The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-02-13

Ed ScOviII is a kindly party who drives a Chevrolet, owns . good dog, digs for Indian artifacts, and pays his taxes regularly, but Ed did not get that way by envying the other fellow, or by purchasing those highly-touted stock certifi- cates once held in such high favor here. Ed worked for his place in the sun, and he started work before sun-up, too. Years ago, when folks were first think ing about timber jobs on 8 large scale, MT. Scovill started hewing ties with an axe. Joe Evarts claims that Ed was one of the most gifted tie-hewers in these parts, and when the railroad grudgingly paid out some of the Widows & Orphans Money to Ed, he didn't go on a tOOt and spend it all on train fares, he in- vested 1t all in a sawmill outfit. Working his way up, Ed ScOvill became a power in the timber business, but he was more.
 When anybody worked for the Scovill sawmill, there was assur- ance of 8 living wage, regularly. Eds checks never bounced. Eds help lost no time. Eds customers got full measure and top quality. Operating in an era when it was fashionable, and safe, to write checks whether there was a bank balance or not, MT. Scovill made his word better than most mems bonds and it paid dividends. When the weather turned warm and the trout were rising, Ed often told the gang to knock of for a little fishing, and paid them just the same. When foxes were running, he always found 8 way to let the fellows share the sport. He taught more men how to do more work faster and happier than anyone who ever sawed logs in this area.
 Some folks will argue that Scovill's success was natural, that he lived through his productive years when chestnut timber grew faster than folks could cut it. Chestnuts did help Ed, just as they helped the squirrels and the kids and the country merchants. Why, there was 8 time when gray squirrels grew so stout that even hired man forgot to complain after eating one. It took g 12- gauge full choke shotgun to kill one of those old brOad-backs and four or five pelts would make 8 respectable jacket. That was be- fore be imported chestnut blight from Europe.
 Local chestnut pickers usually carried their pickings to Wood- bury and traded them for gro- ceries at g store up there. The storekeeper had contact in New York and, when the crop was in, he packed the nuts in barrels and shipped them to Bagdad-on- -the- Hudson. The largest shipment that ever left South Britain de- pot was seventeen barrels.
 Chestnuts were a light and airy nut. Eaten raw they carried more real energy than fresh eggs; boiled, roasted, or steamed, they tickIed the most finichy appetite. used as ammunition for a sling shot, chestnuts have been known to subdue the most grabbed old maid scho0l-marm with the ini- tiaI barrage. Chestnut burrs were handy to start 8 balky horse with; one burr gently placed un- der the tail would make 8 stub born animal tr0t faster than Dan Patch. A great many of our most famous men first learned how to overcome hardships by trying to walk down the lane barefoot, during chestnut time.
 An old-time racket commonly practiced by gentlemen of leisure was the grating of chestnuts. Those old grafters used to claim their scions were from imported Italian chestnut trees, and they could usually get 8 meal or two just by fixing up some young chestnut sprouts in the dooryard or along the pasture fence. Per- haps it was from some of Chose grafts that the first chestnut tree blight started? Who knows, maybe one of those itinerant op- portunists is really responsible for the loss of Connecticut chest nuts, a nut sweeter than any nut meg and twice as useful and nourishing?