I was making an attempt to gather all of my umbrellas in one place that might prove to be handier than their current, never convenient when I need one location when I remembered reading this article in the July 22, 1903 Norwich Bulletin about parasols.

Many of us in 2021 are now using umbrellas on these hot and sunny days as if they were those beautifully decorated parasols. The article spoke not about the material of the parasol or umbrella but about the handle.

The newest parasol and umbrella has more than one mission to fulfill. Those of latest importation have richly and exquisitely carved art nouveau handles of the whitest ivory. They are long and heavy and screw on to the wooden shaft that supports their silken mounting.

These handles are hollow and contain a tiny six-inch vial to be filled with cologne or toilet water. By pressing an ornament in the carving of the handle, the top of the vial opens and sends out a spray of its fragrant contents to moisten a handkerchief or damen the temples of a fatigued or fainting lady.

Sometimes the handle of the parasol is filled with delicious Russian salts instead of cologne.”

I know that many of us have allergies to many of todays popular scents but there are times when I would welcome a hint of floral, vanilla, or lemon scent. A light scent, best described as a waft on the wind.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs

Two children were pulled from in front of a Trolley Car on West Main Street by Patrick Caples, a hoseman of Chemical Company No. 1 of the West Side according to a July 23, 1903 report in the Norwich Bulletin.

It seems that Patrick Caples, a hoseman of Chemical Company No. 1, of the West Side used rare presence of mind Tuesday noon when he drew two small children from in front of a city bound trolley car on West Main Street in front of the company’s house.

The car due at Franklin Square at 1 o’clock was going along at the regular clip after coming down the long hill and when almost in front of the chemical house two small children darted off the sidewalk to cross the track in the face of the rushing car. Hoseman Caples saw their plight and jumped after them and pulled them off the track in the face of the rushing car. Hoseman Caples saw their plight ad jumped after them and pulled them off the track just in time to save them from injury. The motorman clanged his bell and did all in his power to stop the car, but it didn’t come to a standstill until the place where the children were crossing had been passed. Mr. Caples certainly deserves much praise for his prompt and heroic work.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs

Peaches are plentiful in 2021 so I thought I would bring back a few recipes from the August 11, 1903 Norwich Bulletin. Some cooking experience may be necessary and putting on ice in modern terms is placing it in the refrigerator to chill.

Floating Island – Cut the top off a loaf of rather stale sponge cake, and carefully remove the inside, leaving a base and walls only an inch thick. Fill with fresh sliced peaches, sprinkled liberally with sugar and mixed with whipped cream. Set on ice for a short time. Just before serving pour a soft yellow custard around the cake, and garnish with a few fine peaches, pared and halved. Arrange the peach halves with the pit side upward, and fill the hollows with blanched and sliced almonds mixed with a very little whipped cream.

[2021 version – Purchased from the grocery store a pound cake or a package of the pre-pared yellow short cakes. Peeled, pitted and medium diced six fresh peaches and mixed with three/fourths container of whipped topping before filling cake center with mixture and placing in refrigerator. I did not add sugar to the mixture. I made some vanilla pudding and chilled it in individual dishes, vanilla ice cream would work well too. Garnish is up to you. I used a few sprigs of fresh mint. ]

Pudding – Mix together one beaten egg, a pinch of salt, a piece of butter the size of an egg, a cupful of milk, a teaspoonful of yeast powder, and flour enough to make a soft dough. Beat all thoroughly together, and spread the dough about an inch thick in a small buttered baking dish. Cover it thickly with pared and halved peaches, having the hollow side up, and fill the hollows with granulated sugar. Bake in a quick oven for half an hour, and serve hot with any nice sweet sauce.

[2021 version – Purchased from the grocery store one tube of pre-made biscuits. Place the biscuits in a buttered baking dish. The closer the better in my opinion. Cover it thickly with pared and medium diced fresh peaches. I sprinkled lightly with a mix of white sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped fine fresh ginger. I have a heat loving friend who adds chopped jalapenos to his mix. He is also been known to add chopped peaches and jalapenos to the corn bread he serves at his barbq’s. ]

Fritters – Sift together two teacupfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, and teaspoonful of baking powder. Rub in thoroughly one tablespoonful of butter. Beat two eggs very light and add to them one cup full of milk and water. Pour this on the flour mixture and beat quickly and lightly together. Pare and halve fine ripe peaches, sprinkle them with sugar, dip in batter, and fry to a nice brown in smoking hot oil. When done, lift out with a skimmer, drain for a minute on unglazed paper, dust with powdered sugar, and arrange on a heated dish. Serve at once.

[2021 version – Pare and medium dice some fine ripe peaches. Add to prepared pancake batter using the peach juice with the preferred liquid. A shot of peach brandy doesn’t hurt either but is not required. I pour into a lightly oiled frying pan until the cakes release and flip them to lightly brown. A warm oven will keep them toasty before serving with powdered sugar, or peach or maple syrup. You can also use the batter to make waffles and serve them beneath a scoop of your favorite ice cream. Just sayin’.]

In Tapioca Jelly. – Soak a cupful of tapioca in water to cover over night. In the morning add a quart of water and cook in a double boiler until perfectly transparent. When done, add a cupful of sugar, and six fine, mellow peaches, pared and sliced. Stir lightly together, turn into a mold dipped out of the cold water, and set away until firm. Serve with sweetened whipped cream. – Mary Foster Sneider, in Country Gentleman.

[2021 version – Sorry not a tapioca fan so I have not updated this recipe. Let me know if you try it or have an updated version you prefer.]

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs

Not every story in the past copies of the Norwich Bulletin was sad, depressing or shocking. Sometimes stories were used to build up suspense for a business. For example there was this repeated story about the adventures and training of Miss Mary C. Adles. I took this one from the August 3, 1903 edition of the newspaper.

The story explains that “Miss Mary C. Adles will be absent from town for several weeks, completing the course of study which she has followed for a number of years, with reference to improved scientific and hygienic treatment of the skin and hair.

She will study with her brother, M. Adles, M.D., a leading physician of St. Louis, graduate of the Missouri Medical College.

Miss Adles’ patrons will do well to wait until her return to town, when she will have a genuine surprise in store for them. Her success with customers in New York and New England during recent years will be surpassed by means of the interesting information which she will have to disclose upon her return to Norwich.”

Promotion of a business does not necessarily have to be only done by advertising. Sometimes promotion of a business is done by talking about advanced training. The business people in 2021 Norwich, CT could benefit tremendously by using such promotion and the newspaper would benefit too by having more local news stories to tell which might in turn increase its local readership leading to a higher subscription rate. Local news does not have to be a loss leader item for a newspaper.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs

Oh my goodness you all are a ghoulish lot. OK here is a story from the July 9, 1902 Norwich Bulletin about a Taftville woman who worked at Ponemah Mill.

“A horrible accident occurred on Tuesday afternoon when Mrs. Alice Smith, by the accidental catching of her hair in a machine was literally scalped. The accident took place about 3 o’clock. Mrs. Smith, who was employed as a speeder tender, had crawled under her speeder to adjust some portion of the machine, when her hair became caught in one of the revolving cones of the roller.

Before her fellow employees could realize what was happening and stop the machine the unfortunate woman’s scalp was completely torn from her head. She was cool, however, throughout the ordeal, and managed to walkabout the room. Dr. George Thompson was called and administered anodynes and stimulants to relieve as much as possible the pain. He took Mrs. Smith to his office and sent for the Backus Hospital ambulance.

Mrs. Smith was conveyed to the hospital in the ambulance, where Dr. Patrick Cassidy, assisted by the members of the house staff, sewed the scalp into place on her head. It was torn off clear down to the neck in the back and nearly down to the eyebrows in the front. Mrs. Smith was resting comfortably late Tuesday evening and will recover.

It is believed that the scalp will unite with the skull tissue and form a perfect union, leaving only a scar to show. Mrs. Smith is a daughter of James Taylor of Lisbon and lives at the Ponemah boarding house. She is about 30 years old.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs

How can you not love it when one paper reports a story from another paper? Take for example this gem from the July 22, 1903 Norwich Bulletin re-print from the Chicago Inter Ocean newspaper.

“A real treasure chest was discovered a few weeks ago in Frankfort, Germany, in the most unexpected of places – no less a pace than the city poorhouse.

For many years a huge iron chest had been stored in one of the attic rooms. The key to it was missing, and so it happened that nobody ever bothered to try to get at it until recently, when a general housecleaning caused the officials to have it broken open. It was like breaking open a pirate’s hoard. When the lid was lifted, magnificent silver cups and ornaments were revealed. Experts soon found that they dated back as far as 1650 and that they were the work of famous blacksmiths of the seventeenth century.”

What is hiding in the old chest, trunk or suitcase in your storage? I found a bunch of old photographs of unidentified people. No silver, gold, jewelry or coins. No hidden cache of money. I hope you have better luck in your stored stuff!

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs

Here in New England the temperature can vary greatly between the time we rise, while we attend to our day and go to sleep at night. In the August 5, 1903 Norwich Bulletin was an article re-printed from the Kansas City Journal relating the story of a new barometer that might prove useful today.

“Water Williams tells of the odd plan of alternating his clothes that was employed by a quaint old character who used to live in Booneville. He ‘constructed or reconstructed a thermometer in his own peculiar fashion.

Instead of the usual markings upon the thermometer, zero, thirty-two, etc. he marked his legends like these: Heavy overcoat, light overcoat, gray cashmere, shirt sleeves. Every change in the temperature was thus marked and the quaint old gentleman used to follow always the thermometers directions.

It appeared to be quite satisfactory to the inventor of the odd device, though his neighbors were surprised sometimes at the garb he wore. “Might it not be possible,” Mr. Williams continues, “to so learn one’s own impulses and emotions that a thermometer with different legends could be constructed and be of value? At 65 degrees Fahrenheit, for example, might be put: Best working time. At 80 degrees, look out for temper. At 90, keep away from people with red heads and sharp tongues. At 100, probable family explosions. This would not cure the irritation which summer causes, but it would at least be a warning. An emotional barometer and due observance of the same might keep the ship of self from wreck or fireworks.”

What would you have on your personal thermometer or barometer? For my own I envision something very like a calendar found in kindergartens with pictures of hats and mittens, jackets, sweaters, t-shirts, slacks and shorts.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs

Can you imagine any part of the Yantic River open to boat navigation ? Boats larger than row boats or rafts ? It was seriously considered according to an article in the August 13, 1903 Norwich Bulletin.

Per the article, “ During the past few days a government official has been in this city for the purpose of looking over the situation regarding the opening of the east channel of the Yantic River to navigation. As it is now, with the low railroad bridge which has no draw, no boats larger than rowboats can pass there, and it is the intention of the controllers of the land north of the bridge to work for the putting in of a drawbridge, so that barges can be taken up the river.

The railroad company has recently constructed a new bridge there, and is now removing a arge number of the old spiles which supported the structure. It is stated that they are going to raise the bridge about a foot above its present level, which it is expected will allow the barge now waiting to pass under when the water is low.

Surveys of the river have been sent to the government, and some report on the question is expected within a short time. There have been three government officials here regarding the matter.

It is thought the result will be that a drawbridge will be required of the railroad, and that whenever a new bridge is built by the town to replace the present one, near the elevator building, that it will have to be a drawbridge.”

What a shame Norwich doesn’t have a drawbridge somewhere! The drawbridge in Niantic is a great attraction for people just wanting the experience of crossing a drawbridge with the opportunity of being caught in the traffic jam when it is opened for a passing boat. Not to mention the businesses that have grown up around it for the tourists and sightseers. Ah well. Dreams are but the progress of Norwich, CT.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs

The discussion of Eastern Connecticut having passenger rail service again caused me to recall this story from the February 14, 1894 Norwich Bulletin.

“The street railway employees fought all Monday night with the engulfing snow, and ran plows and cars incessantly. Superintendent Shaw personally directed the schedule and provided a boiler of coffee and a clothes basket of sandwiches for the men. It was a cheerless task running thru the dark, deserted streets in the blustering snow storm. After a trip the men had a chance to warm up, and I sounded rather like railroading to hear some one in authority say at 9 a.m., “Well, boys, lets take a run up to Norwich Town and tunnel the drifts.”

“The railway people were busy Tuesday and Tuesday night clearing the tracks, and they carted off several hundred loads of snow from the narrow thoroughfares.

The trains were late on both roads Tuesday morning and the 9:35 train on the Norwich & Worcester railroad did not come in until between 12 and 1 o’clock. The Boston papers did not arrive until 8 p.m. The 10:55 train on the New London Northern did not arrive until 1 o’clock. The boat train from New London due at 5:30 a.m. Came through at 6:50 p.m. The 930 a.m. Train for Boston was stalled at Oxford.

The Hanover stage arrived in the city at 10:45 o’clock on Monday and was about an hour late. Mr. Judd brought the mail through safely but reported big drifts. The road was bad at the foot of Lee’s Hill and above Taftville. Mr. Judd carried a snow shovel and broke the way through in some places.”

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don't hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs