The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-07-07

death, however, the tide began to turn. From
that time until his death everything at home
andiabroad set against him.. Not only his
John Winter who had died, but the
great Province of Massachusetts, Bay
began to assert over Lygonia rights which
Against all this sea of troubles Cleeve, in his
old age, but with his old courage, took up
arms, batting not one jot of heart or hope.
For seven years he kept up the unequal con-
flict at home and abroad, but was obliged in
1858 to yield to the claims of Massachusetts.
From that time he was loyal citizen of that
| Province though justice was denied him to
the last. Before his death, which happened
| perhaps in 1866, his personal fortunes appear
to have come to low ebb. though that idea
seems hardly compatible with the offices to
| which he continued to be chosen But
though old and beaten and poor, his gener-
| Gus and unconquerable spirit still survived,
for within two years of his death he was
| bound over to keep the peace with those who
| prosecuted after the fashion of those strict
| old times an old servant of his better days.
The history of the first thirty years of
| Portland shows how close the world is bound
| together. In all its fluctuations that history
| was closely responsive to the great events
| which marked those years in England. The
| bay and harborS and estuaries of the sea
| have each their own little waves, but the
| great lift of the tide comes only from the
broad waters of the ocean itself. The battle
| of Nasby which made Oliver Cromwell LORD
| Protector of the great commonwealth OF Eng
| land made George Cleeve the Governor OF
the little Province OF Lygonla, and by one OF
those singular apparent inconsequences OF
which history is ifull, the approach OF the
days of Charles the Second, overthrew his
| short-lived supremacy, and broadened the
| boundaries of Puritan Massachusetts.
At the death of Cleeve there could
not have been many persons on the
Neck which was the popular name
for what is now the city of Portland.
Out of the forty families. which, in 1915 lived
in the town of Falmouth, which then extend
ed from Spurwink to Clapboard Island, rnn-
ming back eight miles, only five or six lived
on the Neck. The year 1915 was the year of
| the first Indian War In the attacks on Fal-
mouth which the savages made that year the
| two people at one attack were killed and car
| ried into captivity. The minister, George
Burroughs, who was afterwards executed at
| Salem for witchcraft, took refuge with ten
men, six women and sixteen children on
| Cushing's Island and was not rescued until
| ten days after. He was reserved for sad
| der fate.
Two years elapsed before the people re-
turned to their ruined homes but TINS dlsas-
| ter was only the precursor of greater deyas-
tation. During the next ten years Falmouth
| grew apace. Seven hundred people found
| homes within its limits and one hundred and
| twenty-five populated the Neck. But the
| signs of a new Indian war began to show
| themselves from many directions. Baron
| Castne exasperated by the sacking of his
| house at Bagaduce, had in 1888 captured the
| fort at Pemaquid and the next year large
| expedition was fitted out against Falmouth
| Neck after the war of 1915 The fortunate
| arrival of Major Church the very night be-
| fore the attack saved the town after fight
| in which the enemy were routed and driven
D,,tf fhfar 70 vraS nf chn 6t1ro
| tion. The next year the country, deserted
| by Massachusetts, was overwhelmed by an
| incursion of French and Indians, and for
two years there was not white man east of
| was this last blow that the bodies even of
| the brave defenders of our town lay unbur-
| led under the summer suns and the winter
| SHOWS until Major Church performed the last
| sad duty for the bones OF those Of whose
| blood he was certainly guiltless Had he
| been able after the Fight on Brackets
| farm to rouse the people of Massachusetts
| to their duty the terrible calamity might
| never have happened. For tWenty-slx years,
more than a quarter of century, almost the
| lifetime of generation, what is now the
city of Portland was deserted. The ruins of
Fort Loyal stood in the midst of wilder
ness. The homes had disappeared. The
prosperous traffic had departed But after
the Peace of Utrecht, one after another of
the old inhabitants or their descendants,
with new blood from the adjoining country,
came back and took up the line of progress
and growth which has never since been
broken. From that time until Mowatt burn
ed the town in 1775, our people no longer suf-
fered aggression but became themselves the
aggress0rs. In 1716 one Ingers0ll built hut
on the Neck and lived there. He was called,
therefore, Governor lngersoll, and probably
was the only governor there ever was in
Maine who was entirely satisfactory to the
better element of his party. Next year there
came two others, Major Moody and Captain
Larrabee. In 1718 there were fourteen fami-
lies, and in 1725 came Parson Smith, who
found twenty families, perhaps hun
dred and fifty people. In 1749 there were
700, and ten years afterward a thousand. In
of Falmouth, which perhaps would imply
eleven or twelve hundred for the Neck.
When the town was organized. just hun
dred years ago, there must have been about
two thousand people. 1t is the life and times
of those two thousand people, and our happy
deliverance, by the power of advancing civil
| ization, from most of their troubles and sor-
rows, their habits, customs and ways OF liv-
| ing, that we celebrate today. l trust that
whoever takes my place hundred years from
now may have as great an advance to chron-
| icle in the happiness and comfort of all the
| people.
The miracle which hundred years has
wrought in the United States of America is
beyond the pen of the historian and beyond
| the eloquence of the orator. Before such
| wonder the pen moves in vain and the voice
| is uplifted to task beyond its power. Maps
| made hundred years ago show only mar
| row line of settlement along the Atlantic
| coast and on the Gulf of Mexico to New Or
| leans, while almost all beyond the Alleghan-
| les is depicted like the unknown Central AT
| frica before Livingstone entered on his voy
ages of discovery Then no human skill OF
power could have guided any white man
| across that unknown waste which stretched
| from New York to the bay of San Francisco.
No brave man then lived. who was rash
| enough to dream OF undertaking the journey.
| Today, in moving. palace OF luxury,
| across bridges over mighty rivers, in tunnels
| through great hills or climbing their mighty
| inclines, mother surrounded by her child
| rem may from Sunday to Sunday span the
| whole distance between the two great oceans.
| Then the journey from Boston to New York
| cost tie physical price of four days, with 65
| frightful hours of discomfort, beginning at
| three o'clock in the morning and ending at
| nightfall while today five hours of comfort
| and repoSe quits us of the distance. 1t took
| nine days by post for the news of the capture
| of BurgOyne to come to Portland. while the
1 fall of Sedan was known the next morning,
| and the bombardment of Alexandria was m
| the evening papers We can grdle the world
| today in minute. hundred years ag0the
| Con- stitution of the United States had not
| been adopted. We were not even nation.
| A hundred years ago Benjamin Franklin was
| yet alive at the ripe age of So George WASH
| ington had thirteen years of life to 1--we, and
| the whole career of Napoleon had yet to un-
| fold itself to the astonished world. But not
| for me are any of these inspiring themes.
| My humble talk deals only with little cor
ner of the great world, but a little corner
| which is very dear to us here assembled, be-
| cause it is beautiful and we love it, and 1t is
| our home.
| A hundred years ago habitable Portland
| was bounded by High street, l might almost
| say by Centre street and India, by the harbor
| and Congress street. Within that little par
| allelogram were almost all the houses left by
Mowatt, with those rebuilt since the deyasta-
| tion made by his fleet eleven years before
| OF the fifteen wharves which then pushed a
r1z<s- -+iss le-s,sar--pQt one has pre-
served its name OF its identity. I1fe niSv az y.
| the East are included in the Grand Trunk
grounds and all the rest must be sub
stantially covered by Commercial street
and its improvements. Munjov Hill
had still its original pine growth, while
Bramhall Hill was covered with scrub
oak, which were called Vaughan's
| Woods. The sw amp extended down to Win
ter street, and there was big swamp in
front of the Advertiser office, south of Fed
eral street, drained by a brook which dis
charged itself at the foot of Exchange street.
The houses of the poor were of but one
story, with a long, sloping roof. A great
chimney in the centre gave two rooms on
two sides, with fire-places, and a bedroom
and entry on the other sides. The front
room had painted floor, with few painted
wooden chairs, table for the Bible and