ENTERTAINMENT FOR VETERANS
Program Agreed Upon by Committee
Having Seventeenth Reunion in Charge
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TO PARADE THROUGH PRINCIPAL STREETS
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Business Meeting in Red Men’s Hall to
Be followed by Dinner in Music Hall – Music and Speechmaking
At a meeting of the chairmen of the various committees having charge of the reunion of the Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteers, to be held Saturday, August 27, inSouth Norwalk, the following program of entertainment for the veterans was agreed upon. This meeting was held last evening at the council chambers inHaviland street. It is expected that there will between 350 and 400 veterans inSouth Norwalk, Saturday, provided the weather is clear:
The committee of citizens of the city of South Norwalk, in business dress, and a uniformed drum corps will meet the veterans at the west-bound depot, and there the parade will form at 10 o’clock a.m. The route will be from the depot to Monroe street, to South Main street, and through North Main streetto the soldiers’ monument, then through West streetto Franklin, to Washington, and through Washington streetto Red Men’s hall, where a business meeting will be held. Conveyances will be provided at the depot for those who are unable to walk in the parade. After the business meeting, which the public are cordially invited to attend, the veterans will march to Music hall, where dinner will be served at one o’clock, and the public are invited to occupy the gallery in Music hall during the banquet and the following exercises. At the banquet music will be provided by the drum corps and by the Cottage quartet and speeches will be made by prominent men. The people of the city residing along the line of march are requested to hang out their flags and to decorate their homes in the national colors as marks of appreciation and respect for the veterans. – Norwalk Hour, August 25, 1904
Veterans Depart Satisfied
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Profuse in their thanks for the hospitality
Of the Citizens of South Norwalk
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The veterans of the Seventeenth regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, leftNorwalk, Saturday afternoon, well satisfied with the treatment they had received while in town. Everything possible had been done by the resident veterans and the citizens to make the day one of pleasure to the old soldiers, and they certainly succeeded as the visitors agree in the statement that Saturday’s reunion was one of the pleasantest in the history of the organization.
Too much credit can not be given to the citizens ofSouth Norwalk, who worked so hard to make the affair a grand success. The solicitations for money and supplies for the dinner which was served as Music hall brought in responses which have never been surpassed by anything of the kind in this vicinity.
People numbering 560 were served, and after they had eaten as much as they wished there was enough food left to feed fully as many more. The food that remained was distributed by the committee in charge to all the poor people in town as far as they had knowledge and the rest was turned over to the Salvation Army for distribution.
At the dinner Judge John H. Light presided and gave the address of welcome to the guests. His remarks formed a forceful gem of high literary quality.
He gave the freedom of the city to the veterans in the name of the citizens and officials. He was followed by Col. Leslie M. Smith, Captain Oscar St. John and others.
On one of the tables at the dinner was a large meat platter over two hundred years old. It is the property of Mrs. Samuel Waterbury. It has been in the Benson family of Long Islandfor many years.
Captain St. John, of East Norwalk, past president of the regiment, is most profuse in his expressions of gratitude to the people who have made his comrades so welcome. He say that there are not enough words in the English language to express his feeling in the matter. He especially thanks the Cottage quartette, composed of the misses Bartram and the Messrs Bartram and Smith, and the Women’s corps for their assistance. He says that everything moved like clock work and lays the credit for this to the citizens committee. – Norwalk Hour, August 29, 1904