The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1940-01-11
SOUTH
BRITAIN
BRIEFS
by BILL OARRIGUs

BY BILL WANk6AGUb
Soul-saving Is q precarious and
often q thankleEs occupation, Lo-
cal comment about the donation
OF one hundred dollars from
church funds 10 keep the preach
er's car In repair Is mixed. One
group suggests that our most sue
eessful ministers either drove
teams, or attended to the upkeep
Of their own vehicles, Others
claim that 1t Is q community
obligation.
New publicity regarding ln-
creased old age assistance pay
ments brings an added local In
terest because our folks never
understood the old method Of
payment. Il seems that one local
person with Q modest subsistence
from another source secures the
maximum payments, while an
other OIdster In rather more dif-
flcult circumstances Is rated at q
much lower figure. All these social
assistance setvps are foreign TO
Yankee philosophy. As Nate
Beardsley says, "We WE brung
up 10 root hog or diet" I'm mod
ern English, that probably means
that Yanks were taught TO be In
dependency.
When a city man buys q side
hill pasture lot and finds series
OF grassgrown bitches along the
slope Of the hill, he sometimes
thinks he has found an old bat
tlefield where the colonists dug
their trenches and stood by TO
repell the attacks Of the savages.
Those bitches were not earthworks
for military purposes; they were
plotted for an agricultural i'm
provement purpose and modern
farmers should study them more
closely. In almost every case,
these trenches are leveled, and
they usually connect with brook
or Q spring, Farmers brought wa
ter TO their grasslands through
these crude irrigation systems,
and their haycrops proved the
wisdom Of the practice. Tophet
hiilsides have irrigation bitches,
and the Muskrat Plains region Is
ditched heavily. Beside the Hou-
satonic In the Great Plains area,
we have discovered another COM
plicated system. Old timers knew
the value Of water, long before the
Department Of Agriculture ever
issued q booklet. II you doubt II,
ask Frank Rowland or any other
title searcher who has scanned
the old deeds and worried over
flowage rights.
Iso Averill and John Mitchell
wore sawmlll men IN daytime and
men about town NJ night, They
drove the fastest horses and
cOurted the handsomcst ladies IN
tho county. Nate Beardsley re-
calls their sawmlll Job In the
Wills Of Tophet, where Jim Flcm-
lnR was tall-sawyer and the slab
pile ran 10 q thousand cords. Nate
tells OF the difficulties incident TO
the set Of that mill. II was spring
and the roads we're soft, the heavy
boiler weighed several tons, and
tho horses pulled hOck.deep In
mud. When Nate drove UP, the
horses were exhausted and the rig
was stuck. Nate pulled his team
TO the side Of the road, wrapped
the relns around the brake handle
and climbed down. Bystanders
made way for him as he inspected
tho mirc and patted the sweating
horses. Finally, auiet.llke and cool,
Nate turned TO the hangers
around and said; 1--WE got men
enough to eat this rigi Let's oil
lay hands ON 'er and push" -.
They did. The mill rolled out Of
the mud, and Mates timber went
10 market.
Our neighboring town Of Wash
ington boasts that out Of 20 deaths
during 1899, ten Of the departed
were 80 years OF age and better,
Whiib eigl more ran 10 years and
up. Only eight youngsters died In
Washington. That record Is fine
but we'd like TO challenge Wash
lngton TO 0 showdown on the mat
Tor OF longevity rating, and es-
pecially OF the efficiency OF Our re-
gpectiVe old folks. We've got people
In this town 80 old that they've
turned their speedometerS back,
and our oldsters can still carry O
swath with the KIDS. We keep our
old folks alive and boast about EN-
now. When they've passed on,
about the only way anybody ever
hears how old they've been Is by
going TO the funeral.
Age works different but II us
ually mcll0ws o person. We knew
one man who was 80 ugly that
he begruged his wife the eggs she
used making cakes for him 10 eat.
That was when he was only eighty.
Now, since no has turned ninety,
ne all3ws his wife tive eggs o
week, and he never asks her
what she Intends TO do with them,
either.
Those Britishers, Mr.. and Mrs.
Melville Eudland, have left chilly
Oakdale Manor TO spend O few
warmer weeks In Florida. Come
election time, maybe we could in
terest some OF our aliens IN citi-
1enship papers. George Holmes 10
keeping q checklist Of foreign
born who have not yet qualified.