This is the 150th broadcast In this series that began in the autumn of\u00a01948. We like to note that our 150th program comes close to the celebration\u00a0of Waterville ‘s 150th year.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago we asked you the question, “Have you been to church today?”\u00a0It is pertinent to ask that question every Sunday evening. If church\u00a0going lags, if active interest In our churches declines, America is in for a\u00a0very bad time Indeed. This is a case where you can’t say, “Let George do It.”<\/p>\n
The obligation is upon every last one of us. Have you been to church today?\u00a0Closely all led to this matter of going to church is the religious instruction\u00a0of our young people. The reason why some of us are so strong for the retention\u00a0of private schools along side of the public schools is because the private schools are free to give definite religious instruction in their classrooms.It was a hard blow to religious instruction in the public schools, although\u00a0attendance at it was made purely voluntary, when the Supreme Court decided\u00a0that there could be no religious instruction on public school property\u00a0in school time.<\/p>\n
Now comes a decision of the Supreme Court which gives us new hope. The\u00a0new decision Is on the released time plan in the city of New York. Any pupil\u00a0in the elementary grades may be excused once a week an hour early at the end\u00a0of a day’s regular school session if he then goes to a religious school center\u00a0for an hour of instruction conducted by his own religious denomination. In\u00a0order to be so released the pupil must present a card signed by his parent and\u00a0a member of the clergy. No child can be required by the school authorities to\u00a0attend any religious training, nor can any child be denied the privilege of\u00a0such attendance if his parents wish it. The church school which the child\u00a0attends during the released hour must file attendance reports with the public\u00a0school authorities. No chi Id is excused from that one hour in the public\u00a0school unless he is actually present at the religious school.<\/p>\n
That is the program which the U. S. Supreme Court has held to be constitutional\u00a0country.\u00a0It is a plan that is expected to find wide adoption throughout the<\/p>\n
would advise our citizens who propose turning the park in Castonguay\u00a0Square into a parking lot to examine the deeds of gift by which that land was\u00a0conveyed to the town of Waterville. I am sure no one would do otherwise than\u00a0respect the memory of Dr. Obadiah Williams, who made the first gift ever presented\u00a0to the municipality on this side of the river, and of Abijah Smith who\u00a0extended the lot by a second gift.<\/p>\n
It was five years be\u00b7fore Waterville became a separate town, in 1797 to\u00a0be exact, when Obadiah Williams gave to the inhabitants of the town of Winslow\u00a0a parcel of land in Lot 104 on the west side of the river. In making that gift\u00a0Dr. Williams laid down certain restrictions: first, that the only buildings\u00a0erected on the land should be a meeting house, an academy, a court house, and\u00a0a common school house. Now listen to these words contained in the Williams\u00a0deed of gift: “There shall be no other buildings either public or private ever\u00a0hereafter erected on the land, but all the remaining part thereof shall be preserved\u00a0entire for the purpose of a meeting house green or a training field or\u00a0any other amusement.”<\/p>\n
Forty-three years later, in 1840, Abi~ah Smith added an adjoining piece\u00a0of land on the south to the Williams gift, making possible the building of\u00a0Conlnon Street and enlarging the area of the public park. Smith’s deed of gift,\u00a0after providing for the street, declares: “The land hereby granted shall be\u00a0forever kept and appropriated to public use only as a promenade or place for\u00a0military parade, and if the town shall at any time violate these conditions,\u00a0the land shall revert to the grantors or their heirs.”<\/p>\n
I am no lawyer, and I cannot predict what the courts would decide. I can\u00a0only call your attention to what Obadiah Wi II iams and Abl Jah Smith Intended,\u00a0and how definitely and carefully they worded the deeds of gift.<\/p>\n
Readers of the Waterville Sentinel are familiar with the inspiring messages\u00a0of Rev. Nelson Miles Heikes, to whom the Ima Wanderer column is turned\u00a0over each Saturday. Mr. Heikes has kindly allowed me to examine a very old\u00a0account book kept by his wife’s grandfather, Elisha Wood. Mrs. Heikes, who\u00a0died In 1942, traced double descent from the first Pilgrim colony at Plymouth;\u00a0so she came from a very old American family. In that line of descent from the\u00a0Mayflower Pilgrims was Elisha Wood.\u00a0Elisha married Eliza White in Winthrop, Maine on February 2, 1824, and\u00a0on that mid-winter day drove from Winthrop to Freedom, where he had a home\u00a0all ready for her. There they lived for many years and brought up a family,\u00a0and there the pages of this old account book were written.<\/p>\n
Elisha Wood was a farmer, laborer and brick layer, for a short time a\u00a0blacksmith, operated a saw mill, and did quite a business renting horses and\u00a0teams, though in h is day there was no such thing as a livery stable in our\u00a0small Maine towns.\u00a0The first item in Elisha’s accounts is dated November 1, 1828, and the\u00a0last is a record of his expenditures as school agent in 1858. Although there\u00a0are detailed items for only about 20 years, the book was obviously used for\u00a0some accounts for thirty years.<\/p>\n
What was Elisha Wood doing in 1828, four years after his marriage to\u00a0Eliza White? That he was energetically doing more than running his own farm\u00a0is made clear by the following items: “Luther Davis, to a plow breaking up\u00a0two days, $2.00; Daniel Davis, to a wagon to Belfast, eo cents; Samuel Rives,\u00a03 days laying brick at $1.50 per day, $4.50.”\u00a0That he often rented vehicles without horses — the renter probably furnishing\u00a0the horse — is shown by these items: “Sleigh to China twice, 66 cents;\u00a0sleigh to Palermo, 20 cents; wagon to Dover, $2.00; sleigh to Unity, 40 cents.”\u00a0It was just as common for him to rent a horse without a vehicle. These were\u00a0probably saddle horses, and the items read: “Horse to mill, 25 cents; horse to\u00a0Montville, 40 cents; horse to Palermo, 33 cents; horse to the Branch, 33 cents.”<\/p>\n
Even when he rented both horse and vehicle together, the rates were low:\u00a0“Horse and wagon to Albion Corner, 40 cents; horse and sleigh to China, 60\u00a0cents; horse and wagon to Freedom Village, 40 cents; horse and wagon to camp\u00a0meeting, 66 cents; horse and wagon to Liberty after a grist, 60 cents.” 01\u00a0December 10, 1833 he charged $1.80 for a sleigh to Lewiston.\u00a0His charge for a day’s plowing with a yoke of oxen was 66 cents, but if\u00a0he furnished the plow it was $1.00. For harrowing the charge, harrow and oxen,\u00a0was 83 cents.\u00a0As early as 1828 Elisha had to hire help at haying time. On July 28 he\u00a0credited Richard Garney with $1.33 for a day’s work haying by Garney and his\u00a0boy Jacob.<\/p>\n
Elisha was a good farmer. The book is filled with references to produce\u00a0sold from his farm. His potatoes brought, through the years, anywhere from 25\u00a0cents to 2 shillings 6 pence (41 cents) a bushel. His wool went for 2 shillings 6 pence a pound; his corn for 50 to 80 cents a bushel; his barley for\u00a066 cents; his wheat and rye for a dollar. Strangely enough, there is no reference\u00a0to oats. He sold mutton for as l0w as four cents a pound, and in 1832\u00a0a whole quarter of beef for two cents a pound, though in 1840 It brought him\u00a0five cents. He sold many lambs for one dollar each. His hay brought him from\u00a0$7 to $10 a ton.<\/p>\n
Never in any of the old account books have I seen so low a price for\u00a0cord wood. Through the whole winter of 1846-47 he delivered wood to a Mrs.\u00a0Kinney at 62! cents a cord.\u00a0It appears that Elisha was responsible to one J. Randall for supplying\u00a0Mrs. Kinney with life’s necessities. Whether Randall paid the bills as a relative,\u00a0a guardian, or as a town officer, the account book does not make plain.\u00a0Anyhow, about twice a year Elisha Wood collected from Randall a part of his\u00a0bill against Mrs. Kinney — but never more than a part of it. Unless there were\u00a0transactions not listed in the book, Elisha never broke even on the deal. He\u00a0rented Mrs. Kinney a whole house for one shilling (17 cents) a week.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Kinney used a lot of cord wood. In the two relatively mild months\u00a0of October and November, 1847, Elisha made seven half cord deliveries at her\u00a0door. In January and February she used up six whole cords, and six more before\u00a0the end of June. From 1847 through 1849 Elisha supplied Mrs. Kinney with\u00a0molasses, tea, a little flour, a very little sugar, a lot of salt pork, a littie\u00a0mutton, crackers two dozen at a time, 5 yards of flannel, a pair of calfskin\u00a0shoes, a pint of brandy, a quart of wine, a box of pills, and occasional\u00a0bits of cash ranging from 12 cents to 56 cents.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Elizabeth Kinney seems to have had a daughter Hannah Kinney, which\u00a0explains the puzzling fact that sometimes an item is headed Mrs. Kinney, at\u00a0other times Miss Kinney.\u00a0The whole account comes to an end in 1852 with these items: “Hannah Kinney, To lot in burying ground, $3.00; to taking up her mother and removing her,\u00a0$3.00. It Elisha operated a saw mill. He charged $3 a thousand feet for sawing\u00a0plank, and $2 a thousand for boards. He evidently got out lumber of his Ottn,\u00a0<\/em>for he credits Jonathan Fuller with one day’s chopping, 50 cents.<\/p>\n It was as a bricklayer that Elisha got his best pay — $1.50 for a whole\u00a0day’s work, and it was much more than an 8 hour day. He laid a lot of brick\u00a0between 1830 and 1850, and only eight years after his marriage was doing wei I\u00a0enough so that he could loan $25 to Richard Garney at 6 per cent. In 1834 he\u00a0had a number of notes from debtors on which he was having some trouble collecting\u00a0his 6 per cent. On one note of ten dollars, however, he charged nine\u00a0per cent and got it.<\/p>\n The variety of Elisha’s interests and abilities is revealed in this single\u00a0account against Nathan Bachelor in 1842: “Pasturing 25 sheep at two shillings\u00a0a head, $8.33; four days laying brick, $6.00; one half day blasting rocks and\u00a0using 12 ounces of powder, 90 cents; smoothing two rooms in the chamber, 50\u00a0cents; 100 feet of pine boards, $1.00.”\u00a0Elisha got his boots and shoes from Jonathan Varney. On December 11, 1841\u00a0he credits Varney with $7.75 for making boots and shoes for the family. On October\u00a010,1842 Varney got credit for $1.00 for making one pair of shoes for\u00a0Amelia. She apparently was Elisha’s daughter. When he had Varney around the\u00a0place with his shoemaker’s outfit, and the shoemaker had time on his hands,\u00a0Eli sha saw that he was kept busy. On February 20, 1845 he entered in the book:\u00a0“Jonathan Varney, credit by two days mending shoes and chopping wood, $1.33.”<\/p>\n When Elisha was school agent in 1858 he accounted for $93.04 to operate\u00a0the school in District No.1. He paid J. H. Tenney $18 a month for teaching\u00a0the school two and a half months. After Seth Bradstreet had boarded the master\u00a0for four months, something happened to cause Elisha to take the teacher\u00a0into his own home, at the same board rate paid Bradstreet, $1.50 a week. John\u00a0Cummings got $2.19 for supplying the schoolhouse with three cords of wood. Repairs on the bui Iding cost 88 cents, and Elisha paid out 20 cents for a pail and 22 cents for a broom. When it came time to operate a summer term, Elisha’s\u00a0daughter Amelia got the job at $2.50 per week — total, pay of $30 for twelve\u00a0weeks teaching.<\/p>\n Near the end of the book, though there are no more detailed entries, we\u00a0find a record very rare in the old account books of this sort. It is a progressive\u00a0picture of at least a portion of Elisha’s assets from 1851 through\u00a01855. When 1851 began there was due him on notes and accounts $1,879.10. He\u00a0listed mutton and pelts at $17, and meat stock at $277 — a total of $2,173.10.\u00a0He shows no liabilities.<\/p>\n In another year the notes and accounts due him had increased by $600, and\u00a0he had added a threshing machine at $63, so that his total assets were over\u00a0$3,000, but he had debts of $516. The next year he reduced his debts to $360,\u00a0so that he had a net worth of $2,653. By January, 1854 the accounts due Elisha\u00a0had mounted to $3,634 and his net worth was over $3,200.<\/p>\n The year 1854 was a good one for Elisha. He reduced his uncollected accounts\u00a0from $3,600 to $1,900. By January, 1855 he had $200 in an unnamed bank\u00a0and $380 in a Thomaston bank. He had added to his holdings the Davis farm, on\u00a0which he paid a year’s tax of $2.79, and for the first time he lists cash on\u00a0hand, $46. He owed only $235, giving him a net worth of $3,500.<\/p>\n This farmer, laborer, bricklayer, saw mill operator, and renter of horses\u00a0and wagons had, in four years, increased his net worth by more than a thousand\u00a0dollars. The Davis farm and the money in the bank represented almost exactly\u00a0the amount of his collection of old accounts. It would be interesting to know\u00a0how Elisha Wood of Freedom was able to get so much out of his debtors in that,\u00a0his most profitable, year of 1854.<\/p>\n Year: 1952<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #150, broadcast on May 25, 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\/7331"}],"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=7331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}