A Ma i ne farmer was one day approached by one of those book agents we were\u00a0talking about on this program a few weeks ago. The agent was seiling a set of\u00a0books with the Impressive title “How to Farm Successfully”. The farmer listened\u00a0patiently; then he sa I d: “Son, tal nt no use for you to go on. I don’t\u00a0need them books. Why, I a In ‘t farml n9 now ha I f so we II as I know how.”<\/p>\n
The re i s food fo r though tin tha t comment. I tis app ropos of one 0 f my\u00a0favorite prayers: “Oh, Lord, we need not more light, but more strength. Thou\u00a0hast already given to most of us the vision to see what we should do. Give us\u00a0now the courage to do what we a I ready know we ought to do.”<\/p>\n
That sentiment is good also for our nation. We have the hydrogen bomb,\u00a0capab Ie of destroy I ng who Ie c I tl es and I mmobll I zing great areas. What sha II we\u00a0do with It? It not only takes wisdom to find the answer. It takes great courage\u00a0to exercise It. Suppose the best answer proves to be that we should not\u00a0be the first to use the H bomb. however great the temptation. To obey that\u00a0answer would take tremendous courage.<\/p>\n
Yes, in many areas of life we already know or can easily determine what we\u00a0ought to do. It is someth I ng else to have the courage to do It.<\/p>\n
Now let us turn to a bit of Maine history. Many of our people believe thata hundred and fifty years ago a big majority of Maine inhabitants were chafing\u00a0under the Massachuestts yoke and getti ng more and more rebe Iii ous b ecause the\u00a0mother state would not set Maine free. That opinion is far from the truth.<\/p>\n
After 1800 the General Court (the legislature) of Massachusetts showed no pronounced\u00a0opposition toward Maine’s becoming a separate state. The position taken\u00a0by Massachusetts was in fact exactly the same position which the U. S. Congress\u00a0now takes toward Puerto Rico. Our federal government has declared that the\u00a0Puerto Ricans can have what they\u00a0a territory of the United states.\u00a0want. Repeatedly they have voted to remain\u00a0Not yet do they want their independence.\u00a0likewise, throughout the first two decades of the nineteenth century, Massachusetts\u00a0sa i d “let the peep Ie of Ma i ne deci de”.\u00a0No less than six times the people of Maine failed to poll a sufficient\u00a0vote in favor of independence. Not until the convention of 1819 did they get\u00a0support strong enough to present a proposed constitution to the Massachusetts\u00a0legislature and subsequently to the Congress.<\/p>\n
I was especially interested to encounter, a few weeks ago, contemporary\u00a0information about that last successful effort to make Maine a separate state.\u00a0A good friend, who asks to remain anonymous, loaned me a little paper-covered\u00a0volume printed in Portland in December, 1819. It is entitled ”The Maine\u00a0Regi ster and U. S. Ca lendar for the Year of Our lord 1820″. Si nce the vo I ume\u00a0was on sale before New Years Day of 1820, it appeared several months before\u00a0Ma I ne became a state and a year before our fi rst state government was set up.<\/p>\n
The Httle book contains detailed information on the plans for the new\u00a0state. On June 19, 1819 the Governor of Massachusetts had signed the act permitting\u00a0Maine to become a separate state as soon as the national Congress\u00a0should approve the new state’s constitution.<\/p>\n
The final convention which drafted that constitution had among, its members\u00a0many names long prom i nent In Ma i ne \u2022 Its p res I dent was W I I <\/em>Ii am KI ng of 8ath,\u00a0who later became our first govemor. There was Daniel Cony, Augusta’s great\u00a0public benefactor; Albion K. Parris of Portland, Maine’s foremost attorney and\u00a0a trustee of Bowdoin College; Alexander Greenwood of Hebron, for whom is named\u00a0Greenwood Mountain, the hi I I top on which was bul It the Western Maine Sanitarium.<\/p>\n One of my own maternal ancestors, James Irish of Gorham, was a member. From the\u00a0Kennebec Va Iley severa I we II remembered men he Iped make that Const! tution of\u00a0Maine. Two of them were from Waterville — Ebenezer Bacon and AblJah Smith.\u00a0Fairfield, then one of the valley’s largest torms, also had two members –.<\/p>\n Stephen Thayer and Genera I WI I I i am Kanda II. Yassa Iboro sent Samue I Red I ngton;\u00a0Wi ns low was represented by Wi Iii am Swan, and S i <lney by the man to whom we once\u00a0devoTed two broadcasts of th i s program — Dr. Amb rose Howard. . Eleazer Coburn\u00a0went to the convention from Bloomfield, John Neal from Madison, Wentworth Tuttle\u00a0from Canaan, WI II I am A lien from Norri dgewock, Eli as Tay lor from Be I grade , John\u00a0Colbath from Rome, and Dani e I Stevens from Ch ina.<\/p>\n Now what about the e lecti on in 1819, when the peep Ie were for the seventh\u00a0time asked to cast their votes for or against separation? The total vote was\u00a0better than two to one t n favor of a separate state — 17,091 votes to 7,132.\u00a0Everyone of the nine countl es voted in favor, but the vote I n Hancock was very\u00a0close, 820 to 761. In York it was 2,086 for and 1,646 against. Our own county\u00a0of Kennebec made the best showing in the state, 3,950 for and only 641 against.\u00a0Kennebec was the only county In which every town voted a majority In favor of\u00a0separati on.<\/p>\n The cold, recorded figures printed 134 years ago in this old, paper-bound\u00a0book, te II none of the reasons for certain strange contrasts in the vote, but\u00a0it is interesting to speculate a bit about those causes. For instance, the rura\u00a0I towns of York County and a few of the large’r toms were strong Iy opposed\u00a0to separation. Lyman so voted 117 to 21, Newfield 110 to 35, Lebanon 106 to\u00a062. On the other hand Hollis voted overwhelmingly in favor of separation, 175\u00a0to 1. BI ddeford sp lit I ts vote a I most even Iy, 50 for and 49 aga! nst; whereas\u00a0Saco, just across the river, voted 325 for to 16 against. Maine’s venerable\u00a0town of York voted 151 for and 136 against, whereas its neighbor and nearly as\u00a0old town of Wells was dead set against separation, 408 to 49.<\/p>\n Our speculation is this. Feeling swung the way of local interest as interpreted\u00a0by some dynami c loca I leader. A group of Boston merchants strongly\u00a0opposed to separation had influential representatives in Wells, whereas their\u00a0business competitors, the growing merchant interests of Portland, had just as\u00a0i nf I uentl a I friends in Saco. I tis harder to di scove r the reasons for oppos ition\u00a0in rural towns. Our guess is that it is explained by the Massachusetts\u00a0associations of strong, loca I leaders.<\/p>\n Now let us take a look at some other contrasts in the separation \\4Ote in\u00a0parts of the state outs i de York County. My own nati ve town of Sri dgton \\4Oted\u00a090 to 34 in favor of separation, but Windham, a town much nearer Portland,\u00a0where separati on senti ment was very strong, \\4Oted 86 to 52 agai nst a separate\u00a0state. Paris went 171 to 40 in favor, but adjoining Hebron stood 80 to 61\u00a0agai nst.<\/p>\n Someth I ng ce rta I n Iy swayed the voters of Wa I doboro and Warren. I n the\u00a0first the vote was 280 to 24 against and in the second it was 127 to 24 against.\u00a0In Bath, however, the voters stacked up 250 \\4Otes in favor and only 76 against.\u00a0A number of towns cast all their votes in favor of separation. Among them\u00a0were Mt. Vernon, Rome, Freedom, Thornd I ke, Jonesboro and DI xfl e I d. Just one\u00a0town In the whole state had the dubious distinction of casting all its votes\u00a0against separation. That town was Appleton.<\/p>\n Waterville’s vote was 184 to 22, Winslow’s 113 to 2, Sidney’s 100 to 86,\u00a0Vassalboro’s 114 to 37, China’s 38 to 5, Clinton’s 163 to 1, Albion’s 48 to 7–\u00a0a II of these in favor of a separate state.<\/p>\n I n Somerset County, Fa i rf lei d favored the move by 117 to 26. Canaan by 192to 16, Norridgewock by 160 to 33, Madison 60 to 11, Solon 46 to 2, and Bingham\u00a011 to 3. only in Bloomfield was the vote close, 48 to 41.<\/p>\n The small size in 1820 of what is now Maine’s second largest city is revealed\u00a0by Its vote on separation, 89 for to 17 against. In fact the total vote\u00a0cast in Canaan was tw ice the \\4Ote cast in Bangor.<\/p>\n In Maine’s fi rst legis lature, 133 years ago, Watervi lie was large enough\u00a0to rate its own di sti nct rep resentati ve. Wins low was then grouped wi th China\u00a0for one representative. Fairfax (now Albion) was grouped WiTh Freedom, Unity\u00a0with Joy, Norridgewock with Bloomfield, Bangor with Orono and Sunkhaze. But,\u00a0believe it or not, Fairfield was then big enough to have a representative all\u00a0its own, just as did its nei ghbor Watervi lie.<\/p>\n The old register of 1820 gives a list of all church organizations occupying\u00a0church bui Idings in Maine and the names of their ministers. The reference\u00a0to my native town is elspecially interesting to roo. As many of our listeners\u00a0know, I have for many years been a Bapti ST, but it was not a Iways so. My boyhood\u00a0was spent under the aeg i s of another Protestant denoml naTi on. Until\u00a0graduaTed from high school I regarded the Bapti sts as a hard-she lied, reacti\u00a0onary, soroowhat decadent seCT. They had no operati ng chl,Jrch in my town\u00a0during all my boyhood years. By the tiroo I entered high school the old Baptist\u00a0meeting house had become a hen house. There hadn’t been a service in it for\u00a0many years. In 1820, however, that denomination was very much alive in Bridgton.<\/p>\n Th is old regi ster records two mi n i sters in the town — Nathan Church,\u00a0Congregational, and Reuben Bell, Baptist. The register shOlis that the noble\u00a0patri arch, co-founder of Hebron Academy, Elder John Tripp, was sti II pres i di ng\u00a0over the Hebron Baptist Church in 1820; Thomas Adams, whom we talked about a\u00a0few weeks ago, was at the Vassalboro Conqregational; Fifield Holt presided\u00a0over the same denomination at Bloomfield, and Josiah Peat aT Norridgewock.<\/p>\n Clinton Baptists had as thei r leader a man with one of the most resounding first\u00a0names in the whole state, Mehibosheth Cain.<\/p>\n Among the members of the Massachusetts ~dical Society located in ~4aine,\u00a0and a d I rector of the soci ety, was Wate rvi I Ie’s renc:1,’med Dr. M:>ses App leton.\u00a0He, you may perhaps remember, was a prominent investor in Watervi lie real estate\u00a0and a director of the Waterv’ I Ie Bank.<\/p>\n In 1820 banking in Maine was in its infancy. Strangely enough, the bank\u00a0with the largest capital was not in Portland or Augusta. It was the Wiscasset\u00a0Bank with a capitalization of $250,000. The Cumberland Bank in Portland had\u00a0capital of $200,000, and the Ha11Otie11 and Augusta Bank $150,000. No other of\u00a0Ma i ne ‘s tota I of fl fteen banks was cap ita I i zed for more than $100 ,000. There\u00a0was then just one savings bank — the Portland Institution for Savings.<\/p>\n Wages and salaries were as correspondingly low as was bank capitalization\u00a0In 1820. The President of the U. S., James Monroe, got $25,000 a year. Vice\u00a0President Daniel Tompkins got $5,000, one thousand less than the four cabinet\u00a0members. Yes, Monroe had only four men In his cabinet, and those four were\u00a0equally divided between North and South. John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts\u00a0was Secretary of State. Smith Thompson of New York, Secretary of the Navy; WI 1-\u00a0Ilam H. Crawford of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; and John C. Calhoun of\u00a0South Carolina, Secretary of War. Each received a salary of $6,000.<\/p>\n John Marshall, great expounde’r of the law, got $5,000 as Chief Justice of\u00a0the Supreme Court, and each of his associate justices got $4,500. The Attorney\u00a0General rated only $3,500. And that Maine man whom we have already mentioned\u00a0— A Ib I on K. Parris, fecJera I judge for the DI strl ct of Maine, rece I ved the\u00a0princely salary of $1,000 a year.<\/p>\n NOlI <\/em>let us close with the biggest shock of all from this old 1820 register.\u00a0It gives a list of all post offices and postmasters in Maine. It is hard to beI\u00a0ieve, but Watervi lie is not mentioned. Is it possib Ie that Watervi lIe had no\u00a0post office 18 years after it became a separate tOlln? .<\/p>\n Year: 1954<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #227, broadcast on May 16, 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\/7418"}],"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=7418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}