The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-05-24

twelve OF the clock " had scrap with
their dinner pals" lied their Threats,
baited their teams and sold their corn
feed" and farm products first hand,
a food the present generation have no
more idea of than they have of good
cigar or of the old pile ale that gallOped
down their grandpas threats.
A peculiar feature was the amount Of
avoirdupois the people of this neighbour
hood carried about with them, for eve
ny shop-keeper, as he stood in his door,
barred all ingress and egress with his
Falstaffian sWelled front. Their smooth
faces (all shaved in those days. made
them so many Dickens fat boys all in a
row. They had plenty of time and to
spare to eat, drink, sleep, spin yarns
and grow fat. Life to them was more
the poets dream than is our life's nus
tie.
Queen old folk from our standpoint.
The stories told of them would fill a
Sunday sermonized New York paper.
Before the canal took the place of the
river the country east of the bridge
was known as New Township. There
were houses for two blocks, after that
mostly open fields with few houses to
the harbOT
Upon the east side of Chapel street
bridge was quite a sand bluff, with a
lagoon running south from Breeds
shop to Putty Smiths, where vessels
unloaded their cargoes, Breed lost
business. 1t was said he kneaded his
brtad with his feet; tread it out, After
the canal was built the bluff IVES pulled
into the lagoon, making quite a space
known as the Strand" upon which
stood the town market and grist mill.
Under the streets deep vaults We're
made, entered from the tow-path I'M
der the bridge. Here was stored lime,
plaster, salt, etc. Great numbers of
rats and bats collected here. The bats
at, night Swimming the canal for in
sects; the rats making free with the
grain of the town mill near by. The
rats had fancy for digging into the
lime and plaster, so when they came
out they were white with hoary hair"
A sailor seeing one leave a white line
behind him as he swan across the ca
nal, called out to his mate, Look at
the Grub Thief Jonah; he leaves a
chalk mark behind him, so he can find
over. ;" At times rats, red, White and
blue, ring-streaked and speekled could
he seen feeding upon the fresh water
CLAIMS Of the canal. "An Anti-Barman'
1t was not known for sure, but sur
missed that a Dyer who lived in the
good Tory Devil" Chandler house just
above the bridge, would catch a bag of
rats and dip them into whatever dye he
had on that day and let them go free,
hoping they would tell their comrades
what they might expect If they visited
him. Maybe he was disciple of
JAIN" so could not take life, but he
set mark upon the bold faced rascals,
as did Jehovah upon our miscreant an
cestor, Cain. True or not, he had the
credit Of being a first-class rat dyer,
for the boys changed his name, which
was Dyguielin to hat of 'Dye-o-rats,"
which rated him so he left town be-
tween two days and the canal lost its
red, white and blue rodents.
Sonny Cain must have had big pun,
for after killing the only one Of his race
made in the image of God, who was
not already an ex-convict under pen
ace, he was simply Gained by his dad
and branded by his maker, then turned
loose to raise Gains for ages after.
Good men must have been most
mighty sker-cas in those diggings"
Was Cain to blame for being born in
ignorance and wickedness. He had
never had the advantage of seeing a
corpus warm corpus" post-mortem, I"
so how did he know his brother would
stay dead any more than he would stay
asleep? Are not sleep and death twin
sisters, but one takes much longer
nap than the other.
The lime vaults were the first free
beds the town gave to "Weared Will
lie and the rum-tired, but also a tell
tale, for the lime discolored their
clothes and they were known as lime
vauIt-rats.
In the days when boys were not edu-
Gated to be ashamed of their father
honest trade Cor the desire to earn an
honest living) by so called High
School," There was but one large pub
lie school. THE Lancasterlan.
BATTLE OF THE WHACKS AND
RATS.
This school was divided into the Up
Towners. Leather Whacker' and the
Down Towners, Wharf Rats" 1t hap
pened at one time the whackers were
more numerous than the Rats. SO af-
ter school the Whacks would run the
Rats down the tow-path of the canal,
and if caught duck them in the water.
One day the Rats sprung a nice little
coup de grace upon the Whacks. They
engaged ten or twelve sailors from
Long Wharf to secret themselves In the
lime vaults under the Chapel street
bridge. When school was out the Rats
sassed the Whacks and when they
went Tor them ran as usual down the
tow-path. Just as the Whacks reached
the vault door out rushed the sailors
upon them with so wild yell as If the
fiends to earth that fell had stormed
the battlements of He'll. The next in
slant a dozen Whacks were standing
upon their heads in the canal, then a
dozen more, as most Of the school
had followed to see the Rats dipped, the
sailors had lots of fun, and soon the ca
nal was full Of bobhing heads and caps
from Chapel to the Court street bridge.
In fact the sailors and citizens had
close work to pull some of the smaller
Whacks ashore Most of the Whacks
crawled out half drowned on to the
State street bank and sneaked IN