Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1890-04-10
From Kate Fields Washington
The Pine Tree State.
A HALE AND HEARTY TRIBUTE FROM FAv-
oRITE son.
BY GRAPEVINE TELEPHONE,

Talk to you about the State of Maine
Yes, indeed, am quite willing to tall
about Maine; and | ought 10 know some
sSing about the State, too, for was Dor,
there, have always lived there. and, though
! am in no hurry about 1t, | would rathe
die there than anywhere else"
Il don't wonder you have that kind o.
feeling. The people of Maine seem all L
! share it."
/ Senator Hoar once told me that h,
| thought Maine had the best simon -pur,
| Anglo Saxon population. with the least ad
/ mixture, of any State in the Union; and
! if you ever go there, as hope you may
! you will see what such people are doing
! for themselves. Pretty nearly everybody
| in Maine is at work, and the State is to
day in brighter and thriftier condition
than ever before"
What do the people generally find tc
keep them busy-farming. chiefly"
| There are a good many acres of wha
| is called land in Maine that nobody woulC
think of trying to farm upon; but we hav,
other products that give an annual crop
where no cultivation and no fcrtilzing ar,
needed. Our ice-crop. for instance. this
| winter will bring s. 600 900 into the State
and next year, If the season is like this
We can easily furnish double the amount
A great deal of your comfort during the
coming summer months will depend upon
the ice that will he brought 10 you from
our State. Everybody is dependent on IL
in some way. The languid beauty who
sips her ices and sberbets at Saratoga and
Long Branch will send up praises 10 the
State of Maine this summer and our
Southern friend, when he mixes his juleps.
will be under renewed obligations because
the Union Is restored and free trade re-es-
tahlished between the States"
"Will you get much of crop this sea
son. with all the mild weather we have
hadi'
"bh, Jack Frost Is a trusted friend with
us Last Wednesday, when the mercury
stood AZ seventy In the shade here, re-
ceiycd a dispatch from Ellsworth, asking
II the ice might be cut on Sjmmons's pond
a small and beautiful lake situated In the
grounds near my house. answered.
Yes. Of course and if we stay here TIL
August | I'm quite likely 10 te using ice
from my own farm"
'Iou have other and even more perma-
nent crops, though, than ice. have you
notf"
Look at the fine colonnade on the north
side of the Treasury building some day as
you are passing along Pennsylvania svcn-
ue; those majestic pillars were cut out of
the solid granite beds found on the coast
Of Maine in my old Congressional district,
| have seen single block of this best of
all stones, from which "A monument eighty
feet IN height was chiscled out and the
granite works Of Maine to-day furnish the
best building and the best finishing stone
and the best monuments In use. The crop,
you may guess is not likely TO give out
When you drive over the streets of an cas-
tcin city that has substituted payements
for mud you may thank your stars that
the Maine quarryman and granite cutter
are not ike the schoolmaster, abroad, but
hard at work at home"
How about your forest wealth; You
are turning that to use:"
"lf you want 10 spend month some
time In the summer In easy travel among
home scenes you ought to take the Maine
Central Railroad and follow some OF its
branches with little stage excursions at
their ends. and see how pretty villages are
growing up about the manufactures OF
paper snd wood pulp, and the hundred
forms into which human ingenuity puts
the products Of forests. To say nothing OF
Lewiston, Biddeford, Wateryille, Bruins
wick and other towns where great mills
run Mos, OF the old and big lumber has
gone its way; but We are ginning 70 find
out that every acre Of land with its small
growth OF spruce. hemlock, fir, maple.
beech. and poplar is worth more than the
old ground covered with what Spencer
calls the sailing pine.
And, In spite OF their being so busy, do
the people fnd time to educate them
selyc.s"
"A.suredlv. Wherever you may 90 you
will find the school house. and, outside Of
the cities Of the State. you Will not find a
man, woman or child above the age Of ten
wears who is not able both TO read and
write. Nobody in Maine has ever called
for Blair Educational bill to help in this
direction.
"Whi YOU are making your tour of
Maine. by the way, il will be well for you
to start at old York Beach and take leis
urcly trip along the finest coast of the At
lantic sea board. You viii need 10 engage
your passage beforehand, for you will lind
Yourself in the midst of hundreds and
thousands Of eager people from almost
every State in the Union, fleeing to the
green shores and secluded retreats OF
Maine. They come like an army with ban
ners. and they take possession OF every
place where pure air, cooling breezes and
the finest scenery are 10 be found. They
help build good roads and graded streets
I'LL our harbors with steam and sailing
yachts. and the most sensible of them erect
cottages, ranged. according to the length
of their purse. from a little 81 900 box uI
to a .Chatswold' or 'Mossley Hall, cost
ing over 500 900.
When the summer heat subsidies, these
visitors penetrate the forests OF Maine
and are found upon the st. Crolx or the
Penobscot, at MOosehead, at Rangeley
and wherever game and fish abound. The,
i leave great deal of money in the State
4 and they come again the next year with al
/ their cousins and their aunts and thei
( wives relations"
/ That's good. But, with your taste anc
facilities for ship-building, You ought t
fit out vessels enough to send all your visi
tors home by the sea route"
I'VE are starting up ship-building agaiI
in Maine. When President Harrison honor
ed our State with visit last summer, h
walked the deck of the largest woodel
merchant ship ever built in the world AM
he saw in the ship-yards at Bath NOR
wooden ships under construction thai
could be found in any other place. Tw'
started there, and in few years our Bat
friends will be able to build any large iro
or steel ship for either naval or merchan
/ service"
Does the agricultural element in you
population look kindly upon such improve
ments in the condition of the manufactur
ing element!"
''All these things give prosperity to tn
small farmers. They have q market a
their own doors. The money for the pro
duce which they raise is counted out t
them in their own front yards. Thei
farming would look small to an Iowa O
Kansas man; but it is an open questio
whether the small farmer in Maine is no
really in better condition of thrift tina
his western brother who does things on S
much larger scale.
The Maine farmer, with fifty or on
hundred acres, gets ready money for every
thing that he raises. He keeps his hous
and outbuildings we'll painted and blinded
his rooms inside are filed with good fuI
nture; his daughter has piano and goe
to the high school, and his son, whether h
goes to college or gets good practices
education otherwise, is beginning to Sc
that, instead of going west or south. hi
lines fall in pleasanter places II he stay
at home. good many young men, lik
those who have gone away from Main
heretofore and have turned up as Chic
Justices and Senators and Representative
and Governors from other States, wi
hereafter stay in Name to be heard froI
there. We intend to furnish our shar
of Presidents, Secretaries Of State, an
Speakers as time goes on"
| slAuh xuhaf ohOut PrahihitiOOF"