The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-08-04
BY THE OUT EASTER

Not many people are around now who remember such events, but we have in our possession as a loan a program of concert and sociable", the fourth of its kind as given by the Brooklyn atl- letic club in the old and now de- funct Jacques auditorium on New Years afternoon and evening, Jan- uary 1, 1894. The music was by the American Band Orch, with I. Uf- fendale as prornpter. Frank H. Blake was then the band director; he conducted the concert which was made up of four numbers, with the late John w. Parsons, famous in his day around Water bury, as the piccolo soloist It was always claimed that MT. Parsons was the outstanding piccolo player of the state.
 T" Uffendale was the popular prompter of the day; small in stature, he generally had to stand on chair or platform to be seen. But he had a voice which car- ried to all parts of the hall, and he knew his calls" like a child knows his "A. B. C's" MT. Uffen- dale worked in Scovill's as a ma- chinist and was well known B. mong the employees of that instiu- tion. He has long since died.
 Let's look at the order of dances, and read what it says; the grand march was dedicated to the presi- dent. The first number was a quardrille, the music for which was given as "2.4O clip down Kerry Hill at midnight" The Laniers followed with Come sing on my knees, Brig. Then there was a waltz, old fashioned today, but 8 sort of a dreamy affair, with the lady leaning lightly on the should CT of her male escort as both gracefully glided around the well waxed floor of the then new audi torium. A favorite dance of the day was the single reel, which anne next; in this dance, the couple lead on from the top to the lend, and naturally there is much swinging" on the part of each person; and what a favorite number in the old days. Oh, Boyl
 A quardrille was dedicated to "Only for the Nest, a sidewalk. There was section in Brooklyn in those days SO named, but it lacked sidewalks; perhaps the words on the program referred to this old district A waltz was given to "the Dick Croker of the 3rd ward" whoever he was; Brooklyn was a part of the old 3rd ward, and some one of the leaders over there must have been credited with being as clever a politician as the late and famous leader of Tammany Hall.
 The program closed with, We meet again in 1895".
 We find that the grand con- ductor" of this affair was Steven J. O'Brien. His aides on the floor committee were Jack Barretet, Ed Nugent, Pat. Keough Tim Luddy, Tom. Mulcahey, and 8 lot of others, all bearing Irish names. The club membership of those days was Irish. But look at the roster today; the Irish of yester- day have gone. Now the larger number of members are made up of other nationalities.
 The general custom of the Nine ties was for all social organizations to hold dances during the winter season. There was the Rose Hill Social club, of the Ahrigador, the Waverly social club of the south end, the Acme Social club of the Center, the Fastime social club of the West End, the Big Six Social club, and similar other bodies. Bergin's orchestra, Hallam's or- chestra, Lallier's orchestra, and the American Band orchestra were always in demand for these fUnc- tons.
 These various social bodies were all composed of working people, unmarried fellows, who spent their evening at the club, in an innocent way, and were ready bright and early for their days work ct 2