The Portland daily press., 1882-02-28

became distinguished for his sprightly and
graceful style, the late Nathaniel p. Willis,
was born in Portland. In 1907 the Rev. Ed
ward Payson began here, as the colleague OF
Rev. Elijah Kellogg, his wonderful pastorate
of twenty years. In 1907 the third parish
meeting house, in which the late Kev. DR..
Dwight so long officated, was built. In
1907 the increasing demands OF commerce
caused the erection of the Observatory on
Munioy's Hill. In 1907 the commerce Of this
port. which had gone on increasing with giant
strides for period of more than ten years,
had reached high state of prosperity, and in
1907 the embargo fell upon and crushed it
with one fell stroke, spreading ruin and
disaster throughout the community. 1t was
the elimination of period of great prosperi-
ty, ard the beginning Of a season of adversely,
ending in the calamities of war.
The little fishing village on the Neck, raw
aged by the Indians in 1876, destroyed by the
French and Indians in 1890, bombarded and
burned by the British in l775, after the close
of the Revolution again sprang into existence,
and profting by the Napoleonic wars in
Europe, in common with the whole country
entered upon a career of unexampled COM
mercial prosperity. American bottoms, as
being declared neutrals, were the only safe
carriers, and largely monopolized the COM
content with coasting trade, engaged in
oreign commerce. and did large importing
business. The tonnage of the port largely in
creased. Wealth flowed in and with it came
greater refinement and more lavish style of
living The humble habitations of the earlier
period, which IN 1899 the Duke de la Roche
foucault had described as "a parcel Of mean
houses" began to give place to large and
elegant mansions some of which still remain
to testify to the architectural taste as well as
sthe prosperity of the period. The first brick
store, built in 1892 was followed in 1899 by
the erection of Mussey's Row on Middle
street, and in 1901 by Jones's Row on Ex-
change, built by the Rev. Elijah Kellogg-for
the commercial spirit of the time had seized
upon the ministers OF the Gospel. The town
was full of enterprise. New wharves were
thrown out into the harbor, banks were estab-
lished, and desirable class of residents came
in, bringing capital with them. The little
village which for ten years after its destruc-
| ton by Mowatt had lain desolate, now began
| to take on a solid and substantial air. In
| 1898 the Duke de la Rochsfoucault wrote Of
Portland as $50 remote and SO rarely visited
| by travellers" but in 1907 Dr. Dwight, travel
| ling hither, could write: mo place in our
route hitherto, could for its improvement be
| compared with Portland. We found the build
| ings extended quite to the Cove, doubled in
| their number, and still more increased in their
appearance. Few towns in New England are
| equally beautiful and brilliant. Its wealth
and business are probably quadrupled.'
All this prosperity was suddenly checked
| by the nom intercourse policy of 1906, and
| the embargo which followed in 1907. Com
merce was at once suspended, and the almost
total destruction of our shipping followed.
| Navigation fell off nine thousand tons in two
years, all the various classes to whom it gave
support were thrown out of employment,
eleven commercial houses stopped payment in
the latter part of 1907, and many others the fol-
lowing year. Great distress fell upon the peo-
! pie, reverse made more gloomy by contrast
| with the preceding prosperity.
| Then came the war of 1872, bringing some
| activity in the way of privateering, and the
movement of troops for the defense of the
| town. Fortifcations were thrownup on Mum
Joy, and garrisons were established in them.
Here begin the recollections of our poet, then
boy of six or seven years, as recorded in his
poem of "My Lost Youth"
remember the bnlwarks by the Shore
And the fort upon the hill;
The sunrise gun, with it's hollow roar,
The drum-beat repeated o'er and DER,
And the bugle wild and shIill.
And the music of that old song
Throbs in my memory still;
"a boys will is the winds will,
And the thoughts Of youth are long, long
thoughts"
On the 4th Of September 1918, the British
brig Of war Boxer, Captain S. Blyth, was
captured in hard fought action off our coast
by the United States brig Enterprise, Lieuten-
ant w. Burrows, and was brought into this
port on the morning of the 7th, and the next
day the remains of both commanders, who
were killed in the action, were buried in the
cemetery at the foot of Munjoy's hill. This
was an event well calculated to impress itself
:pon the memory of boy, and our poet
again sings
remember the sea-fght far away,
How it thundered Der the tide!
And the dead captains, as they lay
In their graves o'erlooking the tranquil bay,
Where they in battle died.
The town did not wholly recover from the
severe blow of the embargo until after the
peace of 1916. Then began period of slow
recuperation during which its population made
little increase. In 1900 the number of inhabi-
thants was 3,704; by 1910 they had increased
to 1859, but at the close of the next decade
in 1920, they were but 1851. 1t is this little
town of seven or eight thousand inhabitants
that we have now to picture to ourselves as
the scene of Logfellow's boyhood,-
the beautiful town
That is seated by the sea.
1t lay on the narrow peninsula, or "Neck,"
in the depression between the two hills which
mark its extremities Munjoy and Bramhall.
1t had been first settled nearly two centuries
before. on the seashore at its eastern end, and
in all this long period of time it had advanced
scarcely half way towards the western end.
The early settlers clustered around the fort
which stood at the foot of what is now India
street, and the shore road extending eastward
from India street, forming now the eastern
most part of Fore street, was along the court
end of the town. Here Major Samuel Moody,
coming here in 17l6, built his house, and here
in process of time sprang up number of
large, square mansions, some with gambrel
roofs, several of which yet remain. In one of
these, standing, on the one hand, within
stones throw of the spot where the first set
tier landed and built his cabin in 1882, and on
the other, not much farther from the site of
old Fort Loyal, our poet was born seventy
five years ago to-day. He was thus Graded
on historic ground and sprang from amidst
the earliest scenes of civilization on this penin-
sula. 1t was a pleasant site, not then, as
now, hemmed in by new made land encroaeh-
ing on the sea. 1t looked out on the waters
of our beautiful bay, commanding a view of
those
islands that were the HespeIides
Of all my boyish dreams.
Immediately opposite, skirting the road on
the seaward side, lay the beach, the scene of
many baptism on a Sabbath day. 1t was
not here, however, that our poet spent his
boyhood. His parents moved on with the
progress of the town, and we shall find him
at a later period established in what is now
the heart of the city.
Let us now take a comprehensive view of
the town as it existed in the decade between
1910 and 1920. As we have said, it nestled
in the hollow between the two hills. On the
south lay the harbor, with it's wharves and its
shipping. On the north the quiet waters of
Back Cove, its shores nearly vacant, and its
waters as yet undisturbed by commerce.
On Munjoy's hill there were but three
houses, save those in old Fort Sumner. 1t
was pasture ground for cows in part, and in
part was given up to dense growth of alder
bushes. On Indian Point where the Grand
Trunk bridge leaves the hill, stood seven or
eight lofty, ancient pine trees, and in the high
branches the fish hawks were won't to build
their nests. The boys went a-gunning shack
of the Neck" and shot plovers and curlews
and sand birds, which visited the shore in
great numbers At Fish Point, on the harbor
Il. L. IL. IL II. L ~