<\/p>\n
Soon the old Noyes mansion on Temple Street will be no more. As part of the urban renewal project, it will come down, and its present tenant, the Waterville YMCA, will move into a new building on the site of the old grammar school at the corner of Pleasant and North Streets. The wedding gift of Timothy Boutelle to his daughter, Helen, on her marriage to Edwin Noyes, the old house has stood on Temple Street for more than 100 years.<\/p>\n
At least one present citizen of Waterville has vivid memories of that Temple Street mansion when members of the Noyes family still inhabited it. After the death of Mrs. Edwin Noyes in 1892, the place became the property of Mrs. Boutelle Noyes, widow of the Noyes naval son who, some years earlier, had been killed by an explosion on his ship in an Oriental port. The widow and her two sons continued to hold residence at Newport, R.I., but spent their summers partly at the cottage on Squirrel Island and partly at the Temple Street mansion.<\/p>\n
Walter Heath, President of the Waterville Historical Society, as a young boy was a playmate of the children of Boutelle Noyes. Walter and other members of his family were frequently in the Noyes home, and it was Walter’s father, Edward Heath, who had charge of the property and kept it in shape for Mrs. Boutelle Noyes’ annual visits.<\/p>\n
Walter remembers well some of the objects in that Noyes home which George Flood’s diary listed as being there at the time of Mrs. Edwin Noyes’ death. Flood wrote that in the west room were a number of paintings. Among them were seven portraits. Flood does not name the painter of any of these pieces, but he does identify the subjects: separate portraits of Edwin and Helen Boutelle Noyes at the time of their marriage. Squire Timothy Boutelle at the age of 70 and of his wife at the same age. Lizzie Boutelle at 18; and two of Boutelle Noyes, one at the age of nine, and the other when he was promoted to Lieutenant Senior Grade in the U.S. Navy.<\/p>\n
In the first half of the 19th century painting was a very popular pastime among ladies of wealth or social position. One such local painter was Jane, the wife of Prof. George Washington Keely of Waterville College. Two of her paintings hung in the Noyes home; one entitled “French Coquette”, the other “Andromache on Hearing of the Death of Hector”. Another Waterville woman, Sarah Allen, was honored by two of her paintings in the same room with Mrs. Keely’s. Her works were entitled “Grand Manan” and “Marine View”. Fanny Alden also had two paintings there: one called simply “Landscape”, the other called “Chri stmas”.<\/p>\n
Flood says that the west parlor of the Noyes mansion also contained some valuable objects. Probably most valuable were the pieces of furniture which Flood does not mention at all. What he chose to record as valuable were a vase from China, a cup and saucer from the same land, a hand-painted rose jar from Japan, a perfume bottle on a brass stand, two Bohemian glass vases, two bronze chandeliers, and three cut glass dishes. Finally Flood couldn’t resist calling attention to the fact that in the room was a cabinet photograph of George Flood in a gilt frame.<\/p>\n
Last year we had a lot to say about George Flood as a railroad man and fuel merchant. All the time he was also somewhat of a farmer, and even before he had turned the fuel business over to his brothers, George had bought and was operating the big Stackpole farm on Upper Main Street.<\/p>\n
In 1884 Flood had several teams busy hauling dressing from the big stable where he kept his fuel teams to the Stackpole farm. On April 1 they hauled 21 loads, the next day 22 loads. He bought of G.S. Bangs 122 pounds of Herds Grass and 25 pounds of Clover to reseed ground he had sowed down the previous year and had failed to get a good catch. He paid W.B. Arnold $1.20 for a new axe handle, and hired James Gurney to use it cutting stumps a full day for one dollar. He found his harrow was in bad shape and it cost him $3.30 for 22 new harrow teeth.<\/p>\n
In the summer of 1884 the Stackpole farm yielded a good crop of oats, 461 bushels. It cost Flood $21.50 for, as he put it, “Cutting and hauling to the threshing machine, set up out of doors, and taking care of the straw.” In September Flood paid his taxes, $61.52.<\/p>\n
The diary reveals much farm activity in 1886. “May 5 – Plowing four acres for the first time full of green gray birch stumps, between Mountain road and the woods. May 14 – Finished plowing 6t acres near the north line between the ravine and the woods, also for oats. May 20 – Cutting, piling and burning bushes, and getting into oats six acres west of Main Street alongside the woods.”<\/p>\n
At the end of 1886 Flood listed the following income from the Stackpole farm: “40 tons of hay at $12 – $480; 6 tons of straw at $5 – $30; 400 bushels of oats at 45 cents – $180; pasturage for 14 cows at $12 – $168; total $858.”<\/p>\n
Charles Flood, brother of George, and father of one of Waterville’s most prominent women, Miss Exerene Flood, also kept a diary, but only for a little more than a year. His entries ran from July 6, 1899 to November 8, 1900. Among them is a rather complete account of George Flood’s death. It says: “My brother George died January 7, 1896 at 20 minutes before 8 p.m. Fanny Woods and myself were with him at the end, no one else in the house. Miss Woods says he seemed better this morning and took some nourishment. He made two deeds during the day, one a parcel of land just in the rear of his house to Fanny Woods, and one of another piece south of his farmhouse to C.A. and A.W. Flood, finishing both deeds at 2 p.m. He asked my brother Sumner, who was present, to help him to bed. About the same time he sent his man Whyte for Frank Brown to acknowledge the deeds. Later in the afternoon he sent Whyte for me. I got there about 4:30. It being very cold, I removed my overcoat and went to the fireplace to warm myself before going into the bedroom. When I entered the room, I asked him if he was feeling worse. He said yes. I rubbed his feet, changed the pillow under his head, and gave him a teaspoonful of wine. Then he dropped asleep. About 6 o’clock Dr. Thayer came and said that George could not last much longer. I thought he would rally so as to speak, but he did not. At twenty minutes before eight he breathed his last.”<\/p>\n
Charles Flood’s following account reveals what all too often happens when a person dies. They had trouble locating important papers. This is the way Charles Flood tells the story: “George had told me on the previous Sunday that he had arranged his business so it could be settled without any trouble. I knew there were some papers in a box in George’s bedroom. He had asked me just the day before to take a deed from it, and at that time other papers were in it. When I now examined that box it was empty. Just then Alpheus arrived and together we searched for other papers, especially for directions he had promised to leave for us in case he was taken away.<\/p>\n
“The next morning Miss Woods said she remembered a tin box that contained some papers. She brought it out, together with a key. It contained several large envelopes not sealed marked ‘Bonds’. There were several of those securities. Then Miss Woods recalled a little russet box which she brought out. We found in it several certificates and railroad and bank stock. Then Miss Woods said: ‘Haven’t you found the little wooden box in which he kept his deeds?’ This was the first I had heard of any deed box except the one in his bedroom. So we made a search and finally located another russet box on a shelf in the bathroom. It contained three deeds made out by George to other people. One conveyed his Sunny Hill Farm to Fanny Woods; one gave land in Clinton to Brother Sumner; the third gave land in Clinton to Brother John.<\/p>\n
“Nowhere in the house were we able to find anything to tell us what should be done after his death.”<\/p>\n
This story reveals something I mentioned several times last year when talking about George Flood — his distrust of banks and bankers. Wooden and tin boxes in his own house were George Flood’s safe deposit boxes. That short diary of Charles Flood’s tells us some of the things that were happening in Waterville at the turn of the century: “July 27, 1899 – Horace Purinton got a warrant and seized a car of beer that belonged to Simpson and Davies. I hope they will accomplish something, but it is rolling a stone up a hill because Purinton does not have the sympathy of the people in town.<\/p>\n
“August 1 – William Chase has a very large bull by the tail in his plans for a new dam on the Messalonskee.<\/p>\n
“August 17 – Went to Northport and boarded the Battleship Texas. Went allover her.<\/p>\n
“October 23 – Very dry. The Kennebec is lowest in fifteen years.<\/p>\n
“November 12 – It has been snowing since 9 o’clock last night. It is now 6 a.m. and there is 12 inches of snow on the ground. It has been about such a day as the one last year when the Steamer Portland was lost.”<\/p>\n
In 1896 there had come as pastor to the church that the Floods attended a dynamic Irishman named George Lindsay. That church was the Waterville Methodist, and Charles’ references to it on four successive Sundays in January, 1900 are interesting: “Jan. 7 – Went to church and heard Mr. Lindsay. I think the members of the church are as cold as a lot of bullfrogs by the way he went for them. I think he has a hard time trying to ——— them to work. It makes me think of an old pair of steers my father once had. I guess I won’t tell the story here. It would be too much like talking to myself.<\/p>\n
“Jan. 14 – Went to church to hear Mr. Lindsay. We got there late, but in time to hear the last of the prayer. He started preaching about 11 o’clock and held us till quarter past twelve. It was a long, good sermon.<\/p>\n
“Jan. 21 – Heard Mr. Lindsay on Christ and doubting Thomas. I think Thomas was a bright, clear-headed man, not willing to accept anything without undoubted proof. Good for him.<\/p>\n
“Jan. 28 – Heard Mr. Lindsay on Luke 1:41. He was well acquainted with his subject. He fired grape shot from one muzzle, then closed by letting loose his Maxim Repeater. He may have done some good.”<\/p>\n
Well, that must be enough for this broadcast. So, for old times’ sake, we must say goodbye until next week.<\/p>\n
Year: 1964<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #626, Broadcast on November 1, 1964<\/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":[42956,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8428"}],"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=8428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}