USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harpswell > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 22
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 22
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Topsham > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 22
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In the last century all, both men and women, except the few more wealthy ones, wore home-made garments. The men wore cloth of a light blue color, not fulled. Some few of the older men wore knee-breeches. Shoe-buckles were generally worn, and many of the men and even boys wore their hair long and done up in a queue behind. Mr. Dean Swift, when a boy of ten, had a queue six or eight inches long. James Curtis writes in his journal that in 1780 " not one man in ten had a pair of boots. Parson Miller attended meeting at the east meeting- house with a good pair of blue buskins hauled up over his breeches knees."
'The dress of the ladies was as changeable, if not as complicated, as at the present day. The skirt of a lady's dress was composed of but two breadths, one in front, and one behind, with a small gore on each
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side. Skirts were very short, except for party dresses, which had the hind breadth made into a long train for the house. This train a lady, when preparing for the street, would pin up to her waist. The waists were made very short and full, such as we now call baby waists. The sleeves were short, and there was a broad band went over the shoulders. The neck was covered with a white muslin neckerchief, which was fitted to the neck and shoulders, and came down under the band of the waist. The arms were covered with long white kid mits which came nearly to the elbow. The hair was arranged in various modes, but the favorite way was to comb it all on top of the head and confine it with a large high-top comb ; some would puff and roll their hair, but in every case powder was considered indispensable. It is said that one Patience Wallace, a young girl living on Small Point, was going to a party one night, and having no powder, flour, or chalk to dust her hair with, she took some unslacked lime. During the evening she danced, and as she got heated the perspiration slacked the lime, which entirely destroyed the hair. She never thereafter had any hair, but had to wear a man's cap on her head, both in doors and out.I
Mr. Curtis also wrote in the journal referred to that "in those days, women would collect in groups for the purpose of braiding wool, it being a hard, laborious work. When at length a carding-mill or machine was heard of, it was hailed with an enthusiastic welcome, and must have been as great a relief to the women as when, at an earlier date, water-power was applied to grain-mills, before which time it would take two women to grind or turn a corn-mill. Cotton was about three shillings per pound, and such was the labor of carding, spinning, weaving, etc., that cotton and linen cloth was worth fifty cents a yard, and a man must work half a month in the best of the season on a pair of shirts made of this coarse cloth." About 1780 " the nearest fulling-mill was in North Yarmouth, and the cloth was ordinary, as no one knew or thought that the quality of wool could be improved.
" Houses were built for convenience and not for show, and ceilings were just high enough to clear a tall man's hat. Chimneys were gen- erally topped out above the ridge-pole. Fireplaces were from seven to nine feet between the jambs, and more than a proportionable depth, which would receive a log which it took two men to handle. Every family was provided, however, with a good strong hand-sled, on which to remove the logs to the fireside, which was done with convenience,
1 This description was given by a Mrs. Price, aged ninety-two years.
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as the sills of houses were laid close to the surface of the earth. In 1780 not one house in ten in Brunswick had a crane in the chimney, being supplied with long trammels and what was called a lug-pole, a stick across the chimney about four feet up, and there were more than six wooden mantel-trees to an iron one.
" In 1780 there were not more than two or three painted houses in Brunswick.
" Bears were frequently seen. The hideous cry of the wolf was commonly heard from our forests, and their ravages were not infre- quent. Every family kept a large dog, some two, but commonly a large and a small one, which did not fail to annoy every traveller that passed with their yelping. This practice of keeping dogs was proba- bly the result of the great utility of that animal in the French and Indian war.
".Every sorry old woman was deputed a witch, and spirits were frequently seen, and much feared, children having been brought up to hear such stories as an evening amusement, terrifying as they were, which had a lasting and pernicious effect." A great many superstitious beliefs were rife at this time, among which was one that toothache could be cured by cutting off one's finger and toe nails, and a lock of one's hair, and placing them in a hole bored in a tree with an auger. About the year 1850 a tree was cut on Oak Hill in Topsham, and was sawed at one of the mills. Near the centre of the log was found a lock of hair, and as Artemus Ward would have said, " a large and well-selected assortment" of the corneous extremities of the fingers and toes, doubtless placed there many years previously by a believer in this remedy for the toothache.
It is also stated in Curtis's Journal that "farming was done in a style very different from the present. A tolerable crop of corn was obtained by a shovelful of manure in the hill, but it must be hilled' or banked up to a great height. The following crop was generally rye, flax, or barley. The land was then, not stocked down, but left to produce hay, and to be seeded by Providence or chance.
" Calves were snatched from the cows at eight or ten weeks old, without any previous care to introduce a substitute for milk, and turned out to hay or grass, to rend the air with their cries till starva- tion should teach them the use of such coarse food, and which they would not fail to learn before flesh and strength were quite exhausted. Probably, however, not more than three out of four got up ' May Hill,' as it was then called.
"Potatoes were raised at a great expense. The ground being
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broken up, but not harrowed, a large hole was made by cutting out a piece of the sod the whole depth of the ploughing. Into the bottom of this hole was thrown a shovelful of dung, if so much could be spared, then a scanty portion of seed, which lay far below the surface of the ground, over which was made an enormous hill which must receive considerable addition at hoeing. In this way, with double the necessary labor, something like half a crop was obtained. A suffi- ciency was, however, generally raised. As it was not known that potatoes would save the lives of calves in the spring, or be of any use to pigs after wintering, any surplus was frequently lost.
" Hogs were generally kept over two winters, and at two and a half years old would commonly weigh over two hundred, but would seldom go as high as three hundred.
" Scarce a bushel of wheat was raised and bolting-mills were not known." 1
Oil lamps and even tallow candles were for many years unknown. It is related that when Reverend Jonathan Ellis came to Topsham (as late as 1788), he spent his first night at Esquire Merrill's. Upon retiring for the night, Mrs. Merrill lighted a pitch-pine knot for him, and showed him to his room up stairs. Finding no other place to put his light, Mr. Ellis stood it up in the fireplace and in a few minutes the chimney was all ablaze.
The manner of cooking at that time was not very different from that of to-day, though it differed in some respects. One of the principal dishes was rather peculiar. It consisted of a piece of fresh beef boiled, with hulled corn and beans added. Every family had baked beans and brown bread on Sunday morning and noon. The rye and Indian corn bread was generally made in great troughs and then baked in iron kettles in a brick oven. From a half-dozen to a dozen loaves were usually made at one time. Doughnuts, instead of being made with molasses, were sweetened with maple sugar, which was very abundant in those days.
All kinds of liquors were freely drank, though West India rum was the most generally used. Various kinds of fancy drinks were also made, prominent among which was a winter beverage called flip. It was made of spruce beer, rum, sugar, and water. At all taverns it was customary to keep two iron rods, called pokers, heated in the coals. When flip was called' for, the beer would be drawn, into which would be plunged a red-hot poker. The rum,
1 This Journal is in the Library of the Muine Historical Society.
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sugar, and water would then be added. Half a pint of rum to a quart of beer was considered to be the right proportion. This beverage was deemed delicious by all who indulged in it. Punch was the summer beverage. It was made in about the same man- ner as it is at present in those places where its use is indulged in, - of rum, sugar, and water, flavored with the juice of a lemon. Some of the citizens were too fond of these beverages for their own welfare. There was one such man named Andrews, who was very fond of making rhymes and equally fond of his punch or flip. One day a load of goods was brought from Maquoit to Bruns- wick village, and Andrews volunteered to assist in unloading. While doing so, a barrel of rum fell out of the cart, and striking his leg, fractured it. He was taken into a store and a surgeon sent for. His ruling passions displayed themselves even in his agony, for while waiting for the doctor he composed the following rhyme : -
" By a sudden stroke my leg is broke, My heart is sore offended ; The doctor's come - let's have some rum, And then we'll have it mended."
Some of the customs of these times were so discreditable to the towns that it is with reluctance that any mention is made of them. Of this character were the quarrels between the students of the col- lege and the rowdies of Brunswick, who were designated " Yaggers." The latter were almost invariably the aggressors. At times it was necessary for students, if alone, to go armed. There was an equal disaffection between the " Yaggers " and the rowdies of Topsham, and this fact was often a matter for rejoicing to the student. It is pleasant to know that a better feeling now prevails, and that such quarrels are events of the past. They would never have occurred had a proper police force been sustained, and the laws been enforced.
AMUSEMENTS.
In the earliest period of the settlement of these towns, but little real amusement was known to the citizens. Near the close of the last century, however, balls and parties, huskings and apple-bees, came in vogue, and served to enliven the otherwise monotonous life of the people. From the number of dancing-schools which have been kept in Brunswick and Topsham, it is reasonable to suppose that the citi- zens of these towns were fond of this method of relaxation from care, and that their dancing parties were well attended. The earliest dan-
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cing-school kept in either town is believed to have been the one taught by a Mr. Allen, in 1799, in the Godfrey House, in Topsham.
The amusements of the college students at a somewhat later date were generally confined to themselves, and were apt to give occasion to other feelings than those of merriment on the part of the citizens. Students' pranks have been altogether too numerous to admit even of their enumeration in this connection ; nevertheless, the following is introduced, not only as being one of the earliest occurrences of the kind, but as affording a fair sample of all. Such tricks, if they did not afford amusement to those of the inhabitants immediately affected by them, yet served as good topics for general conversation for quite a while. The following anecdote is given in the words of another, himself a student and very likely an eye-witness, we dare not say a par-, ticipant.
" A countryman bound to Portland with a two-horse team, laden with butter in firkins, beans in bags, and three dead hogs (for it was cold weather, being the first of the spring term), drove up to the tavern that stood near the college, and put up for the night. In the morning when he got up, his cart and load were gone. Search was made in all directions. They followed the wheel-tracks to the col- lege, and there lost them. About the middle of the forenoon some one espied the vehicle on the roof of North College, the wheels astride the ridge-pole, laden ready to hitch on to. Who put it there and how they effected it was a mystery ; but it was a deal of work for a good many hands to get it down by taking the cart to pieces." 1
Of public amusements, such as caravans and circuses, theatrical performances, concerts, lectures, etc., the number is so great as to admit of but limited notice.
Mr. Dean Swift says that the first public exhibition in Brunswick or vicinity was given in the year 1798. One McGinness, an English- man, gave a Punch and Judy show in the northeast chamber of the dwelling-house on Maine Street, now owned and occupied by Mrs. Rodney Forsaith. The exhibition was well attended, everybody was satisfied, and Mr. Swift says it was really quite a good show.
According to the same authority, the first caravan was exhibited here about the year 1818 on the lot now owned by the town, back of the Post-Office. This was followed, in the year 1825, by one which exhib-' ited on the same lot. In 1829 a caravan, owned by Macomber & Co., exhibited near the Tontine Hotel. In 1836 there was a combined
1 Kellogg, Sophomores of Radcliffe.
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND IIARPSWELL.
menagerie and cireus. In 1843 Raymond & Co. gave their zoological exhibition, and in 1845 Rockwell & Stone's New York Circus was exhibited near the Universalist Church, on Federal Street. Since that time entertainments of this kind have been of more frequent occurrence.
In 1824 a Mr. Taylor gave an exhibition of ventriloquism at Stod- dard's Hall. The first theatrical performance was that given in 1828, for one week, at Nichols Hall, by a company of comedians from the Tremont Theatre, Boston. The entertainment the first evening con- sisted of Tobias's comedy of "The Honeymoon" and the farce of "The Young Widow." The price of admission was fifty cents. Children under twelve years of age were admitted for half price.
The first public concert of vocal music of which we find any record was given at Richards Hotel, July 28, 1836, by Mr. and Mrs. G. Andrews and Miss A. Woodward of Boston. It is quite probable, however, that concerts were given at an earlier date by the Hayden Society, a musical organization in existence as early as 1825. Of late years concerts have been of too frequent occurrence to call for further notice.
The first instrumental concert was probably that given by the Brunswick Brass Band, March 1, 1844.
The first regatta ever given on the Androscoggin River took place October 12, 1870. There were four races for the championship of Maine and for silver goblets. The first race was for six-oared boats, three miles ; the second, for wherries pulled by the students, one mile ; the third for single shell wherries, two miles ; the fourth for double shell boats, two miles.
The burlesque May trainings of the students of Bowdoin College may properly be classed under the head of amusements. The first occurred in 1836, the company appearing dressed in the most gro- tesque costumes, and with arms and equipments of not the most approved patterns. The following year the company again made its appearance. The cannon of the Brunswick Artillery Company, to which about forty of them belonged, having been concealed, the com- pany marched over to Topsham and took the pieces belonging to the Topsham Artillery Company. Similar annual trainings by the students were kept up for many years, the last one occurring in 1855 or 1856. In these fantastic processions, the students generally personified public inen or characters of fiction. Sometimes, though not often, they adopted costumes in ridicule of some worthy citizen of the town. More frequently they illustrated in a laughable manner some event of
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a local character. The causes which led to the appearance of these fantastic trainings in the first place will be given in the chapter upon the military history of the town.
In Topsham, public entertainments have not been of frequent occur- rence. The reason for this is obvious : Brunswick, being the larger town and in such close proximity to Topsham, offers the better field for securing a full attendance upon such occasions. Of fairs, levees, school exhibitions, private dramatic entertainments, concerts by local singers, etc., Topsham has doubtless had her full share. Few travel- ling shows have, however. exhibited there.
About 1832 a caravan exhibited on the high land above the present Free-Will Baptist Meeting-House. Much curiosity was excited as to the elephants passing over the bridges from Brunswick. fears being enter- tained that they would break through or else refuse to walk over them.
About the year 1850 a company of Indians from the State of New York gave an exhibition at the Court House, illustrative of the Indian mode of life, and of warfare. It was the first exhibition of the kind in the vicinity, and it attracted a large audience.
Harpswell has always been obliged to content herself with amuse- ments of a purely local character. The location of the town, and the scattered situation of its inhabitants, offer little inducement to pro- prietors of travelling exhibitions to' exhibit there. But what the citizens lose in this way is probably made up by a greater degree of sociability and by more varied home amusements.
LECTURES.
Public lectures, either gratuitous or otherwise, have been of quite frequent occurrence in these towns, and especially in Brunswick. Mention of orations and lectures delivered upon public occasions will be made under the head of Public Celebrations.
The earliest known course of lectures was given by a Miss Prescott, in 1825. The subject was " English Grammar," and the tickets were three dollars for a course of forty lectures. In 1826 John Cleaves Symmes, a believer in an interior world, access to which was open to voyagers in the southern hemisphere, gave a course of three lectures, which was well attended, and commanded respect and interest, as Mr. Symmes was not considered a charlatan, however erroneous might be his theory.
In the summer of 1832, or about that time, through the influence of the distinguished Doctor Reuben Dimond Mussey, a professor in the Medical School, Doctor Sylvester Graham, noted for his theory of
1,
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
vegetable diet to the exclusion of animal, gave a course of lectures on his specialty. They were given in the Congregational Church, and were fully attended. The doctor was an attractive lecturer, and his theory gained many adherents. The meat-market ran low, and butchers feared for their calling. Some really feared that their occu- pation was gone.
About this time also. Professor Espy, of Philadelphia, an admirable lecturer, and eminent in his specialty, gave a very interesting course upon the theory of " Storms and Meteorology." He was called the " Storm King." Professor Smyth gave a course on " Electricity." Professor De la Mater, of the Medical School, gave his regular course on " Hygiene," as a lyceum course, at which the medical class attended. Doctor Benjamin Lincoln, of the class of 1823, and then professor in the Vermont Medical School, gave a course on " Vege- table Life." Single lectures were also given by Professor Packard, Ebenezer Everett, Esquire, Reverend Mr. Adams, and Professor Cleaveland. The most of these were free lectures, delivered under . the auspices of the Brunswick and Topsham Athenaeum.
They were given in the Tontine HIall.
In March, 1833, a Mr. Wilbur, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, delivered a course of lectures on "Astronomy"; and in the following August, Reverend Mr. Farley gave a lecture before the Brunswick and Topsham Atheneum, at Reverend Mr. Titcomb's meeting-house, on the subject of "True Enterprise " In 1834 Mr. John McKeen gave a course of lectures before the above-mentioned society, upon the History of Brunswick and Topsham, and soon afterwards Mr. C. Hamlin gave a lecture at Pike's Hall, on "Steam Enginery." In the winter and spring of 1836 Professor Packard delivered a lecture on the subject of " Primary Schools," and Doctor Adams gave a course of lectures on " Physiology." The above lectures were given before the Athenæum.
In 1843 a lyceum was organized, and lectures were given by the following gentlemen : Reverend D. C. Haines, on " Education"; Pro- fessor L'ackard, on " Nationality"; R. II. Dunlap, Poem, "A Defence of Poetry."
The course was continued in 1844, by Professor Goodwin, on " Machiavelli"; Professor Smyth, on " Explosions of Steam Boilers"; Reverend Mr. Bailey, on " Reading"; Wm. G. Barrows, Esquire, on " The Saracens" ; John W. Davis, on " American History " ; Reverend Asahel Moore, on " Popular Education"; Colonel T. L. McKenny, on "Origin, History, and Character of the Indians."
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In 1857 a lyceum was organized by members of the Unitarian Society, and lectures were delivered by Reverend Doctors Sheldon, of Water- ville, and Peabody, of Boston, Mass .. and by Professor C. C. Everett, of Brunswick, Reverend Mr. Stebbins, of Portland, Thomas H. Talbot, Esquire, of Portland, and by Reverend A. D. Wheeler, D. D.
In 1859 a course of lectures was given at the Congregational Vestry, by Professor Paul A. Chadbourne, on "Natural History as related to Intellect"; by Augustus C. Robbins, on " Rags and Paper" ; by Reverend Cyril Pearl. of Baldwin, on the "Past, Pres- ent, and Future of Maine"; and by Professor Egbert C. Smyth, on ·· Walking."
In 1860 a course of six lectures was given by Professor Chad- hourne on "Iceland and the Icelanders"; "Natural History as related to the Fine Arts, on General Principles of Classification, etc."; ".General Description of Invertebrates"; "The Relations of Natural History and Religion."
In 1862 there was a course of free lectures. A record of two only has been preserved : the first by Reverend Doctor Ballard, on " Con- mon-Sense " ; and the second by Professor Packard, on the "Acadians, or French Neutrals."
Topsham, not being the seat of a literary institution, does not show so large a list of lectures, though its citizens have usually con- stituted a fair proportion of Brunswick audiences. A lyceum was inaugurated in Topsham in 1842, but no record of any lectures has been kept, except of one in December by Reverend Paul S. Adams, and one in January, 1843, by John W. Davis, Esquire. In 1850 Reverend Amos D. Wheeler gave a lecture at the Court House on the different methods of reckoning time.
In 1859 lectures were delivered before the Topsham Farmers and Mechanic,' Club by Warren Johnson, A. M., Topsham ; Reverend Win. A. Drew, Augusta ; Reverend II. C. Leonard, Waterville ; and by Reverend S. F. Dike, of Bath ; Doctor N. S. True, Bethel ; Pro- fessor Paul A. Chadbourne, of Bowdoin College ; A. G. Tenney, Esquire, Brunswick ; Reverend HI Q. Butterfield, Hallowell.
CELEBRATIONS.
The first observance of any public event in either of these towns, of which any account has been preserved to us, was that of Washington's death, the observance of which, in accordance with a resolution of the national Congress, took place on February 22, 1800. But little is preserved of the proceedings of that day in Brunswick. The only
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spectator now known to be living was at that time but eight years of age. A procession of citizens was formed in front of what was after- wards the residence of the late Doctor Lincoln ; they were escorted by boys under the leadership of Mr. David Dunlap, and proceeded to the old west meeting-house, where a culogy was delivered by Doctor Page. The eulogy has not been preserved, but the closing words are said to have been, "If Washington is dead, we can thank our God that we have an Adams in the chair."
In Topsham, a procession was formed at the house of Captain Alexander Rogers, and moved to the old east meeting-house in the following order : -
Marshal. Military Officers (in uniform, with side arms draped in mourning). Soldiers of the Revolution. The Orator. Civil Officers of the United States. Selectmen. Citizens.
The exercises at the meeting-house consisted of music, a prayer, music, an elegy, and the singing of an anthem. "The whole attended to with decency, order, and decorum." The elegy was delivered by the Reverend Jonathan Ellis. The following introductory lines are given as a specimen of his muse: -
"Ye who have often heard his praises sung In strains sublime by many an abler tongue, Now hear my grief-taught muse her grief impart, A grief deep felt by every patriot heart, - Our Washington 's no more."
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