As if to add a climax to the exultation of the government party, news
was received, during the evening, of the rout of the rebels under
Shays at Springfield, in their attack on the militia defending the
arsenal there, the last day of January.
Now it must be understood that not alone in Captain Stoddard's
Stockbridge company had gentlemen filled up the places of the
disaffected farmers in the ranks, but such was equally the case with
the companies which had come in from the other towns, the consequence
of which was that the present muster represented the wealth, the
culture, and aristocracy of all Berkshire. There are far more people
in Berkshire now than then; far more aggregate wealth, and far more
aggregate culture, but with the decay of the aristocratic form of
society which prevailed in the day of which I write, passed away the
elements of such a gathering as this, which stands unique in the
social history of Stockbridge. The families of the county gentry here
represented, though generally living at a day or two's journey apart,
were more intimate with each other than with the farmer folk, directly
surrounded by whom, they lived. They met now like members of one
family, the sense of unity heightened by the present necessity of
defending the interests of their order, sword in hand, against the
rabble.
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