The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-11-20
A Peep into Old Times.

uuns of old newspapers; but save in single
instance, we have never known any one 70
4 find amusement in Directory. This instance
is in our own personal experience, for we pass
! cd an hour or two the other day, very pleas
antlv not to say proftaby, in reading through,
! from cover to cover, the Portland Directory
for 1929"
The volume in question is thin little book,
which looks SO much like Primer, or an As
senmnbly,s catechism, that we have no doubt it
wont into the rubbish-pile from which we
saved it, mistakenly supposed to be such. 1t
has curious air of old times about it, and
I would no doubt recall to Portlander of 1928,
the very spirit and action of that day. Even
to us, who were very young when its dingy
pages were printed, it gives strange impress
sion of the time, picture of the little Port
land of those days, quiet, sleepy, dignified and
aristocratc, that we have never felt before.
In 1928, so Mr. N. G. Jewett, the compiler
of our Directory, informs us, Portland had
not yet become city, being governed by
board of selectmen, all of whom have now
passed away. The schools of the little town
were under the supervision of School Com
mittee,-the chairman of which seems tohave
been our distinguished fellow-citizen, Hon. 7.
A. Deblois. OF his associates, Judge Ware, of
: the u. S. Court, is the only survivor. The
evil-doers Of those days were held in awe by
one police officer, VIM. Pollays,-and we sus-
pect that his name viii bring back recollec-
tions of boyish pranks and scrapes to more
than one Of our grey-headed readers. The
merchants of old Portland derived their bank
ing facilities from the Bank OF Cumberland,
and the Bank Of Portland. Two of the Di-
rectors of these institutions-Elias Thomas
and John Mussey-still survive, and strange
to say in this age of restless change and move
| ment, they are both passing their ripe and
honored old age in the same houses in which
they lived forty-two years ago. This same
dislike to change may be noticed in the case
| Of several other old citizens. A glance at the
Directory tells us that the Hon. c. @. Clapp,
Henry Goddard, Esq, and E. Howe, Esq,
have not changed their places of residence
since Mr.. Jewett's record was published, while
many of our old families, though partially bro
ken up by death, still live in TIE houses of
their ancestors of 1928. esg'.ao Z,
In 1928, nine churches provided the religious
instruction for the religiously inclined, while
the Democrats and Republicans Of those days
found in the Portland Gazette and Eastern
Argus sources of general and political infor-
nation, and vehicles for partizan abuse, in no
way very different from those enjoyed by their
descendants. The Argass seems to have been
somewhat in advance of its contemporary and
rival, for it advertised in the Directory.
The names of some of the streets of the
city have been changed within the memory of
many now living, VT it seems strange to see
Congress called Main ST., and E xchange, Court
st. At the same time, Park was called Ann
street, Brown, Beaver street, and Bracket,
Jefferson street. Essex street appears promi-
rnent in the Directory, but we confess we do
not know where that was. Club street is al
SO unfamiliar to us. s'' A
The Directory proper is followed by eigh-
teen pages Of advertisements, and the first up.
on the list is that of "Oliver Gerrish, Watch
maker and Jeweler, No. 6, Exchange street. y
The only other advertisers whose faces as well
as names are familiar to the Portland of to-
day, are Charles Farley, Jeweller, David Bux-
ton, Bookbinder, and W. W. Thomas, Dry
Goods. i"'i
Its very sad to see in the lists of the citi-
zens of Portland in the year 1928, SO few of
the names now prominent in the affairs of the
town, as well as to know that many, if not
most, OF those old families are not represented
in Mr.. Beckett's last city record. What has
become of the merchants, the lawyers, the
physicians and the divines of those days2-
MANY OF them, and those not the least distin-
tinguished, have, as far as Portland is con-
cerned, vanished from the face of the earth
Their very names look strange to us to-day
and their memories will shortly perish, unless
speedily rescued from the pit of forgetf1Iness
into which they seem to have fallen. There
are not few yet living who can still recall
the old Portland men and the old Portland
times Why will they not do it? Let us hear
from Mr.- or Mr.. - four readers will
easily supply these blanks) some reminiscent
ces of the last generation. Let us hear some
thing of the social life of that eminently So
cial age; of the rides to /" Brewers" and
'Broad's," and the festive suppers at more than
one famous hostelry in town. Let us hear
something of those princely merchants, whose
ssnlps were upon every sea, who built tile ele-
giant mansions that even now, more than any
thing else, give Portland its distinctive exter-
nal character, and whose enterprise almost
puts to the blush their successors of '65. Let
US hear something of the lawyers and politi-
clans of those days, whose quarrels, and whose
bonnaots and reportees were famous then all
over the country. Let us hear something
about the privateers of Portland; perhaps we
may learn lesson from the story, that may be
of service to us, before long. Let US take, with
the assistance that some one is surely able to
give US, good long look back into those old
times; peep at them does not by any means
satisfy US. s fla,ss3e