One of the sorry sights of Watervi I Ie is the crumbling ruin of Memorial\u00a0Ha lion the a I d Co I by camp us \u2022 What a pity that some I oca I organ i zat ion cou I <\/em>d\u00a0not have taken over the bui Iding for civic use. That grand bui lding ought not\u00a0to see its last days as a commercial warehouse. But the trustees of the college\u00a0should not be blamed for this outcome. When the move was made to Mayflower\u00a0Hi J I, they tried very hard to dispose of the old bui Idings for some institutional\u00a0use. Their efforts in this respect were especial,y strenuous in\u00a0the case of Memori a I Ha I I. But a II to no ava i I. The on Iy recourse was warehouse\u00a0use of that and several other bui Idings. The present beautiful col lege\u00a0on Mayflower Hi I I with its eleven hundred students, more than 200 employed\u00a0staff, and its prominent summer program, assuring use of the plant the year\u00a0round, certainly means more to modern Watervi I Ie than retention of the old campus\u00a0could possibly have meant. The gradual disintegration of Memorial Hal I is\u00a0one of the costs of that progress. It is regrettable but unavoidable.<\/p>\n Memori a I Ha II meant a lot to the peop Ie of Watervi I Ie and other parts of\u00a0Maine 84 years ago. A visitor to Colby in 1871 wrote a letter to the Lewiston\u00a0Even i ng J ourna I, wh i ch appeared in the paper of July first of that year. A fte r\u00a0praising the work of the college and telling about his calion President Champlin,\u00a0the writer said: nColby’s Memorial Hall is the first college bui Iding in\u00a0this country to be erected in memory of men who died in the war.’t (He meant, of\u00a0course, the Civi I War.) “Many others have been projected, but this alone stands\u00a0as the finished monument to those patriotic, sacred memories which were aroused\u00a0in aJ lour institutions of learning when the smoke of battle had cleared away in\u00a01865. This edifice serves other purposes besides memorial. The east wing is\u00a0occupied entirely by the library, fitted with alcoves, shelves and galleries,\u00a0in a style and convenience that are nowhere surpassed.<\/p>\n ”The west wing, lower floor, is a commodious chapel, but the room above it\u00a0is the great attraction of the bui Iding. This is the Alumni Hal I, where are\u00a0the memorials of those who fel I in defense of the Union. These memorials consist\u00a0of a colossal lion, modeled after Thorwalden’s masterpiece, which is cut\u00a0in relief out of the solid rock near Lucerne to commemorate the gallant Swiss\u00a0guards who fell in defending the Tui leri’es in 1792. The lion is depicted as\u00a0sunk down, pierced by a spear, a part of which is left in his body, apparently\u00a0producing the agony he exhibits. Though expiring, his monstrous claws are driven\u00a0into the shield, which he firmly holds with its stripes and stars, representing\u00a0faithfulness even unto death. It is a magnificent work, in the purest\u00a0white marble, and is, we are told, almost a perfect reproduction of the great\u00a0original. On the tablet below appear the names of 21 Colby men who lost their\u00a0lives in the bloody conflict, graduates and stUdents and mostly, says Dr. Champlin,\u00a0‘young men who enlisted directly from the institution’. This is a splendid\u00a0memori; a I to our consecrated dead.”<\/p>\n Thus ends the account in the Lewiston Journal 84 years ago. believe the\u00a0trustees of Colby Col lege have definite plans to remove the Lion of Lucerne and\u00a0the memorial tab let to f\\1ayflower Hi II just as soon as a forthcoming bui Iding\u00a0shal I supply an appropriate place for it.<\/p>\n Last year we referred several times to Fred Oliver’s ancestor, Captain\u00a0Samue I Foster. Mr. 0 liver has recent I y shown me some more papers of that i ntrep\u00a0i d sea capta in who piloted his sa iii ng sh i ps over the worl d’s oceans more\u00a0than 150 years ago. One of those papers is an old ship consignment receipt.<\/p>\n Signed by Captain Foster at Boston on May 8, 1792, it says:<\/p>\n “Sh i pped in good order by Thomas Russe I I, upon the sh i p Th ree Brothers,\u00a0whereof is master for the present voyage Samuel Foster, now in the harbor of\u00a0Boston, bound for Hamburg, 13 pipes, 56 tierces, 200 bands, 15 baskets, and 75\u00a0ases of clayed white sugars, being marked and numbered as in the margin, and\u00a0are to be delivered in like good order at the aforesaid port of Hamburg (the\u00a0danger of the seas only excepted) unto ~ssrs. Kleinmeister and Mollor or their\u00a0assigoees,he or they paying freight for said goods, nothing being owner’s goods,\u00a0with primage and average accustomed. In witness whereof the master of said ship\u00a0hath affirmed to four bi <\/em>lis of lading of this tenor and date.<\/p>\n (S i gned) Samue I Foster”.<\/p>\n Arrangements for carrying passengers were sometimes stated with formality.<\/p>\n At Port Louis on May 13, 1789, another ship captain sent a note to Capt. Foster\u00a0concerning the wishes of a third fellow captain. The note said: nCaptain CoiI\u00a0ins has app I ied to me for a passage aboard your ship to Ostend. I am wi II ing\u00a0he should go provided he and you can agree; I would be glad to see you here\u00a0on board to spend the evening. Yours sincerely, J. A. Babcock.1I .<\/p>\n It is interesting to note the wages paid to seamen in <\/em>the closing years of \u00a0the 18th century. Among the Fred Oliver papers is preserved the pay list of\u00a0the Brig Swallow commanded by Samuel Foster in 1791. Foster, master of the\u00a0vessel, received six pounds per month. Burri II Potter, the mate, got 3 pounds\u00a012 sh i II i ngs. Each ab Ie s.eaman was pa i <\/em>d 2 pounds 2 sh i II i ngs. Rufus Bent s i gn~\u00a0ed on as ordinary seaman at one pound 10 shi I lings a month. The lowest paid person\u00a0on board was the ship’s boy, Wi Iliam Thomas, who got only 18 shi Ilings for\u00a0a month’s work. At that time a British shi I ling was valued at 16 2\/3 cents in\u00a0the new Arne ri can money.\u00a0therefore th ree do I lars. \u00a0$25 a month.<\/p>\n The ship’s boy’s pay for a whole month’s work was\u00a0The wages of the captain himself came to only about<\/p>\n When I was a boy a word we often heard ‘~as– sarsapari Ita. Hood!s sarsapari\u00a0I la was nationally advertised as a medicine. One of the many brands of the\u00a0stuff was manufactured in ~y home town of Bridgton, whether as medicine or as\u00a0a soft drink, I am not sure, for by the time I was old enough to pass the bottle\u00a0factory on my way to school sarsapari I la soda was becoming a favorite drink.<\/p>\n The dictionary tells us that sarsapari Iia is a climbing or trai ling tropical\u00a0American plant, having a root which has been much used in medicine.<\/p>\n Wei I, Captain Sam Foster knew about sarsapari Iia in 1794. A bi II of ladi\u00a0ng of that year says: “Sh i pped by Ca I lender and Henderson on the sh i p P Iymouth,\u00a0Captain Samuel Foster, now lying in the Rappahannock and bound for London,\u00a0four bags sarsapari II a, to be de livered at London or any port south of\u00a0France. f!<\/p>\n One of the fine old schools of this region, whose doors were permanently\u00a0closed 90 years ago, was Titcomb Academy at Belgrade. Founded in 1829, it was\u00a0situated at the top of the prominent height known as Belgrade Hi II, about four\u00a0mi les toward Oak I and from Be I grade Stati on. By a un i que co inci dence, near the\u00a0site of this old school is the summer home and operated farm of Wi Ison Parkhi II,\u00a0headmaster of the Collegiate School of New York City, which, except for the\u00a0Roxbury Latin School, is the oldest established school in this country. Like\u00a0Roxbury, Collegiate was founded in the 1630’s, and is thus weI lover 300 years\u00a0old.<\/p>\n But now back to Titcomb Academy. A number of Belgrade residents, led by\u00a0Samuel Titcomb and John Pitts, were determined to have a school simi lar in kind\u00a0and qual ity to three surrounding schools: Kents Hi I I at Readfield, Hal lowe I I\u00a0Academy and Wate rv i I I e Academy, now Cob urn S ch 00 I. The promote rs ra i se d fun ds\u00a0to erect a two-story brick bui Iding and in 1830 installed Wi l.Iiam Farmer as the\u00a0first principal. Just as was done at Watervi I Ie Academy, the school at Belgrade\u00a0taught higher subjects not known in the common schools, including algebra, geometry,\u00a0Greek, Latin, and after 1845 French and German. From the beginning the\u00a0school was coeducational. Boys and girls attended from a wide area. In its\u00a0most prosperous days, about 1840, Titcomb Academy, which had been given the name\u00a0of its principal founder, Samuel Titcomb, had more than a hundred pupi Is.<\/p>\n Many prominent men graduated from the Belgrade school. Perhaps its greatest\u00a0fame came when two of its alumni became the only two brothers who ever had\u00a0the distinction of both serving as governors of Maine. They were two Morri II\u00a0brothers, Amos, governor in 1855-56, and Lot, governor from 1858 to 1861. A\u00a0third brother became governor of another state; so the Morri II fami Iy of Belgrade\u00a0became nearly, if not quite, as famous as the Washburns of Livermore.<\/p>\n It is one of the glories of New England that education and religion have\u00a0gone hand in hand. Samuel Titcomb and John Pitts, the academy’s chief founders,\u00a0had also establ ished the church at Belgrade Hi” two years before they bui It\u00a0the academy bui Iding. We think of 1827 as a time of religious intolerance: but\u00a0the story of that Belgrade church can be repeated many times in the rei igious\u00a0history of Ma i ne. Persc:ms fami liar wi th Watervi I Ie history reca II that a II denominations\u00a0were welcome to use the first public meeting house in this city,\u00a0the bui Iding that in later years became the armory. Simi larly an unusual measure\u00a0of tolerance marked the opening of the church at Belgrade Hi II, for it was\u00a0bui It by a uni on of Uni tari ans and Free Wi II Baptists. Its fi rst pastor was the\u00a0same Wi I liam Farmer who, two years later, took on the principalship of Titcomb\u00a0Academy in addition to his preaching.<\/p>\n Many years ago John C I air Mi not, di sti ngui shed edi tor of the Youth’s Companion,\u00a0and himself a son of Belgrade, commented on the passing of the old Belgrade\u00a0Hill Ch urch i n these words: nit was occup i ed more or less regu I ar I y\u00a0unti I 1885, when the sp i rit of the i r fathers seemed to de?ert the res i dents of\u00a0the Hi I I, and by special act of legislature the old church was torn down and\u00a0the timbers sold to Benjamin Gleason. He hauled them to his farm in Oakland\u00a0and made them into a barn. n<\/p>\n Colby students today do, I am sure, appreciate the splendid food served\u00a0them under the direction of that incomparable dietician, Miss Helen Nichols.<\/p>\n If ever any student thinks he has cause to complain about food at Colby’s modern\u00a0cafeteria, he ought to have set before him the fare offered to his predecessors\u00a0of 120 years ago. In 1835 the da i Iy bill of fare for the co liege\u00a0dining room was solemnly established by the prudential committee of the trustees,\u00a0and to the document Timothy Beutel Ie, Nathan Oliver and Benjamin Shepard\u00a0duly subscribed their names.<\/p>\n The same kind of food, monotonously unvaried, was decreed for every day,\u00a0save for minor exceptions, as we shall see:<\/p>\n “For breakfast. Coffee with molasses and mi Ik, bread and butter.<\/p>\n “For di nner. Meat served in vari ous forms as convenes the steward. Except\u00a0once a week beans, once a week fish, and occasionally puddings, with cold water.<\/p>\n “For supper. Tea with sugar and mi Ik. Bread and butter. Occasionally\u00a0cheese, apple sauce or pie.”<\/p>\n Then the document went on to lay down the financial stipulations: “The\u00a0steward is to furni sh the above fare at $1 .00 per week, not less than $6.00 at ,->\u00a0each payment. When not paid in advance, the sum of $1.25 a week wi I I be charged\u00a0.When we reca II that eight do II ars today have about the purchas i ng power of\u00a0one do II ar in 1835, we may we II ask the present-day student: t’How wou I d you\u00a0like to have tomorrow morning’s coffee sweetened with molasses, and nothing to\u00a0eat with it except bread and butter? I know what would irk you most about that\u00a0old bi II of fare. No mi Ik to drink. Why? Was mi Ik scarce? Oh, no. It just\u00a0wasn’t fashionable to drink it in those days. Everybody, even the youngsters,\u00a0preferred tea and coffee.”<\/p>\n So~ with lots of tea and coffee but no mi Ik~ we: say good night for old -,\u00a0ti mes’ sake.<\/p>\n Year: 1955<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #271, broadcast on September 18, 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\/7536"}],"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=7536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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