Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-22
SPENCER.

A NONOGENARIAN'S BIRTHDAY.
A party Of the older citizens Of Spen-
Ger called upon the venerable Hiram
Howe, Friday night, to offer him their
congratulations on the occasion of his
Goth birthday. There is but one older
citizen of Spencer, and he is Horatio
Hall, who is two years Mr.. HoWe's Sc
nior. Mr.. Howe was born on the old
Howe place, short distance from where
he now resides, and was one Of family
of nine children. His father, Elijah,
died when he (EIiram) was eight years
of age, and he went to live with Eben
White of Charlton, where he remained
till he became of age, when he returned
to Spencer and bought the Howe mill
and other real estate, and has lived in
the near vicinity Of his birthplace for
about 6S years.
After the death of Joshua Bemis, Mr..
Howe bought the farm where he now
resides. 1t was formerly known as the
Luke Converse place. In 1885 Mr.. Howe
married Miss Azubah Williams of Charl-
ton. She has been dead about 20 years,
but the old inhabitants of Spencer say
she was equally at home in the kitchen
and in the field, and did not hesitate to
go on to the roof of house and lay
shingles if occasion required. When they
were married, stoves were not common,
and cooking was done over the fire in
the fireplace. Mrs. Howe's father was a
blacksmith, and in her younger days
she could handle the hammer with dex-
terity.
It is said she forged the crane hooks
she used in her own fire place.
Mr.. Howe has three sons living, Eb-
enezer and Henry residing in Spencer,
and Moses, residing in Michigan.
The party which paid the visit to Mr..
Howe was made up of Spencer's Oldest
citizens, and they reached the house
early in the evening, bringing with them
an elegant easy chair, which they pre-
sented to Mr.. Howe. Bemis orchestra
furnished music for a concert early in
the evening, and then the floor was
cleared for dancing, which opened with
a ''Money musk" in which Isaac L..
Prouty, Thomas A. Prouty, Joseph
Pope, E. Harris Rowland, Joseph w.
Temple and John G. Avery, the Oldest
members Of the party, participated. The
orchestra followed this with a chorus
iig. and Mr.. Howe delighted the party
by dancing to the lively strains, keep
ing almost perfect time, in spite of his
advanced years. The party broke up
about $50, after wishing Mr.. Howe
many returns of the day.
NORTH POLE SOCIETY.
The Swedish North Pole Society gave
its first concert and ball in the town
hall Friday night, and the affair was a
grand success financially and socially.
The Bragg Singing Society of Worces-
ter gave delightful concert of 10 num-
bers, and this was followed by dancing
until 2 a. M, the grand march being
participated in by so couples. E. r.
Lindstrom was the floor director with
Joel johnson as assistant and p. Sam
uelson, Marcus G. Ulbrantz, G.. john
son. A. Linholm and o. Ekstrom as
aids.
DECIDED AGAINST SPENCER.
Chairman Curtis of the board Of se-
lectmen received word, Friday night,
from Judge Boutwell, of North Brook
field that the case to determine the place
of residence of Miss Howe one of the
towns charges at the poor farm, which
was brought against the town Of Brook
field. had been decided IN favor of
Brookfield the judge ruling that she
had legal settlement in Spencer.