stables and saddles from the shops, the party rode away northward in small groups and escaped into Canada with $208,000. An alarm had been given before the raiders left. The citizens began to gather and some shots were fired. One American was wounded mortally and one raider severely. To guard against further incursions a company of infantry home guards was organized at St. Albans, and two companies of cavalry were raised in the northern part of the State, which constituted the first regiment of frontier cavalry.

OLD STATE HOUSE ON WEST STREET IN RUTLAND. THE STATE LEGISLA

TURE MET HERE IN 1784, '86, '92, '94, '96, '97 AND 1804.

CHAPTER IX.

CHANGES. EDUCATION.

1. Population.-The population of the State in 1360 was 315,098; in 1870, 330,551; in 1880, 332,296, and in 1890, 332,422. The population diminished in the ten years from 1850 to 1860, in 137 towns; from 1860 to 1870, in 145 towns; from 1870 to 1880, in 137 towns, and from 1880 to 1890, in 185 towns.

2. Representation.-One of the results to Vermont of the census of 1850 was the reduction of the number of her representatives in Congress to three. This number was retained for thirty years, since which the State has had but two representatives in Congress. The congressional districts of the present day correspond very nearly with those of 1791.

3. The County.-We have seen that the county took on a new character with the introduction of the senate in 1836. A further development of that character occurred in 1850, upon an amendment of the State constitution, requiring the election of the chief county officers to be made by the freemen of the county. This change was effected by the adoption of amendments fourteen to twenty, inclusive. Another step in the same direction was taken soon after by the legislative enactments in respect to the sale of intoxicating liquors and requiring the election of county commissioners. By reason of a still later enactment, that of 1872, authorizing the county judges. to order the assessment of an annual tax, the county has been endowed with another function, and is now a self-taxing body.

4. Changes in the Constitution.-In 1870 the constitution of the State was so amended as to provide for biennial sessions of the legislature in place of annual sessions, and for biennial instead of annual terms of office for State and county officers. In 188083, a further amendment of the constitution was made, adding the secretary of State and the auditor of accounts to the list of officers to be chosen by the freemen of the State.

By legislative enactments of 1880, women are empowered to vote in school districts and in town meetings for school officers, and to hold school offices and the office of town clerk.

The legislative provision (1824) for the choice of presidential electors by the freemen; and the constitutional amendments, requiring the election of county officers (1850) by the freemen; and increasing the number of State officers (1883) to be chosen by the freemen, are worthy of notice for their extension of the direct power of the people.

5. Industrial Changes.-Some important industrial changes have taken place during the last fifty years. The introduction of agricultural machinery has led to a very general substitution of horses for oxen in farm work. The shortening of the time of harvest, particularly of the haying season, gives time for much work in the fall that was formerly done in the spring, and brings the seeding time to close at an earlier period. The feeding of western grain and the use of artificial fertilizers are new departures in agriculture, and the introduction of cheese factories and creameries is still more recent.

The local manufacture of boots and shoes has nearly ceased, and men's and boys' clothing is mostly brought from the cities ready-made.

6. The City and the Country.-The influence. of the city upon the country has greatly increased since the introduction of railroads. The chief summer resorts have become such within the era of rapid travel. Manchester and Newport and Stowe and a score of other places owe their celebrity to the easy communication between the city and the country. The telegraph and the telephone bring important. news quickly to every hamlet, and the afternoon mail brings the morning daily paper from the city to almost every town in the State.

7. Religious Activity.-Some changes in the modes of religious activity are evident and are significant of new conceptions on the part of Christian people. It is sufficient here to notice the general omission of an afternoon preaching service in the churches; the greater prominence of the Sunday school; the great number of young people's religious societies, many of them including several denominations, and the structure of the modern church edifice. Once a single audience room, with a small entrance hall, was all that was required for a church building; now, in addition to these, a lecture room, parlor and kitchen are possessed or sought for by nearly every church in the State.

8. The State and Education.-A State board of education was created in 1856, with authority to appoint a secretary, who should devote his whole time to the promotion of education in the State. The first secretary, J. S. Adams, Esq., of Burlington, served eleven years with great ability and enthusiasm. By his lectures, teachers' institutes and reports he aroused the people to new efforts in behalf of their schools. Till 1864 a portion of the expense of the schools might be, and in many districts was, laid on the scholars attending the schools. Since that time the common