“PROGRESS” IN VERMONT

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 14, 1881

“PROGRESS” IN VERMONT.

An Eastern paper having praised Vermont as exceptionally virtuous, a Vermonter replies as follows. If his description is correct, there is significance in his irony about the world growing better. In truth, the Puritanism of New England has largely disappeared:—

“Being a native of Vermont, and having always resided within the State, and for several years in its largest village, I think that I ought to be able to know something about the matter. Time was when the very name ‘Vermont’ suggested a lofty degree of morality, an uprightness of daily walk and conversation, and a strict conformity to the laws of the Bible that savored of ancient Puritanism; but how is it to-day? I would offer a few facts for the consideration of those who claim that the world is growing better.”

“First as to the curse of intemperance. We have a prohibitory law resembling that of Maine; but we have very few honest officials behind it to see that it is enforced properly. Secret gin-mills are continually in full blast, and drunkenness is on the increase among us. It is a common remark among travelers, that they pass over hundreds of miles in the State of New York, where a license law is in operation, without seeing one solitary intoxicated individual; but no sooner would they touch Vermont soil, than one or more appears as if by magic. This statement is, alas! too true. Our laws are in the hands of officials who condone with the rum-seller, make him disgorge a certain amount of his gains, and then allow him to pursue his nefarious traffic until another draft is deemed necessary. It will not do to destroy the goose that lays the golden egg. So much for Vermont justice.”

“Next, as to divorce. Thanks to popular indignation, Vermont has revised her laws somewhat in this direction, but much remains to be done. Until recently the State ran up a record that put Indiana and Illinois completely to shame. A few years ago sixteen divorces were granted at one term of the Rutland court, representing one county only! Nearly all of these were granted on account of “intolerable severity”—the flimsiest excuse and veriest humbug that was ever plead as a reason for the annulling of the marriage contract. So much for Vermont conjugal fidelity.”

“Vermonters have become notorious as a profane people. Our young men (and many old ones) can scarcely speak without an oath. This sin is daily on the increase, and shocking to say, we often hear such language from the lips of females. Hunting and fishing on the Sabbath, cock-fighting, etc., are getting to be common amusements with many, and the churches are neglected. Was it thus fifty years ago? I trow not.”

“From the statistics of a neighboring town, once the abode of the strictest morality, I am informed that less than one-sixth of the population are in the habit of attending church. And thus it goes through the whole catalogue of minor sins and offenses, and yet the world is ‘growing better.’”