Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-13
The Excursion Season.

Another Large New Haven Party En-
 toying a Day i'm the Country.
 The Free Lecture Association and Ethical
 Union of this city had a combined excursion
 and picnic yesterday atsHigh Rock Grove on
 the Naugatuck railroad. The American band
 marched down to the Derby depot at s:3o a.
 m., playing the Second Regiment March.
 composed by D. W. Reeves of Providence.
 There were about 300 or 400 in the excursion
 party, two-thirds of whom were children.
 Frank Hermance's careful and Yigilant over
 sight of the whole affair made every parent
 feel as secure in the safety of his or her
 children as if they were at home. Encomi-
 uns of the grove were constantly heard. It
 is level parallelogram, bounded laterally by
 the Naugatuck railroad and the river of the same name The grounds are provided with
 paviions, refreshment houses, boats and
 every convenience necessary to make
 day seem but an hour. The
 f'Glen" is a deep ravine adjacent
 to the grove and skirted for its entire
 length by railed walk, with rustic seats for
 the tired tourists at short distances. The
 scenery in the gorge is alone worth the visit,
 and its nearness to our city is bound in 8
 short while to make it the place for real pie
 nics where pleasure and not money is the
 object sought after. Yesterdays affair
 was @ picnic in it's strictest sense, prear-
 ranged programme serving guide to all.
 The exercises opened with singing and rec1ta-
 tions by the children of the Sunday school of
 the Ethical Union.
 In'response to the query by Mir. Hermance
 as to what they had learned, Simon Good
 hart, Jennie Flentze, Lottie Flentze, Amy
 Butler and Jennie Corper of Purity No. l,
 and Phoebe Hayes and Martha Corper of Fi-
 delity No. ?, arose and briefly summarized their requirements in ethics. Miss Amy But
 Ter acquitted herself creditably in recitation, and then the party scattered some to danc- ing others to rambling and the greater part to the banks of the river to witness the
 aauatic strife between Henry Chamberlain, John SutcIif, Fred. Fenouillet and David
 Barry. The contestants showed an utter contempt for the modern idea of sliding seats, paper shells, semi -nudeness in apparel, high feathering, using the legs or back, or throwing the head far back but in everyday attire, with old fashioned, country flat-bot- toned tubs they appeared at the start, and at the word ''go'' they were not followed by trains of cars or loaded steamboats, nor did they break any oar-lock.
 These fashionable attendants of all first class races did not disturb them and soon the muddy water of the swollen Naugatuck splashed in the air, and cheers, waving ban. dannas and the plaudits of quickly-joined palms caused the valley to re-echo the mirth- fulness of the occasion. Without entering into the details of the number of strokes to the minute nor the positions of the various scullers at the different buoys, suffice it to say that Ohey came in as follows: Chamber lain, Fenouillet, Sutclif, Barry.
 As none of them took claret and eggs before the race, no doctors were needed after it. Dancing and lunching now ensued till D. when Mir. Hermance rapped for order and called on MT. Whiting, the president of the Free Lecture Association, to preside over the l literary exercises, which consisted of origina poems by Mrs. l.. F. Johnson on Mode Women and Model Men, and one by Mrs l Ella Bacon on ''Sunset Hour, or Where ii Heaven,' and speeches by the Rev. Messrs I Amies, Lyon of Bridgeport, Houghton ot l New Haven, Kleeberg of the Court street syn | agogue, Mrs. Dr. Anna Middlebrook o, l Bridgeport, and Rev. MI. Houghton of Mid | dletown. Th9ethical chart of the Union wa explained by Jacob Goodhart.
 The pavilion was finally appropriated by MT. Henry Ball, his diamond and the chil ! dren, when feats of legerdemain that would have puzzled an expert were performed fo 1 the edifcation of the rising generation, and l if their prattle and applause was any crite | rion, greatly to their satisfaction. At half | past the party started homeward, and in al | hour Meadow street was thronged with l crowd unanimous in agreeing that no nor agreeable day had been spent away iron ' home