Radio Script #867

Little Talks on Common Things
November 15, 1970

A Maine newspaper of some prominence a century and more ago was the Bangor Whig and Courier. Although the Whig party had disappeared by 1865, the Bangor paper still carried that name in its title. Not long ago I had a look at Vol. 31, No. 245, published on April 17, 1865, immediately after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. All columns of the four-page paper were leaded in black. A large across-the-page headline said: “The President Dead”. The sub-heads were: “Evidence certain that John Wilkes Booth assassinated the President. Assassins trying to escape to Canada. Vice-President Johnson sworn into office as President. Scenes at the death-bed. Secretary Seward likely to recover.”

The Bangor paper headed its editorial “A Nation in Tears”. It said: “Our city was draped in mourning Saturday, business was suspended, all flags were at half mast, bells tolled all day, and minute guns were fired from noon to 4 p.m. During the entire day people were in the streets, filled with grief at the loss of him who was as dear to them as Washington, Father of the Country. If leaders of the Rebellion have been guilty of this outrage, let them expect ample retribution.

“The utmost excitement prevailed in Bangor when it was reported that several infatuated sympathizers with the Rebels had been heard to rejoice that Lincoln is dead. They were visited by an outraged crowd and threatened with death, but were finally arrested by police and committed to jail, where they were carefully guarded. On Sunday all the churches were draped in black, and services were devoted to the sad event.”

The fourth page of that Bangor paper in 1865 was devoted entirely to ads. One of those was addressed directly to soldiers of the war that had ended only a few days before at Appomatox. It said: “By virtue of the late Act of Congress, I will obtain $100 bounty for any discharged soldier wounded in any battle with the enemy. Pensions for wounded and disabled soldiers and seamen. Also for all widows and minor children and dependant mothers. Fee will not exceed $5  obtained as heretofore. C.P. Brown.”

Another ad was for a means of transportation that long ago disappeared: “Stage leaves Bangor for Katahdin Iron Works on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, by morning train of cars to Old Town, thence by stage through Alton, Lagrange, Medfield, Milo and Brownville, arriving at the Iron Works the same evening. Return Monday, Wednesday and Friday, arriving in Old Town in time for the 2 p.m. train for Bangor.”

Ten years after the Civil War an issue of the Waterville Mail, no longer concerned with battle casualties and pensions, gives us a glimpse of what ten years of peace had wrought. This issue of the Waterville paper, then a weekly, was published on May 19, 1876.

The lumber industry was booming. The paper tells us: “A million feet of logs started from Carrabasset Stream Saturday morning and are now lodged against the piers of the bridge at Norridgewock, making a huge jam. In the northern part of the stream there are still seven million feet of logs that have not started out yet.”

A local committee was busy raising money to complete payment for the soldiers’ monument soon to be unveiled in Waterville. The Waterville Mail said: “Our long to be remembered levee for the benefit of the Soldiers Monument Association, held on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings under direction of W.S. Heath Post of the G.A.R., has been the sensation of the week. The first evening had a good audience, and the second crammed the hall to capacity. Our home amusements are truly better than any we import. It must be gratifying to the soldiers to find that they can command the best artistic talent. The announcement of the affair read: “A great antiquarian supper will be given at the Town House in Ticonic Village on Tuesday evening, May 16, between the hours of 6 and 8 o’clock, to aid in building a monument to the soldiers. Likewise a concert in the hall above of martial music by the American Brass Band from 7 to 8 o’clock, after which there will be singing of sacred harmonies and worldly tunes. The average person will pay 50 cents for concert and supper, but all grandsires and grandmothers who are at least 90 years old may come in free. A silver quarter will admit any orderly youth to the concert. There will be plenty of baked beans and brown bread, Indian pudding and other toothsome provender, but any stuffer who requires two suppers must have two tickets. Certain of the waiters will wear gowns of homespun and of continental fashion. Dishes will be of the newest pattern and should be used with care. People have no need to bring candles, as light will be supplied in abundance. One of the professors of Colby University also has a wonderful lantern, which is said to equal a hundred tallow dips.”

After the event, the Mail reported: “The tables in the supper room were gratifying to the eye, and so beautifully laden that even a full man was tempted to eat. Five religious denominations were represented. Baptists aimed at the antique, the Plaisted table having old blueware furnished by Mrs. Keely, who also contributed an ancient teapot which once belonged to a chaplain in the Revolution. Other ancient furnishings came from Mrs. Boutelle. There was an elegant, old-style coffee urn, once the property of Asa Redington, now owned by Mrs. Solyman Heath.

“The Unitarian tables were richly displayed. Mrs. Ward’s had curious antiques from the home of E.T.W. Pray, and Mrs. Pulsifer’s had pieces furnished by Mrs. Low. The Universalist table was rich in flowers. The Methodists had some spectacular attractions under the care of Mrs. C.A. Thayer and Frank Holway. The Catholic table was under the charge of Mrs. P.J. Barry, Miss Ellen Baxter and Edward Halde.

“A flag given to the Heath Post by the ladies was presented by Miss Helen Meader in a gracious speech. Col. Francis Heath, on behalf of the Post, made appropriate response.”

The Mail politely announced that the affair had added $350 to the monument fund.

When this issue of the Waterville Mail came from the press, Memorial Day, then called Decoration Day, was just around the corner. The Mail published the coming order of exercises: “A procession will be formed on the town common at 10 a.m., under the Chief Marshall, Col. Francis Heath, in the following order: American Brass Band, Colby Rifles, W.S. Heath Post G.A.R., decorating committee of young ladies in carriages, citizens. The procession will move down Main Street to Silver, down Silver to Redington, to Summer, and thence to the Pine Grove Cemetery, where the young ladies will decorate soldiers’ graves. The procession will then return to the Common.”

The crowning event of Memorial Day in 1876 was the dedication of the Monument in the park on Elm and Park Streets, where only a few years before bodies had been removed from the cemetery that had been on that ground since early in the 19th century. That removal had marked the opening of the new Pine Grove Cemetery on Grove Street. By the way, even our local newspaper sometimes calls the place Coburn Park, because it did indeed stand next door to Coburn Classical Institute. But it was never a part of the Coburn property, and its correct name is still Monument Park. When in 1828, Timothy Boutelle gave the land on which the Waterville Academy (later Coburn) was built, the adjoining land already belonged to the town of Waterville and was the public burying ground.

Many people had supposed that the old cemetery was a churchyard burying ground, because next door was the First Baptist Church. That is not the case. Not only was the cemetery, owned by the town, older than Coburn. It was considerably older than the church. With that digression, let us go back to the Waterville Mail’s announcement of the Monument dedication on Memorial Day in 1876: “A procession will be formed under Chief Marshall Heath on the common at 1:30 p.m. The order will be American Brass Band, Colby Rifles, orator and chaplain in a carriage, members of the Soldiers Monument Association, Citizens, Odd Fellows, W.S. Heath Post, and the Fire Department. The procession will move down Main Street, along Silver to Elm, up Elm to Main, to Getchell, to College, and down College and Elm to Monument Park. The program will be Prayer by the Chaplain, music by the band, financial statement of the committee, reading of the roll of honor — the list of names placed under the pedestal of the monument singing, oration by M.L. Stevens of Portland, singing of ‘America’.”

Then follow the names of the committee in charge of the dedication. It was headed by two officers of the Civil War, Colonels Francis Heath and Isaac Bangs. Other members were Dr. Atwood Crosby, G.H. Mathews, George Phillips, Aaron Plaisted, Nathaniel Meader and Dr. Frederick Thayer. Another item of news in that 1876 issue of the Waterville Mail concerned a piece of local real estate. Charles Hathaway, the shirtmaker, had married a Blackwell, and a third of a century later, when he was well established in Waterville business, he acquired possession of the Blackwell home that had stood since early in the 19th century on the corner of Main and Temple Streets. The Mail tells us: “Business is lively on the Hathaway property at the corner of Main and Temple Streets. The Blackwell house has been taken down and the old building on the corner moved to the rear. A wonderful improvement will be wrought there during the coming season.”

Waterville streets were not paved in 1876. The Mail said: “Our streets have been unusually muddy this spring. They are now drying rough and uneven. A team of four horses has recently dragged a scraper over them, but improvement is not noticeable.”

Year: 1970