The Portland daily press., 1889-07-26
STATE TOPICS OF INTEREST.

The Kennebec Journal wants PRESIDENT
Harrison to lay the cornerstone OF the Cap
itol extension when he visits Augusta
Fancy counts for much in suicide as wen
as In other things. Sadie Dority Oh gary
Plantation, in Aroostook county. tried 70
kill herself last week by swailoW,hs poonu
ed glass. She didn't quite succeed
Aroostook has berry king. MI. l.. a.
Fisher of Fort Fairfield, has shipped TINS
season 80, 200 pounds of strawberries. IEey
were bought on the st. Jonn rSer, iioe' va
them above Van Buren,.
When General Hyde Of the Bath Iron
Works, makes bid for one Of the new gov
ernment cruisers Bath will hold her breath
until the contract is awarded. An iron war
ship on the stocks would make the mouth OF
the Kennebec a great place.
If President Harrison visits Maine he viii
be the sixth of the line to come within the
borders OF the State. The other five are
Washington, Monroe, Polk, Grant ana
Arthur. President Arthur remained over
Sunday at Bar Harbor in August 1883.
Miss Grace May Woodman, aged Is, daugh-
ter of Mellen F. WoodmaD, of Auburn, has
this year done all the moving and raking on
her fathers farm. One day she moved ana
raked nine acres without help. The MaiLe
Farmer Is responsible for this.
Miss Margaret Earl, who did in BeDedicta,
Aroostook county, last week, boosted that
for 80 years she never slept In the same
house the second night. She came from ire
land 80 years ago and was tramp 80 years.
For the last 20 years she has lived in Bene-'
dicta.
Two years ago, with less than fifty old
books to start with, the town Of Frankfort
began to collect town library. Today there
are 226 volumes in it. 1t is probably true
that the fifty old books to start with came
harder than all the others.
The Robinson family of Phillips, has done
its duty by the country in two great wars
Six brothers of the family fought in the.
Revolutionary war and six more In the
Rebellion. Four of the Revolutionary
brothers persisted in the service. Capt. K.
M. Robinson of Phillips, is member of the
family.
The steamer Islander of Gardiner and the
Nahanda of Bath, two boats Of about the
same size and each possessed of hackers as
regards their speed, passed up river together
Wednesday evening and a race was inevita-
bly, the result The Bath boat proved her
claim to speed by passing the Islander and
coming into Richmond an eighth of mile
ahead.
Augusta carpenters and builders are in
dignant at the unfair treatment they claim
to have received at the hands of General
Stephenson in the awarding of the contract
on the commissary's house at the Togus
home. Mr.. John b. Shaw says he is willing
TO meet General Stephenson and prove his
allegations of unfair treatment.
A man who went to Penobscot Jay for
quiet Sunday, had melancholy time, accord
ing to the Belfast.J Journal. While drawing
pailful of water he dropped his pocket book
into a.well. The wallet contained between
| $50 and $50. 1t sank to the bottom and the
owner was forced to spend his outing in bail,
ing out the WELL After working hard all
day he was rewarded at night by the recov-
| cry of his money, fsn
| Mrs. Ruth Mcclellan of Rockland cele-
brated her 93rd birthday at Spruce Head
Thursday. OF the thirty-six relatives who
participated in the exercises five were over
| S0years of age and the added ages of the six
| ladies was sos years. Their names are: Mrs.
| Rdth Mcclellan, 90; Mrs. Lucy w. Snow, So I;
Mrs. Eliza t. Smart, SO; Mrs. Hannah
McLoon, SO, and Mrs. Nancy Sweetsir, 81.
There are now about two hundred Swedes
settled in the town of Monson. Most Of
them work in the Quarries; but about TWEEN
ty are showing what Old World thrift can do
| va VIC abuhNOnSQ VI lnCoC
4 twenty Swedes bought at low price some
abandoned farms in the "Burmah" nefghbor-
hood and are making them productive and
valuable. A great many Swedish papers are
taken by them J, and they are generally intelli-
| gent and industrious.
| The Belfast Age tells of an Islesboro cat
that took it into her head to live with the
hens, finally becoming so much at home that
she gave birth to some kittens In a hens
| nest. One of the old hens, not to be outdone
| in hospitable Intentions, promptly eclaimed
| the kittens and spread her wings over them
and cluckihg to them with much parental
solicitude. This put the cat into such high
state of alarm and displeasure that peace was
| only restored by the intervention of some
| Solomon of the farm, who restored the kit
/ tens to the cat.
Capt. John H. Drew, who writes to the pa
pers over the name "Kennebec" such inter-
| esting letters Of ocean voyages, lives in Far
| mingdale. The Maine Farmer describes both
his grounds and house as museums of bric-a-
brac and curiosities collected in every cline
during Captain Drew's Al years of life on
the ocean. On the walls Of the hall and par
lors are paintings of all the ships which the
| captain has commanded in his long voyages,
from the humble craft in which he first sail
| ed to the magnificent Sea Witch, which he
| safely guided into port during the furious
| storms uf last winter.
II Castine may never be the winter port of
the Canadian Pacific; but she has already
become the summer port of many very de-
sirable summer visitors. The Ellsworth
American reports that all available land in
the place is readily sold. About eight miles
has been purchased by Boston land COM
pany, who have built road, extending from
the main road, around the Gray farm to High
Head which connects at low water with
Nautilus, the summer home of II. G.. Will
liams of New York. The company contem-
plate building large hotel and a number of
cottages, next season. They are now build
ing solid granite pier at High Head. The
| farm of +. K. Lewis, which occupies point
at ihe northwest part of the peninsula, is
now owned by Prof. Ames of Cambridge,
Mass. The Castine cottages are all occupied
many having been improved and several ad-
ditlons made.
The Bangor Daily News, which claimed
for one of its Sunday issues the honor of be-
ing the first twelve-page paper ever issued in
Maine, now says the Maine State Press,
which ! s atwelve-page paper every week in
the year. should not count because it is a
weekly edition. The News then continues
on the subject of that twelve-page Sunday
PaPOA 40 iohoWos lb WAS bu6 uISt tW6lVe-
page daily issued in the State, and no man
this side of Chicagois big enough to gainsay
it." There are hundreds Of men this side of
Chicago who can gainsay it. for the Portland
PRESS has issued a daily with twelve pages
and also with fourteen pages, and did 1t be-
fore the Bangor News was born. But COM
parison of the number of pages Is no index
of the size of a paper, The four-page Ban
gor News is 24-column paper, and the total
length of its columns is 463 inches. The four
page PRELs is 36-column paper, and the to-
tai length of its columns 912 inches. The
PRESS column, moreover, is so much broad
er, than the News's column as to make diff
ference of IS inches more in favor of the
PRESS. So, while the four-page News gives
463 inches of space, the fonr-page rREss
gives 947 inches, or more than twice as much
The four-page PRESS is larger than the eight
page News; and when the PRESS has six
pages, as it does very frequently, it is con-
siderably larger than the much boosted 12-
page News. And when the PRESS issues an
eight-page paper, as it has done once or
twice within the brief lifetime of the News,