Not all of the economic news these days is bad. On May 2 U. S. News and\u00a0World Report came out with the information that the cost of living is on the\u00a0way down; that food, clothing and nearly everything else is cheaper. Its leading\u00a0paragraph reads this way: “Your money is worth more all of a sudden. Prices\u00a0are down a little — <\/strong>sometimes a lot. Careful shoppers can find real bargains\u00a0in clothes, appliances, furniture. Even automobiles are a bit cheaper. It\u00a0doesn’t mean a slump. Business is brisk by most standards, but the buyers’ market\u00a0s back once more.”<\/p>\n “Buyers”, says this account in the course of its detailed explanation, “flare back on top. Sellers are being forced to scramble for sales and to make\u00a0attractive offers. The publicist much more price conscious, much less inclined\u00a0to accept the take-it-or-leave-it attitude of wartime. As a result a person’s\u00a0income goes a bit further. The dollar packs a little more power for clothing, furnishings, appliances, and some kinds of foods.”<\/p>\n U. S. News is sure, however, that this does not mean the beginning of serious\u00a0deflation or depression. Business will continue to be good, they assure\u00a0us, and prices relatively high throughout 1952.\u00a0A corollary to the story of a slight break in prices, and one of the causes\u00a0of it, is the rise in savings during the past year. In 1949 only 3.4% of the\u00a0national income or about six billion dollars — were salted down in savings.\u00a0This year it is being put away at the rate of 18 billions, or nearly eight per\u00a0cent of the national income. More cautious about buying, and with a lot of\u00a0money in circulation, people are saving more.\u00a0About 16 billion dollars are said to be in the custody of the savings\u00a0banks, the savings departments of national banks and trust companies, and the\u00a0building loan institutions. When you add to this the pension holdings, the annuity policies, the commercial bank deposits, the currency, and the securities\u00a0held by private individuals — as distinct from the holdings of corporations -we\u00a0find total savings of more than 200 biIIion dollars owned by American people.<\/p>\n When I first mentioned narrow guage railroads on this program, a number of listeners said there used to be a narrow guage at Old Orchard. My investigation\u00a0failed to reveal any record of such a road. Now one of our best informed local\u00a0citizens on the subject of 0ld rail roads, Mr. R. H. Gay of silver street, comes\u00a0up with a photograph taken in the 1880’s, published in the Biddeford Journal\u00a0less than three weeks ago, to be exact on May 1, 1952.<\/p>\n The picture shows the locomotive and open cars — like the old summer\u00a0street cars — of the railroad that ran between Camp Ellis and Old Orchard\u00a0Beach between 1880 and 1923, most of that time as a branch of the Boston and\u00a0Maine. In the legend under the picture appears this surprising statement: “The\u00a0railroad was narrow guage at first, and the locomotives burned wood. The track\u00a0was later changed to standard width, and coal-burning engines were introduced.\u00a0The line operated only in summer.”\u00a0So the memories of some of our old timers were not so faulty as we had\u00a0thought. They were right. There once was a narrow guage railroad at Old Orchard.<\/p>\n One of our regular listeners has a question that I too would like to see\u00a0answered. What is the origin of the old time measure called the milk quart?\u00a0Plenty of folks remember that, when milk was delivered by the 0ld milk carts\u00a0before the day of bottles, it was dealt out by a quart measure larger than the\u00a0standard quart of 32 fluid ounces. Why? Does anyone know the answer?<\/p>\n John Burgess manages to keep the editor of the Peebleshire News over in\u00a0Scotland Informed about our mention of Peebles now and then on this program. As\u00a0a result that Scotch newspaper, In its Issue of March 28, 1952, published the\u00a0following paragraph:<\/p>\n ”We in Peebles are indeed grateful and appreciatIve of Mr. Marriner’s reference\u00a0to Peebles and his broadcast talk on the Beltane Festival. More so as\u00a0to our community he is a stranger, but one with a difference, one whom we could\u00a0term a friend. We too extend our thanks to Mr. John Burgess, Jr. for his acting\u00a0as a live connecting link. Peebles March Riding and Beltane Festival Committee\u00a0are showing their indebtedness by presenting to each of the two gentlemen a\u00a0copy of the Beltane Book, and we could state that they would be welcome guests\u00a0at our festivities if ever they can visit Scotland during the month of June.”<\/p>\n Those kind words reached us just as we were thinking about mentioning\u00a0Peebles again. We had just read in an issue of the News the report of the Beltane committee on the finances of their 1951 festivities. What do you know?\u00a0They actually apologized because their surplus was smaller than it had been in\u00a01950. What In the world would they have done if they had followed the American\u00a0practice of having a deficit? Well, for one thing, they wouldn’t have been\u00a0Scots.<\/p>\n More than once I have expressed Interest on this program in similar family\u00a0names. You may, recall that I once asked if the Pishons and the Pushards\u00a0were once the same, as were the Poulins, the Poolers, and the Poirlers; the\u00a0Rancourts and the Roncos?\u00a0Now, to my complete surprise, learn that two well known family names of\u00a0Waterville and Oakland were once the same family. I refer to the Shoreys and\u00a0the Shores.<\/p>\n In 1775 Reuben Shorey bought land and built a home on what is now the\u00a0Ralph Stanley farm on the Second Rangeway. The next year his brother James\u00a0Shorey settled the farm where Clarence Shores now lives on the Oakland Road.\u00a0Another brother settled in Benton on the river road between Benton Station\u00a0and Pishan’ s Ferry, and all of the present Shoreys and Shores of Benton and\u00a0Clinton are said to be descendants of that brother. The present Carl Shorey\u00a0of Oakland is a fourth generation descendant of the original Reuben Shorey, but\u00a0so also are some of the Shores. It happened This way. The descendants of Peuben\u00a0Shorey — or most of them, at any rate — kept the name Shorey, but the\u00a0descendants of his brother James changed the name to Shores. James’ son Tom\u00a0was still living when the present Carl Shorey was six years old. Tom lived on\u00a0the Hiram Corn forth farm on what is now the County Road.<\/p>\n The 0ldest man in Waterville when the centennial was celebrated in 1902\u00a0was George E. Shores. He had been born in 1812, about ten years after his father\u00a0moved here from Berwick. At one time he owned most of the land between\u00a0College Avenue and Main Street, above the railroad station. When Waterville\u00a0celebrated; ts hundredth anniversary, George Shores was the connecting link\u00a0between the old Waterville and the new.\u00a0Now as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Waterville, another man is the\u00a0same sort of connecting link. He is our honored and beloved elderly statesman,\u00a0Harvey Doane Eaton.<\/p>\n Was there ever a paper mill in any of the Vassalboros? have never heard\u00a0of one, but then I find every week there are a lot of things never heard of.\u00a0Now what about it? Does anyone know of a pape r mill one of the old, small\u00a0rag paper factories — at the North, or the East, or at Getchell’s Corner?<\/p>\n Did you know there was once a time when a traveler had to have an official\u00a0passport to go from Eastport to Machias? I have seen a very old piece of\u00a0writing which is indeed such a passport.\u00a0The old name for Eastport was Moose Island, and Indeed at the bottom of\u00a0this old document appear the words “Moose Island (J .e.) Eastport”. Here is what\u00a0the document says:<\/p>\n “Town Major IS Office. September 14, 1814.” William Whiting, an American citizen, has permission to leave this place\u00a0for Machias, with his baggage (wearing apparil) on his private affairs. They said\u00a0William Whiting is in height 5 feet 8 inches, dark hair, small nose, rather dark\u00a0complexion, age 18 (or 16), eyes black.<\/p>\n “Duly reported, J. Wi I Iiams, Town Major, E. Gubbins, Colonel Command.\u00a0Gratis. ”<\/p>\n On the reverse side are the words: “British Passport, September 4. 1814.\u00a0Eastport Gratis.”<\/p>\n Someday we must try to put together the story of the War of 1812 In Maine.\u00a0In our opinion it has never been adequately treated. From June, 1814 to June,\u00a01818 Eastport was under British rule. Nearby Machias was still under the U. S.\u00a0flag. We suspect young William Whiting was a native of Machias who got caught\u00a0in Eastport when the British captured the town. Quite naturally he wanted to\u00a0get home, and somehow on September 4 he succeeded in getting a passport from\u00a0the British commander.\u00a0We aren’t sure who William Whiting was, but we suspect he was a member of\u00a0the family for whom the Washington County town of Whiting was named.<\/p>\n More than once have mentioned the awful year of 1816, a year so cold that\u00a0it came to be known as the year of no summer. Through the kindness of Mr. J. E.\u00a0Connor of Lublow Court, Waterville, I have seen a newspaper clipping which refers\u00a0to that fatal year. The clipping is unidentified and undated, but an ad\u00a0on the reverse side makes it clear that the paper was the Boston Globe. The\u00a0Globe quotes an article which it attributes to the Ipswich Chronicle of September 20, 1884, so we can claim that North Shore paper as the source of a few\u00a0amazing items about that year of no summer.\u00a0The Chronicle’s account emphasized that the cold of 1816 was not confined\u00a0to New England, or even to the United states. It was said to be the coldest\u00a0summer ever experienced in modern Europe as well.<\/p>\n In June, 1816 snow fell to a depth of ten Inches in Maine and Vermont, and\u00a0there was some snow as far south as Hartford, Connecticut. Frost and ice were\u00a0common throughout the month; almost every green thing was killed. The wind blew\u00a0steadily from the north, cold and fierce. Mothers knit extra socks and mittens\u00a0for their children in the spring, and woodpiles that usually disappeared in\u00a0front of houses were built up again. As one comment put it, “planting and\u00a0Shivering were done together”. The farmers who always worked out their taxes\u00a0on the country roads in mid-summer did so that year in overcoats and mittens.\u00a0On the 17th of June, up in Vermont, a farmer set out at noon in the teeth\u00a0of a raging snow storm, to look for his sheep, for whose safety he feared. When\u00a0night came and he did not return, his family became alarmed. In the morning,\u00a0with the storm over, a searching party was organized. Not until afternoon did\u00a0they find him on the side of a hill, with both feet frozen, unable to move.<\/p>\n July was just as bad as June. On the 5th ice formed the thickness of window\u00a0glass allover New England. The little corn that had managed to live\u00a0through June was now all destroyed. August was even more cheerless. Ice was\u00a0now half an inch thick. Allover the northem half of the United states and\u00a0through all middle Europe and the British Isles almost every green thing was\u00a0destroyed.\u00a0On August 30th a deep fa II of snow covered the area outside London, and\u00a0the British papers stated that 1816 would surely be remembered as the “year of\u00a0no summer”.\u00a0Com was so scarce that only small lots left over from the crop of 1815\u00a0were obtainable for seed in the spring of 1817. It brought the unprecedented\u00a0price of $5 a bushel.<\/p>\n In our own locality Deacon Simpson of Winslow was the hero of that tragic\u00a0time. He had a little corn Jeft over from 1815. What an opportunity for profiteering\u00a0on that five dollar price! But Deacon Simpson lived long before the\u00a0era of mink coats and deep freezers in Washington. He was a friendly, generous\u00a0humanitarian of the kind that has made America great. The poor farmers who had\u00a0somehow survived that terrible year of 1816 came from many miles around to the\u00a0home of Deacon Simpson over on what is now Benton Avenue, and whether they\u00a0could pay anything or not, none went away empty-handed. Each received the precious\u00a0kernels of corn to assure all up and down the upper Kennebec Valley a\u00a0harvest for 1817.<\/p>\n Year: 1952<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #149, broadcast on May 18, 1952<\/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":[787,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7327"}],"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=7327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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