Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-04-30
IN RED BANDANNA DAYS.
The Sonorous Blast of Deacon Pong ram Did Duty as Foghorn
 for Fishermen.


 "In the days when men carried red bandanna silk handkerchiefs in their
 coattail pockets" said Mr. Bugleton ac- cording to the New York Sun, men blew
 heir noses with far finer flourish and effect than they do now; far more grand y and sonoronsly. There was some
 thing about the great soft square of silk
 that tempted the staidest of men to dis
 play 1t, and by the loudness of the snort he made one could take the measure of his dignity.
 There were men in those days who, ! when they blew their noses, positively
 caused the buildings they. were in to
 shake. I recall one old gentleman in particular, good old Deacon Pongram. who, when he stood up in church. in the seashore town in which he lived, and
 Tn which I was born. and with solemn stateliness drew forth his voluminous red bandanna. blew blast that rever- berated through every niche and corner of the sacred edifiee and made the win- 1 dows trembe. And once--I we'll remem- Der it--the good deacon's nasal sonor-
 osity was put to good account.
 A man came silently into the church one March Sunday morning after the service had begun. He marched straight 1 to Deacon Pongram's pew and bent over and whispered something to him. It must have been something serious that | could bring the man into church after service had begun; and when we saw Deacon POngram, after listening for a
 moment to him, stand up in his place at
 the aisle end of his pew and reach around into his coattail pocket, draw forth his
 great red bandanna. and then proceed to blow his nose most vigorously and re- soundingly, and then saw him step from his pew and stalk solemnly down the l aisle in the wake of the man who had 1 come for him so mysterionsly, why. we
 knew that there was something irnpor- tant on hand,
 And ten minutes later we heard a ] sound surprisingly like that of Deacon i Pongram's nose--a mighty blast, com | Ing from the direction of the shore, half mile distant, and minute later we
 heard the sound coming regularly at
 minute intervals members of a congre- gation even go decorous as ours looked around at one another and smiled, for we could all guess what had happened. Ours was a fishing village, and we had men out always braving the deep l and coming on the coast. making for our harbor at all times and in all sorts of
 weather. We had dozen fishermen out l that Sunday morning. and our men knew l every inch of our harbor as we'll as they l knew their own dooryards ashore when they could see it. But as all signs 1 fail in dry weather, so all landmarks l fail in fog; and this was densely l foggy morning, and our men were com l ing home in this fog
 Now ours was a bold and rocky and l dangerous coast and we maintained on 1 the shore in our town for just such emer- gences a fogiorn, whose sound on such
 occasions had been familiar to very in- habitant from time imnemorial. blow 1 ing to guide our fishermen home. On l this morning the foghorn had broken ! down. Just what had happened on this I occasion I don't remember. for I was l very young at the time. but think they l said the diaphragm had broken, or
 something. But, anyhow, the foghorn 1 had broken down, and the minute it gave way and would no longer sound it's l deep, hoarse blasts, the foghorn keeper,
 man of readiness and resource, know 1 ing that thel ives of the fishermen might ] depend upon it, made for the church to l get Deacon Pongrarn. It was he that 1 had come silently that Sunday morning l down the aisle at church to the deacon's 1 pew-he that Deacon Pongram, after one resounding flourish. had followed l from the church to the foghorn station on the shore; to take the place of the disable foghorn.
 And the fisherman coming on the coats that morning, guided by it's horse, l warning voice, wondered at the strange ! sounds that the foghorn gave forth. "'The old horn must have cold this 1 morning. said one; and
 It's got chunk of fog in it's throat,
 I reckon and another.
 But when they had come ashorethey 1 discovered that 1t was not the foghorn l that they had heard at all, but Deacon
 Pongram, standing on the headland by l the disabled foghorn's side, and blowing his nose for them. And thereafter, and as long as he lived. Deacon Pongram, rich before in the esteem of his fellow citizens. had new title to the respect of l the entire community as the man who had saved the fishermen.
 "But now men no longer blow their noses as they did in the days of Deacon
 Pongram, with fine flourish and effect,
 with the resounding sorority of trun- l pet; for that old-time, time-honored and once familiar mannerism has passed