USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > History of Piscataquis County, Maine : from its earliest settlement to 1880 > Part 23
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The directors discharged all these forgetful employes, and supplied their places. As the train was coming up, the next Tuesday evening, B. F. Hodgkins of Milo, a newly em- ployed brakeman, fell from the train in Milo, and was taken up in a dying state. He was taken to Dover, and cared for, but died at eleven o'clock. The lifeless remains of both were sent down to their friends for burial, on the same train. This was the first fatal accident to an employe or passenger upon the road, in its first seven years' operation. The jury reported that "the accident was caused by the leaving of
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ANECDOTES.
those three cars upon the main track, and by the engineer and others forgetting it." The damage to the railroad prop- erty was from two to three thousand dollars.
ANECDOTE.
The late Eld. William Oakes, long a resident in Sangerville, but then living in the same vicinity as the Westons (Canaan, now Skowhegan), related many years ago the adventures of a certain survey party, with which he was connected. They came up the Penobscot and Piscataquis, bringing their pro- visions in a batteau, from Bangor, and evidently run the line between the sixth and seventh ranges, regarding a part of which, Mr. Oakes was summoned to court as a witness on a pending lawsuit., They became short of provisions. Their hard-bread had broken and crumbled badly in trans- portation. They broke up as soon as possible, each starting for the Kennebec settlement, through the woods, by himself. Yet they all came out safe, though fatigued and hungry, within a half mile of each other, and within a half hour of the same time. This was the Elder's own language, possible, but very remarkable. He also remarked that his dog was nearly exhausted, and would have famished sooner than he himself.
UNCLE JOHN AND THE BEAR.
Among the early settlers of Guilford, was a good-natured . rough-hewed man, hardy and athletic, not wanting in ordi- nary personal courage, not especially daring, who was famil- iarly called Uncle John. The evening of a certain summer day, he spent at a neighbor's, and while busy in chit-chat, the shades of night covered both field and forest. From the. woods near by, the scream of a bear was heard, and Uncle John just then was not fond of that kind of music. After waiting awhile, with the hope that the bear would wander away, he resisted the importunities of his neighbors to spend the night with them, as his folks would be alarmed. He fixed up and lighted a torch, and with his large, resolute dog, at a
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
late hour, started for home. When about half way through a piece of woods that he must pass, he espied the head of a large bear lifted above a log that lay beside his foot-path. His dog, brave and robust, dashed at him with a loud, defiant bark. The bear turned and fled, leaving the way free from danger, and Uncle John hurried on. The, dog soon over- took and grabbed his retreating game. The bear wheeled, and struck back with such force that the dog desisted, and ran yelping toward his master. Uncle John fearing that the bear was coming too, dropped his torch, took to his heels, and run for his life. Just then one of his feet sunk in the mud, his shoe stuck, and his foot came out minus its shoe. He was in too much of a hurry to look for it, so he sped on, one foot shoeless, and both he and the faithful dog safely reached home, no bear pursuing. The next morning he went to the place, and fished up his shoe, and as the bear did not report himself, he was not afterward recognized.
This dog died a martyr to his own daring. When out in the distant forest, with his master and others on an explor- ing tour, he fell upon a porcupine, and made an attack. His wily game bristled up, turned his defensive covering to the dog, and lay still for safety. The dog, in his assaults, wound- ed his nose severely, and came off badly injured. The men did what they could to relieve him, but his nose swelled, he lost the power of scenting the tracks of the party, and stray- ing from them, he never found his way out, and died in the woods.
All sorrowed over the loss of so useful a domestic animal, where wild beasts were numerous, and over his lamentable fate.
THE COLONEL AND THE ENSIGN.
The fifth regiment was mustering in Garland. The com- panies on Piscataquis River were not called out, as their bat- talion then mustered in Dover. But certain persons from those companies attended as spectators. In the afternoon, by a certain evolution, the main guard was swept out of its
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THE COLONEL AND THE ENSIGN.
place, and the line left without sentinels. The spectators began to press forward, and soon were intruding upon the parade ground. The colonel, who had an exalted idea of military etiquette, was irritated, and spurring his horse furi- ously into the crowd, ran over a boy and seriously injured him. As he lay prostrate, crying with fright and pain, an ensign from the other battalion, not then on duty, sprang to his relief. While taking up the boy, the colonel dashed back and spurred his horse smartly on one side, making him whirl round suddenly, striking the ensign and nearly knocking him down. The ensign's temper rose. He broke out in loud and angry tones: "Are you going to run over me too?" pre- facing it with profane and scathing words. The colonel re- plied: "Yes, if you don't get off the field." Other unmili- tary and ungentlemanly words and phrases fell thick and fast. The colonel, when mounted upon his charger, with epaulets and sword, did not expect to hear such contemptu- ous rebukes. . Looking down to see who it was that thus con- fronted him, he recognized, in his defiant antagonist, one of his own subordinate officers. He could not brook this. So he hastily and arbitrarily declared the ensign under military arrest, and forbade him ever appearing again on parade un- til he made ample satisfaction. The ensign returned home, and when his anger subsided, supposed that his commanding officer would also cool off, and think no more of that angry spat, or of his unauthorized sentence of arrest. So he went with his company in full uniform, and with side arms to the battalion muster, and marched with it into line. When the adjutant had formed the regiment, and the colonel came on to the field, he rode directly to that ensign, and again pro- nounced him under arrest, and ordered him off the field.
He went, burning with wrath, and took his stand just out- side the line, and stood all day, a silent but close observer of the manœuvres in which he had sanguinely expected to par- ticipate. His great regret was, that he could not challenge the colonel to settle the quarrel by a duel, and fight it there in the presence of the regiment.
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
The affair was an exciting one. Everybody was talking about it, and casting censures according to their respective opinions.
The colonel thought that he had the inside track. He would not let such a public insult and military misdemeanor pass unpunished. So he entered his charges against the recreant ensign, and demanded that he be court-martialed.
But when the case came into the hands of the Judge-advo- cate, that officer coolly examined it, and found the colonel's proceedings fatally defective. The insult with which the ensign was deservedly charged, was perpetrated when he was not under the colonel's command, not under martial law, when he was only a spectator, and amenable to the civil law alone, for using abusive and profane language.
So both military arrests were invalid, the first, because it was outside the colonel's jurisdiction, the second, because he had done nothing when under his superior officer, to call for it. So no court-martial was called. The ensign resumed his place, but a mutual hostility rankled and raged within them.
The regiment was soon divided. The colonel was pro- moted to a brigadier, then to a major-general, and so ap- peared upon the muster field. The ensign was still an offi- cer, promoted to captain, and finally to colonel. So on mus- ter days the usual military recognitions and salutes were passed, but the flash of their eyes was as patent as the, gleam of their swords.
PROFESSIONAL AND EDUCATED MEN.
The following residents of this county are college graduates.
BOWDOIN COLLEGE.
Wm. S. Sewall, Sangerville, 1834. Counsel Greely, Dover, 1854. Josiah Crosby, Atkinson, 1835. Cyrus H. Carleton, Sangerville, 1856.
Edwin P. Parker, Dover, 1856. Thos. D. Sturtevant, Blanchard, 1841.
Henry S. Loring, Guilford, 1843. George N. Jackson, Foxcroft, 1859.
Mark Pitman, Barnard, 1859. Freeland S. Holmes, Foxcroft, 1850. Chas. P. Chandler, Foxcroft, 1854. David R. Straw jr., Guilford, 1859.
Collins Stevens, Harvey Davis, H. O. Pratt, Evarts S. Pillsbury, David N. Greeley, of Foxcroft; Henry Folsom, Monson; Frank W. Chadbourne, and John F. Robinson, Dover, entered this college, but did not complete the full course.
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PROFESSIONAL AND EDUCATED MEN.
COLBY UNIVERSITY.
E. A. Cummings, Parkman, 1847. Silvanus B. Macomber, Monson, 1863.
Abner E. Oakes, Sangerville, 1847. Horatio N. Nutting, Parkman, 1863. Mark A. Cummings, Parkman, 1849. Wm. S. Knowlton, Sangerville, 1864.
Albion P. Oakes, Sangerville, 1849. Stanley T. Pullen, Foxcroft, 1864.
Alfred E. Buck, Foxcroft, 1859. Elihu B. Haskell, Guilford, 1872.
Alonzo Bunker, Atkinson, 1862. Henry Hudson jr., Guilford, 1875.
Whiting S. Clark, Sangerville, 1862.
Edgar H. Crosby, Brownville, 1880. Ezra Towne, Dover, J. F. Norris, Monson, Sewall Brown, Dover, John E. Sawyer, Monson, Valentine B. Oakes, and William P. Oakes, Sanger- ville, entered, but did not graduate.
Rev. Sewall Brown received the degree of A.M. in 1869, and Rev. Chas. M. Herring, the same, in 1873, from Colby University.
Robinson Turner, Guilford, entered Tufts College, but left, before com- pleting his course.
Luther Keene and George A. Keene of Atkinson, graduated from Am- herst College, and Valentine B. Oakes of Sangerville, from Dartmouth College.
BATES COLLEGE.
Miss Mary W. Mitchell, 1869. F. T. Crommett, So. Dover, 1874.
E. E. Wade, 1870. E. M. Briggs, Parkman, 1879.
E. P. Sampson, Dover, 1873.
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
J. I. Gurney, Foxcroft, 1874. E. D. Thomas, Brownville, 1878.
C. E. Towne, East Dover, 1878. J. H. Williams, Milo, 1878.
C. C. Chamberlain, Foxcroft, 1878.
L. H. Ramsdall, Atkinson, F. L. Moore, Sebec, F. P. Gurney, William W. Dow, and F. H. Pullen, Foxcroft, entered, but left without graduating.
BANGOR THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
Isaac E. Wilkins, Brownville, 1825. Henry S. Loring, Guilford, 1846. Wm. S. Sewall, Sangerville, 1838. Amory H. Tyler, Monson, 1854.
Sam'l D. Bowker, Blanchard, 1860.
Elbridge G. Carpenter, Fox- croft, 1840. Luther Keene, Atkinson, 1862.
Amasa Loring, Guilford, 1841. George Williams, Sangerville 1864.
Asa T. Loring, Guilford, 1841. Thomas Kenney, Milo, 1874.
Thos. D. Sturtevant, Blanchard, 1844.
Charles Davison of Monson entered the Congregational ministry with an Academic education.
THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION AT NEWTON CENTER, MASS.
E. A. Cummings, Parkman, 1850. Alonzo Bunker, Atkinson, 1865.
J. P. Hunting, Guilford, 1850.
J. F. Norris, Monson, 1865. Leonard H. Hunting, Guilford, 1851. Silvanus B. Macomber, “ 1868. Mark A. Cummings, Parkman, 1852. Cyrus H. Carleton, Sangerville, 1859.
Elihu B. Haskell, Guilford 1875. All now Baptist ministers.
Rev. Samuel Low and Rev. C. M. Herring, Guilford, Rev. Sewall Brown, Dover, graduated from New Hampton Baptist Seminary; Rev. A. J. Nel- son, Guilford, entered the Baptist ministry with an Academical educa- tion; Rev. William S. Knowlton has been ordained.
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
FREE BAPTISTS.
The ministry of this denomination has been entered by the persons whose names are here given: Abner Coombs, Guilford, 1828; Mr. - Livermore, Milo; Abel Turner jr., Foxcroft; Orin Bartlett, Abbot, edu- cated at Free Baptist Seminary; Horace Graves, Dover; Albert Pratt, Sebec; and E. G. Eastman, Parkman. Several others have been ordained by the Association Baptists, without any special preparation, whose names I cannot give. Revs. Rotheus M. Byram and Barnabas Burseley of San- gerville, entered the ministry as Universalists.
METHODISTS.
Rev. Watts Dow, Sebec; Rev. Daniel Warren, Guilford; Rev. P. C. Parsons, Sangerville, have become preachers in this connection.
PHYSICIANS.
William A. Harvey, Atkinson, 1847; Josiah Jordan, Foxcroft, 1848; E. P. Snow, Atkinson, 1849; William Buck, Foxcroft, 1859; William B. Bul- lard, Foxcroft, 1859; James H. Thompson, Sangerville, 1859; S. B. Sprague, Milo, 1867; Frank W. Chadbourne, Dover, 1869; L. C. Ford, At- kinson ; C. D. Sprague, Milo; and Walter E. Turner, South Dover, 1876; received the degree of M.D. from the medical department of Bowdoin Col- lege at the dates above designated.
Freeland S. Holmes, Foxcroft; E. A. Thompson, Dover; Daniel Straw, Guilford; Horatio N. Howard, Abbot; have received the same at other institutions.
Others have practiced in the Thompsonian and Homeopathic methods ; Dr. Jacobs of Dover; Chandler Wood of Abbot; S. B. Elliot of Dover; C. B. Bennett of Guilford; Mrs. E. C. Buck of Foxcroft, are prominent among them.
LAWYERS.
We give an approach only to fullness and accuracy, and to the order of their admittance to the bar. Charles A. Everett, Dover.
William C. Crosby, Atkinson. Josiah Crosby, Atkinson. Winslow Blake, Foxcroft. William G. Clark, Sangerville. William McE. Brown, Guilford. C. P. Chandler, Foxcroft. Counsel Greeley, Dover. J. D. Brown, Guilford.
John H. Rice, Monson. A. G. Lebroke, Foxcroft. Abner Oakes, Sangerville. A. P. Oakes, Sangerville. V. B. Oakes, Sangerville.
J. H. Macomber, Milo.
D. R. Straw jr., Guilford. H. N. Nutting, Parkman. C. A. Packard, Blanchard.
E. F. Harvey, Atkinson.
George N. Jackson, Foxcroft.
W. S. Clark, Sangerville.
C. O. Clark, Sangerville.
George E. Clark, Sangerville. John F. Robinson, Dover.
H. O. Pratt, Foxcroft. George Pratt, Foxcroft.
Evarts S. Pillsbury, Foxcroft.
J. F. Sprague, Sangerville. .
William Lane, Monson.
H. B. Flint, Dover. Henry Hudson jr., Guilford.
J. B. Peakes, Dover.
D. L. Savage, Foxcroft.
W. E. Parsons, Foxcroft.
Rowell, Sebec.
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PROFESSIONAL AND EDUCATED MEN.
County officers, from the incorporation of the county to 1880.
SHERIFFS.
1838, B. P. Gilman, Sebec.
1839-40, J. Chase, Sebec.
1841, H. K. Adams, Williamsburg. 1863, E.J.Hale, Foxcroft,res.1863.
1842-45, W. Oakes jr., Sangerville.
1846-53, J. Chase, Sebec.
1854-55, T. S. Pullen, Dover.
1875-78, C. Foss. Abbot.
1879-80, J. L. Smart, Milo.
CLERKS OF COURT.
1838 & 41, P. P. Furber, Milo.
1851-62, E. Flint, Dover.
1839-40, A. S. Patten, Dover.
1863-74, R. Kittredge, Dover.
1842-50, E. S. Clark, Dover.
1875-80, H. B. Flint, Foxcroft.
COUNTY ATTORNEYS.
1838-41, C. A. Everett, Milo.
1861-70, A. G. Lebroke, Foxcroft.
1871-73, Wm. P. Young, Milo.
1839-40, J. Bell, Monson.
1842-45, 5
1874-76, C. A. Everett, Dover.
1846-52, A. M. Robinson, Sebec. 1877-79, Wm. P. Young, Milo.
1853-60, J. H. Rice, Monson.
1880, J. B. Peaks, Dover.
COUNTY TREASURERS.
1838, C. P. Chandler, Foxcroft. 1858-59, 2 E. J. Hale, Foxcroft.
1841-42,
1866-67, 5
1839-40, R. Low, Guilford. 1860-61, C. O. Palmer, Dover.
1843-46, M. Eames, Dover. 1862-63, R. Dearborn, Dover.
1847, N. Hinds, Dover.
1864-65, C. E. Kimball, Dover.
1848-49, J. S. Thompson, Dover.
1868-69, M. Pitman, Dover.
1850-51, F. R. Drake, Dover. 1870-72, N. Hinds, Dover.
1852-55, A. B. Chase, Dover. 1873-74, W. Buck, Foxcroft.
1856-57, C. H. B. Woodbury, Dover.
1875-78, C. B. Kittredge, Dover. 1879-80, W. Buck, Foxcroft.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
1838, J. S. Holmes, Foxcroft, J. Matthews, Monson, J. Lake, Brownville. 1839, 40, A. M. Robinson, Sebec, E. Packard, Blanchard, S. Palmer, Dover. 1841, H. G. O. Morrison, Dover, J. Lake, Brownville, J. Matthews, Monson. 1842, E. L. Hammond, Atkinson, R. Loring, Shirley, M. Sweat, Foxcroft. 1843, E. L. Hammond, A. M. Robinson, William Brewster, Parkman. 1844, E. L. Hammond, William Brewster, R. Loring. 1845, R. Loring, William Brewster, F. Turner, Milo. 1846, R. Loring, F. Turner, M. Sweat, Foxcroft.
1847, F. Turner, Milo, C. Chamberlain, Foxcroft, John Elliot, Abbot. 1848, C. Chamberlain, J. Elliot, D. C. Cilley, Sebec. 1849, J. Elliot, D. C. Cilley, J. Roberts, Sangerville.
1850, D. C. Cilley, J. Roberts, C. N. Gower, Greenville. 1851, C. N. Gower, L. Robinson, Foxcroft, J. D. Brown, Foxcroft. 20
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1863-72, E. Jewett, Sangerville.
1873-74, M. W. Brown, Brownville.
1856, W. W. Harris, Guilford.
1857-61, C. S. Douty,Dover, resgn'd.
1862, E. Jewett, Sangerville.
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
1852, C. N. Gower, J. D. Brown, L. Robinson.
1853, B. Bursley, Sangerville, L. Robinson, L. Howard, Guilford.
1854, L. Robinson, L. Howard, J. A. Dunning. Williamsburg. 1855, L. Howard, J. A. Dunning, S. Coburn, Parkman .. 1856, J. A. Dunning, S. Coburn, J. Spaulding, Dover. 1857, S. Coburn, J. Spaulding, J. H. Macomber, Milo. 1858, J. Spaulding, J. H. Macomber, A. Chapin, Monson. 1859, J. H. Macomber, A. Chapin, L. Robinson. 1860, A. Chapin, L. Robinson, G. W. Wingate, Sebec. 1861, L. Bobinson, G. W. Wingate, I. Hutchins, Wellington. 1862, G. W. Wingate, I. Hutchins, Wm. N. Thompson, Foxcroft.
1863, I. Hutchins, Wm. N. Thompson, R. A. Snow, Atkinson. 1864, Wm. N. Thompson, Foxcroft, R. A. Snow, J. Elliot, Abbot. 1865, R. A. Snow, J. Elliot, B. Brann, Dover. 1866, J. Elliot, B. Brann, J. Morrill, Sebec.
1867, B. Brann, J. Morrill. C. A. Packard, Blanchard.
1868, J. Morrill, Sebec, C. A. Packard, S. R. Jackson, Foxcroft. 1869, C. A. Packard, S. R. Jackson, C. L. Dunning, Brownville.
1870, S. R. Jackson, C. L. Dunning. C. A. Packard.
1871, C. L. Dunning, C. A. Packard, M. Mitchell, Dover.
1872, C. A. Packard, M. Mitchell, L. Sands, Sebec. 1873, M. Mitchell, L. Sands, C. A. Packard.
1874, L. Sands, C. A. Packard, P. M. Jefferds, Foxcroft.
1875, C. A. Packard, P. M. Jefferds, L. Sands.
1876, P. M. Jefferds, L. Sands, L. Hilton, Kingsbury.
1877, L. Sands, L. Hilton, L. Robinson.
1878, L. Hilton, L. Robinson, H. F. Daggett, Milo. [Crockett, appointed. 1879, L. Robinson, H. F. Daggett, Wm. G. Thompson, Guilford, Simon 1880, H. F. Daggett, Wm. G. Thompson, Volney A. Gray, Dover.
REGISTERS OF DEEDS.
1838-42, R. K. Rice.
1863-64, D. Shepherd, died in office.
1843-47, A. S. Patten. 1864-67, M. Pitman appointed.
1848-57, E. B. Averill.
1868-82, M. W. Hall.
1858-62, J. Jordan.
JUDGES OF PROBATE.
1838, E. W. Snow, Atkinson, 1845. 1861, T. S. Pullen, Foxcroft, d. 1865.
1845, E. Packard, Blanchard, d. 1855. 1865, C. A. Everett, Milo, res'd 1866. 1855, J. Bell, Monson, resign'd 1857. 1866, J. S. Monroe, Abbot, d. 1870.
1857, J. Stevens, Sebec, d. 1862. 1870, E. J. Hale, Foxcroft, 1880.
REGISTERS OF PROBATE.
1838, B. Bursley, Sang., rem'd, 1839. 1854, A. Getchell, Dover, 1856.
1839, U. Hinds, Dover, rem'd 1841. 1856, L. Lee, Foxcroft, 1857.
1841, B. Bursley, Sang., rem'd 1842. 1857, W.F. Gallison, Foxcroft,d.1857.
1842, E. S. Greeley, Dover, 1846. 1857, A. Getchell, Dover, 1858. 1846, L. Lee, Foxcroft, 1850. 1858, S. Whitney, Sangerville,d.1860.
1850, S. W. Elliot, Dover, 1854. 1860, A. Getchell, Dover, pres. 1880.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CONCLUSION.
These scanty jottings of backwoods life must come to an end. Not so the inevitable history of this county: that will flow on for better or for worse, till time shall be no more, till the mighty problem of human existence shall reach its full and final solution.
"Life is real! life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul."
Let us then compare the present with the past, and calcu- late the future, as the ocean voyager takes a solar observa- tion and shapes his onward course. For fourscore years, civilized life with energy and toil has been busily working in this county. Eighty years, and what changes! What marks of untiring industry, what monuments of successful struggles, what improvements in mental culture, what mor- al and religious advances, what unavoidable calamities, what scenes of sorrow, what final departures of our early and aged associates! We naturally carry the present back over the past, and readily think that the things which now are, have ever so existed. Few of the early pioneers who can correct this impression from their own recollections, now survive. Five, out of the seven persons whom I acknowledg- ed myself in the introduction of this work indebted to, for items of early history, have departed this life within the four years spent in collecting materials for it. Being then undertaken, these items were secured, but now they would be inevitably lost. But some still live, whose memory
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
stretches across many of these revolving years, and can easily recall the changes, which have persistently gone on.
Changes in the face of nature stand out distinctly, they daguerreotype themselves upon the mind of the aged behold- er. The gloomy forests have receded, and smiling fields bathed with sunshine and showers, tender their harvests to the hand of their cultivators. Smooth and graded roads have superseded the spotted line and the rough and muddy pathway, while the steamboat plows our largest lakes, and the railroad stretches its iron track across this county. Be- fore 1820, not even a weekly mail was known in this county : now many towns have two and four arrivals daily, and the telegraph brings its despatches with lightning speed.
The home, the domestic center, has passed through three distinct changes. From the log-cabins and hovels, the pio- neers moved into their first framed houses. These were usu- ally low, small, and roughly or partially finished, with their great sprawling chimneys, from which capacious fire-places yawned like the mouth of a cavern. These must have their great back-logs, and fore-sticks, too, and much else, to make the needed fire. Now the chimney has grown conveniently less in all its proportions, while stoves and furnaces require far less fuel, if they do not give us as good air.
In architecture and style there has been a decided change, so that the advance is nearly as great as from the log-cabin to the first framed house.
The barn and out-houses have risen also in style and con- venience, and in economy, too; the manure shed and cellar being its best evidence, which most of our thrifty farmers have brought into use.
Ordinary labors, both in-doors and out, have also changed. After clearing new lands, the farmer cultivated and harvest- ed his crops mainly by his own manual labor. Beyond plowing and harrowing, carting and sledding, the ox and horse did but a small part. But now agricultural machinery worked by horse and ox power, takes the severest toil out of the hands of men. And if the introduction of these useful .
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CONCLUSION.
inventions has narrowed the demand for the day-laborer, it has greatly benefited the freeholder, who works his own fields, and has thereby promoted the interest of the greater number. The day-laborer can adjust capital and labor, by securing a freehold of his own, and gain a liveli- hood by working for himself. New land is now cheap, fer- tile acres invite the industrious, and men without capital can break into the forest with less hardships than our fathers bore, while roads, markets and other facilities favor the pres- ent, rather than the past.
Many domestic employments have also changed. When plain cotton cloth cost thirty cents per yard, and calico was still higher, fields of flax were common. When broadcloth was from five to eight dollars per yard, farmers, mechanics, merchants and professional men wore their well-dressed homespun. And if this did not have the checks and stripes of the present shoddy products of our factories, it had a little more twist and a little stronger fiber. Then the spinning- wheel and the loom were in every dwelling, and our mothers and sisters could draw the thread, and fling the shuttle. But now, to many of the fair sex, to farmers' daughters even, spinning and weaving are among "the lost arts." The fac- tories,-quite a good institution, however,-have done this, but they should be esteemed and treated as a public benefit. They give steady and lucrative employment to a large class of operatives; they improve the markets for farm products, fuel and lumber, and give business to other mechanics. Sheep-raising, that profitable branch of husbandry, they en- courage, and relieve the over-worked women of the hard la- bor of home manufacture. They keep a steady flow of money in circulation, which essentially aids all the branches of in- dustry. The scarcity of money in former times, then so embarrassing, has been greatly diminished by the running of factories on our waterfalls, and the changes in this respect, cannot now be easily realized.
The cheese factories I will not here omit. One in East Sangerville, another in Milo, should have been men-
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
tioned in their proper places. These are not to be estimated merely by the profits they may pay to their owners and pa- trons : they are a paying convenience. They take from wom- an the hard labors of the dairy-room, and produce a richer and better article. They are not a monopoly, not breaking down, but aggrandizing, the small dairy.
Social entertainments and tolerated amusements have un- dergone a marvelous change. Sixty years ago, checkers, fox-and-geese, and simple plays beguiled the evening hours of the young, but then, card-playing was not allowed in the homes, even of many irreligious families. An out-door game of ball was common, but nine-pins, croquet and billiards were unknown. So were levees, picnics and concerts.
Fashions in dress, in ornaments, in traveling equipages, have so many times taken on their ephemeral changes, that they defy all description. Like the speckled pig, they are too spry to be counted.
The school-room, the school with its books and teach- ers, and all the means of culture, have made brilliant im- provements. For the first few years of these new settle- ments, reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, and very rarely grammar, made up the exercises : a geography and atlas were not seen. Newspapers and books were few, and religious lectures only were given. The increase of all these various means for growth in general knowledge, and for mental de- velopment, for more pleasant intercourse with each other, and for more cultivated deportment, calls for grateful recog- nition.
Sixty years ago, our young ears were compelled to hear a peculiar style of pronunciation, provincialisms, perhaps the un- mended barbarisms of earlier days. Some would pronounce the word friend, frind, urgent would be aregent, earn and earnest, airne and airnest, and cover was always kivver. These relics of olden time have been buried in the grave of oblivion : let us be careful that they have no resurrection. Another relic of the dead past, the small-clothes and long stockings with their knee and shoe buckles, the veritable
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CONCLUSION.
style of revolutionary days and of colonial etiquette, came within the vision of the writer. In the year 1818, my grandfather made us his only visit, and his tight short breech- es convinced us that he belonged to a former generation. Again, as late as 1831, another venerable man who could not yield to modern innovations in this respect, turned up in my path, a second genuine specimen of the ancients.
But the old cocked, clerical hat, universally worn by the orthodox clergy until near the beginning of the present cen- tury, I have never seen, unless the one worn by college presidents on commencement days, is a genuine specimen. It is said that Rev. John Turner, who preached in Foxcroft and Sebec, in 1835, was the first clergyman in Maine to don the usual hat, and Rev. Samuel Eaton of Harpswell was the last to abandon the antique, he wearing it till his head was pillowed in the grave.
Another sadly inauspicious change appears in the number and make up of the family circle. In former times, early marriages were the order of the day, and the Divine institu- tion was honored. The young wife was almost invariably identical with the young mother. A thrifty circle of chil- dren, like olive plants, surrounded the table of both rich and poor, and New England names and blood and principles and characteristics had a preeminence over imported foreign ele- ments. And why should it not be so now? And should not philanthropist, sage and Christian ask what will be the end of this striking change ?- this frustrating of the design of one of the most beneficient institutions that God ever gave to men.
Have morals improved? Their standard is permanent. Departures from, or approaches toward, it, denote the real character of all. The temperance reform has been duly no- ticed. Other improvements were linked with it. But un- less we are severe upon the faults of past generations, and lenient to those of our own, we may not boast loudly of other great moral advances. It is not safe to discuss this
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
topic. A prophet of evil is sure to be unpopular, and so must be the chronicler of it.
Religion, too, in its essential principles, is as unchangeable as God's being and attributes. But in the statement and ad- justment of its different doctrines, in the personal manifes- tation of its experiences, in its routine of worship, in its ex- pansive spirit and livelier activity, it can change, and has changed, and we hail these changes with devout gratitude.
The pulpit secures more talent, learning and careful utter- ance than formerly. It presents less of the frivolous, and more of the solemn and weighty; less of the disjointed, more of well arranged thought; less of misstated doctrines, and more of the symmetrical principles of Christianity, and of the harmonious relations of doctrine and duty.
Human nature will occasionally throw up men of one idea, extremists, the result, not of religion, but of peculiar tem- peraments. So it is in all parties. Religion should not be judged by those idiosyncrasies, which are its failures, and not its legitimate developments.
But no generation entirely makes itself: it comes from the foregoing, and brings along some of its well worn types. And like the new edition of a book, each should be an im- provement upon the former. So we may look forward and inquire what kind of a future we are fashioning for our suc- cessors? What foundations we are laying for social and moral structures ?
"Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.
" Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again."
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