After the usual summer suspension of this program, It is good to be back again for the beginning of this seventh year of little Talks on Common Things.<\/p>\n
Let us ‘begin tonight with a few words about two tempestuous ladies none of us ever wants to meet aga in, Car I a and Edna. When one of the i r 0 I der s I sters visited us on September 21, 1938, we were told it would probably be another hundred years before a hurricane again came to New England. Between 1806, when a hurricane did considerable damage in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but turned out to sea before it reached Maine,’ aria 1938 during all those 132 years none of those anti-clockwise whirlwinds, born in the Caribbean, had touched the’ New Eng I and ma in I and .1 n fact the record shows on I y two h urr i canes reaching New England in all the long period since the Pi Igrlms landed at Plymouth Rock.<\/p>\n
Now In 1954 we get two disastnous hurricanes in eleven days. What a reminder this is to us conceited humans of the mid-twentieth century that all our boasted accomplishments in science and technology become, not assets, but actua I Ii ab iii ti es when nature goes on a rampage.<\/p>\n
On this program we have talked a lot about what people did in the Kennebec Valley a hundred or even a hundred and fifty years ago. One thing is certain about those old-timers. They wouldn’t have been paralyzed by a hurricane. No loss of electric current could cut off their cooking facilities, stop the water pump, spoil the food in refrigerator and freezer, and plunge the house into darkness. The woodpi Ie in the shed assured heat in the kitchen range; hand muscle operated the water pump; the food stored in big stone crocks down in the cellar wouldn’t be spoiled by any hurricane. And when It came to comrnunica- tlon, our great-grandfathers needed no telephone. I suspect a lot of them were like a man my own great-grandmother used to te I I about — a man who lived 1 n West Gorham in the 1840’s. One day that man stood on a hi II in West Gorham and shouted, ”My calf’s In Blake’s well”, and great-grandmother insisted they heard him in Gorham Vi Ilage, three mi les away.<\/p>\n
When we find ourse I ves so he Ip less aga i nst the tremendous power of natura I I forces, when our technology and our inventions and our gadgets of comfort and\u00a0 conveni ence ava il so Ii tt Ie, ita I most seems as if the more we gal n I n our vi ctorles over nature, the harder nature strikes back.<\/p>\n
Then, when one of her vicious strokes is over, how nature seems to laugh at us. What a gorgeous late summer day this Sunday has been. How calmly the day came in with a kind of golden innocence. The sky blue and clear, the sun just comfortably warm, the gentle breeze giving a soft reminder of approaching autumn. Nature seems to be saying to us: “0, you arrogant and conceited mankind, why don’t you learn to take me as you find me? Yesterday? Why, I’ve forgotten a II about yesterday. Isn’t It a beautl fu I, beauti fu I FIOrni n9?”<\/p>\n
This summer I had an unusual opportunity to see what one branch of the armed services is doing to make our nation as secure as possible from enemy attack.<\/p>\n
I am sure the Army and the Navy are doing quite as much in the development of new arms and new methods, but It Is the Air Force that I had a chance to observe. Early In August I was a guest of the Air Force at Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts. The re the new, powerfu I fighter jets are manned and serviced, standing constantly in readiness to take the air. Equipped with radar and every electronic instrument which the ski II of man has been able to devise, they can cover any unknown aircraft in unbelievably short time. Whenever the powerful radar screens of the many stations associated with the Base pick up an unknown plane, the spotter planes of the Air Force go into immediate acti on. The stranger I s very soon i dentl f i ed, often wi thout his even be i ng aware that he is pursued. Of course most of these unidentified planes are civi lian craft cruising around with perfectly legitimate CM licenses, but they are not on the charts of the commercial air lines nor on the listed flights of the Air Force. So they must be identified, for the day may come when one of the them wi I I not be a friendly plane. Our services are determined that never again shall we have the surprise of Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n
I happened to be in the radar center at Westover when they were just beginning to contact the planes and helicopters which were concentrating on the area in Connecticut where occurred the crash of the big Constellation of the commercial line known as Air France. The meticulous care with which all detai Is were assembled, as rapidly as possible, was amazing. In a very short time the communications center knew that.. whi Ie fire destroyed the big plane, not a life was lost. By the way, whi Ie my friends In the Air Force could not understand why the pi lot did not land at Idlewi Id, in spite of the rain and low eei ling, they were unanimous in their praise of his ski I I at landing in a farm field.<\/p>\n
Many of them had not thought it possible to crash-land a plane as big as the huge Constellations without ki J ling most of the passengers.<\/p>\n
Do you realize what an expanse of the globe is covered by regular, scheduled flights of our own Air Force? It is nearly 2,500 mi les from Westover to our base at Thu Ie 1 ins i de the Arcti c Ci rc Ie, but our airmen cover that route regularly. Westover is the transport point for the Atlantic Division of our air command, and planes take off for al I of the more than twenty air bases which the United States has on foreign sol I in the Atlantic and European areas.<\/p>\n
Did you know that there is a United States alrbase as far away as Darhaban in the Arabian desert? The nearest of the foreign bases Is in Bermuda. About half as far away as the Arctic base at Thule is one on the southeast shore of Green land.<\/p>\n
Since Westover is the principal point of air transport to all Atlantic points for our armed services, its terminal reminds one of the great commercial termi na I s at La Guardi a or Los Ange les. Persons and cargo are comi ng and goi ng all the time. Wives and chi Idren of service personnel are departing for some remote fore I gn base or com I n9 home f rom one. And a I I of I tis go I ng on with one supreme goal In mind — to keep this America of ours a land of the free.<\/p>\n
Now let’s turn to some old time th i ngs. I wonder how many peop Ie from th i s region of the Kennebec attended the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1892 and 1893. It was more corrmonly known as the Chicago World’s Fair. It was, of course, called the Columbian Exposition because it celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America. Are there any of our older listeners who attended that famous exposition 61 or 62 years ago? A clipping from the Waterville Mail of October 6,1893 says: “A party consisting of J. Stinson, Charles Drummond, Frank Mathews, B. McKinney and Joseph Eaton left on the early train Thursday morning for Chicago, where they wi II witness the great Columbian Exposition.”<\/p>\n
Mrs. Ctc3ir Jewell, who lives in the remodeled old Drumrrond place on the Augusta road, Winslow, has kindly let me examine a scrap book which someone in that house pasted up during the years from 1880 to 1905. Among the clipped and pasted items is an interesting account of the Winslow Congregational Church at the time whenremode I I ng was planned I n 1900. As I am sure mos t of yo u know.<\/p>\n
that church is one of the oldest in the Kennebec Varley, and It has the distinction of being the only meeting .house bui It at the expense of a Kennebec town which has been in continuous use as a church since its erection. Many of you doubtless know that the church was built In 1795, by vote of the town of Winslow, which then included the settlement on the west side of the river that is now Waterville. It was taken over by the Congregational Society in 1828, and has been in their possession with continuous services ever since.<\/p>\n
BUT here are some items gleaned from Mrs. Jewell’s scrapbook which may be new to you. The church stili shows I n a few p laces the old method of I ath I ng.<\/p>\n
Instead of modern laths, thin spruce boards were nai led to the studding. They were pUT on green, then wedges were dri ven through, sp Ii ttl ng the board and leaving a small opening. Nai Is were driven In to hold the pieces in place. The board split in all directions according to the grain, but the pieces were not separated.<\/p>\n
In 1900 a ladder led fran the singers’ loft to the attl c, where the massive consTruction of the church could be best observed. The ‘rough hewn timbers, 10 x 12, are larger than one would have used in 1900 in a but Idlng many times as large. A newspaperman who saw those timbers in that year observed, “Browned by age, these giant timbers would be the envy of a maker of violins.”<\/p>\n
ThaT 1900 issue of a local newspaper tells us that the choir loft, with its straighT-backed seafs_-and rough desk, was not originally a part of the church at all, but was rather the town neetlng house. It Is said that when Rev. Thomas Adams,to whom we referred on this program last spring, was minister In the 1820’s, The main auditorium was sti II unfinished, so that swallONs bui It their nests in it and flew about twittering, possibly disturbed by the heated exhortations of those days. On town meeting days voting took place in what later became the chol r loft.<\/p>\n
I was delighted to find In Mrs. Jewell’s scrapbook another item that I knOll will be of special Interest to many people in Waterville and Winslow, for It refers to an elderly couple who are beloved and honored by hundreds of us. The clipping is from the Watervl lie Mall of October 4, 1889, and it reads: “Mr. Albert F. Drumrrond, one of our popular and best known young men, was united in marriage last week with Miss Josephine Prince, at” the residence of the bride’s father in Buckfield. We learn that they are to begin housekeeping in the Melcher house on Elm Street. The Mail extends congratulations.”<\/p>\n
Speak i ng of mar’ri age, recent Iy came across some 0 I d records that te II us when some of Watervi lie’s earliest and most celebrated pioneer citizens entered into matrimony. The moderator of Watervi lie’s first town meeting in 1802 was Elnathan Sherwin. The record tells us that” on March 4. 1788 Elnathan Sherwin of Hancock Plantation was married to Nalby Bushon of Vassalboro.<\/p>\n
In 1782 John McKechnie, Watervi lie’s fi rst important citi zen and the man who surveyed the lots whose lines The courts respect to th i s day — in 1782 John McKechnie had died. Eight years later his widow remarried into one of Winslow’s best known families. The record has it that on December 4,1790 David Pattee was married to Mrs. Mary McKechnie. Five years earlier the surveyor’s son”<\/p>\n
Thomas McKechnie, had married Olive Parker, and from that marriage most of our Kennebec McKechnies are descended.<\/p>\n
Among the best known Winslow names in 1800 were Haywood! Drummond and Reynolds. On September 25, 1794 occurred the wedding of Barrick Reynolds and Betsy Dodge; on March 17, 1799 ZImriHa.ywood married Ann Wi I Iiams Dudley; and on December 3,1795 came the wedding that has meant” so much to both WInslClt”l and Watervi lie through all the years, for on that day, 159 years ago, Damaris Hayden of Winslow became the bride of John Drummond of Vassalboro.<\/p>\n
One of the most interesting of those early marriages took place on June 23, 1796. It is recorded thus: “John Mesi I to Cat”harine Peerpole~ both Indians residrjng within the limiTs of the town of Winslow.”<\/p>\n
I have long been tempted to collect for this program the best tall stories our listeners can supply. I think the time has come to do it. Now what is The best tall story you ever heard? Write it down and send It In to this program.<\/p>\n
Just to start It off, I’ll tell a mi Id one. I’m sure many of you can do better.<\/p>\n
To the usual gathering in one of our Kennebec general stores, some eighty years ago, one citizen related his recent fishing experience. “I was plugging for bass out at East Pond”, he sa I d, “when I caught the biggest sma II-mouthed bass I or any other fisherman ever saw. He weighed ten pounds and two ounces.”<\/p>\n
“That ain’t so much”, observed one of the listeners. “One night last week was fl sh i ng for hornpout over to Sml th fie I d. I fe It a tug on the I ine and knew I had a heavy strl ke. When I pu lied it In, what do you th I nk I’d caught? Somebody’s old lantern and the dum thing was still lit.”<\/p>\n
“Come now, Jed, “said the first story-teller, “youblQtl out that lantern and r’ll take two pounds off my bass.”<\/p>\n
Year: 1954<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #231, broadcast on June 13, 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\/7430"}],"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=7430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}