VERMONT and the BULLIS FAMILY

Vermont became our fourteenth state on March 4, 1791, two years to the day after the Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York.

The Bullis family's connection to that great (and beautiful) state is through Charles Bullis, who was born in 1723 in Greenwich, Connecticut and later moved to Manchester, Vermont. He served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Gideon Brownson's Company, Warner Regiment, Vermont Militia. Charles' descendants came to Macedon from Vermont in 1837 and bought the property on Canandaigua Road in 1839. Sometime after that they started the collection that fills the Bullis Room today.

The Bullises were obviously interested in their home state, because there are two books on Vermont in the collection, both worth your time to look through. They are:

The Green Mountain boys; 
a historical tale of the early settlement of Vermont,

written by Daniel B. Thompson
and published in 189? by A. L. Burt of New York.

and

Ethan Allen and the Green-Mountain heroes of '76:

with a sketch of the early history of Vermont,

written by Henry W. De Puy 

and published in 1860 by Phinney, Blakeman & Mason, New York.

We'd like to show (show off?) these books to you. Hope you'll stop by the Bullis Room the next time you're in the library.

HOW TO MAKE A BOW AND ARROW

Bow hunting season is now in full force here in western New York, and when we recently read the following essay by "Charles R. Bullis, Second yr. English, September 25, 1906," we thought it an appropriate time to share with you the fifteen-year-old's idea of "How to make a Bow and Arrow."

"I am now about to describe the manufacture of the bow and arrow the weapon upon which the Indians and many other nations depend to procure the food supply and which played such an important part in the history of the English our ancestors, or rather to tell how they may bee constructed from local material and used as a pleasant out door sport.

"Yew and Lancewood are undoubtebly the best wood for bow but osage orange, white ash, hickory, apple tree and cedar all of which grow in this locality will make very good bows. The wood should be winter cut and well seasoned and the bow should be made from that part of the tree where the heart wood joins the sap wood. There were many kinds of bows used by different tribes some of horn, some of bone some of wood backed with sinew and some compound but I will tell how an effective bow might be made with a moderate expenditure of labor.

"The bow should be made of straight grained wood with a straight part in the middle while the ends should be shaved down evenly untill they are of the proper strength. The Indians used sinew for the bow string but braided linen will do just as well. The indians oiled their bows to protect them from moisture as well as to render them more elastic, a fact which may be used to advantage by people owning bows.

"The arrows may be made of well seasoned white pine, cedar, ash or hickory split out of straight grained pieces and planed round and smooth. The Indians used bone or siliceous stone to make the arrow heads but hoop iron is better or the arrows ends may be hardened in a fire. The arrows should have half of three wing feathers (all left or all right) fastened lengthwise at the back end of the arrow to make them go straight unless the head is extry heavy which would answer the same purpose. The notch in the back end of the arrow is called the nock and it may be easily made with a saw.

"When the glue dries that has been used in fastening the feathers there will be a good outfit from which much ammusement may be had shooting at sparrows and targets."

We don't know whether Charlie Bullis ever made his own bow and arrow, but his directions earned a "good" comment from his teacher (along with numerous spelling corrections). As readers, we also give him a "good" because we gained a greater appreciation for our ancestors skills and abilities to produce useful tools with native materials.

BULLIS CATS

Recently, we pulled from the shelf Walter Chandoha's Book of Kittens and Cats (New York: Bramhill, 1963). As we admired this visual account of feline friends, we remembered Charlie Bullis's written account of the cats in his family's life.

Mr. Bullis's essay is titled "A Biography of Snipy." Although it is undated, we conclude that he wrote it as a student since the first six pages each bear a list of words in the margins that appear to be spelling words. Here is the beginning of that essay:

"About as far back as I can remember we had no cat untill Papa brought a kitten from Uncle Steves. Nettie and I called her Papa Cat.

"After a while Papa Cat had three kittens. Nettie called one of them hers and I called one mine and mama claimed the other and named her Babins. Mama also called Nettie's cat Tomy. Tomy disappeared in about a year and my cat was kill by Cristy our cow. Papa Nettie and I went walking over the cow pasture to get strawberries and my pussy went with us. When we came to the well Papa watered the cows and my kittie rooled up against Cristys hind leg and Cristy stomped on my cat and hurt her so she died and that gave her the name of Cowkill but Babins lived a long, hard, useful life and did not die till about Sept. first 1903. Cowkill was the first cat I can remember."

Later on, Mr. Bullis wrote:

"...(Snipy) was Netties cat. One morning Snipy came in lame in the left hip we thought that Reeds dog had hurt him and that evening mama sat by the stand sewing and holding lame Snipy in her lap and Netty made a little paper book and made a picture of mama holding Snipy and sewing by the stand. Nettie keeps that little book choice now."

Cats have been a part of the human experience for ages. Mr. Chandoha's photos and text emphasize the importance of that relationship. Charlie Bullis's visual description of his mother holding an ailing Snipy while his sister sketched a picture of the two illustrates the degree to which that relationship can develop.

Please plan to stop by the Bullis Room and let us show you Kittens and Cats and "A Biography of Snipy." We're confident that you'll enjoy both.