The Portland daily press., 1876-02-26

simply tribute to that catholic quality of
mind which often leads us to doubt the evi-
dence of our senses, and which distinguishes
the possessor of an i'm mortal soul from his
more confident and more amiable brother of
the brute creation sometimes. "Adam
Newbegin," 1 remarked, flor, in the absence
of a lady over whose defenseless nature the
law would give me an opportunity to tyran-
nize, am in the habit of lecturing myself
''if it had not been for your long tongue and
empty head" sir, the gentlemen would not
have been driven away, and you might have
obtained some important ideas upon ghosts.n
Had the ghosts become materialized or had
my eyes been spiritualized? That, perhaps,
is the gist of the whole question. The spir-
itualists seem to be throwing their whole case
away by proving that ghosts can be made
tangible instead Of showing that our senses
may be spritualized so as to perceive the in
visible world; but then Abraham fed the an
gels with veritable calf and he was a man
whose spiritual eyes were opened. filled
the meerschaum it was still warm, and
there were the three glasses and bits of lem
cn-peel in each. Had drunk the three
glasses myself? Notwithstanding my natur-
al modesty of opinion / was ready positive
ly to affirm that ! had not. Had been only
spiritually drinking? That was more per-
tinent question. The subjects of the Biolo-
gist are as confident of their sensations as I
had been. In fact how do we know that the
Invisible World is not the more real, and our
spiritual sensations the more absolute and
permanent? There certainly was something
superhuman in the flavor. Suppose should
mix one myself in the same manner, exactly.
and compare it. grieve to admit that it re-
quires but little argument to persuade phil
osopher to take his sec ond glass in the cause
of science.
1t is surprising to notice how rapidly i'm
ages run through the mind. 1t seems like the
revolving mirror that measures the speed of
the electric spark. While poured out the hot
water to heat the glass, my thoughts ran
back to the days of Master Cleeves, two hum
dred years ago. We use Sebago water, now,
thought I, from a lake seventeen miles away,
but Portland was well-watered in your time,
with that splendid stream flowing down from
MuDjoy to the harbor, and the Mariners
Spring on Spring street, with its brook rum
ming down to Fore River. doubt if the
brook that ran down from the pond where
Federal street now holds its way, and emp
tied just below Exchange street, was very
good drinking water, but it was probably
used as such, and the many swamps from
Cotton street 10 the crest of Bramhall Hill
must have sent scores of brooks running into
the harbor on either side. Master Cleeves,
in his time, saw only wilderness, with five
or six cleared farms ON it,a river with wooded
banks, where occasional ships, as big as our
large schooners, would lie at anchor, little
creeks where solitary boat rocked and pulled
at its tether, and wooded hills where
painted savage might lurk in the path of any
careless wayfarer. Master Cleeves did not
live to see the massacre by the Indians, in
1875, just two centuries ago, when the town
was depopulated, the men, women and chill
dren being all scalped or carried away into
captivity save Parson Burroughs and few
Others, who escaped to JEWELS Island.
There were then thirteen small settlements
and six thousand English in Maine. Boston
was a little village, the first wharf having
been built but two years. They had the
Common then, but it was cow-pasture, and
Faneuil Hall and the old South were not
dreamed of. New York, after having been
held nine years by the English, and then re-
taken and held by the Dutch one year, had
just come into possession of the English
again, and contained some 375 houses. Phil
adelphia was not settled until seven years
later, and Baltimore not until 1929. The
principal Virginia settlement was at James
town, now only ruins, and they were on the
eve of the Bacon rebellion in which the
town was burned. The mouth of the Missis-
sippi River was not discovered until 1891 al
though Marquette had sailed down to the::Ar-
kansas. Quebec was in the hands of the
French, and Montreal was their advanced
military post.
In Great Britain Charles II was reigning,
his fifteenth year, and those were the merry
days Of England, notwithstanding that Lon
don lost over 10000 people by plague ten
years, and 13, 900 buildings by fire nine years
before. Perhaps the poor people were not
merry, but the court was gay.
France was enjoying her Augustan age un-
der the reign of Louis XIV. The Prince de
Conde bad recently fought the great battle of
Seneffe in Brabant against the Prince of Or
ange, 10000 were killed, without decisive
result, and Turenne had laid waste the Pala-
tinate, and had just met his death by can
non ball. -.s. ---. ..--.-
The Turks were invading Germany and
Vienna was endangered.
I was putting in the sugar. Could the y
have had white lump sugar then? Probably
they used maple sugar. If you want to find
people who have remained just al that point
in history go up through Madawaska from
Grant Falls, and you will find the residents
speaking the old French, weaving their own
clothing as they did then, living in houses of
the old-fasbioned build, and you will get only
maple sugar for sweetening until you reach
Riviere du Loup. Our supplies at that time
must have come from England, which had
recently acquired Jamaica. The Spaniard
kept the Cuban trade to themselves, mostly;
they were building the MORO Castle then.
San Domingo had been ruined city for
eighty years, what was not finished by the
earthquakes of 1884 and 1891. Evidently
our sugar trade was not great at that time.
Lemon-peel! Yes, Sicily was under the
Spanish crown then, though it went over to
Austria thirty-one years after. Portugal was
almost ruined by the Spanish yoke which
was shaken off in 1910, and was beginning
to recover again. Italy was under Pope
Clement z.
Gaudaloupe! Yes, Gaudaloupe and Mar
Unique were happy then. The natives had
all died out, and prosperity reigned, but all
their rum went to France.
Nutmeg! The Dutch held Java in those
days, and probably good Master Cleeves got
an occasional supply from Holland through
England.
I tasted the mixture. 1t was like the
Generals brewing, but not the same; as
potent, but lacking in inspiration. Is it one