Every once in a whi Ie some new voice complains about the teaching of communism\u00a0in our schools and col leges. What these wei I intended people want is\u00a0what we al I want — to be sure that communist doctrine is not advocated by our\u00a0teachers. But the way these critics go at the worthy task is wrong, because\u00a0too often they advocate the old never curing remedy of censorship and si lence.<\/p>\n
In order to be sure that communism is not advocated, they insist that our chi 1-\u00a0dren and youth shall never learn what it is.<\/p>\n
Not to know a national enemy is to hand him a powerful weapon with which\u00a0to defeat us. Only by knowing what communism really is can we effectively combat\u00a0it. Any student likely to be attracted by the ideas of Marx and Lenin\u00a0wi II soon be struck by the glaring contradictions between communist theory on\u00a0the one hand and Soviet conduct on the other hand. I n the words of the great\u00a0Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, nyou needn’t fear to handle truth\u00a0roughly; she is no invalid. TT In spite of smooth Soviet propaganda, the truth\u00a0about communism shines through in the Kremlin’s ruthless deeds.<\/p>\n
Let us never be afraid of opinions hosti Ie to our own. Ninety-two years\u00a0ago the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia invaded the state of Maryland.\u00a0The Command i ng Genera I issued a proc I amati on to the ci ti zens. I t sa i d: “:No\u00a0constraint upon your free wi I I is intended — no intimidation wi I I be allowed.\u00a0Marylanders sha II once more enjoy thei r ancient freedom of thought and speech.\u00a0We know no enemies among you, and wi II protect all of every opinion.!! The man\u00a0who proc I aimed that message was Robert E. Lee.<\/p>\n
An interesting old item is the account book of George Hussey, who used to\u00a0operate what he called the Rai I road Dining Saloon in Lewiston in 1879. This\u00a0restaurant was conducTed in property owned by the rai <\/em>I road, for on June 10,\u00a01879, Hussey set down in his book a charge against the Maine Central of $2.00\u00a0for a large pane of glass for his front window and 50 cents for setting it.<\/p>\n He seems to have opened the place the first week in June, 1879, for on\u00a0June 7 he made the following entries concerning his employees: !:Mrs. Jordan\u00a0commenced work at $4 a week, Mrs. Libby at $2.50 a week, and Mrs. Torsey at\u00a0$2.00 a week.”<\/p>\n Hussey had a number of regular boarders whom he charged by the week, but\u00a0the rate seems not to have been uniform. Daniel Torsey was charged $3.50 a\u00a0week, but Joseph Libby paid only $3.00. These men were the husbands of his two\u00a0employees previously mentioned. Perhaps women didn’t eat as much as men 75\u00a0years ago. Anyhow for a week’s board Hussey charged Miss Davis, Mrs. Newton\u00a0and Mrs. Gould only $2.00 each. A man and wife together were usually charged\u00a0$5.00 a week, but one husky couple got away with paying only $4.25.\u00a0Hussey’s price for any single meal was 25 cents, but he sold me,al tickets\u00a0that gave 21 meals for $4.00, a little less than 20 cenTS a meal.<\/p>\n Among the papers preserved with the account book is a return for special\u00a0tax paid as a retai I I iquor dealer, but the only liquor sold in Hussey’s restaurant\u00a0seems to have been beer, and apparently most of it was disposed of for\u00a0cash. Only once in the account book is there a charge for beer against any\u00a0boarder, and that is for ten cents.<\/p>\n At first the proprietor bought his beer in small quantities. On June 12\u00a0he noted, HPa i d cash for beer 45 cents; on June 17 it was 75 cents. But on\u00a0June 26 he must have put ina who Ie barre I, for the record reads Hfre i ght on\u00a0beer 79 cents.Tl<\/p>\n Except for meals, Hussey’s most commonly charged iTem was cigars, usually\u00a0five centers, but occasionally three for a dime. Apparently he didn’t stock\u00a0the J ittJe penny-a-piece stogies so popular twenty years later.<\/p>\n Guests fared we lion those twenty cent mea lsi f we may judge f rom the p ro- .\u00a0prietor’s purchase of supplies. The time was the heyday of the oyster house,\u00a0and Hussey used a lot of oysters. Beef, pork, veal, ham and lamb were repeated\u00a0purchases, along with the usual supplies to make bread and pastry. Fresh vegetables\u00a0and berries in season, fresh fish (mostly cod), apples by the barrel,\u00a0boxes of oranges, and about once a week a lUxury wh i ch he spe I Is f!ch i ck i ngs n \u2022<\/p>\n What did this man pay for his supplies? Eggs cost him 13 cents a dozen,\u00a0which would have disturbed the old lady whom mail carrier Frank Ellis once told\u00a0me about. She refused to se II her eggs at more than 12 cents a dozen, because\u00a0they were easier to figure at that price. Hussey usually paid 20 cents a pound\u00a0for butter, so when, under date of June 1, 1879, we read !!4k <\/em>pounds of butter\u00a042 cents”, we suspect that part i cu I ar lot of butter mi ght have been strong enough\u00a0to walk alone down to the corner of Main and Lisbon Streets.<\/p>\n On June 3 the proprietor of this Rai I road Dining Saloon paid 96 cents for\u00a012 pounds of corned beef. He paid 9 cents a pound for pork, 15 cents for prime\u00a0roast beef, and 20 cents for steak. Fresh codfish cost him five cents a pound.\u00a0In early June he was paying only three cents for cucumbers, which couldn’t possibly\u00a0have been garden grown natives. Flour was $6.75 a barrel, sugar 8 cents\u00a0a pound, cooking coal was $6.75 a ton, and the big ice <\/em>box could be fi lied by\u00a0the iceman for 45 cents. When the mi I kman left the da i Iy quanti ty of mi I k for\u00a0Hussey’s restaurant, he got 3t cents a quart.<\/p>\n From a September item in the account book we learn what Hussey paid the\u00a0Maine Central for rent of his restaurant. It was $100 a year. The entry reads:<\/p>\n “M.C.R.R. by one quarter’s rent $25. To putting on door spring $1.00; cash to\u00a0ba lance $24.\u00a0We can understand such paid out items as five cents for a lamp chimney,\u00a0another nickel for a clock key, $1.50 for repairing shoes, and 20 cents for a\u00a0bed cord. But what was Hussey doing with what he calls a “college book!!, for\u00a0which he paid $2.001 Perhaps some Bates graduate can inform us.<\/p>\n Anyhow those are some of the facts about Lewiston’s Rai I road Dining Saloon\u00a0in 1879.<\/p>\n From ti me to ti me I have to I d you about va I i ant Capta i <\/em>n Samue’l Foster: who\u00a0sai led his ships out of Boston in the 1780’s and 1790’s. So tonight let me read\u00a0you a tender letter wri tten from Martha’s Vi neyard in 1785 by Po I Iy Foster to\u00a0her husband, whom she had expected home from Boston before he sai led to far away\u00a0ports, but had just learned that he was sai I ing immediately, without fi\u00b7rstcoming\u00a0home. This is what Polly Foster wrote 160 years ago:<\/p>\n “It is with pleasure that I acknowledge the receipt of your very acceptable\u00a0favor by E. Turner. It was a cordial to my drooping spirits to find myself\u00a0so affectionately remembered by one I hold so dear, and in compliance with\u00a0your request I take my pen to write you a few lines, as it is ever “my wish to do\u00a0everything in my power that may contribute to your happiness. It was rather unexpected\u00a0to me, your pursuing your journey before you returned from Boston, but\u00a0as you think it best I do not wish to discourage you. I should think, on account\u00a0of your clothes being dirty, it would be best to set out from home, but\u00a0you wi I I be the best judge of that, whether you are prepared with things suitab\u00a0Ie or not.<\/p>\n “As you ride about the town, p lease wear your b lack small clothes, as the\u00a0others are not decent. I want you to look smart among strangers. You desire\u00a0my advice respecting your journey, but I do not feel myself capable of giving\u00a0much, but desire that you feel entirely at liberty to act yourself with freedom,\u00a0be i ng we II assured that you wi I I wish to do that wh i ch will be for our mutual\u00a0advantage. I am wil ling to commit al I temporal concerns to your better\u00a0judgment.<\/p>\n “I do not see any just cause for you to be discouraged. Only consider\u00a0what is best, then pursue it with courage. Before I dismiss the subject,\u00a0must mind you to ask counsel of Him who is able to direct in temporal as wei I\u00a0as spiritual things. Let come what may, we must do what we think best and\u00a0leave the oUTcome to a kind Providence and be resigned to His wi I I. I mention\u00a0these things only to strengthen you and to encourage you to press forward toward\u00a0the mark, forgetti ng the th i<ngs that are past.\u00a0ttl have but one restri cti on to I ay down, that is not to cut ourse I ves off\u00a0from the sweet Society of Friends and their meetings. In our fel low Quakers we\u00a0shall surely find friends indeed.<\/p>\n rTf f you cont i nue in your p I an to set out from Poston without fi rst comi ng\u00a0home, be sure to leave a letter for me. Write particulars, what point of compass\u00a0you mean to steer for, and make some calculation of the time you expect\u00a0to return. The ti me will seem long.<\/p>\n nOn your thinking more about it, you may decide it is best to come home\u00a0before you sai I. It would be very agreeable to me to see you fi~st, but I\u00a0leave it to you to do as you think best, desiring to have no wi I I of my own in\u00a0it. If you don’t come, can you enclose a fine comb in your letter? You can\u00a0send the leTTer by E. Turner, a safe person for honesty. The money and other\u00a0articles which you sent a few weeks ago came safe.<\/p>\n “The tender care and sol i ci tude you have a Iways attended to me are favor\u00a0enough. I have just returned f rom Hanover, whe re I went by advi ce of my father,\u00a0thinking it would be for my health. The chi Idren are well. NON, after\u00a0wishing you a prosperous journey, I m,Qst bid you adieu for this time, that is\u00a0if you decide to go on at once. But I am hoping to see you first. send your\u00a0coat and a good pair of draws, two shirts, four handkerchiefs, and two pairs,\u00a0of stocki ngs. It is re luctance I leave writi ng, but time fai Is me. Do write\u00a0parti cu lars or I sha II be di sappoi nted. From your eveFcffecti onate wife,\u00a0Po fly Foster.”<\/p>\n Year: 1955<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #267, broadcast on May 22, 1955<\/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":[755,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526"}],"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=7526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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