The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-24

NS@A~SSAAN AuSosioAASy anu NAAs ~|NSS -~~ quently spoke of how kindly and fully all his boyish questions were answered, and with what pleasure the old physi- clan recalled his own youth, and the tales told him by his father and grand father. All these "reminiscences of early New Haven were treasured in a mind which was wax to receive and marble to retain" and were never forgotten. They constituted, indeed, store of pre- ceous memories. as reliable as word of mouth traditions can be, which was con- stantly being drawn upon by people who were in search of information concern ing which books and manuscripts are dumb. Nothing which MT. Day discov- cred from his reading did he consider so valuable as the little stories and anec- dotes, bits of gossip, descriptions of people, old houses and the like, which Dr. Darling poured into the ears of. a fiatteringly attentive and respectful youthful hearer,
 One day, for instance, in the drug store, Dr. Darling picked up a mortar in which one of the boys to assist him had been grinding some ingredients for med icine, and said, meditatively, That be- longed to Benedict Arnold" The collo- quy which ensued was something like this. Some of us have heard MT. Day repeat it more than once. and one is in- stinctively reminded of the converse tions between Boswell and Johnson: "How did you happen to have it, pr. Darling?" .'
 'Why, Benedict Arnold kept drug store here, and when he left New Haven his effects were sold at vendue. I need ed mortar of about that size, and when it was put up I bid for it, and I have found it very convenient.
 , What sort of looking man was Ben edict Arnold?"
 ''He was a small man, very neatly made, very alert in his movements, very well dressed"
 "How did the gentlemen of New Ha- ven-how did your father treat him?"
 "When my father met him he took off his hat very politely and said, Good morning, Captain Arnold"
 "Yes, but did your father invite him to his house?''
 My father invite Arnold to his house! No, sir! Never!'
 Many years after this, when Dr. Dar- ling had long been gathered to his fath- CTS, and the old Darling house had had a succession of owners and occupants it was again offered for sale. A friend of MT. Day had some thought of buying it, and the two gentlemen went together to the house to look it over. It was many years since MT. Day had been within the walls of the house where he had spent so many happy hours, and he wandered from room to room and final ly descended to the cellar. There, in one corner, with some other nliscellane- ous and discarded lumber, was a small round stone mortar, with certain unmis- takable peculiarities of shape, which he had handled and used in the old days, and concerning which Dr. Darling had told the story. It is needless to say MT. Day bought the mortar and presented it to this society, in whose possession it still remains. <. .-sr,~
 There is yet another rather curious tale regarding another of the, Benedict Arnold relics in the possession of this society. In the summer of 1869 MT. Day was passing through Rochester, N. r., on his way home from the west. From the car window, as the train waited in the station, MT. Day could see the rear dobrs of number of small shops Leaning against the wall of one of these shops, face outward, was a sign of un- doubted antiquity. MT. Day examined 1t with some interest, at first merely be- cause it was relic of the past, and then 1t flashed upon him that 1t was the sign of Benedict Arnold's store, which had in some inexplainable way been taken to Rochester, and there evidently was but lightly esteemed. The bell sounded, the whistle blew, and the train moved off, but MT. Day had planned the line of approach which afterward proved so successful. Dr. Bacon's son, the Rev. George Bacon, was at that time pastor of the First Congregational church at Rochester. He was written to, and the situation explained to him. He found the sign and the owner there of without much trouble, and either by purchase or gift it soon became the property of this society.
 With this natural taste for antiquari- an pursuits and with the stimulus and help of such teacher and guide as Dr. Darling, it is little wonder that as the SNeN s0-