The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-11-22
Billy Riether! Good Old Days of Rie- ther's Meat Market In Exchange Place Recalled.
BY A BROTHER ELK

West Main street Saturday night. You see Billy has been Q member of the Board of Trustees for the past % years; he's not as young aS he used to be, and so some wise head in the Order made the move that brought about the affair.
 It was great to be there, for 1t made us think of olden days, the time when the Irish and the Ger mans intermlngled, drank beer and sang together, while the members of the old and digni- fled Yankee families looked on, fearful that these Foreigners" might get rough and break the peace of the Staid old town. And for . while we thought we were back in Myers hall on Scovill street, or over in Hellmann's Grove in the Brooklyn district. German song and music filled the air: a Bavarian band. properly costumed, played SO good that we cried for more, and stood up with others to sing the fine old Ger. man songs of c past day.
 We were all Germans Saturday night. And why note We saw rep- resentatives of fine old German families of another day, some non-Elks, but invited to come along to help celebrate. The Wendehacks, the Borchardts, the GumpperS, the Dreschers, the schieks, the Luxes, the Hummels, the Wolfs, the Hausers, the Langs, and others,
 Whenever they have any affair like this the Elks invite all of the past grands, the worthy past grandS, the inside beadles, the outside headles, and outside guards from every lodge of the state. They tell us this is part of the ritual Whether yes or no, they were there In force Saturday night, some from as far away as Jewett City. And the past exalted rulers: the calling of the roll showed all present as they should have been. But the worst of 1t all Is that every time we of the gen- eTal roster meet one of these "big
 shots" we must follow the custom of the day, bow gently or kow tow, and pass on; they were 50 nunier. ous at the party that our head iS still shaking as c result of our continued "Kow tows." You know c past exalted ruler, under the ritual never betrays the faults of thy brother, as they say; no won- der, then, we look up to him for guidance and the proper thing to do.
 After all, as we have already said 1t was nice to be there to break bread with real good and true friends like Charley Temple- ton, the former governor, who went out and plugged for the nomination almost alone, and surprised the machine by having the nomination practically handed to him; Johnny McGrath, prob- ably the greatest municipal judge of the land; Judge Ted Meyer, Dr. Borchardt, Johnny Crary, Fred Wolf of Cheshire, Q man of high honor In the Masois, aS well as the Elks; Joe Mulville, VIII pol- lard, Walter Monagan, Frank 0uilfoile, Frank Bailey, both Dan Ioarringtons, George Eauser, Johnny Grimm, and Joe Bot- tolnley, two great roller polo play- CTS of Auditorium days; Connie Larson, loyal Elk that he Is, and always hos been giving up the night ct his own business to display own admiration and respect for the high individual we all paid honor to, and a lot of others whose names we cannot think of at this hurried writing.
 Furthermore, we felt as though we were back in the Bauby cor- ner of years ago when Reither's famous meat market was in full bloom, where 1t was possible to buy oil sorts of game. as well as the choice line of fowl that could be found in the city. Of course, Peter and Joe Bauby, Billy's next door neighbors were missing, 50 was Cutler, the tall, and country looking gentleman, who ran c harness store south, and whose silent dapple-gray horse stood in front of the establishment fully harnessed and "raring to go": Katzs barber shop: the famous Lenox Lunch "we'll never forget it"; Hare's cigar store near the corner of Harrison avenue with the wooden Indian outside; Hod- sons favorite restaurant; and Me- Evoy's just below; we can almost see the trolley car crews Jumping of to run up to the main ofiice near the Riether market; the Ex- change Hotel. over Hodson's al- ways c fovorite stopping -oyer place for the drummer" of that day; Kelly's II. Main street bakery, where dates" by the thousands were made during the week, and a fayorite place for people to meet their friends on their way to the theater. F
 Oh, what's the use; we could 60 on and take up more space on the subject. Tie name Reither makes iis all think of the days of old: t Is e name that always carried respect; c respect cd business man. 1t was natural for Mi. Rjether to carry oil with the Elkg in the same manner; every Fix likes and admires him.
 Hc deserved fully, the tribute paid him by the Brothers. High class men of the Riether type are flew and far between" even in . ffGtefnal organization where the obligations are 50 stiff and bind- ing that the sins Of "thy brother are washed away ct once" or something like that,