quality in this outpost of New England people who had suddenly become their neighbors with which they were powerless to cope. There was a leaven at work which was altogether too lively for the CLOCK acted a snug bonus for his squatter rights, and took himself off. It was well to be rid of him at any price! "Though the Dutch had the advantage of earlier establishment, there was some narrow rim of Connecticut; and within a very few years after the settlement of Sharon in 1739 this element poured in a tidal wave over the borders, and the Dutchman of the Webutuck Valley awoke one day to find himself a Yankee-language and all! " 66 There is the record, all too familiar in New England annals, of trials and disasters in the first years of settlement. Very early there was the visitation of a mysterious "wasting sickness," or nervous fever," of which many died, and which nearly ruined the whole enterprise. But this band of hardy men and their families had come to "undergo the difficulties of settling a wilderness country,"-to use the phrase of one of their petitions to the colonial government - and they met all hardships bravely, and went forward to success. Doubtless in these early communities there was the full average of enjoyment and happiness, comparing them with vastly different conditions in modern times. Our vision of the old days in New England is apt to have a certain somber cast. If there seemed were lit by ever fresh expectation. Certainly a race of pessimists never subdued a country as New England was subdued. The day of flippant literature, at least, had not arrived; and probably an extreme in the opposite direction is the main thing which has contributed to deceive us - an unnatural solemnity being judged by them the only appropriate form for anything attaining to the dignity of print. Even formal documents, however, occasionally break through the stricture. For instance, CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BUILT IN 1813, AND RECTORY. to be a twilight overspreading the land, as Thoreau says, and an allusion to the sun shining, in some account of the time, he says, gave a certain sensation of surprise, this is doubtless owing, more than otherwise, to some obscure association which the remoteness of a scene brings to our minds. There is ample evidence, despite some plausible showing to the contrary, that those little communities of the early Puritan days took life with zest and enjoyment. There was with them an existence of strenuous and hopeful endeavor, which, of itself, brings it rich rewards. Their days. in the records of the first town meeting in Sharon, "To chuse town officers which Being Dune the Inhabitance being met on the 11th day of December, In ye year 1739," can we believe that no joke was intended when "Nathl Skinner Jun Was Chosen Leather Sealer?"; or that, when it was"farther voted that Swin haven aRing in their Noses shall be accounted an orderly Creater," it was soberly adjudged by the "inhabitance" that these bejeweled citizens were welcome attractions in the village, running at large? The first meeting house was a tempo 4000 discourses, besides some 1,500 on funeral and other occasions, which one of his admirers estimated he had delivered. The figures show a memorable achievment; but, when we reflect what a sermon was in those days, the vast aggregate is not without its appalling aspect. Sharon was conspicuous for its fervor of patriotism in the Revolution, and it had no citizen more ardent or more stalwart than Parson Smith. The tidings of Lexington reached Sharon just in time for him to announce them from the pulpit, which he did with joined the army, and, among other experiences, went through the horrors of the winter at Valley Forge. There is one tradition connected with his adventures, on which written history-doubtless from a proper sense of dignity-has hitherto kept silent. Maxam, it seems, was more noted for his patriotism and bravery than for his attractions of person. It is even hinted that he was the homliest man in the State of Connecticut-which is saying a great deal! Be that as it may, the forlorn physical condition to which he was reduced by stress of prolonged imprisonment and neglect was such, it is said, as greatly to heighten whatever impression his presence made to the eye of the observer; and the story is that his captors actually had him exhibited to crowds in England, as a specimen of the outlandish Yankees a race of Yahoos-they were trying to subdue. One memento of the Revolutionary struggle preserved in Sharon is the discharge of Hezekiah Goodwin, with the signature and seal of Washington, under date of June 7, 1783. after his faithful services through the whole war. It is kept by his grandson, Mr. George D. Goodwin, who now, at the age of 86, is one of the few left who furnish a link with the past of Sharon. It is a fact worth recording that it is only within two or three years that Mr. Goodwin has gained possession of this heirloom. It had been given up as part of the proof necessary to obtaining a pension for the veteran soldier; but, that granted, the discharge was stubbornly held on to in the archives at Washington. and now, after the lapse of the greater part of a century, it is at last in the hands of its rightful owner. Another interesting document in the possession of Mr. Goodwin is the Commission of Lieut. Col. David Burr, signed by Jonathan Trumbull in 1772. The stretch of country surrounding Sharon, within a radius of a few miles, embraces an unusual variety-between sylvan pastoral views, which recall Berket Foster's English Landscapes, and the 455 wildest mountain scenery. The township itself is a great rounded upland, with picturesque peaks and wide outlooks, descending steeply on the east to the wooded, rapid-flowing Housatonic, and on the west to the placid meadows of the Webutuck. In laying out the town there was found no site, even nearly central, for the village plot or borough. Tradition still METHODIST CHURCH. Built in 1835. points out the upland plateau which the settlers first selected. The situation finally chosen is upon the extreme western border; and the choice is fortunate, except for the inconvenience of the township housekeeping, so to speak, for the location has great attractions. To the northward,in the distance, are the Taghkanics; and three blue peaks, in a close 456 group to the eye, rise up from their three several states--Mount Riga, Mount Everett, or the Dome, and Bear Mountain. Ray Mountain is in the nearer view, and Indian Mountain, with a beautiful lake at the foot of its slopes upon each side. Silver Lake, or Mudge, if its not very euphonious, but historic name, must be given, is the only one of the four lakes in close vicinity to each other of which the aboriginal name is not preserved. Wequagnock, on the state border, is We may picture to ourselves the Sharon of early times, when this wide mountain upland lay in its primeval state, and so large is the area still covered by forests there are many portions which differ little from the time when the bear and deer roamed through them, and when the Indians were warring, hunting and fishing, and, at times, castigating their fetish idol (kept in charge of an old squaw) whenever it was believed to have brought them ill luck in their endeavors. SILVER LAKE. Indian Pond from time immemorial; but it was the Gnaden See of the old Moravians--their "Lake of Grace," for the good work they accomplished among the Indians here. Their famous mission was established in the wilds almost as early as the settlement of the town. A monument to them and their work adorns the shore of the lake. There are many beautiful lakes in this vicinity; but I doubt whether there is another, even in the state, which can rival the great variety of charm pertaining to Wequagnock. The same wide, long street remains that was laid out in 1739, but there is no little change in the aspect of the village since the day when it was voted that "Swin haven a Ring in their Noses shall be accounted an orderly Creater"-this shady avenue, with its handsome residences, and lawns, not left to the clipping of fourfooted residents. A few of the buildings date back within the first quarter-century; but there are elms which the settlers must have planted when they first came. Their great size we should believe indicated a |