The Newtown bee., 1878-10-31
RECoLLECTIoss OF OLD KEWr0WN.
Wboo'er has traynlcd lifc's dull round, Nherecr his stages may have barn May sigh 10 think he still has fouud
 Tine wArmtSt WNlcnme at an inn"

Where'er his stages iuay have been,
 May sigh 10 think he still has 1ouud
 The warn.st welcome at an inn"
 How to keep hotcl half 8 century ago WAS not as much of a problem as it has since become, for there was 50 little com petition then that the traveIer was net put to his wits end to decide at which t0 stop; but with the introduction of rail- roads these things have changed. Here In the main street at that period there were two plain inns only, or taVcrns, as they were then more commonly called, viz: Czar Kvelcr's and Caleb BaIiNin's. The former was situatcd just north of tha present residence of the Misses Glover, aud the latter ia the sano building noI owned and occupied by MT, Charles Beardsley. Both of them were well kept, and at prices so low as to appear ridicu- lous when compared with those of the present day. Afterwards others were opened, one by Tom Seeley," a favorite shoemaker, on the premises now occupied by Hr. AIorehou9e, and anotior by Doe tor Darwin Shepard in the old Perry naE- 5ion he being succeeded by MT. Barnun, from whose hands it passoI into those of its present proprietor, MT. William J. Dick, who has from time to time greatly enlarged and improved it, making it ili
 act, by the liberaIity with which its table j4 always supplied, one of the most com fortable and popular of all the country hotels to be found in tine State
 Mir. Keeler was a jolly, genial man, whose ringing laugh could be sometimes heard as far ID t!:c street US "Uncle BlIys;" and there was an honest hearti- ness about it, too, that made it po5itiysl ! catching. In this peculiarly he has lad hardly a rival, except in one gentleman, at present living mile CT so north of the Centre but very we'll known, and de- 1 $ervedly popular in it. Keeler's was some | lines called the ''Stagc House." for all the stage coaches stopped there, and on 1 that account, if on no other, 1t enjoyed l the largest custom Of any of it's competi. tors, The public room contained the 1 postoffce-that Is, a small upright fixture 1 with a few pigeOn-holes fer letters and newspapers and here was the rendezvous o1 winters evening for all the poli- 'ioians and male gossfps of the village A blazing fire vas always kept up, and around it's spacious hearth gathered friend and foe; nor did they all disperse from this cheerful room until long after the ringing of the nine o'clock bell of the olL 1 Episcopal church which was then the
 u tom and the recognized signal foi l the closing of the stores as well as foi he general retirement of all within hear. 1 ing Of it. Keelers was also the head. quarters for all the public shows that year after year visited the town, incIud. | ing circuses, menageries and wax-worE 1 monstrosities, which in these times would be taken for escaped cenvieta from the chamber of horrors" of Madame Tas- sands famous wax-work exhibition in | London. Here also the festive balls were given. for which there was suitable room on the secend floor, overlooking the residence of the late Deacon Beers on 'the south. This excellent man and eapa. ble landlord lived to the ripe old age oi ninety and upwards, and only three ol four years ago his remains were brought here from a neighboring town and de rosited in the old cemetery below the vii. lage, to which 50 many of his friends and associates for generations. I might say, had preceded him.
 Mir Caleb Baidwin's house was the pat tern of neatHess. and was 30 entirely uli- 1 pretentious that t had scarcely a sign swung out to denote its business. Still i vas there Hat the best broiIed chicken or sirloin steak could be had in all Fair field county. Uncle Gale, as he was faniil { iarly called. would swear. little wher provoked. and So would his son Henry until he became a strong Methodist. Bui when the ald geftleman's tax bill ex. eeeaed the figure which he thought right, there vas hardly any limit to his wrath. He was. as is well known. for naasay years i Town Clerk. n office which he filled with alility. and one which has not had Iriors efficient incumbent unsA t foil into the