NEAFC 32nd Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

[NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE Ci-nEFs
"Pat, what happened?" she asked.
"Well, nothing happened. Why?"
"Well, Pat, something is wrong. Tell me what it is. Confide in me, as
you have for years."
"Well, all right. Today, it happened."
°’What happened?"
He said: "I was going in to church. And you know how I have worked.
When I came over ]?rom the old country, I was down in the ditch, and boy,
they really gave it to me. I worked hard, anal I got up in the ditch, a ways,
and it was a little less. Then, I got to be the foreman, and so. it was ~Mr.
I-Iooley.’ Then, I got to be the Superintendent, and was Superintendent Hooley.
And so, a little bit later, I got ideas, and I ran for the City Council, find I got
elected, and I was Councilman Hooley. Then, later I got to be an Alderman
and it was Alderman Hooley, and finally, it was Mayor Hooley. And then
it happened."
And she still asked: "What happened?"
"Well, this morning, just as I was. going in church, I heard the organ
playing and the choir singing, ~Hooley, Hooley, Hooley, Lord, God Almighty,’
and every one stood up!" (Laughter.)
Well, I see the intensity with which you men go after the speakers, here,
and make them prove their point, and it scares me a little bit.
It is much like the story o]? the old sea dog, who had a parrot, and he had
taught the parrot some pretty good things. Anyway, he retired, and the first
morning of his retirement, just at six o’clock in the morning, he heard this:
"Reveille! Reveille!"
He got out,-and said: "Cut it out, now; I’m retired, so that now, I can
sleep in the morning."
But, the next morning, at six o’clock, the parrot gave out again, with:
~°Reveille, Reveille, Reveille!"
So he got up again, and he said:
"Now, look, this is the last morning I want to hear that. I’m retired, now,
remember? Any more of that, and you will go out in the hen coop with the
chickens."
The next morning, as this parrot couldn’t seem to learn, it was the same
thing:
"Reveille, Reveille, Reveille."
So he grabbed the parrot by the neck and took it out to the chickens.
Back he went, to go to sleep again. He had a wonderful sleep. Then, when
he got up, he had his breakfast. Everything was so quiet, that he wondered
what happened to the parrot. So he went out to the hen coop, and there were
]?ourteen white hens lined up there in front, and right in back o1; them, there
was one Rhode Island Red, who was plucked clean of his feathers.
So the parrot ,was giving orders:
"Up on the roost! When I say the o’rder of the day, it calls ]?or the white
uniform. It’s the white uniform!" (Laughter.)
It’s fine to tell stories. It relieves the tension a little bit, and I had better
watch the clock, because I’ll be running too far away from my subject.
What I want to speak about today is some information that we have been
preparing for release, from the standpoint of our company. I am happy to
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