Winfield Martin of China has loaned me a curious old book, published in\u00a0Newburyport, Mass. in 1795. Its long 18th century title is “The Art of Courting,\u00a0displayed in eight different scenes, the principal of which are taken from\u00a0actua I life and are pub I i shed for the Amusement of Ameri can Youth.”<\/p>\n
The f-j rst chapter is headed: “Of the i nsti tuti on of marri age, with sundry\u00a0practical maxims not unworthy to be treasured up in the minds of youth”. Here\u00a0are a few of those maxims: No one should engage in the delightful business of\u00a0courting whi Ie his circumstances afford him no rational prospect of supporting\u00a0a fami Iy. Those who suffer their fancy to lead their judgment in choice of a\u00a0mate wi II be in great danger of being deceived and destined to pass unhappy\u00a0years in the conjugal state. Each party to a marriage should carefully investigate\u00a0the other’s natural temper. Many a poor wretch, having never seen the\u00a0intended mate except in hours of pleasantry, has been decoyed into a bad match.<\/p>\n
The first story in the vol ume is about Strephon and Eli za. After his\u00a0first formal cal I, STrephon suggested a second visit or as boys would saynow,\u00a0another date — but Eliza refused unless he should first gain her parents’\u00a0approval. As the writer puts it: “Although Eliza’s father was a grave and\u00a0reverend gentleman, whose presence never fai led to awe the spirits of the young\u00a0and spri ghtly., yet love gai ned the ascendancy over Strephon’s natura I timi di tv,\u00a0and he embraced the first opportunity to open the important and delicate subject\u00a0to Eliza’s parents. He had the good fortune to gain their complete approbati\u00a0on to pay his atTenti on to the i r daughter.<\/p>\n
But the course of young love wasn’t all smooth. Lady G., a distinguished\u00a0widow, wrote proposals of marriage to Strephon. He replied so courteously that\u00a0she thought he meant to encourage her, but at last he bluntly told her that\u00a0his affection was fixed upon another. Then he sent the whole correspondence\u00a0to Eli za.<\/p>\n
Now consider how this old book advises a young swain to write to his fiancee:<\/p>\n
“Before we enter into the sacred bonds of wed lock, we ough t to be convinced\u00a0of each other’s sincerity. With reciprocal and unfeigned love f the matrimonial\u00a0relation must be a blessing; without it, such a conviction wi I I prove\u00a0a vexati on too great for the parti es to endure. ft\u00a0Goodness gracious, how times do change!<\/p>\n
Now letts hear a bit more about that old sea dog~ Captain Samuel Foster.<\/p>\n
The earl i est letter in Fred 0 I i verts collecti on of the Foster papers was wri tten\u00a0in 1778 from st. Croix, Bermuda to Pitman Clements, Esq., near Hobbs Hole,\u00a0Essex County, Massachusetts. Young Capta in Foster wrote: tf I n haste I inform\u00a0you that I am ~oming master of the Sloop Harriet with the dry goods belonging\u00a0to the owners of the Fame in her. I hope you wil I attest this to the Fame’s\u00a0owners, that they may insure properly if they think it best. The Sloop Harriet\u00a0is one of the fastest sai ling Bermuda sloops in the West Indies. I gave three\u00a0hundred Johanneses for her on account of her fast sa iii ng. You will ob I i ge me\u00a0much if you wi II send my trunk to Baltimore. I have all things in it I shall\u00a0want immediately. Send it to the care of Mr. Wi Iliam Hammond and let him know\u00a0it belongs to me. If you have no opportunity directly, hire a cart or any\u00a0other way you think proper. If the expense does come to more, I don’t care so\u00a0long as I have it as soon as I arrive.<\/p>\n
Peggy has not yet come to this port. Whether she has been captured\u00a0or what has become of her, I cannot tel I. sha II sai I in about ei ght days and\u00a0hope to have the pleasure of seeing you soon after. Pray give my compliments\u00a0to a II my fri ends down your way, and te I I them I sha II be with them soon, for\u00a0I long to see all of those pretty angels in and about Hobbs Hole. In haste I\u00a0must remain yours, Samuel Foster.<\/p>\n
uP. S. Tobacco wi I I hard Iy fetch eight sh i II i ngs per cask, a II the is lands\u00a0are so f u I I .”<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago I told you about Captain Foster’s unpleasant experience in\u00a0St. Petersburg in 1787, when he was censured by his ship’s owners for strictly\u00a0obeying their orders to take cargo only for an.American port. In 1792 he was\u00a0off for Russia again, but this time for a different firm of owners. Fortunately\u00a0among his papers in Fred Oliver’s possession is preserved the original orders\u00a0issued by the owners for that voyage. A hundred and sixty years later it\u00a0is interesting to us to see just what instructions a ship owner gave his captain,\u00a0who might be away from Boston for two or three years.<\/p>\n
f~80ston, January 17, 1792.<\/p>\n
“Captain Samuel Foster: You having command of the ship Charlestown, now\u00a0loaded and ready for sea, owned by my son John Mi Iler Russe II and myse If j oi nt Iy,\u00a0my desire and orders are that you embrace the first opportunity of wind and weather\u00a0to sa i I for Lisbon i n Portuga I. On your arri va I, de live r my I etters to\u00a0Messrs. John Bulkely & Son, merchants there. Follow their directions in the\u00a0de I ivery of your cargo. You wi II be attentive to see that no embezzlement takes\u00a0p I ace, wh i ch am informed without great care is often the case. You wi I I do\u00a0everything in your power to procure a freight from Lisbon t~ St. Petersburg,\u00a0Russia, and that without any. loss of time. Be sure to sai I early enough to be\u00a0at St. Petersburg by the first open water in the spring. On your arrival there,\u00a0hand my letter to Messrs. John Mathew Bulkely & Co., merchants there? to whom\u00a0you go consigned for a cargo of Russian goods. You wi I I be careful to examine\u00a0the qua I ity of every article and see that a II are of the best kind. On the last\u00a0voyage the hemp fell short in weight considerable, say four tons. Youwill mention\u00a0this to Mr. Bulkely and see that the weight is attended to.<\/p>\n
“From Messrs. Bulkely of Lisbon take $300 to pay your sound dues at Elsi-\u00a0nore. You wi II also take sufficient money to buy whatever may be absolutely\u00a0necessary, making use of all possible economy in the whole of your voyage.<\/p>\n
”You have on board your ship five boxes of the best Gulimel Indigo, one\u00a0box and three casks of Carolina Indigo, consigned to Bulkely & Co., to whom\u00a0I have written to lodge letters for Capt. Russell at Elsinore, whether to deliver\u00a0the i nd i go to Ryberg & Co. of Copennagen or leave it at E Is inore, or carry\u00a0it to St. PeTersburg. You wi II open the letTers di rected for Captain Russel I\u00a0and fol low their directions accordingly.<\/p>\n
“Buy in Russia and bring home with you 50 pieces of lOtI priced Russian\u00a0toweling. Don’t forget to bring a certificate TO cancel the bond and recover\u00a0the drawback on the indigo. Bring with you a very large and handsome pai r of\u00a0glasses, the most elegant that can be procured.<\/p>\n
“Your humb Ie friend and servant, Thomas Russe I I.<\/p>\n
Every leTter or paper concerning Captain Foster’s voyages to that part of\u00a0the world conTains reference to Elsinore, a place we seldom hear of today. ITs\u00a0present name is Helsingor on the northeastern tip of Denmark, about fifty mi les\u00a0north of Copenhagen. The natural route for al I ships from the Atlantic to St.\u00a0Petersburg was and sti II is into the North Sea, Through the stretch of water\u00a0known as the Skagerrak, around the northern Ti p of Denmark, down the Kattegat\u00a0to Helsingor, through the narrow strait to Copenhagen, then around the tip of\u00a0Sweden into The Baltic Sea, and up into the Gulf of Finland to St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
But there ;s more than a sai lor’s geography connected with Helsingor. Under\u00a0its older name of Elsinore, the name it sti II went by in the ship’s orders to\u00a0Capta i n Foster, it was renowned in litera ry hisTory. For E Is i nore is the scene\u00a0made famous by Shakespeare’s immortal hero, the melancholy Dane, Prince Hamlet\u00a0of Denmark.<\/p>\n
In 1834 Artemus Boute lie of Watervi lie Took the long journey to New Or-\u00a0leans. Shocked by the mora Is of the p I ace, Artemus wrote home: nyou will\u00a0hardly credit it, bUT there are three bi Iliard tables all within a mi Ie of this\u00a0place. To each of these rooms a grog shop is attached. There you dai Iy see\u00a0young men and old gambling and drinking. The holy Sabbath is observed only as a\u00a0day of amusement. I find the notion, even among the sTudent Catholics, that\u00a0after attending church, the rest of the day may be spenT in amusement. How different\u00a0from our Sunday in Watervi lie.<\/p>\n
Now it is worth noting that this was the very time when the second son of\u00a0Dr. Ambrose Howard of Sidney was starting to make his way in New Orleans and\u00a0was wri ti ng long leTTers to his father about life in the 0 I d Creo Ie CI Ty. ‘y’OUIIY\u00a0nuwdr’U ‘::>dy~ nOTnlng aoout corrupted morals of the place. It is all in the point\u00a0of view. We know That Howard was a rei igious, high princip.f.et:i.. youth, but unlike\u00a0Boute lie, he was not a stri ct, eas i Iy shocked Puri tan. Both saw th i ngs in\u00a0New Orleans, but they drew different conclusions.<\/p>\n
Artemus Boutelle had quite a career before tuberculosis claimed him the\u00a0very year after his letter from New Orleans, for he died in 1835 before reaching\u00a0his twentieth year. A son of Watervi I lets leading citizen, Timothy Boutelle,\u00a0he entered WaTervi lie College at the age of fi fteen. In 1832 he planned\u00a0to accompany one of The professors to Germany for further study, as such Americans\u00a0as Longfellow and Lowe II were doing or soon to do. But somethi ng prevented\u00a0the professor’s departure, so that plan was abandoned. With his father he made\u00a0a long horseback journey .through Massachusetts and New Hampshire, writing on his\u00a0return an interest i n9 -oescr i pt i on of the “Notch of the Wh i te Mounta ins”.<\/p>\n
In the summer of 1833, already harassed by a persistent cough and losing\u00a0weight, he made WiTh a friend a memorable journey to Canada. Taking Jim Jackman’s\u00a0new Canada Road, in the first two days they traveled 25 mi les, to a\u00a0place 16 miles above The Forks. For the last 15 miles they found the road very\u00a0bad, and for the lasT ten mi les not a single house. Now let us turn to Artemus’\u00a0own account of the trip. ”We finally reached Mr. Jackson’s, a long hut where\u00a0travelers usually put up. To our surprise, in the midst of this vast forest,\u00a0W’e found a school supported by a fema Ie mi ss i onary soci ety. As the i nhab itants\u00a0live from 10 to 15 miles apart, they take turns in boarding the whole\u00a0schoo I, cons. i sti ng of 15 to 20 pup i Is, wh j ch thus moves from house to house.”<\/p>\n
And with that school up near Jackman, movi ng from house to house to make\u00a0it possible for chi Idren in the Maine wi Iderness to get at least a rudimentary\u00a0education 120 years ago, we must say good night for old times’ sake.<\/p>\n
Year: 1955<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #268, broadcast on May 29, 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\/7529"}],"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=7529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}