Connecticut western news., 1909-02-11
ASHLEY FALLS


 is very sick.
 A daughter was born on Thursday last to MT. and Mrs. Arthur Moseley.
 George Blodgett returned from Chicago the other day, bringing about ! 20 horses.
 Mrs. J. H. Sardam of Clayton has been spending Il few days at w. A. l Dunham's.
 l John Durham, who has been under the weather with piece of an attack of grip, is again able to be about.
 Fred Capron and daughter, Anna, of Danbury, Conn. were over Sunday guests of Mrs. Julia Roraback.
 Mrs. Edmund Roys, of Stockbrldge, is at the home of her parents, MT. and Mrs. Lucius Scoville, for week.
 There will be plenty of entertainment in town morrow evening with Lin cOln's birthday observances i'll both churches.
 Several from this place attended the supper given by the men at the Congre- l gational church parlors in Sheffield Monday evening.
 Anumber of Ashley Falls people went to Sheffield last Friday evening to at tend the home talent drama entitled >'Tbe Elopement of Ellen" The play was we'll rendered and they were much pleased with it.
 It is now understood that MT. Hewins will not erect his saw mill, shingle mill and cider mill on Walter Van Deusen's land but that it will be located on his own land, midway between Ashley Falls and Sheffield.
 At the chapel on Sunday evening the 18th anniversary of the founding of the society of Christian Endeavor was ob- served by appropriate exercises. The meeting was led by Jared Bradley and the building was filled to its capacity.
 The greater portion of the local ice houses were filed during the spell of weather which prevailed last week. There were some, however, who did not l finish getting In thelr usual supplies and are at 1t this week. The ice is obtained on the Griffith meadows.
 The newspaper men are complaining of the scarcity of news ill Ashley Falls these days and they have reason. There seems to be but little doing and that little contains not much of 8 news nature. It is remarkably quiet, so quiet that Walter Van Deusen is moved to re- mark that up his way the absence of other noises makes it possible to hear the bark on the trees.
 The new seats which have been ex- pected at the local railroad station have, at last, arrived and are in place. With the enlarged waiting room and the up to-date seats, it is presumed there will be ample room to accommodate the crowds who wish to patronize either the steam or electric road when the electric road becomes reality. We understand that the new seats have already in creased passenger traffic from this station as a number of people have planned journeys to Canaan ill order that they might occupy these seats while waiting for the train. There are some Ashley Falls folks that won't ac- cept this view of the situation and in sist it is certain new condition of affairs in Canaan that has caused the increase ill traffic and to prove their contention, cite the fact that these folks don't stop to sit on the seats when they alight from the train on the 1eturn trip. We won't believe 1t. however, and we insist that the station changes are ac- countable for it all.
 Many people have wondered why Ashley Falls is not more popular with city people who are looking for country homes or for sites on which to build these homes. A A real estate agent in a neighbOring town thinks he has solved the mystery. He claims it is because the express trains do not stop here. It seems that affairs have reached that point where city folks decline to locate in a village at which the fast trains do not stop and this pos sibly explains why Sheffield is looked upon with more favor than Ashley Falls. Not passenger train passes that station without stopping It seems that many years ago, when the Housatonic railroad was being built, the company wanted somebody ill Sheffield to give them site for a station and this was done by a man named Little Gf our memory serves us correctly.) And it appears that the said MT. Little was not only public spirited but had the ability to peer far into the future for he made it a provision of the gift that every passenger train should stop at Sheffield. And the road accepted the gift under these conditions. The station does not now stand on that site, we are told, but thls does not release the company from the obligation they assumed when they accepted the former rite. There is no doubt that many times have they wished that they had paid for the site in the first place or that they could be relieved from this olious (to them) require ment. But Sheffield folks are grateful that the condition cannot be shaken for the train service is poor enough at best.
 The program for entertasnment at the Congregational chapel Friday even- ing Feb. 18th is as follows;
 Organ Voluntary
 In "a
 Mrs. Wood My Old Kentucky Home, Male Quartet Tribute to Lincoln, Florence Hall Reading. MT. Geibel Just before the battle Mother, Solo,
 T. Rolf, Chorus by Quartet Lincoln's favorite poem, w. A. Beattie Recitation, George Hall Tableau
 Reading. Mrs. L. Scoville Recit LtiOn, Elrick Beattie Trio. Floernce. George and Lillian Hall