<\/p>\n
Last spring I told you about the diary of Ardella Prince of Buckfield, written in 1879. Since my broadcast of that diary I have seen another diary kept by the same Ardella Prince five years later in 1884. Ardella was an aunt of Mrs. Albert Drummond of Waterville, and it was among the Drummond papers that these diaries were found.<\/p>\n
Apparently for some time after 1879 Ardella Prince lived in a rented house in Buckfield, from which she went periodically to work as a governess of children for brief periods in wealthy families, especially of summer visitors who came from the New York area for vacations in Waterford.<\/p>\n
Ardella’s 1884 diary begins with the following entry for January first: “This new year finds me not in my own hired house, but in one of my very own, where Father, Mother and Louise all died. Living with me are Mary’s family (herself, the doctor, and their two children — Shirley and Harold). In the other part of the house is Cousin Josiris’ family. Harold is just recovering from the mumps. Shirley is in school. Mary is helping Charles get started in his new house. The doctor is out of health and has given up practice.”<\/p>\n
Aunt Ardella was proud of her nephew Harold and his sister Shirley. She took them to a leap year ball that winter and they all stayed until 2 a.m.<\/p>\n
The diary makes several references to the niece who was to become Mrs. Albert Drummond: “Charles, Harry and Josie went to Lewiston to buy furniture. Shirley and Josie began French classes again this week, reciting to me. I chaperoned Josie to Rossie Tilton’s party.”<\/p>\n
On March 23 Ardella took tea at the house of U.S. Marshal George O. Bisbee, whom she held in esteem only second to her reverence for John O. Long. George Bisbee was the father of Maine’s General Spaulding Bisbee, famous in two world wars.<\/p>\n
The spring of 1884, that had come in like a lamb, turned lion on its exit: “March 31. One of the most violent storms of the winter; heavy snow accompanied by wind enough to make a small blizzard.”<\/p>\n
But a few days later Ardella recorded that the children were happy tending sap trees. And on April 6 she wrote: “Wheels have made their appearance.”<\/p>\n
Easter Sunday that year came on April 13, and the diary recorded: “A beautiful Easter after so much snow and storm. I contributed five plants to the church. Though the church was all abloom, there was no hint of Easter in Mr. Follett’s sermon.”<\/p>\n
With Miss Ardella lived an aged aunt about whom she wrote: “Auntie and I have such pleasant times crooning over the fire after the rest are in bed, she taking a few whiffs of her beloved pipe as a nightcap, while I take down my hair in the firelight.”<\/p>\n
When tragedy hit any small Maine community, all the people were concerned. On May 20 the diary said: “The community is shocked by the news that Mr. Joseph DeCoster was killed this morning at Mechanic Falls by a train of cars.”<\/p>\n
Early in June Ardella took her nephew Harold on a trip to Boston: “June 6 Harold and I started on the ten o’clock train for Boston. All hands went to the depot to see us off. The first sound that greeted us on our arrival at the Boston and Maine depot was “Blaine is nominated”. We walked up Washington Street to Temple Place, where we took the horse car to the Highlands. arriving at Sol’s about 7 p.m. Harold recognized a good many buildings and was in his element.”<\/p>\n
The next day they went into town and bought Harold a suit at Jordan Marsh. Then they visited the new soldier’s home in Chelsea, which Ardella described as “situated on Powder Horn Hill, approached by a flight of 160 steps, which I crawled up to see the magnificent view from the top.”<\/p>\n
One evening they attended a party where refreshments were ice cream and sherbet. Ardella said the weather was so cold that the children ate theirs in front of the open fire, while the older folk shivered the cold stuff down.<\/p>\n
A memorable event was their going to the Boston Theater to see Prof. Bartholemew’s Educated Horses. That was a Saturday evening, and they followed it the next day by a more sedate attendance at Trinity Church to hear Phillips Brooks.<\/p>\n
Their next visit was to the famous museum which Louis Agassiz had opened at Harvard, where Harold frantically took notes of the marvels he observed.<\/p>\n
While some of the family climbed Bunker Hill Monument, Ardella spent a more leisurely afternoon in Mount Auburn Cemetery.<\/p>\n
June 19 was Cl ass Day at Harvard. About that annual event Ardella wrote: “A warm, cloudy Class Day. Frank Gifford brought us tickets for the grounds, so in the morning we attended the illumination in the quadrangle and listened to the band and the glee club. It was like a glimpse of Fairyland. What with the towering elms, the thousands of colored lanterns, the throngs of people, the pretty faces, the rich dresses and the perfect night — it was a scene never to be forgotten.”<\/p>\n
This next outing was into the city to visit Barnum’s Museum, where Harold was thrilled by the enormous size of Jumbo, while Ardella herself paid more attention to the albino called the Sacred White Elephant.<\/p>\n
On June 29 they went for the second time to hear Phillips Brooks, of whom Ardella wrote: “Physically he is a mountain of flesh, but it does not seem to be a drag on his spirituality. He has a fine face and is an effective speaker despite a thick voice and a rapid delivery.” Ardella was disappointed in the Rev. Joseph Cook of the venerable Park Street Church. She said: “The man’s stupendous variety runs away with him. His face, compared with that of Phillips Brooks, is of the earthy variety.”<\/p>\n
On July 2 Ardella and her hostess Mrs. Bolster took six children on a picnic to Arlington Heights. She commented: “The long ride out through Cambridge in the open horse cars was delightful, but it was very sultry in the woods. We went by way of the road along which the British retreated after the Battle of Lexington.”<\/p>\n
On the Fourth of July Harold went to hear the band play on Boston Common, and Mr. Bolster furnished fireworks for the children to shoot off all through the day.<\/p>\n
Again on July 9 Harold went into town alone. He left the horse car at Temple Place and went all through the district recently ravaged by fire. Meanwhile Ardella accompanied Mrs. Bolster to the Boston and Albany Depot where the latter took the train for Chicago.<\/p>\n
On July 10 Ardella celebrated her 49th birthday by taking the sail to Nantasket. It was the farewell outing of their Massachusetts visit, for the next day they went to the Eastern depot where they took the train for Maine. They had been away for five weeks, when they reached Buckfield at 3:30 p.m. on July 11.<\/p>\n
A New York lady, Mrs. Kimball, for whose children Ardella had formerly been governess, had for several months urged Ardella to spend the summer with her again at Waterford. Because of her long stay in Massachusetts it was July 22 before Ardella could comply. She then wrote in the diary: “Fine day for my journey to Waterford. Mrs. Kimball has not arrived, but Horace, Harry and Fred. Eliphalet Porter and his family are here with old Mrs. Oliver Porter and with Mrs. Moran to keep house.”<\/p>\n
On the 24th. when the Porter family returned to New York. Ardella began three hours a day of tutoring Harry and Fred Kimball. Her curriculum included reading, writing, arithmetic, history, spelling and French. On August 12. when Mr. Kimball returned to the city. Mrs. Kimball urged Ardella to accompany her and the children to the White Mountains. where they would stay at Jackson. N.H. Ardella wrote: “Since this necessitated my having a new dress. I sent to Hovey’s for one.”<\/p>\n
Just as my own native town of Bridgton played a part in Ardella’s earlier diary of 1879. which I discussed on this program last spring, so is it more than once mentioned in the diary of 1884. An August 23rd entry says: “Mr. Wheeler took us to Bridgton in his big wagon. While there we called on Mrs. G. Webb, a very bright, talkative lady, somewhat musical. In the evening we all went to a Republican rally to hear a campaign speech by E.B. Rowley of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
“Aug. 29 — Again we all went to Bridgton in Mr. Wheeler’s big wagon. It began to rain just as we started, but as we were prepared for it, we did not turn back . By the time we reached Bridgton it had settled into a steady downpour, so that we had our lunch in the horse sheds, instead of in Lover’s Lane, as we usually do when we go to Bridgton. It was not so romantic and more odorous. We stopped a moment in front of the Cumberland House where I saw Uncle Milton. By the time our errands were done, it was raining as though it had never rained before, and our two big umbrellas were sending rivers down on to the seat between us. But with umbrellas raised and waterproofs adjusted, away we started for home much to the merriment of a group of boys we passed as we left the village.”<\/p>\n
When on September 11 it was time to leave for the White Mountains. the journey again took them to Bridgton. where they went by stage from Waterford, then took the new narrow gauge train (then in operation for less than a year) to Bridgton Junction in the town of Hiram, where they changed to the Mountain Division of the Maine Central. At Glen Station they took another stage for the Twin Mountain House in Jackson. Ardella wrote: “It was a very pleasant drive of three miles. General Wentworth had reserved rooms for us in Arden Cottage and we were soon comfortably settled.”<\/p>\n
When the fortnight in the mountains was over, Ardella went straight home to Buckfield: “Oct. 2 — Arose at 4 a.m. and drove in a buckboard to Glen Station, where I took the 6 a.m. train to Portland. There I took a carriage to the Grand Trunk Station, where with a book I passed the time till the afternoon train for Mechanic Falls, where I changed for Buckfield, arriving home about 4 p.m.”<\/p>\n
Except for the Presidential election, that was all the excitement for Ardella in 1884. As for the election. on Nov. 2 she wrote: “Maine is for Blaine by 20,000, the rest of the nation uncertain. Nov. 13 — The Democrats. believing Cleveland is elected, had a torch light parade last night. Nov. 27 — At last Cleveland is declared elected.”<\/p>\n
Year: 1966<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #701, Broadcast on October 23, 1966<\/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":[42954,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8633"}],"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=8633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}