The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-01-29

family. Johnny is . Christian Front organizer; our CasSidys are tolerant folks and good Demo- cratS.
 If we can believe the old river men, the Spring of 1940 will see the very worse floods evet on the Housatonic. The big rain of Jan- uary brought vast ice flow down below Little York, secured the riverbed forced the ice skyward in gigantic pres sure ridges. Flood waters will back up behind this ice jam, but when it breaks the Pootatuck Flats and Squeak Street will prob ably be literally irrigated. The Shepaug River has a heavy jam just down stream from Steve Rants place and the Pomperaug ice has all tried to crowd into that narrow gorge near Oakdale Ma nor. Folks are flashing down their summer cabins and dragging boats to ,'igher ground. Bets are being made as to the possibility of the Sandy Hook Bridge stand ing the strain.
 Antique dealers are again comb ing the village. One of them sprung a new angle on local merchants. He figured that the stOrekeepers might have a lot of old bills on the books and that the debtors might have antiques. If the grOceryman just passed the word around that Windsor chairs, Boston rockers, and old bed warmers had cash value, per- haps folks would loosen up on the antiques and the merchants might collect. Tony from Bridgeport was especially interested in the Meth cdist church chairs. A buyer from over in Watertown read the Back In 10 Minutes" sign at one store and waited an hour for 8 chance te talk up his, collection scheme.
 Jake Somers is working with well-driller outfit on Mt. Riga. Jake read the Raggie tales in THEY FOUND A WAY and was a bit skeptical. Now he is con- vtnced that Raggies are tougher tlian bull beef and twice as hard to get along with.
 Motorists continue to take chances. Roaring toward Skunk Hollow the other evening went one of our most fearless drivers. At the fork of the road he changed his mind and decided to call on the town clerk. The town clerks house is up on a Dank, but the lad missed the driveway. An- other good car looks like shOe- box that somebody stepped on. Perhaps we will have to move that town clerks house over to Sawtooth Mountain where it will be safe, and where people can walk to it instead of trying to drive cr0Ssl0ts.
 Mapping feels the pinch of win ter, but enjoys certain highway improvements. Workmen have blasted away an outcropping of rock at the west end of the bridge across the Pomperaug, making it easier for the low-landers to get away from the anticipated flood. The Ingram Boat Livery is pre- pairing for 8 rushing business. Charley the fisherman is worried about his fish traps and Nate Evarts is buying an extra supply of shotgun shells to kill the musk rats that will be drowned-out.
 Ever since the Arctic Circle started slipping toward the Tropic of Cancer, we've been looking down the road to see Sam Pierce coming back from Florida. Sam certainly has our sympathy. He went South to save fuel but if the reports are correct, he would have been more comfortable here in the old Pneumonia Belt.
 Harm Doran of Skeleton Hollow visited Deak Beardsley the other day. Harm scratched. around Southville sixty years ago, spent twenty-eight years in Maine, wintered in Carolina, tramped around Kentucky, Tennessee, and old Virginia, but he came back to South Britain to settle down. Harm sawed the last timber at the Little York sawmill, he knew Clee William and the rough, tough men who played ball with the River Burrs, and he recalls the old days when the Methodists walked on one side of the road and the Congregationalists on the other. Harms got a swell memory, fllll of the finest remennhrances