The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-05-07

Flour and other bread stuils command
cd very high prices, and i'll consequence
Of the unfavorable season Tor crops there
was much suffering among the poor here
and i'll the surrounding region. Coffee
which before the war sold for eighteen
cents per pound ran up to thirty five cents !;
carrots, bscts, barley, aud rye were roast
ed and used us substitutes very OK
tensively; indeed there were very few
families i'll which one OF the other was
not used Tea advanced from one dollar
and eighty cents to three dollars per
pound; as an almost absolute necessity
there were myriads of families in which
the use of it was entirely abandoned in
others it became the occasional luxury in
lieu of the daily beverage. Molasses adj
vanccd from sixty cents per gallon to one
dollar and fifty cents; other articles of
domestic consumption III the same pro-
portion.
The year 1918 dragged slowly, gloom
lily along, unmarked by any local event
that left any impression on the memory
of the compiler. He remembers it only
as a season of general dependency and
acrimonious chickering's between the sup
porters and opponents of the national adj
ministratiOn and its measures. There was
but small numerical difference in this
section between the two political parties.
At the gubernatorial election the vote in
this county Giancock) was for Narnum
| OemocraD .G43, for Strong (Federalist)
,443 the majority for Narnum in the
District was only l,070 The organs OF
the two parties which circulated most ex-
| tensively in this locality were the Dos
| ton Patriot - DopoOar1tin and tho 6 t1l nm
bian Centinel,n Federal: both published
During the year Congress levied a direct
tax on lands; never a popular measure,
it was at this period regarded as particu-
larry onerou5 by those who depended fol
their daily bread on the products Of the
soil a soil too which was yielding but a
niggardly return for the labor expended
| on it,
AS the year drew towards its close,
| however, a better and more harmonious
feeling began to prevail The brilliant
and repeated successes of our little navy
on the ocean, the signal victories of Com
modore Perry on Lake Erie anu of General
! Harrison over General Proctor near ''old
| Moravian town." thrilled the hearts Of the
| people, awakening them to a conscious
| ness that as partakers in common in the
nations glory they had a common interest
in maintaining its supremacy. The capture
of the British brig Boxer off Portland on
the fifth of September, by the Enterprise,
was a matter of universal Joy among the
inhabitants on this coast, for during the
year she had been greater ANNOYANCE tc
our coasters than all the other cruisers
combined.
| Every new country has its "Leathpl-
| stocking" or Daniel Boone; men who
seem to have been born with ;ln instructive
| aversion to civilization natural born hunt
ers. Two men of that class We're found
at an early period in this region; Michae
Davis, and IIodgdon, whose Christian
name is not remembered 1t is not known
what became of the first named; IIodgdor
baited his trap for the last time this year
| He would not be regarded. We're he now
| living, as n very eminent ''Son of Temper
ance' or 4 model in dress for a fashionable
tailor Amusing anecdotes are told OF
| him. one must suffice for our purpose
| Col X. who resided in a neighborne
town, was at one one time very much an
noycd by bears who made inroads on his
corn field Meeting Hodgdon one day he
| represented to him the extent of his an
noyance and asked his advice rs to the
best mode of relief. Colonel" said ii.
clears is awful fond OF molasscs, now
you Just make little trough and fill it
| with molasseS and rum, and put it where
| they come into your field, and they'll Just
drink it for the sake Of the molasses; and
the rum II Just make 'em so drunk that
| you can 90 out in the morning and knock
| IAN on the head inst rS if thay was chpnn :
The Colonel followed the advice and went
to his field early the next morning to
knock the bears on the head. The only
bear he found there was Hodgdon drunk
as he had predicted the bears would be-