Why Rhode Island Has Two Capitals.
By Editor
WE received, recently, a very pleasant call from a little miss, a scholar of public school No. 3, carrying a note from Miss Armstrong, teacher. She was likewise the bearer of a huge letter, on which was the coat-of-arms of the State of Rhode Island, directed to "Miss Iola M. Tator, Hudson, N. Y." A few days since, Iola's teacher wrote on the blackboard for her scholars the question, "Why has Rhode Island two capitals?" leaving the class to find out. Iola, without consulting her teacher or school-mates, wrote to the governor of Rhode Island, and received in answer the following letter:— STATE OF RHODE ISLAND,
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
PROVIDENCE, Feb. 5, 1885.
"MISS IOLA M. TATOR, Hudson, N. Y.: I have received your letter asking me why Rhode Island has two capitals. If I can be of any assistance to you in your lessons, I will gladly write you the reason. In the very early history of this State there were two States or Colonies comprising what is now Rhode Island. The island of Rhode Island was one, and the other was Providence Plantation. After a while both were united into one colony under the name of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and that is still the full proper name of the State, though it is commonly, for convenience, called Rhode Island. In the colonial times, and also down to within a comparatively few years, the State Legislature used to meet at several towns in the State,—Providence, Newport, Bristol, Kingston, and East Greenwich,—probably because the people of the various sections thought the Legislature ought to favor them as much as Providence and Newport. But for the past thirty years the Legislature has met only at Newport and Providence, thus perpetuating the remembrance of the time when they were two Governments. The Legislature meets at Newport the last Tuesday in May, and remains there generally only a few days. Then it adjourns to meet in Providence in January, where nearly all the business of the State is transacted. If I have not written so you can understand the reason, let me know and I will write you again. Very truly yours,
"AUGUSTUS O. BOURN." —Hudson, N. Y., Register.