USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
After the resignation of Elder Stanwood, Elder William Bentley preached for the church until the spring of 1835. At that time Rev. Orsamus Allen was asked to preach for one year. The presumption is that he continued to preach for the church until 1837. During this time there were eighteen baptisms and fourteen additions by letter.
From October 1, 1837, until April 29, 1838, the church listened to the preaching of Elder Francis Hawley. After Elder Hawley, there seems to have been no settled pastor until June, 1841. Different preachers ministered to the flock. Among these was Rev. Simon Shailer. This period seems to have been one of hard trial to the church.
In June, 1841, Rev. James Squier became the pastor and remained until May, 1842. During his ministry there was a revival in which twenty-nine were baptised. The pastor was assisted by Rev. J. Ro- bords, of Galway.
In April, 1842, Edward Savage, a recent graduate of Madison Uni- versity, was engaged as supply, and in September of the same year was ordained pastor. He remained with the church until December 4, 1846. During his pastorate thirty-nine were added by baptism and twenty-one by letter. In 1844, the ill health of Mr. Savage compelled him to spend a few months in travel. The church, during the absence of Mr. Savage, was cared for by Rev. S. D. Phelps, D. D., who was then a student.
In 1843, the house which now stands on the southeast corner of
216
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
West and Meadow streets was built for a parsonage. The land was given for that purpose by Deacon George Welch. This property was sold in 1863 and a house which stood next to the church was bought with the proceeds, and for a number of years served as the church par- sonage.
On January 29, 1847, the Rev. Leicester Lewis became pastor of the church. He continued the pastoral relation until September 25, 1853. There were added to the church during his ministry sixty-nine, of whom forty-six came by baptism.
On January 8, 1854, Rev. J. T. Smith of Sandisfield, Mass., accepted the pastorate He began his labors in the spring, and was installed June 28th. He continued in this pastorate until August 1st, 1856.
In September of the same year, Rev. Isaac H. Gilbert, a recent graduate of Brown University, was called as pastor. He was ordained November 26th of that year. He continued with the church until April 26, 1863, and then went to the church in Middletown. Sixty- nine were added to the church during his ministration, forty-seven of them by baptism.
From this time until January, 1866, the church was without a pastor. . Among its supplies was the famous Jabez S. Swan, and also his son, Rev. C. Y. Swan. On January 26, 1866, Rev. George E. Horr of Orange, N. J., was tendered an invitation to the pastorate. He began his labors about the first of May of that same year, and continued with the church until November, 1868.
Until April, 1870, after the resignation of Mr. Horr, the church was again depending upon supplies. But, in March, 1870, the Rev. Charles W. Ray of Jewett City was urged to take up the pastoral rela- tion. He accepted the invitation and began his work in April. He remained until August 31, 1873. During his ministry there was a re- vival of which mention is still made. Seventy-four united with the church in his pastorate, fifty-two of whom were by baptism.
On April 7, 1874, the church extended a call to Rev. Delavan De- wolf of Delavan, Wisconsin. Mr. Dewolf came in response to the call, and remained with the church until September 1, 1886. His ministry was a fruitful one and he was much beloved by the church and com- munity. During this period, the present church building was erected, and also the present parsonage. The new building was occupied for worship for the first time in September, 1880. Both the church and parsonage are, in several respects, model buildings, and are associated in the minds of many with the ministration of Mr. Dewolf.
On October 21, 1886, Rev. F. E. Tower of Brattleboro, Vermont, was invited to the pastorate. The invitation met with his approval and his work with the church began on November 1st, of that year. Mr. Tower remained with the church until January 1, 1894. He was a student, an author, and a preacher of wide intellectual grasp.
The church extended a call to Rev. John S. Lyon, of Fair Haven, Vermont, on March 18, 1894. Mr. Lyon began his work in Bristol on May 1st of the same year. He continued with the church until the last Sunday in December, 1900. He at once took a very large place in the life of the community. His power as a public speaker was ex- ceptional and his personality won for him a multitude of friends. His pastorate was successful from every point of view, and it was with the deepest regret that the church was compelled to accept his resignation. He is still remembered in Bristol with great admiration and affection. The notable revival under Evangelist Jackson occurred during this pastorate. It was an inter-denominational movement, and was far- reaching in its influence and results.
Rev. Henry Clarke of Stonington, Conn., on May 5, 1901, was voted a call by the church to become its pastor. His pastorate began in June of that year, and continues at the present time.
217
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
Rambles Among the Bristol Birds
BY FRANK BRUEN.
"To business that we love We rise betimes And go to 't with delight."
ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA-Shakespeare.
B RISTOL is well situated for pleasant walks, for bird and nature study. Go in whatsoever direction you will there is a great deal to charm the eye and ear; though the woodman's greed has done much in recent years to deprive Bristol of her assets of woodland beauty, and her birds of much needed homes, food and shelter. Let us hope that owners of woodlots may soon learn the prin- ciples and practice of common sense timber culture.
Space would forbid my treating in detail of rambles at all seasons, so I shall confine myself largely to May when the spring migration is at its culmination, with lapses backward perhaps, or leaps ahead as may be convenient.
It is five o'clock in the morning at Federal Green and the sym- phony of bird music thrills the ears of bird lovers and fills the novice with mingled pleasure and bewilderment.
The "Robin Chorus" is largely over at this time and different species like players in an orchestra give voice or withdraw when their turns come. The Robin is still most noticeable, but Chippy's little ditty almost unheard' before is now quite prominent. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak's sweet, rich song is heard from half a dozen directions; the Least Flycatcher calls "chebec" from everywhere; the Bluebirds sound their sweet warble, the Purple Finch in ecstacy circles over head, pour- ing out delicious song, then goes fluttering to some perch, but unable to contain his happiness there he is up in the air again. His cousins, the Gold Finches in the elms, are equally happy and tuneful.
Up by the Congregational Church the Wood Peewee is calling plaintively and the Flickers are courting near by or drumming loudly on some dead branch, and the Downy Woodpecker is not backward in showing off his skill in the same way.
Over by St. Joseph's Church the Catbird is singing gloriously, show- ing that it is only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, by ending his song with a miserable catcall.
The Purple Grackle from the colony nearby flies overhead with his hysterical call, a Humming bird buzzes by to some early blossom, the Baltimore. Oriole sings from the elins where his pendant cradle is well under way, the Chimney Swift goes chattering overhead and in the distance we hear the Field Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, the Crow, Blue Jay and other birds which we shall see later on.
But who is this little fellow above our heads almost deafening us
218
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
NEST OF HUMMING BIRD.
with his "Hear me, see me, where are you?" It is the Yellow Throated Vireo and his cousin the Red Eyed Vireo is preaching away in the maple across the street; below the hill the Warbling Vireo, to me the sweetest of singers, is warbling out his joy. Earlier in the season we may hear the Solitary Vireo's fascinating song.
IWarblers we hear in great variety, especially the Black and White's wheezy notes, the Redstart, Chestnut Sided and others, besides that quaintest of songs the "Ta, ta; ta, to, how do?" of the Black Throated Green Warbler.
219
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE "
ROBIN'S NEST AND EGGS. (An unusual place for a Robin's Nest.)
But as warblers the warblers are a great failure, they should have been called wood sprites instead of wood warblers.
All this time the House Wren has been bubbling over with his ex- plosive song and to appease his wrath for leaving him so long unnoticed I beg his pardon. The "Thank, thank, thank" or "Wet, wet, wet, wet" of the White-Breasted Nuthatch or "devil downhead" as he is some- times called, will be seldom heard because his family duties forbid his showing himself much in public at this time. Otherwise he would be frequently seen going up or down the trees head up or head down as suited his convenience.
Other birds may be seen and heard here, but the sun is getting high and we must hasten away.
Our route is along Queen St., to the "Old Lane" entrance. Besides the birds just mentioned which seem to attend us on our way, we soon hear the Yellow Warbler or Summer Yellow Bird, and hardly have we entered the "Old Lane" than "Silver Tongue," the Song Sparrow, whose song we have been hearing, begins to scold, and near by in the grass among the briars nicely hid away, his nest is found with its speckled beauties or hungry little ones.
Now the Brown Thrasher's unrivalled song comes to us in full force from yonder tall tree and we stop to listen, breathless.
Next we come to "Chat Hollow," one-time favorite home of the Yellow-breasted Chat, White-eyed Vireo and a host of other birds, but its glories have largely departed because the swamp feeding ground
220
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
above has been cleared away. But the place is full of the memories of former days and of the antics and queer noises of that clown in feathers, the Chat.
The bell-like song of the wood thrush and the Buzz, buzz, buzz of the Golden-winged, or the Buzz, buzz of the Blue-winged warbler, is generally heard. Chestnut-sided, Prairie, Nashville, Redstart, and other warblers are generally heard there yet, and the "Teacher, teacher, teacher" of the Oven-bird is sure to come from all sides, as does also the "Stick your peas" of the Towhee or Chewink.
WHITE-BREASTED NUT HATCH, HEAD DOWNWARDS.
A little farther along Phœbe used to call from above the old copper mine mouth, where year after year its nest was made, until unfeeling boys broke up the home.
Here we should hear the Grouse drum on the hill.
The Northern Yellow-Throat (formerly Maryland Yellow-Throat) is in forceful evidence with his "wichity, wichity, wich." Here, too, the Fox-sparrow may be heard early in the spring.
We wander on to the "Lone Pine," then leave the "Old Lane" and skirt along the woods below the standpipe, through alder and birch growths, noting here and there a new bird for our list or stopping to see or hear the old favorites. The Scarlet Tanager will be singing from some tall tree top and the Hairy Woodpecker giving his long roll from some dead limb and if we are very lucky we may hear a Red-headed Woodpecker calling from the "Maple Croft" woods. Through Maple-
221
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
THE LONE PINE AND THE OLD LANE.
croft we go to Lewis Corners and the Pines, we hear the Vesper, Grass- hopper, and Savannah Sparrows sing, and the Barn Swallows twitter about us, and a troupe of Wax Wings may fly over us.
A Red Shouldered Hawk too is likely to leave her nest and circle about, screaming overhead. In the meadow the Bob-o-link is tinkling his metallic song and the Meadow Lark's song floats sweetly to us.
Here, too, the Kingbird loves to perch on some apple tree giving sharp calls between bites, and the Crested Fly-catcher's call is heard from the hillside, and from the distant swamp we may be fortunate enough to hear the wierd flute-like song of the Veery or Wilson's Thrush. Never shall I forget my endeavors to fasten that song to the right bird. Bob White's clear whistle was wont to be heard here but he is well nigh extinct about Bristol.
Up the valley to Edgewood, rounding the "Dumpling" we come to the ponds, and, where the foaming, dashing cascade begins may be heard the thrilling, wild song of the Louisiana Water Thrush. Here the Little Green Heron may be seen; the Red Wings will scold you from the alders, Sandpipers run along the shore, and Kingfishers sound their policemen's rattle as they fly from one favorite perch to another. A Swamp Sparrow may be heard in the swamp and on rare occasions a Great Blue Heron may fly out. Chickadee may be found already housed in some rotted stump, and at night the Whippoorwill will call from the "Dumpling" and sometimes a Night Hawk calls overhead.
222
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
Across the fields to Birge's Pond, through the Hoppers to "Cuss Gutter" over Fall Mountain to "Cedar Swamp" or down the Pequabuck to the Y, and around South Mountain to Compounce by way of "Purga- tory" to hear the Water Thrush sing, the ponds below, the timbered lands east to Forestville, or up the river to Terryville, all are walks of beauty and interest.
But May is not the only month, for all seasons have their own peculiar charm and the somber days of winter are no exception. What can make one feel more sure of the Father's care over his creatures than to find a tiny Winter Wren living securely in the depths of "Cuss Gutter" when the Frost King has fettered the swift stream, save for a few breath- ing spots, and the earth is buried down in snow? One comes very near to Nature's God amid such scenes.
One great charm of the winter rambles is the finding of unexpected birds, those, who for some unknown reason, have remained North, when their comrades went South, or who are erratic in their movements, or who have become rare for the locality, they are as follows:
PHŒBE ON NEST, PHOTOGRAPHED FROM LIFE WITH THE AID OF MIRRORS
223
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
NEST AND EGGS OF THE SONG SPARROW.
Bluebird, Robin, American Crossbill, White Winged, Crossbill, Purple Finch, Northern Flicker, Evening Grosbeak (1905 and 1907), Pine Gros- beak, Marsh Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Kingfisher, Ruby-crowned King- let, Meadow Lark, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red Poll-linnet, Northern Shrike, Pine Siskin, Snow Bunting, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Towhee Bunting, Myrtle Warbler, Bohemian and Cedar Wax Wings and Winter Wren.
Bristol is both a popular summer and winter resort for birds; poor indeed would be our showing of birds if we had to depend upon our permanent residents.
The following birds may be called residents :
Bob White (almost extinct), Black Capped Chickadee, American Crow, Ruffed Grouse, Bluejay, White-breasted Nuthatch, Barred Owl, Screech Owl, English Sparrow, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers.
Then there are those species which are constantly with us but of which the individuals may or may not breed to the north of us, these to coin a new term, I call resident-migrants.
They are the Crow, American Goldfinch, American Sparrow Hawk, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered and Marsh Hawks and Song Sparrow. 1 Another class is made up of winter visitants, birds that breed to the north of us and come to spend the winter with us. They are Brown Creeper, American and White Winged Crossbills, Evening Grosbeak, very rare, Pine Grosbeak, occasional, but then in force, American Rough Legged Hawk, Goshawk, Slate-colored Junco or Snow-bird, Golden Crowned Kinglet, Saw Whet Owl, Red Poll-linnett, Northern Shrike,
224
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
NEST AND EGGS OF THE PHŒBE, PHOTOGRAPHED FROM LIFE BY THE USE OF MIRRORS.
Pine Siskin, Snow Bunting or Snow Flake, Tree Sparrow, Winter Wren. Red-breasted Nuthatch and Bohemian Wax Wing.
A large class is migrant in the spring time going north, and returning in the fall on their way south.
These are Rusty Grackle, American Golden-eye Duck, Olive-sided Fly Cathcer, Yellow-bellied Fly Catcher, Canada Goose, Pied-billed Grebe, Broad-winged Hawk, Pigeon Hawk, Sharp Shinned Hawk, Great Blue Heron, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Loon, Orchard Oriole, rare, Osprey, American Pipit, Solitary Sandpiper, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Fox Sparrow, Savanna Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Gray-cheecked Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Olive-backed Thrush, Blueheaded or Solitary Vireo, Bay-breasted, Black Burnian, Black Poll, Black Throated Blue Canadian Flycatching, Connecticut, Magnolia, Myrtle, Nashville and Northern Parula, Wilson's, Black Cap and Yellow Palm Warblers, N. Y. Water Thrush and Red-headed Woodpecker.
The largest class is of summer residents, these are the ones that attract the most attention by their songs and these are the ones most of us mean when we say "the birds have come back again." Some of them lap over into the preceding classes. They are as follows:
American Bittern, rare, Red-shouldered Blackbird, Blue Bird, Bob-o-link, Indigo Bunting, Catbird, Cowbird, Crow, Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Mourning Dove, rare, Black Duck, rare, Purple Finch, Northern Flicker, Crested Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Purple Grackle, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Coopers, Marsh, Red-shouldered and. Red-Tailed Hawks, Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Green Heron,
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
225
NIGHT HAWK'S NEST AND EGGS.
226
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
FRANK BRUEN.
Ruby-throated Humming-bird, Kingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Purple Martin, Meadow Lark, Night Hawk, Baltimore Oriole, Wood Peewee, Phobe, Robin, Spotted Sandpiper, Chipping, Field, Grasshopper, Henslow's, Swamp, Song and Vesper Sparrows, Bank, Barn, Cliff, Rough-winged and Tree Swallows, Chimney Swift, Scarlet Tanager, Brown Thrasher, Towhee Bunting, Red-eyed, Warbling, White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, American Red-start, Blackthroated, Green, Black, White, Blue Winged, Chestnut-sided and Golden-winged Warblers, Northern Yellow Throat, Oven Bird, Pine and Prairie Warblers, Louisiana Water Thrush, Yellow Warbler or Summer Yellowbird, Yellow-breasted Chat, Cedar Wax-wing, Whippoorwill, American Wood Cock, and House Wren.
This list is probably far from complete but the writer, with one exception, has named only the birds seen by himself.
An intimate personal acquaintance with the birds is a lifelong joy and I hope that all Bristol people and others may try to emulate, in knowledge at least, Hiawatha, whom Longfellow thus pictures:
"Then the little Hiawatha Learned of every bird its language, Learned their names and all their secrets, How they built their nests in summer, Where they hid themselves in winter, Talked with them whene'er he met them, Called them 'Hiawatha's chickens.' "
227
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
History of School District No. 9
School District No. 7, 1796-School District No. 9, 1896*
RECORD OF HOMES IN NO. 7 FROM 1796 TO 1896, TO THE DIVISION LINE OF 1842.
BY MRS. H. S. BARTHOLOMEW.
R EVIEWING the changeful years of a century in the history of No. 7, or the North East School District of Bristol, it is evident that its beginning as a distinct school district dates from one year after the Connecticut School Fund became- available for free and public schools, 1795.
When in 1796, the town held its first school meeting in the "meeting- house," Joseph Byington, from the North East part of the town was moderator and David Lewis, from the same section, was one of the nine voted "to be school committee for the several districts to which they respectively belong."
The division of the town in 1768, into five districts, was thus made obsolete.
In 1798, Noah Byington, son of Joseph, Senior, received his appoint- ment as Investigating or School Society's Committee and at the same time James Hadsell was made a District School Committee, one of ten in number. They were residents of No. 7, or the North East District.
Noah Byington served many years in his official capacity. Some- times with Esquire Thomas or George Mitchell they constituted the entire board of examiners and school visitors, as in 1820. Usually several others were chosen also to perform the duties of the committee. Mr. Byington was a surveyor. His home was near and south of the first school house of the district No. 7, very near the present home of Franklin Yale, on the east side of the way. He was born 1762, and died 1834. His wife, Lucy, died 1798, age 32. The third wife, Ruth Manross, daughter of Deacon Elisha Manross of Forestville, died at the old home, 1867, aged 95 years. Of the children two sons, Noah Henry and Charles were physicians of Bristol and Southington, and Welles R., a deacon of Congregational Church, Bristol, 1830-1849. (All the Byingtons were large, strong men.) (From H. I. Muzzy.) After the death of Mrs. Byington in 1867, the house was last occupied by Michael Lyons, who removed soon to Farmington and built a house west of "the Meadows," near Bristol town line.
* The illustrations accompanying this article, have in all cases (where mention of the subject illustrated has been made in the text), been numbered to correspond with the number denoting their location on the MAP OF DISTRICT No. 9.
For a few years previous to Oct. 10, 1896, the town conveyed pupils from No. 7 to. the school in Edgewood. At that date it was voted in an adjourned town meeting "to form of No. 7, and No. 9, a new school district, called No. 9, to contain all the territory in both."
228
BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
SKIBBEIREEN
Xix
X1, 03
90
40%
ROAD
MINEIS
12) a
(140)
. 23
19
18
16
17. G
20
21
24
26
·25
STEVENS
22º
ST.
29%
.27 · 2.8
300
DIST.9.
31 .
:: 063
F
LINE
VOTED 1842
49
6446 ABANDONED
36 LINE VOTED 1833
55_|
6209
1454443
20042
371
600
39
040
MAP OF DISTRICT NO. 9, PREPARED BY
350
ST
4/0
MALTBY ST
340
MRS. H. S. BARTHOLOMEW, TO ACCOMPANY THIS ARTICLE.
330
LINE OF 1829 3
.32
LINE OF 1830
-
LINE OF 1842
LIST OF BUILDINGS AND BUILDING SITES AS INDICATED ON ABOVE MAP OF DISTRICT No. 9.
No. 1, David Lewis and Joel Norton Places; No. 2, Hiram Norton Place; No. 3, Michael Critchley Place; No. 4, James Hadsell, Jr., Place; No. 5, Mining Company's House; No. 6, Ephraim Culver Place; No. 7, Mine Superintendent's House; No. 8, Store of Mining Co .; No. 9, Abel Yale (1st and 2d) Place; No. 10, Thomas Yale and Adna Hart Places; No. 11, John Bacon Place; No. 12, Schoolhouse No. 2; No. 13, the Joel Hart Place; No. 14, James Hadsell, Sr., Place; No. 15, Hadsell's Cooper Shop; No. 16, the Muzzy Saw Mill; No. 17, the Ward, Shane, etc., Place; No. 18, the Martin Hart Place; No. 19, Pest House, the Calvin Wooding Place; No. 20, James Hadsell; Sr., Place; No. 21, Philo Stevens Place; No. 22, Samuel Botsford Place; No. 23, Theophilus Botsford Place; No. 24, Henry Smith Place; No. 25, Schoolhouse No. 1; No. 26, Ashbel Mix Place; No. 27, Noah Byington Place; No. 28, Joseph Byington Place; No. 29, Luther Tuttle Place; No. 30, Wilson Sheldon Place; No. 31, Thos. Martin Place; No. 32, Mark Lewis and David Steele Places; No. 33, William Jerome, 3d, Place; No. 34, Simeon Curtiss Place; No. 35, Wm. Jerome, 1st, Place; No. 36, Horace O. Miller Place; No. 37, William Jerome, 2d, Place; No. 38, Wellington Winston, Sr., Place; No. 39, John London Place; No. 40, John London Place; No. 41, Asahel Mix Place; No. 42, Wm. B. Carpenter Place; No. 43, H. S. Bartholomew Place; No. 44, George W. Bartholomew Place; No. 45, Asa Bartholomew Place; No. 46, Wm. Jerome, 3d, and David Steele Places; No. 47, Lauren Byington Place; No. 48, Martin Byington Place; No. 49, John Conklin Place; No. 50, Moses Pickingham Place; No. 51, Allen Winston Place; No. 52, Jeremiah Stever Place; No. 53, Philo and Andrew Curtiss Places; No. 54, Schoolhouse No. 3; No. 55, Asa Austin Upson Place; No. 56, Charles Belden Place; No. 57, Ephraim McEwen Place; No. 58, Isaac Gillett Place; No. 59, Jerome B. Ford Place; No. 60, Grinding Shop; No. 61, Hardware Factory and Gristmill; No. 62, Saw Mill; No. 63, J. B. Ford's Machine Shop.
MIX
039
Fre 51.38
2 4 WARNE36
1047/
59
06
229
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE,"
STORY OF NOAH BYINGTON RELATED BY H. S. BARTHOLOMEW IN -1901, TO HIS DAUGHTER.
"One night in early summer as Noah Byington lay in his four-post bed, in his little one story house (No. 27), with the lower half of his front door fastened, and the upper half open to admit the air, he heard a knock and called out: 'Who's there?' 'Mr. - ,' was the reply. 'I'm going to begin school tomorrow morning on Fed Hill* and want to be examined.' 'Why I can't do it now,' said Mr. Byington. 'Don't you see it's after eight o'clock and I've gone to bed? If you'll come back early in the morning I'll do it.' Then the visitor pleaded that he had something else to occupy the morning; it was a long walk and couldn't he do it then. 'Well,' said Mr. B., 'I can lie here and ask you some questions.' So there was a pause and the would-be teacher hung over the half door in the dim light waiting to make reply. 'How many sounds has A?' was the first question. 'Why A sounds like A', was the answer. 'Hasn't it any sound but just that one?' queried Mr. B. 'No,' replied the stranger. 'Well you don't pass,' was the announce- ment. 'Go home and study your spelling book.'
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.