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Frane s Donovan
Tho' ston,Conn.
Ie esday,Dec. 14,'38
AMIXXMxiAme2XXIMft Mr.MacCurre is the only ccupant of the circle of
chairs near the window in t'le fire house today,a xlxix he is engrossed in
the daily paper,,Ava matter of fact his abior, ion may be a cloak for his
feelings,for,they are burying one of the "bo" this,afternoon_For reasons of
his own,no doubt,he has not planned to at end the funeral,but several of the
others have gone,for the deceased was a aithful attendant of the afternoon
distinct shock.
gatherings and his sudden passing was
Mr. MacCurrie =seam looks u from his newspaper to
greeting and buries himself once n re in its pages,while I maintain a discreet
or twice on the Taterbury mingix municipal
silence. He comments briefly onc
voice a curt
scandals,then lays the paper d n and removes his glasses.
"I suppose its human na re,dammit,tho.v7h it's certainly rotten when
you read about it," he say. "That makes it worse,is 'Et that when they was
takin' this money,the pe plc- down there didn't have enough to eat,some of
them. Xnd all te.whi e it was goin' on,they had that Mutual Aid plan
down therettakin' mOnt out of tie pay envelopes of the poor workin' man
every weic to suppo those on relief.
"You can't pick n tie paper without read in' somethin' that gets your
p. oat, these days. f it ain't in our courtry,it's Hitler and Mus-.olini.
This Eyttalian ba ber up the street the other dzymx day there was a couple
of lads in the s op talkint about Mussolini tryins to grab land from
France. Iell,tAat big French peddler from Taterbury came in,and he got
into the conversation_ I don't think the Eyttalian knew the lad was
French. It pretty near ended in a war. Tkex The Eyttalian says Mus7.olini
would get what he wanted from France in the end,and the Frenchman says
Don't you believe it. Those French will fight.for what they own,he says.
Then it came to giving away C7ecpAirria,that part of it was all right,
W
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but when it comes to their own territory,they'll fight,he says. The Eyetalian
stix see he was gettin' sore,so he didn't say nothini.
"Those people like to brag, you know,but they forget to mention the
times the Eyet-lian soldiers ran away. They ran away during the lorld
lar,and they ran away over in Spain. They're known for it.
Mr. MacCu-rie ixttlx is silent for a while,ga,ing out the window. I
ask him if he has been for his daily walk yet.
I have," says he; "down around Terry's Bridge and up the Railroad tracks."
I expre,s surprise,for it is a considercible distance.
That's nothing," Mr. MacCurrie assures me: "I don't call that a walk.
was comin' up the trlcke,and I se- some of the hoboes have got a hole
dug out in the ro-ks down there 'xx beyond the cut. There's a spring down
there the trackmen use. Fine water it is,too. The boys have all the
comfo-ts o home.
"There's been (-mite a few of them applyin' for lodgin' at the lockup
down here these days too. %nd that ain't a b ad place for them to be,in out
of th- cold. There was a time when they had to registertleave their name and
address and age and occupation,if any,but they don't make them do that no
mo-e. I suppose they figure what the hell's the use. You'll alwa's have
them kind of neople,because they like the life. "re had 'em when times were
good and we've got 'em now. They don't live in any place long enzughtxx
enough to establish a legal residence ,s0 they ain't no town or city
responsibl- for them.
Mr. MacCurrie glances t at his watch,compar's it with the clock. "Fun-
eral must be about over," he says. "Too had about poor Ed." /e are briefly
reflective.
"Days are getting shorter," Mr.MacCurrie observes. "That is this,the
fit fifteenth? Fourteenth? 'Twill be Christmas before you know it. 1 If
ll the kids in town that
I had a lot of money,Ild like to buy toys for a
ron't get many this year.
Another thinE I'd like to
-3-
It.inu,7t be 1, great thing to have plenty of money.
do 19 take a trip right out to the coast,by auto-
niobile. I never'did all t.e.travelin' I wanted to."
Mr. Odenwalloho hs b -on to the funer-,l,comes in.
7 didn't 7o thx to the cemetery," he explains,in answer to x Mr.
MacOurrie's in9uiry.
"He have a big funeral?" asks Mr. MacOurrie.
*Fairly Mg. XIM4kingm The boys from the company acted as bearers. Three
from th company and three from the Odd i Fellows.
"Ed certainly went luick,didn't he? a fella gets that age and it
don't pay to -k)e careles,. He shouldn't have titx tried to chop wood,and do
things like that.
"/as tie a charter 1:lember,Henry?" ass Mr. MacOurrie.
"Oh,no,he wasn't a charter merber. But h- was treasurer here for
,food many years. %nd there -711/lit an afternorm in the re k,when he was
feelint ro d,tiat he didn't mamec shor up here. You could alro9t set your
w -Itch by him.. ...Poor Ed /e11,t(iere won't be many of us old timers
1,-ft,bc'or9 long.
By the wiy,tindrew,how's Jim Fostr,ixtx still in the '.-ao;pital?"
Mr. MacCurrie says he hxmatximariVoatx doesn't know how Jim Foster
is doing,but he oes know that Jim is still in the hoppit,l. "le ought to
go down and seP him," says Mr. Odenwald. There is a lengthy silanceond it
is obvious that lati4hcr Mp Od,,nwlid nor Mr. MacOur ie is in conversational
mood. "I ruesp go homelg:t my supner and go to bed," says Mr.Odenwald.
"That's what you neetprx need," says Mr. M%cCur,"ie; "get some rest,you've
been staying up too late nights. Mr. Odenwald leaves and Mr.MacOurrie
to s+rug;le with his rubbers.