Wisht
I could go in swimmin’ once
Down ‘ere in Cowdrey’s pon’;
Down
where I uster duck an’ dive
‘Ith Dick an’ Bob an’ John.
An’
hear my mother, threw the trees,
A-yellin’ like a loon,
Fur
me tur hussle out uv there,
An’
git up home purt’ soon.
Wisht
I could jump off frum the gate
An’ come up jest below
Ernother
feller’n pull ‘im down
Like we did ‘en, you know.
‘N’en
hev the bigger fellers chase
Us nigh the ol’ stun mill,
Stark
naked! An see the wimmin folks
Dodge frum the winder sill!
Them
days in Cowdry’s pond wuz full
Uv long continnered joys;
Almos’
ez full ez wuz the stream
Uv speckled-hided boys.
By
jinks! I wisht ‘em fellers now
‘Ud stan’ erolong the dam!
I’d
hev a picture taker ‘ere,
Ez poor ez what I am.
What
is a bath-house or a beach,
Fur soakin’ off the dirt;
Where
you hev got tur slip on pants,
An’ mebbe ha’f a shirt?
No,
sir; jest give me Cowdry’s pon’,
‘Ithout no soap nor rag;
An’
all the ol’ boys splashin’ roun’
Tur git each other’s tag!
July
24, ‘94
Pub.
in Conn. Valley
Advertiser,
August 25,
‘94
This
was probably referring to what is now Leesville Pond in the Moodus section of
East Haddam and on the Salmon River. A brief history of the mills up until
around this time, and the changes in ownership leading to one named Cowley,
comes from ‘The Old Chimney Stacks of East Haddam’, by Shosford. B. Niles, 1857:
In his old age, Capt.
Kilburn became considerably involved, his principal creditors being the Lords, who
were, for those times, wealthy merchants, living at the Landing, and to whom
fickle fortune transferred the old man's property. George Lord lived where
Richard Gelston now resides, Samuel Lord built the brick hotel which
subsequently became the Champion House. George and Richard Lord moved to
Leesville, and through their energy and means this splendid water privilege
became partially developed. Over the oil mill they erected a woolen factory and
a clothier's works, where they fulled and dressed their cloth. They also had a bark
mill, and erected a saw mill, carrying eight saws, and sawing a length of
seventy feet. The woolen mill had five spinning machines, and consumed about
ten thousand pounds of wool annually. The place arose to the dignity of a name,
and was called Lord's Mills. A cotton factory was next erected at the same
spot.
On the night of the 30th
of March, 1815, these mills, with a large portion of their contents, were consumed
by fire, occasioning a loss of about twenty-five thousand dollars. The origin
of the fire was never ascertained, but from some circumstances which
subsequently came to light, suspicions were directed to the crew of a British
vessel which lay near the mouth of the river, the English being at that time
bitterly opposed to American manufactures, then in their infancy.
Notwithstanding this
heavy loss, the Lords, the summer after, erected a fine brick building, 65x35, four
stories high, with a loft in the garret. Into this they introduced machinery
for the manufacture of woolen cloth, using sixteen thousand pounds of wool a
year.
In 1816, they introduced
five hundred cotton spindles, which they afterwards increased to two thousand.
They also had in this building a machine room, where all the wood, brass, and
iron machinery were made and repaired for the establishment.
Fortune's wheel finally
turned disastrously for the Lords. Owing to severe losses they were forced to
mortgage their property heavily to the State of Connecticut, and a foreclosure
was the result. The place was purchased by the sons of Dr. Samuel H B. Lee, of
New London, who gave to it the name which it still retains. The Lees afterwards
sold the mills to Enoch and Samuel Parsons. Soon afterwards a company was
formed, consisting of Parsons, Chapman, D. B. Warner, and S. S. Card.
After holding the
property about eight years, they sold it to Ackley Cowdrey, through whose agency
a joint stock company was formed.
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