<\/p>\n
One way to learn what living in Maine was like in days gone by is to examine old issues of the Maine Register. That publication has been issued every year since Maine became a state in 1820. In 1958 it is a huge volume of nearly 1,000 pages, and it contains detailed information about every town and plantation in Maine. When it was first published, however, the Maine Register was a tiny volume, 6 x 3t inches, with less than 200 pages.<\/p>\n
Maine libraries have all issues of the Register since the Civil War, but complete sets are very hard to find. That is why I like to pick up odd numbers of the early issues whenever I can find them. Last summer it was the issue for 1837 that fell into my hands, and tonight I want to tell you some of the things it reveals.<\/p>\n
In 1837 our country had no such thing as standard time. The farmers went by what they called sun time, and there was a sort of local time fixed for each community. As I am sure you know, the Maine Register has always contained information about the time of sunrise and sunset, phases of the moon, and the daily tides, just as you find in an almanac. In fixing those times, the Register had to use the time of some one community in Maine. It chose that of the state capital, Augusta. On the title page of the 1837 issue we read: “Calculated for the latitude and meridian of Augusta, latitude 44\u00b0 18′ 33″ N, and longitude 69\u00b0 50′ W from Greenwich, England.”<\/p>\n
For many years now the Maine Register has been printed in Portland. In 1837 it was printed in Hallowell by the firm of Glazier, Masters and Smith. That reveals our first fact of historical interest tonight. For a quarter of a century after Maine became a state, the chief publishing center was Hallowell. From its presses came textbooks used in Maine schools, editions of popular writers, pamphlets, sermons, catalogues, and several newspapers. If you have a very old reader or speller or arithmetic around the house, that some ancestor once used in a Maine school, the chances are that it was published at Hallowell.<\/p>\n
In the almanac sections of the 1837 Register a page was ~evoted to each month, and each page is headed by some statement to acquaint the reader with the condition of the world in 1837. Under January we read: “The government of France is composed of a king, whose title is hereditary; of a Chamber of Peers, apPointed for life; and a Chamber of Deputies, elected every five years.”<\/p>\n
The heading for February gives reason for sober thought today. It says: “From 1820 to December 31, 1836 the amount received into the State Treasury was $2,494,520.73. 11 Divide that by the 16 years, and you find that, to meet all state expenses, Maine was collecting about $156,000 a year. That is less than enough to build a single overpass bridge across the new interstate highway today. For subsidies to the towns and cities for support of their schools, Maine spent in the fiscal year 1957-58 three times as much as the entire cost of state government in the first 16 years of our history.<\/p>\n
The heading for September refers to America’s oldest college. It says: “Harvard College in Massachusetts was founded in 1636. Last year it celebrated its 200th anniversary. 1,300 alumni and invited guests dined in a pavilion erected for the purpose.”<\/p>\n
We are so accustomed today to having the balance of trade in our favor that it is well for us to be reminded that it was not so 123 years ago. In 1835 imports exceeded exports by nearly 20 percent. You know how an almanac frequently gives the anniversaries of great events, printing the name of the event opposite the date. Some of those anniversary items given in the 1837 Maine Register are memorable even today: the birth of Benjamin Franklin on January 17; the birth of George Washington on February 22; the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17; the Boston Tea Party on December 16. But who remembers the following events considered important enough to mention in the 1837 Register: George III died January 29, 1820; Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded February 8, 1586; Napoleon died May 4, 1821; Dark Day in New England, May 19, 1790; Copenhagen surrendered to the British, September 1, 1807. And what in the world was the Battle of Ocana on November 19, 1809?<\/p>\n
It is interesting to learn how much our state officers were paid in 1837. The justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine got more than the Governor. Their salaries were $1,600 each, for the chief justice and his associates alike. The governor got $1,500. The Adjutant General and the Warden of the State Prison received identical salaries, $700 a year.<\/p>\n
The Secretary of State and the State Treasurer each got $900. In those days when travel was difficult, probate court was held in several places in each county besides the county seat. So in Kennebec County, besides meeting at specified times at the court house in Augusta, on the second Monday in July the court met at the house of Sewall Prescott in Monmouth; on the second Wednesday in July at Philbrick’s Tavern in Mt. Vernon; on the second Thursday in July at Milliken’s Tavern in Farmington; and on the first Monday in August at Soule’s Tavern in Waterville.<\/p>\n
In 1837 there were 55 banks operating in Maine, but a number of them closed the following year, because there occurred what historians call the Panic of 1837, which threw many business firms into insolvency and closed numerous banks. As you would suppose, Maine’s largest banks were then, as now, in Portland. The largest was the Canal Bank, with capital of $400,000.<\/p>\n
Then came the Casco Bank, the Bank of Portland and the Maine Bank, each with $300,000, the Bank of Cumberland with $250,000, the City Bank of Portland with $200,000, the Merchants and the Manufacturers and Traders, each with $150,000, and the Exchange Bank with $100,000. That made a total of nine, a lot of banks for a place as small as Portland was in 1837.<\/p>\n
Augusta had Reuel Witham’s Citizens Bank, Benjamin Davis’ Freeman’s Bank, Daniel Witham’s Augusta Bank, and Edmund Bridge’s Granite Bank. Bangor, though much smaller than Portland, had become a prosperous business center by 1837, boasting nine banks, the same number as Portland. In 1837 Waterville had one lone bank, the Ticonic, capitalized at $75,000 with Timothy Boutelle as president and Augustine Perkins as cashier.<\/p>\n
In 1834 the State had appropriated $20,000 to build an Insane Hospital provided another $20,000 should be contributed by individuals. Two men immediately came forward with subscriptions of $10,000 each, Reuel Williams of Augusta and Benjamin Brown of Riverside. Brown was the man who operated the well known tavern at Riverside and was one of the most public spirited of early Maine citizens. Notice how the 1837 Maine Register reported progress on the project: “A pleasant and healthful spot was selected on the eastern bank of the Kennebec River opposite the State House. The foundations of an edifice have been laid. It is about 200 feet long and four stories high. The walls will be of granite. An inexhaustible supply of water flows from a fountain whose elevation is sufficient to raise it into the second story of the hospital. The site commands a full view of the villages of Augusta and Hallowell.”<\/p>\n
The Register devotes six pages to Bowdoin College and two pages to Waterville College. Bowdoin then had its third president, William Allen. The college at Waterville, though younger than Bowdoin, was also under its third executive, Robert Pattison. At Bowdoin there were eight teachers besides the president; at Waterville the number was seven. Bowdoin boasted a library of 9,000 volumes; Waterville had 2,500. The latter made much of what the Register called lithe manual laborsystem” and describes thus: “Students are permitted, if they so desire, to labor three hours per day in the shop. Those who labor steadily earn from 75\u00a2 to $2.50 a week.”<\/p>\n
Both colleges were in session 39 weeks in the year, much longer than now. Both had the long vacation in the winter. At Bowdoin it extended for eight weeks after the third Friday in December; at Waterville for nine weeks after the last Wednesday in November. Each college divided its teaching year into three terms. The year began in the summer with what was called the fall term. The spring term, beginning after the long vacation, finished in May. At Bowdoin two weeks of vacation then preceded the summer term, but at Waterville the summer term began immediately, starting on the Monday after the spring term had closed on Friday. Both colleges held commencement in August.<\/p>\n
In both colleges the curriculum was completely prescribed. Every student in a class took exactly the same subjects. The freshmen at Bowdoin, for instance, all took Greek, Latin, Arithmetic and Algebra in the fall term; Greek, Latin, Algebra and Roman Antiquities in the spring term; Greek, Latin, Algebra and Logic in the summer term. In the fall the seniors studied Astronomy, Paley’s Evidences of Christianity, and Upham’s Mental Philosophy; in the spring they had Chemistry, Political Economy, Butler’s Analogy of Religion, and Hebrew. In the summer, just before they graduated, the seniors had Natural History, Mineralogy, Butler’s Analogy, Upham’s Treatise on the Will, and completion of the course in Hebrew. During their senior year the Waterville students, like those at Brunswick, were studying Paley’s Evidences and Butler’s Analogy, as well as the Hebrew language. But at Waterville a term of chemistry came in the junior year; seniors studied optics, electricity and magnetism, and Waterville seniors still continued their Greek, with reading of Plato, Demosthenes and Aeschines. Requirements for admission were identical at the two colleges: the passing of examinations in Latin and Greek grammar; Caesar, Cicero and Virgil; the four Evangelists in Greek; Geography, Arithmetic and Algebra to equations of the second degree. The emphasis was on a classical education. Even in college, no branch of science was continued for more than a single term.<\/p>\n
The 1837 Register lists 47 academies then operating in Maine. It is intertesting to note how many of them are still alive: Berwick, Fryeburg, Lincoln at Newcastle, Washington at East Machias, Hampden, Blue Hill, Hebron, Bridgton, Waterville (now Coburn), Monmouth, North Yarmouth, Foxcroft, Anson, Thornton at Saco — just 14 of the old 47. Some memorable academies, thriving in 1837, that have since disappeared, were Maine’s second academy at Hallowell, and those at Bloomfield, Portland, Gorham, Farmington and Bath. Gone too are the Cony Female Academy at Augusta, the Oxford Female Academy at Paris, Titcomb Academy at Belgrade, and Benvenue Female High School at Weld.<\/p>\n
The 1837 Register describes another school in Waterville besides the old Waterville Academy that later became Coburn. It was the Waterville Liberal Institute founded by the Universalists in 1834. Its building stood at the corner of Elm and School Streets, and its principal was Nathaniel Whitmore. Prominent local citizens on its board of trustees were Jediah Morrill, Abijah Smith, Simeon Mathews and Silas Redington. As for tuition, for common English studies it charged $3 per quarter, for higher studies $4, for highest $5. Then the announcement added: “$1 extra is charged for the languages; no charge for fuel or lights; board in the village may be obtained from 10 to 12 shillings a week.”<\/p>\n
In 1837 one man was a trustee of both Bowdoin and Waterville Colleges. He was the man who had been Maine’s first governor, William King of Bath.<\/p>\n
As a final item, let me tell you what this old Maine Register says about standards of measure. Here it is: “That three barley corns make an inch is the doctrine on which our linear measure is built. The fathom is the length of the body or its equivalent, the extent between the ends of the middle fingers when the arms are fully extended. The yard was considered the girth around the waist, but coming into collision with the ell, the yard was fixed as the length of the first King Henry’s arm.”<\/p>\n
And with that homely reference to standards of measure, we must say Good Night for Old Times Sake.<\/p>\n
Year: 1959<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #405, Broadcast on January 25, 1959<\/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":[800,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7929"}],"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=7929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}