Then they stroll over and wash the gingerbread down with some of Jennings’ ginger pop, happy as lords. Simple pleasures these; but, as Josh Billings says, the boys then got more fun out of a quarter of a dollar than do boys now out of a five-dollar bill. The bugle sounds, and every boy is off, for now the Colonel takes command. This is the “crowner” of the day which no boy will miss. The troop is again in line, with sabres drawn to receive its Colonel. A shout from the boys, and down the line comes Colonel Starr with his staff. Hurrah! ain’t it great! It’s Napoleon, or Old Put, or Ethan Allen, or Lafayette over again! The Colonel is received and takes command. The small boy holds his breath, for now you’ll see how it’s done in battle. The Colonel gives his orders; by fours, by eights, they wheel, they turn, they go _en masse_--it’s wonderful how they do it! Golly gracious! At last they return to place, salute their Colonel, clang their sabres back into the scabbards, and are dismissed, and Training Day is over. Our lads return to their homes to relate to the fathers and mothers the excitements and perils of the day. Well, my lads of the Forties, you had your fun; but, without knowing it, you learned much more than the pleasures of the day. You learned patriotism, you learned what it was to subject yourselves to obedience for the common good; what team work was, to work together, shoulder to shoulder, for the achievement of a common purpose. You learned self-control and discipline, which stood you in good stead later, on the real battlefield, and for which we, the living, honor you as you sleep in God’s acre, on each Memorial Day. And you also learned, without knowing it, what we older boys are slow to learn, that no man liveth to himself or dieth to himself, but that self-sacrifice, the greatest good to the greatest number, is the cornerstone of republics, the goal toward which the whole world is moving. Lads of the “Forties,” I sing the “Sabre Song” to your honor, and may “_Qui transtulit sustinet_” be your sheet anchor and your motto! [Illustration: [William J. Starr]] REMARKABLE LONGEVITY OF NEW MILFORD CITIZENS A PARTIAL LIST COMPILED FROM THE RECORDS BY MINOT S. GIDDINGS