Most of us are so fami liar with the ordinary daily press that we are likely not to realize that right in New England we have a unique newspaper with a world-wide reputation. That paper is the Christian Science Monitor, whose distinguished editor, Edwin Canham, is a graduate of Bates Col lege. Founded in 1908, the Monitor has remained true to its original intention, stated in its first issue, “1to i nj ure no man, but to b less a II mank i ndT!. Th rough a I I the years it has refused to bow to the sensational. It,~oes not suppress news of crime or disaster, but it does not exploit such news. The Monitor makes just one test of a news item: Is it important socially so as to make readers become informed and more useful citizens? Another great newspaper has as its slogan “AI I the news that’s fit to print”. The Monitor might wei I adopt the slogan riA I I the news that’s fit to be news”. When someone te I I s you that Boston no longer has any first class newspaper, ask him if he has forgotten the Christian Science Monitor.<\/p>\n
If you are at least 21 years of age, whether you are male or female, you have on a week from next Tuesday an opportunity that is the most signal evidence of freedom remaining in the Free World. On November 6 you have an opportunity to vote for the man you choose between two great Americans to be the head of your government for the next four years. You have a chance to say which of the two po lit i ca I parti es sha I I contro I the execut i ve b ranch of the govern:-:_ ment after next January.<\/p>\n
Although I have a strong preference for one of the candidates, I respect the opinion of those who prefer the other candidate. And I share Abraham Lin- coin’s confidence in the people of America to keep our nation united and sound, whichever party puts its man in the White House. Whichever man rides down Pennsylvania Avenue after the inauguration on January 20, you and I know that, in sp i te of a I lour parti sansh i p, we can say: HGod b less our Pres i dent. The Government at Wash i ngton sti II lives. Ft<\/p>\n
Why these stirrings of revolt in Poland and Hungary? Why the growing uneasiness in all the satellite countries? Because in this enlightened second half of the twentieth century, people wi I I not continue to endure oppression and loss of liberty. In the soul of modern man there surges the great longing to be free. And one of those precious freedoms is the right to vote, to vote by se~ cret bal lot, unwatched by secret police, unhindered by threats of violence. We as Americans have that precious right which is denied to so many mi I lions in the world. Does it mean anything to you? Wi I I you lazi Iy keep away from the pol Is on November 6, or wi I I you take your bal lot into the booth and mark it as you please in secret? When a week from next Tuesday arrives, vote as you please, as your reasoning and conscience dictates, but vote!<\/p>\n
I want to tel I you tonight two items about Augusta, the town’s first bridge and the very interesting dissenting minister.<\/p>\n
Before Augusta was set off as a separate town from Hal lowel I, rivalry was bitter between the two sett lements at the Fort and at the Hook. ~\/hat is now the City of Augusta, because it was the location of Fort Western, was cal led the Fort, whi Ie the settlement along the river bank where is now Hallowell’s business street was ca lIed the Hook.<\/p>\n
In the early 1790’s both settlements grew so fast that people began to talk about a bridge to span the Kennebec. Both the Fort and the Hook were then parts of the town of Ha I lowe I I; so me re I y to dec i de that Ha I lowe I I was to have a bridge was only part of the necessary decision. Should the bridge be built at the Fort or at the Hook? Both places wanted it, and each was sure it ought to have it. There seemed no possibi lity of getting either place to agree to have the bridge bui It at the other place.<\/p>\n
The Fort c I aimed the honor on the grounds that the i r settlement stood at the head of tide, where a bridge would not obstruct navigation. Nonsense, said the people at the Hook. Everybody knows that the Hook would be no obstruction to the few sma I I boats going up to the Fort; no sizeable ship could get above the Hook anyhow.<\/p>\n
In 1796 a petition to bui Id the bridge at Fort Western was presented to the Massachusetts legislature by Senator Daniel Cony and Representative James Bridge.<\/p>\n
In opposition appeared the leading citizen of Hal lowe I I, Charles Vaughan. Senator Cony saw to it that the petition was referred to the committee of which Joseph Choate, a famous Massachusetts lawyer, was chairman, because Choate had once visited Cony at Fort Western and had told Cony that the Fort was certainly the place for a bridge. The committee decided in favor of Fort Western, the legislature concurred, and on February 8, 1796 passed an act of incorporation, creating a company to bui Id a bridge across the Kennebec River at Fort Western.<\/p>\n
Now let’s hear about the dissenting minister.<\/p>\n
It is difficult for us today to realize how heated religious controversy sometimes became in our early Maine communities. We know that here in Watervi lie the first settled minister, Joshua Cushman, got into trouble because of his Unitarian leanings. Down river in Augusta, the minister was;n trouble as early as 1786. He was Rev. Isaac Forster, a graduate of Yale, who was the first minister to stay in Augusta for any length of time. His predecessors had been itinerant preachers, stopping at the Fort for a few Sabbaths only.<\/p>\n
From the beginning Forster was opposed by an arch-conservative, General Henry Sewal I, who had come to the Fort Western settlement after the Revolutionary War, in which he had risen from the rank of corporal. He won his title of general when the Massachusetts governor commissioned him as Division Inspector and Major General of the Kennebec Mi litia.<\/p>\n
Not on I y did Genera I Sewa II play a p romi nent part in town affa irs; he also considered himself official censor of the pulpit. He was a critical listener, of decided orthodox opinions. He made things lively and often disagreeable for any preacher. He was outvoted when the church cal led Isaac Forster to be their minister; and he was so disgusted that he observed a private fast and refused to attend Forster’s ordination.<\/p>\n
It soon turned out that Forster was much too liberal for other churchgoers besides the General. Forster denied that Adam was created holy and then fel I by eating an apple. He repudiated what was then the almost universal belief in the total depravity of the human race. He did not believe in the Calvinist doctrine of absolute, unconditional pre-determination, the doctri.ne that held Pwhen you’re born, you’re done for”. But \\’Jhat many considered the preacher?s worst.<\/p>\n
heresy was h is be I ief that the heathen who had never heard the gospe I rea II y do their duty in the exercise of their own rei igion, even though that religion ca I I s for a p I ura I i ty of gods.\u2019<\/p>\n
That was too much for the pious Augustans, who now ra II i ed to the banner of General Sewal I, and Rev. Isaac Forster was triumphantly driven out of town. have told you that the Rev. Forster was a graduate of Yale. That leads me to say something about the superior education of ministers in Revolutionary times. The minister in any New England town was then looked upon not only as the spiritual, but also as the intellectual, superior of his fellON citizens.<\/p>\n
Those ministers were indeed men of true learning. They were al I col lege graduates, thoroughly fami liar with Latin, Greek and Hebrew. After entering college, they had been obliged to use Latin as a medium of conversation in the college halls. The course at Harvard, as well as at other colleges, included phy- Sics, astronomy, ethics, politics, composition in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, logic, rhetoric and geometry.<\/p>\n
Jacob Sa i ley, who was the first settl ad mi n i ster on the Kennebec, comi ng to Pownalboro in 1763, and who was later driven out because of his refusal to support the cause of American independence, had graduated from Harvard in 1755, along with John Adams, second President of the United States, and John Wentworth, who became a Royal Governor of New Hampshire. Bai ley had traveled abroad and had dined in London with his illustrious countryman, Benjamin Franklin. He had been received by the Bishop of London, and entertained by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lambeth Palace. He brought dignity and learning into the Maine wi I derness.<\/p>\n
A century later, unschooled, sometimes even ignorant preachers showed up in the rising communities of the Middle West. As time went on, people even began to be suspicious of learning in the pulpit, holding that in matters of religion, too much learning is a dangerous thing. But it was not so when our ~-1a i ne sett lements were young. Then an educated clergy was des i red and respected. Whi Ie we are with those communities down the river, let’s get in a few words about 0 I d Ha II CINe <\/em>I I Academy. I t was one of the ear I i est and most famous of Maine’s many academies. Long ago it became merged with the public high school, but during its existence as a separate institution, it gained renown far beyond the region of the Kennebec.<\/p>\n Ha I lowe II Academy was founded in 1791, near Iy th i rty years before Ma i ne became a separate state, and before George Washington had completed his first term as president. The act of incorporation was signed by the same man whose bold signature stands fi rst on the Declaration of Independence, the illustrious John Hancock, who in 1791 was Governor of Massachusetts. Like most early academies, Hal lowe I I was strictly a classical school. In its first public exhibition in 1796, students gave orations in Latin and Greek, as well as in English. An acadeMY graduate of 1800 who could not write a decent composition in both Latin and Greek was considered uneducated and unworthy of his diploma.<\/p>\n That fi rst exh i b i ti on took p I ace under a man whom Ha I lowe II’s hi stori an, Emma Huntington Nason, designates without given name, simply cal ling him Preceptor Woodman. Woodman’s school year began, not in September as schools do now, b ut i n May.<\/p>\n Many notab Ie men graduated from Ha I lowe II Academy. Jacob Abbott, author of the Rollo books, and his brother John were among the alumni. So was George Evans, one of Maine’s most noted lawyers, who participated in the trial of ~’Jatervi lie’s notorious murderer, Dr. Valorous Coolidge, in 1848. Other Hallowell graduates were Elias Bond, missionary to the Hawaiian Islands, the famous Page brothers, Rufus and John, and three generals of the Civil War, A. S. cearborn, Oliver Howard, and Thomas H. Hubbard.<\/p>\n The most memorable of the early principals of Hallowell Academy was Samuel Moody. He was a man of big frame and commandi ng appearance. He us ua II y dressed in a snuff-colored, broad-skirted coat, black knee-breeches with huge si Iver buckles, and long white stockings. He wore his hai r ina queue, such as we see in pictures of George \\A\/ashington, and his shoulders were usually sprinkled with the pO’tlder he put on his hair every morning.<\/p>\n An amusing story is told of Principal Moody’s fondness for scanning the verses of Vi rgi I. He parti cu lar Iy loved to hear hi mse I f scan one of Vi rgi I’ s lines which describes the trotting of a horse, and which does seem to represent the sound of the an i ma I\u00b7s passage ove r resound i ng ground. One day Moody read the line and sa i d, “Hush! Do you not abso I ute I y hear the horse trotti ng in that line?” At that precise moment an old white nag that was feeding near the schoolhouse suddenly trotted rapidly past the schoolroom door. The class burst out in laughter. Instead of reprimanding them, the usually stern schoolmaster said, “There, young gentlemen, you have had an illustration from nature, but you must a I low that mi ne was the more natura I . n The academy’s first bui Iding was burned in 1804. Its successor was a twostory wooden bui Iding whose chief glory was a Paul Revere bell in its tower.<\/p>\n That bui Iding also succumbed to fire in 1839. The third bui Iding was bui It in 1841 and remodeled in 1890, and is the bui Iding best known to Kennebec residents as Ha I lowe I I Academy.<\/p>\n Whi Ie the academy sti II operated, a high schoo I was a Iso started in Ha 110- well. In 1873 the two were united into what was called the Classical School. When the latter was discontinued in 1885, the high school was reestablished in the academy bui Iding.<\/p>\n Let.’s close tonight with some information about the way men dressed in 1800. Some time ago on this program we talked about women’s dress in Maine pioneer days. vie <\/em>didn’t mean to ignore the men. So here goes.<\/p>\n The man of fashion in a Maine vi Ilage in 1800 wore on his head a beaver hat with a brim two feet broad turned up on three sides — the well known tricorn hat. One side of the hat was wider than the others, and that was placed squarely behi nd, so that the ahg Ie formed by the other two si des came di rectly over the nose, forming a convenient handle by which the wearer could raise the hat when he met persons of dignity. Under that hat he wore a wig, often of fullbottorred cur Is, but even when in tied form, such as George vlash i ngton wore, it had two or three neat, forma I cur Is over each ear.<\/p>\n On the man’s back was a coat with a stiff, upright collar reaching from ear to ear. The coat skirts were thickly padded over the thighs and were ornamented with gold and silver lace. Stockings covered the legs, and on the feet were shoes with enormous buckles. Breeches were buttoned and buckled at the knee.<\/p>\n The shirt was ruffled at bosom and wrists. Sleeve buttons of brass, or some- times even of si Iver or gold, and often set with stones, completed the costume.<\/p>\n Such was the dress of the higher class in pioneer towns. But the ordinary folk out on the isolated farms dressed much more simply. In summer the men wore homespun garments made of what was called tow-cloth, both shirts and loose trouserscbeing of that rough material. In winter they wore breeches of moose or ‘cdeer skin, with a jacket and cap of fur.<\/p>\n Year: 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #316, broadcast on October 28, 1956<\/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":[790,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7670"}],"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=7670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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