Morning journal and courier., 1890-05-01
AN OLD CURIOSITY SHOP.
Hundreds of Relies of the Good old Days Gone Forever.
 vV~fn

Hundreds of Relies of the Good old
 Days Gone Forever.
 Waterbury American.l
 Many who have asked of what earthly use the very unornamental old Kingsbury house on West Main street could be may have their questioned answered. If 1t is specially adapted for anything 1t is for veritable "Old Curiosity Shop" Even the appropri. ateness would be as appreciable, no doubt, were the location ether than one of the choicest and most conspicuous in the city. But curiosity shop it is to be, and an ex- cellent one, too.
 probably as fine an opportunity as any man in the country to collect relics and quaint curiosities of all kinds. As an auctioneer he has sold out the household gods of many an ancient family in the very parts of New Eng land where those gods took the most peculiar and ingenious forms. As man who has travelled extensively about these rural sec tions, ho has gained an entrse to houses where the present preprietors always insist. s'We haven't anything worth looking at," but where the connoisseur quickly detects treas- ures equal to those of the "Indes." A natural taste for such treasures on Mir. Bolster's part combined with @ lamentable absence of it on the part of the inheritors of the same, or per- hsps with need of ready cash, has resulted, after many years of devotion and discrimi- nation, in bringing together a collection of antiquities that has few If any equals in the country outside of the big museums. MT. Bolster has taken great pleasure in showing his collection to his friends until it has com- pletely outgrown the accommodations of his house, and now he has decided to put it where everybody can see it at @ nominal price to cover the expense. Waterbury Is noted for its number of people interested in such matters, as the dwellers in every coun- try house in three surrounding counties can testify. Old low boys and old high boys, high and crooked back chairs, hundred-year- old andirons and even tall posted bedsteads, are now the "propsr thing,"' and are wor; shipped with devotion much more profound than are the finest samples of the modern manufacturers skill.
 MT. Bolster has a splendid field to begin
 with. The house is one of the oldest in town.
 Getting over the rickety door sill, the first
 room on the right is being fitted up as a library. All the chairs and tables are of an-
 cient pattern, quaintly carved. At one side is Franklin stove. In the center is large mahogany table covered with venerable books while hundreds of similar volumes arc arranged on shelves. Among the books are Narrative of the Indian Wars of New Eng land," published by John Trumbull of Norwich; full set of almanacs from 1776 down to date; T. Collins' Litch- field almanac of 179l; the "Evangeli-
 cal Primer" and the "New England Primer;" at the installation of the Rev. Alexander Gillet in Simsbury in 1795 (Mr. Gillet was well known in this section); the laws of the English colony of Connecticut, 1750; A1is- totle's (English) book on astrology and medi. cine, 1775, and some 700 others. About the room are mirrors that have reflected the wrinkles and face powders of half dozen generations, warming pans of every kind, and varied bric-a- brac. Back of this room is the kitchen with its enormous fireplace,
 fitted ont once again with everything that
 maoe glad the cold and hungry heart of the
 husbandmen in the days of General Wash ington, everything, even to dozen varieties of broilers, frying pans, tOasting forks and ovens. Old cupboards in the corners, grand
 ma's chaire, spinning wheels to suit every
 taste, hetchels ditto, cradle, towering
 clock. high boy and mirrors, string of
 "yarbs" and dried fruit over the fireplace, nothing wanting. Many of the articles, iu- cluding hand basket for winnowing and 8 drying basket for fruit, go back beyond the memory of living men.
 In the room to the left of the main hall. way is an arsenal, the possession of which by Uncle Sam would have ended the revolution before it began. There is boarding cutIass taken from Commodore McDonough's house
 in Middletown, French, English and Ameri- can swords, cutlasses, revolvers, bowie knives and all things that shoot or stab. There are about ten different varieties of fintlocks, guns and pistols. There ia Gsr- man and also an American breech-loadipg
 musket for the old paper cartridge fired with n fnc IOh
 ern shooting iron that weighs about thirty pounds, carbines of ancient pattern, two or three guns of moro modern date but fully as ! unique; gun cane Every rare and ex ceedingly dangerous on occasion)
 "pepper box" where the hammer goes 1 round; hammerless gun of remarkable pat tern; Revolutionary medicine chest; flint
 lock powder tester of brass, very peculiar in design; sword dug up near Fort Griswold an Arabian fint-look gun with horn and bone trimmings; saddle bags; an old time militia uniform; hats and equipments of the historic "food wood militia; Qhe hats are | beavers with big tin signs on the front of them; and three varieties of hats worn by Tompkins' stirring old band.
 h one corner is . collection of many kinds | of now almost extinct csndlesticks, snuffers and trays; crockery to make a connoisseur'e heart jump; fluid lamps of each stage of the progress of civilization; a fine pewter layout
 powder horn of the time of one of the
 King Henrys; the only pair of pewter but
 ton molds in this part of the country; silver
 spectacles with the glasses set iu horn
 very old; piece of a bed curtain that came
 over in tho May Flower when she
 George medallion pewter spoon; watches without number and pattern, one | of them e Swiss watch made of brass and with most beautifully enameled portrait; 6 wooden brace; . satin wedding bonnet that covered never 90 profuse Q blush-scores oi things that cannot even be enumerated. One l particularly astonishing relic is wooden
 musical instrumsnt called ''serpsnt," ap. | propriate for tho days when everyone drank rum. Straightened out 1t would measure 91S | feet. Another musical instrument is banjo that belonged to G. Swain Buckley, a pionee, | minstrel. Then there are . samp mortar | numerous churns, Q hammered copper coffee kettle, the six. foot hinges of the old custom 1 house at Derby, @ pewter cuspidor, tape | loom, bellows, gum overshoes and bottles | @ stone shaped like . huge bowie knife
 found on R. K. Browns farm. the top of tn, first stove that ever came to Waterbury, ant | goodness only knows what. Many of the ar l ticles came from old houses we'll known il l this vicinity. Not the least interesting is thu l collection of old umbrellas with fascinating handles. Among them is one of some kint | of figured cloth old enough to drop to pieces
 taken from the old Thomas Seymour house il | Hartford.
 Upstairs the bedrooms are provided witt | the most wonderful bedsteads and chambe | furniture.
 It requires much time to get all thes
 things in order, but MT. Bolster hopes t
 be able to hang out his latch string in weel | or two.
 AREAL ESTATE CASE.
 | James w. Dorsey Charged With Vi0
 lasing Contract With Charles H | Webb-He ls Released.