Norwich bulletin., 1915-07-28
PEARL ST. NEIGHBORS COMPLAIN
Tell School Board How Children on Playground Disturb
Peace Of the Neishborhood- They Would Like
Some Quiet in the Summer-Next Door Resident to
School Says There No Rest be Found at His Home

threshed over at the hearing on the
petition by 80 residents OF the Pearl
street neighborhood to stop the use of
the Pearl street school grounds as
summer Fairgrounds for the children
i OF that part OF the city, held In the
council chamber Tuesday evening be-
fore the town school committee. The
larger issue Of the effect such dis
continuance OF q school Fairgrounds
would have on the playground move
ment in Norwich gave rise TO serious
discussion ON the part Of those who
appeared in favor Of the Fairgrounds
the welfare of city children. After
two hours devoted to the hearing. the
members Of the town school committee
adjourned to their Office, and gave the
matter and the evidence on both sides
their consideration, but their decision
and action they deferred.
President Charles o. Murphy was in
the chair and called the meeting to
order at o'clock. Secretary Herbert
NJ. Lerou read the petition and then
the notice of the hearing that had been
sent out to the petitioners by the board
and by Secretary Arthur L. Peale for
the Norwich Fairgrounds association.
The seats in the council chamber were
well filled by the people who were
interested.
Fighting and Vandalism.
George H. Pratt was the first Of the
petitioners to respond to Mr.. Muir
phys request for statements, and he
said he felt badly to come in OPPOSE
ton to the playground. But II the
board were living under the conditions
it could see why the petitioners were
there. He did not want to cast slurs
on the young people in the school yard,
but they used language you wouldn't
| want to repeat. Mr.. Pratt referred
to their fighting, quarrehng and van
dalism and he couldn't tell how many
panes of glass he had paid for. The
children were saucy to women and a
perfect nuisance. For forty weeks of
the years the petitioners submit, but
Mr.. Pratt maintained it was not fair
to put UP with it day after day all
summer, too. The boys asht like prize
fighters and they swear like pirates,
he said. The girls go into his green
house and snake out flowers by the
roots" He had no fault to find with
the teachers and he can put up with
the noise. but not with the other nui-
sances.
Questions.
Attorney A. A. Browning, who sat
with the directors of the Fairgrounds
association, asked if the trouble had
been during the regular hours and
MIR. Pratt said Yes Mr.. Brown
ing asked his attitude towards play
grounds in general. but he didn't want
1 TO answer lawyer questions. ne SdlQ
police protection was not much good,
and the officers had other business
enough to do.
Throw Stones and Damage Fences.
Charles 3. Lamb said he lived ad-
joining the Pearl street school and
the children throw stones at his gar
age and house, and damage his fence
and he was willing to coincide with
Mr.. Pratt's view that the playground
was nuisance. The children use
dirty, filthy language, he said, and
every noon when he goes home to eat
he has complaints from his wife.
Boys Nuisance.
Fire Chief Stanton said that he
was not SO directly interested for he
lives at the lower end Of the street.
He did know that the playground
movement has brought crowd of
haH-grown boys up past his grounds
and they are a malicious type and
need a different kind of place to play
in. They require baseball and are not
to be confined to sand boxes. The chief
said that the boys batted a baseball
tall over his shrubbery.
He had always been a willing con-
tributor to assist boys in having a
good time but in the Pearl street vicin-
fly the boys have become a nuisance.
get beyond the school, they become a
disturbance. He was satisfied that
Fairgrounds on the Little Plain or at
Broad street school wouldn't last a
week, and he did not think that Lake
street was suitable place
Boys Ought to Be Working.
Norwich is full of splendid back
yards, the chief said, and the young
sters can do theiy playing in their
own back grounds. A lot of them
ought to be home with their mothers
or under a nurses care. When he was
- years Of age. he was working and
that is what these boys need. If
they can't do anything else, they can
pick huckleberries. If he were in
; charge of the Fairgrounds he would
have a club and use it.
To Attorney Browning Chief Stan
ton said he was not now in favor of
; the Fairgrounds movement. He ia
vored 1t at the beginning. He burned
off the Lucas lot at the request of
]. B. Stanton two or three years ago,
but they couldn't get tho boys to go
; there. If the children could be put
in a lot where there Is ample room,
he would do his part in helping. The
chief believed that the children should
be kept out of all school yards, he
told Mr.. Browning.
No Rest at Ills Home.
Edward Briggs. whose property ad-
!. joins the school,. said the children pull
the pickets off the fence and tranple
on his garden, and break glass. He
puts up with it for nine months in
the year. but all the time 1t Is a
nuisance. He had no rest at home.
and was in favor Of closing the ground.
J A vigorous voice from the rear cried
| Second the motion"
Abner Schwartz said the children
are always in his yard and he had
complained to Chief Linton and to
Mr.. Stanton. He lives right in back
of the school and he can't plant any
thing.
Can't Get Afternoon Maps.
s. Prescott Allen lives opposite the
grounds and he and his wife had talk
: ed Il over and the speech and actor
4 they had heard and witnessed
. wouldn't be nice to describe at the
] hearing. He moved to Pearl street
chiefly to. nave q quiet place ana G
. place where his children could play
The Fairgrounds have taken away al
the quietness Of the place and his wife
. and daughter require rest ever
afternoon to keep them going. Hi.
daughter has had only three after.
q noon maps since the Fairgrounds open.
T ed. The older boys would be mucl
better working. He had to when h,
: was young and was much better fo1
IL. lie was not against the movement