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.TTINTWq-
Francis Donovan
Thomaston,
Tuesday,Dec. 6 '38
A-ct notsford:
of the year was circus day. Along in June I' T Barnum would
'at come to irs,ter1+,ury. 'Veld all go down on the morning train,and spend the
day -there. Shops W15 shut down tight. If they didn't nobody would have
t'le farmers fran the sur,-sourding towns,they drove
worked anyway.
1_077n with their teams. You'd see rigs from all over. Some from the back
troads you'd swear never gct. dovn to the city but that Once, all year
round.
"There was always a big parade,in the morning; and after that w-ts
over +he country neorle would go round gave7ing in store windows and pass
the time that way until it was time for the main show to begin.
"In the fall there was alwa ys fairs —and they were looked forward
to all the year round. The shops do,,vn,but sometimes they might
as well have,for all the people they had working.
"Harwinton fair used to get a big crowd. There Via s never an an admiss-
i on charge until late years. Them were the two big events of tie year ---he
circus and the fair. There was fairs at "Tolcott and 1,,tertowfl too, at
people from here used to go to.
It was customaryoliwc if a fellow had a habit of going every year,and
he took his family with him,held ge+ a rig from one of tl'e local livery
s tables. If he liked it,he used to engage that rig for the same time /-a;xt
year,wh.en he brow. ht it back. I knew two -three fellows used to do that.
But there were dozens that walked. It wasn't anything to walk ten or twelve
miles. L--t,s of Tpeopl,2 used to get up early in the morning and walk to
terburY if they had tradinl or something to do.
A great pastime in the fall,of a 3unday,was going nutting. And in the
W1570
summer time, folks used to go ber-ying. Some would spend their *NNW whole
summer vacations luring the shutdown berrying. You know they used
a lot of cannint the women did.xelliwww Otters would hire out to farmers,to
pitch hay,or wisiewilMilim do other work like that. There wasn't
there
goint to the seashore,or to the mountains, lik7/41MMIR is today.
(.7Church was the big gatherin' place of a Sunday night. Folks
steadier church goers than they are now,but of course
else to go —don't know as they was any more religious. Lots of the young
men didn't go to chu-chothat is,they didn't go inside. But they'd always be
standing around outside to see their girls home.
(2And there was the church 1110066K festivals —strawberry and ice cream
festivals and pancake and maple syrup suppers and baked bean suppers and
I don't know what all.
C"The girls all w're apronsond before the big event they'd made neckties
to match the aprons. These were passed out to the men,and when yflu came in
you'd hawe to hunt for the girl -whose apron matched ydamentt your necktie.
After supper the cakes that were left over were auctioned off, But the women
had a habit of saving the best looking ones for the auction. The girls would
egg the young fellows on USW to lammencx buy the cakes,and some of them immix
brought some pretty fancy prices. I see one go for $3.5.- A lad would keep
on bidding to rake an impression on some girl. And of course,the money went
for a good cause.
to do
many
was a lot
they wasn't any place
Gues- I told you about Witc. the fatrs,didnt I? The Catholics used to
run one th.,t, lasted a week. told tickets on articles donated by all the
merchants,and they had dancing every night,five cents ,a set. Had 'em
over in the basement of the old church.
LB
ig families was the rule,rather'n the exception.
you arguments against big families and some will speak in favor of them.. I'll
But now someIll give
-3
lust give you one side of ittand you can dra7 your own conclusions. They had
a hard time bringing those children up —that's true,on small pay. But once they
were n,they started working in the shopstand they allays stuck with their
Parents. They handed in their wates'every week,a good many of them,so that
in the long .run these big families were more prosperous than some of th
small ones. They bought their own houses and laid money aside in the bank.
(70f course,here's another thing,property smillis% wasn't so high. A man
could build himself a pretty good house for #2,000,includin' the purchase
of the lot and everything. They helped each other Swbuild,too. BOK It
wasn't uncommon for a lot of tlis folks to pitch in and build 7a man's house,
if he couldn't affo-d to get it done no other way. My fathervand a lot of
other men,each give one feller a diglism day's work on his house,and it
prol-)ably didn't cost him over three-four hundred dollars, all told.
(:Speakin' about a lay's work,' never told you
about the time Burr
Reid sawed a cord of wood in ten hours for a hundred dollar bet. There was
a feller came to town one time and opened a little place to make brooms. Him
and Burr got to arguint one day --.Burr wasn't a woodcutter,either,he was a
butcher,and the upshot of it WR8 they made thil bet. lord of it got around
town,and alongtowards the finish there was three-four hundred people
he
gathered arcund watchin' Bqrr work. He finished in less'n ten hours,butrOmmx
was all done in. They had to wrap him in blankets and carry him home. But
that night,imoserdarned if he wasn't up to a dance with his girl.
(I was talkin' about fluid,for lamps yesterday. They had street latps
here,on all the principal streets,had to be filled every day. They burned
naptha in 'em. They got so's they knew lust how much it took to burn till
12 o'clock at night,and that's how much they gut in 'em. No more;
They took those lamp posts down after the other lights were put in, nnd sent
to Northfield and Reynolds Bridge. The old lights were burned up till eighty-
seven. Charley Mason Was the first man to trim and light the lamps and after
that there was a man na-ed Tom Butler.
been looking through some more of these old books," Mr/ Botsford takes
one from a table near his Morris chair. "Here's some more prices: dozen of
oranges,twenty five cents; four lemons,eight cents: five bars
of soap,fiety cents; four Immo& pounds and a quarter of codfish,twenty
three cents. REPIT* Here's a bill for one month for $37.20,and for another
month it was only $7. 60- <ffuite a difference. Two yards of silk,$4; and a
yard and a half of cambric.30 cents. This runs from April 2,1858 to
April 28,163.
("Here's something else might interest you,too," Mr.Botsford has a
newspaper clipping from the laterbury Republican of Dec. 1,19)1 --an
item from the Thomaston correspondent describing the anniversary of the
local fire department. Among oter events, in the Imegikisor.x departmental
nnals
the article describes the "greatest day in Thomaston's history.
1101011100110rx
(An excerpt follows:
Both companies were joint hosts for the great fireman's day in
Thomaston Sept 11,1902,the high point of which was the monster parade.
with more than 1750 men in the line of march,comprising 28 fire companies,
14 bands,numerous drum corps and a great display of fire fighting equip-
ment. This was unquestionably the greatest day in Thomaston's history. 4
was reported that there were upwards of 10,000 visitors in Thomaston on that
day. As Thomaston had less than 4,000 inhabitants at that time that was a
notable temporary increase."
local
C Further on is this paragraph: "Then they (the twf4companiEs took up
their quarters in the present building rivalry was so keen that hard 'feelingo
ran amuck, amuck, every member was given a key to his own depq.rtment 0.nd not allowed
n the other.