The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-26
MANY THINGS OF INTEREST FOUND
 IN LITCHFIELD

He had been struck by automo- bile and was semi-conscious when the nurse commanded: Drink this ,;, ,;,ssaas4zeyDf Dazed and befudd1ed brain had not marred his sense of smell. It was whtskey, real whiskey, that she offered. But being uncer- tain just what had happened to him, he softly Queried: Say, nurse, what country am I in?"
 All of which is supposed to be Q joke and has nothing to do with our story except that as we have entered upon the Long Thirst it is not untiEne- ly to relate when, where and by whom the great reform movement which brought about our present parched state was started
 We hasten to assure you that this is not wholly story of prohibition and it's causes. Bless you, no!
 This is a story of that delightful town for which the beautiful, in sum- mer, Iitehfieid Hills were named. This is a story of LitchfieId where we | provide a contented populace with good telephone service and where 1 Miss Jane Birminghazn's cheery smile F can soothe the ire of those few per l sons who may think their service is | not just what it should be- Litchfie1d, let us tell you, was the | first in many, many things including 1 ' me pTOnlD1IJOh movement Why, Litchfield, for instance, capi- l I talized it's climate long before native ! : Californfas realized that they had i climate to capitalize. Litchfield was first in boosting the health giving properties of it's clear and bracing air and ba1my breezes- California trailed along with it's claims centuries after Litchfield folks began using their climate for advertising purposes . ! 4o bo jct nd his cash.
 IitchfieId had the first Law school in America, the first law reports were published there, the first American school for girls was located there, but why proceed. What we want to impress upon you is that the first temperance rally was held in Litch- field
 You may give Litchfield due credit, or condemn it, but facts is facts. Per sonany we hold no ill feeling against the town because of the part it play ed in making America the largest and dryest of all large and dry des- erts.
 pr. Lyman Beecher, noted preacher and theoIogian, is credited with haV- ing started the prohibition movement in LitchfieId and his famed force and eloQuence as a speaker soon secured for him. a, host of followers and sup porters. The results of this first tenn perance talk, beneficial or otherwise, according to your point of view, are with us today. While the remains of Dr. Beecher peacefully rest in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven. there is not enough tonsil oil along the Grand CanaL meaning the hith- erto saturated Church street, to float a tea. leaf And the famous Phelps Tavern at IdtchfieId has been con jsyez~ted into a hotel serving only food -s~lt meal time But despite the fact that LftchfieId was the place of the first temperance lecture the town re last.
 In LitcIfieId, too, was the first law school in America. Whether this is creditable to the town we will let your opinion of lawyers determine, reminding you the while that the President of this here company is a lawyer.
 Ever since Judge Tapping Reeve began to turn out lawyers in his Litehfeld lawyery, litigation has been on the increase. Now we have an annual output of several thousand lawyers and the people cannot build courthouses fast enough to accomno- date them- But lawyers are neces- sary now. They save the innocent from unjust punishment; they res cue the unhappy in wedbock and they make our wills for other law yers to break lis true, too, that the legal profession develops our states men to come along and show how many Ioopholes there are in the laws our statesmen make.
 The LitchfieId Law School expand ed into the Yale Law School and you can see the first one in LitchfieId and
 
 John C. Calhoun, Aaron Burr and many other men who had a large in fluence upon politics and other events in our U. S. studied law un. der Reeve.
 And by the way, MT. Calhoun created the fashion of planting elm trees and some of the spriSs he SC out while student are now might, elnns and the pride of Litchf1e1d-
 Speaking of laws and lawyers re minds us that Epf1-aIn Kirby pub lished in Litchfieid the first law re ports ever issued in America
 When merrie England was no looked upon so merrily by the strug gling Co1onis4s whose tax laws wer harder to figure and pay than you income tax IitcIlfieId provided a To of real bullets for the fighting Inel who had determined to exterminat
 
 here to collect the aforesaid taxe: Today we are more orderly. We jus pay the tax, smile and increas prices to meet fhe outlay.
 There was statue of George II in Bowling Green, New York, at tha time. One dark evening the statu disappeared Later it appeared i IftchfeId in the rear of a house O South street, occupied at the time b Oliver NVo1cott, a signer of the Declar alton of Independence. The statu was here melted and run into buIlet for the use of the American Army the Revolution The statue mad perfectly good bullets and the ta collectors carried some of them hon \under their cuticle. But they wel home without the taxes.
 Revertfng to the things in whic LitchfeId was first, we will now ca
 your attention to the Pierce Scho