Radio Script #111
Little Talks On Common Things
June 3, 1951
From time to tf.me on this program we have mentioned old-time newspapers from many parts of Maine — Waterville, Augusta, Bangor, Portland, and fnom such sma I 1- er p I aces as CI i nton, Chi na and Vassal boro. I th Ink th Is is the fl rst”,·, t.f.me, ,however, that we have called attention to a Belfast paper. Tt!anks to one of our regu I ar II steners, Bi II Flaherty, custodl an of the Keyes Science Building at Colby College, I have recently seen a copy of a Belefast newspaper printed’ almost a hundred years ago. It is Vol. 24, No. 21 of the Republ ican Journal published by Wing and Moore at Belfastc on Friday morning, June 11, 1852. like all papers of the time, as we have previously reminded our IIs~ners, this Belfast paper had several rates of subscript.fon. If paid In advanc~, the rate, was,$1.50 a year; If paid within’ the year, but not In advance, It was $2.00. Unlike, the situation today, the posta’i laws did not require paYll1l;lnt of newspaper subscriptions in ad”‘ance nor did they require stopplng”‘j a subscriber’s receipt ,of copJes if he fell Into arrears. Subscribers often refused to retnOve papers from the post office, and the law protected the publisher until all arrearages were paid, when of course the subscriber could cancel his subscriptton.
Court costs and lawyer’s fees were too expensive, however, for the average small town publ I sher to brl ng suit for h is money, with the result, that many a paper went Into bankruptcy because folks just didn’t pay. Eventually the present, much needed law, requiring subscriptions In advance, was passed. But in 1852 the Belfast Repub I i can Journa I pub I I shed under I ts tit Ie head on the front page these words: “No paper discontinued until all arrearages are paid. All letters and corrmunlcatlons, to secure attention, must be postpaid.”
That I ast sentence revea I s another nu I sance of a hundred years ago — sendl n9 letters with postage to be paid by the receiver. I f you wanted to vent your wrath on s~one with whom you had quarreled down In Portland, let us say, from your home’l n Watervl lie you could send him a postage collect letter — write him a voluminous document of a dozen or more pages, weighing several ounces. You not only could get the satisfaction of telling him, in ali kinds of language. just what you thought of him, but you cou I d make him. pay for the p rl vi lege of readl ng It. He had to’; pay postage on your vituperative letter. But It was not a II one way. The fe I low down I n Portland coul d stt II retal tate. He couid write an even longer letter, use heavier paper than yours, and make you pay the postage. Of cours~, human curiosity being what it Is, most letters were delivered and paid for, but occasionally a cantankerous soul would let letters pile up In the post office rather than pay the postage to get them. Such a man was one of Abraham Lincoln’s customers when Lincoln was the young postmaster at New Salem, Illinois. Lincoln finally took a pig In payment for the postage, sold the pig to the fa ther. of Ann Rut ledge, and when he had to make up to the government the ml ssing postage on his customer’s accumulated letters, Lincoln found he had lost 32 cents on the dea I •
Many generati ons of patrons have known the Amari can House at Be I fast. In 1852 It had Just been taken over by Holmes and Baker. Thet r advert I sement in the Repub I I can Journa I announces that they “have I mproved the House I n every part, new Iy f Ittl ng, pal ntl ng and paperl ng the rooms, and dec lare It, I n respect to accomoda tions and table., second to no public house In Maine”. Appended to th I s Amari can House ad is the earl i est reference to what came to be called summer boarders that I have ever seen in any.Malne newspaper. It would be inTeresting to learn how early the vacationing or resort or sumter boardr business started in our state. r think I shall try to find the time some day to ascerTain Just.when our great vacation Industry first began, and I shal L appreciate ri ght now, any I nformati on that our II steners can gi ve.
Now here is what that Ameri can House ad of 1852 has to say: “To those who are looki ng for a pleasant resort duri ng the warm months, we woul d say that Be1fast, in its scenery, air, location, etc. is one of the finest places In the state. ”
Whenever see one of these old newspapers I search diligently for unusual adverti semen”ts, and I like to pass those un i q ue 0 I d-ti me ads on to you. How’s th is for an odd one, from th is Be I fast paper of 1852:
“Picked up adrift. By the subscriber, in Penobscot Bay, on Sunday, May 30, 1852, a raft of logs. The said raft contains 53 sticks, supposed to be intended for wharf timber, and is rafted with chains. The owner is requested to prove property, pay charges and take them away. Harri son Sma II , South Prospect, Mal ne. Here’s anQther good one:
“This wi II certify toall whom it may concern, that I have this day sold to my mi nor sons, E II Rack’ I ff and Joseph Rack I I ff, the I r tl me durf ng thei r mi nori ty to act and transact bus I ness for themse I ves I n like manner as though they were of age, and I shall claim none of their e’arnings, nor pay any debts of their contracting after this date. Stephen T. Rackliff, Unity, Maine, May 18,1852.”
Last Monday evening, speaking at the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Watervi lie Universalist Society, I had occasion to mention the great Universal ist, Hosea Ballou. was therefore especially interested to find this small, we II-h i dden pa ragraph in the Be I fast Repub II can Journa I of J una 11, 1852:
“We learn “that Rev. Hosea Ballou, senior pastor of the Second Universalist Society, on School Street in Boston, died on June 7th at the age of 81 years. He had been pastor of the same church s i nee 1817 and, at the ti me of his death, was the oldest mini ster in Boston. He was Justly regarded as the patriarch of the Un i versa list Ch urch.”
Now the point of that Item, as it concerned Central Maine, lies in the fact that it was Hosea Ballou who, as guest preacher at an annual meeting of the Universalist, · Association in Oakland In 1823 converted to the Universalist· faith Jedl ah Morrill of Watervl lie, and it was Jedl ah Morrill who became the foremost early supporter and benefactor of the Waterville Universalist Society which, after 125 years of sign I fl cant.”, service to th I s commun,1 ty” he Id a f itt Ing ce lebratlon this week.
have read more Than once In old papers and letters that the graftl ng of apple trees took hold very slowly In Maine, and that the reason was cider. A hundred and twenty five years ago, when the Waterville Baptist Meeting House was dedicated, when tile Waterville Universalist Society was founded, and when John Quincy Adams was President of the United States cider was the universal rural beverage In Ma I ne. I f you Judged by the accounts of the 0 I d-tl·me storekeepers, you would think everybody drank rum all the time, but that Is not true. Rum came from the West· Indies; it cost money. Cider could be made right at home. Very seldom does cider appear I n the 01 d account books, because there was no sa Ie for It In Ma Ine stores; everybody made h Is own. Househol ders put, I n a wi nter supp Iy of cider just as they did pork, butt-er and cheese. Furthermore, although there was smaII market· for it I n I oca I stores, It· brought $6 to. $8 a barre I I n the Boston market. In 1826 it- was chiefly the newer towns of Franklin and Somerset Counties that shipped cider to Boston, and It was a Farmington editor. of 1850 who commented shrewd I y: “When cider I s the most· prof I tab Ie product of the orchard, there I s no inducement to graft trees or seek the best tab Ie frul ts.”
What a difference Today, when Maine apples are known allover the country as the finest, cleanest table fruit. Speaking of apples” by 1890 Northern Kennebec had quite a reputation for that fruit. By no means did Monmouth and Winthrop lead the county in apple production at that t I me • The I a rge st Kennebec orch a rds 60 yea rs ago we re those of J. M. P t keof Wayne and Cook Brothers of Vassalboro, each of which had over 3,000 trees. The largest orchard nursery was operated by Bowman Brothers at Si dney, with 75,000 nursery trees.
We have said a lot about old-time farms and farming, but very little about farm tools and mach,fnery. We owe that subject a few words tonight. We cherish highly the gift of an old two-tine hay fork, hand-made certainly as long ago as 125 years, presented to us by that constant listener and contributor to thf s program, Mr. H. F. Sturtevant of Ten lots. Until at I east 1840 a II the forks, scythes, sick les, axes, hoes and rakes were made by hand by the village blacksmith. In 1841 Jacob Pope of Hallowell started making the first spring steel hay forks ever made in Maine. The business grew in prosperity and was continued by Mr. Pope for thirty years. As early as 1820 Elias Plimpton of Litchfield had made hoes by machinery, but few farmers used them until after 1840. At North Wayne In 1840 the first scythes ever made by machinery In Maine were produced by R. B. Dunn.
One of the toughest jobs on the old farms was threshing out the grain. Using the hand flaiI, hours on end, was a muscle breaking job. In 1826 the same Jacob Pope of Hallowell, who made the fi rst steel hay forks, invented a hand operated threshing machine. Hiram Ballou of Livermore, about the same time, invented a thresh I ng cy Ii ndar, operated by horse power attached to an 0 I d ci dar mi II sweep 1 the horse traveling In a circle. Then in 1833 Samuel lane of leeds made an endless chaf n one-horse power machi ne wi th a hi gh-geared cy II nder. By the next year, 1834, when the Pitts and Whitman fami lies of Wi nth rop both made simi I ar mach I nes and notvery di fferent from lane’s and Pope’s, the law suits started over patents. The best of these mach i nes consl sted of a wi nder end less chaf n of wood, mounted on wh I ch twohorses, instead of one, trod on and on, I I ke a squi rre lin a cage; and two horses, I nstead of one, near Iy doub led the mach i ne ‘s speed. By the time the law suits were settled the McCormicks, forerunners of the great- International Harvester, had adapted most of the principles and garnered most of the prof! ts.
In 1877 Moses Bliss of Pittston invented a rrovable hay press. In the sane year Samuel Lane of Hallowell brought out- a popular corn she I ler. Maine never I acked I nventi ve gan i us, and what more feas I b Ie way to make Its i nf luence fe It than ri ght at home on the farm. Much of the greatness of our Mal ne fore fathers lay Indeed in the I r marve lous power of adjustment, to fl nd new ways to meet new needs of new days.
Year: 1951