Radio Script #31
Little Talks On Common Things
June 12, 1949
W. R. Collins of Belgrade, the man who gave us information about the monument to a wolf in the town of Moscow, now sends in a miniature reproduction of the first issue of the Kennebec Journal. Originally a weekly, that paper was first published on Saturday, January 8, 1825 with the promise that it would appear each Saturday morning thereafter. The publishers were Russell Eaton and Luther Severance, who in their first leading editorial issued a plea for that freedom of the press for which their Albion neighbor, Elijah Lovejoy, then a junior at Waterville College, was to suffer a martyr’s death twelve years later.
The editorial said: “A well conducted publication, which has obtained the reputation for a zealous regard for truth, must undoubtedly possess a considerable influence on society; while a publication of opposite character, of which it is confessed there are a great number, gives some excuse for those who would curtail the liberty of the press. There is no necessity, however, for government interference. The evil will cure itself. Error ceases to be dangerous when reason is free to combat it. An honest and discerning community are better arbiters, better guardians of public morals, than are the satellites of a throne or even those elected officials whom the people delight to honor.”
In 1825 Maine was not an industrial state, even to the degree it was fifty years ago. The original K J knew on which side its bread was buttered. It said editorially: “If one part of the community deserves more attention than another, it is the interest of the farmers. Theirs was the primeval employment of civilized man. All the rest of society depends upon the farmers for the necessities of life. In war they are the bone and muscle of the country. In peace they fill the horn of plenty with the abundance of their stores.”
Well, as we said several weeks ago, it is not out of place sfill to give an occasional word of praise to the farmers, though we would hardly do it in the flowery rhetoric of 1825. That first K J was shy on local news. There is not a single item, except the ads, that stems directly from Kennebec County. There is a column on Congress, including the item that the bill had been passed authorizing the President to construct a military post road from Little Rock to Camp Gibson in the Terri tory of Arkansas.
Another item in that Congressional column is of present-day interest. It says: “A bill for the abolition of imprisonment for debt is again before the Senate. ” This reminds us of the recent furor caused by the imprisonment of two men in Rutland, Vermont, and the spectacular release of one of them when an unexpected benefactor supplied the $2,500 which he owed. If one would judge by the newspaper accounts, it would appear that these two men were victims of outmoded and cruel laws, put in jail because they owed somebody some money. We are glad to take time on this program to call attention to the facts. One of those prisoners had killed a man in an automobile accident, according to the account in Life magazine, and the other had injured a person in another accident. The . court held them responsible for claims of about $2,500 each. They said they could not pay it, and were therefore remanded to jail. We heartily subscribe to Life’s closing comment on the cases. Here it is: “The nation’s press raised such a howl that one well-wisher put up the money for Fugatt’s release. No one, however, raised a howl about the families of the men they had struck. Neither did anyone appear to wonder why two young men could not have arranged to pay the debts that juries had decided they rightfully owed.”
Now let us turn to a few of the interesting ads in that first issue of K J in 1825. “Smith L. Gale would respectfully inform his customers that he has removed from his former place of business and has taken a stand in the lower street in Augusta, opposite to Mr. Craig’s hatter’s shop, where he carries on the business of blacksmith and keeps constantly on hand a variety of the best ploughs and cast and blistered steel axes. He flatters himself that few smiths can surpass him in shoeing horses.”
Craig, the hatter, had no ad in this issue, but his competitors, Thwing and parker, announced that they had “recommenced their business near the Kennebec Bridge where they intend to keep for sale an excellent assortment of first quality waterproof hats”.
W. Dewey announced a fine stock of school books, including Morse’s Geography, Pike’s Arithmetic and Webster’s Spelling Books. He also sold “French and American paper hangings and borders”. B. Davis and Company had for sale “European, India and Domestic Dry Goods”, along with crockery and hardware. They offered it for cash, country produce, or upon liberal credit. They were ready also to pay cash for 500 red and gray fox skins.
Chandler and Nason, who specialized in West India goods, wanted to buy six hundred thousand first quality shingles and 4,000 bushels of oats. E. Caldwell wanted 200 cords of hemlock bark and fifty white ash barrel staves. Of course Augusta had at least one hotel in those days. T. Hamlin informed his friends and the public that “the Kennebec Tavern is now well repaired and handsomely furnished”. Grateful for past favors, he respectfully solicited their continuance.
Augusta then had not only a tavern but also a library. A public notice read: “A meeting of the proprietors of the Common Library in the town of Augusta for the purpose of organizing themselves into a society, or body politic, by the name of the proprietors of the Social Library, will be held in the Reading Room on Friday, the fourteenth of January, 1825 at six 0 I clock P.M. A punctual attendance is requested.”
We are indeed grateful to Mr. Collins for this very interesting old newspaper of Central Maine.
George Seeley of Prospect Street, waterville, has gone to some trouble and expense to supply us with detailed information about that longest covered bridge in the world at Hartland, New Brunswick. Mr. Seeley was born and raised within a few miles of that bridge. On Memorial Day this year he visited his old home and secured special photographs. These show what no commercial print reveals — the original sign nailed above the more widely known sign shown on the picture post cards. The latter reads: “Welcome to Hartland. You are now entering ·.:th:e longest covered bridge in the world, 1,282 feet”. The older sign above it reads: “Twenty dollars fine for driving faster than a walk over this bridge.” The nearest rival to the Hartland bridge is a covered bridge in Scandanavian Norway, about 1,100 feet long, and the third is said to be the bridge at Cap Chat, Quebec, exactly a thousand feet.
Although most communities spend money for snow removal, Hartland pays a man about $150 every winter to throw snow onto the bridge, so that sleds and sleighs can easily cross it. The story of the building of the Hartland Bridge is worthy of Yankee thrift. In fact, those Canadians of the lower St. John valley have the same reputation for careful use of money that the old-time Yankees have.
Most covered bridges are hoary with age. The Hartland Bridge is unusual for its youth, since it was built only 29 years ago, directly after the first World War. In 1920 the old open wooden bridge collapsed from rotten timbers. Although steel was the logical material for a replacement, the war had made its price prohibitive. So those thrifty New Brunswickers, who, even to this day, through boom times and depressions, have never defaulted on their obligations, decided to cut the garment to the cloth. The cloth was wood of which New Brunswick had plenty. So the garment — the bridge — had to be of wood, but this time it had a cover to protect it from the elements.
Many people have responded to the appeal for information about Waterville blacksmith shops. Mr. Burleigh, the well known cattle raiser on the Augusta road, whose personal recollection of Waterville goes back three quarters of a century, recalls distinctly the location of several shops~ as does also Chester Hussey. But the best and most complete information comes from one of my nearest neighbors. When I mentioned blacksmith shops last week I little realized that right around the corner from me lived one of waterville’s old-time blacksmiths. He is John Davidson, whose Shop was on Front Street, near what is now the Rollins and Dunham store. I believe he and Andrew Cote are the only survivors of Waterville’s many blacksmiths.
Mr. Davidson tells me that Mr. Byrnes, another of Waterville’s blacksmiths of years ago, died in another community and was brought here for burial only last week. The Byrnes shop was near the corner of Toward Street. Another shop, one of the oldest in Waterville, was on Silver Street near the famous livery stable. There was another on Charles Street, which Chester Hussey thinks was once operated by one of the Byrnes family. (And, by the way, that name is spelled B Y R N E S.) Another shop, long in existence, was on Common street, where the Masonic block now stands. Mr. Hussey recalls a shop on Chaplin Street, or at least near it, operated by a man named Savage, but Mr. Davidson thinks the shop referred to is really the one on Toward Street.
What surprises me most is Mr. Davidson’s assurance that, in his earliest recollection, there was no blacksmith shop operating in Winslow. Because that community is older than Waterville, I should have assumed that almost from the earliest days the town had at least one blacksmith and continued to have one until most such shops disappeared. Mr. Davidson does recall that at various times someone started a shop in Winslow, and doubtless the town had blacksmith Shops before Mr. Davidson’s day, but he is sure that, when he first opened his Waterville shop, there was no blacksmith shop in Winslow.
Do you notice how inevitable it is that mention of blacksmith shops should lead to mention of livery stables? What fond memories linger about those noble, though odorous, establishments. One of the most prominent citizens of Waterville likes to tell how his first job away from home was working in a livery stable for the munificent wage of two dollars a week, making his bed in a little alcove off the harness room and rustling his grub as best he could.
My native town had three livery stables, of which one was regarded as especially swanky, because it sported what we called the boat-landing stage. That was one of those old, swaying stage coaches, slung on huge leather springs, with seats on top as well as within. It carried passnegers from the boat landing on Long Lake — passengers who had made the famous steamer trip from Sebago Lake Station up through the Songo Locks — and deposited those passengers at various points in Bridgton Village, having its terminus at the old Bridgton House, directly across the street from my father’s store at the top of the steep Main Street hill.
HARD RULE
Now we want to know two old-time items about Waterville. First, where were its livery stables and who operated them? We know that one was on Silver Street and another on Front Street. Was one also on Charles Street? Where were there others?
Second, what stages came to or passed through Waterville? Was there a station here for change of horses? Were the stages the big closed kind such as I have just described, or were any of them — especially in the summer — the four-seated buckboards such as transported my high school baseball team forty years ago? Who will be the first to give us information on Waterville’s livery stables and stages?
Rev. Milton McGorrill, whose family we have known since common days in Portland a quarter of a century ago, delivered a sermon in his Orono church a few weeks ago, which deservedly hit the headlines. Mr. McGorril1 urged the formation of a state-wide non-political organization to determine the educational needs of Maine and to elect legislators to carry out a feasible, constructive program to meet those needs.
People are becoming aroused because of the failure of the recent legislature to provide funds to get Maine out of the unenviable position of being called “the Mississippi of the North”. Especially is there concern about failure to implement with funds already existing legislation for community schools and school construction. A Kennebunk woman is vehemently urging leading citizens of Maine to petition the Governor to call a special session of the legislature to levy taxes to meet these urgent school construction needs. We think such strategy is mistaken. The legislature, rightly or wrongly, has acted. There are no new facts for them to consider.
Mr. McGorrill’ s plan is better. Let a voluntary, state-wide organization devoted to getting all the facts about Maine education be organized. Then let that organization try to get men and women elected to the legislature ready to support a definite, fair, workable program for adequate financing of education. Mr. McGorrill admits that the usual way to accomplish such a result is to work through the existing organization of one of the present political parties. He pulls no punches in saying that that cannot be done in the present emergency. The Democrats, he says, stand no chance of election, and they know it. On the other hand, the Republicans, he asserts, although they hold a monopoly on Maine legislation are (and I quote Mr. McGorrill’s words) “divided at the top, stubborn at the bottom, and vacillating in their leadership”.
What I have been saying for several years is unpopular with many of my fellow Republicans, but I am saying it again right now. The principal reason why Maine stands among the lowest of the states in support of education, why it is so often compared to Mississippi, is because, like Mississippi, Maine is a one-party state. The party in power never has enough effective opposition to keep it on its toes.
Year: 1949