The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1891-05-21


fast that II almost took away hls breath.
oar boy was greatly interested. and oe.Ha
somewhat credulOus thought Il must - 8
iiJiug machine.
Below Capt. Patteu's store Wa q VIII
wright shop where they made and repair
ed wagons and carts. and mkt tela&
was Samuel Bckford's hat sl9p, Will
he made hats from wool aud fur
There were three or four sinsll dwell.
ing houses on the same side Of the r.
the last one. about half way 10 the gfcst
eddy was Mr.. Russell's, q very pret}
place. On the other side, at the corner Of
Madison road was + Isebeus Weston :
store and farther down-nelriy opposite
Capt. Patterns, Mr.. E3en Nj hal qu q
a large store. Then there wa vacant
space or square In which there was u vel.
and where the boys had q "c.rcn>a OF
gymnasium. Farther down was VIM. B
Morril's cabinet shop. It was I've
story building painted Scll08, and oyer
the shop WAS g chamber where the Nssons
had a lodge. Our boy together win OH
ers OF like inquisitiye temperament, use {
to assemble near by on MONDAY evenings.
before the full moon to watch proceed
ings. They soon ned who were mason,
out what they did they couldn't find anf
Mr. Bigelow always stood a. tie foOt
Of the stairs and every one who went up
whispered something to him, sud our boy
bought he must be the captain as he had
a sword. Among those who usually at
tended We're Captain Joseph Patten, Eben
Neal, Joseph Philbrick, Samuel PhilDrlek,
VIM. b Morrill, and some from Bloom
field. Madison, Cornvile. Athens and 9th.
er places.
Below Mr.. Morril's shop were several
one story dwelling houses, where MI.
Hook, Mr.. McCrilhs, Greenleaf Hill and
his father, the cold officer lived, thea
there was one story brick house where
Mr. BRAY lived From this pointer il
vas point a Mr. Bcay'5 lot was ~haP d
il e ilit-iron, a road extended up to the
Madison roai. On this road or street the
lrst house above Mr.. Bray's was a. L
Littleh,l rs where our boy lived. 1t Wa
n two story house painted while and had
carriage house and barn. The next
building was a new two story nous" hulp
by Mr. Kmball, who taught thu di.lric
school one winter; then came Mr.. E1eA
Meats, handsome two story huu>e
painted white, with green blinds and til,
next and last was one story cottage
with nice out buildings, where Dr. Kay
mond lived He had no boys, hut three
girls, PAulina, Ssl1me and Emily. Mrs,
RAYMOND was g very nice lazy ara had
very nice things in her house; she WAS
always pleasant and kind to our boy VII .
spent many happy hours there, and having
very good voice. was often prevailed
on to sing some of the songs ne hal
learned in his early home, one of'w which
- . 7 ~ -,
them.
On the Madison road was the OLD
Stage Tavern, which with the sheds
and stables all painted red, extended anf
front.d on the NorriigewOck road. Mr.
lIerrin who kept it, had new sign
nuug on the old post at the corner, on
which was nainJe ed in gold letters, Skew
hogan Hotel This was a rev departure
and attracted a good deal of attention t..
lt ally of the boys who had not seen The
name OF hotel applied to a tavern.
Above the hotel on the NJ Olson ra4 q
were several one story houses, MIR. kd-
der, the lawyer and Mr. Leayitt, The vi
age tailor liyel here. Mi Dyer lived a.
the top Of tie hill GU the cas- side Of Il e
road in brick house and below ms
brick yard and beyond was the tll vel
low school house, which served a. meet
ing mouse, town house 8nd school house.
Our boy can recall mary pleasant reminis
ceuc,s of singing schools and spelling
schools in the cd school lior t.
Mr.. LoAdre ter taught the district
school one winter and was IA p pul9f
teacher. He WAS short, fat aud jolly and
would wrestle and play BAH with the biz
boys at recess but during the sesh they
hati to "toe the mark
Mr.. Kimball who taught the next winter
was quite the reverse, being tail, lank and
dyspeptic and cur hoy had occasion To
remember his i'll nature. 1t was the cu~-
tom for the boys to take turn in prcpar
ing the wood and making the fires. There
was large open fire place, surmount~d
with a sheet iron shelf on which to thaW
ink stands and the boys mttens. On TIT
occasion referrel to it was our hos turn
to build the fire. The wood, which waN
green maple beech and birch, was haul
ed in sl,d lengths aud piled up at III,
door and he had picked out the small
limbs as they were easier to cut He had
hired Zba Russell, to help him. Til,
school had not yet opened and the boys
and girls were all standing around the
Dire as it was a cold morning.
/iba had brought in an armful OF llmp'
and thrown them down and was STOPPING
to put some on the fire when our boy see
ing ice branch in shai of hog yoke,
caught it up and sprung it on to Ilba's
neck, which created a great laugh among
tie scholars, but the master, who had
just come in and not being III laughing
mood, ordered him to take it of and pu'
it on his own neck. Not wishing to make
a laughing stock of himself he preferred
to throw it onto the lire which he did
This conflict of authority aroused the ir,
of the teacher to an alarming extent and
he few into a great passion snt shoot
our boy to his hearts content. This, o.
course was very Notifying to him for h
was exceedingly sensitive and he mentallS
promised thst when he became man be
would repay the master in kind,-but-
the sun didn't go down on his anger.
Above the stage tavern or "hotel" or
the Norridgewock road there were few
one story houses, not more than five or
six; ore was Squire Philbrick's, who had
quite family of boys and girls all Of
whom went to school in the old low
school house. The boys were Samuel,
Joseph and George, and the
girls Were Betsy. Hannah, Jane aud NJ ~.
Capt Joseph Philbrick had a small pot
terry al the foot of the hill, where lie made
jugs, pots and milk pans.
Mr.. John G Neil had fine farm ana
orchard on this road. He had large,
handsome house and ou'huid .ngs on the
side hin facing the village. The boys
used to visit his orchard on moonlight
nights, and our boy distinctly remembers
one particular tree which bore fine pippins
and was sure to be sampled on these uc.
casions. These visits were never attend.
I'd by any serious const quenceS as Mr.
Neal never forbade them. How dintreut
here from the old town where our boy
used to live. There were rich peopl
and poor people but there was no sym
patty between them; the boys there were
not allow ed to go into the pastures t.
pick berries even or To pick up the deau
limbs under the tees for fuel; as q result
there were hard feelings on the part Of
the poor. and often profsne and bitter
words. Here it was quite different, there
were none very rich and none very poor
and all seem d to be on an equality,
all were neighhors, among whom no con
teptions ever arose and MIR. Kdder had
yery little local business. The bows and
girls also psrtook of the same spirit OF
friendly Intercourse II one made a par.
ty or a "csndy pull'' all were invited
Our boy had very little money to spend in
this or any other way, but he was always
q welcome guest.
On one occasion the boys hsd planned
go up to Madison pond to skate on
Thanksgiving day, but our boy who was
considered good skater had broken his
skates and had no money to buy new
pair. was feeling very bad at the pros
pect of having to stay at home but good
luck or good friends ordered 1t other wise,
for on the day before Thanksgiving when