The Press., 1886-03-18

 alarm the invasion upon the crop of she'll barks, and concluded they must gather their winter store of nuts earlier or else starve. A million crows held cmw-cus and resolved that they would drive the in- vaders away by pulling up every bit of corn they should plant, as that would starve the rascals out The scroech of the owl from one hilltop was answered by a hoot from another, and when the settlers attempted to ford stream frogs as big as a mans foot would pipe out in a bass voice that could be heard a mile--" Better go round, " "better go round, b" "better go round" Snakes of enormous length would glide across the trails, and partridges drum on every hollow log.
 Clement Toplif chose the south part. and built house near the Mansfield line, about four rods west of the house of the late William Brett, and Uncle Glenn was the father of all the tribe that bear the name of Toplif now living in the United States. Clement Toplif and Beulah, his wife, have slept for more than century in the south part of the old cemetery in Will lington, and the only written history we have of them is chfseled upon two moss covered grey stones that have stood senti- nels like the sphinx of Egypt over their resting place all these years. The num- Der of his family IS not known but the most of the descendants settled in Mans field and among the valleys as thou goest down to Coventry. . Cyrus Toplif built house which is now standing on the hill east of Daleville. He married Mercy Streeter of Monsons who was left an orphan and reared by two maiden ladies by the name of Burleigh who lived in the west part of the town. Large families were the fashion Tn those days, and their children numbered fifteen, nine of whom lived to grow up. Their names were Jerome, Stephen, Betsey, Ray mond, Persis, Sally, Abby, Sumner and Marcus. Samuel, the youngest, died at the age of sixteen of brain fever. Uncle Cyrus, as he was called, was n man of push and enterprise. He built a saw-miH and grist mill where the Daleville factory now stands, and a brandy y-still north of the school house. He planted an orchard west of his house, which in it's day was second to none Tn the town, aa some people now living can testify. A large maple grove north of the still furnished the sweets for the family, and surplus for the neiRhbors.
 His farm contained six hundred acres, and
 he had cattle, horses, sheep and goats in abundance. He hired great deal of help, and thus helped the poor to get living. | He pad more than any other man toward building the old Baptist church, and buy ing the old parsonage farm in Ashford. He gave land and paid largely towards build ing the school-house that ever after bore | his name. He was Q man of strict inieRris ty, whose word could always be relied upon.
 Here you will allow me to note few in- cidents which are as good as romance, and
 vet are stnctly true. People in those days were tiuctured with what we call superstition in some respects, and stood in mortal fear of contagious diseases. It happened that Mrs. Toplif and eleven chil- dren were down with measles, all at the
 same time, and the story went abroad that
 they had black measles. And, as the gen.
 eral supposition was that all who had black
 measles could not recover, their friends
 found it convenient to keep at a proper distance Neither Eliphas, Bildad nor II Znphar came near to comfort them. The
 situation of things was made known to
 Mr.. Brett, wife of William Brett, aud she
 said at once, 'I will go and do all can for
 them, and if die shall die in good cause n
 And without delay she took a change of raj
 ment and went afoot and alone to act the good Samaritan, and it is needless to say she
 found ample room fer her services. Two
 children broken out with meas es were play.
 ing in the brook south of the house, while
 while Mrs. Toplif and the other nine were sick to leave their beds. Uncle Cyrus had cared for them three days an three nights the best he could, but in the mean
 time the cupboard had become bare of edi. les, and when Mrs. Brett arrived he was try
 ing to mix a loaf of brown bread for his own , eating, but it was his first attempt in the cul- mary line and he was having poor success, aH the dough would stick to his hands and ad-
 here to the hairs of his wrists, which were
 very prolific Mrs. Brett remained with them
 two weeks, and under her motherly care they
 all recovered, and then the neighbors con-
 cluded they Lad only the common sort of
 measles after all Never heless, the kind,
 self-denying services of Mrs. Brett were never
 forgotten, and she was ever after looked upon
 as sort of patron saint of the family.
 in those days locks were not used upon the
 doors of dwellings, but the latch-string was. always out for the benefit of the wayfaring
 stranger or neighbors, and in warm weather
 outside doors were left open to admit the air
 through the night. Some women were af-
 flicted with nerves, and would hear strange
 noises of a night, either real or imaginary,
 and instances of the kind have been known
 even in later years.
 One night along in the small hours Aunt
 Mercy was sure she heard noise in the eel lar, and of course she awoke Uncle Cyrus,
 and, after considerable urging, he consented to go and investigate. When he reached the cellar door he found it wide open, and being convinced that there was something wrong he , stepped behind the door and waited events Presently there we heard steps upon the
 stars, soft and slow, and then a man stepped
 out upon the kitchen floor, bea ing a buahel basket two-thirds full of pork. He was halt ed by Uncle Cyrus, who took him by the arm and inquired what had sent him there at that
 unreasonable hour. He replied that his fam fly were near starving, that they had lived on potatoes and salt and johnny cakes for long time, and that was his first attempt to steal. Uncle Cyrus said, in reply; "You knew , that if you had told me the state of things would have given you all you needed, and ! now take along what you have got, and don't
 be caught in such scrape again, and when
 you are in want come and tell me-"
 { he man re uctantly took the spoil, but } begged that he would not tell of bis attempt , to steal. Uncle Cyrus said he should tell of , it, but would not give his name unless he was { caught stealing again and it is quite certain he never was, for to this day no one has ever known who the man was, Uncle Cyrus ex- , cepted. SIc Esr VITA. ) A west of Scotland clergyman was go- ing to the Highlands for hls holidays. and
 beilg very fond of the "Nabob Pickles, !"
 II he took bottle with him. The ''Nabob