The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-01-01

the man who drinks aud does the mischief"
asked the General. 1 explained the indirect
ness of our modern system of law-making;
how it was founded on the idea of the BOOM
erang; how we tax the poor by pretending to
tax the rich how we make the poor man pay
for railroads pretending that property bears
the burden how we encourage the wealthy
man and tell the poor man he must be indus
trious and economic; how we give place and
power to the rich and influential and in
sist that modest merit shall avoid the pomps
and vanities ofpublic life.
"But society must be growing worse them"
said Master Cleeves.
mot So" replied; "the great body of the
community are improving. Vast numbers
abstain entirely from the use of liquors, edu-
cation is becoming general, the poorest rise
to wealth, individual oppression is impossible,
and all are better fed, better clothed, and
better housed than the best in your time,
Master Cleeves; we can go to sleep at night
without fearing the tomahawk and scalping
knife, and great war brings none of the
hardships and privations to our citizens that
the war of the revolution did to you and your
neghbors, General, hundred years ago.
We argue questions more calmly than you
and Colonel Tying used to do, General; we
have daily newspapers; and each morning
the PRESS and Argus come to our breakfast
tables arguing all great public events from
exactly opposite standpoints while to the
teatable comes the Advertiser, happy med
ium, standing on one side and arguing on the
other"
SIS this inn named after me?' asked the
General.
"Not exactly" answered. sour citizens
have not forgotten that you were the represen-
tative man of your day, nor do they cease to
remember your eminent military and civic
record, but your son, the gallant commodore,
made such brilliant national record that his
name stands foremost in our history, and he
built this house originally"
edward was good boy" said the Gen.
eral. with commendable pride. eve came up
Middle street to-day, looking for my old house,
but there was an elegant white stone block
front garden used to be.'
"There was tavern in back there thirty
five years ago." replied.
"That was the place." said the General,
show little time it takes to sweep away the
old land marks. Fore street looks family ia
miliar, but where did Commercial street come
from, and all those streets of houses on the
back cove? and where has Clay cove gone,
and the uptown swamps, and the brooks that
ran into Fore River? I expected to find
great city, but water seems changed into
solid land, and the familiar hills and streams
are gone"
81 was down looking after ny cornfeld
this morning." said Master Cleeves, ''and
found it built over with shops and houses,
the cove vanished, and where the boats used
to lie were great warehouses and tracks with
railroad trains passing continually, and the
beach with its ripping waves in front of my
house was changed into railway stations, i'm
mense piers, and machine shops, and the din
and confusion drove me quite away"
$50 we walked up town." said the Gen.
eral, Choking for some familiar spot, but
everything has changed. What difference
your pavement and brick sidewalks make
What we most admired were the iron gratings
that let the light and air into your cellars,
and the coal holes. How can a city fail to
be happy that has coal holes and iron graf
ing? And your street lamps! that's luxury.
Where does your fuel come from?'
pennsylvania and Nova Scotia"
"That shows wealth and prosperity" said
Master Cleeves, "when you can send all over
the world to supply your daily and common
wants. Do your people ever complain of
hard times as we were used to do in days
agone?"
ga few thoughtless people do" replied I
somewhat abashed, ''they do not fairly real
ize that since the world began no man ever
got more than his board and clothes for his
life's labor, and they do not perceive that
they get great deal better board and clothes
than their ancestors. But, gentlemen, didn't
you attract attention walking through the
public streets to-day?"
"Master Newbesin," quoth the elder, clos
ing his right eye slightly with sort of spirit
ual wink, "when you are d, that is, when
you shall have quilted this temporary exist
ence, you will know great many things
which you cannot now comprehend"
81 trust, sir" replied, "that when 60 to
the happy hunting grounds, 7 shall have
learned to be less rude and inquisitive, and
beg you will pardon me-" Happy hunting
grounds was not original with me, in fact 1
think may have caught the expression from
an eminent gentleman who ornaments the
Cumberland Bar, but it seemed to please the
old gentleman to have me put it in that way.
"That's right Mr.. Newbegin, quite
right" said the General, filling his pipe again,
and recklessly using his forefnger as tobac.
co stopple, "but where does your light come
| from"
SIT is gas made from coal or coal oil, and
conveyed in underground pipes" I replied,
| and our water comes in the same way from
Lake Sebago."
81 do DECLARE" said Master Cleeves.
| ''Then," added /, ''see how this percussion
| paper lights it; that invention cost me a dol
lar this morning, -four shilings Master
Cleeves), and This electric disc for lighting, a
dollar and half last year, but this is out of
| order. A new man comes along with a fresh
continuance every week, and you have to buy
them all to secure peace and quietness."
"Does not the law protect you from such
aunoyances, by imprisonment or stocks ?'
asked the General. "This is free country,
gentlemen, and every man is allowed to an
noy his neighbor to a reasonable extent. But
the greatest invention of our age is what we
call medium, who for dollar will intro
duce you to all your dead and gone friends,
and make casts of their hands,
"The casts are handy things to have in
the house," said Master Ceeves, "but in my
time these people would have been burned
for Witches"
''Like poor George Burroughs" added the
General.
Naturalization, they call it, now," per-
sisted I, mildly.
people always have been fooled on that
point since the time of Saul, and nobody
knows how long BEFORE" said the General.