THE THT BUNKEK PAPERS. 105 



writers of stories generally say goodbye to their heroes. 

 I did not think then, that I should have anything special 

 to say so soon, but this is a fast age of the world, and any 

 writer who keeps up with the times will not have a chance 

 for his ink to get dry in his quill. 



Mrs. Bunker and I were sent for last week, to come 

 down to Shadtown and make a visit, not thinking at all 

 what honors awaited us. Shadtown lies on the river, a 

 few miles from here, and is one of those homely names that 

 stick to a place forever. They have a good many such 

 names up here in Connecticut, and the folks, or at least a 

 part of them, seem to glory in them, as if they were the 

 right things in the right place. They were suggested by 

 the character of the country, or by some incident in their 

 early history, and the necessity of a change has never 

 been felt. Break-neck Hill took its name from its danger 

 ous character, and from the fact that a man was once 

 thrown from his wagon, and killed there. Hard-Scrabble 

 is a very poor, rough region, and both men and animals 

 have to scrabble to get a living. Bean Hill was so called 

 from the fact that that esculent grew in great perfection 

 in the vicinity, and was greatly delighted in by the inhab 

 itants. It was the invariable Sunday morning breakfast, 

 the year round, and to professors even, was a reliable in 

 dication of the day. Tradition relates that the Deacon 

 was once sadly misled by the failure of his usual dish, the 

 bean bag having been exhausted unexpectedly. He had 

 already ground his scythe, and would have gone to mow 

 ing but for the timely remonstrance of his good wife. 

 This may have been a scandal, but the bean-eating is still 

 kept up by the people, in all its early vigor. 



They undertook to alter the name of the place some 

 years ago, and call it Myrtleville, but they could not make 

 it go. The old inhabitants said that &quot;beans grew there, 

 and myrtles did not ; and they could not see the use of 

 putting a name to a place that did not belong to it.&quot; Bean 

 5* 



