RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



houses of the Dutch type are built usually under the lee 

 of a protecting hill which afforded opportunity for the 

 basement rooms much affected by the Dutch. 



The close of the first century in the history of the 

 county was celebrated in 1851 by a centennial at the 

 county seat. Among the many notable addresses was 

 the classic discourse, "The Age of Homespun," by the 

 great divine Horace Bushnell, who, although his fame 

 had taken him to other realms, was himself a son of 

 the county. So clearly does this discourse set forth the 

 spirit of the age, as represented in the first century of 

 our history, that I venture to quote briefly: "Given the 

 fact that a people spin their own dress, and you have in 

 that fact a whole volume of characteristics. The dis- 

 tinction will show them to be a people not in trade, 

 whose life centers in the family, home bred in their 

 manners, primitive and simple in their character, in- 

 flexible in their piety. If the clothing is to be manu- 

 factured in the house, then flax will be grown in the 

 plowed land, sheep will be raised in the pasture, and the 

 measure of the flax ground and the number of the flock 

 will correspond with the measure of the home market, 

 the number of sons and daughters to be clothed, so that 

 the agriculture out of doors will map the family in- 

 doors." 



In other words, this was an age when agriculture was 

 a self-supporting industry. The wants of the family 



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