. I con-
sidered it as the greatest possible indignity. I
had no conception that a Schoolmaster^ whom I
deemed a great personage, could be so ignorant
as not to know that I could read in the Testa-
ment. I remained mute and stifled my sobs as
well as I was able. The Master supposed he
had put me too far forward, and turned me
back to words of one syllable. My wrath in-
creased and I continued silent. He tried me in
the Alphabet ; and as I remained silent he told
me that I came to learn to read, and that I
must speak the words after him or he would
whip me. He actually struck me, supposing
me to be obstinately mute ; my sobs nearly
broke my heart, and I was ordered to my seat.
Some of the boys tried to console me, and oth-
ers laughed. I left the school with the most
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decided disgust, resolved never to enter it
again. — Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
October 25.
The Sheldon House on North Street is one
of the two or three houses of the i8th century
which has been in the unbroken possession of
the family of the builder. The present occu-
pant of the house is Mrs. N. Rochester Child.
Should any of her former schoolmates at Miss
Pierce's read these lines, they surely will re-
member her by her earlier name, Elizabeth
Prince.
This house is a veritable historical museum,
full of rare and valuable memorials of earlier
days ; and aside from its contents, is interesting
in itself. Dr. Sheldon built it in 1785. He
lived to be ninety years old ; while his daugh-
ter Lucy, who was born in the house, lived
there for nearly one hundred and one years.
When Dr. Sheldon was seventy-five years
old, he journeyed in company with his daughter
and Miss Mary Pierce to Niagara. The letter
of Lucy Sheldon (Mrs. Beach as we now re-
member her) describing the journey by stage
and canal in 1826, the year after the Erie Canal
was opened, is a most entertaining one. At its
close, she expresses the hope that the journey
may be the means of prolonging her father's
life. Her wish was realized.
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DANIEL SHELDON, M. D.
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OCTOBER. 173
0(;tober 26.
Dear old Dr. Sheldon ! We began to get well
as soon as he came into the house ; or if the evil
spirit delayed a little, " Cream-o'-tarter with
water poured upon it and sweetened," finished
the work. He had learned long before the days
of homeopathy, that a doctor's chief business is
to keep parents from giving their children medi-
cine, so that nature may have a fair chance at
the disease without having its attention divided
or diverted. — Henry Ward Beecher: Litchfield
Revisited,
0(;tob^r 27.
Another physician still earlier than Dr.
Sheldon should be remembered here. We
refer to Dr. Reuben Smith from whose corre-
spondence with Oliver Wolcott during the
Revolution we have quoted. The house he
built in 1770 is now the home of Mrs. Henry
R. Coit.
How one name calls up another ! • All this
time, we have forgotton to mention Parson
Collins, the first minister of the town. He had
a rather stormy time with his parishioners for
thirty years, and then left the pulpit for the
practice of medicine, continuing to reside in
Litchfield until his death fourteen years later.
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174 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
October 28.
The home of Mrs. Henry R. Coit is one of
the most noted of the historic houses. We
have just spoken of its builder. Dr. Smith
sold the house to Asa Bacon, the lawyer who
came here from Canterbury with seventeen
law students whom he transferred to the Litch-
field Law School.
David R. Boardman,in speaking of Asa Bacon,
has said: " He had a fine appearance, being tall,
well proportioned, and usually richly dressed.
The first time I saw him before the jury, his
head was well cased in powder and pomatum,
and a long queue was dangling at his back ;
but he soon laid aside this conformity to old-
time fashions, though he was the last member
at the bar to do so. He would sometimes in-
terlude his arguments with specimens of droll-
ery and flashes of wit, and the expectation that
these would be put forth, secured a very strict
attention from all his hearers."
In later years the house became the home of
Mr. Henry R. Coit, who, through his connec-
tion with the Bank and the Shepaug Railroad,
and in other ways, was for many years closely
identified with all that pertained to the welfare
of modern Litchfield.
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OCTOBER. 175
October 29.
One of Mr. Starr's most trusted employes
was a man whom he called " Uncle Bill." In
Farm Echoes^ the following anecdote is told of
him, which makes one think that the "bonnie
brier bush " grows here as well as in Drum-
tochty:
" At one time during a severe illness which
he felt might end in speedy death, he expressed
a wish to communicate something to me alone,
and in confidence. He summarily ordered the
other occupants of his room to leave it, and I
stood at his bedside, fully prepared for some
important revelation — perhaps a death-bed con-
fession of something as yet a secret to all but
God and himself.
"Could it be some dark deed in his past life,
now weighing more heavily than ever on his
conscience in view of the near approach of
death, and that he longed to unburden himself
of it to one from whom he thought he might
receive comforting advice ? Judge of my sur-
prise and relief, when I found that what he
had to communicate was the confession of his
neglect to inform me, at the time of its occur-
ence some year or two previous, that one in my
employ had left open for a night a door which
ought to have been locked. He found it open
early the next morning, and had ever since felt
he had neglected his duty in not at once re-
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176 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
porting the fact to me. There was a tone of
sadness in his voice which told as plainly as
did his words, his regret at this failure of duty.
It was no light matter to him that I had placed
confidence in him, and that he had seemingly
abused it.
"I shall never forget the impression this
made upon me, nor I hope the lesson it taught
me. I exclaimed: * Happy Uncle Bill, to be
thus prepared. Is this all that troubles you ? '
" Here was a soul about to enter eternity as
we supposed, and it had no greater burden rest-
ing on it than this trifling matter. To tell of
this open door, and then feel he was prepared
for whatever might take place, proved a child-
like faith and trust rarely to be met with. The
eye of faith was evidently looking upon another
* open door,' and so steadfastly as not to see
any of the difficulties which distress those who
do not take as literally as did he, the precious
promise of the Precious Saviour: * I am the
door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved.' "
October 30.
The illustration on the opposite page shows
one of the oldest houses on West Street, built
by Eli Smith in 1780. For the last thirty
years it has been the residence of Mr. George
Kenney.
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OCTOBER. 177
The store next door has given way to the
Fire Department Building. For many years
it was a landmark of the village. Seated on
the steps, is Captain Alva Stone.
0(;tob^r 31.
1789. — John M. Peck, born. He became an
eminent Baptist clergyman, and was at one
time the Whig candidate for Governor of
Illinois.
1850. — The Baptist Church of Bantam is
organized.
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1776. — About this time, thirty-six picked
men go, tinder the command of Capt. Beebe,
to the defense of Fort Washington.
1825. — This has been a good day. Twenty-
five have been added to the church.
Harriet communed to-day for the first time.
— Lyman Beecher : Letter to William Beecher.
Mrs. Stowe, in her Life and Letters, does not
speak of this service, but she does speak of the
time "that I first believed myself to be a Chris-
tian." It was at an earlier communion service
in the summer of the same year.
In Foganuc People, she tells the story most
beautifully :
" When she saw the white, simple table, and
the shining cups and snowy bread of the Com-
munion, she inly thought that the service could
have nothing for her, — it would be all for those
grown-up, initiated Christians. Nevertheless,
when her father began to speak, she was drawn
to him by a sort of pathetic earnestness in his
voice. . . .
" Dolly sat absorbed, her large blue eyes
gathering tears as she listened, and when the
Doctor said, * Come, then, and trust your soul
(178)
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FREDERICK WOLCOTT.
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NOVEMBER. 1 79
to this faithful Friend,' Dolly's little heart
throbbed, * I will.' And she did. For a mo-
ment she was discouraged by the thought that
she had not had any conviction of sin ; but, like
a flash came the thought, Jesus could give her
that as well as anything else, and that she
could trust Him for the whole. And so her
little earnest child-soul went out to the won-
derful Friend. She sat through the sacramental
service that followed, with swelling heart and
tearful eyes, and walked home filled with a new
joy. She went up to her father's study and fell
into his arms, saying, * Father, I have given
myself to Jesus, and He has taken me.' "
" The Doctor held her silently to his heart a
moment, and his tears dropped on her head.
" * Is it so ? ' he said. * Then has a new flower
blossomed in the Kingdom this day.' "
f/ov/^mber 2.
1767. — Frederick Wolcott, born. He was a
lifelong resident of the town, and more closely
identified with its interests than his father or
brother, whose time was so largely given to
state and national affairs.
Judge Church gives, in his Centennial Address^
the following expression of local sentiment :
" I never pass by the venerable mansion of the
Wolcott family in my daily walks about this
village, without recalling the stately form and
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ever honorable deportment of Frederick Wol-
cott."
1768. — John Jacob, an Indian, was executed.
Rev. Timothy Pitkin of Farmington came over
to Litchfield, at the request of the criminal, to
preach the execution sermon. His text was
Numbers xxv: 16, — ** And if he smite him with
an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a
murderer : the murderer shall surely be put to
death.**
Ho\j(i[[\ber 3.
In Dwight C. Kilbourn's library (a veritable
section of paradise to the bookworm) is a copy
of the sermon just alluded to. It is the quaint-
est specimen in the realm of homiletics that I
have ever seen. As I remember its outline, it
is as follows : ist and chiefly, Capital Punish-
ment a Divine Ordinance ; 2d, A Message of
Warning to the Audience ; 3d, Consolation to
the Condemned Criminal.
The execution sermon has not been unknown
in Connecticut even in this century. David
Dudley Field, in speaking of his boyhood mem-
ories, said in an address given a few years ago:
" A sermon was preached to a crowded house,
and the prisoner was then taken, dressed in a
shroud, to a hill near by, and in the presence
of thousands of spectators was executed."
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NOVEMBER. l8l
f(ov/(?mber 4.
1768. — Mary Buel died. This is the inscrip-
tion upon her tombstone in the West burying-
ground : " Here lies the body of Mrs. Mary,
wife of Dea. John Buell,* Esq. She died Nov.
4, 1768, aged 90 — having had 13 children, loi
grandchildren, 247 great-grandchildren, and 49
-great-great-grandchildren; total, 410. Three
hundred and thirty-six survived her."
|^ov/(?mber 5.
1745. — The first Episcopal society of Litch-
field is organized at the house of Captain Jacob
Griswold.
It was about this time that Mary Davies came
here, homesick with memories of Hereford-
shire. What a rough and shaggy look this
Western country must have worn to her eyes,
and what a topsy-turvy state of society existed
when dissenting meeting-houses were estab-
lished by law, and when there were scarce
enough Church of England people in the col-
ony to found a church ! Writing from under
the shadow of Mount Tom, Mr^. Davies in-
formed her friends in England that she was
*The local historians spell the name with one " 1" ;
on the tombstone it is spelled with two. The descend-
ants of Deacon John and Mary, his wife, follow the
method of Shakespeare, and spell the name, now one
way, and now another.
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l82 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
" entirely alone, having no society, and having
nothing to associate with but Presbyterians
and wolves."
1799. — The Rev. Truman Marsh became rec-
tor of St. Michael's church. His term of ser-
vice — thirty years — is the longest in the his-
. tory of the parish.
1878. — Charles B. Andrews received a plu-
rality of the votes cast in the election for Gov-
ernor, and was subsequently elected to that
office by the Legislature.
He came to Litchfield as a young lawyer in
1863, having been called here from Kent by
John H. Hubbard, about the time the latter
was elected to Congress. The career of Judge
Andrews is a striking illustration of the fact
that even in a state where wealth and social
prestige count for much, native ability and en-
ergy will not be without recognition. Judge
Andrews is the only citizen in the history of
Connecticut who has held the two highest
offices in the gift of the State.
1879. — Little Pond is frozen over. A few
days later the thermometer rose to 80° and re-
mained at that point for several days. — Leonard
Stone s Diary,
f/ov/^mber 6.
Parson Marsh, as he was called, lived for
many years in the house now owned by C. M.
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CHARLES li. ANDREWS.
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NOVEMBER. 183
Ganung. There he kept school; one day, after
ordering the boys to pile up some wood for the
schoolroom fire, he was surprised to find that
they had barricaded the door so that he could
not get out.
He had a great dread of fire, and had a pane
of glass inserted in the panel of his bedroom
door so that he could look now and then, at
night, and watch the fire in the sitting-room.
f(ov/emb(?r 7.
Frederick Wolcott might have been Gov-
ernor of the State, had he so desired, He twice
declined the nomination on the ground that his
health was not firm. In both instances, the
candidate who took his place was successful.
Aside from Judge Reeve, no man who has
lived here has called forth heartier tributes of
affection and respect than Frederick Wolcott.
Jonathan Brace has said of him : " If there
was a man in this, village whom the aged re-
spected, and to whom the young looked up
with reverence, that man was Frederick Wol-
cott."
f(ouember 8.
Soon after the second Oliver Wolcott had re-
tired from the governorship, he became in-
volved in a lawsuit, growing out of his business
interests in Wolcottville. The case came to
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184 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
trial here, Judge Daggett presiding. The judge
was an ardent Federalist, and, as Litchfield was
a famous stronghold of Federalism, the jury
was largely opposed, politically, to Wolcott.
It was at this trial that Judge Gould made
his last appearance as counsel. He conducted
the case against Wolcott, and carried the jury
with him. Judge Seymour, then a young man,
attended the trial, and felt that Judge Daggett's
conduct of the case was partisan. On review-
ing the matter, however, in later years, he not
only modified, but reversed his opinion.
f(ouemb^r 9.
There have been some remarkable instances
of tenure of office in Litchfield. From 1751 to
1836, there were but two county clerks: Isaac
Baldwin, serving forty-two years; Frederick
Wolcott, forty-three years. With these men,
we must put the first Ebenezer Marsh, who
was elected to the Legislature in the spring of
1 741, and was re-elected semi-annually, with
scarcely a break, until 1771.
The house he built in 1759 is the second old-
est in the town, and is the well-known land-
mark on the southeast corner of South and
East streets.
flo\jep\ber 10.
Since 1793 Litchfield has been represented in
Washington by its own citizens for sixty-six
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NOVEMBER. 185
years ; in the Senate, by Uriah Tracy for
eleven years, and Truman Smith for five years;
in the House, for fifty years ; Benjamin Tall-
madge serving the longest term, sixteen years.
Is there any other street in the country that,
in less than half a mile of its length, can equal
South street in the number of its public men ?
Here have lived three governors and five chief-
justices of Connecticut, two judges of the fed-
eral courts, two United vStates senators, six
members of Congress. Add to this number
the founder of the first law school in America,
the compiler of the first law reports in the
United States, and a signer of the Declaration
of Independence.
f(ouember 12.
1820. — A terrible storm of snow; it is ten
inches deep, — and not a little remarkable for
the earliness of the season. — George V. Cutler's
Journal,
f(ov/emb^r 13.
Roxana Beecher, in a letter of November,
1 8 14, says :
" I write sitting upon my feet, with my paper
upon the seat of a chair, while Henry is hang-
ing round my neck, and Harriet is begging me
to please make her a baby."
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l86 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
f/oue/nber 14.
1747. — Elijah Wads worth was bom in Hart-
ford. He came to Litchfield before the Revo-
lution and was a citizen here until 1802. He
was- a captain in Sheldon's regiment of Dra-
goons. In 1802 he became one of the pioneers
of the Western Reserve, and, as brigadier-gen-
eral, co-operated with General Harrison in the
defense of the Northwest in the War of 181 2.
1797. — The second Episcopal society of Litch-
field was organized. This is now known as St.
Paul's church, Bantam.
The rector of this church is the Rev. Hiram
Stone, senior pastor of the town, having served
this parish for nearly twenty-five years. His
later ministry has been in the town where his
boyhood was passed ; his earlier ministry was
in Kansas in the heroic days before the war.
He founded the first Protestant Episcopal
church in the territory, and was army chap-
lain for sixteen years.
f/oue/nb(?r 15.
1859. — A prisoner in the Charlestown (Vir-
ginia) jail, writes a letter to his old teacher, the
Rev. H. L. Vaill of Litchfield :
" Your assurance of the earnest sympathy of
friends in my native land is very grateful to
my feelings. . . .
" I send through you my best wishes to Mrs.
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NOVEMBER. 187
[Morris] Woodruff and her son, George. May
the God of the poor and the oppressed be the
God and Saviour of you all.
" Farewell, till we meet again.
" Your friend in truth,
"John Brown."*
Connecticut has sent out many a school-mas-
ter to the other thirty States, but never before
so grand a teacher as that Litchfield-bom
schoolmaster at Harper's Ferry, writing, as it
were, upon the Natural Bridge, in the face of
nations, his simple copy, ** Resistance to tyrants
is obedience to God." — Wendell Phillips:
Oration — Harper s Ferry.
John Brown's birthplace is in this county,
but not in this town. The old farmhouse where
he first saw the light is in Torrington. Those
bent on an historical pilgrimage will find some
of the hardest hill-climbing that this region af-
fords, and, at the goal of their journey, a dilap-
idated house now tenanted by a colored family.
f(ov/e/nb?r 16.
1776. — The surrender of Fort Washington.
Captain Beebe and his thirty-six Litchfield
men were among the prisoners. Only six of
his company survived the horrors of imprison-
ment.
* This letter is given at length in Sanborn's Life of
fohn Brown.
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1 88 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
f(ouemb(?r 17.
181 7. — Harriet Porter, Lyman Beecher's sec-
ond wife, writes her first Litchfield letter to her
sister : " Harriet and Henry are very desirous
for me to send their love. Harriet just said to
me, * Because you have come and married my
pa, when I am big enough I mean to go and
marry your pa.' "
f(oue/nb?r 18.
In her Life and Letters^ Mrs. Stowe describes
the home-coming of her father and step-mother
as follows : " As father came into the room,
our new mother followed him. She was very
fair, with light-blue eyes and soft, auburn hair
bound round with a black velvet bandeau, and
to us she seemed very beautiful.
" Never did step-mother make a prettier or
sweeter impression. The morning following
her arrival, we looked at her with awe. She
i seemed to us so fair, so delicate, so elegant,
' that we were almost afraid to go near her.'
f(ouember 19.
1816. — George Thompson, born. He was a
lifelong resident of the village, and though in
private life, exerted no inconsiderable influence
both upon the town and upon the Methodist
Episcopal church, of which he was a leading
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NOVEMBER. 189
member. As a citizen, he was deeply con-
cerned in all that pertained to the welfare of
the town ; as a Methodist, it is safe to say that
few of his pastors were more thoroughly ac-
quainted with American Methodism, or were
more deeply in sympathy with its aims and
achievements.
fiov/^mb^r 20.
It was a warm November Sabbath, in 1816,
when everyone, on entering the meeting-house,
saw that the much-debated stove had actually
been set up in the middle aisle. "Good old
Deacon Trowbridge shook his head as he felt
the heat reflected from it, and gathered up the
skirts of his great-coat as he passed up the
broad aisle to the Deacons' Seat. Old Uncle
Noah Stone, a wealthy farmer of the West End,
who sat near, scowled and muttered at the ef-
fects of the heat, but waited until noon to utter
his maledictions over his nut-cakes and cheese
at the intermission. There had, in fact, been\
no fire in the stove, the day being too warm.
We were too much upon the broad grin to be
very devotional, and smiled rather loudly at the
funny things we saw. But when the editor of
the village paper, Mr. Bunce, came in (who
was a believer of stoves in churches), and, with
a most satisfactory air, warmed his hands by
the stove, keeping the skirts of his great-coat
12
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190 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
carefully between his knees, we could stand it
no longer, but dropped invisible behind the
breastwork. But the climax of the whole was
when Mrs. Peck went out in the midst of the (
service ! It was, however, the means of recon- '
ciling the whole society ; for, after that first
day, we heard no more opposition to the warm
stove in the meeting-house." — John P. Brace :
Kilbourne's History.
ffov/e/nb^r 21.
181 7. — Harriet is a very good girl. She has
been to school all this summer, and has learned
to read very fluently. She has committed to
memory twenty-seven hymns and two long
chapters of the Bible. She has a remarkably
retentive memory, and will make a good
scholar. She says she has got a new mother
and loves her very much, and means to be a
very good child. — Letter of Catherine Beecher.
fiov/ember 22.
Harriet Beecher was not yet twelve years old
when, under the stimulating teaching of Mr.
John P. Brace, she prepared for the public her
first literary effort, an essay under this formida-
ble title : *• Can the Immortality of the soul be
proved in the Light of Nature ? "
" I remember," says Mrs. Stowe, in her biog-
raphy, " the scene at that exhibition.
The hall was crowded with the literati of Litch-
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NOVEMBER. I91
field. Before them all our compositions were
read aloud. I noticed that father, who was sit-
ting on high by Mr. Brace, brightened and
looked interested, and at the close I heard him
say, * Who wrote that composition ? ' * Your
daughter, sir,* was the answer. It was the
proudest moment of my life."
fiov/^mber 23.
1786. — Oliver Wolcott draws up a legal doc- \
ument, emancipating " my negro servant man,
Caesar."
As late as 1800, there were seven slaves in
Litchfield, but we are glad to learn from
Kilboume in 1859, that " the * institution ' is now
extinct among us, though some who were born
slaves are still living here."
In this connection it is interesting to note
that Harriet Beecher Stowe's first abhorrence
of slavery dates not from Cincinnati, but from
Litchfield. Her aunt, Mrs. Mary Hubbard,,
who made her home in the Beecher household,
and who lies buried in the East cemetery, had
lived for a time in the West Indies. Mrs.
Stowe says of her : " What she saw and heard
of slavery filled her with constant horror and
loathing. She has said that she has often sat
by her window in the tropical night, when all
was still, and wished the island might sink in
the ocean with all its sin and misery, and that
she might sink with it."
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192 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
ffov/ember 24.
In the annals of human oratory, no instance
of triumphant mastery of a hostile audience
can eclipse Henry Ward Beecher's address
before the vast throng at Liverpool. He went
to that meeting uncertain whether he would
come forth alive. There he plead for the slave
and for the cause of the North in the crisis of
the Civil War. It makes one proud of Amer-
ican citizenship to read that masterly speech.
Here is his reference to a Litchfield colored
man copied in his biography from a Liverpool
paper of the day :
"When I was twelve years old my father
hired Charles Smith, a man as black as lamp-
black, to work on his farm. I slept with him
in the same room. [* Oh, oh ' !j Ah ! that don't
suit you. [Uproar.] Now, you see, the South
comes out. [Loud laughter.] I ate with him
at the same table ; I sang with him out of the
same hymn book [* Good '] ; I cried when he
prayed over me at night ; and if I had serious
impressions of religion early in life, they were
due to the fidelity and example of that poor
humble farm laborer, black Charles Smith."
[Tremendous uproar and cheers.]
fiouemb^r 25.
There is no living in this world and doing
right, if you cannot meet public opinion and
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NOVEMBER. I93
resist it, when arrayed on the side of evil. —
Lyman Beecher.
\lo\J(iP\her 26.
1 818. — We have had a pleasant Thanksgiv-
ing, a good dinner, and, they say, a good
sermon. It would have added to our happi-
ness to have had you and William sit down
with us. We had presents piled in upon us
yesterday at a great rate. Mr. Henry Wads-
worth sent 6 lbs. butter, 6 lbs. lard, 2 lbs.
hyson tea, 5 doz. eggs, 8 lbs. sugar, a large pig,
a large turkey, and four cheeses. The gov-
ernor sent a turkey ;* Mrs. Thompson, do. ;
and, to cap all, Mr. Rogers sent us a turkey. —
Lyman Beecher : Letter to Edward Beecher,
ffouemb^r 27.
1864.— The Rev. William Stevens Perry
becomes rector of St. Michael's church. He
remained here five years. Subsequently, he
was rector in Geneva, New York, president of
Hobart College, and bishop of the diocese of
Iowa.
Dr. Storrs O. Seymour has contributed to
the Book of Days the following interesting
sketch :
* It is to be hoped that the turkey was an extra good
one, for it was only a few weeks previous that the gov-
ernor and his party had carried through their programme
of Disestablishment.
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194 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
" Bishop Perry became rector of St. Michaers
church in this village in 1864. At that time he
was thirty-two years old, and just entering
with great vigor and freshness upon his his-
torical work for which he afterwards became
distinguished. He had even then a large col-
lection of valuable pamphlets, and his familiar-
ity with their contents was remarkable. He
could lay his hand in a moment upon any one
of these, and he knew exactly what informa-
tion he could gather from it. While in Litch-
field, by way of recreation, he did a good deal
of very beautiful illuminating work with pen
and brush. Bishop Perry was a very ready
writer. He was fond of preaching courses of
sermons, some of these which were afterwards
published were written while he was in Litch-
field. A sermon which he preached on
Thanksgiving Day, 1866, was afterwards
printed under the title, ' Thankfulness for our
Past, our Present, and our Future.'
" In his parochial work Bishop Perry, or Mr.
Perry as he then was, was very happy. He
and his wife used to visit a good deal, and the
little pony and basket wagon were a very
familiar sight on our roads. They were very
fond of Litchfield, coming here frequently to
spend their vacations, and Bishop Perry often
spoke of the time when he could build a house
here, and have it for a summer home and for
his old age. As he was a voluminous writer, a
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NOVEMBER. I95
mere recital of the titles of his books would
occupy more space than this little sketch."
1898. — A blinding snow storm raged through-
out the day. At times it was impossible to see
across the street, the houses on the further side
being blotted out as effectively as by a dense
fog. This proved the heaviest November
snow storm on record.
fiov/e/nber 28.
1 82 1. — George Y. Cutler, a law student from
Watertown, makes the following entry in his
journal :
" On horseback to Litchfield. It was no kill-
ing thing — much more would it be to hang —
the moon was bright ; the snow, full of reflec-
tion ; I, full of breakfast ; Nate, of fire ; while
the cocks crowed about us for musick, and the
stars, one after another, shot this way and that
about the heavens, as if making a display of
fireworks for our amusement. I found George
Gibbs up, though I little expected it when
I turned the corner to take a look at his win-
dow. I had little thought of seeing a light at
that time of night.
"'Well,' said I, 'Tu; indeed, ' Marcellus eris'I
"I ran up-stairs, opened the door an inch,
and inquired if Mr. Gibbs lived there. Then
we laughed ourselves to death and disturbed
our neighbors. Mr. Chambers, in the back
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196 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
room, inquired who the devil had come ; and,
being told, said, * I thought it was he.' "
ffov/^mber 29.
182 1. — My going in the night cost old [Grove]
Catlin a vast deal of wonder, and I chose to
leave him in that situation. When I turned
my face howeward, I felt the inconvenience of
three pairs of pantaloons, two of stockings,
shirts, and two great-coats. — George V. Cutler s
Journal.
ffov/emb^r 30.
I recall, from boyhood, a striking proof of
the elasticity of black ice. In one of the towns
of Northwestern Connecticut, between two
lakes, stretches a long reach of level bog-land,
which a winter's thaw often covers with water.
Years ago, one of these periodical overflows
covered the bogs, and a sharp snap of cold
weather left a level surface of black ice several
inches thick. Then the water receded, leaving
the ice hung on the bogs, but bent between
them into a series of long depressions like the
troughs of Atlantic waves. The sensation of
skating over these long billows of ice was pe-
culiarly novel, and for days the lads of the near
village indulged in it with irrepressible delight.
— Clarence Deming : On Black Ice.
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GEORGE C. WOODRUFF.
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1805. — George C. Woodruff, born.
He served for several terms in the Legisla-
ture, and represented this District in the 37th
Congress. His History of Litchfield^ published
in 1845, ^^^ ^is Centennial Address^ J^ily 4» 1876,
are of great value.
No such enumeration, however, as we have
just made, can convey to the reader any true
view of his chief service to his native town.
Here he lived for nearly eighty years. Judge
Andrews, in speaking of him, has used an old.
but apt comparison, " He was a moral town
clock ; men set their conduct by him."
Dee^mber 2.
The following portrait of George C. Wood-
ruff is sketched by Judge Andrews :
" Erect in figure, and singularly robust ; al-
ways of the firmest health ; always at work and
never seemingly fatigued ; nothing in nature
so typified him as an oak which has withstood
every vicissitude of storm for a century of
time." — Address before the Litchfield Bar.
(197)
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198 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
Deee/nber 3.
That all classes of people should implicitly
trust Mr. [George C] Woodruff was natural.
That confidence was begotten of an honesty,
a faithfulness, a zeal that was unswerving. No
better proof of this could exist than at some
time he was not only the counsel for every town
in Litchfield county, but of many of the towns
of adjoining counties. — Morris W. Seymour :
Connecticut Law Reports.
December 4,
Early in life he married a sister* of the late
Chief-Justice Seymour, and Judge Seymour
married the only sister of Mr. Woodruff. Side
by side these gentlemen lived and practiced
their profession, sometimes as associates, and
again as opponents ; so zealously each contend-
ing for the rights of his client, that jealousy it-
self never harbored a suspicion that all honor-
able means were not used to succeed. These
conflicts were often close and exciting, and yet
their friendship was never broken ; rather was
their esteem increased as their days length-
ened. — Morris W. Seymour : Connecticut Law
Reports.
December 5.
Soon after her arrival in Litchfield in 1817,
Mrs. Harriet Porter Beecher summed up her
* '• She was the sunshine of Litchfield."
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THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
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Google
DECEMBER. 1 99
impressions of the village as follows : " The
beauty of the place is the wide streets, thickly
planted on either hand with fine trees. It sur-
passes in pleasantness anything I have seen
except Boston Mall. The houses are white and
neat, and there is no appearance of poverty.
I think it must be one of the most beautiful
summer towns in the world."
December 6.
A town-meeting in December, 1772, passed a
vote for "coloring the meeting-house and put-
ting- uo electrical rods."
ting up electrical rods.'
December 7.
Some time in December, 1753, liberty was
voted to Isaac Hosford and others to erect a
Sabbath Day House.
Dee^mber 8.
1885. — The Methodist Episcopal church is
dedicated by Bishop Harris of New York.
Dece/nb^r 9.
A new parsonage had just been paid for,
when, under the enthusiastic leadership of the
Rev. Robert Wasson, it was voted to build a
new church. The liberal gifts of the church
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200 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
members were supplemented very substan-
tially by Mr. Henry H. Benedict of New Haven,
and by a number in this village of other com-
munions, notably by Mr. Frederick Deming
and his sisters, the Misses Deming. The bell
is the gift of Mr. Starr.
The pastors who have served this church for
three years or longer since Mr. Wasson's time,
are the following : Benjamin F. Kidder, Galen
C. Spencer, George C. Boswell.
D^e^/nber lo.
During the building of the Methodist Epis-
copal church, I called, in company with Dr. W.
W. Bowdish, upon Henry Ward Beecher. We
were met by Mrs. Beecher, who received us in
a most agreeable manner. After some conver-
sation, she said that Henry, a day or two ago,
on going upstairs, had remarked that he be-
lieved he was growing old. In replying to
this, she said : " I told him, * Henry, you must
never grow old. You shall remain young so
long as you and I are together.' "
Just as this sentence was uttered, Mr. Beecher
made his appearance in the room, and gave
Mr. Bowdish and myself a most cordial greet-
ing. For a few minutes a very animated con-
versation was carried on, and, as I had been in-
troduced as coming from old Litchfield, natu-
rally the conversation was turned in that direc-
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DECEMBER. 20I
tion. Mr. Beecher at once referred to his father's
ministry there and to his own boyhood, and said:
" When I was about twelve years old, my father
and I were walking out together, and as we
went down West street, my father said, * Henry,
you see there is no Baptist church in Litchfield.
They tried hard to get a footing here, but
whenever they would make an appointment to
hold a meeting, I found it out and I would just
appoint a meeting in the neighborhood at the
same time, and I whipped them every time ;
but, Henry, these Methodists are different ;
when they put their foot down, they stay ! ' "
How greatly Mr. Beecher enjoyed telling
this, was strongly marked on every lineament
of his face.
The moment had now come for me to tell
Mr. Beecher the object of my call. ** Mr.
Beecher, I have undertaken to build a Metho-
dist Episcopal church in Litchfield on West
street. I would be greatly pleased to have
your endorsement, and if you could help me
financially, I would feel greatly indebted to
you."
Without a moment's hesitation, he said, in a
most characteristic manner, " God forbid that
a Methodist church should be built in Litch-
field, and I not have a shingle on it ! "
Looking towards Mrs. Beecher, he said,
" Mother, bring me my check-book. The latter
was cheerfully produced, and the shingle pro-
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202 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
vided for. — Robert Wasson : Narrative written
for the Book of Days.
December ii.
There are times when even from the best of
human lives is heard the cry, " Depart from
me, O Lord ! for I am a sinful man."
From St. Peter to Wordsworth comes the cry
of failure on the part of the noblest, and the
prayer,
*• The best of what we do and are,
Just God, forgive."
Lyman Beecher, in his address on Judge
Reeve said :
" In his last conversation with me, after as-
senting to my suggestion that the blood of
Christ cleanseth from all sin, he said, *Yes, it
does ; it is sufficient ; but if there could be a
case in which the sins of one who had obtained
mercy should exceed the provisions of the
Atonement' — he faltered with deep emotion >
and when he could speak, he added, — * I should
expect that I am the man that had thus
sinned.' "
December 12.
The loftiest flights of prayer are when the
soul
Moves heavenward, unconscious when it
prays ;
And they whose brows shine with the aureole,
Have not seen, nor shall ever see its rays.
— Edward T. McLaughlin.
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DECEMBER. , 203
December 13.
1823. — Tapping Reeve died.
O Judge Reeve, what a man he was ! When
I get to heaven and meet him there, what a
shaking of hands there will be. — Lyman
Beecher.
December 14.
1814. — Gideon H. Hollister was born in
Washington.
He came to Litchfield in early manhood, and
is remembered here as a lawyer of marked
ability. Throughout Connecticut, however, his
fame rests chiefly on his literary work. His
History of Connecticut we have already alluded
to. He had hoped to complete it by adding a
third volume, bringing the narrative down to
the close of the Civil War.
The acting copyright of his Thomas a Becket
was held by Edwin Booth, who took the role
of the Cardinal a number of times. Of his
poems, one, written during the Civil War, en-
titled " Anderson ville," had a widespread pop-
ularity. Mrs. Hollister informs me that a
woman in Pennsylvania, whose husband had
perished under much the same circumstances
as the poem depicts, wrote to Mr. Hollister, in-
quiring how he knew about the incident of the
soldier's having the photograph of his wife and
children, and how he knew that the wife's
name was Mary.
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204 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
"Kinley Hollow," a story of Litchfield
county, was published after the author's, death.
Prof. Hoppin, in reviewing the book, has said :
" There are wonderful fitting resemblances to
places in that triangle of picturesque country
between Litchfield, New Preston, and Wash-
ington . . . but somehow . . . the
sprite, Ariel, has cast a spell over it, and mixed
all into a fairy picture that defies identifica-
tion."
Deee/nber 15.
Prof. J. M. Hoppin, in a letter to Mrs. Hollis-
ter, wrote of Gideon H. Hollister :
"He loved Litchfield and every rod of Con-
necticut soil ; he loved his country's great men;
but he loved, more than all, the great souls, the
poets that have spoken, through all time, to all
hearts, and helped them to think, and hope,
and suffer."
De(;ember 16.
1 85 1. — The present St. Michael's church is
consecrated by Bishop Brownell. This is the
third house of worship in the history of the par-
ish. Since Bishop Perry's time, 1864-69, Prof.
C. S. Henry, Rev. G. M. Wilkins, and Rev. L.
P. Bissell have been rectors of the church. Dr.
Storrs O. Seymour, the present rector, is serv-
ing for a second term the parish with which
the Seymour family has been identified for
more than a hundred years.
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ST. Michael's episcopal church.
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DECEMBER. 205
Our illustration shows the church as it was
before it lost its spire in a storm some years
ago. When Bishop Williams heard of this dis-
aster, he exclaimed, "Spires for the valleys,
but towers for the hills ! "
December 17.
That is a pleasant picture that comes down
to us from the i8th century, of John Davies,
Jr., who did so much in the early days towards
establishing the Episcopal church in this town.
In 1794 he gave the ground and largely paid
for the building of St. John's church, — since
moved to Washington Green. " Aged and in-
firm, he sat in the door of his house, and wit-
nessed the raising of the building."
History repeats itself, and John DavieSj Jr.,
inevitably suggests his modern counterpart,
the man to whom this book is dedicated.
Owing to an accident, by which he has been
confined to his house these many years, he has
never been in the new Methodist church. Yet
no one knows the edifice so thoroughly as he.
Seated in his invalid's chair in his Meadow
street home, he watched the plans to every last
detail. Leonard Stone has built himself into
the church.
December 18.
1820. — A party at Mrs. Oliver Goodwin's.
Was happy to find the Misses Wolcott there.
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206 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
for I did not know who I was to meet ; they
were the gems of the circle.
Flora Catlin was sociable ; Miss Lewis, ani-
mated. Susan Leavitt (of Bethlehem) showed
some spirit, which became her. Mrs. Gould
was civil to me for having taken a relative of
hers into my gig one day, and transporting her
a mile or so. — George V. Cutler s Journal.
Under another date is the following entry :
" A charming visit at Mary Ann Wolcott's.
How beautiful ! It was uppermost in the
abundance of my heart, and I could not help
telling her my opinion. She is one the finest-
looking women I ever knew."
December 19.
Some time in December, 1753, Captain Stod-
dard and Supply Strong were appointed a com
mittee to "measure from the crotch of the
Shepaug River to the northwest corner of the
town, with Mr. Roger Sherman, County Sur-
veyor."
Dee^/nber 20.
The Wolcott Memorial volume contains this
interesting glimpse of Revolutionary hardship
and of the patriotic spirit with which it was
met. The following words, though applied to
Oliver Wolcott and his family, are equally illus-
trative of the prevailing patriotism of the town
and county :
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DECEMBER. 207
During the winter of 1779-80 famine added (
its terrors to excessive cold. The deep snows I
in the mountain region of the State, and the ',
explosion of the paper system., rendered it al- '
most impossible to procure the necessaries of /
life. . . . The resources of so zealous aa
advocate of the war were not withheld. Every
dollar that could be spared from the mainte- -
nance of the family was expended in raising ■
and supplying men ; every blanket, not in
actual use, was sent to the army, aiid the sheets ,'
were torn into bandages or cut int6 lint by the j
hands of his wife and daughter." '
D^eemb^r 21.
1784. — The Weekly Monitor and American Ad-
vertiser made its appearance. This first of Litch-
field newspapers was printed on coarse, blue
paper. There were only three Litchfield ad-
vertisements. Wm. Russell, Stocking Weaver,
[from Norwich, England] announced that he
was ready to make worsted, cotton and linen
Jacket and Breeches Patterns, men's and
women s Stockings, Gloves, and Mitts. Zal-
mon Bedient, Barber, offers cash for human
Hair; Cornelius Thayer, Brazier, also calls at-
tention to his business. — Kilboumes History.
Dee^mb^r 22.
Some of the boys had great gifts at mischief
and some of mirthfulness, and 3ome had both
13
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208 LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
together. The consequence was, that just
when we were most afraid to laugh, we saw the
most comical things to laugh at. Temptations
which we could have vanquished with a smile
out in the free air, were irresistible in our little
corner, where a laugh and a stinging slap were
very apt to woo each other. So we would hold
on and fill up ; and others would hold on and
fill up, too ; till by and by, the weakest would
let go a mere whiffet of a laugh, and then down
went all the precautions, and one went off, and
another and another, touching off the others
like a pack of fire-crackers. — Henry Ward
Beecher : School Memories.
D^ee/nber 23.
1731. — "Voted to build a schoolhouse in ye
center of ye town on ye Meeting House Green.'*
Horace Bushnell's description of the school-
house he knew would be just as true as if ap-
plied to the school of 1731 :
" There were no complaints in those days of
the want of ventilation ; for the large, open
fireplace held a considerable fraction of a cord
of wood, and the windows took in just enough
air to supply the combustion. Besides, the big-
ger lads were occasionally ventilated by being
sent out to cut wood enough to keep the fire in
action. The seats were made from the outer
slabs of the sawmill, supported by slant legis
driven into and at a proper distance through
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DECEMBER. 209
auger holes, and planed smooth on the top by
the rather tardy process of friction."— The Age
of Homespun.
The present attractive and commodious
schoolhouse dates from 1888. Robert L. Zink
is the principal.
Dee^mber 24.
In his Age of Homespun^ Horace Bushnell,
speaking in West Park at the Litchfield County
Centennial, paid the following tribute to the
District School-Teacher : " Oh, I remember
(about the remotest thing I can remember) that
low seat, too high, nevertheless, to allow the
feet to touch the floor, and that friendly teacher
who had the address to start the first feeling of
enthusiasm and to awaken the first sense of
power. He is living still, and whenever I think
of him, he rises up to me in the far background
of memory, as bright as if he had worn the
seven stars in his hair (I said he was living ;
yes, he is here to-day, God bless him.)"
D^e^mber 25.
Baltimore Town, 25*^^ Dec, 1776.
My Dear:
You excuse yourself from writing to me on
account of the difficulty and lincertainty of
Conveyance. The Delivery of Letters is a
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2IO LITCHFIELD BOOK OF DAYS.
matter of some uncertainty, but if they should
fall into the Hands of the Foe, such as come
from you and my Friends, I am sure I shall
never be ashamed of, and as for mine they will
find more trouble in reading them than En-
tertainment. — Oliver Wolcott : Letter to Mrs.
Wolcott.
December 26.
1722. — At a town-meeting it was voted that
the "town stock of Powder and lead should be
procured by a rate raised upon the Rights."
De(;emb^r 27.
In the journal of Dotha Stone, subsequently
Mrs. Cutler, a sister of Mrs. Dr. Sheldon, is the
following entry in the year 1784 :
" A number of us went to Mrs. Buel's to sup-
per some winters ago, among whom was Patty
Hopkins, my brother, and myself. As we sat
at supper, it fell to Mr. Sam Sheldon to carve.
He took up a rib which was taken out of the
pork, and very unpolitely, though very inno-
cently, said that was such a thing as woman
was made of. *Yea,' said Patty Hopkins, *it
was taken out of much such a creature ! '
December 28.
Here is Mr. Barker^s prediction, uttered one
cold morning in the Litchfield jail, and re-
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DECEMBER. 211
corded for us by Gideon H. Hollister in Kinky
Hollow :
" Ugh ! what a blast. In another hundred
years — mark my words, Frank — in one hun-
dred years from this date the only inhabitants
on this hill will be white bears and Esqui-
maux."
Henry Ward Beecher's reminiscences of
Litchfield winters is taken from the Beecher
and Scoville biography :
*^ You may think you know something about
winter, but if you never spent a winter on old
Litchfield Hill where I was brought up, you
do not know much about it. . . . What a
pother is made to ascertain the exact position
of the North Pole, the very center and navel of
cold ! Why, I could have pointed to the exact
spot sixty years ago. It was on the northwest
angle of my father's house. . . .
"The noise of winter winds to our young
ears was as terrible as the thunder of waves or
as the noise of battle. All night long the cold,
shelterless trees moaned. Their strong crying
penetrated our sleep and shaped our dreams.
The house creaked and strained, and at some
more furious gust shuddered and trembled all
over. Then the windows rattled, the cracks
and crevices whistled each its own distinctive
note, and the chimneys, like diapasons of an
organ, had their deep and hollow rumble."
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212 LltCHFiELD bOOR OF DAVS.
December 29.
1776. — Gershom Gibbs, the first white male
child born in Litchfield, died on board a British
prison-ship.
Dee^mb^r 30.
1760. — The town votes to build a new meet-
ing-house on the Green.
All the ojder houses of worship have long
since disappeared, yet there are some venera-
ble houses Qf prayer still left, and to pass them
by is to receive a benediction. The Wolcott
House is the mute but eloquent symbol of its
builders' trijst in God in the dark hours of the
Revolution ; while across the street is the resi-
dence of Tapping Reeve. The world recalls
him as the founder of the first law school in
America ; but Litchfield remembers him for his
loftiness of character, for his length of service
here, — more than fifty active years fruitful of
human good, for his devotion to God. He is
living still in this town for all who have eyes
to see and ears to hear. It is said of him, by
Lyman Beecher, that " he abounded in seasons
of prayer as a part of the work and labor of his
life. He gave himself to prayer. He prayed
habitually for the influence of the Holy Spirit
on the town to revive religion."
As we look upon these venerable houses and
think of what gives them their highest glory
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DECEMBER. 213
they commune with us and we with them ;
they talk familiarly to us of bygone days, but
there is no sadness in their tone. Out of their
experience of a century and more, they speak
to us a message for to-day and for the years to
come. Their voice has the calm assurance of
tears wiped away, of conflicts endured, of tri-
umphs achieved. They speak to us in the
same deep tone in which a Christian prophet
of our own times has spoken :
*' Grow old along with me !
The best is yet to be,
The last of life for which the first was made:
Our times are in his hand
Who saith, * A whole I planned.
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor
be afraid! ' "
December 31.
How little of the history of the heart can
ever be written, and if it v/ere, could ever be
reached by language ; and if it could, the world
itself could not contain the books which should
be written, and one generation would have no
more than time to read the history of another.
— Lyman Beecher.
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INDEX.
Adams, Mrs. Mary, 132.
Allen, Ethap, 16.
Andrews, Charles B., 182, 197
Asbury, Bp. Francis, 120.
B., Mr., 15, 40.
Bacon, Asa, 174.
Baldwin, Rev. Ashbel, 45.
Bantam, 32, 62, 177. 186.
Barnes. Hiram, 116.
Beebe, Col., 68, 178, 187.
Beecher, Cajtherine, 47, 136, 190.
Beecher, Charles, 50.
Beecher, Harriet, see Stowe.
Beecher, Mrs. Harriet Porter, 118, 188, 198.
Beecher, Henry Ward, a boy's appetite, 13, 166 ; tributes
to his motjier, 18, 139 ; school memories, 21, 147, 207 ;
on winter liights, 24 ; childhood, 29, 115, 156 sq.; meet-
ing house memories, 40, 163, 165; whippings, 41;
chores, 45 ; children, 46; bobolink, 78 ; North street,
84 ; stays away from school, 89 ; thunder storm, 91 ;
stone walf,'9i2 ; bojrs, 95 ; birthday and birthplace, 100 ;
fishing, XQi ; haying, 103 ; Judah Champion, 145 ;
Charles Smith, 192 ; winter, 211.
Beecher, Lyman, proverbial sayings, 13, 25, 27, 56, 72,
192, 213 ; library, 36 ; trial sermons, 39 ; family pray-
ers, 50; Six Sermons, 82, 160 sq.; on Byron, 104; on
Disestablishment, 162 ; Thanksgiving Day, 193 ; on
Reeve, 51, 202 sq., 212.
Beecher, Roxana, letters, 18, 115, 185 ; on tulip bulbs, 52 ;
characterized, 18, 139, 154 sq.; death of, 155.
Beecher, Thomas K., 32.
Beecher, William, 139.
Beers, Julia, in.
Beers, Seth P., m.
Belden, Mrs. H. B., 38.
Bluebird, The first, 43 sq.
Blizzard. See Winter.
X3« (215)
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2l6 INDEX.
Birge» John W., 15.
Bradley, Abraham, 38.
Bradley, William A., 121.
Brace, Charles Loring, 97, 98.
Brace, John P., log, 150.
Brpwn, John, 151, 187.
Buel, David, 70.
Buel, Henry W.. 60.
Buel, Deacon John, 14.
Buel. Mary, 181.
Burr, Aaron, 24 sq., 133.
Bushnell, Horace, 62 sq., 131 sq., 154, 208 sq.
Calhoun, John C, 146 sq.
Camp, Rev. J. E., 150.
Casino, no.
Catlin, Ann, 76.
Cedar Creek, Battle of, 168.
Champion, Judah, 80, 105, 108, 129, 145.
Church, Samuel, 19. 77, 130, 138.
Coit, Henry R., 174.
Cold Harbor, Battle of, 86.
Collier, James, 84.
Collier, Thomas, 124.
Collins, Amos M., 55.
Collins, Timothy, 129, 173.
Colvocoresses, G. P., 70.
Congregational Church, 116, 126, 161. See Meeting-
house.
County Jail, 83.
Cutler, George Y., 185, 195 sq , 206 sq.
Danbury Alarm, 68.
Dark Day, The, 79.
Davies, John, Jr., 90, 205.
Davies, Mary, 90, 181.
Deming, Clarence, 15, 40, 58, 81, 159, 196.
Deming, Julius, 23, 127.
Dickinson, Anna, 79.
Dress of the Revolution, 53
D wight, Timothy, 127.
Election Day, 57. 159.
Enguz'rer, QT, 123.
Execution Sermon, 180.
Fire of 1886, 91 ; of 1888, 128.
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IhfDEX. 217
Fire Department Building, 87.
Fort Washington, 178, 187.
Franklin, Gov. William, 76.
Garrettson, Rev. Freeborn, 99.
Gibbs, Gershom, 122, 212.
Goshen, Town of, 155.
Gould, James, rebukes a client, 26 ; as a scholar, 26 ; resi-
dence, 138 ; lecture room, 148 ; as a law writer, 1O9 ;
last appearance at the bar, 184.
Griswola, Eunice, 52*
Griswold, Jacob, 72 sq., 88, 181.
Harris, Joseph, 125.
Hickok, Rev. Laurens P., 116.
Hickox, G. A.. 31, 123, 142.
HoUister, G. H., career, 203 sq.; quoted, 49, 169 sq., 211.
Hoppin, J. M., 137 sq., 204.
Hubbard, Abby J., 87 sq., 132, 151.
Hubbard, John H., 119, 152.
Hubbard, Mary. 47, 191.
Hudson. Rev. Henry M., 103.
Hunt, Mary A., 76.
Huntington, Charles, 52.
Huntington, CoUis, 31.
Huntington, Rev. Dan, 166.
fee Storm. See Winter.
Indians, 42, 72, 74 sq., 125
Jacob, John, 180.
Jones, Hiel, 115.
Kenney, George, 88, 176.
Kirby, Edmund, 60.
Kirby, Ephraim, 38, 62.
Kilbourne, P. K., 121.
King George Statue, 113 sq.
L«aw School, 20. See Reeve and Gould.
Lewis, Luke, 72.
Lincoln, Teannie Gould, 22, 138,
Litchfield, described by Gibbs, 17 ; by Morris, 28 ; by
Dan Huntington, 166 ; by Harriet Porter Beecher, 198;
acquired, 42 ; original deeds, 69 ; settlement of, $8 ;
celebrations of 1826 and 1876, 109 ; during Revolution,
114; welcomes returning soldiers, 125; its old houses,
212. See Town Meeting.
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2l8 INDEX.
Litchfield County Centennial, 130 sq.
Litchfield Historical Society, 1:5.
Longevity, 132.
Lyon, Matthew, 89.
Mansfield, E. D., 53, 95, 104, 135, 148.
Marvin, Reynold, 38.
Masonic Lodge, 92.
Matthews, David, 130, 156.
March, Month of, 42.
Marsh, John, 42, 57.
Marsh, Rev. Truman, 182.
McLaughlin, Rev. D. D. T., 44, 84.
McLaughlin, E. T., 54 sq , 202.
McNeill, Edwin, 30.
Meeting-house, The first, 66 ; the Champion — Beecher,
40, 129, 164 sq., 168, 189. See Congregational Church.
Methodist Episcopal Church, 121 sq., 199 sq. See As-
bury and Garrettson.
Milton, 133, 134.
Monitor^ The, 82, 90, 124, 207.
Moore, ** Uncle Ben," 121 sq.
Morris, James, Jr., 21, 28, 73, 113.
Morse, Jacob, Sr., 121 sq.
Murray, Hezekiah, 81.
Naugatuck Railroad, 154,
Nineteenth Connecticut, 149, 151. See Second Connecti-
cut.
Norton, William, 57, 83.
North Street. 84.
Noyes, Mrs. W. C , 49, 149.
Osborn, Rebecca, 132.
Parks, 161.
Peck, John, 88.
Peck, John M., 177.
Peck, Paul, 68.
Peck, W. G., 167.
Perkins, J. Deming, 26, 31, 61, 87.
Perry, Bp. Wm. Stevens, 193.
Petersburg Entrenchments, 97.
Phelps, S. S., 76.
Pierce, Miss Sarah, her schoolgirls, 94 ; school, 95 ;
schoolhouse, 149 ; see 95, 150, 190.
Pierpont, Rev. John, incidents concerning, 58, 61, 131 ;
quoted 14, 108, 124, 131, 154.
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INDEX. 219
Pierpont, Judge John, 149.
Post-office, 24.
Ited Cross Auxiliarjr, 80.
Reeve, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, 46 sq., 155.
Reeve, Tapping, . fqunds Law School, 19 ; Loring and
Church's estimatds of, 19 ; letter to Aaron Burr, 25 ;
religious character, 51 ; absent-mindedness, 67 sq ; his
home, 116 sq.; chivalrous saving, 136; law reformer,
168 ; last conversation, 202 ; nis death, 203 ; influence,
212
Revivals, ti8.
Roman Catholic Church, 111-113.
Saltonstall, Thomas, 159.
Sanford, Mrs. A., 73.
Schools, 21, 147, 170 sq., 207 sq. See La\,r School and
Miss Pierre's School
Second Connecticut, The, 79.
Seymour, Edward W., 140-142.
Seymour, Henry, 84.
Seymour, Horatio, 85.
Seymour, Morris W.. 198.
Seymour, Moses, 143, 167.
Seymour, Origen Storrs, 32-35, 162, 198.
Seymour, Rev. Storrs O., 193, 204.
Seymour, Mrs. Storrs O. , 03.
Seymour, Thomas, 42.
Sheldon, Daniel, 172 sq.
Sheldon, Elisha, 137.
Shepaug Valley Railroad, 13, 30 sq
Shumway, A. B., 123.
Skinner, Richard, 84.
Skinner, Roger, 91.
Slavery, 191.
Smith, Charles, 192.
Smith, Reuben, 173.
Smith, Truman, 109.
Snow Storms. See Winter.
South Farms Society, 57.
South Street, 185.
Starr, F. Ratchford, Farm Experiences, 64, 69, 78, 126;
interview with " Uncle Bill," 175.
St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, 66, 18 j, 204,
Stages, 32, 88, 115 sq.
Stone, Alva, 107, 177.
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220 INDEX.
Stone, Dotha, 210.
Stone, Rev. Hiram, 186.
Stone, Leonard, 205.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, winter, 15 ; the open fireplace,
16 ; as a child, 29, 157, 188, 190; month of March, 42 ;
first bluebird, 43 ; family prayers, 51 ; spring, 58 ;
childhood home, 65 sq. ; birthday and love of Litch-
field, 92 ; on her biography, 93 ; early impressions of
Byron, 104; tributes to her mother, 139, 154 sq.; to
John P. Brace, 150 ; the meeting-house choir, 164 sq. ;
her first communion, 178 ; first essay, 190 ; early abhor-
rence of slavery, 191.
Strong, Jedidiah, 71.
Tallmadge, Benjamin, 49 sq. , 160.
Tallmadge, Frederick A., 140.
Taylor, Rev. Tames, 84.
Temperance Association, 70.
Tenure of Office, 184.
Thunder Storms, 90 sq.
Thompson, George, 188.
'iTown Meeting, spring election, 57; auction, 159; the
moderator, 163 • notable votes, 75, 78, 133, 167, 199,
208, 210, 212.
Tracy, Uriah, 135, 137 sq.
Vaill, T. F., war memories, 80, 87, 98, 152.
Vermont and Litchfield, 77.
Village Improvement Company, 66.
Wadsworth, Elijah, 186.
Washington, George, 79, 136 sq.
Wessells, H. W., 37.
Wessells, L. W., 123.
Winchester, Battle of, 152.
Winter, recalled by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 15 ; bliz-
zards, 33, 47 sq. ; ice storms, 37, 52 ; November snows,
185, 195 ; of 1779-80, 207 ; Mr. Barker's prediction, 211 ;
Henry Ward Beecher's reminiscence, 208.
Winter Walk, A, 54.
Witness, The, 127.
Wolcott, Frederick, 179, 183 sq.
Wolcott, Frederick H., 134.
Wolcott, Hannah, 135.
Wolcott, Joshua Huntington, 140.
Wolcott, Oliver, letters to Mrs. Wolcott, 13, 22, 29, 51, 61
sq., 86, 209 ; to Oliver Wolcot^. Jr., 16 ; signs Declara-
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INDEX. 221
tion, io8 ; services to his country, 109, 206 ; melts King
George statue. 113 sq.; emancipates '* Caesar," 191.
Wolcott, Mrs. Oliver, 23.
Wolcott, Oliver, Jr., engagement, 17 ; career, ibid,; boy-
hood home, ibid.; name, 40 ; elected governof , 58 sq. ;
residence, 60; on New England Sabbath, 128 sq. ; school
days, 170 sq ; loses lawsuit, 183.
Wolcott, Mrs. Oliver, Jr., 135.
Wolcott, Mariann, "An Unwilling Maid," 23, .39 ; her
father's concern for, 52 ; letters, 39, 110, 136.
Wolcott, Mary Ann, 135.
Wolcott Library, 140.
Woodruff, Clark, 137.
Woodruff, George C. (1805-85), 109, 114, 197 sq.
Woodruff, George C. (editor), 123.
Woodruff, George M., 66, 146, 161.
Woodruff, Lewis B., 96, 118 sq.
Woodruff, Morris, 145 sq.
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JAmART,
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FEBRU/IRT.
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n/IRCH.
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/IFRIL
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n/iT.
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JUNE.
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JULY.
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/IUQU5T.
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5EFTCnBER.
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OCTOPCR.
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NOYEflPCR.
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DECCnBCR.
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f^ mmm .^ jf
THIS popular resort having
been recently refitted, newly
furnished, and equipped with
an Otis Passenger Elevator is
homelike in all its appointments,
with cuisine of superior excellence;
easy of access from all points.
Altitude of nearly 1,200 feet is
not attained at any other moun-
tain resort within equal distance of
New York City, Open from
April to November. Illustrated
booklet sent on application.
eeorse R. Broione
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