Morning journal and courier., 1881-11-19
Price Four Cents.


 "V's." The variegated makings of animals is an interesting object for observation. We
 had Maltese kitten whose bosom had a 1 white stripe which answered for a rufde l shirt front, and each of whose paws for one | and a half inches was white. He answered
 to the name Stocking Feet'' We took the
 animal to good home, to the noted animal fancier, Joseph Elley, who has his cobbler's | stall and free museum at27 Grown near State
 street. The law which governs these mark | ings on animals will in all probability ever main unrevealed. Still they to the observ- | ing eye enhance the interest to be derived | from the animal world and so give pleasure, l which we presume was the thought when
 these earthly foundations were laid.
 l OLD TIME TRAINING DAYS ON NEW HAVEN GREEN.
 But to get back to Mir. Hicks. 'sWhen I
 was boy some seventy years ago." said he, | training days were great times on the Green. l There used to be lines of booths and tables
 extending from the pump up to Court street, 1 where rum. oysters, pies and cakes were sold, | and gambling by the roulette table was in full l blast. The peddlers and gamblers were large 1 ly negroes. Negro women sold rum and | negro men ran the gambling business, using
 what was known as the wheel of fortune' I l remember one strapping negro who ran a 1 wheel and when he won any money tossed it l into his yawning mouth for safe keeping. An enormous cavity 1t was, opening like an alh- gators with lips hideous and projecting. One evening just at dusk, by which time many usually had become drunk, this negro got l into fight, when his opponent struck him
 tremendous blow on the chops. This burst
 hls bank, for at once that black vault opened 1 and out spurted handful of sixpences and l fourpence half pennies, which went scatter | Ing over into the grass. The next morning I | got up at the first twinkling of dawn and | went over to the Green on a search for the | lost money. l had been there but little while when l was joined by another an en- l terprising boy on the same errand, and lit- l tie later by still another. We were all sue l cessful. My findings amounted to S1.62 a big sum for that day to a boy, mostly old l Spanish coin Dimes and half dimes were l then unknown
 | CHURCH HISTORY.
 l 'In my boy days" continued Mir. Hicks,
 Ion the Green were two meeting houses. One, known as the brick meeting house, stood near the site of the Center church. l That fronted northerly. The other stood on 1 the site of the North church. It was termed
 the White Haven meeting house. That l fronted southerly. At that time on the site l of St. Johns block stood a third meeting
 house termed the ''Old Blue" Eventually the congregations of these two last named l joined as one and formed the present North l church, which then, as now, bore the title | of the United society. The Episcopal church,
 Trinity, was built during the war of 1872 1 15 At that period the British fleet under Commodore Hardy was blockading that of ! Decatur in New London. A committee from | Trinity waited upon the British commodore I under flag of truce to get permission to l pass vessels through his fleet from Maine
 loaded with lumber for the construction of ] the new church. It was granted and with
 the remark that he did not make war upon l churches and upon women.'
 COMMODORE HARDY AND THE SKIPPER. | Vessel after vessel loaded with lumber l passed through the blockading fleet bound 1 for New Haven, each being provided with a l certificate from the Trinity committee to l show to the commodore that the lumber was for the church in New Haven. Under cover of these certificates immense quantities of | lumber were brought here and some of our | lumber merchants filled their yards. Toward 1 the close of the business down east lumber
 man on being stopped brought his vessel
 alongside and on going aboard handed his | certificate to the commodore for examina- l tion. The latter read it and on handing it
 back to the skipper gruffiy ejaculated, l 'Humph, you can go through; but from the
 amount of lumber used I must say that town l of New Haven is the - place for build | ing churches I ever heard of "
 | LEAP OF TONY MoNToALM. As in our time the Center church is the l building in which the cammencaphent exer- l cises of Yale are held, so at the beginning of | this century was the old brick meeting house ! then standing on it's site. 'I was a witness l one commencement Qay, SdlQ MT. HICKS, to | panic there which might have been serious. | As it turned out, it was noted for ludicrous ] incident. The meeting house was crowded 1 when from the weight cracking sound was heard. It was thought the structure was
 about to fall, when the people in their con- l sternation largely rushed for the doors. At
 this juncture up in window sat Tony Mont
 calm, wild, rollicking boy. Casting his eye | down for safe place upon which to alight, | he espied directly beneath a negro peddler with his table of goodies spread before h1m.
 His back was to the meeting house and he l was in the act of bending over waiting upon | a customer. To see was but to decide, and | the next moment all there was of Tony Mont | calm was cleaving the air. Striking the other l fairly in the bend of his back Tony broke his | fall. Over went the negro, table, goodies 1 and all. This was much to the consternation l of the assembled crowd around, to be suc-
 ceeded by roars of laughter, when it was dis l covered no one was especially harmed while | Tony disappeared from the scene ran across l the Green as fast as his legs could carry him. | He soon after went to sea and was heard of 1 no more."
 CHEAP LIVING IN OLD TIMES. In 1924, then young man of 23, Mir. Hicks l was carrying on the blacksmith business in | Cheshire, then quite an important little town, | though now largely "gone to grass {" where 1 the solitary man may find ample leisure ln l which to ruminate and chew the cud of ! sweet ana DlCCer 1ancl0S AS Ill l1u5trd- l tion of the cheap living of the times, Mir. l Hicks his journeyman and prentice board | ed at Widow Beach's tavern for $4.50 per | week for all three. The best cuts of beef were then to be had for cents per pound, or by the quarter from to cents l butter at 12 cents per pound potatoes for | 25 cents bushel; flour $5 per barrel, and | good hand-sewed boots for $3 per pair. LITTLE PASTORAL DIFFICULTY. l Their minister was the Rev. Roger Hitch l cock. They offered him $500 as salary. He did not like this and refused their offer. It was more than he thought he was worth So l they compromised the difficulty by settling him at $4O0 per annum, whereupon some Cheshire poet thus burst out in rhyme: t'Five hundred dollars the They offered him, all as one;
 But he refused to take but A.
 Twas enough; he'd take no more. May not astonished stand
 And say the millennium is al hand" His people to assuage the difficulty then went it strong on donations. In early win ter on one occasion, when the snow was on the ground they assembled in the woods, cut down two large trees, constructed from them an immense sled ,and then cut and piled upon it twenty eight cords of wood. Then by the united strength of twenty or thirty oxen they dragged it to the woodward The next day. they assembled, chopped, split and piled it in good place, and had it all done between sun and sun.
 SOMETHING BEYOND BOB NGERsoLL's s JOKES. The affection of those old time country people for their pastors, usuall settled as they were for life was something beautiful to be- hold. Those were the calm quiet days when people believed it all and were happier and purer for their beliefs. Society was not di- vided into castes as it seems to be dividing now, and no American born but what would
 have scorned to have worn the livery of a
 menial. Hurry, nerve, racking care, almost childless families, the belief in nothing but the love of gold and love of the pomp and vain glory of the world are the more strongly pronounced features of our later days. Thess black spots stthat will not out'' are beyond the remedy of even one of Bob Ingersolls best jokes: too sad.
 | LIQUID CONCLUSION.
 As we concluded our twenty minutes chat with the ctogenarian-much can be said in twenty minutes, sometimes too much-he elevated his chin and looked up with pecu- s.-1~s k.G T.