Connecticut western news., 1921-06-30
TABLET IGNORING MISS
 ELDRIDGE IS UNVEILED
(Continued from page U

 welfare of her native town.
 In the middle of the last century the New England towns, and none more so than this beautiful town of Norfolk, afforded the best which lhis country could offer in the way of heredity and environment for the upbuilding of that strength of char acter, that soundness of mind and of body, those moral and intellectual ideals which have been in the past, (whatever the future may have in store for us), the determining forces in the development and prosperity of our country, and happy they whose lot was here cast.
 While this is not the occasion, even did time permit, to indulge in intimate personal "reminiscences of those early days, even when they re- late as they so largely do to associa tion with Miss Bella and other mem bers of her family, it is fitting to re- call certain conditions and features of our lives at this period which must have influenced the direction of her late interests and activities.
 Our lives as children centered around the family, the church, the Sunday school. the walks to the cemetery on Sunday afternoons--the only relation permitted on that day the school, the village green, so charmingly depicted by Dr. Dennis, our games, our picnics in the old spring lot, our birthday parties. | was led to believe by my fathe:, and I do not dispute it, that 1 owed every thing in my start in life to my at tendance at the Misses Netieton's 1 school, and I am sure that 1t was ah excellent school of it's kind. At that time Miss Bella had already been advanced to MT. Rice's Academy and ! the gap in our ages and relative ad- vancement in learning, which now seems inappreciable, seemed then a large one.
 The Norfolk of hose and later days bore no resemblance to The Main Street" depicted so realisti- cally in that most depressing book by Sinclair Lewis. There was love of beauty so lavishly sprea.l before our eyes in these Litchfeld County hills and cultivated in our surroundings in flower-bed and lawn. These were singing schools and even then much of that love of music for which Nor folk has become so celebrated. We had or we thought we had the best church choir of this region.
 The educational advantages were good for that time and intellectual interests were not lacking. There was a small circulating library and as we grew in years there was much reading of books. It was a time ., when everyone was reading the same books, fewer in number but more in- tensively perused than today; it might be Dickens or Scott or Harriet Beecher Stowe, or even Jane Eyre Rutledge or Beulah, Drad or the | Wide, Wide World, to say nothing of the Scottish Chiefs and Thaddeus of Warsaw. We exchanged books and we talked about them.
 The outlook upon life may have been narrow, but upon the small al tars the fire burned brightly. Oul patriotism was stimulatel by fourth of-July celebrations and orations and especially by the events of the Civi War. The days of the old Lyceum lectures had not passed.
 As in so many New Englanc towns characters of strong individu ality, sometimes even of marked personal idiosyncrasy, were develop ed. The religious faith which hac come down from the fathers of the New England commonwealths wa: still strong, and the life of the church and of the town meeting Wa: vigorous. The social atmosphere wa: that of genuine democracy, of mutu al interests, of mutual helpfulnes: and kindliness, strikingly exempli. fled, l may be permitted to say 1T the life of my father, the best type of country doctor.
 It is not surprising to find tha living under such conditions in z town beautifully situated and SC healthful there developed in those st fortunate as to be born here or to bt Identified with the place a character istic pride in its welfare and a pecu liar loyalty to it's interests. Perhaps altitude may have contributed, fol these attractive traits seem to be re lated in some mysterious way to thu elevation of ones residence abov, the sea.
 In no one was this loyalty and de votion to town and to church nor, , highly developed or more fruitful il . results than in Miss Isabella Eld ridge. In her this loyalty was com bined with the finest qualities O , mind, of heart, of character, witt - enthusiasm and energy, with tn, l unselfish desire and the means t, 3 help and with joy in doing good t. , others. To these endowments wer } added the characteristic family trait . of refined taste, of love of beauty il l natI1ra and in art and ir F,,I1 ,,oaoc,1r