<\/p>\n
Some features of life in Waterville 130 years ago are revealed in a small booklet issued from the job printing office of Maxham and Wing, publishers of the Waterville Mail in1852. That was a decade before the Civil War was underway. It was entitled Bylaws of the Town of Waterville.<\/p>\n
The first article defined the limits of what had long been called Ticonic Village. It said: “All that part of the town included in what is bound on the east by the Kennebec River, on the north by the McKechnie lot 106, on the west by the mile-and-a half stream (the Messalonskee), and on the south by the south line of Lot 102, shall be called by the name of the Village of Waterville.”<\/p>\n
The second article referred to crime. “The selectmen shall appoint an inspector of police to keep a record of all offenders against the town’s bylaws, and he shall collect all penalties so arising. When penalties are not paid to the inspector, he shall within 30 days arrest the offender to be prosecuted in the court. All money collected for offenses shall be for use
\nof the town.”<\/p>\n
Article III listed offenses; things that Waterville citizens could not do in the middle of the 19th century without getting into trouble.<\/p>\n
“No person shall put any awning from his shop or store over the sidewalk unless it be 7 1\/2 feet above the sidewalk, so as to clear the heads of pedestrians, nor shall he allow passage from the sidewalk to his cellar to be open when not in immediate use. Each offense shall be subject to a penalty of one dollar.”<\/p>\n
“If any person shall permit sink, sink drain or cellar drain to discharge itself upon the public street or sidewalk, and shall let it continue 30 days beyond being warned by the Inspector of Police, he shall forfeit two dollars, and a like amount for every 30 additional days that the nuisance continues.”<\/p>\n
“No person shall, within the village, place or leave any dead animal, carcass, carrion, fish, offal, brine, or the flesh of any fowl, or any filthy or putrid substance, whether vegetable or animal, in any highway or street, on penalty of one dollar.”<\/p>\n
“If any person shall within 50 rods of the highway, wantonly fire any cannon, gun, pistol, or other firearm, he shall forfeit fifty cents. Provided, however, that the selectmen may, for military parades and musters, for one day at a time, grant dispensation of this bylaw in such part of the village as they shall designate.<\/p>\n
“If any person shall, within the village, fire or explode any squib, cracker, serpent, fulminating powder, or preparation of any gunpowder, in any street or public place, he shall forfeit 25 cents.”<\/p>\n
In 1852, when nearly all buildings were of wood, fire was a constant hazzard, and the next article dealt with that situation.<\/p>\n
“When any flue or stovepipe within the village shall take fire or burn so that flames are visible above the chimney or pipe, causing cinders to be thrown out, the occupant shall forfeit one dollar.”<\/p>\n
“No person within the village shall carry into any barn or hayloft where combustible materials are kept any lighted candle, taper, lamp, torch or other fire not enclosed in a lantern, nor any lighted pipe or cigar, on penalty of one dollar.”<\/p>\n
“In all cases where shavings or straw are allowed to remain in or near any buildings in the village, the Inspector of Police shall order the occupant to remove the same. If the occupant neglects to obey the order within two days, he shall forfeit one dollar.”<\/p>\n
“Any person, who within 30 rods of any building, shall kindle a bonfire exposed to the wind, and shall leave the same untended and unextinguished, shall forfeit one dollar, and if such fire shall be left unattended over night, three dollars.”<\/p>\n
“If any person within the village shall take any heated ashes or embers in any wooden vessel or conveyance, such as a wheelbarrow, or place them dangerously near any building, or cast them into any public way, without safely covering the same with earth or snow, or extinguishing them completely with water, he shall pay two dollars for each offense.”<\/p>\n
Besides the possibility of causing disastrous fires, there were many other things that citizens could not legally do.<\/p>\n
“No person shall, in any street of the village, leave any horse or horses, without their being sufficiently hitched or tied by bridle or halter, or held by some suitable person, under penalty of fifty cents.”<\/p>\n
“No person shall leave any hay or feed upon the sidewalk, for the purpose of feeding any animal, or shall lead, drive or ride any horse, ox or ass upon the sidewalk, or pass with a wheelbarrow on the sidewalk, except to cross the walk directly into the street or any building, on penalty of fifty cents.”<\/p>\n
“No person shall drive a horse through any street of the village on the run, so as to endanger the safety of other persons, except in case of urgent necessity such as taking someone to a doctor, on penalty of one dollar.”<\/p>\n
“No person shall slide down or across any street or sidewalk on sled or other vehicle not drawn by a person or animal, on penalty of 25 cents.”<\/p>\n
By 1852, playing rounders, an early form of baseball, had become so common that the town fathers felt it necessary to enact this bylaw: “No person shall play a game of ball in any street or public place in the village, or throw any stone, brickbat, snowball, or other object liable to injure any person, on penalty of 50 cents.”<\/p>\n
Since 1800 there had been a village cemetery on what is now Monument Park on Elm Street, and just a year before these bylaws were printed, a new cemetery had been opened at Pine Grove in the South End. The selectmen were placed in charge of all cemeteries, and a heavy fine of five dollars was levied on anyone who neglected to observe the selectmen’s regulations regarding burials. No family could erect a tomb without license from the selectmen.<\/p>\n
Here is an article that would seem unusual today. It referred to stallions kept for breeding. “The Inspector of Police shall issue to owners or keepers of seed horses permits designating specifically where such horses may be used. If the owner or keeper brings such horse within the village for breeding purposes without a permit, he shall forfeit $5. ”<\/p>\n
At the end of the booklet, all was summed up in these words: “These articles shall constitute a code of bylaws for the town of Waterville, and shall take effect on January 1, 1853, revoking all previous bylaws.”<\/p>\n
These old bylaws contain not a word about liquor. In the previous year, 1851, Maine had been the first state to adopt a prohibition law, and it took some time to get it locally enforced. In 1852 Waterville still had its liquor agent, who was supposed to sell alcoholic liquids only for medicinal and mechanical purposes. But in 1852 the law was more often flaunted than observed. Bootlegging had not yet appeared; but liquor could be easily obtained from the town agent, and no bylaw was considered necessary.<\/p>\n
Now we turn to another subject: How business was conducted in Maine more than a century before the passage of those Waterville bylaws. In 1730, nearly half a century before the American Revolution, Maine’s principal business was shipping and shipbuilding, not only on the coastal towns, but also some distance up the big rivers like the Kennebec and the Penobscot.<\/p>\n
Maine ships plied the Atlantic coast in large numbers; many went regularly to the West Indies, while some of the larger vessels crossed the Atlantic, or went around the Horn to China and India.<\/p>\n
In 1730 Maine exports consisted largely of fish, furs and lumber. By that time the fur trade had begun to decline, but still in operation were some of the old trading posts dealing in Indian furs. Fishing out of Maine ports provided occupation for some 600 men.<\/p>\n
But it was the forest that supplied the main source of commerce. Through most of the 18th century the price of lumber remained steady, demand was constant, and payment was prompt. Vast quantities of boards, beams, shingles, clapboards and laths were carried in Maine ships to Boston, New York and Philadelphia, and on even to the Carribean.<\/p>\n
To England still went the big masts, cut in Maine woods from trees marked by the King’s proad arrow. Out of Portland to London and Liverpool went a steady line of specially built mast ships. The masts were hauled to Portland and other ports by oxen sometimes as many as 20 yoke being required to move the huge pines. In 1730 Maine was the principal source of masts for the British navy and merchant marine.<\/p>\n
Into the province courts came many disputes about rights to the forest. Especially vigilant were the royal agents appointed to protect the King’s masts. Many settlers held firmly to the Indian belief that trees were a gift of nature to be used by anyone who needed them. They should be as open to, settlers as were air and water. Only by felling and removing trees could the land be made ready for cultivation.<\/p>\n
The trouble with that idea was the difficulty of defining what a chopper could legally claim as his t’rue need. Cutting not for personal need, but for profit became prevalent. Every owner of a large tract of forest land in Maine was plagued by trespassing loggers who sought to remove the primeval pines. So the courts decreed that Maine forest land should not be open to unauthorized and uncompensated cutting. Thus, until after the Revolution, the government of Massachusetts was constantly busy trying to protect its Maine lands; and long after the Revolution prominent owners like Robert Hallowell Gardiner had trouble with trespassers and
\nsquatters.<\/p>\n
What about money in 1730? In the whole province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially in its District of Maine, coined money was very scarce. In remote rural areas families often went an entire year without seeing any money. All trade was by barter, exchanging home products for store goods. 1730 was a bit ahead of the time of paper money in the form of bank notes, but there were circulated letters of credit that had value in accordance with the reputation of the issuing bank. But even the best notes were subject to some discount in terms of silver and gold coins.<\/p>\n
The French and Indian wars had been expensive for the Massachusetts government, so that by 1740 it had accumulated a debt of 200,000 pounds. Associations of merchants were given authority to issue letters of credit or bills each having the value of one pound at the equivalent of three ounces of silver. The system was called the Land Bank.<\/p>\n
Despite the hard times, prosperity came to Maine commerce. When young William King arrived in Bath in the year 1800, he found a grand opportunity to become wealthy in shipping, shipbuilding and land. After all the years, even in the 1980’s, the forests provide Maine’s principal source of industry and wealth.<\/p>\n
Year: 1981<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #1278, Broadcast on May 31, 1981<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35323,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}