The Newtown bee., 1906-09-14
RRIDGEWATER.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE TEN. sEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

WOn0erIul. A1Ler the nelghD DOT had looked it all over and been asked what he thought of it, he replied: "You will be committing no sin in worship ing this, for it is not in the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or m der the earth
 l have asked why Bridgewater wished to become separate town and have been told various reasons. One man said that the place was growing then and the people thought it was going to become as great as New York.
 It was quite certain that character is formed by living where the scenery is beautiful, but as to the present in habitantS they are, from what the older people tell me, as nothing con- pared to the earlier inhabitants in ability, intelligence and shrewdness; those earlier days are beyond ones imagination.
 CONGRESSMAN E. J. HILL,
 the closing speaker of the day, was next introduced. He said in part: l have enjoyed coming here to-day and again. l was born in Bedding. l yield the palm to no one on the question of ancestry. claim to be Yankee of the Yankees and can trace my ances- try back 25O years in an unbrQken line. I understand that this is the 5Oth an niversary of the founding of the town of Bridgewater. Years are relative things. A month ago to-day I was in Berlin, Germany. Riding down one of the main streets of Berlin with a friend, I said to him that I was surprised how fresh the buildings looked. "Why," said the gentleman, ''there are not many houses in Berlin more than 400 or 800 years old" Compare Brldgewater in point of years with New Milford, Red ding or Berlin. Less than year ago I shook hands with the Emperor of Japan, who could trace his ancestry back 26OO years I have seen fields of wheat, the land of which had been cultivated for 5000 years.
 THE HILL TOWNS OF NEW ENGLAND HAVE NO EQUAL
 | in the wide, wide world. l would rather have yielded the influence of one of these little red schoolhouses on l the hills than to be the the descend ant of the proudeSt monarch on earth. We have a right to be proud of the men and women of New England. It is the church on the Green and the little red schoolhouse that have made us what we are. We are now trying to lift up another people. We have taken one nation in Porto Rico and are lifting them up. We have on ooU ou1 hands a burden, the burden Of 7.OOO,' 900 people, whom we ought to train and educate. That is our mission
 When I came here l didn't intend tc say a word. l simply felt that as a matter of duty I ought to testify tt the magnificent training which the fathers and mothers gave to us. thank God to-day that am Yankee from Connecticut.
 For an hour or more following tn, speaking most of the crowd tarriet for the purpose of visiting with
 friends. The celebration was cloSet
 with dance at the Town hall in tn
 evening, which was attended by abou
 80 couples.
 OUT-oF-TOWN GUESTS PRESENT.
 E. J. Hill, Mrs James H. Walsh, W
 c. Jessup, Julia Jessup Hotchkiss Gertrude A. Hotchkiss, Norwalk: A. H. McMahon, Reuben Booth, Ed
 win G. Allen, Charles Planz, Mrs Ed
 ward G. Allen, Mrs George w. War ner, George w. Warner, Sadie D. Al
 len, Anna Stone, Mrs John s. Dixor MT and Mrs H. s Mygatt, MT and MI c. Dixon, A. HI. Squires, Joseph A Greer, Epenetus Erwin, Mrs Rober B. Clark, Mrs Edwin Evitts, Rober B. Clark, D. H. Cantield, Amos North
 Mrs c. Leach, Philip Wells, Mrs Wi liam Whitlock, Mrs D. H: Cantielo bert Thomas, Mrs Hubert Thomas Mrs Louise Walling, MT and Mrs ( M. Beach, M. B. Disbrow, Noble Der nitt, MT and Mrs J. H. Nettleton, Tu ney Soule, Mrs c. s. Perry, Marsha N Minor, MT and Mrs George Toussain1 MT and Mrs B. A. EvittS, Mrs Fran
 Warner, Jr:, Mrs Frank Warner, ST