The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-06
VETERANS, PAST 90,
 IGNORED BY ELIAS HOWE POST, 6. A, R.
Judqe Beers Voices Sentiments of Civil War Survivors
 at Pleasant Meeting.

Two veterans of the Civil War whose combined ages are 182 years. celebrated their birthdays yesterday by attending the afternoon meeting of Elias Howe Jr. post, No. 3, G.. A. R. With a group of their old com rades, fthe boys of '61" they grew I reminiscent of the days when they were young. The aged men are Will liam Tait of 2os6 Main street. founder of the Taiti paper mills, who is 92 years of age,s and A1mon H. French i of III Gem avenue, who reached his served in the Twenty-thirds Conn. Vols, enlisting from Bridgeport and ] both intend, if possible, to attend the reunion of that organization at l Savin Rock on Thursday.E .sS
 7 MT. French. who is surgeon of the post occupied a, seat next to the flag
 on the right hand of Commander l Barnur1 Mr.. Tait was seated at the t1efti of the commander and over the
 chairs which they occupied were
 spread American flags. During the exercises of the afternoon Comman-. der Barnun called the members of the post to their feet and all gave a salute to their two aged comrades.
 Judge Beers on behalf of the Grand Army post congratulated Com trades Tait and French Here" he I said, i've have evidence that service
 in the army tends to longevity Here I we have two comrades whose lives
 have been extended by what nature thas done for them in the way. of strengthening their bodies and mind lunder the stress of circumstances brought by military service
 They have seen many strange
 sights and many wonderful things in their long lives, which are four score
 years and ten and stretching out to-
 ward the hundred mark. When they
 were boys the only means of travel
 were the ox-cart and the stage coach
 by land and the sailing vessel by wa
 ter or canal boat by water. They l have lived to see the lightning ex-
 press train come, the ocean liner ana
 the aeroplane.
 4sWhen they were boys the only Il means of communication was by letter
 6r by word Of mouth and it cost 12
 cents to send a letter to New Y ork-
 Now we send letters for two cents to
 Canada and to England and the let ter reaches its destinatSon in just "a fraction of the time. it would have taken in the old days when they were } boys.
 1rWhen they were boys, the state ofsConnecticut was twice as large as it is now Then to travel into New York state was called. going west and west of the boundary of New York ) was a track1ess wilderness Part of the state of> Ohio was called the Con- necticut reserve and was owned by
 and was part of the state of Con necticut.
 .drhis state sold that tract to Ohio | later on and the money, put in the state treasury became a scnool Iuno: una | A portion of the income from that fund is given each year to every town l and city in the state for the sup : port of the public schools Where ln , their day the only means Of com r1ol1nicati6n was by letter or word of hSx lived to the telephone, the telegraph and the Mar conf wireless telegraph.
 with all these strange things that ! they have seen come to pass they ] have had the honor of serving their country and fighting for it's flag which s now adorns their chairs: They are
 here this afternoon perhaps not as
 well in body~but practically as well IT
 mind as they ever have been It IS ! Ian honor to call them comrades and > extend to them the soldiers greeting and salute, and, we wish that their : years may be many more with the : same health and happiness they now . enjoy"
 At the conclusion of Judge Beers
 remarks all the other members of the ] post arose to their feet and saluted . Comrades Tait and French.
 , One of the most interesting features
 of the afternoon meting was the read
 ing of 8 historical paper by Dr
 George L. Porter.
 Dr. Porter's paper dealt with events '. in the United States directly after the
 Revolutionary war and particularly y during the period directly after the @ French revolution when Genet hac IT come to this country as minister iron l. France.
 k He said in part that history was re 'e beating itself and that this country il ,e it's dealing with England and Ger rs many was facing the same diplomat ksituation which it faced in 1798 wit