The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-07-07
Our Friends and Neighbors.


Our Friends and Eeighbors.
Had any body raised the question three days
ago. whether Lewiston and Newburyport, and
Boston and other neighboring cities would as
sist us in need, nobody in Portland would bare
hesitated Co answer. Yes,4 assuredly. And yet,
where the occasion came, their prompt and
kindly remembrance comes upon us unawares,
as if it were something unexpected and sur
prising. The circumstances in which we find
ourselves, are SO new and sfrange, that the
generous sympathy which fils US with graft
tude, seems also strange and new, though old
as human nature. f
The reply to our call for help Wednesday
night was prompt as the circumstances would
allow. Two engines from Saco srrived in forty
FIVE minutes after Mayor Stevenss telegram
was received. Lewiston sent on her steamer
Liberty and about 300 men. The Bath, Bruns-
wick and Gardiner fire companies. on their re.
turn from the celebration at Lewiston, got
tidings from Portland at Brunswick, and came
to our aid with their tubs. From Augusta
came the Chief Engineer of the Fire Depart.
ment, with the steamer Cushnoe, and how many
men we, have not learned. Boston promptly
sent inea to relieve our exhausted fremen. All
their efforts, added to, the labors Of our own
citizens. proved poweriess to eoatrol the devas-
tating flames; hnt it was only because the fire.
driven by such gale, could not be controlled
by water. Their friendly. aid will long be
gratefully remembered. - Y D'o4 s
While the flames were still raging, a man
whose name we are unable to give, left town
for Yarmouth. "I am going home," said he,
"to send in a car load of provisions Tomorrow
ming of the exhibition of Christian charity
which has continued and still continues to lay
US under the deepest obligations. In Newbu-
ryport, Thursday evening, the city govern
ment passed the following resolutions offered
by Aldermen Pierce:
In BOARD OF ALDERMEN, July S, 1866.
Whereas, we have learned with deep regret
the recent loss to the city of Portlaud and her
inhabitants by o aconfagration unprecedented in
the United States, which has rendered tho u.s.
ands homeless and destitute. therefore be it
Resolved, That the city of Newburyport
tcnuerS nof sympathy anu aiQ TO tne CITY OF
Portland and her inhabitants in this their sud-
den and awful desolation.
Resolued, That the city of Newburyport be-
lieyes the city of Portland to possess ali the en-
ergy and high resolve necessary to sustain her
in this calamity; that she will rise undismayed; !;
that her career is still onward, and that she
will ,, ys. ss one Of the pr9udsst cities Of New
.Rssolue4. That we have ever remembered
that at the time of our great fre in 1911, we
received our earliest aid and sympathy from
Portland and her inhabitants, and that we has
ten to reciprocate the gift of supplies she and
they then SO bountifully furnished.
/ Resolved, That q certified copy of these re-
solves be furnished to the Mayor of the city of
| Mayor Graves and Aldermen Balch and Huse
were appointed committee to purchase what
ever should be deemed necessary, and arrived
by the earliest train yesterday morning with
nearly o hundred barrels of bread and provis-
ions, A town meeting was held IN the Ports
mouth City Hall yesterday morning. to pro-
vide for further measures of relief. In Boston,
Mayor Lincoln issued an appeal to the citizens,
to which, in less than two hours. response was
made by q subscription of over $4,000. COM
mittee consisting of Messrs. Bowker, Hyde &
Richardson of the Common Council and an
equal number of Aldermen. was appointed to
visit Portland and ascertain what aid ought to
be rendered. They arrived yesterday after
noon, bringing three car loads Of provisions,
and SIS 900 in money, with $4,000 more from
Lynn. = Mayor Frye of lewiston came in
Thursday. and teiegraphed home at once for
provisions, which were sent forward by the
first train yesterday. A previous eontri
button of food had been received from
Lewiston and Auburn by same train which
brought down the fremen. In Biddeford,
Mayor Shaw issued an appeal ON Thursday.
urging his fellow citizens to show themselves
''second to none in this good work." and .
large committee of gentlemen and ladies
was raised to receive and forward contrbu
tions and see that they are properly appropri-
ated. In Saco public meeting was held for
the same purpose, and similar committee was
appointed In Bath, public meeting was held
last evening at, g. o'clock, and in Bangor at
7 71-2 o'clock. Similar proceedings have doubt
less been had in other cities, but we hear of
nothing more, except from New York. which
g
was reported to have subscribed $4,000. e
Not only to cities and towns are our thanks
due. The superintendent of the Boston &
Maine, and of the Eastern railroads have
authorized the transportation Of all freight for
the+relief of our suffering citizens, free Of ex-
pense, and the extra trains Of Wednesday night
! over all the roads leading into the city were
run at the expense Of the corporations. To the
newspaper press throughout New England we
are indebted for kindly mention, and above all
for the confidence which has been SO generally
expressed in the future of cur noble city. In
single instance it has been said, that the loss
is ''such as it will take many years to recover
from" No more kindly. but more correctly,
another journal says, sit will be heavy,
though by no means crushing blow to hith-
erto favored CITY," We venture to predict that
in less than-let us be perfectly safe and say
ten years, the territory which was burned over
Wednesday night will be laid out in broader
streets, covered with bandsomer buildings, and
alive with business of which we have hereto
fore had only faint premonitions. Men who
have not been on the spot, can have but faint
idea of the spirit with which this disaster has
been met. Wednesday night while the fire was
still raging, dry goods dealers who had just
cleared their burning stores of every package
that could be saved. were securing Commercial
street for rents. Every available rent is already
taken up. and building must and will begin
Immediately. With the Atlantic on one side,
her excellent system of inland communications
fon the other. and the enterprising spirit within
which has heretofore improved, and in part
created these advantages Portland cannot be
destroyed by fire. As the Boston advertiser