Almost every literate American sees each rronth’s issue of the Reader’s Digest.\u00a0It seems hardly necessary, therefore, to mention anything printed in that\u00a0magazine. YeT a brief statement in the current issue expresses so clear’iy and\u00a0so forcefully a point of view about our economic life which I have been trying\u00a0to defend again and again on this program that I want to repeat it tonight. The\u00a0Digest calls it a creed. Here, then, is an avowal of belief that is good for\u00a0any of us.<\/p>\n
“I do not choose to be a common man. I tis my ri ght to be uncotrrnon, if\u00a0can. seek opportunity, not security. do not wish to be a kept citizen,\u00a0humb led and du lied by havi ng the state look after me. I want to take the ca 1-\u00a0culated risk; to dream and to bui Id, to fall and to succeed. I refuse to barter\u00a0i ncenti ve for a do Ie. I prefer the cha Ilenges of life to the guaranteed\u00a0existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not\u00a0trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a hand-out. It Is my heritage\u00a0to think and to act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face\u00a0the world boldly and say, ‘This I have done’. All this is what it means to be\u00a0an American.”<\/p>\n
The authorities at Good Wi II Homes thi nk was scarcely fai r to Watervi lie\u00a0in my recent corrments about ear Iy days at Good Wi II \u2022 A I though it is true that\u00a0there was no Watervi lie citizen on the board of directors at the time to which\u00a0I referred, and although the subscription list I saw for one particular year\u00a0gave no Watervi lie name, we must in all fairness point out that, from the\u00a0start of his work, George Hinckley received prompt and continuing support from\u00a0peop Ie of WaTervi lie.<\/p>\n
Evidence of this early support is shown by a program put on at the Watervi\u00a0lie BapTist Church on the evening of December 20, 1894. Fire had destroyed\u00a0the little bui Iding which Good Wi II used for church and school. In the fire a\u00a0stack of winter cloTh i ng, collected for the boys, had been burned. To pay for\u00a0new cloth i ng thi s Watervi lie group planned a benefi t enTertal nment. They announced\u00a0the event inverse, as fo I lows :<\/p>\n
“At Good Wi I I They had a fire, On the program was music by a male quartet, which was comprised of students\u00a0or recent graduates of Colby. Unfortunately the program does not give\u00a0their names, but two of them may have been Joel Slocum and Chester SturtevanT.\u00a0Mr. Sturtevant,afterwards a trustee of the college, as his son Is today, was\u00a0for many years presidenT of the Liverrore Falls Trust Company and one of Maine’s\u00a0leading Baptist laymen.\u00a0Perhaps the rooST i nteresti ng Item on the program is listed “Japanese Poetry\u00a0— Mr. Y. Ch I ba J! \u2022 Through the interest of Colby missionaries in Japan, Mr.\u00a0Chlba had come to America and had entered Colby as a student in 1892. He spent\u00a0the summer of 1894 at Good WI I I, to earn money toward his college expenses. That\u00a0summer he lived in George Hinckley’s home, and was wry active In all sports\u00a0and soc i a I II fe of the Good Wi II boys. Ret urn I ng to Japan, Mr. Ch I ba became\u00a0president of a Christian theological seminary in his own country.<\/p>\n Colby College has always gl ven strong support to Good Will. Today a full\u00a0tuition scholarship is available each year to a Good Will boy or girl at1ending\u00a0Colby. In the very first Issue of the little magazine called “Boy’s Fund”,\u00a0which later became the “Good Wi II Record”, Colby College placed an advertisement\u00a0signed by its Li nco I nesque pres I dent, George Dana Boardman Pepper. A present\u00a0member of the Good Will staff reca lis gol ng to Presl dent Pepper’s home with\u00a0Mr. Hinckley and there finding Dr. Pepper reading a Hebrew Bible.\u00a0Well, anyhow, Wa1erville in general, and Colby In particular, have always\u00a0been friends of Good Wi II.<\/p>\n Among the changes that time has wrought is the disappearance of the car-riage\u00a0maker. There were two of them In Bridgton when I was a boy. My favorite\u00a0was a clever man with tools, Ansel Pratt. He would make any sort of vehicle\u00a0from a two-whee led gi g to a four-seated buckboard. Hi s specl a Ity for speedY\u00a0production was farm wagons, but his pride and Joy were the fringe-topped surreys,\u00a0which he took plenty of time to build. In 1902 my father persuaded this\u00a0man to make, as a Christmas present to my brother and me, a magnificent set of\u00a0doub Ie runners. I f I had a n I cke I for every ml Ie I have hauled those sleds up\u00a0h I I I and raced them down, I wou I d fee I more comfortab Ie about 0 I d age securi tv .<\/p>\n Of course we di dn ‘t always wal k up the hi II with those sleds. We were\u00a0ever on watch for a feamof heavy sleds, drawn by a pair of horses, returning\u00a0empty up the hi II after taking a big load of hemlock bark to the Bridgton tannery.\u00a0A kindly driver would let us hitch our sleds on behind and take It easy\u00a0up the hill. We always fe It those drivers owed us a rl de, because we were I nconveni\u00a0enced I n our s lid I ng by the ruts out I n the snow-cove red road by the I r\u00a0bridie-chains. Now any young people listening tonight have no Idea what\u00a0mean by a bridle-chain, and I suspect a lot of middle aged people may be just\u00a0as uninformed, especially if they live in the city. But the older folks, out\u00a0in the country, or who once lived there, know full well the value of a bridlechal\u00a0n in haul i ng heavy loads on sleds. So I am not gol n9 to te II you young\u00a0folks what a brid~le-chain is. Ask the older people.<\/p>\n To get back to the subject of carri age makers, let’s see about some of them\u00a0in the Kennebec Valley a hundred years ago. In 1856 there were four of them in Watervi lie, the best known of whom was Joseph Marston. I n West Watervi lie (.10akland.)\u00a0were two. Si,x bui It carriages in the several vi I I ages of Vassalboro.<\/p>\n Charles Ames was the best known of three of these artisans In Fairfield. Mitchell,\u00a0Dinsmore and Company made carriages at Bloomfield, and across the river\u00a0in Skowhegan were four bui lders. Over in Smithfield were three, Including Nahum\u00a0Morse. Up at Norridgewock were Hale and Hilton, and Horatio Marshall. The Robeys,\u00a0Joseph and Wi Illam, turned out vehicles in Readfield, as did Simeon Robbins\u00a0in Rome, Alfred Thomas in Pittsfield, Sumner Whipple in Solon and Thomas\u00a0Clark in China.<\/p>\n let us now take another look at Fairfield sixty years ago. What was going\u00a0on in that town in 1894? On February 13 the Fairfield Journal reported, “Holman\u00a0Day of the Lewiston Journal was in town yesterday”. Surely now In 1954 not\u00a0everyone has forgotten Holman Day. His “King Spruce” still ranks as one of the\u00a0best novels of the Maine woods. In later days he lost his !TOney in i I I-timed\u00a0movie ventures and died in poverty. Only through the kindness of his classmate\u00a0Harvey Eaton did he get a decent burial. Is It possible that Maine will some\u00a0day forget his books as It h as a I ready forgotten the neg I ected grave of Ho I man\u00a0Day?<\/p>\n In the Journal of Apri I 3 we learn that “Col. Robert Ingersol I wi I I lecture\u00a0at City Hal I, Watervi lIe on Abraham lincoln on Wednesday evening, Apri I\u00a011”. 01 d the churches of Watervi I Ie boycott that lecture by the athe I st, I ngersoll?\u00a0Some day we must look up the record in the Watervl Ue Mal I and see\u00a0what happened. Ingersoll’s lecture on Lincoln, by the way, made much of the\u00a0fact that Lincoln belonged to no church. He could not get around the equally\u00a0de fin i te fact~’ however, that Li ncol n was a deep lyre Ii gl ous man.\u00a0On May 13 the Journal said: “Mrs. C. G. Totman has an exhibit of painted\u00a0china that musT please the most fastidious.” We can tell you, sixty years later,\u00a0that famous china is now the prized possession of Mrs. Christine Hume.\u00a0We learn, from the July 3rd Issue, that “Howard Totman has moved into the\u00a0house in the Is land, so long occupied by his grandfather, Nahum Totman.” That\u00a0item interests us especially, because it was the house in which William Bryant\u00a0died, and I isteners on this program know how fond I have become of Wi Iliam\u00a0Bryant.<\/p>\n We have previously mentioned that, with the bui Iding of the street car\u00a0line, the Amos Gerald interests constructed an amusement park at the southern\u00a0end of the Island and called It Island Park. One of Its features was a weekly\u00a0concert on Sunday afternoons. On May 28,1894 the Fairfield Journal gave due\u00a0nOTi ce of the fi rst concert of the season, but left I ittle doubt In the reader’s\u00a0mi nd about what happened. It sa i d: ”The openi ng sacred concert at I s land Park\u00a0was we II attended Sunday afternoon. The e lectri c cars brought four loads from\u00a0Waterville. What music they had was good, but for some reason the orchestra\u00a0was not all there, and but little music was rer:\\dered.”<\/p>\n Just note what fifteen cents would get you in 1894. On March 28 the Journa\u00a0I p r i nted Th is announcement: “Cbn ‘t forget to get your suppe r ton i ght at the\u00a0Universalist dining room. Cold meats, hot rolls, pie and cake — 15 cents.”<\/p>\n What was done at the Fairfield town meeting In 18941 For the first time\u00a0in nany years, the schools got a better app’f’cprlation than the roads, but only\u00a0Slightly better. For schools the town raised $3,500, for repair of roads and\u00a0bridges, and for building new highways, a total of $3,400. An article to build\u00a0an I ron brl dge was turned down, but the town dl d vote to borrOf $3,000 to repair\u00a0the old wooden bridge between Mill Island and Bunker Island.\u00a0Sxlty years ago our Maine towns were looking for new industries, just as\u00a0they are Today. Fairfield voted to grant five years exemption from taxes to\u00a0any new Industry.<\/p>\n I have more than once told you how much I owe to Mr. Arthur Ellis of the\u00a0RI dge Road for his va I usb Ie contributi ons to th I s program. I was pleased,\u00a0therefore, to note I n the Fa I rfle Id Jouma I of December 18, 1894 th Is item;\u00a0“A very pleasant company gathered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Ellis on\u00a0the RI dge last Thursday event ng, to ce lebrate the .fl fth anni versary of the I r\u00a0marriage. Friends and neighbors presented the couple with a handsome chair.”<\/p>\n On November 27 the Jouma I referred to the grandfather of the owner of\u00a0th is rad I 0 stat Ion. I t sa I d : ”The basement of the Ope ra House has been rented\u00a0to F. H. Brown for a pant factory. About January first he will remove there\u00a0with all his machinery, and will double, perhaps triple, his present force.”<\/p>\n So many years have elapsed since the Spanish-American War that I suspect\u00a0few of our young peop Ie today have the s lightest I dea what I t means to say “femember\u00a0the Maine”. The sinking of the. battleship “Maine” in Havana Harbor\u00a0precipitated that war. It is thus especially interesting to learn from an Item\u00a0in the Fai rfleld Journal In 1895 that a Fairfield man had a prominent part In\u00a0the launching of that battleship.’: The.”Maine!! was comparatively new when\u00a0she was sunk in 1898, having been launched on July 1, 1895. It was on May 7,\u00a01895 that the Journal carried this brief Item: “General Seldon Connor wi II make\u00a0the presenTation address when the silver plate Is given to the new cruiser\u00a0“Maine”, which will be launched on the first of July.<\/p>\n A gli””se at customs and mores of sixty years ago is given us by a Journal\u00a0Item in August of\u00b71895. It says: “If the girls who walked the streets of\u00a0this vi 1 I age last Wednesday afternoon, smoking cigarettes, knew what a dlsgusti\u00a0ng sight they were, we th ink they woo I d not repeat the act.”<\/p>\n Year: 1954<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #209, broadcast on January 10, 1954<\/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":[749,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7379"}],"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=7379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDestroying The boys’ warm winter aTtire;
\nThe debt on The new remains unpaid;
\nTo lift iT now we Invite your aid.
\nSo put in The bag that we send TO you
\nSome pennies (or nickels or dimes will do).
\nOne for each year of your I I fe ThaT I s pasT,
\nOne for the first as well as the last.
\nThe secret The bag will never unfold
\nShould you wish that your years remain untold.
\nThen come i f you can I <\/em>if you I re we I I and hearty,
\nI f not, p lease send some other party.
\nThere’ll be somethi ng to eat and a mus I ca I treat
\nTo pass the hour wi th fly i ng feet. IT<\/p>\n
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