The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-03-22

"heio,o VI fo'use, IL Is cheaper as building
material than it can be in Massachusetts or
elsewhere. Augusta, too, rests upon i'm
mense quarries of beautiful granite, which
can be had at trihing cost. The State Cap
itol, the U. S. Arsenal, the Insane Hospital,
the Kennebec Court House, the County Jail
1.-THE handsOmest building IN the city,) and
several blocks OF stores are built of this mate
rial, which is all ready for Sprague's Mills,
should he prefer it to bricks, that are also ex-
tensively made within few rods of his works
The location is in the heart and garden of the
State, where the market of large city can be
easily supplied 1t would be difficult to find a
'ocation that combines more advantages than
the opragues have been wary enough to Sc
cure at Augusta.
""'9'oi may be the issues connected with
.ne Aehnepec Dam there is one name ;den-
! tihea WIN It's history, which deserves alwovs
to be had in grateful remembranoo r,,s.
name is LUTHER SEVERANCE. IL ,,.. =
his brain that that costly structure was oor,
ceived which in due time was born into t,o
world, and which promises now to make the
city, where his ashes repose, the manufactur-
ing capitol, as he helped to make it the polti
cal capitol of a then new State. lie was the
talented editor of the "Kennebec Journal" at
the time-a paper which he, in partnership
with Mr.. EATON, established in 1S25-and be-
ing man of practical thought, he conceived
the idea of damming the KeDnebec at this
place. This idea he urged in his paper, till a
movement was started in that direction,
which resulted in the accomplishment of the
work. 1t is child of his useful brain. Maine
never had an ADLER editor or better public
man in it. Though modest and unaspiripg,
always at work at his case putting his un-
written editorials in type with his own fin
gers, the town forced him into the House OF
Representatives., the county forced him into
the Senate, the District forced him into Con-
gress, and his health finally forced him to ac-
cept an appointment from President Taylor as
Commissioners to the Sandwich Islands, where
cancer betrayed itself on his lip which made
sad rayages upon his honest face, till he was
Obliged to resign his office and return home
to Augusta where after several months of in
tense physical suffering, he expired, lamepted
and beloved by every human being that ever
knew him. never go to his grave in "For-
est Grove Cemetery" without dropping a will
ling tear over one of the best friends of my
life. If the proposed Mills, erected by the
Spragnes, are to take upon them an appropri-
ate cognomen, above all Others they should be
styled The SEVERANCE MILLS. r...--....-
Having said this much of Augusta, allow
me to add few words in relation TO matter
n Portland. There should be a standing and
expressive monument some where in the city
to remind every observer of the great fire,
which on the 4th of July 1866, laid so large a
portion of it in ruins. Where should that
stand? Certainly not in the out
skirts swept by the fiery element, but as near
the central ruins of the conflagration as posi-
bic. Ofwhat should it consist, and how may
the expense of the structure may be most easi.
ly borne? 1t strikes me that you hare such
q monument. and most expressive one, al |
ready erected, one that stands in that yery |
centre, and which must always attract atten-
ton. 1t is, too, just that which can but be of
itself perpetual reminder of the great fire.
beg OF you not to demolish the external walls
OF that only building, that defiant monument.
which stood and Knocked the raging elements
that Frustrated everything else upon
the desolated acres around it, Alter and
repair the inside of the edifice at
what cost you will; but let those significantly
marked walls always tell, as they will, every
achdt eueHt it tsas that faxed the
granite ashlers, which marred their be auty only
to tell the story of their fiery trials. In years
and generations TO come that monument will |
record history, which any mere ornamental
erected subsequently upon pub |
lie park, will fail to suggest. 1t viii tell its |
own story for ages. Were a citizen of the |
Forest City-alas! now but forest of Chin |
neys-1 should protest very earnestly against
lemolishing that building. 1t is the best and |
most appropriate monument of The fire that |
could be designed. W.A.D.