The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-04-01

per, the third affair of the kind, of the Eclectic club, now a memory, the members were each presented with a booklet, containing poem, penned by the late George c. Waldo. One of these souvenirs a proud possession of Tracy B. Warren, still Active in the insurance business at 1889 Broad street. has been carefully preserved. though yellow with age.
 The Eclectic club, now a memory, was at that time, 1873, one of the leading social organizations of the city, and did much in the early days of the sport, to foster harness racing bers of the Eclectic club were in strunenta1 in forming the present seaTSs ISs club ;. .,s Of on5h these membgfs H Poetry, offered by the late George c. Waldo. as a '-Statement (After the manner of Truthful James") in who were prominent in the early his- tory and development of Greater Bridgeport. It follows:
 ~'Which may name it Is Reliable" I come from Golden Hill
 And if you wont believe me- why I'll find some one will But listen to me quiet like, while relate as how
 The boys in the Eclectic Club, went through a friendly row.
 Birds in their little nests agree, and 'tis a pleasant sight
 When members of a social club reach out and claw and bite;
 Nor is it very singular. if Darwin's gag is true
 That men should be a doin' what it is their nature to!
 \ Now nothdn' could be finer or more beautiful to me
 Than seenin' members of a club abide in unity,
 And this ere crowd they didn't muss to any great extent
 Until they chose one Stevenson to be their President.
 This Stevenson he was a man as trav- elened on his nerve,
 He were a bully officer good order to preserve;
 He reckoned, in a general way. he knowed a thing or two,
 And when he engineered a job he mostwide put it through. Now some of these 'ere gentlemen had their ideas tall;
 They thought the club was runnin' down, the rooms were low and small,
 And that 1t might be competent, per- 1aps, to stand the brunt, Of selling out their present lease to but a marble front
 And so they called a special, and they had dozen more,
 And jawed, and jawed, and rove and of 'em ripped, as never was before.
  of 'em straight,
 But which he did by workin' at a strong high pressure rate. They viewed the case in every light, in front, below. behind; They pelted it with epfthets of every size and kind: They slug the biggest words about regardless of expense,
 And sometimes. I am pained to say, of likewise mood and tense. . .Thers was the greatest harmony, as fer As I could see,
 And friendlfness prevailin' to won derfu1 degree:- And if a member cut it rough on any of his friends, He got it back, most usual, as good as what he sends. And arguments. were offered which were vu.y strong and clear, They sometimes fetched a little laugh, and sometimes drawed a tear; The members used the hardest names, which they could rGco1lect And treated of each Other with the utmost disrepect. It would be most impossible to tell all that was said,
 Or how they hove the epithets, or how they fit and bled. But several of the arguments may intereStin' be, Which I put down, quite truthful, as they occurred to me. Now Watson was a bankerman as
 wrestlsd several stocks. He didn't think this marble planexact-
 ly orthodox. He said If any other man chose to
 back up that whinl, He'd take the contract for a cent to
 put a head him. 0IcNeil, who was sailor boy and
 sailed the briny seas, Said he had seen too much rough |
 work to shake in such a -, And if a member said a word against !
 the marble house He'd lash his tarry topEghts for |
 Iubber and a louse. He said the way to do this thing was l
 very plain to see; He'd like to take one story for him. |
 self-and family. Abe Greenman he could take the |
 rest or else some other feller, a And then the club could have their |
 rooms up garret or down cellar. | Then Hayward. which he is a man as l
 wears a slight moustache, Allowed he did not see just why they |
 couldn't raise the cash. Tn buyin' one small tenement there l And as for him he'd like to chip" |
 and buy a marble block. And Frank as was a ten or man, and !
 oftimeS pitched a song He gave a Evolutionary fits and slan- |
 med it right along.
 He didn't care Bangtown bond |
 whatever might be done, He'd back the club against the world i
 and go right in for fun. Then eymour, which he was a man l
 as pulled an oar for Yale, Put in his oar an told the boys a |
 most affectin' tale. He said he was Q pious cud with char | acter to save, But this would snatch him bald l
 headed in sorrow to the grave. Ehen Greenman, who's a quiet gent l
 as peddles wood and coal &aid that he liked the notion Of |
 new house on the whole, ahnd any sport who talked about that |
 matter as "a whirN"