The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-21
THE MAXIM FAMILY.
A Gun to Fire Which Costs Fifty
Dollars a Minute

| A Gun to Fire Which Costs Fifty
Dollars n Minute.
| (wayne, Me-. letter to the Boston Globe.)
| For weeks the people of this quiet Ken
| nebec town have been getting ready for
| a centennial celebration. That in itself
| is sufficient excitement for modest COM
munity of 500 polls. But in addition to
| the wear and tear of getting celebra ton
| under way, there now comes floating in
| all the way from Europe an international
complication to vex the souls of the COM
| mittee of arrangements. The people have
| taken sides, and now Wayne on the eve
| of its Tooth birthday. doesn't know wheths
er it is more interested in the celebration
| of the event or in the picturesque atti-
] tude of the world-famous Maxim brothers.
The brothers will be present at the cell
ebration that takes place on Thursday
next. Hiram, the inventor of the machine
gun and the builder of the flying machine
has Travelled all the way from England to
Maine. Hudson, the inventor of a dyna-
mite gun, comes from New York Sam
uei, the rediscoverer of the ancient art of
/ hardening steel, lives in Wayne with the
aged mother of this remarkable family
Hiram and Hudson are at odds.
Hiram has sent word to the centennial
committee indicating that If Hudson is TO
| figure in the show, he and his famous gun
| must be wiped off the program.
This therefore is the spook that has
come UP to shatter the nerves of the
| quiet town of Wayne.
To be sure. Hudson is thirteen years
| younger than Hiram. and his fame is not
yet so worldwide. 1t is felt, however
! that he is one of the coming men of the
| generation. that he has already estab-
! lished his reputation, and that il would
/ be unjust 10 close the door on him at
| tbs time on account of Hiram's milf. -
But on the other hand the people are
| wistfuly eager to have Hiram at the
| celebrating. gun. amiability Sld all. I'm
der these circumstances the general
| committee OF arrangements has been
considering the ACCESSIBILITY of dehcatey
! conveying 20 Hudson the fact that the
town of Wayne isn't large enough TO
hold the two big Maxim guns on one
and the same day.
| But now. with all the calm resolution
of the venerable Barbara Freitchie. up
steps the aged mother OF the Maxims
! and says to that committee of arrange
ments: Hiram is my oldest son, my
most famous son and is worth many
| millions of dollars ! am proud of him.
Hudson is my youngest son, and is
neither so rich nor so famous as Hiram.
But he IS a good boy who is trying hard
TO succeed and is well on the way TO sue
cess lie deserves to be warmly greeted
by his native town. ] ask that he SHAH
be !. the mother OF my boys, do not
measure them by the standard of wealth
or Of fame / love them just the same.
To me they are equal. I want Hudson
to come back home at this time and TO
be taken by the hand just as warmly as
Hiram
The son Samuel is also neutral, and in
this crisis. as custodian. of the old family
home. is in the worst quandary of his life.
| 4 with 70 l.
Iow-townsrnen and they have agreed with
him that he cannot afford to take sides in
the affair but must make both brothers
welcome.
The more the people of the town have
talked the matter over, the more con-
WINGED they have become that 1t is their
duty to get the brothers together at the
old home and reconcile them
So ali of Wayne has constituted itself
a committee of the whole on pacification-
: The brothers will be taken in hand and
will be labored with by the honest old
gentlemen VINO were contemporary with
| their parents and vino have watched the
Il progress of Hiram and Hudson with eager
| admira ton.
Its going to be a pretty hard thing to
fix il up between the boys" says one OF
the older residents of the village, for
though it takes Maxim long time to
get real mad, he's a mighty sight longer
getting over it.
But if ever they are to make ii UP
now's the time to do II. There's the old
mother to coax them. There are all the
folks who knew old Isaac Maxim, their
father, who first thought of the machine
gun. and left it to Hiram to work out
There are the home scenes to make them
think of the days when they used TO play
, together on the shores of Pocasset Lake
l guess we shall be able to make EN- see
| that they can't afford to stay vexed any
.. longer. And If we can fix that matter VI
. Wayne will see the biggest celebration
there ever has been in this section since
old Ephraim Maxim killed the bear.
'-Hiram's going TO bring one of his
guns back and shoot,it off on the shore
of Androscoggin lake down in NIiiett' s
: pasture He says il costs $50 a minute
TO fire that gun, but he says he's going
, to let all the old people fire it all they wan
, to. Any way. he's worth 5000, 000 they
say, and even if the folks keep the gun
going all the afternoon Hiram can foo
the bills all right.
\ Hiram is also going to take part in
. the parade. He says he's willing tc
, come all the way from England to do
1t. He's going to have his gun hauleC
. along ahead of him and will represen
modern warfare. We have got the equip
ment of one of the old revolutionary sol
: diers, who settled in this town, and we
= shall have a man dress up in an old uni
form and march ahead of the Maxim gun
: TO illustrate how they used to fight wher
) they licked England, which has sine.
, adopted Hiram and his gun.
u Even in spite of all that Hudson ha
i said about Hiram going across and be
coming a bloody Britisher and hobnob
{ bling with kings, and forgetting all abou
:, his native country, we don't have an.
u hard feelings about the matter. He of
u fered the invention to America in tn
9 first place and Uncle Sam wouldn't lool
c at it. So Hiram, just naturally, had t.
). go somewhere else. He thinks just a
much of Uncle Sam and his old home a
II ever he did, and in the last war he sol,
a over $1,000. 900 worth of guns TO this Gov
l. | eminent to fight the Spaniards.
e Hudson says that Hiram at the sam
d time was selling guns to the Spanisl
q government for to use in fighting tn
men of his own America, and 1 don
lie blame Hiram for getting riled.
L when Hudson came out and sal,
e that he had got up dynamite gun tina
J. would drop earthquakes right out of tn
d ordinary cannon, Hiram pooh-poohed tn
y idea, and that made Hudson vexed.
a But when they, both got here, an
g We can talk the thing over with them
n l feel just as though we can make ev
Is erything lovely and smiling"
n Another distinguished native of tn
3 town, who is already in the village i
4. readiness for the celebration, is Ami
lie Louise Cary-Raymond. s
l