title: Derby and  Ansonia   (CT)   (Then & Now)
author: The Derby Historical Society
description: Formed in 1946 to serve the Lower Naugatuck Valley, the Derby Historical Society has been collecting historic photographs for nearly six decades. Some of its best historic photographs, many of which have never been published before, have been combined with photographs from other sources in Derby and Ansonia to produce a unique visual record.
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  ![cover](resources/_cover_.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  # Three Excursions
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Henry James
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  This page copyright © 2004 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  I.
  
  
  II.
  
  
  III.
  
  
  
  
      
  
  Etext by Ian Hillman
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### I.
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  THEY differed greatly from each other, but each had an interest of
  
  
  it's own. There seemed (as regards the first) a general consensus of
  
  
  opinion as to it's being a great pity that a stranger in England should
  
  
  miss the Derby day. Every one assured me that it was the great festival
  
  
  of the English people and the most characteristic of national holidays.
  
  
  This, since it had to do with horseflesh, I could readily believe. Had
  
  
  not the newspapers been filled for weeks with recursive dissertations
  
  
  upon the animals concerned in the ceremony? and was not the event, to
  
  
  the nation at large, only imperceptibly less momentous than the other
  
  
  great question of the day—-the fate of empires and the reapportionment
  
  
  of the East? The sp