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This is the last Little Talk of the 1964-65 season. It is the 656th broadcast of this program that began 17 years ago in 1948. A lot of water has run down the Kennebec since the program started and on it we have talked about more than 300 different topics. I hope our listeners will not forget that through the whole seventeen years the program has been made possible by the Keyes Fibre Company, who have supported Little Talks, not as advertiser, but as a public service. We expect to be back on the air in September, for the 18th consecutive year of Little Talks.<\/p>\n
Many times I have referred to contemporary accounts of the Civil War. Such newspaper comments, as well as diaries and letters, are not hard to find. But it is much more rare to find accounts of the Mexican War published in New England newspapers at the time when that war was being waged.<\/p>\n
A paper published weekly in Boston at that time was a fraternal journal called the Odd Fellow. A bound volume of the State of Maine edition of\u00a0 that old paper, containing a year’s issues in 1846 and 1847 is now in the Waterville Public Library. At the very end of the year 1846, on December 30, the paper said: “From present indications the war is likely to continue a long time. Santa Anna is determined to keep on fighting. That the Mexicans must be conquered there is no doubt, but it will cost a lot of money, not to speak of the infinitely greater sacrifice of human life. We had hoped this war would end without the aid of troops from the northern states. The war properly belongs to the South, and we are willing the South shall have all the honors that may accrue from it. It now seems, however, that New England must shell out its quota of men, and Boston has become the theatre of some very warlike preparations. Recruiting offices have been set up in various parts of the city, to entrap the unwary and induce silly men to enlist at $7 a month. Among the men they have picked up is a fellow who worked for us as a quarryman at 7 shillings 6 pence a day ($1.15). He would have had steady work with us and prompt pay, but he chose the $7 a month of government money. ”<\/p>\n
On April 14, 1847 this old newspaper said: “The defeat of Santa Anna by General Taylor has astonished and gratified everyone. Those who opposed the war regard this victory as an indication of the war’s end, and they rejoice. In a short time Mexico must sue for peace or be conquered entirely. Rarely has our nation been called upon to mourn so many of her sons slain in the discharge of patriotism. Some of our most distinguished citizens have fallen at Buena Vista. Their names and deeds will not be forgotten.”<\/p>\n
Then a week later the paper printed three columns, giving details of the Battle of Buena Vista. Here is part of that story: “On March 21st the enemy approached over the distant hills. They carried 32 cannon, mostly of large calibre. But their fire was so erratic, our forces did not consider it necessary to return it. All day the Americans had only eight or ten casualties. In the afternoon a Mexican officer approached under a flag of truce and asked to see Gen. Taylor, who was sitting quietly on his old white charger. The officer said he had been sent by Santa Anna to inquire respectfully what General Taylor was waiting for. Why did he not open fire from the American batteries? General Taylor replied that he was waiting only for Santa Anna to surrender. The incident was, of course, a ruse to inform the Mexicans where General Taylor was personally situated. Scarcely had the enemy officer returned to his lines when the whole Mexican battery opened up. Cannon balls flew all about the general. But his aides could not persuade him to leave the spot, where on horseback he could get a clear view of the Mexican lines.<\/p>\n
“At sunrise on the 22nd the battle resumed in earnest. The Mexicans were drawn out in immense numbers. The dark columns of infantry extended as far as the eye could reach, and the cavalry stretched even beyond vision. Their big guns kept up an incessant cannonading of our lines. Our artillery went to meet them, protected by infantry. The two armies were soon engaged in hot conflict. Because our officers always went ahead of their men, there was great mortality in our officer ranks.”<\/p>\n
Now notice the reference to a man who was later to lead the whole South in rebellion against the Union: “The distinguished commander of the Mississippi regiment, Col. Jefferson Davis, was badly wounded.<\/p>\n
“At sundown both armies withdrew from the field. Our men were engaged all night in bringing in the wounded and caring for them. It was clearly an American victory.”<\/p>\n
By May of 1847 the war had moved to Mexico City, the very heart of enemy territory. On May 19 the old newspaper had this to say: “We have recently received a description of Mexico City, the scene of final resistance by the enemy in this miserable war. The city’s location is picturesque, occupying the bottom of a valley of 1,600 square miles, surrounded by a battlement of mountains from 2,000 to 10,000 feet high. In the center of this vast oval basin is a lake, or rather a chain of lakes, through the midst of which a road passes for 18 miles on a raised causeway. The city itself stands in a corner of the valley at an elevation of 7,500 feet. The principal square has an area of 12 acres, all paved with beautiful marble, forming one of the most glorious parade grounds in North America. The cathedral fills one whole side of the square, the palace another side. Both sites are historic. The cathedral sits on the site of the Great Aztec temple, the palace on the site of the palace of Montezuma. The modern palace is 500 feet long and contains the public offices besides the apartments of the president. The cathedral, despite repeated plundering, still retains immense wealth. The high altar is covered with plates of silver, interspersed with ornaments of massive gold. The altar is enclosed within a balustrade 100 feet long, composed of an amalgam of gold, silver and copper. Statues, vases and huge candlesticks of precious metal meet the eye on all sides; yet we are told ten times as much is hidden from the eye. Such is a brief description of Mexico City.”<\/p>\n
So much for the Mexican War. Let us now pick a few other items from that old newspaper of 1847. First let us note its explanation of a famous ocean phenomenon, the Gulf Stream.<\/p>\n
“The Gulf Stream’s color is the blue of the Pacific, and its temperature is higher than that of the tropical seas. The color is not that of the turbid Mississippi and the other rivers that enter the Gulf of Mexico, out of which the Gulf Stream flows. Whence then come this different color and temperature? The stream gets its color from the Pacific by a passage under the Isthmus of Panama. The stream’s high temperature is caused by the heat of volcanic fires raging beneath the sub-Isthmian tunnel. The revolution of the earth causes those waters to rush through the tunnel from west to east.”<\/p>\n
In January, 1847 the paper told how a Maine Governor had been elected. It said: “The counting committee of the Maine legislature has reported the whole number of votes for governor at the September election was 74,685. John W. Dana, Democrat, had 37,843; David Bronson, Whig, had 29,545; and Samuel Forsenden, Abolition Party, had 9,418. Since no candidate had a majority, the election was by law referred to the Legislature, the House to present two candidates, of whom the Senate must choose one. The House nominated Dana and Bronson. The Senate elected Dana 24 to 14.”<\/p>\n
In March, 1847 the paper commented upon the new way of making nails: “The nail machine and the planing machine have removed much hard labor. In former days it was back-breaking work to handle pitch pine with jack-plane and pod-auger. When the wrought iron nail was the only one in use, it was necessary to bore a hole for every one with a bit or gimlet; otherwise the nail would bend at every hammer stroke. The building in which our office is located in Boston was erected by a famous builder of his day, and such timbers are no longer to be found. You might as well try to drive a nail into a rock. The cut nail was introduced about 1800, the invention of Benjamin Cochran of Batavia, New York. We think that inventor of cut nails deserves a place beside Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin.”<\/p>\n
The old railroad cars had no heat, and when stoves were finally installed in them, they heated only one corner and left passengers in other parts of the car shivering with cold. I had never heard of the device mentioned in the old Boston newspaper in 1846. Here is what it said: “The Old Colony railroad has a passenger car heated by a furnace. This is a real Yankee idea and is a great improvement over the usual method of heating by a stove, as the car is more easily heated and the room usually occupied by the stove is saved. The furnace car is now quite a favorite on the road.”<\/p>\n
To some Cassandras the world is always going to ruin. The same kind of people who now howl about the awful condition of morals and manners in our time were just as vociferous in 1846. But, as now, not everyone considered the situation hopeless. Listen to what this old Boston newspaper had to say about that Hub of the Universe 118 years ago: “The clergymen of this city have been holding forth on the depraved morals of Boston until the subject has become as stale as a three year old egg. Strangers may suppose that Boston is the counterpart of ancient Sodom. But to those who are accustomed to pulpit addresses in this town and of the narrow view of the world many a clergyman gets from the keyhole of his study, it excites no alarm, and most people pay no more attention to it than crows do to a scarecrow. These denunciators make a lot of noise, but they rarely check the career of any sinner. We have lived in Boston for the past 15 years and we can discover no evidence of such degeneracy as those prophets of gloom proclaim. We believe most men are just as temperate, just as honest, just as industrious, as they ever were. We recall that the learned clergy pronounced the same denunciations in Cotton Mather’s time.”<\/p>\n
And I think that is an optimistic note on which to end this 17th year of . And so, goodbye until September.<\/p>\n
Year: 1965<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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