Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-11-17
AS YOU LIKE IT.
stray Leaves From a Reporter's !

Book A
 THs silliest item that finds its way into a newspaper office is the one that comes from a man stating that it was not he who was before the police court on a certain dats.s It seems to be a dead give away on the writer. for it is hint to the public that he is in the habit of imbibing little too freely once and while and fears that his friends who know this might think he happened to take an overdose of the stuff and got "scooped iu." In town where there are so many people of the same name anS horde of transiants coming in every day it would seem that it would not be necessary for man to take notice of some- body bearing the same name being before the police court. If the name of the street he lives in and the number of his house happened to be prefixed there might be some ground for the explanation. but when there is nothing but the name it Is pretty good proof that the man that calls attention to 1t has reason to believe that his shopmates and friends have not a very good opinion of him. Don't let these trifles bother you. When you get there the people who know you will locate you all right. If a man of the same name happens to be a little more unfortunate than you are the public won't charge up his misdeeds to your account. If you are an upright citizen it Is not necessary tn make apologies or explanations through the press, and if you are not the publica- tion of the fact that you were not the man of that name who appeared in the police court" will only call public atten- tion to your weak side.
 THE number of boys seen on the streets during school hours shows that truancy among the school children is on the in- crease. Almost any day one can find groups of boys between the ages of 10 and | 12 years running around the center with no apparent thought that there IS any such place in town as a public school. For this | neglect among the children there must be blame resting on some people. Yesterday afternoon Officer Noonan hailed half a dozen gamins on Bank street and asked | why they were not Rt school. A chubby little fellow about ten years old looked al the officer and said: Il wouldn't be lei into the school. sir" "Why ?" demanded the officer. My brother has the scarlet fever" he answered and 1 was told tc stay home until he gets better" "And why don't you stay at home. then" asked the officer. if there is danger to th' school children on your account becaus, your brother has the scarlet fever 1t ism safe to have you around town. Begon,
 
 to go to school. and if catch you up towr again during school hours I'll put you il the lookup" The reporters attention hai repeatedly been called to this matter sine, the commencement of the school term anC it is the opinion ot those who take an in
 terest in educational matters that it woulG
 be good idea for Chief Egan to instruc
 the officers to arrest all boys whom the,
 find lettering around town. It would b.
 a good way of finding out why all thos
 children are not at school and if they ar
 home on account of sickness in their fam
 lilies it would seem but just to the publi
 that they should not be allowed to roan
 the streets.
 WAIERBrRY came near losing three O
 its most useful citizens last night in th
 persons of Chairman Wolff of the distriC
 committee, Architect A. J Smith and Con
 tractor Patrick Thompson. Mir ThomI
 son has a night gang at work making exca
 vation for the cellar for the addition |
 the Washington school About 10 o'cloc . last night Chairman Wolff and ArchiteC
 Smith made a trip to the scene of opsra tions and got there in time to secure tn full benefit of frightful stench whic
 arose from the carcass of some dead an 1 maj which the workmen unearthed seyeri
 
 meated the whole place with an ode which almost knocked the workmen sens'
 less and the architect and Chairma | wolff beat a nasty retreat. MT Thompso
 was slightly overcome from the dose. bJ stood his ground and assisted in cleanin
 out the cesspool. He shudders when tall
 ing of it to-day. "rhe smell was ba | enough" he said. ''but when a basketfl r I of bullfrogs, each one big as n goo f sized dog jumped out and stared at us g was enough to scare any man and 1 WI 9 not surprised to see Wolff and Smith tal = to their heels" The men are likely q ind almost anything at this place. AboJ !. twenty years ago COW walked into th - swamp where the men are now digging an g sank over her head m the morass. - Thompson says he does not think wh V was discovered last night could have bee Y a COW for there were no signs ot any horn l. around the place. The contractor says '- expects to find a good foundation for Il r building after a short time.
 n good many people wonder where q . the umbrella men come from when {. shower occurs. This morning before Il n rain commenced there was not one r sight and in less than five minutes after e started there were one or two in evel street in the center. What those men ( = and where they keep themselves durir e the fine weather are questions which I IT one seems to know anything about. Tn Il rain brings them out like mushrooms in ' pasture lot, and when it ceases they di Ii appear as quickly and as mysteriously l- they came.