One summer evening when the Circus came to town, the ladies from the DAR got drunk at the House of Fun on sarsaparilla and absinthe. Unchaperoned, they denied anything untoward occurring that night. However, nine months later eight orphans appeared on the doorstep of the First Congregational Church in Willimantic with tags that read: “Are you our Mother?” on each well fed baby and also pinned on a two year old girl (who could speak fluent Swedish) a note that read “I am Bertie, please find me a good home”.

The local gossip, Miss  Hermoine  G. Goldfinch, aka The *Iron Maiden* spread a vicious slander about the coincidence of the DAR ladies trip to Mesa, Arizona (to work at a reservation teaching Indian child) being eight months long and the that the orphans were all newborn with clown-like features, similar to the carney’s at the Circus.

Although, the DAR ladies denied such allegations, they were ruined none the less. The orphans remained at the Old Lyme Town Farm.

Below an except from www.poorhousehistory.com