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Archiver > VERMONT > 1999-05 > 0927612480


From: "Jackie M. Botala" <>
Subject: [VERMONT-L] more old papers...
Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 23:08:00 -0700


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Horse Tales

Mr. Daniels of New Haven was telling a neighbor of his
experiences. "You know, Jim, I once raced ahead of the
Green Mountian Flyer from Middlebury to New Haven. Kept
right beside her along the track. My God man! I jumped
culvertseighty feet wide!"
Said the neighbor, "Don't doubt it a damn bit. A man will
jump awful when he's scared."

(told by the late H.C.Peck of New Haven to Don Sears)

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One of Noble Sanford's horses got loose Friday evening
and ran from Middlebury to Vergennes ahead of the 10
o'clock train making the trip in one hour and forty minutes.
The train crew kept sounding the whistle, but he kept on run-
ning.
On the high bridge at Brooksville the horse followed the
narrow plank walk on the outside of the rails. He slipped
and fell once but was up and off again in a moment. At
Vergennes, the horse was caught, taken to a livery and
cared for.

(From the Bristol Herald News, March 18, 1920,
contributed by Lois Sargent)
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My mother tells of a young man who was quite a gay
young blade. He had a mare which he raced, although
his mother was much against such sports and considered
it a sin.
She would scold at him and lecture but as he started off
one day, she was heard to call after him, "Don't let them
beat you, Em."

(Contributed by Ethelyn Mullen)
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Surveyer Safford

The town of Cambridge was charttered on Aug. 13, 1781,
the original grant being for 24,000 acres. Later when parts
of Sterling and Fletcher were added to Cambridge, and the
acreage increased to 33,000 acres, a man name of Safford
arrived in town and set himself up as surveyer.
The early lot lines had been more or less established by
guesswork. As more and more settlers came to town, it
became necessary to establish definate lines for each
farmer's land.
Safford was the logical man for the job. He saw an
excellent opportunity to better himself in the process. He
would measure a mans land and take extra measure plus
enough more to make ten acres which he claimed for himself.
These were registered in the town records as Safford Pitches.
Today, as a descendant of Safford owns these odd
pieces of land which are scattered all over the town and
are impossible for the present owner to work in connection
with his own farm.
An agreeable arangement has been worked out by
Safford's descendant and his neighbors. They work the
land which adjoins theirs and from which the pitch probably
originally came and they pay Safford rent for this use.

(Submitted by Evelyn Irish)

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