The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-12-30
SOUTH BRITAIN BRIEFS
BY BILL GARRIoUs

Checkersl There's 6 game that should be played more often. If We taught our children to play checkers, the roadside taverns and dance halls would Dc vacated and tho kids would spend more time ct home The premier checker player of the Pompernug valley was Jim Cassidy. Jim used to live up on Toms Hill, just across the way from that new water tank on Stilts, and Jim knew his checkers. I'his expert never made any claims to greatness, he seldom Issued chal. lenge, but when he sat down behind his klngrow and ordered the other fellow to lead out, then people saw c sure.enough checker game with Jim Cassidy on the winning end. Jim let Sam Pierce beat him once, but that was for political purposes only.
 Once in . while, . stranger would drift into South Britain and ask the way to Jim Cassidy's place. Folks would direct him up the hill and, after chores, the checker en. thuslasts would rally around and start for the scene of battle. Jim never took . licking, he carried his honors with quiet dignity, and he cut many n0tches in his checker. board before he sold out to the state and moved into c more civilized town named Bethlehem.
 Nobody lifted any turkeys in this vicinity this year. probably because the price was so low. Turkeys were SO cheap that everybody ate them, unless they could get venison or freshly killed pork. Setting up dates for extra ThankSgivings doesn't help the turkey market fin 6 good year. Some farmers are planning Oil turn. ing their fockS loose to run wild, unless tho price improves. Turkeys cat lot Of graLi and q man has Co get fair price for his birds to break even. VeniSon was in better demand than turkeys. After that G. point buck jumped the WPA en- gineer's car and got killed, bystand- CTS were busy Speculating just what might be done with the body. Sonic- times man B entitled to the car- cass Of c deer that runs into him, and sometimes the game warden carts the meat of to hospital or takes it home. This particular deer meat was Q double problem because it had tried to attack q federal ein- ploye. The government puts out ra- lions to lot of folks, and that yenisoii might have come in handy to feed some reliefer. Anyway, the creature had done damage, and it had been Killed and there was no warden on the Job to survey the rc. mains. While folks were arguing about 1t, . local gentleman who b noteworthy for quick thinking Aiouidered the carcaSs, toted it over 10 his truck, got in and drove of. Maybe he took the carcass to c hos-' pital; maybe he gave 1t 10 some poor folks, but local opinion Is that he simply drove home with it and hung 1t in the cellar to mellow and tenderize. You have 10 think fast t you save your meat ii this town- ship.
 Boxcar Annie was . fast thinker. She used 10 live up in F1ag Swamp, where she kept house for . roads end farmer and hOwIed at the moon from loneliness. The solitude sort of got und:r Annic's skin and she Craved company, 70 she set fire to the barn and then waited for the hresfighters to arrive 90 she could have somebody t0 talk to. That fire got away. 1t burned over scv- eral houndred acres of timberland. Annie got frightened at the damage she had caused and llt cut for York state. It's funny what loneliness will do. B0xeaF Annie's loneliness started the worst forest fire we ever hsd in BOuthbury and ROxbury. That must have been 6 sort Of burning solitude, ' consuming fire Of yeaFning. because it sure burned the Aaylights " AAAAAA U