The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-01-23
Yankees are persistent. .

IA years running, a penny post card has been received at the New Haven County Historical Society. The card bears 8 Phoenix, Ari- zona, cancellation and the pen- manship Is a cross between . crowtrack and one of Smoky JensOnis love letters to . rural sch00lmarm. After exhaustive re- search, two Connecticut Yankees
 mraveled tho cipher. E. W. GriswoId Is the card writer. He asks for information about Lion Gardiner Of Saybr0ok, and about the Griswold family of Lyme, Conn.
 Yankees provide for the future =. Woodbury records At a lawful town meeting the 9th of March, 1705, it was voted and agreed that all the bare hill and ragland from the highway to the westSide through poplar meadow, down to the highway from White oak through Sawteeth, we say all that is now common land unlaid out, is and shall be sequestered land for common, for the feed of sheep and other cattle forever, for the use of the inhabitants in gen1."
 Yankees are ingenious About 1913, Asa Hopkins, North field mechanic, secured a patent on 'tan engine for cutting clock gears. The gear-cutterS of today are simply refinement of the old Hopkins machine. Hopkins neser made a dime on his invention; preSent-day machine-t0oI manu- lecturers cash-in heavy on the improved design. (Ncrthfield, in case you've forgotten. used to be headquarters for Peck Brothers, Yankee peddlers who drove through Connecticut with churns, stoves, hymn books, harness snaps, and NOrthfield cutlery.)
 Howard Peck was the high stepping member of that team of pedlars. He sold magazine sub- scr1ptions, introduced the bread mixer, sold 8 special carpet Stretcher that won national hon. ors for busting thumbnails. Peck never owned a poor horse, never kicked dog. always had kind word for the kids. and composed music that he tried to play on his own violin. His whiSkers always had just enough hayseed in them to make a hit, and his vest was spotted with bacon grease that attracted the family tomcat.
 Howard Peck rambled through back roads where mighty few peO- pie ever travelled and, despite his known bankroll, he was never robbed. He made the bulk of his sales on jitney items, Yankee mo- tiOn, ordinary little things that folks had always wanted and never remembered to buy: but he would sell stove, washing ma chine, or a churn and stick around until it worked right. He never had . license but he could do sheet metal work and plumbing with the best experts. If 8 stOve- pipe didn't fit, he made one that did.
 Howard Peck loved music, but he snored when he slept in a ilaymow. He could play an organ, piano. or a melodeon and, as he travelled before the radio was invented, lots of people waited for his coming to get the lowdown on the latest camp-meeting songs. He never sang or played ragtirne or light opera. His mind was above the tinpan mob, although he sold tinware. enameled-ware, and cast iron spiders that would save fuel by holding the heat longer. Sometimes he sang in churches, if the congregationon would let him.
 Howard Peck should be memo. riali1ed. He Was . master sales man. 8 real gentleman, and one of the few men who ever went to Ynla C0lleRe and. lived A. d0vrm.