USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Wales > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 13
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Monmouth > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 13
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Their dress was as plain as their household furnish- ings. The men wore knee-breeches buckled over long stockings, and long frocks, except on full dress occasions, when the frock was exchanged for the continental "swallow-tail." The material from which these gar- ments were made was raised in the field, and was spun and woven by the good house-wife. After sheep were introduced into the plantation, woolen cloth was quite generally worn. And such cloth as it was after it had passed through the indigo pot and received a final dressing we unfortunates who have to wear mill-woven goods know only by tradition! The working clothes of both men and women were made of coarse tow
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cloth, a fabric something like a' very closely woven burlap. The women wore petticoats and loose gowns. In summer they wore no stockings except on special occasions. It is said that General Chandler's wife attended religious meetings without stockings, and her best suit was simply a loose linen gown and petticoat. Occasionally an aristocratic dame, or a would-be belle, indulged in a "print" dress. Calicoes were then but one grade lower than silks and were sold at a dollar, and upward, per yard. Home-spun for the kitchen and calico for the ball-room in 1780. One century later, Home-spun sits on a brocaded plush patent rocker and sneers at Calico hanging over the wash-tub. How tickle is Dame Fashion! It must not be imagined that our grandmothers had no eye for the beautiful, and that the garments woven and worn by them were always plain uncouth affairs. Many of them were adept weavers, and from coarse material often produced fabrics that were ornamental, and sometimes artistic. Daniel Allen's wife once made a linen cloak woven with alternate fine and coarse threads, which gave it a ribbed appearance. This served as a best outer gar- ment many years.
There were dudes in those days. Among them was Eliphalet Smart, "a very smart feeling Smart," in the words of the one who began this work. While all his neighbors were content to wear coarse tow shirt fronts, Smart strutted around the clearings with a ruffled bosom. When General Dearborn raised his barn, all the men in the settlement were invited and quite a number came from Gardiner. "Life" Smart, as he was generally dubbed, appeared. as usual, arrayed in a
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profusion of starchy ruffles. If there was anything in the world the General hated it was ostentation, and to see this sprig of the backwoods swelling around was more than his unpretentious nature could stand.
He thought he saw a way to drop him a few degrees from his loftiness, and was not slow to improve the opportunity. The day was as warm as the timber was heavy, and the General ordered the men to remove their coats that they might work to greater advantage. Every man in the crowd instantly obeyed except "Life." who tried hard to appear as it he did not hear the order. The General repeated his words and added. "I won't have a man around this frame who won't take his coat off."
Under the fluffy ruffles of "Life" Smart's shirt-front a terrible struggle took place; but his fondness for the coming treat of rum and molasses finally conquered his pride and dignity, and with reluctance he removed his coat, exhibiting a snowy-white ruffle, starched and polished with evident care, basted to a black tow shirt that showed signs of intimacy with the labor of piling smutty logs.
The shouts of the spectators by no means alleviated poor "Life's', discomfiture ; and a committee appointed for the purpose of deciding which of the two, the shirt or its wearer, exhibited the most streaked appearance. would have awarded one the first preference and declared the other worthy of honorable mention.
The means and opportunities of communication with the outside world, and with friends even at no great distance, were painfully limited. Occasionally a letter from loved ones at the old fireside, brought by a new
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immigrant, would gladden the hearts that knew little of life's joys, and still less frequently an opportunity would be found to send tidings back to the ever anxious ones at home. Dr. Cochrane is responsible for the statement that the following is a copy of the first letter ever written in, and sent from, the plantation :
"WALES, April Ye S. 1786.
These few lines may inform you that I am well, at preasent, and the rest of the family the same, for which I desire to bless God, hop- ing they will find you as they left me. We arrived here the ISth of October, and I like the place and nabours very well, and the family are very well contanted. We had no news from Barnstable since we latt it. Since we come here a sade axcident hapnad. As I was falling a tree near the Houce, Asenath [his wife] was coming to call me to Diner, and before I saw her was within retch of the tree, and it fall on her and hirt her vary much and brock he left arm- but she hath got about again, and in a likely way to dow wall. I would have you wright back again by Mr. Fuller and other oppor- tunities. This from your Frinde and Brother,
JAMES BLOSSOM."
The penmanship of this letter was very good. As there were few opportunities for correspondence, the settlers did not provide themselves with writing mate- rials, nor could they have done so without considerable trouble, had they used such articles never so frequently. This communication was written on the back of a piece of paper which bore this singular narration :
"An account of a Famine in Alexandria, A City in Italy, By a Letter Dated Sept. ye 15th, 1777. I am sorry to acquaint you with the news that for 12 months Past. there has been an uncommon Scarcity of Provisions in this City, insomuch that the Poor hath been Reduced to the gratest Extremities Imaginable, and the whole Gar- rison, Consisting of 6000 men, were sent over to Milan. All the Dogs, and Cats, that could be found, were eagerly devoured, which brought on such a sickness, or Rather Plague, among the Inhabi-
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tants, That in A Few weeks, no Lefs than 1200 of them Died, and many were found lying Dead out of the City with grass, harbs, etc. in there mouths. Prayers were offered to the Living God and not to Images three times a day. On the 10th, Instant, the morning ap- peared very Cloudy, and in a Short time after, it seemed as dark as night, but it soon Cleared up With a Shower of A small Sort of Round Grain, Like Cortander seed. which fell so faft that in Lefs than an hour It was four Inches deep on the Ground : and on Trval it was found to make as good Flour as any Wheat in the world, which timely supply saved the Lives of many Thousands."
Such an accident as the one mentioned in this letter must have been not only "sade" but perilous. A broken limb is not longed for in these days, when a physician can be called almost at a moment's notice. How greatly aggravated the pain and danger must have been by the absence of all appliances for reduc- ing the fracture we can easily imagine.
People living in the present era, when the mails come rolling in several times a day, can little appreci- ate the joy with which the establishment of the first regular mail route was hailed by these isolated people. After the government mail route was established as far east as Portland, an association was formed by twenty-six men, living in the vicinity of Monmouth and Winthrop, to carry the mails between that point and the Kennebec river. There was then no road east of North Yarmouth, and the journey as far as that point was made on foot, snow shoes being used in winter. The members of the association took turns. making the trip once in a fortnight. As it was often impossible, on account of deep snows, to reach a set- tler's cabin in Lewiston, where the first night was usually spent, the carrier was always provided with a
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hatchet and blanket to use in constructing a shelter for the night in such an emergency.
In 1794 a mail route was established by the govern- inent between Portland and Wiscasset, via the Kenne- bec river. The route lay through Gray, New Glouces- ter, Greene, Monmouth and Winthrop to Augusta ; thence down the Kennebec to Gardiner, and across to Wiscasset. Matthias Blossom, of Monmouth, contracted to carry the mails once a week. The contract was made the 10th of September, and Blossom made his first trip the first day of the following October. The journey was made on horseback. By the first arrange- ment, the mails left Portland at 6 o'clock, Saturday evening, arriving at Pittston at 12 o'clock. Monday noon. Returning, the departure from Pittston was made the same day, and the arrival at Portland was accomplished the following Saturday, at 3 o'clock P. M. On the 4th day of August, 1795, the time was changed. By the new table, the departure from Port- land was made on Wednesday morning, at 6 o'clock, arriving at Pittston at 6 o'clock Thursday evening. The return was made immediately, arriving at Port- land the following Tuesday, at 6 P. M. Both of these schedules gave Mr. Blossom much time at home. He brought the mail from Portland to Monmouth. His boy, James, then took it to Winthrop, where it was delivered to Joseph Allen. an employe of Blossom, who carried it to Pittston, and back to Winthrop. Blossom received for his services the quarterly salary of $53.13. In addition to this, he realized something from the sale of newspapers, which he was allowed to carry for his personal emolument. The mail was car-
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ried over this route ten years before any route was established between Brunswick and Augusta.
In all cases of sickness that could not be treated with "pennyrial," the settlers were obliged to go to Pond- town (Winthrop) for an old lady whose knowledge of, and long experience in administering, roots and herbs led her to be honored as a veritable M. D.
In the winter, sickness was anticipated with much dread, as the deep snows and absence of all roads ren- dered it all but impossible to go from one settlement to the other, except on snow shoes. Mr. Joseph Allen was once compelled to go for the old lady in the dead of winter. He provided himself with a hand sled, on which he dragged the dispenser of "yarb tea" the en- tire distance of ten miles. It took him all night to perform this feat of pedestrianism.
The summer months were spent in toiling diligently from the break of day until dark. But little time was spent in visiting, for the women were as busy with their spinning-wheels and looms as their husbands and fathers were with their axes and hoes. But as soon as the long evenings of Autumn appeared, the harder tasks were suspended, and all hands entered heartily into scenes of pleasure and hilarity.
The ripened corn, bleached by the early frosts, was brought in from the fields and stacked in the middle of the barn floor. On each side of the. main floor were the tie-ups, and above. the mows of fragrant hay and meadow grass. Pitchforks were stuck into the mows horizontally,at short distances apart, the entire length of the floor, and from these the lanterns were suspended. These lanterns, borrowed from all over the settlement.
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consisted of a tallow "dip" set in the center of a perforated casing of tin. The light they afforded was about as brilliant as that of the proverbial white-eyed bean.
The barest intimation that a "husking" was to be held on a certain evening, was considered a personal and urgent invitation to be present. As many as could find sitting, or even standing, room on the cleanly swept barn floor, would crowd around the rustling stacks,and in the midst of a perfect bedlam of laughter, singing and shouting, not to mention the short, crisp sounds that occasionally issued from the corner where the young men and tittering maidens were gathered, the corn would lose its weather-beaten coat and accumulate in a huge, conical pile of golden bronze in the corner. Sometimes a red ear would appear, and then the crispy sounds referred to would become general. The lucky possessor, hiding his treasure in his coat sleeve, would steal cautiously up to his favorite lassie, and, suddenly presenting the challenge-ear. catch a hearty smack and be off in quest of another fair damsel before the first blushing maiden had recovered from her happy and long-hoped-for surprise. Doubly happy was the maid- en who caught sight of the red ear in season to run. She could then dart off into some dark corner and cover her ruddy face with her hands until two or three hearty smacks had been stolen from her cheeks before presenting her lips for a final settlement.
As soon as the last ear was thrown on the apex of the golden mound, the husks would be cleared away, the lanterns hung a trifle higher, the singers seated on a pile of corn stalks in the corner, and sets formed to
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"trip the light fantastic toe." During an intermission, a treat would sometimes be served consisting of brown bread and beans and pumpkin pies, baked to a tempt- ing brown in the brick ovens, flanked in the later sea- son with beechnuts and flat English turnips-the pion- eer's apple. Sometimes the revelry began before the work of husking was finished, with unhappy results, as was the case at a husking held in the vicinity of Nor- ris's Hill. The farmer whose barn was the scene of the merriment, had raised an unusually large crop of corn-between three and four hundred bushels in the ear. In addition to the usual treat, the enterprising yeoman had provided a large quantity of rum for the felicitation of his guests. Had the corn received as much attention as was paid the tankard and mug, the owner would have been the richer by many dollars. Forgetting the main object of the gathering, many of the men gave themselves up to a perfect carousal. Others, becoming disgusted with the turn matters had taken, went to their homes, and a large portion of the corn was left untouched. It soon heated in the pile and became utterly worthless. This was only one of many temperance sermons that were preached in those days.
The most friendly relations existed between the set- tlers. In winter they spent a large portion of their time in visiting. These visits were made in a body. A man living at one end of the plantation would yoke his oxen to a sled. and taking on his family, would drive to his neighbors, and calling at every cabin on his way. take one family after another until he arrived at the house where the visit was to be made. Settlers
Mrs. Ruth Norris. WIFE OF LIEUT. JAS. NORRIS AND NIECE OF GEN. HENRY DEARBORN.
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at the other end would do the same, and thus the entire population would be gathered at one cabin. It was customary for each family to furnish a portion of the edibles, making a sort of winter picnic. One would carry a turkey, another, a spare-rib, another, vegetables, and so on; and when the donations were all prepared, it was necessary to issue no second invitation to sur- round the "festive board." After the viands were duly discussed, and the supper table cleared away, the remainder of the evening was spent in playing "Blind buck and David," and other games, and in dancing. They had no fiddler to inspire the thick tapped cowhides to action, but quantities of good singers who could per- form a similar service. Capt. G. K. Norris's mother was one of the best of these.
At one of these public gatherings several of the men got outside of the cabin, and while the women were chattering and laughing over their cooking, arrayed Caleb Fogg in the most frightful costume which their ingenuity and limited resources could supply, fastened a rope to his body, and, creeping softly up to the ridge- pole, removed a portion of the covering, and let him drop into the midst of the startled women. How they screamed and scattered! It was a grand joke, and Fogg enjoyed it hugely. And so did the women a moment later; for Mrs. Ruth Norris took in the situa- tion, and. seizing the first weapon that came to hand, pounced upon the human scarecrow, as he lay tangled in the rope and his unmanageable habiliments, and pounded him until he cried for mercy.
It must not be forgotten that a large portion of the pioneers were young people. They married and came
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into the woods to get a start in life, when they were scarcely out of their "teens," and such boyish pranks were excusable in young men who had no other form of amusement and diversion.
Whatever the occasion. or wherever the place, if there was an opportunity for a practical joke, Caleb Fogg could be counted in every time. Before his con- version, it was his custom, in company with others, to spend quite a portion of his spare time at Chandler's tavern, which was a general rendezvous for the settlers, evenings and stormy days. One evening a number had gathered, as usual, to chat, smoke and "tip the flowing bowl." Chandler had been building a fire-place and laying a hearth that day, and the floor was covered with mortar and broken pieces of brick. Among the num- ber was the lively progenitor of one of our leading families, whose name will be withheld for the sake of his posterity of the present generation.
The old gentleman had patronized the tap-room too liberally, as was his wont. His limbs began to feel the vigor and elasticity of youth, and the spirit of Terp- sichore, or other spirits equally as potent, urged him to action. Calling on his associates to furnish music, he sprang into the floor and began to dance a spasmodic breakdown. There was no fiddler to inspire him to rapidity of motion, but the mellowed loafers were willing to waste their last breath in performing a simi- lar service. After the old gentleman became thorough- ly excited, he was persuaded that he made too much noise dancing in his shoes, and that the heavy cow- hides were a clog to his nimble feet.
If he would only remove his shoes and stockings!
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Of course he complied, and then the fiends struck up one of the liveliest of melodies, and kept the poor wretch kicking and pattering about on the ragged floor until he had worn the skin from his feet and tracked the boards with blood.
Between Chandler's and Sewall Prescott's was a slough hole. which Fogg, Prescott, Smith and others passed every evening as they returned to their homes. One evening when they left Chandler's, the humor- loving rogues planned to get Smith, who was dubbed "the Doctor," immersed in this puddle. One proposed that they take turns walking backward. They were all sufficiently felicitated to consider any boyish sport the wittiest thing imaginable, and the proposal met the hearty approval of the entire company. One after another they turned their backs upon their course and performed their respective allotments. At last "the Doctor's" turn came. He wheeled and started on the fulfillment of his part of the contract with all confi- dence, but had proceeded scarcely a rod when the ground beneath him seemed to cave into the bowels of the earth, and he plunged head first into the deep mire. Oh! how sorry they were! And how singular it was that they didn't remember that that place was there!
Caleb Fogg was generally near enough to gather a report of the chief incidents when any mischief was perpetrated; and it would not be a difficult matter to convince a few of our older citizens that some of his boys were "chips of the old block." In the early days of Methodism, a minister representing that denomina- tion was living in a part of Mr. Fogg's house. His wife, who was so rigidly religious that she would not
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allow her lady callers to play with her baby, or cause it to laugh, was also "spleeny" to an aggravating degree. If the boys were at all noisy, she complained bitterly of the injury to her nervous system. At last the young rascals determined to test the strength of her nerves. So one evening they strapped the cow- bell to the bull and shut the old rooster up in the cellar. The bull was full of business all night. and a little past midnight the rooster began to pour forth his morning melody. As the serenade produced no visible effect on the good lady's physical condition, the boys decided that, in her case, noise might possibly be conducive to strength of nerve, and governed themselves accord- ingly.
Difficult as it may be to imagine them in a different role, we must not think that our great-grandmothers always sat in the corner, with long-drawn faces and neatly-tied cap-strings, taking snuff. Some of them, at least, were up to snuff of a different nature. Among the unclassified inhabitants of East Monmouth was a love-cracked beggar by the name of Brown. Like all other mortals whose hearts have been treacherously toyed with, he had a genius for falling in love with every new face he met, to the great annoyance of the objects of his adoration.
Seven girls, whose names will be withheld because of the shocking effect the disclosure would have on the nerves of their sedate posterity, got their smoothly- combed heads together one day, and offered Brown the heart and hand of his choice from the group, if he would submit to being carried across a bridge, which was then in process of building, on a rail. Although
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Although the terms were somewhat humiliating, as well as unique, the smitten simpleton mounted the rail and allowed them to proceed. The bridge over which this ante-bridal tour was conducted, consisted merely of the beams, or stringers, on which the covering of planks or corduroy was to be laid. With daring as wonderful as their conduct was abominable, the girls grasped the ends of the pole and cautiously walked out on the narrow timbers. When they reached the mid- dle of the stream, at a given signal, all hands dropped the rail simultaneously, and down went the love-sick booby to cool his passion in the refreshing current of the stream.
Brown was the butt of many a cruel joke. He rode a horse that, to all appearance, had been fattened on sawdust. with an occasional feed of barrel-hoops. Leaving this attenuated specimen of the genus equus attached to a hitching post at Hallowell one day, he was greatly surprised to discover, on his return, that his steed, which had always exhibited a marked degree of willingness to stand, had actually moved away. After a long and diligent search, he finally discovered a semi-transparent object suspended about fifty feet in the air from the yard of a vessel that lay at the wharf. which close scrutiny revealed as the object of his search.
In the early days of the settlement meats of all kinds, with the exception of wild meats, were high. Even veal was sold as high as twenty-five cents a pound. Sometime after the road had been cut from Monmouth to Greene. General Chandler drove to Sprague's mill after a load of boards. While he was loading, a
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sow, with a litter of pigs. belonging to Sprague, got in front of his team, and, in starting, he ran over the maternal porker, killing her instantly. Sprague de- manded payment. The General swore that if he must pay for "that old sow" he wouldn't lose her, and, true to his word, he piled her on top of his load, carried her home and dressed her for the pork barrel.
It was not long, however, before all kinds of domes- tic meat and produce were as low as they had been high. As soon as the land was well cleared and English hay produced in considerable quantities, a large amount of stock was raised, and as there were no facilities for taking advantage of anything but the local market, where the demand was exceedingly limited, the prices rapidly declined.
If domestic meat was scarce in those days, wild meat was sufficiently abundant to supply all demands. Several years after the eastern part of the town was settled, bears were exceedingly troublesome. One day, while Phineas Blake and Nathaniel Nichols were visiting at Captain Kelley's, they heard cattle bellow- ing in the woods. Being satisfied that the commotion was caused by wild animals, they seized a gun and ran as rapidly as possible in the direction of the noise. When they came on the herd, they found a large bear grappled to the rump of a fine heifer, making a good meal from her living flesh. Nichols, who considered himself quite a marksman, said to Blake, "Here, let me take the gun." "No, sir," said Blake, "I'll shoot him myselt." He raised the gun and fired, but missed his mark, and the bear escaped unharmed. He always claimed, when joked about it in after days, that, in the
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excitement of the moment, he must have shut up the wrong eye.
One evening a party of hunters treed a bear on Reuben Brainerd's land, not far from the Cobbosee Pond. It was so dark they could not take sure aim. and after firing several shots into the tree with no apparent effect, they retired. The next morning, on visiting the spot, they found a trail marked by the en- trails. of the bear, leading to the shore of the pond. Whether Bruin suicided by drowning, to close his uncomfortable existence, or whether he swam to the other shore and sought surgical aid, will never be known.
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