The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-18

Rocky river, about a mile above the settlement, or at Waunupee Island in times of very low water In 1720 the town built boat for the purpose, which was used until 1737, when the first bridge ever built across the Hous- ] atomic from it's source to its mouth was constructed at what is now the foot of Bennett street. &
 The settlers for many years crushed their grain by hand in mortars or carried 1t to mill at Danbury, Wood bury, or Derby, and brought back tho flour and meal. In 1717, John Griswold, under ah arrangement with the town, built grist and saw mill on Still rig- CT, at what is now Lanesville.
 It is said that in 1713, there was but ono clothier in the colony. The most that he could do was to full the cloth which was made in the homes. A great proportion of 1t was worn without shearing or pressing. He lived at Wood- bury, and thither the early inhabitants of this town resorted to have their cloth fulled. People, to very large ex- tent, wore clothing made from the skins of animals. They also wore wood- en shoes and moccasins, or went bare foot although leather boots and shoes were sometimes used
 The implements which they used in subduing the wilderness, their axes, saws, blows, hoes and scythes were of the rudest description. Their horses, cattle, sheep and swine we should now regard as of very inferior quality. The same was true of the few vegetables they cultivated, and of their fruits, es- pecially their apples. Turnips, squashes and beans were the principal vegeta- blcs Potatoes were not as yet cultivat- ed in New England, onions were noe generally, and tomatoes were looked upon as poisonous. Some of them owl- ei negro slaves but worked the harder themselves to make them work.
 They had httle or no currency, tax es and debts being paid in produce. SVhat they ate. what they wore, what .htv coaxed From the reluctant sod tf these hilIsides, cost them infinite labor As was to be expected. a stingy avarice vas their besetting sin, which mani fested itself in all the relations of llta They were without newspapers, noae being published in the colony un-il 1755. They had few books the first nrint,ng press in the colony nlt havins | leen set up at New London until 1709 TT ey suffered greatly from malaria and other forms of sickness, as did all the early settlers in the state. Medi. cal treatment was poor and dift1cGli to obtain. The women went to the lim- 1t in childbeariug, and the bureen ot roa!lng their large families was awful l ! he art of cooking was little under stood. They had no stoves or table l so;ps The food was served in a Very unsavcry fashion. and was ve-X Incl. | ECst,ble. The people therefors had frighiful dreams, and dyspepsia was very arevalent. No carpet was seer hrre for a hundred years aftet the set | t.emeilt. Communlc with the outti wtrld was slows difficult and rar-. On several occasions owing to the failart | of their crops, and the difficulty ir get. 1 tfng lenef from distant places little better off, they nearly starved to death 1 Truly the task which they had u1dar
 taken to subdue this wilderness, :1 plant here the civil, religious and edu- oatiCna institutions of Conneeticuf end to prepare ths beautiful heritage for thelr children and children's chtl- drcp, was no holiday pastime, no gain ful speculation, no romantic adveu.ure ! Il, ,wls grim, persistent, weary toii and danger. continued through many wars with the wolf at the door and the say. age in the heighooring thicket.
 Reside the physical evils with which thsv were beset, they had spiclmal tieuEsies also. They fully believed in wltchcraft, as did all their contempor- | aries in a personal devil who was bus ily Llotting the ,uin of their souls, ir an everlasting hell of literal Ire anl | birthstone, and in Divine election, by which most of them lad been ircsvo 3a- bly, doomed from before the creation of the world to eternal perdition, from which nothing which they could do, or ware willing to do, could help to res clie them. The great object of life tt | them, therefore, was to try to find out what their future state would be. Sail ore cf their preachers "H Is tough w,rk and wonderful hard matter to be saved. Iris a thousand to lie. If ever thou be one of that small number wbem God hath picked out to escape this wrath to come" That we my get tCucll of reality from those sar-off days, let me quote qou few lines from the saintly Thomas Hooker, tFe | founder of Connecticut and long the model for her preachers: Suppose ery soul here present were to behold the damned in hell, and if the Lord should gNe tbee peephole into hell, that tn, U 1 didst see the horror of those damned souls, and thy heart begins .o shake in consideration thereof; then pr1pnund l this to thy own heart, what pains the