Arizona weekly enterprise., 1882-12-02
I,ifa in a Maine Village,

of this simple village, one must know first that it's best elements have been sapped off yearly, for at least the space of generation, by emigration. There is a steady annual exodus of the bright, active, ambitious young men and wo- men to better fields. Only the dullards remain on the native soil. And queer community these latter make.
 The chief feature of this life is it's to- tai lack of concentration. What little there is of individual energy is diffused over the whole sphere of activity. The jeweler of the town is also the barber, the general mechanic and the tinker; he likes to ''hay it'' little, to fish lit tie, to ''berry it" little, and to raise some garden truck. He is a sample, and a pleasant one, of all his fellows. If they are tradesmen, they keep little of everything; if mechanics, they turn a hand to little of everything; if day laborers, they want to shift around into dozen or more varieties of work during the year. No one works hard. Fish, clans and vegetables are the food sta pies. Perhaps it is impossible to basC labor upon these; perhaps it is the in- fluence of the lazy atmosphere; perhaps. again, it is in the breed. But whatever the cause, the result is very clear; no Castinian knows what the word work means. The stores open in an indolent manner at 9 or so in the morning. They close with more promptness at noon; reopen sleepily about two hours later, and thenceforward are likely to shut up at any time. There is delight ful uncertainty about every phase of what they call business. It is the ex- ception to find a merchant in his own store, even in the busiest times the tin smith, his boy will tell you. may be over at the butcher s; perhaps you could find him at the drug store; possibly he is on the wharf; there is chance of encountering him at the hotel. What is true of the tinsmith is true of all thf others. The leading manufacturing es- 1 tablishment of the village-almost the only one-is a canning factory, where l Holsters, mackerel, clans, etc., are put up for the market There is a steady demand for the goods of this factory, to which it seems utterly indifferent. When the village boys feel like working at that particular thing, the factory opens, and stays open until the boys take notion to go fishing or having CT mining-for there are mines in these parts. Then, wholly regardless of the state of the market, its demand or its supply, the factory stops. Here labor is autocratic. It chooses its own times, hours and fields. When it is lethargic, no inducement is strong enough, no emergency grave enough, to stir it into action.
 a11- ,kOlr, suggestion of enterprise, among the na- tiyes. The lobster-pots are set in the same places, the mackerel- boats go to the same coves, year after year. If the Holsters do not come into the pots, if the mackerel do not bite, so much the worse; nobody looks for them anywhere else. Once on a time Castine had q good deal of business; now she has next to none. Nobody thinks of asking why, or, at least, going out after the retreat ing trade and striving to bring it back. Traffic is now altogether local. and as narrow and short-ranged as may be. A Castine man, with $500 worth of fish on hand, which were on the very verge of taint, found another willing to purchase. There was difference of $40 between their views, and no sale was made that day. The next day there was only a difference of SIS, but no sale. That night the owner of the fish had to throw the whole lot into the sea. He was rather proud than otherwise of his re. fusal to be cheated out of SIS though The people there know no steak-cut save the tough round They buy thai because there is no bone in it; the DOT terhouse is sold for roasts; they like il better for steaks, they say, but cannot afford to buy so much bone. Living however, is exceedingly cheap there and all through this sectioD-cheapel than in any other part of the country perhaps.
 The social side of this village life i very meager and cold The womel rule matters here very generally. Tn, men of snap and stuff having sought their fortunes elsewhere, those who re- main are easily domineered by theil ] wives, mothers and sisters This fact accounts for much that is otherwise odd in Maine's condition. Dancing is al most a lost art here. Music is sober and serious. New Workers are regard cd with uneasiness. The wilder West ern man is looked upon with positive hISlEuSl. A person WnO CO0leSSeS to { liking for lager beer is viewed in Gas tine as 8 confirmed opium-eater would be in Albany. The gregarious instinc of the two sexes finds a vent in mite societies, singing classes, and granC camp meeting once a year. CamE meetings reach their climax of populari ty in Maine There is not much re = Egious fervOr or excitement in them but much sedate and quiet comfort, fo the women at least. As to masculin, diversions. 1t is not easy to hit upol their identity. The men of the villag do not seem to get much fun. Perhap their sport is spread so evenly througl their hstless lives, along with thei labor, that there is no call to break ou in spots Certainly there is no sucl thing as hilarity among them. Afte supper they are wont to stand or sit il ) little groups of two or three in front O the closed stores on the main street talking little, chewing or smoking to baeco invariably, laughing never.
 To-day. the number of foreigners liy
 ing among us is little over 6,500,00( while the members of the cOlored rae y reach almost the same number. Speak
 ing roundly, then, the following is tE table of our population:
 Whole number. er......................... 51 G9A, ~
 Foreigners 6, ,5OO, ,Oc
 Total native-born n..................43,5 43, 300, Q,
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