USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The centennial history of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, including the oration, the historical address and the poem presented at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town, June 23d, 1902 > Part 14
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It may be worth while to note a wholesale and economical way of shodding families that prevailed in the twenties, before the
TICONIC ROW.
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era when nearly the whole population of many villages and even cities were engaged in making boots and shoes. A country cob- bler was installed and boarded in a private house for a week or weeks, which he spent in making boots and shoes for all the members of a family. As he was sometimes an amateur fiddler, and brought his fiddle with him, it can be imagined what delight "we boys" took, first in watching the growing boots designed for us, during the day, and next in listening to the strains of "Bonaparte's March," as they were scraped away by the rural Paginini in the evening, or in leading our blushing partners through the mazes of the merry dance in the wake of our silver- headed elders.
Something here reminds me of a hoax of which the citizens of Waterville were made the victims in 1833 or 1834. A placard headed "Another Wonder!" was posted about the village, announcing that Pedro Batiste, a waterman on the Thames, had invented a "Life Preserver," by which a person could walk on water for miles with perfect ease and safety. Like many other marvellous inventions, it was the result of a happy accident, and had deeply interested the scientists of Europe. The inventor, just from England via Quebec, would exhibit the preserver to the inhabitants of Waterville, and walk across the Kennebec "on Monday, the 28th day of July, at 2 o'clock, P. M., at the head of the Falls." To exclude any suspicion of deception, the inven- tion would be explained, and any spectator would be able "to perform the experiment himself, and test the invention to his satisfaction." At the appointed hour, hundreds of persons from all parts of the town flocked to the banks of the Kennebec to wit- ness the startling exhibition ; but no Pedro Batiste appeared. A half hour-three-quarters-an hour passed, with the same result, when suspicion ripened into conviction that the promised exhibition was a hoax. Great was the wrath that ensued, and loud the imprecations; but no one suspected the perpetrator- F. Burt Wells-who, all the while laughing in his sleeve, was outwardly the most indignant man in the assemblage.
It will surprise many persons to learn that ship building was once a branch of business in Waterville. Before 1830, and per- haps later, vessels were built in the early spring on the bank of
IO
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the Kennebec. near the foot of Sherwin hill-just south of the island. They were built at that time in order to take advantage of the spring freshet in the river for launching them.
Before the Augusta dam was built, and when the Kennebec was comparatively free from sawdust, great quantities of salmon, shad, alewives, and other fish were caught in its waters. My father had a trap on the east side of Ticonic Falls, which he visited twice daily, and from which he took salmon weighing from ten to twenty or thirty pounds. It is difficult to tell a big fish story without exaggerating, but, if I can trust my memory, he caught one salmon at least, that weighed forty pounds. Shad and alewives were so plentiful as to command a very low price. The early settlers of this region lived largely on the fish they caught. The Sebasticook river was one of the best fishing grounds of the State-a fact of which the Indians had been well aware.
Waterville, in the days of my boyhood, had three fine military companies. First, there was the Light Infantry, commanded successively by William Phillips, a trader on Main street, father of the late Alfred Phillips,-by William Hume, a shoemaker living in the brick building next north of the present Unitarian church grounds, and by Josiah Crosby, then, I think, a saddle and harness maker. Second, there was a large artillery com- pany, commanded for a time by Shubael Marston, a trader, which had its quarters on Temple street, a little east of Front, where in a small house it had two brass cannon. Third, there was the Militia, a large company with no uniform but a bayonet- belt and knapsack,-only its officers wearing plumed hats and epaulettes-which, for this reason, was jeeringly called "The String Beans." "Hurrah for the Stringbeans!" was the con- temptuous cry of the street boys that heralded its march, who, in general, preferred to swarm about the other more showy com- panies, which were in uniform, and could boast of finer bands of music. The annual muster of these companies and those of adjoining towns was a great occasion-a red-letter day for young and old, who flocked early to the fields of Mars from near and far. Peddlers of all kinds of edibles and potables,-notably of gingerbread, cider, and rum, and of new inventions and "gim- cracks,"-had booths adjoining the muster-field, or carts upon it,
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where, with loud and vehement harangues upon the matchless virtues of their vendibles, they exchanged them for Spanish four pences, ninepences, and quarters. The military exercises closed with a sham fight, in which all the troops exhibited to crowds of admiring spectators their prowess and military skill; after which the soldiers and spectators who were able to stand up and to avoid a zigzag step, in which there was much motion but little progress, dispersed to their homes. One of the most successful of these musters was held on "the Plain."
In those days persons living in cities and villages did not deem it necessary to go to the seashore or the mountains for rest and recreation in the summer. Sometimes a party of the citizens of Waterville, however, would fit up a long-boat with an awning, beds, chairs, etc., and take a trip to the mouth of the Kennebec, where they would spend a week in loafing, story-telling, dancing and mackerel-catching. Usually they took a fiddler with them, who scraped away while they went through the mazes of the "Virginia Reel" or other contra-dance that was popular in those days. Tea parties, dance parties, and balls were frequent in those days, and I remember that in 1825 the Fourth of July was celebrated by a tea party at four o'clock P. M., in a woolen mill and on the grounds that fronted it, on the bank of the Messalon- skee, a little below the spot where the public waterworks now are.
Alcoholic liquors were sold in those ante-Neal Dow days in nearly all the stores in Waterville, and there were comparatively few abstainers. Punctually, as the clock struck eleven A. M. and four P. M., the dry-throated citizens thronged to the barrooms and stores, and quenched their thirst with "toddies"-brandy, gin, or New England rum, which in those days were generally pure, and not "warranted to kill at forty paces." In the dwell- ing-houses of the well-to-do citizens, side-boards, with bottles of brandy, gin, and wine for guests and callers, were common pieces of furniture.
It is remarkable that there was a circulating library in Water- ville as early as 1827, if not earlier. It was kept by Edward ( ?) Savage, in his bookstore, nearly where Mr. Dorr's drug-store now stands. Thanks to Mr. Savage, whose name belied his call- ing, I was enabled by his enterprise to cheat the weariness and monotony of many a school hour by the aid of the charming pages of DeFoe, Jane Porter, and Dean Swift.
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Till 1826, when the Baptist church was dedicated, there was but one meeting-house in the village, and that-an unpainted building resting on blocks, afterwards converted, with some changes, into a town hall,-stood about in the center of the Com- mon, fronting south. Here Christians of different denomina- tions worshipped ; but usually it was occupied by the Baptists, Jeremiah Chaplin, D. D., president of Waterville college, being the preacher. He was a tall, spare man, very grave in look and utterance ; and well do I remember how weary at the age of six or seven I used to be, when, to my inexpressible relief, he finished his sixthly, seventhly, or eighthly, and closed the big quarto Bible, and-as it seemed to me-his protracted and ponderous discourse. In the afternoon, the Universalists, whose meeting- house on Silver street was dedicated in February, 1832, some- times occupied the town meeting-house, and listened to a dis- course by Rev. William A. Drew, of Augusta. On one Sunday morning, Dr. Chaplin, whose general gravity did not forbid his uttering at times a dry and pungent witticisim, made the follow- ing announcement : "I am requested to give notice that the Rev. William A. Drew, of Augusta, will preach in this house this afternoon, at four o'clock. The Gospel will be preached in the schoolhouse, at the same hour." The schoolhouse of which the Doctor spoke, and in which the unadulterated Gospel was to be preached by himself, was that of the "lower district," a one-story yellow building back of the meeting-house on Front street, that of the upper district, a small brick building, being located on College street, just north of the spot on which Daniel R. Wing long after- ward built his house. That yellow schoolhouse-shall I ever forget it, or the scenes that I once witnessed therein? Shall I- can I-forget the great open fireplace, with its blazing logs, before which, under various pretexts, such as the necessity of thawing our frozen ink, etc., we lingered so long on frosty morn- ings,-between which and the hot stove class after class stood up to read or spell, at the imminent risk of its flanks being scorched, to avoid which it crooked into a shape which the peda- gogue vainly tried to straighten? Shall I ever forget how, when I was one day penning a fly in a hollow cut in the desk, or was following with breathless interest the fortunes of Robinson Crusoe, or Gulliver, or Alonzo and Melissa, as narrated in a book
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kept "on the sly" under the desk, I suddenly found myself seized by "the master" by the jacket collar, and whisked unceremoni- cusly into the centre of the room? Shall I forget the exciting scene when one day "Gus D-," who had been a sailor, was ordered on account of some misdemeanor to come to the master's desk, and thereupon flew to the fireplace, and, seizing the fire- shovel, held it up in the air by its long iron handle in a threaten- ing manner, and, when asked by the master, "What are you going to do with that?" replied : "Knock your brains out, if you come near me!"-and, again, how the insurgent was suddenly dis- armed and compelled to submit to a severe feruling? Shall I forget the spelling-match on every Saturday, which we all enjoyed so much, when the whole school was divided into two contesting parties, ranged on opposite side of the schoolhouse, and the correct spelling by a boy or girl on our side, of a word which had been mispelled by one on the other, was hailed with an exultation equal to that at a point scored at baseball to-day ? Jonathan Heywood, our master, who was a strict disciplinarian, was afterward a physician in Methuen, Mass., where he lived to a good old age-doubtless owing, in part, to the vigorous athletic exercise he had had in administering the "oil of birch" to his refractory pupils at Waterville.
The Waterville college commencement differed for many years materially from that of Colby. It was the great, notable event of the year, and took place in August. The citizens were very hospitable to visitors, and for weeks preceding the event the ques- tion most frequently put by the ladies of the village to one another was : "Are you expecting much company at commence- ment ?" The sheriff of the county always attended the exercises, and magnified his office. With a cockade on his hat, and a red sash about his waist, he accompanied the procession from the college to the church on horseback,-sat on the stage on the right hand of the Governor of the State,-and, with his official wand, a long white rod or pole, announced the opening of the exercises by rapping loudly on the floor, and crying: "O-r-d-e-r!" This was repeated, whenever there was any loud talking or other dis- turbance in the house. The stage was large and high, reaching from the north to the south gallery ; on one side sat the trustees and faculty of the college; on the other, distinguished guests
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and visitors; between them, in front of the pulpit, sat the Gov- ernor of Maine. The first page of the large quarto order of exercises "astonished the natives" with a formidable array of Latin words "of learned length and thundering sound." In front of the church, and on both sides of Elm street, for a little dis- tance, were booths, stands, and wagons, where refreshments, candies, et id omne, were sold during the day.
Commencement day in 1840 was memorable for a political discussion in the Baptist church between George Evans, Whig Representative in Congress from Maine, and Robert Rantoul, Jr., of Massachusetts, a "Jackson Democrat," afterward Representa- tive in Congress from that state. The discussion was a vigorous one, and lasted from four o'clock in the afternoon till eleven at night.
Political contests in the years 1820-1850 were often decidedly warm in Waterville. While the Whigs or National Republicans usually elected their candidates for office, the victory was seldom "a walk-over," and the Democrats often triumphed. A notable bone of contention for some years was the proposed annexation of Dearborn, or part of that town, which was peopled almost wholly by Democrats, to Waterville, whereby the leaders of that party expected to turn the political scale in the latter place for- ever in their favor. After a stubborn contest, the measure was carried through the Legislature, nobody then dreaming of an Oakland.
The somewhat invidious name of Silver street, which was chosen by some of the richest men of the town, who dwelt on that street, was fought against in town meeting by other citizens, who were outvoted.
Waterville has always had a goodly number of lawyers, two of whom became members of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, viz: Asa Redington and Samuel Wells-the latter being also elected Governor. It is not generally known that among the members of the bar in Waterville early in the nineteenth century was Eleazar Wheelock Ripley, born in Hanover, N. H. in 1782, who graduated at Dartmouth college in 1800, and died in West Feliciana, Louisiana, in 1839. In 1810 he was speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, later a senator, and, in the second war with Great Britain, rose in the army from
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the rank of lieutenant to that of brigadier-general, and finally to that of major-general. He fought with great gallantry in the bloody battles of Chippewa and Niagara, and was known as "the hero of Lundy's Lane," where was one of the most desperate fights of the war. Another early lawyer of Waterville was Rus- seli Freeman, who appears to have been the wit of the bar. It used to be told that once when he was replying in some court to one of his brethren whose eyes were inflamed by frequent pota- tions of aqua vitae, and who had quoted the legal maxim, Id certum est quod certum reddi potest, he retorted, with a signifi- cant gesture : "Yes, your honor, id certum est quod redd-i!" Once he was dining in Augusta with Ruel Williams and other luminaries of the bar, when, as the meal was finished, it was proposed that toasts be given. The other attorneys gave suc- cessively as toasts the colleges at which they had been educated. When the turn of Mr. Freeman came, who, like Mr. Williams, was not a college graduate, he responded thus: "Gentlemen, I give to you, as a toast, no college-not Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, or Yale-but the University from which were graduated George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, David Rittenhouse, Ruel Williams, and Russ Freeman."
Waterville never could boast of many wealthy citizens, even in the days when a man possessing ten thousand dollars was regarded as "independent," and one possessing twenty-five or thirty thousand was pronounced rich. The citizens of the town were generally prudent and thrifty, spending less than they earned, rarely tempted into financial speculations, and accumu- lating their moderate fortunes by patient industry and safe investments. The few persons who flew their financial kites hign were looked upon with suspicion, and usually came to grief. Nathaniel Gilman, for many years the richest man in the town, made the bulk of his fortune in the leather business in New York City. He once told me that he had made thirty thousand dollars, by the rise in the value of his stock of leather, of two cents on a pound. Among the natives of Waterville who became wealthy after leaving Waterville, were Mr. Gilman's sons, Watson, Nathaniel, and George-the last of whom, at his recent death in Bridgeport, Conn., left an estate of two or more millions,-and William and Aaron Healey. But richer far than any of these-
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the richest native of Waterville, and one of the longest-lived, was the multi-millionaire, Daniel Wells, who, born July 16, 1808, on the west bank of the Messalonskee, close by the spot where the new dam has been built, and where his father had a fulling mill, died on March 18, 1900, in his ninety-fourth year, in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin. He was the wealthiest man in that state, his estate being estimated to amount from fifteen to twenty-five millions of dollars.
It is not generally known that Sylvanus Cobb, author of "The King's Talisman," "The Patriot Cruiser," "Ben Hamed," and many other popular novelettes, and for a long time a leading story-writer for the New York "Ledger," was a native of Water- ville. He was the son of Sylvanus Cobb, a well-known Univer- salist clergyman, -- a brother of the noted artists, Cyrus and Darius Cobb-and was born in 1823.
To conclude these imperfect recollections-Waterville in its youth was a pretty village, and its attractions have increased with each successive year. Never advancing by leaps and bounds, it has had a steady and healthful growth, and its citizens have taken a pride in making it attractive by the beauty and tidiness of their dwellings. Situated in the heart of the State, near the junction of three beautiful rivers ; with lakes on every side of it ; possessing fine water-powers, abundant railway communication, and plenty of excellent diversified land for buildings: with its streets shaded by a multitude of fine trees ; enjoying in its col- lege, classical institute, and graded public schools, rare educa- tional facilities ; it offers to persons seeking a pleasant, healthful, and attractive place of residence, many advantages. Till the present summer it has lacked a town hall in keeping with its other improvements ; but now an elegant and commodious brick build- ing for this purpose has been completed. There is no reason to doubt that the city, already the most beautiful in the State of Maine, will continue to grow in attraction, till, at a not far dis- tant day one may truthfully address it in the proud language of the Roman poet, Catullus, to Verona :
"Qui te viderit, Et non amarit protinus Amore perditissimo, Is, credo, seipsum non amat, Caretque amandi sensibus, Et odit omnes gratias."
CHAPTER VII.
THE MILITARY HISTORY OF WATERVILLE."
Its record in the Revolution-the War of 1812-The Aroostook War- the Mexican, Spanish and Philippine Wars, with rosters of soldiers who have served in each, military records, etc .- also sketch of the Waterville Soldiers' Monument Association and of W. S. Heath Post, No. 14, Department of Maine, G. A. R.
By BREVET. BRIG. GENERAL ISAAC SPARROW BANGS.
Of all the magnificent pageants this country has ever seen, from its settlement to the present year, none in point of interest can compare to the grand review of the armies of the Union on May 23 and 24, 1865.
The most causeless, cruel, bloody war in the world's history had just been brought to a triumphant close by the surrender of the army of Northern Virginia, under General Robert E. Lee, to General Grant, at Appomattox, April 9th, and the surrender of Johnston's and all confederate armies east of the Mississippi by the military convention of April 26th.
The identical flag that was lowered from the flagstaff of Fort Sumter by Major Robert Anderson April 14, 1861, was floating over Fort Sumter again, having been raised by Brevet Major General Robert Anderson on the 14th of April, 1865 ; the fourth anniversary to commemorate in the most fitting manner the restoration of national authority on the spot where the great rebellion was first inaugurated.
On the evening of that same day, President Lincoln had fallen a victim to the hate engendered by the war, by the bullet of John Wilkes Booth, at Ford's theater in Washington.
* Copyright September, 1902, by Dennis M. Bangs.
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May 18th, by Special Orders No. 239, war department, adju- tant general's office, a grand review by General Grant, President Johnson and cabinet, was ordered of all the armies then near Washington ; to take place May 23rd and 24th. These great armies had bivouacked in the streets of the capital the previous night, and when the hour arrived, the army of the Potomac led the way around the capitol, down Pennsylvania avenue, out past the reviewing stand at the White House; passing for the last time as regimental organizations before their beloved com- mandet.
With tattered flags, faded uniforms, marks of battle and exposure ; but keen-eyed, alert, bronzed, they swung along with elastic stride in close column by division ; cheered by thousands who gloried in their loyalty, their victories and final triumph.
These were the men of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, whose undaunted courage had stood between their country and ruin, between their flag and dis- honor, for four long years ;- the men whose exultant faces were set toward home.
The 24th brought Sherman's splendid army, who in a cam- paign of two thousand miles of marching and fighting had cut the confederacy in twain, and joined Grant at the Nation's cap- ital. Sixty-five thousand bronzed veterans who had won each a blazonry for his "shield without device" at Chattanooga, Dal- ton. Resaca, Kenesaw, or Atlanta,-in the army of the Tennessee under Howard,-in the army of Georgia under Slocum,-in the army of the Ohio under Schofield, or in the cavalry division with - Kilpatrick.
For two entire days these marching hosts filled Washington's streets ยท serried ranks of glistening steel with touches of color in the tattered flags they had carried for four long years and loved so well; martial music, songs, shouts of welcome, and ringing ' cheers filled the air with sound ; while the hearts of the welcom- ing thousands were overflowing with gladness that peace had come at last and "come to stay."
The effect of this moving military pageant must be lost, except as an historical incident, to the generation born since the war ; but to those then living it bore tremendous significance. No one can ever know, who was not then living, the tumultuous joy of
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the people over the close of the war and the return of the men who had saved the country.
It may well be asked by those who do not know : "If the War of the Rebellion ended with so much rejoicing, by what fanfare was it inaugurated ?"
We will turn back the pages of history for four years and stand in the streets of the village of Waterville, the embryo city of to-day, just forty-one years ago. It is not the purpose of this article to describe the physical changes that man and "God hath wrought." Indeed, these have been so insidious, so gradual, and at the same time so radical, that old things have become new. Even the people are new ! One wonders where the old buildings are, since one misses them,-and the old faces; just like any child who puzzles his wits to know where all the moons go.
It is impossible not to remember that the enduring quality of its buildings was then represented by a few unpretentious brick stores : the Ticonic row, Getchell block, the Noyes ( Phoenix) block, Morrill, and the one "where David Webb traded," and just replaced by the Flood block. As for the others, they were more or less pretentious frames, and have been moved-no one can remember when or how, and handsome brick blocks fill their places. The old stores can be found out on back streets meta- morphosed into dwellings with front piazzas, bow windows. and new paint,-"spruced up" like a widower with a second wife.
The popular resorts in the late 50s and the 60s were "the hard- ware store," John Caffrey's, and the gymnasium, which stood on the site of the post office block. At the gymnasium, the evening classes were popular and comprised representative men of the town; life-long friends who had "Lived and loved together through many a changing year," and stood shoulder to shoulder in support of the government and in sympathy with the soldier, through all the weary days of the tedious months, of the terrible years of the war. Among these were Edwin Noyes, Dr. Bou- telle, Charles M. Morse, Jones Elden, Nathaniel and John Meader, C. R. McFadden, John and William Caffrey, W. B. Arnold, Joshua Nye, George Robinson, G. A. Phillips, J. P. Hill, William Blunt, A. A. Plaisted, Simeon Keith, E. G. Meader and I. S. Bangs ; names to conjure with ; of men who controlled pub- lic sentiment and stood for law and order always and every- where.
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