New Britain herald., 1915-06-25

of the forenoon there were two re- ] cesses, one for the girls first followed by another for the boys
 Tn 1849, a Normal school was es- tablisheda in New Britain. The new building was erected at the corner of ] Chestnut and Main streets, and was 1 spacious enough to include the High school also. A system of graded
 schools was now organized and few years later the School society was abo1- 1 ished, and the care of the schools was placed under the supervision of the town. The nucleus of the library was formed by a group of neighbors or friends who purchased a few books, and passed them around from fam | fly to family under regulations assur- ling their preservation. Later a par i5h library of about four hundred books was started in the South church. Grad iually by private subscription and public donation, great number of volumes accumulated and it was evident that we needed new institute for books. l The library in it's new site was much more fourishing than before. It was especially attractive to the young folks and it's popularity cannot be said to have Iessened even to this day.
 These early settlers had very little
 current reading matter. The few newspapers they had were from Bos- ton or New York and were generally two or three weeks old. In 1881, a bi-weekIy paper was edited under the supervision of "a company of village girls. They called it the Shepherd : ess'' and published articles oh religion and morals. Later, however, the publication of the paper was suspended on account of the maria ge of the chief editor. For number of years there was no regular paper publish ed, but from time to time small pam phlets were issued concerning the news of the day. When the Advo- #cator'' was finally started, many other newspapers appeared but these grad- ually were discontinued until few were left. However. some of those re- maining are published today, although many changes have been made in their names and style.
 The early farmers who settled here,
 little realized what a manufacture x ing city of note they had founded. It
 would perhaps startIe them to see
 Orchard street, which they named on
  < irigs with seven hundred and fifty
 factory windowa facing 1t today. For
 fifty years the only occupation here Was farming. Later saw mills were < built and blacksmith shops erected.
 which beside doing their regular work
 repaired some of the far mtools.
 Tn 1900 the manufacture of sleigh
 bells was introduced which was the
 first distinctive manufacture of met
 als, excepting tinware, in New Bril-
 tain. From this humble beginning have grown the various manufacture
 ing enterprises of today, which have
 made this city noted throughout the
 whole world.
 Although these people were very
 thrifty and spent most of their time
 working, they had some very pleas
 ant social gatherings, The women had
 teas in the afternoon, and suppers
 were given for all adults in the eveS
 ming. .ss4 ss
 These early homes had three rooms,
 the kitchen with it's huge fireplace, the general living room, which served ! for cook room or wash room, and the best parlor only used on such occasions as when the minister called Or the elder sister entertained spe- ClaI company
 Their clothing was generally made at home and adapted to the circum.- | stances of the family. For Sundays
 and holidays in summer, the men had
 white or checked linen suits, and in 1 winter, woolen suits of dark color. l For Sundays also there was a special overcoat and vest which did service 1 for twelve years or more. The wonl- en had black silk dresses for Sun days. and plain gingham ones for l week days. E ] A very strict regard for the Sab, bath was held by these people and | everyone of suitable age attended the l meetings Usually they carried a cold | dinner in their pockets or in bag and after long monotonous sermon, they assembled and talked over town l happenings while they ate their l lunch. After an intermission of an hour the afternoon service was com Ynenced, which lasted until dark. Ths l galleries of these churches had veryl l high square pews and these affordeth l q convenient place for the boys ta l occupy themselves in other ways then l listening to the sermon.
 l The suspension of irnportations dur
 ing the Civil war greatly stimulated l the progress of New Britain From l that time he ely grw rapidly. | The success of the Hardware city, as it is called, however. was not due to | any external advantages but fo the ' men who built 1t. These men of
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