Radio Script #136
Little Talks On Common Things
February 17, 1952
One does not have to go back a hundred years to find entertaining items in the rural newspapers. I never tire of reading some of the country correspondence in our Maine weeklies today. let me give you a sample of one correspondent’s work in a Maine weekly newspaper dated January 4, 1952. “Mrs. R. L. has been very sick the past two weeks. Can’t seem to find out Just what the trouble Is. She is sti II feeling so miserable that she can only stay up a short time and then crawls back into bed again.”
”We have a modern Scrooge in our neighborhood. FreddIe took Bi t I A. to the County seat to do his shopping one day and promised to take hIm the next day to the doctor if our car would start. In the meantime Bi II asked Scrooge If he’d help Freddie start the car. Scrooge said No. Seems like some people can’t ever be agreeable, even around Christmas time.”
“We sure got left out the other night when we all tUrned out to see Santa down at the vi Ilage. Nine famt I ies from this neighborhood took all the kids and grown-ups down those five mi les, then there wasn’t any party after all. It had been postponed, but no one down in the village had the kindness to let us know. ”
Mrs. Mary Stobie has produced for me another of those Mrs. Winslow Race ipt Books, th i s one nine years 0 I der than the issue , referred to a few weeks ago. This issue of 1867 has exactly the same kind of cover as the issue of 1876, but many of the recipes are different. For instance, I did not know that common hard crackers were ever made at home. I ignorant Iy thought there was no such thing as those round, common crackers unti I they were factory, or at least bakery, made. But Mrs. Winslow gave the folks in 1867 a recipe for hard crackers. Here it is: ”Warm two ounces of butter in as much skimmed milk as will make a pound of flour into a stiff paste. Beat It with a rolling pin and cut it Into thin biscuits. Prick them full of holes with a fork. About six minutes wi II bake them.”
Look at the ingredients of what folks in 1867 called a cheap, common cake. How cheaply could you make it today? t lb. of butter, 2 lb. of flour, 4 eggs, I lb. of sugar, 1 pint of mi Ik, rind of a lemon, 1 lb. of currants. What the book calls a better common cake contained a whole pound of butter, 2 Ibs. flour, 2 Ibs. currants, a pound of sugar, a quarter pound of a Imonds, a ha I f pound of raisins, a good lot of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, lemon peel and a whole dozen of eggs.
I have often heard my father, who was born in 1861, say that In his boyhood he never saw granulated sugar, that fully refined granulated came Into the country stores of Ma ine we II I nto the 1870 ‘s, and was not too common when, in 1881, he went to work In a market near Metropol itan Boston In Watertown, Massachusetts. This recipe book of 1867 proves beyond dispute that the sugar referred to is not fine, granulated sugar as we know it today. One recipe is headed “To clarify sugar for sweetmeats”, and it begins, “Break as much as required in large lumps”. Another recipe says, “Take an equal weight of sugar in large lumps”. Another says,· “Take six ounces of finely pounded sugar”. Still another: “Take a large piece of double refined sugar.”
My father could remember those Irregular shaped lumps of sugar, but he said they seemed to him thoroughly white. Probably by his time most of the sugar was what Mrs. Winslow’s book calls double-refined. But my grandmother could well re_ member· the dirty-looking ye Ilowi sh sugar that everybody used. She once tol d me that her mother, down In Cape Elizabeth, always had a huge lump of that yel lewish sugar hung over the dining table, suspended from the cei ling by strings. From that lump the diners chipped off tiny pieces for their tea and coffee. In sunmer the lump was surrounded by netting to keep off the files.
Many th I ngs that we pick up ready made at the store, wi thout the s I I ghtest inconvenience, our grandparents went to much trouble to make at home. Today there are plenty of preparations to apply to chapped hands. But this is how Mrs. Wins low in 1867 tol d home fol ks to make the I r own app I I cat Ion for chapped hands: “Mix a quarter pound of unsalted hog’s lard, washed first In common water and then In rose water, with the yolks of two new-laid eggs and a spoonful of honey. Add as much oatmeal or almond paste as wi I I work into a paste.” It Is Interesting to note that this recipe contains two ingredients that were later heralded In a famous patented skin cream — honey and almonds.
If you ran out of ink In 1867 and didn’t want to buy the poor stuff they then sold for Ink In the stores, you of course made a new supply for yourself. But you had better not be In a hurry. The recipe tells you why: “Take a gallon of rain water and three quarters of a pound of blue galls bruised. Infuse them three weeks, stirring dally. Then add four ounces of green copperas, four ounces of logwood chips, six ounces of gum arabic, and a wine glass of brandy.” The 1876 recipe book says nothing about Mrs. Winslow, but tn 1867 her re.,.medles were new enough to warrant some word of Identification. So a half page Is devoted to telling the public that “Mrs. Winslow is a lady who, for upwards to thirty years, has untiringly devoted her time and talents as a female phy … sician and nurse, principally among chi Idren. In consequence of her famous Soothing Syrup she Is becoming world-renowned as a benefactor of the race. Chi 1dran especially rise up and bless her. In this city of Phi ladelphla vast quan … tlties of her soothing syrup are used dally. Mrs. Winslow has immortal ized her name by this Invaluable article, since she has saved thousands of chi Idren fran an early grave.”
And with that epitaph we say goodbye to Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup.
Did you ever hear of One-Eleven Cigarettes? I never did untf I a few weeks ago, when Pau I Marshall, a student at Col by Co1 lege, brought me an empty wrapper of that old brand. He says it was found between the floors of the old Unitarian Church, here in Waterville, when that edifice was torn down to make way for the block now housing the First National Store, Penney’s and Western ~ir.,.~.~.Auto. It was apparently a standard package, containing 20 cigarettes, and Its price was 15 cents. So it must date back fairly early in ciga’rette making days, because fO cents was the price of the favorite brands around 1910. It was a product of the American Tobacco Company, which printed on the wrapper’a guarantee that “if for any reason this package Is unsatisfactory, you can get your money back f rom the dea ler”. On the face of the package I s an In d I an head, and beneath it the numerals “111”. Under that are the words “One-Eleven Cigarettes”.
On the reverse side one discovers why these cigarettes were called One-Eleven or 111. For on that reverse side is printed “111 — one for mildness, Virginia; one for mellowness, Burley; one for aroma, Turkish. Now who is there among our ‘I i steners who remembers One Eleven Cigarettes?
More than once on this p~gram we have talked’ about the old steamboats, especla II y about the City of Watervi lie, and the big boats that raced between Ha I … lowe II and Boston. But I don’t th ink we have ever ment loned the first steamboat that ever came to Maine. It was a tiny vessel named the Tom Thumb, and it put fA at Bath in the summer of 1818, only eleven years after Robert Fulton had pushed his Clermont up the Hudson from New York to Albany. The salt-water farmers of the Kennebec Jeered at the Tom Thumb, Just the way the Dutch farmers of the Hudson had laughed at “Fu I ton ‘s Folly”. The queer mach lnery that drove her side wheels easily Induced laughter. But the Tom Thumb proved a success. She kept going on short trips out of Bath for ten years, taking excursions up and down the Kennebec between Bath and Augusta.
Except on the ocean and on the Great lakes, steamboat days of any kind are on Iy legend to the younger gene rat I on today. Never again can we have the thrill of that wonderful trip fran Boston to Bangor, with all the beauty and variety of Penobscot Bay.
When steamboats were first bui It, there seems to have been little thought of their replacing sail as cargo carriers, just as with the first automobile, there was no thought of trucks. So between 1815 and 1825 there were put on the coastal and inland waters many small steamboats whose chief business was running pleasure excursions. Such a boat was the Kennebec which, strangely enough never operated on the Kennebec River. In the newspapers of 1822 Captain Seward Porter announced that the Kennebec would operate excursions between Portland and North Yarmouth regularly all summer. They were venturesane souls who dared voyage on that boat. She was made from the hul I of an 01 d flat-bottomed scow and was equipped with an engine that was always breaking down, and a boi ler that as always in danger of blowing up. She lasted for nearly a dozen years, however, before she ran on a ledge and sank. Fortunately she was then running with no passengers, and her crew of three men got ashore safely.
I t was a long time before the strict maritime ru les for safety oontrolled the steamboats, and many lives were lost because of careless operation and lack of safety methods. But I f safety was di sregarded, looks and appearance became Important very early. By 1830 many of the boats were painted white and green, with stripes of brown and yellow, even gold. Paddlewheels were red and prows carried ga I Iy co Jored figureheads. Passengers rode on neat Iy ra i led decks under bright striped awnings. But it was years later than 1830 before any boat had a decent lavatory. When the weather was rough, comfort went with the wind.
The companies made much of the fine meals served on board, but some of the patrons complained that even if they felt well enough to partake of a meal, the fare was invariably the same — ham and eggs.
Among the Ken nebec towns that once had a newspape r was the town of Ch i na. have recently seen Vol. 3, No. 44 of The Orb, published at China, Maine on Novembe r 3, 1 836 • do not need to te II you that, in those days, most of the newspapers were violently partisan, and the Orb was no exception. November 3, 1836 was just four days before the preSidential election, and In heavy black type two columns wide and a full colurm long, the Orb came out for its candidate.
He re I wo rd for word, I sits st.atement:
“Ship Ahoy! From whence come ye? From the country of monarchy and oppress Ion. Where boun d? To the port of I I berty and prosperity. See then that ye fall not out by the way. Be it remembered by every elector of the State that on Monday, November 7, they are notified to meet In their several towns and cities, to exercise one of the first rights guaranteed to any people by our constitution ••••• Fellow citizens, with a faithful citizen at the helm, our Ship of State has for the last eight years been safe Iy conducted through storms and tempests, and our good captain is about to resign his command, and you are to elect a suitab Ie person to fi II the Important station. Martin Van Buren has been named as a candidate for the exalted station, and the candidates for electors are named under our editorial head. They are all good rre;n and true, and will, we trust, race I ve the undi vi ded vote of the Democracy of the State.”
The captain who had reSigned his command was, of course, Andrew Jackson. The Orb was obvious Iy a (Smocratlc paper, strong Iy supporting Jackson. I n fact most of the pape rs and most of the peop Ie In Ma I ne were on that side of the political fence. The old Federalists and the new Whigs stood little chance in Ma i ne be fore 1 840 • I n fact when ou r Massach use tts ne I ghbor, John Qu I ncy Adams, was elected Pres i dent in 1825, Ma ine di d not give him her vote.
In 1836 the China Orb proved to be on the winning side, for Van Buren was elected by a SUbstantial majOrity. It was a different story when Old Tlppe- canoe, Wi Iliam Henry Harrison, entered the 1>icture In 1840 and became the first Wh i g presf denT. In 1836 Maine was entitled to ten presidential electors, and among the success fu I Democrat I c cand i dates for that off I ce we re Raue I W I II i ams of Augusta and John Hamblet of S610n. Maine then had five Congressional Districts — not called by number as they are n()w, first, second and third, but by names: the Waldo District, the Cumberland District, the Lincoln District, the Washlngtoo District, and the Penobscot and Somerset District. The Orb’s supported candidate for Congress from the Lincoln District, which then included Watervi lie, was Jonathan Cilley.
It t s sanetlmes surpri 51 ng to us who have so long been used to Maine’s fairly stable population, to real ize how fast other states have grown In comparI son wi th Maine. Wh lie Mal ne had ten presi dentia I e lectors In 1836, New Hampshire had only seven and Connecticut only eight. Eight was also the number for New Jersey, whl Ie I I Iinois had only five and Missouri only four. Even Louisiana with Its very old city of New Orleans had only half as many electoral votes as Maine. Now In 1952 there are very few states of the present 48 which do not have more electoral votes than ours. That is the price we pay for a stable population with very little increase In a hundred years.
Like most of Maine weekly papers a century ago, the Orb contained very little local news. One local item tells us that a fulling mill in Vassalboro, belonging to John Rowe, had burned the previous Saturday night. Another fire had destroyed a one-story, doub Ie house, on what was ca lied the Feed farm, be long Ing to Col. Phil ip Morri II, a half mi Ie from Bel fast Village. It was said to have been one of the oldest frame houses in that town. Let’s close our program tonight with the solemn note which the editor of the Orb strikes regarding manners and morals. He was evidently one of those straight-laced Puritans pretty convnon a century ago. Here Is his editorial:
“A romp, as some girls are called, is a good natured sort of girl with little mind and less taste. When she is merriest she Jumps the highest; when she is grave aAd sober she is a fool, because a romp has little intellect. A country romp is pleased with a ditch, because it gives her a chance to Jump across it, and she loves app les in the orchard, because she can cI imb trees to get them. A town romp is a great talker of scandal whi Ie she employs her clenched hands beating her listener’s shoulders. Romping is bad business. It Is at variance with decency of taste. The manners of a romp are the fondl ings of a bear. I would have all such females picked out of society and sent up the Missouri to colonize a new Amazonian land. If they did not clvi lize the Indians somewhat, they would fight them, and that would answer the same purpose.”
Year: 1952