740 



VEEMONT. 



VERPLANCK, GULIAN C. 



Articles of consolidation of the Bennington 

 and Eutland and Lebanon Springs Railroad 

 Company were filed in the office of the Secre- 

 tary of State in New York, on the 23d of April. 

 The consolidation is perfected under a special 

 act of the Vermont Legislature, and an act of 

 New York, passed May 20, 1869. The new 

 corporation is to be called the Harlem Exten- 

 sion Company, and the road extends from 

 Chatham Four Corners, N. Y., to Rutland, 

 Vt. The capital stock is fixed at $400,000. 

 The question has been agitated, among the 

 people of Addison County and the managers 

 of the Rutland road, of a new line in rivalry of 

 fhe Burlington and Central, which will stretch 

 from "Whiting or Salisbury, across Addison 

 County and Lake Champlain, making, in con- 

 nection with the Plattsburg and Montreal Rail- 

 road, a through route to Ogdensburg. A bill 

 was passed by the Legislature to incorporate 

 the Walloomsac Company, formerly known as 

 the Burden Railroad Company. 



A great obstacle to the progress of public 

 schools is the general want of qualified teach- 

 ers, in consequence of the smalmess of salaries. 

 The returns of the schools for the year show 

 that the average cost for teachers and current 

 expenses has been only $151.36. The school 

 year is also represented as too short, the 

 longest time being for thirty-six weeks in the 

 year in one county, while in most it only 

 reaches seventeen weeks. Some measures have 

 already been taken to supply these defects, 

 but they have not hitherto proved successful. 

 A training-school for teachers is also desired, 

 or, in other words, such Normal Schools as are 

 found in other States. Nowhere else is an 

 attempt made to sustain a Normal School on 

 an appropriation less than $5,000, but Ver- 

 mont, until 1870, granted only $500, and only 

 to aid scholars who sign a declaration of their 

 poverty. This all are reluctant to give, and 

 only 200 out of the 800 who have entered the 

 three Normal Schools were willing to accept 

 State aid under such circumstances. These 

 three Normal Schools, however, have been very 

 beneficial and are gaining in public estimation 

 and in the number of pupils. By an act of the 

 last Legislature, $1,000 was appropriated to 

 each. It is thought that one Normal School, 

 liberally supported, would meet all the wants 

 of the State for years. The number of scholars 

 at the public schools during the year was 

 72,950. The registers show that 79 schools 

 have less than five children each; 549 schools 

 have from five to ten each ; 653 schools have 

 from ten to twenty-five each. In 2,750 schools 

 no less than 4,239 different teachers were em- 

 ployed during the year. 



Neither the farmers nor the Legislature has 

 furnished help to the Agricultural College, 

 which has been incorporated with the Univer- 

 sity of Vermont, the charter having been so 

 modified as to give the Legislature the choice 

 of one-half the trustees. In order to enlarge 

 the means of illustration, and to increase the 



corps of professors, the trustees resolved, three 

 years ago, to raise at least $80,000 by sub- 

 scription. This sum has been at last subscribed, 

 and a portion has provided improved facilities 

 for instruction in the agricultural and scientific 

 department. 



Quite a number of Woman Suffrage Con- 

 ventions were held during the year, at which 

 the principal advocates of the movement of- 

 ficiated; when the proposal was made in the 

 Legislature to give woman the ballot, there 

 was not a speech made for or against it, and 

 the vote on its adoption stood 1 to 231. Their 

 petition to the Constitutional Convention was 

 also crowded out of consideration by pressure 

 of other business. 



Considerable excitement was created for a 

 few days during the latter part of May, by a 

 fresh Fenian movement upon the Vermont 

 border. The Fenian army of 500 men were 

 marshalled and armed at Fairfield, whence 

 they marched into Canada. They were fired 

 upon by the Canadian militia very near the 

 line, and after a slight engagement fell back 

 demoralized into Vermont, and the invasion 

 of Canada from this State was ended. The 

 United States Government arrested the officers 

 for a breach of neutrality laws, and quiet was 

 restored. 



Many of the streams of Vermont were once 

 filled with salmon, and a recent effort has 

 been made to restock them with this fish. 



The State-prison at Windsor has 94 convicts, 

 89 males and five females. Twelve of these 

 entered since June 1st on sentences from nine 

 months to ten years. 



The following^is the Federal census of Ver- 

 mont for the years 1860 and 1870 : 



VERPLANCK, GDLIAN CEOMMELIN, LL. D., 

 an American scholar, author, jurist and states- 

 man, born in New York City, August 6, 1786 ; 

 died there, March 18, 1870. On his father's 

 side he was descended from the Verplancks 

 and the Crommelins, both eminent Dutch 

 families, and the former among. the early colo- 

 nists of New Netherlands. His mother was 

 daughter of the second and grand-daughter of 

 the first President of Columbia College, both 

 eminent divines. Mr. Verplanck was from his 

 earliest childhood passionately devoted to 

 study, and, through the teachings of his grand- 

 father Johnson, and his grandmother Ver- 



