The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-11
I0DAY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY


 The first observance of the Ro- gation Days was instituted by St. n1raertas. Archbishop of Vien- ma, who lived in the fifth century and whose festival is celebrated to-day. This famous prelates re- nowned for his sanctity and learn ing, by his prayers was said to have suddenly extinguishcd a ter ribIe fire which threatened to de- stroy the city of Vienna; The people, accepting the bishops in tervention as 8 miracle, were pro foundIy innpr ressed, and St. Mann rnertus took ntage of the occasion to preach to them the efficacy of pious prayer and to ! inaugurate an annual fast and implication of three days, in which he called upon all the faithful to join in an endeavor to appease divine wrath by fast int prayer, tears, confession and suppIication Within a short time the observance of the Ro- gation days spread over Europe. The Anglican and American Epis copaI churches. as well as the Roman Catholic church. observe the Rogation days, which are the Monday. Tuesday and Wednes- A<1 tJS5tA3A v F tA Gsy SSA Ascension Day.
 An expenditure of much money and three weeks of time and the endurance Of numerous discom- forts were required of those who made the journey from the Att Iantic seaboard to Chicago four score years ago. The story Of such a trip is told in q worn and faded old dairy which was kept @ by Mrs. Bryant, mother of the fa- nous editor and poet. It was seventy-nine years ago today May 11, 1895. that the mother of Will liam Cullen Bryant left the old home where the author of Than atopsis' was born and where her Husband had died to establish a new home at Princeton, H., in the then wild West. From Cum mington. Mass, Bryant's birth place, Mrs. Bryant, who was ac- companied by her son Austin and his wife and baby, and her daugh- ter Louisa, travelled by stage to Albany. The overland journey required two days, the party reaching the Empire State capital in the late afternoon Of the thir- teenth They went immediately on board the canal boat Amherst, 2 owned by Capt. Thompson of Peru, and by sundown they were off. Boat very full; a great mum Der of noisy children: no Sleep the first night was Mrs. Bryant,s comment on her first experience of canal boats.
 On the following day the tray-S elers went through " est Troy. seven miles from Albany, which would indicate that the craft was not exceeding any speed limits. On the fifteenth Passed Schen- ectady. thirty miles from Albany in the morning On the Mohawk land very rich; a beautiful coun- try. Utica, "a very handsome . city. was passed on the sixteenth. T lady came on board to ride ten miles : On the seventeenth the boat stopped at Syracuse, and the weary passengers were permitted since leaving Albany. Mrs. Bry- ant passed the salt works, twen- ty-five acres covered with a roof " On the eighteenth at Lyons more passengers came on board; so full before, could hardly live. One wonders if the canal boat was provided with accommodations for strap-hangers, but Mrs. Bry- ant does not enlighten us. On the nineteenth Rochester, "a very handsome place, was passed--the falls are there where Samuel Patch Jumped off and was killed. ;" The Interesting affair in which Sam Patch figured had occurred only six years before, and was still matter of great interest. Buff