{"id":7139,"date":"1950-06-11T10:04:13","date_gmt":"1950-06-11T14:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/specialcollections\/?p=7139"},"modified":"1950-06-11T10:04:13","modified_gmt":"1950-06-11T14:04:13","slug":"lt072","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/1950\/06\/11\/lt072\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Script #72"},"content":{"rendered":"

Little Talks On Common Things
\nJune 11, 1950We had originally intended that tonight’s broadcast would be our last\u00a0until September, but we have agreed to continue for two more weeks. On June\u00a025, two weeks from tonight, we shall suspend the program until fall.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Maine should be very proud of Senator Margaret Smith, and not merely\u00a0because she rated the leading article in this week’s issue of Time, and had\u00a0her picture on the cover of News Week.<\/p>\n

Just because she seldom speaks on the floor of the Senate, when she does\u00a0speak, unlike many of her colleagues, she has something to say. What she\u00a0said last week rightfully made the front page headlines allover the country.<\/p>\n

It was time somebody said it, but it took a lot of courage. The sniping,\u00a0petty politics touched off by the McCarthy charges has gone altoge.ther too\u00a0far. Ordinary Americans back home in every one of the 48 states are confused,\u00a0saddened, and disgusted by the way the politicians of both parties have played\u00a0pblitics with American security on the one hand and the American right to\u00a0freedom from the slanderous tongue on the other hand.<\/p>\n

Did you read what Mrs. Smith said? Let me quote a few sentences. “I speak”,\u00a0she said, “as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States\u00a0Senator. I speak as an American. I think”, she continued, “it is <\/em>high time\u00a0for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching — <\/strong>for\u00a0us to weigh our consciences on the manner in which we are performing our duty\u00a0to the poeple of America — <\/strong>on the manner in which we are using or abusing our\u00a0individual powers and privileges. I think it is <\/em>high time that we remembered\u00a0that the Constitution speaks not only of freedom of speech, but also of trial\u00a0by jury instead of trial by accusation.”<\/p>\n

Mrs. Smith’s was an earnest, plain-spoken plea for integrity and sanity in\u00a0our efforts against Communism. She condemned with equal vehemence the whitewashing\u00a0of suspected traitors on the one hand, and the unsupported accusations\u00a0of a witch-hunt on the other hand. There was real punch in her words\u00a0when She said: “Today our country is being divided by the confusion and suspicions\u00a0that are bred in the united States Senate to spread like cancerous\u00a0tentacles of “know nothing, suspect everything” attitudes. The Democratic\u00a0party has initially created the confusion by its complacency to the threat\u00a0of Communism here at hame, by its oversensitiveness to rightful criticism.<\/p>\n

But certain Republicans have added to the confusion by political exploitation\u00a0of fear, bigotry, ignorance and intolerance. Democrats and Republicans\u00a0alike have unwittingly played into the Communist design of “confuse, divide\u00a0and conquer”.<\/p>\n

Yes, we assert unhesitatingly and emphatically, Margaret Smith’s speech\u00a0of June 1, 1950 was one of the few really great speeches delivered in the\u00a0united States Senate in modern times, easily the greatest since Senator Vandenberg\u00a0made his impassioned plea for the united Nations charter. Mrs.\u00a0Smith’s was a speech that rose above party and prejudice, above all the\u00a0pettiness of name-calling and white-waShing. It was the utterance of a true\u00a0American. We are indeed proud that this cpurageous speech was made, this act\u00a0of high Americanism taken, by the lady Senator from Maine, who cames from\u00a0this very Kennebec Valley, to which this weekly program has been so largely\u00a0devoted.<\/p>\n

\n

Those old reservoirs under the Waterville streets have a long and honorable\u00a0history. I have thus far been unable to learn when they were first constructed.\u00a0But just before his death Gene crawford, who mapped the locations\u00a0of all of them, assured me that there were eleven, same of them very old. For\u00a0sentimental or other reasons voiced by the local firemen same years ago when\u00a0permanent surfaces were put on certain streets, at least three of those old\u00a0reservoirs were not filled in, but were left just as they were, except that\u00a0the covers were reinforced, or double covers were placed.<\/p>\n

One of the most neatly constructed is in front of the Sacred Heart\u00a0Church on Pleasant Street. It is built of brick, much as were the old cisterns\u00a0both inside and outside many farm houses. It was spring fed, but even\u00a0if it had been artificially filled it was so well built that it would hold\u00a0water for some time. One of the biggest of those old reservoirs was in City\u00a0Hall Square, now Castonguay Square. It has never been filled in. When it was\u00a0last opened, everyone wondered why it hadn’t caved in long ago, for its top\u00a0was made of wood logs. Now it has a secure, solid cover. It is 35 feet in\u00a0diameter and 12 feet deep — <\/strong>when last opened it still had six feet of water\u00a0in it.<\/p>\n

Mr. Crawford believed most of the reservoirs were self-filling, but some\u00a0of them may have had water poured into them, hauled up from the Kennebec or\u00a0the Messalonskee.<\/p>\n

What is even more interesting is the information that there was a public\u00a0water supply of a kind long before the Waterville Water Company took water\u00a0from the Messalonskee, as I told you several weeks ago. Preceding that event\u00a0came the activities of the Ticonic Aqueduct Company. On the Bangs lot on\u00a0College Avenue, where the new market has just been\u00b7 constructed, was a very\u00a0old and very bountiful spring. So sure of the fact was Mr. Crawford that he\u00a0warned the builders of the modern structures in that vicinity that they would\u00a0surely strike water which would hamper their operations. They scoffed at the\u00a0idea. But sure enough, they did strike such a flow of water that they had to\u00a0pipe it off into the city sewer before they could resume building.<\/p>\n

That tremendous spring was the source of supply for the Ticonic Aqueduct\u00a0Company. The original aqueduct is said to have been simply bored logs like\u00a0the old wooden pipes that used to carry water from well to barnyard trough\u00a0on many a farm. Later the rotting wood was replaced by lead pipe and it\u00a0was a piece of the lead pipe of that old aqueduct which Mr. Crawford found\u00a0leading into the reservoir in City Hall Square when he opened up that big\u00a0receptacle some thirty years ago.<\/p>\n

\n

It was last November when Mr. H. F. Sturtevant first wrote me from his\u00a0home out at Ten Lots. At that time I put on the air an urgent request about\u00a0the origin and develoment of that neighborhood, but I got no response at all.<\/p>\n

Now Mr. Sturtevant writes me again, eager to know where there is any record\u00a0of the founding and early history of his community. He says that some 150\u00a0years ago 2,000 acres of land were taken in that region, divided into ten\u00a0200-acre lots, and thus settled. Mr. Sturtevant once had an historical sketch\u00a0of the community, loaned it to a newspaper for publication, but it was unfortunately\u00a0lost before a published record could be made.<\/p>\n

Mr. Sturtevant says tradition has it that the first settlers at Ten\u00a0Lots came up the Kennebec River to what is now Waterville and thence blazed\u00a0a trail through the woods to their 200-acre allotments.\u00a0On his place Mr. Sturtevant has a number of old-time things that I am\u00a0going out to see some day this summer: old fashioned two-tine hay forks,\u00a0doors with hand-made locks and hinges, and other relics from the days of long\u00a0ago.<\/p>\n

Mr. Sturtevant remembers much about the old preaching services at Ten\u00a0Lots. The pioneers there were staunch, religious people, and the records of\u00a0several Waterville churches show that more than one revival had its origin\u00a0at Ten Lots. Although the earliest of those revivals was long before Mr.\u00a0Sturtevant’s time, he recalls many traditions about them, handed down from\u00a0the folks who lived there when George Washington was still alive. One of the\u00a0proudest traditions of Ten Lots is that for several years its preacher\u00a0was Samuel Francis Smith, author of “America” — the same Samuel Francis\u00a0Smith who was once the pastor of Waterville’s First Baptist Church and a\u00a0professor at Colby College.<\/p>\n

Now among our listeners tonoigbt there must be someone who knows where\u00a0we can find recorded, accurate information about Ten Lots. During the summer\u00a0we want to make a thorough investigation, and we need your help, so that\u00a0when we come back on the air in the fall, we can give you the straight facts\u00a0about the history of that interesting community.<\/p>\n

\n

Two subjects we ought to discuss next fall are the \u00b7qpauta~qua and the\u00a0even earlier Lyceum Lecture courses. Just by way of a starter, let’s right\u00a0now take a look at the Lyceum course of lectures offered in Waterville in\u00a0the winter of 1888. It consisted of five lectures for which the patron bought\u00a0a course ticket for one dollar. On January 18 Rev. Theodore Gerrish gave a\u00a0lecture on the Battle of Gettysburg, to which the weekly waterville Sentinel\u00a0devoted a full column. On January 25 Rev. O. P. Gifford spoke on “The Problem\u00a0of Life”. That certainly was a convenient lecture title. Under it the lecturer\u00a0could talk about almost anything under the sun.<\/p>\n

Rev. George A. Crawford gave a lecture on February 7 about “The Land of\u00a0the Rising Sun”, Japan, from which country he had recently returned. The next\u00a0week Hon. A. G. Hall talked on English cathedrals. For the final lecture the\u00a0women of the town, according to the Sentinel, turned out in large numbers, for\u00a0on February 20 Mrs. Mary Livermore spoke on the subject “Concerning Husbands”.<\/p>\n

Is there anyone now living who attended any of those lectures in 1888?<\/p>\n

For several weeks in that winter of the big blizzard the weekly Sentinel\u00a0carried an ad which must bring back a lot of memories to our older citizens.\u00a0Let me read that ad to you.<\/p>\n

“Take the First Horse Car which leaves Waterville Post Office and in\u00a0five minutes you will be in front of the nicest and lowest priced house\u00a0lots ever offered in the Waterville market. City water is close at hand, and\u00a0the land is well-drained. These lots, remember, are right on the line of\u00a0the horse railroad soon to be. Hall and Philbrook, Arnold Block, Waterville.”<\/p>\n

\n

In 1888 Waterville boasted a big, open air skating rink. Wall and Branch,\u00a0its propr~etors, advertised two acres of solid ice, lighted by electricity,\u00a0neat and warm rest rooms, refreshments and hot coffee. The rink was situated\u00a0on the Gilman Bog, directly back of the Congregational Church. Entrance was\u00a0from Temple Street near Main. The proprietors assured the public that the\u00a0rink was in every way fit for ladies and children. Season tickets were $3.00\u00a0for gentlemen, $2.00 for ladies and children. Skates could be rented or purchased\u00a0on the spot.<\/p>\n

Ice hockey was then called polo. A news item tells us that “A game of\u00a0polo is advertised for tonight between the Granite Cities of Augusta and the\u00a0Elites of Waterville at the Elite rink. There will be skating before the\u00a0game, which will begin at nine, and a dance afterwards with music by Scribner’s\u00a0orchestra. ”<\/p>\n

The following week’s Sentinel proudly proclaimed the victory of the\u00a0Elites over the Granite Cities, and reported that the dance was a gala event\u00a0lasting into the wee small hours.<\/p>\n

\n

It was in 1888, as most of you know, that Waterville became a city. What\u00a0perhaps most of you don’t know is the long, bitter fight lasting many years,\u00a0before it adopted a city charter. On January 26, 1888 the Sentinel told the\u00a0whole story. Three days before, on January 23, occurred the last town meeting,\u00a0called especially to vote on the proposed charter. L. D. Carver, S. S. Brown,\u00a0F. A. Waldron and C. H. Redington were chosen ballot clerks, and were charged\u00a0with the duty of seeing that all votes were legal and properly checked. The\u00a0voters deposited simple Yes or No ballots. When the vote was counted, the charter\u00a0had been adopted by 543 to 432. The church bells were rung and the proponents\u00a0of a city government held a big celebration.<\/p>\n

The opposition had indeed been bitter and both sides had worked strenuously\u00a0to get out the vote. The resulting total of 975 ballots was 200 more\u00a0than had been cast in the previous charter contests. In fact there had been\u00a0three of those previous futile attempts to make Waterville a city, all tried\u00a0at the regular town meeting in March. In 1884 the vote was 223 for and 344\u00a0against; in 1885 it was 337 for and 394 against~ A year later in 1886 little\u00a0interest was aroused, for the total vote was smaller than the year before,\u00a0265 Yes and 344 No. The proponents decided not to bring the matter up at\u00a0the regular meeting in 1887 but to prepare for a special election in January,\u00a01888. Their strategy was crowned with success.<\/p>\n

\n

Year: 1950<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read the script for “Little Talks” program #72, broadcast on June 11, 1950<\/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":[1153,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7139"}],"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=7139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}