The Portland daily press., 1879-01-18
FERNS $500 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.

hrmly believed that when the railroad wa
| completed the house would once more be-
come the habitation of man. They were
peculiar In their aspirations, those children
of Alfred the Great. Other people looked to
marriage, 10 the birth of children, to the ac-
cumulation of future as the great event of
their lives-the people of Alfred to the open
ing of the Brick House; others looked for
ward with fond hope to the beginning ofa
blessed Immortality as the reward Of patient
piety-the people of Alfred to the completion
of the Portland & Rochester railroad When
the Brick House burned Hope for season
bade that little world farewell.
Alfred Village is really colony-a colony
OF 'old public functionaries," to use the ex-
preston brought into vogue by James Bu-
ehanan. Its population is in great part made
up OF former office-holders and their children.
Of the many who come there as incumbents
of county offices few leave after their terms
OF servtude have expired. They settle down
for life and make homes and beget children
become reputable citizens in fact. In genera
they are easy, contented folk, well off in this
worlds goods, and taking little trouble upon
themselves. They are old ships riding at
safe anchor, and with faint desire to brave
the storms without.
1t is perhaps the presence OF these men
that makes the village seem SO quiet and
leisurely. The man who hurres Is at once
recognized there as stranger, and people
pity him. Sometimes the place Is almost
''grave-yardy." But the retired office-ho
are not dead, Trey aye only taking their
ease as becomes men who put their armor Off
If you want to rouse them speak of the old
tights in which they took a part. Then they
warm up and pour forth a food of recollec-
tions. The historian of Little PeddllDgtonian
politics can find no more fruitful field.
To see Allied at its best one should visit il
in the month of June, for it is rich 10 great
trees, and the square old houses have all their
time-stains hidden or sodsned into beauty by
the mass of foliage. Directly opposite the
| ruins of the Brick House which still "clothe
| the ground with history" stands the mansion
that John Holmes built and fantastically
decked.with balustrade of entwined bows
aud arrows in token that he laughed at those
who tauntingly said Indian blood ran in
his veins. A little above that is the Jere
Bradbury mansion where the present bearer
of an ancient name in Maine history-a name
10 which he has added ne " honors-was nur-
tured. Other houses, perhaps not less note
worthy, stand ali about. The square house
with fiat roof is-or was a few years since
noticeable feature in Alfred. Many of the
farm houses, standing far away from the vii
lage, are fashioned in that manner. The eaI-
lier settlers, the Parsons, Danes, Halls, Say
wards, Frosts, came from Massachusetts, and
brought the latest fashion in buildings with
them. They brought the fierce old Feder.!
| spirit, too, and amused themselves 10 1912 by
chalking "war-hawk' upon the front of
church-pew in which Captain of Artillery
on recruiting service sat one Sunday. Men
of peace with hate in their hearts were plenty
in New England in those days as they were
years later.
The public buildings in Alfred are not
grand to look upon. The town-house is a
top-heavy structure, and the court house par
adoxically enough fastened to the ground
with two heavy brick wings -cunningly con-
trived so that it shall not fly away to Saco;
for Saco has long wanted the courts. These
wings hold some of the Oldest records in
New England, and he who wishes to learn Of
the famous paper city that was to look down
| on York Beach can find what he wants to
know in the old books bound in yellowed
parchment. The finest building in the place
is the county jail that is got up regardless.
The visitor who is interested in neither jail
nor records and doesn't care to look at the
"Boggy Marsh" as it is pleonastically called,
may go drive. The Boggy Marsh is merely q
swamp at the back Of the village covered with
lily-pads, and full of black pools infested by
turtles and fiogs, with now and then solemn
marsh hen stalking over its extent or gazing
stupidity down upon the skunk-eabbage that
clusters at her feet. On the edge is great store
of cranberries which the children look at
longingly but dare not touch; for there are
ugly traditions that long ago little boy ven
tured there, got entangled in the crawling
vines and slowly sank out of sight. And
there his bones are now, for aught anybody
knows to the contrary.
There are many pleasant drives about the
town; one may go over "the river" as a
small affiuent of the Mousam is distinctiSely
called, or one may take a ride ''round the
mountain to region celebrated for hard
cider and merry-makings. The visitor will
find the men veritab,e sons of Anak, big -boned
and tall, and withal hospitable as an Arab or
one of our own Westerners. In the course of
the ride one skirts the great wood still known
by the Indian name "J'bung" (if any of the
settlers tell you it was named in memory Of
''Joe Bung" who first explored it, don't be-
lieve it-"Joe Bung" is a myth, and pass
over curious natural causeway closely re.
sehblipg railway embankment overgrown
with grass, called "the Whales Back" In
another direction is Shaker Pond known to
the Indians as Masabesic) a long, narrow
sheet of water famous for pond-lilies and
pickerel. Just above that, set upon hill, is
, the settlement of the united society common
ly known as ''Shakers." 1t is a notable vii
lage, with its high and narrow houses, OF a
dead samon-color, without blinds or orna-
ment of any description, standing on either
side of long, chestnut-bordered street. Be-
|, hind these are large, red buildings, dairy
houses, and seed-houses, and broom-houses,
and all manner Of houses; for the Shak-
ers are the most industrious of people. Still
farther back are great, well-flled barns. The
men in drab coats Of ancient cut, and wide
|, bIimmed hats, and the women with their
close-6tting caps and kerchiefs folded across
! their bosoms at once arrest the curious eye.
The visitor will find the Shakers kindly and
!, generous people, and he might search many
a New England village through and not see
so many fine faces as he can by spending an
hour on Shaker Hill.
Here this itinerary ends.
Alfred may be nothing more than a COM
monplace village; but to Yorick it has all the
, charm of the Lost Bower to the roet:
oA;rv hat T Iock