The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-09-14

covered with crops crept up the hill
sides, great barns and comforta BILE
houses marked the Landscape, and
cattle dotted the hillsides. The sons
and daughters of the first settlers
married and their sons and daugh-
tiers married and the old family
names of Mead and Peck ana LOCK-
wood and Reynolds came on down in
ever increasing profusion and the face
of the stranger was seldom seen or
his voice heard in the vicinage. Wars
came and went but left little mark
The self contained town which had
now taken on the smarter and more
stylish name of Greenwich thought
little, and cared less. about the out
troubles, it's politics and parties, even
its intrigues, and was satisfied. 1t
even had its own primitive political
boss in the person of one Col. Hoyt
who was n lawyer and Judge and sat
on the lid.
But one day there came travelling
down over the hills from RidgefieId
the young son Of a blacksmith by the
region looked good to the lad and
he tarricd and the longer he tarried
the better he liked it, and he had not
tarried long before. being lad of
discernme1t, he found occupation in
the office of Judge Hoyt. Time went
on and the green lad from the Ridge
field forge became wise in many
ways and among other knowledge he
IhuCH dDOuL the art Ol SilllHS
on lid. especially a Connecticut lid
Of the Greenwich brand. The SHOWS
had not come and gone many times
before Jim, a younger brother, had
sickened of the forge and he too was
down in old Horseneck acquiring pro-
ficiency in lid management along with
a knowledge of the involutions and
intricacies of Connecticut law and
practice.
About this same time a genius of
another sort roaming farther afield
than was his wont stumbled onto
Greenwich. He was a real estate
agent from the great city. The semi
rustic seclusion of the town was over
1t had been discovered.
After the terms or the first few
sales became known agriculture in
Greenwich went into a sudden de-
cline. The owners OF the broad acres
no longer looked on their fields as
means of producing crops but as so
many lots and their dreams were
filled with deeds and dollars and df-
visions. The plough rusted in the
shed, the scythe hung unused on it's
peg, and the one time farmer spent
the mornings by the gate watching
toner who were to relieve him from
care for the rest of his life, and soon
er or later they came.
Meanwhile r. J. and Jim were
idle or blind. Money was comfng in
to tows, coming in large quantities,
and there was much for ambitious
young lawyers to see and attend to.
With the new prosperity of the
ferent aspect. 1t would be convenient
some times in doing things with and
for clients if the relations between
lawyer and town affairs We're of a
| little more intimate and confidential
| character. There was a trifling
| struggle and in place of Col. Hoyt.
! R. J. was sitting on the lid, and
| brother Jim was his first assistant.
d r
| seeing the need of a bank started
one Town affairs began to be on a
! much larger scale. There was much
money passing through various chan
/ nels both public, semi public and pri-
| vate. 1t was not strange that the
lie quivered some at times, but it
never lifted.
/ Greenwich adjusted itself to the
new conditions with remarkable IA
cility. Finding itself suddenly over
run with new population who were
(, far from poor. and having given up
its old occupation of farming, it de-
veloped a new industry, that of TAX
ing care of the stranger within its
gates.
In this 1t was assisted to some ex-
tent by outside talent but not much
nor was much needed, for the towns
people showed a special aptitude for
the task. Under all these new con-
ditions it was not strange that there
should be some adjustments needed
y
and the surface of things to retain
that look of innocent freshness which
it had had from the beginning, anc
these adjuStm ents naturally would N
many cases gravitate toward the two
hmm grants from Ridgefield and there
is not much evidence to show tina
they did not agree with the scripture
statement that the laborer is worthy
of his hire"
1t was not long before the towr
was too restricted stage for the &C
tivities of two with their peculiar
kind of ability and they reached on
into state politics with considerable
success. Offices and presHge cam,
their way. The rudder was able t.
make the Connecticut ship of Stat,
wabble in its course even if it could
not entirely guide its movements.
Then came the inevitable. There
were scandals and reformers. To bt
sure town funds sometimes got of
on the wrong track and little mis-
takes like that occurred but wha
could be expected where everything
was so new and much of the hell
green?
Then. too. som etimes rumors of goot
things TO drink and Avely poke
. ! games leaked out and all this excited
the reformers and so one reform
Som etines the reformers succeeded
in doing a little reforming and some
times they got reformed Sometime
they were successful enough so tina
me town OFFICIALS were asked TO keel
| a little record so they could tell WHIT
had the money and sometimes mel
were cautioned not to be quite 81
noisy when they either won, or lost
When the Washes launched out OF
their career they joined the Repub
lican party as was fashionable II
Greenwich and when the reformer
got busy sometimes the Democrat
would join In with the reformers t.
try and spill the two brothers off o
Col. Hoyts lid which they had hal
3 all to themselves for SO long but the.
never seemed to mplfah. rnucl