Waterbury Democrat., 1901-11-23
AS YOU LIKE IT
Some Stray Leaves from a Reporters
 Note Book

ments of that genial gentleman, Con- missioner F. w. Chesson. It is a beauty and. as the old saw says, shoald have a place in every house i'll the land.
 szTalking about cows said Dub- lin street man to q few friends the other day, reminds me of q bovine the Byrnes family owned when l was a shaver It was wonderful mixer 1wenty-six quarts q day being it's av- craze for several months. But that's not what 1 was going to say The strange thing about that COW was no matter how we'll they might secure her at night she was sure to break loose and go up to Slavin's and sleep on their veranda until morning" One of the party remarked that this sound ed like a ghost story. but the DuDlln street man stuck to it and wanted 10 wager money that he could prove IL by calling upon George H. Byrnes, clerk in the bureau of water. Who ne declared. had often chased her out of there when he wasn't much bigger than pint of cider
 One of the city officials was asked to-day if he was annoyed by the talk of counting him out of his office. Not on vour life" he said ''Why should I be? expect to hold that position until the people decide to give IL to someone else. and, in any case. Gou never shut one door but he opened an other. so that if the office goes l shan.t worry so long as I retain the confidence of the public and my health remains with me. l made a living before I ever got an office, ana if the worst comes I can do 1t again You can gamble that I'm not losing any sleep over this matter. Ihat fbe way to look at it. Boyle Roche is ouoted as having said that the best way to avoid danger is to meet it straight in the face, and we don know but he was right There no .lse crying going through this world.
 Some of the New York papers are making a whole lot of talk about a woman who has crossed the century mark and has smoked a pipe for the mast fifty years. One paper thinks mat a man who smokes dhudeeh with the bowl turned upside down ought to live forever. The hullapa- loo appears to be over the fact that 1he woman has been smoking for halI s century rather than on account or her advanced age. Why, there's nothing wonderful in this. We have a woman in the Brass city who has smoked steadily for nearly 70 years and although she is now close onto 9o her health appears to be remarkably good, and unless something unexpect- ed sets in the woman is likely to live twenty or thirty years longer. The Waterbury woman says she first ac- quired a fondness for the weed by lighting the pipe for her father and taking a few whiffs out of it before banding it to him.
 A man who gave his name as Jim Allen and his native place Merrie Eng land was about town yesterday and to-day sharpening knives. He learned the knife making trade ill Sheffield, England, and worked at it until he took a notion to travel and enlisted in the army. During his career as q soldier he travelled through Ireland and Scotland and spent nine years in India. When he was mustered out he came to this country and secured work at his trade i'll the old Shear shop, where he spent a few years and then
  up steady work and went on the road. and since that time he has tramped from Waterbury to Philadelphia and back dozens of times and never knew the want of q dollar. He can sharpen a knife in good shape and ill re markably short time. He turns the | back of the blade toward him and then goes at it with q soft file. and i'll less time than it takes to tell it has keen edge on the weapon. In answer to question as to what provision he was 1 making for the time when ile will moi be able to rough it. he said None whatever. Do you suppose" he add ed. that I'm foolish enough to save money and have it stolen from me in lodging houses or taken from me on inc lonesome roads? The future does not concern me any more than It does that chicken pointing to an old grey hen that was scratching in the street s-and know no reason why it should I look upon what I'm going through to earn my crust as sufficient atone ment for any offenses l may have committed against God. and when mass out of this world my misery will Inc over, The old fellow carries 2 satchel filed with tools. and consider fp1 the kind of life he leads appears fo be well kept and pretty decent.
 was very much pleased to hea Judse Wheeler inform the jury in tn Black Griggs case that human III was worth more than S200. and tha if they had found verdict for tn plaintiff they must name higher dam ages. The jury retired and raised tn price to S1 GOO. The court accepted thi and discharged the jury for the term The case grew out of an acciden which resulted in the death of Mis- Caldwell, sister to the plaintiff, D. failing from the third story vefand of the Arlington hotel. 1t was al Ieged that the railing was defective and it seems that the jury so decided but for some reason or other conclud cd that the sum of S200 was all tn girl was worth When Judge Vince CT heard this he promptly turned tn fury down. so to speak, and it Wa amusing to see how quickly the changed their minds and raised tn award $500. This is the best thin ever happened ill the big hall of jus lice on Leavenworth street and ma be the means of giving our friend from the rural districts a new idea 0