Waterbury Democrat., 1900-10-27
3 AS YOU LIKE IT
Some Stray Leaves From a Reporters
 Note Book.


 books nor the poor man his pigs. For him who, does everything ill its proper time one day is worth three. The truths which we least wish to hear are those which it is most to our ad- vantage to know. Attend to your farms and mulberry trees, that you may have sufficient food and clothing. Let every man sweep the snow from before his own doors and not trouble himself about the frost on his neigh bors tiles. When the sword is rusty, the plough bright, the prisons empty. the granaries full, the steps of the temple worn down and those of the law courts grass grown, when doctors go afoot, the bakers on horseback. and the men of letters drive in their own carriages, then the empire is well gov erned.
 Yesterday afternoon a man strolled over to where the men were putting the finishing touches on the asphalt paving on West Main street. There was a big crowd about the place at the time. but no one seemed to be taking much notice of what was going on, for the reason that most of them had been tired working at the job dur ing the week and were there just to
 NH Iliilc- I iit' W OINlilcIl were Iuli- ming the flat irons over the surface of the new street when this particular sightsecr came along and he appeared to be very much amused at the char acter of the work the men were ell gagged at After looking on for a mo- ment or two he exclaimed. Great Scott, What are we coming to any way. Paying men for ironing the streetsr' No one said anything and after a brief pause the gentleman walked off in hurry. which prompted some joker to remark that he was go ing to have an injunction issued rc- straining the contractor from using the hot irons on the street.
 We hear good deal of talk at cleo tion time about the alleged itch of the Irish for political office anG the funny part of it is that this kind of talk is indulgcd in more by the infer for class of citizens than it is among other people. The very best element of electors never bestow a thought upon the subject. the main question with them being, is the candidate hon. est and competent. When MT DOran was nominated for the office of first Sclcctman it was q common remark among the small fry: ''Oh, the Amer ican democrats won't vote for him. This allegation was beiied in a very fOrcible manner on election day, when the American democrats stood for him almost to a man, while many of the so-caIled Irish democrats did their lev cl best to defeat him. We don't think man should be supported at the polls because he has Irish blood in his veins. and. on. the other hand, we see nO reason why he should be Op- posed on this account, and, as q rule, he isn't, except by q very small frac- ton of his own people, who are me nials by nature and imagine that, if a man happens to be Irish either by birth or descent he cannot possibly be any better than themselves.
 When Giovanni Dandonna was nor tally wounded in the ditch at Great brook last week, Father Slocum. of the Immaculate Conception church. and Father fartln, of the church of Our Lady of Lourdes, administered the last rites of the church to the dy- ing man on the spot, surrounded by a great throng of people, all of whom uncovered their heads and watched the performance of the ceremony with much interest. When the excitement was over a rough looking fellow pushed his way onto the sidewalk, wiping his face with an old red handkerchief that had almost outlived it's usefulness and stood motionless on the curbstone. He appeared very much moved at what he had witnessed and finally re- marked to some one wf.o had inquired what had happened him. that it was the first time he had shed a tear since he saw Father Corby give absolution to the Union soldiers just before the second days fighting at Gettysburg. 1 Half the men," he said, ''who fell on their knees to receive the priest s blessing that day were shot dead in l the peach orchard q few hours later. I was one of those who came out alive Gand many time I regretted that 1 did not fall with my comrades for I was | better prepared to go at that time than I ever have been since. That | little incident that took place there q moment ago. pointing to the ditch. | brought back that scene to me with such viviGness that for the time being I scarcely knew where I was stand ing" It was a very impressive sight. so much so that more than one hard ened sinner in the crowd has not ceased talking about it yet.
 What has become of all the old "Yankee' farmers who used to stop at almost every door on the outskirts of the city at this season twenty-five or | thirty years ago and fill the peoples
 cellars with farm proCuce at reason able prices and if a family happened
 to be short ill funds they could pay
 when it suited their convenience? Be
 sides the barrels of beautiful apples, bags of fine potatoes, carloads of tur-
 nips and cabbagcs. those genial old
 gentlemen thought nothing of rolling
 in a barrel of cider or a jug of ''ci
 der's father" or side of beef, in fact
 everything that one wanted to make 2 plentiful house through the long win ter. Those sturdy old pioneers of the
 rural districts have long since beer gathered to their fathers and in most
 instances the farms they titled arc
 now in possession of other races o1 people, Lithuanians. French. Can
 adians, Swedes, Italians, and { | small spfinkling of Irish Whether