<\/p>\n
When the nation was just beginning to recover from the Civil War, a paper that came into many rural homes in Maine was the weekly New England Farmer, published in Boston. In the late 1860’s newspaper and magazine subscriptions were not required to be paid in advance, but most publications offered inducements for subscribers to do so. The New England Farmer’s statement was as follows: “We do not make payment in advance compulsory, but we urge subscribers to forward the money for the ensuing year as soon as practicable. Papermakers and printers must have their pay from us, and we cannot pay unless our subscribers do. So, if you pay in advance, the rate is $2.50 a year; otherwise it is $3.00. Subscribers in Kennebec County, Maine, will be called upon by our agent, J. W. Howe. Our agent Edward Frost is now canvassing in Oxford County.”<\/p>\n
Then the masthead added this curious notice: “All persons sending money to us are requested to send either greenbacks, national currency, or post office money orders. Because Boston banks have decided not to receive the issues of state banks, we can only dispose of them at a discount.”<\/p>\n
That statement gives us some important information. It is generally supposed that greenbacks referred to all kinds of paper money. This caution that bank notes issued by individual banks – then a common practice – could be disposed of in Boston only at a discount, shows us that when this publisher urged subscribers to pay in greenbacks, he meant only U.S. paper money – the only kind in circulation today.<\/p>\n
One bit of news in New England Farmer’s issue of June 30, 1866, said that a woman in Maryland had been awarded $100 by act of Congress for helping 100 Union prisoners to escape from Libby prison during the war. Libby was the Confederacy’s largest prison for officers, where conditions were bad enough but not so harrowing as in Andersonville, the notorious Confederate prison for enlisted men captured from the Union army.<\/p>\n
A bit of Maine news was that, at the Republican convention in Bangor, the delegates had nominated for Governor of Maine, General Joshua Chamberlain, hero of the Battle of Gettysburg.<\/p>\n
There was a fashion note: “A new bonnet is coming into style. It is made of a full-bloomed rose which lies flat on top of the head.”<\/p>\n
Other articles in this issue were headed: Commodity Prices, Steamer arrivals and departures at Boston, Start of the Franco-Prussian War, Actions of Congress, Condition of Crops, and Morals and Religion.<\/p>\n
That last item calls for current comment. Many people today seem to believe that morals and religion are areas entirely apart, that morals indeed have nothing to do with religion. Well, there is plenty of evidence that people 100 years ago felt the two were inevitably linked.<\/p>\n
What the war had done to the South is shown by a short article in this New England Farmer under the heading, “The Starving Poor in Alabama”. It said: “Distress in Alabama is not limited to the Negroes. Whites also suffer. The harrassed poor of the South have been driven from fertile villages by grasping landowners. Children are clothed in ragged garments that are an excuse for underclothes. They have no shoes, and are badly undernourished. Older people are shriveled carcasses. Many families have not tasted meat for months. When we asked where the younger men are, the reply is, ‘They were all killed in the war’.”<\/p>\n
A column in the paper was devoted to the praise of pleasant summer drinks. Cheap malt beer could be made by adding hop tea and molasses to 12 quarts of water. Another drink was mead made from honey and yeast. Said to be delicious was nectar, from chopped raisins and loaf sugar. Especially soothing to the throat was syrup of currants. What we today call ginger ale, this statement called ginger beer. You made it by boiling water over a pound of sugar and an ounce of ginger and a cupful of yeast. You were cautioned to use brown sugar.<\/p>\n
Besides announcing the start of the Franco-Prussian War, this paper gave other foreign news. In South America a league was being formed to free Cuba from Spanish rule. That was 32 years before the Spanish-American War, that finally set Cuba free. The paper said that a Chilean steamer had recently landed two thousand troops on the Cuban shore. There was revolt in Mexico. An item said: “The liberals are fast gaining control in Mexico, and land reform seems likely.”<\/p>\n
Persons familiar with Maine history know that July, 1866, was the time of the great fire in Portland, when, nearly half the city was devastated. This issue of the New England Farmer referred to that conflagration. “We are pained to record a terrible calamity to the beautiful city of Portland, Maine, by the destruction of nearly half the city by a fire almost without precedent in this country. It originated on the afternoon of July 4 from the bursting of a fire cracker near a cooper’s shop where there was abundance of shavings. Driven by a furious wind, the fire swept an area of 200 acres, destroying churches, public buildings, commercial structures, and the homes of 3000 families. Damage is estimated at ten million dollars. From Boston and other places help has been extended to Portland, where so many need food, clothing, and shelter.”<\/p>\n
The paper noted that as early as 1866 New England had summer visitors. It said: “The railroads are beginning to notice the summer tourists. Ready money seems abundant, and people are traveling. Some who have made fortunes during the war out of coal or army supplies, or even in railroad stocks, are taking tours. We think too many are going to Europe spending thousands of dollars in Paris or doing the Great Exhibition in London. We wish they would do their touring
\nin U. S.”<\/p>\n
It seems that newspapers could never forget the notorious year of no summer in 1816. Perhaps because 1866 was its fiftieth anniversary, the New England Farmer felt there was good reason to recall it. Anyhow the paper said: “For fifty years the Year of No Summer has been a term of terror in New England homes, like the pillar of salt on the plain of Sodom or the plagues of Egypt in the time of Moses. People still living remember well the sad faces in all the households that year. Happy indeed was the family that could get enough rye bread and coarse vegetables to ward off starvation. There was snow in every month except August and frost in every one of the twelve months. The corn crop was ruined, and wheat grew sparingly. There were no green peas or string beans, only the hardiest root crops grew at all, and they were very small – potatoes hardly larger than marbles, and beets and turnips almost too small to cook. There was bitter suffering allover New England.”<\/p>\n
The editor prodded the Massachusetts authorities who seemed slow about getting a new college under way, saying: “Months ago the Legislature voted to take advantage of the Morrill Act under which states can obtain federal aid to set up colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts. Several states are opening such colleges this fall, including our daughter state of Maine. Why don’t the Massachusetts authorities get on the job? Because there is some dispute about where the college should be located is no excuse for doing nothing. Build the college somewhere and get going.”<\/p>\n
We know that soon afterward, the Mass. College of Agriculture was started at Amherst, and it is now the huge central campus of the University of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
A large, graceful bird very popular in England has never been common in this country except on small ponds in public parks. I refer to the swan. This issue of the New England Farmer had this to say about that beautiful bird in 1866: “There should be more swans on our ponds and lakes. There are a few in the Public Gardens at Boston – a old one, a pair of black, and a pair of white. The black ones came from Australia.”<\/p>\n
Today we think of the black soil of the prairies and the vast reaches of Kansas and Nebraska as wheat country, but in 1866 California had gained fame as a wheat state. The paper said: “Ten years, ago California was importing 50,000 barrels of flour a year, but this year she will export at least two million barrels. Her record wheat crop has yielded 60 bushels to the acre.”<\/p>\n
A topic of active discussion at the close of the Civil War was the Atlantic Cable, which had at last permitted telegraphic communication between America and Europe. But hardly had its use began when the cable broke, and great difficulty was encountered in making repairs. So the New England Farmer joyfully reported in 1866: “After several attempts to regain the cable last year, it was finally picked up in Latitude 51\/52 and Longitude 36\/8. The splice was immediately made 700 miles from shore, and the Great Eastern began paying it out. Within a few days telegraphic communication between Europe and America will be restored.”<\/p>\n
The paper gave a list of Maine fairs. Besides such places as Lewiston, Farmington, Presque Isle, Bangor, Topsham and Fryeburg, where fairs are still held, there were then fairs at Foxcroft, Jay, Augusta, Belfast, Canton, Ellsworth, and Gardiner.<\/p>\n
The paper noted inventions that made life easier on the farm. For more than 20 years the mowing machine had been in common use. More recently had come the hay tedder, the post cutter and post hole digger, and for inside the house an apple paring machine and a carpet sweeper. But heralded as entirely new was a lawn mower. The paper said: “Nothing adds more, to the appearance of a home than a well kept lawn. Sickle and scythe help, but they are not easy to use on a lawn. Now a hand lawn mower has been devised that is easy to manipulate. Made with big wheels and two handles, the cutting is done by a sharp toothed blade close to the ground.”<\/p>\n
In 1866 New England’ss common fuel was wood. About it the paper said: “Last winter the forests echoed with the sound of the woodsman’s axe. In every New England town immense quantities of wood, he cut and hauled to householders, then sawed and split and stored in commodious woodsheds, keeping us warm in winter and feeding the kitchen stove. It is a job that requires long preparation months in advance.”<\/p>\n
And with that reference to the old wood pile we must say goodbye until next week.<\/p>\n
Year: 1977<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #1121, Broadcast on April 10, 1977<\/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":[27136,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9698"}],"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=9698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}