Selected from the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal and lightly annotated by Wendy Taylor, Kent Memorial Library
May 7
The season is still backward and unless the warm weather comes soon the farmers will have a lot of work come at once. Wednesday morning the thermometer registered 26 degrees above zero at sunrise and ice formed to the thickness of an eighth of an inch in some places and the ground was frozen hard.
Rowena Graham returned early in the week to continue her studies at the Normal school at Framingham, Mass., after a week’s vacation at her home here.
John Donnelly has returned from the Springfield Hospital, where he had been for the past four weeks, receiving treatment for a badly fractured arm.
Miss Adams, the fourth and fifth grade teacher at the Center school, visited Niagara Falls during the vacation.
May 14
With freight embargoes, stress of business and other causes the arrival of fertilizers has been delayed and some of the farmers have not received their season’s supply. The weather of the past few weeks has been such that the fertilizer could not have been put on the land if on hand, but the uncertainty is not conductive to peace of mind. The cold wet weather has not been ideal for tobacco beds and many of the growers have been obliged to sow their beds over, owing to rot and in some instances damage by snails.
The scarcity of farm labor is beginning to be felt more keenly now that the season has really begun. Some of the large syndicates tried bringing men here from some of the large cities, but the strangers had the residents of the locality where they were camped terrified by their hold-ups and disorderly conduct and they were shipped back. It will be necessary to cut down on the acreage of corn and potatoes this year if the acreage of tobacco is to be maintained, if the scarcity of labor continues.
May 21
At the interscholastic meet of the Amherst Aggies last week at Amherst, Mass., Suffield School won the interscholastic cup, defeating several other schools. Suffield ran up a score of 70 points and their nearest competitor was Williston Seminary, with only 10 points. Nine schools in this section were represented. Out of the contest Suffield managed to win ten firsts, five seconds and six third places at the meet.
The body of Charles B. Chapman, aged 38 years, a native of this town, who was scalded to death when he became unconscious, while taking a bath in a Winnipeg hotel last Friday, was brought to this place for burial Tuesday.
Mr. Chapman was the son of Henry S. Chapman, who with Charles Brewster ran an explosive factory on East street.
The public schools of Suffield and West Suffield held a public speaking and spelling contest in the Town hall Tuesday evening which was attended by parents and friends of the pupils.
A six-acre tobacco shed belonging to George D. Remington on Halliday avenue, was destroyed by fire with its contents early Wednesday morning. The fire was discovered by a neighbor who gave the alarm. The shed contained three acres of tobacco. The loss is partially covered by insurance. The origin of the fire is unknown. The house, standing about 300 feet from the barn, was also somewhat damaged, as was the horse barn, that stands about twenty-five feet away. These buildings were saved with the help of neighbors and a bucket brigade.
William Stevens, rural delivery carrier, last week resigned from the route as carrier and has accepted another position in Thompsonville, and up to the present time no one has filled the vacancy. It is expected that Stuart Farquhar of Mapleton avenue will take Mr. Stevens’ place some time this week. Howard Toothill, the other rural delivery carrier, has also sent in his resignation.
Neeland Miller of this place is the owner of a 240 acre farm in Suffield which in April, 1919, he leased to Perry Miles for a term of five years, with the stock and tools on the place. There were fifty-nine head of stock and five horses on the place, and included in the stock are twenty-six milking cows. The men are in a controversy and last Friday afternoon they were before Judge William M. Maltbie in the Superior court at Hartford… Mr. Miller asked for an injunction to restrain Mr. Miles from selling to others the manure produced on the farm. Judge Maltbie granted the motion.
Robert Colson suffered a painful injury last week, badly lacerating two fingers of the right hand by catching them in a hay pulley
May 28
The eighty-seventh anniversary of the Suffield School will be held June 12-15.