Radio Script #225
Little Talks On Common Things
May 2, 1954
The holding power of The schools is increasing. Today we are confronted by a pecu liar paradox in Amer I can life. On the one hand we have the lowest percentage of young peop Ie aged 10 to 24 that we have ever had I n our nation ‘5 whole history. On the other hand, never have we had so high a percentage of young peop Ie between those ages attend I ng schoo I. The resu It is that the tota I percentage increase in school attendance stands in stark contrast to the percentage decrease of youth In our total population.
In 1900 the youth group constituted about one-third of the whole populat i on. I t had dropped to 22% in 1950. What is even more amaz I nq Is that in the decade between 1940 and 1950, the young peop Ie’s tota I dropped not on Iy percentage- wise, bUT also in actual numbers. In that decade the number of young people between 10 and 24 dropped by two mi Ilion.
Now take a look at the increased ho I ding power. Of eve ry thousand fifth grade students In 1925, only 300 continued in school to graduate from high school in 1932. By 1950 one out of every two fifth graders,. 500 out of every thousand, were sTaying on through high school. This June almost 600 of every thousand, who were fifth graders in 1947, wil I get their high school diplomas.
The story of enrollmenT in college is much the same. In 1920 only 30 high schoo I graduates out of every hundred went on to co liege. In 1953 the percentage had risen to 56%. Thus, high school and col lege enrollments have increased even though the size of the age group has decreased.
It is interesting to note that not only educators and hard-pressed municipal officers are concerned about these rising enrollments. American business is also greatly concerned. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States is persistently urging all local chambers to take active interest in educational problems at the community level. As the national chamber president, Richard Bowditch, head of the Sprague Steamship Company, puts it: “Our dropouts from hi gh school are more serious than a shortage of vital war material. We are past masters at finding substitutes for materials. There is no substitute for education in developing ski lis of both mind and hand.”
On February 17 of this year Herman Steinkraus, president of the great Bridgeport Brass Company, spoke at the annual meeting of the nation’s school administrators at Atlantic City. He pointed out that better education and better business go together •. No business man today can afford not to be interested in schools. There are plenty of instances where sk i lied workers leave one commun I tv and go to another because the I atter has better schoo Is. “We must a 1- ways bear in mind”, said Mr. Steinkraus, “that from the schools we get our most va I uab Ie product, our emp loyees. The great majority of those now In colleqe or high school wil I find their way Into business. Only a comparatively smal I per cent wi I I go into the professions, or the arts. We business men are the largest users of the school product. We cannot be disinterested in the job that schoo I s must do.”
One of the oldest communities in Maine is Biddeford, and thanks to Mr. Robert Gay of Watervi lie, I have recently had access to a lot of i nformati on about that town. Its first recorded history dates back 350 years, which is a long time as historical items go in Maine. The first white man to see the Saco River and the island which is now a part of the City of Biddeford was Captain Martin Pring. Strangely enough he was searching for sassafras, then highly valuable as a medicine. Finding no sassafras, and stopped by the falls from go i ng further up the ri ve r, he turned back down the ri ver and sa i led off to the south. That was in 1603.
Two years later Champ lain sai led into the mouth of the Saco. He called the place Sowacatuck, obviously an adaptation of some Indian word, and he said of it: “Sowacatuck in the e-dge of a large sandy bay hath many rocks and Is les, but few good harbors.”
In 1614 the glaroorous Captain John Smith explored and mapped Saco Bay.
Two years later came Captain Richard Vines, the first white man to spend a winter at what is now Biddeford. It is believed that Vines’ winter ca”” was at Biddeford Pool, with his ship anchored in what is called the “Gut”. The first name for The whole section near the Pool was Winter Harbor, a name that Vines is supposed to have given to the place in recognition of his winter’s stay.
In 1630 Vines and John Oldham, then both in England, were given title to the land now occupied by the city of Biddeford. Upon receipt of the grant, both men came to America, where Oldham was soon killed by Indians in Rhode Island, but Vines proceeded to lay claim to his land. That land ran up eight mi les from the mouth of the Saco Ri ver and four miles back from the ri ver. I h the presence of s Ix Eng Ii sh witnesses Vi nes took possess Ion under the ancient British custom of turf and twig. The grant from the Counci I in England was read; then Vines was handed a small twig from a tree and a small piece of turf as tokens that he owned all the ground and everything that grew on it.
Vi nes brought wi th him a number of sett lers, perhaps as many as fi fty. Unfortunately there is no record of their exact number nor of their names. At first the settlers probably bui It expendable huts like the Indian wigwams, but as soon as possible each man put up a frame house. It is almost certainly established that they did not bui Id log cabins. Those first Biddeford homes were bui It along the shores of the Pool ,and at fl rst sett lement dl d not extend very far up the river.
Vines became a prominent man in the Province of Maine, a loyal supporter of his patron, Sir Ferdlnando Gorges. Many stories are told about Vines, few of them authenticated, but all of them adding spice to Biddeford’s legends.
One of those stories concerns the search for dfarronds. In 1639 Darby Field, .an Irish seTtler in New Hampshire, who had Just been the first white man known to have vi sited the Wh i te Mounta ins, stopped at VI nes’ home In W Inter Harbor and told about the shining stones he had seen up in the mountains. Field was sure there were diamonds in “them thar h I 115 “!
Vines was Just the man to check Field’s story. He was always for adventure and exploraTion. So, with a young cousin of Sir Ferdinando’s, Vines set out up the Saco River by canoe. Landing at the Indian vi I I age located near the presenT site of Fryeburg, they went on foot over Indian trai Is to the tOp of the mountains, where they found and identi fied the sources of three New England rivers, the Connecticut, the Androscoggin and the Saoo. They found no diamonds, but the report they made to Governor Winthrop in Boston was the first accurate description ever recorded of the great White Mountains.
A Ithough the Massachusetts Genera I Court granted no papers of I ncorporation to the locality unti I 1718, records of meetings and actions by the Inhabitants go back as far as 1653. In that year the people agreed to allow two sawmills to be bui It on the river, provided the mill owners would sell their boards at a lowe r pri ce to the i nhab i tants of the p I ace than they so I d them to outsiders. Those outsiders must have been chiefly the captains of visiting ships. There were, however, occasional visitors who wanted to stay. To meet that situaTion The inhabitants voted in 1654: “If any outsider desire to come into town to inhabit, he shall first put in sufficient not to be chargeable to the town II •
It was the Indian wars which delayed the growth of the place in the last ha I f of the 17th century. Begi nn ing with KI n9 Ph II i P ‘s War, the rai ds on wh Ite settlements oontl nued sporadi ca Ily for more than a century. For several yearS’ the stout sett lament at Wi nte r Harbor was abandoned and .’,_,- no white family lived In what is now Biddeford. That is why there is no house built before 1700 stl I I standing in Biddeford.
In the lull between Queen Anne’s War, which ended in 1713, and the beginning of lovewell’s War in 1722, conditions were sufficiently peaceful for the legislature to incorporate the town. In 1718 the whole settlement from Arunde I (the 01 d name for Kennebunkport) to Scarboro was incorporated under the name of BI ddeford, a name chosen probab Iy because some of the earliest settlers with Vines had come from the town of Biddeford in Oeyonshire, England.
Another t rad I ti on I not proved, is that some of the ear I y sett Ie rs, comi ng from Ulster in the north of Ireland, brought with them the Irish potato, and that the first potatoes eve r p I anted In Ma I ne we re ra I sed at B i dde ford.
Probably the most famous man connected with colonial Biddeford was Sir WI II lam Pepperell. One of the best stories told about him concerns Rebecca ladd, hostess of the tavern on the King’s Highway, Maine’s first important road. Madam ladd always ca lied the Peppere lis “the rOfa I fami Iy”, because of the style in which Sir William travelled and the special attention he always demanded when he stopped at her inn. She therefore made elaborate preparations whenever Sir Wi II i am was comi ng.
One day, when food was lew at the inn, Madam ladd deci ded her pork barre I and the bean vi nes I n the garden woul d have to supp Iy the di nner. So she and her negro servant, Black Hetty, took baskets and went out to the bean patch, some distance from the house. Because of the 0 I d dress she was weari ng, Madam ladd tried to keep one eye on the road for unexpected travellers, while she kept the other eye on the beans. Sudden Iy she saw the Peppere II coach coming In stately fashion along the road, but sti 1/ some distance away. Conscious of the contrast between her old clothes and the Pepperell scarlet and lace, she threw up her hands in dismay, crying, “Good heavens, what shall I do? The~Royal Family is coming and I’m not dressed for them.”
Ordering Black Hetty to continue picking the beans, the hostess stooped down and crept along behind the vines. Coming to the edge of the patch, she got down on her hands and knees to keep out of sight of the road unti I she reached her back door. She had just managed to squeeze herself into another dress when the coach arrived. Fortunately the occupants proved to be not Sir Wi II i am and Lady Peppere II, but on Iy a liveried footman wi th the message that the Royal Family were going to make a call further along the road, but would be back at the Ladd tave min tl me for d I nne r.
Then things began to fly in that tavern kitchen. Madam dispatched her manservant to the pig pen for a fat young pig. Hasti Iy ki lied and dressed, the little porker was roasted on a spit in the big kitchen fireplace. The beans and other vegetables were duly boi led. By the time the Royal Flami Iy arrived Madam Ladd, somewhat cooled from her perspiring rush, greeted them cordially and calmly. She said afterwards: “There I sat in my best dress, fanning myself as if I never knew what hurry was. And no one would have thought that had made my way from the garden on my knees to rece i ve the Roya I Fami Iy.”
Next week I’ll tell you a few other interesting items about old Biddeford.
Year: 1954