The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1898-05-05
Historical Sketc h

OF the Firm of Bicknen Brothers. Twenty.
Nine Years in Lawrence, Mass. Changers,
| Country Fiddlers, Pedagogs, Coopers,
| Clothiers.
| The hurry and furry of a business man S
veryday life helps him to forget the I'M
pleasant reality that he is growing Old
but when we consider the fact that it is
now 20 years since the firm of Bicknel
Bros. was founded, it is forcible re-
minder that we are no longer boys. Hav-
ing been SO long identified with the cloth
| ing business of Lawrence, it accidentally
occurred to us that perhaps a little his
torical sketch of the firm might be both
fitting and Interesting to readers of our
| Advertiser.
For some unknown reason many of our
| customers have been led to believe that
the members of our firm are numerous
Some of our statesmen have been with us
a long time and have been many times
embarrassed and got red in the face be-
cause of having been accused of belong
/ ing to this numerous family of brothers.
To relieve them of further responsibility
as matter of information we will say
that the firm consists of two members
only, j. Bcknel and E. Bicknell
j. Bicknell, is the senior member. He
wa ool Ii III w llttU AOuntf. ME-. Ill 10Th.
| Only for the fact that his parents had
five children, lie would have been the
only son. He was born, lived and toiled
as farmers boy, The other members
of his parents offspring were farmers
boys also, with the possible exception of
the girls. Like many other farmer boys,
early in life he was seized with a disease
OF discontentment. He had the advant
age of his brothers and sisters in being
| born first; thus, he was the first to dis
/ cover that the future prospects of the
old homestead when divided into five
equal parts would not satisfy his ambi-
| ton. l would not cast reflections on his
diligence as tiller of New England soil,
but acting as historian, am obliged to say
that while the muscle development Incl
dental to a 200 acre New England farm
was going on, his brain was constantly
throwing cold water on the proceedings,
because of the discouraging prospects of
a future bank account.
By kind and loving parents he was ad-
vised to work more and think less. His
grandparents had told his parents to ''let
we'll enough alone and they in turn had
remembered that little speech and they
delivered it at convenient intervals in his
presence. They believed they had been
| Sdf0U Alpili lDS lolH pldtlOuS VI lnOuefH
recklessness and everlasting ruin by hum
| BILE obedience to that same advice They
talked to him impIessively about keeping
down the weeds by his daily walks in the
old familiar path that leads from the old
| kitchen door, down between the wood
pile and the wood shed, to the barn and
| from thence around a certain stump to
the cow pasture.
He had already discarded his knee
pants, and you know that when boy
i goes into long trousers, he not unfre-
! quently knows more than both parents
| While he was good boy to fill up the
wood box and go after the cows at night
/ time Ito prevent unpleasantness with his
male parenD he did not use to any extent
the advice furnished by his parents to pre-
vent enlargement of the brain. His free
dom of thought in an opposite direction
was disastrous to any and all advice in
! tue line of agriculture
When he first put on long pants he look
ed in the mirror, and among other things
discovered something that resembled hair
on his upper lip. This, in connection
with the aforesaid trousers, made him APP
pear more manly, and although not nat
urally vain, he thought he was growing
good looking mighty fast. Inspired by
| llllo SdtloldCtOIi lIduolOIlIldllOu SCtuG lue
thick veil of the future got so transparent
that he saw the writing on the wall, 81
am not granger He thoroughly be-
lieved that inscription to be true and had
it photographed and hung in a conspicu-
Gus place for future reference When
hoeing corn or wedding the vegetable gar
den on rainy day days in haying time, he
would leave the field, walk a half mile
between meals for lunch, and to make
sure he wasn't granger would renew his
| acquaintance with the aforesaid motto
Thus struggling until at the age of %
the crisis came. He said his nearest rel
ativeS were welcome to his share of COM
bined pleasures, honor and wealth result
ing from keeping down the weeds in the
paths of his forefathers, and he said it
with a cast iron determination.
With few hard earned dollars in his
pocket, which by no means strained the
capacity of his calf-skin wallet, he BACKED
his boots, shifted his cuffs end for end,
and started for Boston, where he lost no
time in securing a job as clerk in a cloth
ing store. The vigorous manner in which
he administered that home made shine
showed determination of purpose not
previously discovered in his agricultural
efforts. After six months clerkshlp he
came 10 Lawrence ana opened what was
then called clothing store, in the little
ten footer at 551 Essex street. A medium
size dry goods box would hold his entire
stock in trade, all of which he paid for
with the contents of the aforesaid wallet,
for two reasons. First, because he had
been taught to pay for what he bought
and, secondly, because he had no credit.
Thus handicapped, and for lack of expert
ence, the first two years gave his courage
a severe test. He struggled along in a
small way until at the end of the third
year, by large efforts and small expenses,
he had gained little.
Being the next on the birth list after he
had left home, inherited his stock of
discontentment, which, added to my own,
flor I had then been wearing long pants a
good spelD made me disconnected farmer
of no small dimensions. We both stuck
to the farm until old enough to vote in
tow n meeting.
The liberality of our parents, coupled
with our own distaste for Improbable
manual labor, enabled us to so far edu-
cate ourselves as to squeeze through an
examination for country pedagogue. A
vacation in our case meant work, and
boys-you can bet we didn't listen with
delight to the sound of the 'no session"
ho11 tv tn to Sohnn1 xUo