The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-09-09

] AS member OF the profession ne was q
nacificator rather than promoter Of dissen-
sions among his townsmen. He was for many
wears agent of the town and never paid his
taxes by involving his town in lawsuits. He
had a clear, logical mind and sound. discrim-
mating Judgment. He possessed such well
balanced judicial turn of mind and disposition,
such profound knowledge of the law, and
such an uncompromising integrity as would
have been an ornament to the bench which his
cousin adorned so long; and was very fire.
quently selected by his professional bretheren
as arbitrator in cases of complicated law and
fact. The state contained within its borders
| no man who deserved and received greater
respect, than Levi Whitman.
| Ezra F. Beal started in life as many young
men of his day did, with no patrimony sa,e
that disciplinary poverty which has aided in
| filling this country with so many men known
| to history. He learned trade, and by his
| great industry and force of character became a
master builder, as numerous large and expen-
sive public and private buildings in Portland
and along the entire length of the Grand
Trunk railway in this State amply attest. He
was man of great public spirit. He loved
Norway, and every business enterprise which
tended to aid his town and village found in
him a wise and warm advocate, and to its
encouragement he most literally contributed
not only his energetic influence but by his
means as well. He was a man of much more
than ordinary intelligence, which he
developed during his whole life
by constant reading and study of
good books. He took untiring interest in his
church, opening wide his plethoric pocket
book in its support. He had experienced the
great good resulting from long life of tenn
perance and sobriety, and in his large COM
wit he ho1 Obc fha
cries of intemperance. Every reformatory
organization which looked to the support Of
temperance, received his most jealous and ac-
tive encouragement. Few men in the country
surpassed him in well directed energy, indus
try and in any virtue which enters into the
composition of noble, high minded patriotic
citizen.
When first saw the third person to whom
I wish to allude, in l84S, he was a tall, slim,
erect, gray headed man, and had already
travelled, for thirty years, on horseback, up
hill and down dell, through every school dis
trict, for twenty five miles around, and con-
tinued for quarter of a century thereafter to
administer to the sick and dying, rich and
poor, with diligence and punctuality. No man
or woman had the audacity or malignity to
question his skill, intelligence or goodness of
heart. Some few years ago while holding the
September term of court in beautiful village
of the shire of neighboring county, the docket
having fallen through one afternoon, L I'M
pre- ID the opportunity to stroll through
light growth, up the hill at the south end Of
the village, to the large cleared pasture on the
summit connected with the farm there, where
Imet the farmer. AS 1 stood there, drinking
in the beauty of the lovely afternoon and tax
ing in the exquisite landscape of village, farm
houses and forest for miles around, comment
..arr fho fa1s l,or offo n
summer drought, my eye caught waving
line, few feet in width, of dark green
foliage, with the freshness of june ex-
tending as far as my eye could
reach. | called the attention of
my new acquaintance to the same, and
asked him the cause. "Old brook was his
laconic answer. 81 don't recollect of crossing
brook on my way up here" said /, "and I
must have crossed that strip of green" NO."
he rejoined, "you crossed no brook to-day;
but my father, who inherited this property
from his father has told me many
times, that when he was a
young man, he had heard his father say that,
before the old growth was cut away and the
clearing made, a brook ran down the hill there
and flowed along where you now see the green
foliage in such marked contrast with that
which has been scorched by the drought of the
past summer; that when the forest was felled
and cleared away the brook began and
continued to dwindle, until it finally disap
peared from the surface, and even its old bed
had become filled up by the leaves and mold
which have fallen and gathered since; but that
the deep roots of the trees which sprung
up there in the old bed reach down
among the old MOSES and moisture
and still keep its memory green. So
many year will have "fed with those beyond
IL. L. Al. r have
long obscured his name upon the headstone
fore the households along the highways and
byways of Norway and the adjoin-
ing towns, where Asa Danforth
made his visits of mercy, will cease
to recollect and refrain from repeating the
stories which their fathers and mothers have
told them of what beams of sunshine on his
face and what healing on his wings, he brought
into their sick homes.
Dinner was served in Norway Concert and
Granger Halls, as well as at the hotels, and
the citizens entertained with true whole
souled hospitality.
Later there were further literary exercises
in the grove, with fine poem by Clifford L.
! Pike, M. D., entitled sour Honored Men,"
There was also an original ode by Mrs.Smith
70 Tile Guuo VI Olu hunuleu, Wy d ohoiu ue
with band accompaniment, and grand band
concert by Chambers band
In the evening there was a reunion of the
Norway students at the Academy building
followed by fine display of fireworks from
the side of Pixies Hill, which could be seen
for miles about The display was beautiful,
elaborate and appropriate. rejecting much
credit upon the committee, Of which Mr.. A.
Fl. Williams was chairman.
The closing piece was given with salvos of
| artillery by the First Maine Battery, which
did such good service during its day.
1t is only necessary to add that Norway's
centennial was observed with surprising sue
cess and does much honor to that thrifty and
enterprising town.