USA > Maine > York County > The history of York county, Maine, and a rambling narrative about the town of Eliot and its mother-town old Kittery with personal reminiscences; an address delivered by Ralph Sylvester Bartlett at exercises held in Eliot, Maine, August 29, 1936 > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Earlier in the same year of the first Mid-Summer Fete, Rosemary Cottage, built by Hannah Tobey Farmer in memory of her only son Clarence, who died in infancy, was dedicated as a Home where tired mothers and their children from Boston could find temporary relaxation and needed rest. Think what that beni- ficent act of Hannah Tobey Farmer has meant to the thousands of poor, tired women who have been cared for, and those who still are being cared for in that clean, health-giving home, many of whose children had never been out in the country-away from their poor city surroundings-until they made their first
(17)
visit to Rosemary Cottage. The Boston City Missionary Society, faithfully rep- resented for so many years by the late Rev. Daniel W. Waldron, has been, and still is doing splendid service in administering the trust imposed upon it by the donor for the care and maintenance of the charity so nobly conceived and so ef- fectually carried to fulfilment near the very close of the donor's life.
The year 1890 marks another mile-stone in Eliot's march forward to greater prominence and fame. It was the year of the opening of Greenacre-on-the-Pis- cataqua, the plan for which was originated by the daughter of the same Farmer family that was bringing such distinction to our town.
The site selected for Greenacre on the river was the very spot where years before some of the finest ships of the clipper type ever put afloat in any waters were built and launched. Perhaps the most famous of those ships was the clip- per ship "Nightingale," built for the Australian trade, and named after the sobri- quet given Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish singer.
While a student at Dartmouth, I occasionally called to see Professor Far- mer when at home on a vacation. Having himself once been a student at Dart- mouth he enjoyed talking with me and narrating events which took place in Hanover when he was a student there. My sister usually accompanied me on these visits. When I graduated from Dartmouth in June, 1889, Professor Farmer wrote me a letter, which I still treasure. He also had his daughter accompany my sister to Hanover for Commencement, at which the Phi Beta Kappa Address was delivered by the Reverend Edward Everett Hale, a warm friend of the Far- mer family. A few weeks later, while calling upon Professor Farmer, I distinctly recall Miss Farmer telling my sister and myself the many things she was planning for Greenacre-on-the-Piscataqua. These plans were realized in the summer of 1894 by the formal opening of the Greenacre Conference for the comparative study of religion, philosophy, ethics and sociology.
And what a distinguished and varied assemblage of people was drawn to our small town the years following the opening of these conferences. This was before the days of the trolley and modern means of transportation. The only mode of conveyance was the horse and carriage, and the steam cars, as they were gen- erally called. The opening of Greenacre brought to the Eliot Depot as cosmo- politan a crowd, though on a much smaller scale of course, as could be found even in New York City. The dark skinned Swami Vivekananda, from India, in a flowing robe, mingling in a group composed of such sedate men as John Greenleaf Whittier and the Rev. Augustin Caldwell, with the well-known, famous actor, Joseph Jefferson, included in the group, naturally did attract a great deal of attention; and year after year there were drawn to these conferences under the leadership of Miss Farmer many men and women of nation-wide promin- ence, and distinguished people from across the water,-a gathering the like of which our little town had never before, and has not since, witnessed.
(18)
All of these happenings were taking place at a time when new inventions were about to make great changes in our way of doing things. None of our houses were lighted by electricity. The telephone had not yet reached our town, and the trolley line was not to be built until later-in 1902. The motor car was not seen upon our roads. Oxen were still used in farm work. I think I am correct in saying that the first telephone in Eliot was installed by my brother, C. Edward Bartlett, between our house and the Eliot Depot as a convenience in shipping farm products, etc. This was about 1900. A few years later a telephone line was constructed between our house and the home of Dr. Willis, the wires being run on the poles of the trolley line which began operating the summer of 1902 .* The telephone line was for our mutual convenience, of course, as Dr. Willis then was taking a very active part in the many things going on in the town, which necessitated frequent conferences with our family. This telephone between our house and the home of this busy doctor was also a great convenience to those living in our part of the town, for they were given the use of our tele- phone whenever sickness demanded a call from the doctor, or other emergency arose. On his visits to the part of Eliot where we lived, Dr. Willis would invari- ably make use of our telephone, calling his own home to ascertain what visits, if any, he had been called upon to make since leaving home. This telephone line was incorporated under the laws of Maine, and a charter was issued in the name of THE ELIOT TELEPHONE COMPANY. The legal work in procuring the charter was my modest contribution. About a year later, an official of the New England Telephone & Telegraph Company, with whom I was acquainted, ap- proached me in regard to their taking over The Eliot Telephone Company, and this was soon satisfactorily arranged, thereby giving the town the benefit of the service since that time enjoyed.
The meetings of the Eliot Historical Society were still being held at the homes of its various members; new issues of OLD ELIOT were still coming from the press of the Rev. Augustin Caldwell; the Eliot Library Association, stimulated by the great success of its two Mid-Summer Fetes, was still active; but there was yet to come the crowning event of all these activities,-the building and dedication on May 21, 1907 of the beautiful building gracing the grounds near which we now are assembled-THE WILLIAM FOGG LIBRARY, given to his native town by the late Dr. John S. H. Fogg of Boston, as a memorial. of his father whose name it bears. I consider myself fortunate in having had the priv- lege of calling upon Dr. Fogg at his home in South Boston about a year before he died. It was the only time I ever saw him. Dr. Fogg and my father were warm friends, and one day while I was in the Law School my father came to Boston and took me to call upon his old friend since early boyhood. Dr. Fogg at that time was an invalid, but his brain was alert and he was keenly interested in hearing everything about affairs in Eliot. He invited me to call to see him again but, busy with my law studies, he passed away before I got to him.
(19)
All the events I have mentioned took place before Eliot reached its 100th anniversary. During the last twenty-five years of that period the people of the town were being drawn closer and closer together in the development of new in- terests, in which more and more shared an active part; they were getting to know each other-to find pleasure in working for a common cause. When I was a boy going to school in Eliot, the people in one part of the town scarcely knew those living in another part. And so, with this greater intermingling, when it became time to hold a celebration of the town's centennial, no wonder it was such a tre- mendous success. One of my great regrets is that I was not able to participate in this celebration. Absence in Europe prevented. As soon as it was published, however, I procured a copy of "The History of the Eliot Centennial, 1910," so well edited by Dr. J. L. M. Willis and Aaron B. Cole, Esquire, and that volume now rests upon a shelf in my library beside the bound volumes of OLD ELIOT. Recently I have been reviewing the book of our Centennial, re-reading the ex- cellent speeches, and accounts of the interesting exercises held on various days of the week's celebration, not overlooking the many pictures of the town and pic- tures of familiar faces, including that of dear old Dr. Guptill, who was at our home when I came into the world, and whom I well remembered in later life. And I cannot be other than proud that I was born and reared in a town which has the background-the wealth of history and tradition-that our dear old town of Eliot has,-the town to which I now have returned, to join in your pleasures, to participate in your responsibilities, to pass my remaining years amid scenes and association of early boyhood.
The fascinating history of our interesting old town has, I fear, made me too reminiscent, but I hope you will forgive it. I have just come from the meetings of the American Bar Association held in Boston. Assembled there during the week were more than five thosand prominent lawyers and judges from every State in the Union, and internationally known representatives from the Cana- dian Bar and the Bar of England. At the annual dinner of the Association night before last, where more than thirteen hundred were present, stirring speeches were made by distinguished representatives of America, Canada and England, and eloquent tributes were paid to the great men of the past who had contributed to making the powerful English-speaking nations what they are today.
And so I, in closing, wish to express my feeling of gratitude, in which I am sure you all will join, that we have had in Eliot such men as Parson Chandler, William Fogg, Moses Gerrish Farmer, Dr. Willis, and that splendid coterie of public spirited citizens, who unselfishly gave their best efforts for the welfare of our town.
This beautiful library building near which we are assembled, and the valu- able records of the town's history there preserved, will long bear silent witness to the sterling worth, the sacrifices, the intelligent conception of public duty of that
(20)
distinguished group of former citizens of Eliot, who contributed so freely, so wisely in giving to our Eliot the rich associations we enjoy today. With feelings of deep emotion, I offer to their memory my humble tribute of grateful appre- ciation.
* July 26, 1902 was the first day of regular travel that passenger cars were run on the Electric Railway between Eliot and Kittery. It was the fifty-fifth anniversary of running the first electrically operated passenger car in the world, which was invented and made by Prof. Moses Gerrish Farmer, and was exhibited and operated by him in Dover, New Hampshire, July 26, 1847. In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of this invention by Professor Far- mer, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1897 held its annual meeting in Eliot at Greenacre-on-thePiscataqua. A distinguished group of electrical engineers and scientists attended the meeting, including the late Charles Proteus Steinmetz, famous consulting engineer of the General Electric Company. Upon exhibition at this meeting was the original electrically oper- ated car, which now is in the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C.
(21)
5991p
:
4 .. . ..
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.