Litchfield enquirer., 1876-07-06
A PLEASANT AFFAIR.
PICNIC TO AN OLD MASON AT WASHING
 eA -r TON, CONN,
WAsH1NoroS. Conn. June 26.

propriate day for 8 Masonic celebration. The picnic was given by the Masonic Fra tefnifY 6f this place and adjoining towns, tOEetheflwith citizens. in honor of Dr. Remus Fowler, an old Mason and long time resident and practicing physician of this place. now ,in his eighty-fourth year. The, place chosen was the door-yard of the venerable Doctor, and there gathered a large. .concourse of people representing the Masons and citizens of this place and Roxhury-B Bethiehem,v New-M Milford. New Pfestop, Morris and. Litchfeld. There was an abundant supply of all things needfnl for good cheer. and a collection whieh.whieh was taken up for a present to the venerable Doctor realized the hand some sun of $40 Professor Frederiek Gunn, of the 'sGnnnery," read in his in- imitable manner, ,a sermon of Mark Twain's s on Grave Yards, and after the repast, G. H. Hollister, Esq, delivered the fol. lowing interesting address which gives very many particulars pertinent to the oc- casion and it's object:-
 ADDRESS OF MIR. HoLL1sTER.
 No one. conid< more readily respond to this call than0I do, or more heartily ac- cord with the sentiment that has inspired yon to come, together on this occasion. AS I vas born here, so if could choose for myself would like to die amid the hills and Valleys that lent the first and most abiding charm to that delusive dream which we mertals, forgetful of our betterrstase, call life. r. ~-..~-Er'-.-
 Anelder brother of the venerable man who sits before me was present when l was ushered upon the stage of earthly ex- istence. My earliest recollections are of my mother and what she told me of Dr. Warren Fowler, his faithfulness and ten. derness as "a professional adviser and friend while She was yet young. When l wasya child be passed, away. l remember theitolling of the funeral bell and the sad ness that settled like pail over this con- munity. Gould the loss ever be made up to us? The God of Justice is full of mercy and loving kindness; and so the question that we asked ourselves was answered for us. The younger brother came to our homes and made good the promises of the elder. He came not in the thin disguise of the broad profession al man, boosting, -swaggering, talking Latin. iargon, smiling with his teeth and not with his eyes, and fobbing the hard earned money of the farmer and village folk; he came not in the patronizing guise of cooked hat and knee-buckles, gracious ly permitting us to be born or to die as 1t pleased God, and grimly acquiescing in either alternative of a 'holy dispensation !" but after the example of his Master, he took little cttidren in his arms and blessed them, and wept oyer the grave of Lazarus
 I call to mind the many drives he gave me in my early youth, when he was going to visit the sick; drlves to Bethlehem, to Roxbury, to Church Hill, to South Farms and to New Preston. was just begin ming to read then, the ''Mask of Comus," " and as we wound in and out among the little glens and precipices that still de- light me and traced the brooks up to the cool springs, where they were born; as I saw him entering and leaving the houses scattered along the way, l somehow asso- ciated him with Milton's Shepherd mlnd- ing his "wattled cotes, " keeping off the fox from the lamb, and the wolf from the mothef-sheep and at the same time he seemed q sort of innocent Comus, bewitch- ing every body with his home-spnn phi losophy, locking up in the spell of his magic drugs the old and the young who needed no diSenchantnents to set them free, save such as he himself administered. Had there been robbers in the woods the hardest of them would never have thought of attacking that benevolent look ing driver or of stealing his venerable horse and not too easy going vehicle.
 For who would rob hermit of his weeds
 His few books or his beads or maple dish.
 Or do his gray hairs any yiolenoe2" ~e .'e
 Dr. Fowler followed his profession with out the hope of reward because he loved it as he did virtue for the good it did his own heart and the hearts of others. He presented a2iLts but seldom bSlls and work ed his passage for his board and clothes, satisfying his hunger from door to door as best he could with the mince pies and doughnuts which he used to tell us child ren ''we mustn't eat because they were so plagueY bad for the stomach" He led the life of an unpaid home missionary whose chief immunity was an exemption from cannibalism.. He is associated with us who were then boys in other ways. He attended the debating clubs and helped us to discuss grave. questions about the relative merits of aristocracy and democ- racy, poverty and riches (aiways taking the side of poverty), matrimony and celi- bacy and sometimes gave us lecture on hygiene. He attended the weekly prayer meeting and monthly concerts too, and helped to sing the hymns and listened while that white haired patriarch Deacon Daniel B. Brinsmade (whom no child ever saw without loving) read sermon or 6 sacred poem, and he bowed his head while the reRered twin deacons, Preston Sherman and Sherman Preston Hollister, in their simple way invoked the blessing of God. We saw him at town meetings, Fourth of July celebrations and general trainings; and if he could get chance to give boy an apple that somebody else had given him, he made himself as happy as he did the boy. His dot of a house was always open to us. He loved to show us bowl of bread and milk under his big maple tree. In all these ways vt came to know and honor Dr. Remus Fow. Ter, and. to consider him as 8 part of the scenery of Washington that never m oul eyes grows old ~
 AS the Ancient and Honorable Order O Free and Accepted Masons is in the habi of celebrating the birth of St. John, tn, Baptist, who. in holy writ is metaphori ically represented not as person, but ''a the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the herald of an august coming, and ad ministration that was to bring peace ol earth, and good will toward men; the 24tl of June, the birthday of our Saint seems fit time for us to meet and do honor tt our good father and brother, who all hi life long, foreetful of his marked, person ality has been content to remain in these peacefui shades, the voice and echo of the charities promulgated by. the great teach CT and emancipator of the world.
 Brother Fowler, we Masons, neighbor. and lovers, meet you to bless you, and dt you homage. . If we could pay you back !, tithe of what you have so tenderly lent tt us and to ours, we know. it would be les grateful to your feelings than this simpl Out-gusaing of our remembrance. Ina you may long stay with us to shed upol us the twilight of . good and happy day is the prayer of your many friends Bridgeport Standard.
 A west side man who saw a load of coa at house and arranged to go over ant borrow part of it after the other man wa, in bed. got around that night and fonnt