Waterbury Democrat., 1901-04-13
AS YOU LIKE IT
Some Stray Leaves from a Reporters

thOrity, gives the approximate cost Of the different wars since 1859 as fol- lows: Italian war, $300,000,000; Prus- so-Danish war, $35.000,000; United States civil. war, S7,400,000,O00 morth, S5. .100,000,000: south, $2,30O,0 ,00O,0OQl; Prusso-Austrian war, S330, 0,600,0o0; Franeo-German war, $2,600,000,0 900: Russo-Turkish war, $125, 5,000,000; South African wars, $S.77O,000; Afri- can war. $13,2y0,000; Servo-Bulgarian war, $176.000,0OO.
 Not long since, Henry D. Hotchkiss,. one of Waterbury's ex-aldermen,. and a good one at that, made q strange find on his farm on Bucks Hill He was removing stumps of trees, and in dig ging after one he unearthed what he considered the skeleton of a rhinoceros The bones were sound and the impress sion of the animal was imbedded in the earth in such a way that even the spot the horns occupied was plainly diseernible in the earth.
 Thomas Kelly has tried his hand at many things, and so far he has ney- ser failed to make success of anything he took hold of During his chequered' career he has demonstrated his ability to operate as molder, banker. baker and farmer. and now he has turned his attention to poetry, and his friends expect to hear great things from him. Judging by his first effort, Kelly will soon have ascended the heights of. Parnasstis and written his name be- side the worlds best poets, Moore, Byron, Longfellew and others.
 
 Speaking of the last Oscar Wilde; a writer in trade paper says: As an advertiser he was superior even to Hall Caine and Edward Markham. All tie fun that Du Afaurier poked at Maulle and Cimabue Brown was grist for Oscars mill. Gilberts caricature Of him. as Bunthorne in Patience, was worth a young fortune to Wilde, for it enabled him to make q contract for lectures in the United States, and the lectures stood him in about $20.- 900. When Wilde came here in 1883 to superintend the production of his first playa flat failure, by the way he received the reporters at the Hotel Brunswick. The aesthetic racket had been almost worked to death, therefore Oscar had his hair cut, and discarded knee brooches for tho conventional trousers. Far from being a pallid and lank young man. he was rosy, not to say beefy. He smoked cigarettes as he talked, and he did not seek to sway the Judgment of his visitors by shar- ing his supply with them"
 Aldermen Blakeslee takes great de light In playing jokes upon his friends. He is a great joker, but nnlike most men of that class he is able to laugh when he happens fo be the victim him. self. At the meeting of the board of public works last Tuesday night. Mir Blakeslee sat down upon q rickety chair and came mighty near turning q somersaulf in presence of probably fifty persons. including some ladies, WliO had come in to be heard rela- tive to public improvements Every body laughed and the alderman joined in the Laughter. When order was re- stored he placed the broken chair w}sere Superintendent Kelley sits. MT Ffseiley was coming in at the time and it was amusing to see the big dray- man hustle around to get out of the way so that Alr Kelley would not sus- pect what was up. Kelley walked into the trap all right but the chair hap. pened to be too near the safe and in consequence the upset didn't amount to anything When Blakeslee saw the way things turned out he was as mad as q natter and wanted to know why in thunder he did not know enough to plant the seat a little farther from the safe.
 Louis .Archambault, foreman on the street department. had q thrilling experience in the north end yesterday The city is making repairs in the vicinity of Farm and Walnut street, where some one owns a huge turkey gobbler that is a terror to the children in the neighborhood, little girls es- pecially The bird was cutting up all kinds of capers on the street near the spot where the men were work ing when a girl attired in a red cos tune came along and as soon as the turkey saw her it flew at her with a yell and roar that almost scared the wits out of the child. MT Archam- bault rushed to the rescue. but be- fore he got there the gobbler had knocked the girl down and was danc- .3g upon her prostrate form. He push cd thc turkey to one side with his foot and then turned to pick. up the little girl md Has in the act of knocking the dust or her clothes when the tur- key hit him q stunning blow in the back and followed this up with a couple of severe cracks on the limbs. Then followed one of the most exciting encounters ever seen in the city, Mr ArriIambat1lt. forcing the fighting, but fs1e turkey. by clever movements man. aging to keep out of his way. and yet giying him q thrust in the shins now and then, and those who witnessed the contest state it was anybodys fight until the foreman picked up hoe and when the gobbler saw the weapon 1t threw up the sponge and fled.
 A prominent Waterbury woman tells how her ueighbors enjoyed a hearty laugh at her expense during the past week. X Russian peddler was going past the house shouting -'YagsI Yagsw and thinking the man was saying Eggs. Eggsy' the lady hurried into the yard and beckoned to the peddler. at the same time asking the man if. they were fresh. The peddler thought the woman had something in his line for sale and jumped from the wagon and hurried over to the gate. It did not take long for both 10 see that they had misunderstood each other, and when the ragman found out that the woman took him for an egg vender he laughed himself foarses- Of course the nefghbors heard all about it and