THE i ■ A R M E R ' S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



May, 1842. 



setls, he was besieeed by iliem, niitl relieved by a 

 paity of the English (Voni Saybiook, some thirty 

 miles to the south wsst, who raised Ihe siege. — 

 This was a part ot" the consideration paid for llie 

 imrchase ol Norwich. 



Wo imdcrsKiofl Jmk'c Goddard that himself 

 and olhers purchased the Indian reservation 

 vvhicli inchidt'il nui only the Plains, hut the great 

 water power iii-iii- ihem where the factories were 

 erected. The nvf\- :a the tiills is compressed 

 within a snipiisiiij;ly narrow channel down 

 which the water rushes for a distance of about 

 twenty rods, at some points nearly perpemiiciilar : 

 an artificial channel cut with greet laboi- through 

 the rock, con\-eying the water to the n;ills, is as 

 great a curiosity as the natural channel itself 

 wliich is here made with no apparent reason 

 why the water should not as readily have broken 

 through at many other points as at this. There 

 is a ])erpendicular rock a short distance below 

 th(; falls of some seventy-five or a hundred feet 

 fall. The story is, that while in close pursuit, 

 having missed their place of crossing, u body of 

 hostile Indians, pursued by the Mohegans, run 

 oft' this rock, fell into the stream below and per- 

 ished. 



It was at the point of the grave of Uncas that 

 .Judge Goddard informed ns he addressed Gen. 

 Jackson when he visited Connecticut in 1833. 

 The scenery from the hills looking down upon 

 the plains and from the plains looking towards 

 the hills, is fine beyond description ; and the 

 views about the fulls looking in almost any di- 

 rection are uncommonly beautiful and pictur- 



Over these grounds, much of which discovered 

 tasteful as well as profitable cultivation, climbing 

 the fences, descending and ascending steep hanks, 

 was spent the afternoon of the 5th of April near- 

 ly until nightfall, stop|iing to rest a moment at 

 his house with a half-engagement to return at 

 tea. The Judge had two sons settled in his own 

 profession, the one twenty years ago in Ohio, and 

 the other recently at New York city — both of 

 tliPiTi eminent: a younger son, not so fortunate in 

 business, « ho had recently taken up his residence 



father's house with 



v'ife and 



interesting hoys, almost of a size, one of iheiii, 

 Calvin Goddard. had commenced fanner, and 

 was pmsning that as his business for a livelihood, 

 TIm! fimlly proper consisted of Judge Goddard 

 and daughter. The Judge was a representative 

 ill Congress from 1801 to 1805, ntul was contem- 

 porary with George B. Upham, Judge Tenney ol' 

 Exeter, Silas Betton of Salem, and Clifton Clag- 

 gett of this State. He was a native of Shrews 

 bury, Mass. and cousin to the late John Goddard 

 of Portsmoulh. He stood fast and unmovci 

 those federal doctrines opposed to Mr. Jett'er 

 from which doctrines he claims never to have 

 deviated. Practically, from what we saw and 

 heard about him, he is probably one of the most 

 liberal and tolerant of New England politicians: 

 his (laughter, who presided at the tea table, ob- 

 served of her father that she made her way well 

 with him at home, but abroad at a distance and 

 among strangers she always felt that he was 

 looked upon to be a monster in hmnan shape 

 We assured her that there were cases of persons 

 the opposite of her father in politics who had 

 been looked upon to be as great monsters as the 

 siift'est aiul most uncompromising n)Oinber of the 

 Hartford Ci.iivention. 



To show "what shadows we are and what 

 shaflows V. e [iinsin" it may be mentioned that 

 it/ three \mm;!;s (in e linn] our interesting visit the 

 veteran Jiul.'e and Polilieian was no longer mim- 

 bored with the living ! The account of his death 

 came to ns in the newspapers sometime about 

 the first of May: he died after an illness of oidy 

 three days. He said, in the arrangement of the 

 lecturers with the Lyceum, he had engaged to 

 ai'iomiuodiite at his own house Mr. Bnller, late 

 Attorney General of the U. S., because his fimily 

 was imi'niate with that of his son at New York; 

 and his friend Tracy had proposed to entertiiin 

 the lectmer from New Hampshire: he wished 

 and urL'ed oni- stay with him while we tarried at 

 NiM-\vieli, uliirli wns not conveinent. We found 

 linn verv .-inxions en tlie subject of the larifl' law 

 whieh u;:s lH.r,,r.. Con.;ress : hut as the dnv pre- 

 \i.nis the elenion lia.l swept the high tanfi'"part\ 

 ill Coniieelicnt into a minority. ;m' declined, as 

 we. always do in a company of strangers of op- 

 positf* polities, going into any snbjeet which 



gilt lead to clashing of opiinons. In the great- 

 experience and ol>seivationofa man approach- 

 : Icituscore years, we found sufBcient eiiter- 

 iinicnt to be a listener, and it coidd not enter 



our heart to dir'pute with a man of that age 

 amiable, so ingenuous, and who had been so 

 fortunate both as a politician and in enierpris- 

 whieli deserved a better fate. Judge Goddard 



(led upon us at our ludi;iii;;s the next day and 

 left a letter with tlie p.uiipldet speech cif Mr. 

 Smith of Indiana in ri'pU to Mr. Wriylit of New 

 Vork in the Senate of ilie L'aited States, .March 

 :!, ^S^'i. As we had not found lime to read Mr. 

 Wright's speech U|ion onr own side, which was 

 ^aid to be strong and conclusive, as arc all the 

 speeches of that <listinguished Senator, so we 

 had not read the very long speech of Mr. Sitiith, 

 nor had we opened "the letter of Judge Goddard 

 until we read the notice of his death ! This was 

 one of the last, if not the very last letter written by 

 a man who has been conspicuous in his own State 

 as a jurist anil a politician, who was, as we be- 

 lieve, eminently an lionest man, and who believed 

 himself to be a patriot: — we hope we shall not 

 trespass on the delicate feelings of his friends 

 either in making that letter or the circumstances 

 which we have related public. 



JVorwkIt, April C>, 1842. 



Hon. I Hill, — Dear Sir; An accidental meet- 

 ing uith you yesterday on the steps of the Court- 

 house, I being in the leisure of old age, and you 

 waiting, to succeed a lecturer who had told us 

 hnw the Earth was made, and you to tell us liow 

 the secondary formation should be cultivated, 

 gave me the opportunity of a long walk to show 

 you the beauties — rustic beauties of Norwich — 

 Indiiui graves, and all; and onr progress to the 

 JaUs of the Yanlic. carried us directly by large 

 mannfucturing e.^tablishments standing, and 1 

 coulil not but point you to the remains, what 

 tire had left, of one, where, without the aid of 

 culinary fire, I had consitmed the fruits of a long 

 professional life. This occasioned you to speak ol 

 what 1 rejoiced to hear, the good dividends whieh 

 you bad received at the tiills of Amoskeag.*— 

 All this would iiuturally lead us, on our return lo 

 my old doinicil, while si])ping a cup of black tea, 

 (ill olden lime, as I believe, y'clept bohea,) to speak 

 of Wi'i' trade, maiiiit'acture.s, protection, &c., &c.; 

 and to think of the rca.sons why (if tho fact he 

 so,; liiy tea, whieh I may he too poor to buy, 

 slionhi have its jirice increased, to protect your 

 maimfjictures at .\moskeag, which afford such 

 dividends as to enable yon to drink •'gun-jmioder 

 tea" if you choose, and indulge yom* taste for 

 horiieultine anil agriculture, by adorning y 

 ..irdens and fields ill the Granite State! 



Finding this might lead to political di.scussion, 

 in which for many years I have been " hors du 

 combat," and supposing that I must Im ronsidcr 

 ed as heterodox on other points also. I wished to 

 avoid, especially at a time when this political 

 "whirlwind" had just swejn over this land of 

 ■'steady habits," 1 contented myself with some 

 expression of surprise, that the Grtmitfi State, 

 alone in the Yankee coimtry, should assume a 

 hostile attitude in relalinn to the protection and 

 advancement of her great capital, skill and in- 

 dustry. 



1 believe also I ventured a prediction, from the 

 signs of the limes, that a levoliilion was about to 

 occur in the sentimenls of many ponticiiins on 

 that subject — not so much perhaps lo enable you 

 to sell cotton goods for more, or me to pay more 

 for "bohea tea" (never, perha|)s, worth much 

 hilt to begin, or accelerate a revolution,) but to 

 leach foreign nations tli.it free trade — really so— 

 must be reeiproiMl, ami to te.-ich them, without 



hie contest, whieh should do each other the most 

 harm." 



.All this is a long preface to a short request, 

 that you would amuse your leisure hcnns here, 

 hy reading the speech "of ftlr. Sinitli which ac- 

 eninpanies this — a man, it seems, whom neither 

 ol' ns know, and therefore can read without pre- 



- The impression i,f our conversation til;,-?, iVr,-;, .1:,,' ,, 



iidice, but who lives south of Mason and Di.xon'd 

 ine, although he does not conceal his party pre- 

 judices, and which I may tolerate better than 

 you, yet I think he understands the subject, and 

 is lucid in his explanations of it. Seriously, how- 

 ever, 1 am free lo admit tli.it at limes I have 

 doubted whi-tlier the prosperity of manufactures 

 ill this land of the Puril.ius woiild be for good or 

 evil, anil whether onr yomii: men bad noi better 

 learn of you to cultivate this sterile soil, and our 



ning-wheels; yet, a vish to Lnw.'ll Inst ye.Mr, and 

 reading the " Lowell Offering," and recollection 

 of my neighbor Rockwell's hasty rides from his 

 attendance in our Legislature at New Haven, ev- 

 ery Saturday, to attend upon his Sabbath School 

 to instruct factory children, as well in human 

 learning as in the great truths of the Christian re- 

 ligion, iiad in some measure dissipated fears, 

 which I also admit have been somewhat revived 

 by reading later "Lester's Glory and Shame of 

 England." 



But my mind has come to the conclusion, tlint, 

 whether for good or evil, the manufacturing in- 

 terest had obtained such a fast hold at the North, 

 that they must be suiiported and i- ade to support, 

 in their turn, the steady habits of New-England, 

 and keep our population where they must work, 

 for the good, as I hope, of both body and soul. 



Excuse this hasty efl'usioii, and believe it to 

 be intended to amuse if not to do good ; and be- 

 lieve me, with sentiments of respect, 

 Your obedient servant, 



CALVIN GODUARD. 



A portion of the next day (April 6,) was spent 

 at Norwich in a ride three miles out to the an- 

 cienl site of the town, where stands the old court 

 iKUise aiiil other public birihlinga laeinntfe com- 

 mon. Here stand the larue honses which were 

 the residence of the Hiniliiigtons of tin; revolu- 

 tion, one of \\ lioni still remains: around them 

 are fields which have been cultivated and con- 

 tinued their lertilily for more than a century and 

 a half. In this, and other towns of Connecticut, 

 have long resided the families of independent 

 farmers on n grand scale ; and whether it be in 

 the character of the people or in the nature and 

 constitution of the soil, with comparative case 

 wealth has been gained sufficient to furnish the 

 ready means of education and for the fitting off 

 the rising generations thtit have swarmed for the 

 peopling of newer States, there again to be on 

 the lead to which the Yankee character aspires. 



On the way to the ancient town we passed tho 

 hon."!c, still standing, which was the birth place 

 of Benedict .Arnold, as we did the day after tha 

 momiinent at Groton, which tells of his barbarity 

 and cruelty to the men of his own country after 

 he had sold himself lo the enemy. 



The ground abmit Norwich Landing is like 

 much of that rocky, hard land that is so frequent 

 near the sea, requiring id'uost incredible labor 

 and perseverance to clear it and make, it produc- 

 tive. A bridge passes the Yantic stream very 

 near the wharves of the landing below. But a 

 short distance, less than half a mile from the 

 landing, the ijremises of a man who had dug 

 wealth out of this hard soil were pointed out to 

 us. He came upon it poor, and v-as able lo pur- 

 chase at first but a small spot: he cotild scarcely 

 read or vvrite. He improved and brought into 

 high cultivation all the land he first owned: ho 

 bought other lots and added to it. The contrast 

 between the lands he had cleared and ihe lauds 

 lying uncleared along siile, was such that one 

 would hardly believe they ever were alike. Here 

 on the Gih April tho early vegetation had already 

 made its ap|iearance above ground, upon a rich 

 soil dug out of the rocks and hard pun. — 

 The old gemleman made while he lived no other 

 show than the improvement of his groimd : he 

 was constant in market with the articles for sale 

 which his land produced. To the aslonishment 

 of every bodv, he died with cash property on 

 hand to the amount of $.50,000. Some half u 

 dozen of his children, male and female, find room 

 enough for all on his premises: some of them 

 are said to go helbre their fiither, and before their 

 neiiihbors, in tlie production of crops upon lliid 

 land. Of all the houses of lliis liunily— and one 

 or two cottage houses were erecting the present 

 spring — none are more than one story in iieight: 

 the barns are much more conspicuous than the 

 houses. The fences are substantial stone walks 



