<\/p>\n
Again today I want to take up a few common expressions, the origin of which you may not know, and which I think you will find interesting. The word gentleman, taken directly from England, originally meant a man who ranked above the status of yeoman. The latter was a freeholder who cultivated his own land and was early in English history admitted to political rights. In the early New England colonies there were a few men entitled to the British designation of gentleman, chiefly those who came from such families in the mother country. Our colonies had many more yeomen, sometimes called freemen or freeholders, which under the provincial laws of Massachusetts was defined as a man who was a member of the church and owned more than 4:: 200 of property. He rated the title of mister. Stories of old Boston and old Salem are filled with the epithet Goodman for a man and Goody for his wife. One entitled to be called Goodman Jones was a Jones who was a church member but owned less than 4:: 200 of property.<\/p>\n
When we use the phrase “on the warpath” we are correct in assuming that it referred to Indians going to battle. But its original meaning was more explicit. The Indians followed many trails or paths, but one particular trail was the connecting route between two hostile tribes. When members of either tribe were seen by the other on that trail, it meant a declaration of war.<\/p>\n
How did we get the expression “a whole raft of” for a large quantity? It began, apparently, when the early traders crossed the Appalachians and went down the Ohio. A trader would load a raft with a variety of trading goods, pull it up to the bank at a likely place, and set up a store with his whole raft of goods.<\/p>\n
Many of you know that highways were called turnpikes because bars were put across the road where toll was collected, and those bars were often only two long poles that met in the middle of the road. But why were the poles called pikes? Because they were pointed at the end, just like the long spears or pikes that English soldiers used to carry into battle.<\/p>\n
Why is a dollar called a buck? The term originated in the colonial fur trade. Here is an old trader’s scale of prices for his goods: 1 men’s shirt – 1 buckskin; 1 pro women’s stockings – 1 buckskin; 1 lb. gunpowder – 1 buckskin; a gallon tin kettle – 2 buckskins; silver wrist bands – 2 buckskins; silver arm bands – 5 buckskins. In the trade buckskin was soon shortened to buck. If a trapper wanted to buy something, he asked, “How many bucks?”<\/p>\n
Very interesting are the old time tavern signs. Of course they originated when few people could read, and the same illiteracy explains the signs of the shoemaker’s boot, the druggist’s mortar and pestle, the barber pole, and the cigar store Indian.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the signs were poorly made. In Boston, for instance, the tavern known as the Spread Eagle came to be called the Broiled Chicken, so poor was the sign’s representation of an eagle. The Silent Woman, a restaurant well known in Waterville, was common in colonial days. It was sometimes called the Quiet Woman and less often the Good Woman, but always the sign depicted a woman without her head. The explanation of that sign, given at the Waterville restaurant, is accurate as far as it goes. What that story does not tell you is that in the time of Henry VIII there appeared in London signs with a likeness of Henry on one side and on the other side a woman, but a woman with her head, over the title “A Good Woman”. It was an obvious reference to Anne Boleyn who was very popular with the London populace. After Henry had Anne executed, the same signs appeared, but now the woman had no head. But under the figure were still the words “A Good Woman”.<\/p>\n
Many taverns owe their names to a language device called folk etymology. English and American people have always found it hard to pronounce or understand foreign names. For instance we have the American family name Darling. It was the nearest the Anglo-Saxon tongue would come to D’Orlean, the Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc. Likewise, many French-Canadians living in the United States bear the name Simpson. It has no relationship to the same English family name. It derives from the common French-Canadian name Sans Souci. Simpson was as near as the English tongue could come to it.<\/p>\n
It was the same with the colonial taverns. The Cat and Wheel, a prominent tavern in Hartford, was named for a London tavern called the Catherine Wheel — that wheel being a reference to the way St. Catherine was martyred. The Goat and Compass was a corruption of God Encompasseth Us. The Bay 0f Nails was a corruption of the famous British inn, the Bacchanalian. The Pig and Carrot was taken from an inn in Paris, the Pique et Carreau, which meant literally the spade and diamond of playing cards. The Bell and Savage, depicted by an Indian ringing a bell, came from La Belle Sauvage, beautiful savage, which was depicted quite differently, by a pretty Indian maiden. Another Connecticut tavern, the Bell and Mouth, was named for the Battle of Boulogne Mouth, meaning Boulogne Harbor. That was a battle that took place between England and France in the time of Henry VIII.<\/p>\n
How did a quarter happen to be called two bits? To be sure, the expression never took hold in New England, but it became common throughout the American west. It was long the custom to cut the old Spanish dollars into eight parts, each called a piece of eight, or a bit. Two of them, of course, equalled a quarter or two bits. The slang expression, to chisel, meaning to cheat in a certain way, came from the use of a chisel to cut those Spanish dollars into bits. China, referring to dishes, was used for the first porcelain that came from China. Similarly the varnished dishes that first reached America from Japan were called Japanned ware. Why American soldiers were called doughboys is especially interesting. The American army uniforms of the 1840’s had large, white, bone buttons that looked much like big daubs of dough. Their wearers became doughboys.<\/p>\n
The verb, to whittle, is from a noun, the name of a sharp knife that did not fold back into the handle, like a modern jacknife, but was often used to fashion objects from wood.<\/p>\n
I suppose any stockbroker can tell you the meaning of the phrase watered stock, but I suspect most investors have no idea how it started. A hundred and fifty years ago the cattle drover was a common sight, as he drove his animals to market on the country roads. When he neared his destination, the drover would rest his herd near a watering place, would break open a barrel of salt and spread it upon the ground. The cattle, without salt on the long drive, would lick it up greedily, then rush to the water to drink. Of course the salt made them drink heavily. Now a gallon of water weighs eight pounds. When the drover brought the herd right into the market, that watered stock appreciably increased his profit.<\/p>\n
So much for the origin of certain expressions. Let us now turn to other topics. A hundred years ago the quack doctors were numerous and each had a different remedy that he advertised to cure all manner of diseases. Of course many of those remedies contained alcohol, and they were eagerly sought by the thirsty in prohibition days. But the liquor industry was going pretty far to do what some enterprising liquor agent did down in Augusta in 1870. He distributed a handbill telling people how to make a remedy for diseases of the blood. His ad read: “Found at last! The great blood purifier of the age. A certain cure for scrofula, canker salt rheum and all afflictions of the blood, kidneys and liver, from whatever cause they may originate. The following is the recipe: 4 oz. Sarsaparilla root, 4 oz. Yellow dock, 2 oz. Sassafras bark, 4 oz. wintergreen, 4 oz. meadow fern, 4 oz. dandelion root, 2 oz. juniper buds, 1 oz. blood root, 3 oz. ground hemlock bark, 3 oz. cherry tree bark, 3 oz. Burdock root, 3 oz. March rosemary, 3 oz. alder bark, 2 oz. blue flag, and 3 oz. garden rhubarb.”<\/p>\n
Now comes the clincher: “Steep the above articles together for one hour; strain through a sieve and let stand until cool. Add one quart of pure whiskey.”<\/p>\n
Time takes its toll and I suppose there are a lot of young people who know very little about Bill Mansfield, for whom the gymnasium of the Winslow High School was named. Certainly we must not forget the splendid athlete, teacher and civic leader, Bill Mansfield, who died in the prime of his activity. Bill was the great coach of Winslow athletic teams for many years, but he was much more than a coach. He was an expert fisherman, who knew intimately the best angling spots in hundreds of Maine lakes and streams. For several years he was the constant fishing companion of Dr. George Averill.<\/p>\n
Because Bill Mansfield was always interested in public health, and especially in medical and hospital care for those who could least afford it, the Mansfield Clinic at the Thayer Hospital was appropriately named for him. In his later years Bill Mansfield devoted most of his time to his rapidly growing insurance business, but he never lost interest in the out-of-doors, and especially in what Maine’s woods and fields and streams can mean to our boys and girls. So, you modern athletes and coaches at Winslow High School, remember that one of the most honored names in the whole greater Waterville community is that of Bill Mansfield.<\/p>\n
I suppose there are also many local people who don’t know how Thayer Hospital got its name. It is named for Dr. Frederick C. Thayer, whom many of our older residents remember well. For many years he was a leading physician and surgeon, not only of Waterville, but of the entire State of Maine. After his death, several of his close associates, including the two sons of his one-time partner, Dr. J. F. Hill, started a private hospital in Dr. Thayer’s spacious home and named it the Thayer Hospital. That fine residence was on the west side of upper Main Street where the First National parking lot is now located.<\/p>\n
Born here in Waterville in 1844, Dr. Thayer had graduated from the old Bowdoin Medical School in 1867. Besides being an outstanding and much sought surgeon, he enjoyed wide public service, in the city government of Waterville, in the state legislature, in Masonic circles, and as surgeon-general on the governor’s staff.<\/p>\n
Although Waterville had become a broad-gauge railway junction as early as 1855, Dr. Thayer did not ignore the project to push a narrow gauge line through from Wiscasset to Canada and he was on the first board of directors of the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington.<\/p>\n
Well, so much for two men, a generation apart, whose names have been attached to permanent projects in health and education in Central Maine. Just note that both men were more than competent workers at their respective vocations. Both were truly devoted public servants.<\/p>\n
Year: 1965<\/p>\n
Presumably Script No. 636 was broadcast on January 10, 1965, but no copy of that script has been found.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #635, Broadcast on January 3, 1965<\/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":[792,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8460"}],"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=8460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}