Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-01-23
AS YOU LIKE IT.
Some Stray Leaves From Reporters
 Note Book.

some SxTay Leaves HTOlM MepOEtcr Note Book.
 The As You Like It man was one of V fhe several hundred persons who had 4 the pleasure of witnessing the perform 3 ance of the Talma clubs minstrels the 8 other evening. 1t Is unnecessary 10 say that he enjoyed the high class en- 3 tertainment He was particularly in terested in the pretty little sketch en- ! titled "As You Like It," in (Which \ George Donahue and Fred Charters appeared. Both young men are clever fun-makers, both on and off the stage. The AS You Like It man was much pleased with the sketch, the name of which sounds so familiar to his ears, and with the fine work of the young srtiStS.
 The As You Like It man was much interested in the discussion of the rela- tive, merits of the slant and vertical systems Of writing. He was part1cu- larly impressed with the remark Of Ar thur 0. Hitchcock of the American Brass Go, who said that the concern can't find a decent writer. Judging from the communications which are received at the Democrat office from school children and older persons. MT Hitchcock knows what he is talking about. The writing Is wretched ana hardly legible The spelling Is just as ,uad 1t would take a person about half a day to make out some colnmunl- cations. The writer Is of the opinion that 1t would not be an unwise move for teachers to devote more time to teaching the school children how to write and spell correctly.
 Twenty five square miles of violets! Such an acreage is given over to cul- tivation of the "sweetest of all of na- ture's flowers in and around Rhine beck, a quaint little upstate" village in New York. on the Hudson river. 1t is estimated that each winter there are shipped to the metropolis of the state over 1000O0,O0O vielets, all grown in this one little locality. For tunes have been made in few years in this industry. The people or New York, seemingly, must have their gvao- let's. and the people of Rhinebeck have given over practically every other oc- cupation in order to supply them. Even the topography of the neighbor- hood is under the influence of the 1n- dustry. The street upon which the greatest number of hot-houses are to De found is called Violet avenue, the center of the violet growing region 8 mile from town, is Violet hill, and the road leading to the same IS Violet road. The violets are picked before , o'clock in the morning, and are ar ranged in punches of fifty or 100. Three punches are packed in cases holding various numbers, and are shipped to New York. When 1t is known that the express receipts at Rhinebeck for violets alone amount to STOOD year the extent of the business can be imagined.
 The death of Joseph Cullen, which occurred during the past week, re- moves probably the last of a number of talented young men who came 10 this country from Ireland half cen tury or more ago and settled in Rhode Island. New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut Some of them studied law. others tried their luck in medicine or mercantile professions, a few stuck to what somebody has termed the poorest occupation gifted boy ever marked out for himself, that of teach ing school. Mir Cullen was one of the latter, but owing to the fact that he
 married and was fortunate in having good children to care for him in his old age, probably he never had any re- grets for the course he chose to follow and which he pursued with marked success until men of his class were relegated to the rear to make room for tutors with more modern ideas of impartdng what they knew to others. MT Cullen's life would make an interesting subject for Thomas Hamilton Murray of the American Irish Historical society, who has writ
 ten some very nice essays on the early Irish settlers of New England, and It Is hoped that some one will take the pains to put him in possession of ma terial for a sketch of our old friend and townsman, who in his day ana time performed valuable services as an educator and left to his family and hls race a record which deserves place in history. One of his sons, Joseph A. Cullen of this city. wrote a brief notice of his death but owing to modesty, perhaps, failed to make 1t what ne knew 1t ought to have been. Nothing was said about his ability as writer of prose and poetry, although, as John Boyle O'Reilly remarked of O'DonO- van Rossa when asking permission to include "Gillen Andy'' in one of his publications s.he was a damned sight better poet than many who made 2 living at the business" Like most men of his attachments, MT Cullen was was a modest man and instead of paradfns his wonderful knowledge of letters he preferred to hide it. Tn this as in other things he proved himself typical of the old school of Irish gentlemen and scholars and like them he passed on to his fathers leaving but little evi- deice of the creations of his master mind. One of his poems, entitled ln Memoriam," which appeared in the Democrat shortly after the death of Father Walsh, created considerable attention, but inasmuch as 1t was un' signed, few ever knew the name of the author. so that while all praised 1t, MT Cullen never received any public recog- milton of the effort. While 1t Is true that MT Cullen was of 8 somewhat re tiring disposition, it must not be in ferred that he was timid or shrunk from acting the part of 8 man of strong convictions whenever occasion required such conduct. On the contrary, he had the courage of lion and when IA T1N1<z h