This wonderful early fall weather has me enjoying every minute - windows open in the house and even the car - enjoying the cooler air. Today is a little sticky, but since I've been reading, wanting to finish Kathleen Monroe's wonderful little book, "Legends of Barnet, Vermont," I have been content to let the breeze blow through the house and remember that this is the last of our summer, so enjoy it!

Today I was reading her chapter about the boys' camp on Harvey's Lake in the WWI era. It was run by a couple of German descent professors and was advertised for concentrating on training in language, swimming, athletics, etc. - not unusual for a summer camp for boys at that time - except that it was a time when anyone German was suspect. It's an interesting tale and reminded me of when I was growing up on Cabot Plain.

Most of our neighbors in the 1930s and 40s when I was growing up were "just plain Yankee Vermonters" or that's what I thought. The Stone family went back generations as did the Barnett, Foster, Walbridge and Rogers - all Cabot families from way back. The Gambles had come from Ireland, as did John McCormick, but John's wife was French Canadian. Beyond the McCormick farm was the Harrington farm, where Harris and Marguerite Harrington lived with daughters Alice, Clara and Loris. I was in school with Clara and Loris - Loris was about my age and both Clara and Loris were particularly good students. Sadly, during WWII, a rumor circulated that Harris was of German descent and I remember all the things that we youngsters, all elementary school kids, were hearing about secret radio transmissions, visits to the Harrington home by strange vehicles carrying suspicious-looking men, imagined signal lights - much of the same as was being said about the operators of the boys' camp decades earlier. 

I relayed to my parents what was being said among my schoolmates, and I remember my father and mother telling me not to believe any of it - that it was just gossip. I hadn't thought about any of that until I was reading Kathleen's story about the boys' camp, so I took a few minutes this afternoon and searched the Harrington family. It is very easy to find out about people today, but back in the 1940s, things were much more private.

Turns out Harris was born in Derby, Vermont and Marguerite in Black Hawk, Iowa. They were married in Iowa in 1915 and their daughter, Alice was born in Washington, D.C. The other two girls were born in Vermont. However I did find out that Marguerite's parents were both born in Germany - so there was the connection that made them suspect. I'm sorry for the distress it must have caused Clara and Loris to have their schoolmates whispering about them - I'm sure they were confronted more than once by accusations and mean remarks. Clara went on to become a school teacher and taught in West Danville. She married while here in Danville, had a family and although I found more information, none of it is important except that she died in 2002 - in Iowa. 

It is often said that history repeats itself, and this is a pretty fair example. The more things change, the more they stay the same - except it seems we have extremes of everything these days, and that's troubling.