Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-09-16

nier vacation is too hong and that II II
were shortened to itsproper length, the
course might by properly reduced 20
three years instead Of four. This opin-
ion we have heard commended several
times by men whose Judgment IS
worthy of respect. They believe that
too much time is used in getting ready
for doing something in the world. A
well known professional gentleman in
discussing the matter recently declared
that the time spent in the grammar
school, the high school and the college.
should be shortened. as in mis- opinion
it might safely and easily be II pupils
worked to within a reasonable limit OF
their strength. He went on to say that
he. could not get his own children to
look at school book during the long
summer vacation and that at the end
of that season they. had forgotten
good part of what they were supposed
to have acquired during the year. He
added that the first month Of the vaca-
ton season had been we'll used in re-
cuperation after the. labor of the year
but that the rest of the time had been
of little value to anybody. II the pro-
posed shortening OF the grammar
school. high school and college courses
could be effected it would mean three
years saved for professional training or
active work.
As the days get shorter and the cold
creeps down more and more at lone
some evening. that class of Androscog-
gin farmers known as i1oss swappers
begin to gather in the sunny, mellow
afternoons on the warm sides of Hay
market square, Lewiston, and ex-
change horses. Tuesday. just after
dinner, for instance. the most miscel-
laneous collection OF old ring -boned.
greased-heel. spawned and broken
down nags ever seen in Lewiston were
collected in kindergarten ring about
the boss horse snapper, and every one
was talking at once. What O scoop
that would have been for the agent OF
the society with the elastic name! One
of the horses hadn't been fed, and was
chewing rag bit full Of pepper, as
was easy to see by the ghastly manner
in which it initiated the jumping and
frisking of young horse. One of the
horse swappers was calling attention
to his steed in a loud voice, and all
eyes We're fixed, upon it when it sud-
denly lost its balance and fell over
from exhaustion. All hands tried 10
set the poor creature upon its feet. but
it had stood all it wanted TO, and with
a sigh of relief it stretched out its neck
and gave up the ghost. The owner
gave a job man a ten cent piece and
the harness and cart to take the body
. &la o;t f3aII h,,r1
The fountain at Colby which was
presented by the class of '9S and which
has been such a fine ornament to the
front of the recitation hall is now be-
ing moved. When. the members of the
new sophomore class began to arrive
in Waterville they discovered that the
fountain, which had just had the water
connected. stood in just the right place
to give freshman a ducking as he
or she came from recitation. The
fountain is being moved out toward
College avenue about Is feet and will
stand in such a position that the water
from the faucet cannot hit any fresh
man as he innocently comes from reci-
tation. A%t
---
The demand for rents in Bath is still
increasing. One of our prominent real
estate brokers told business man this
week that if he would build 25 houses
costing $500 each he would guarantee
to have them all occupied within ten
days after they were completed.
A Newport statistician has been
looking over. the widows of his town
and makes the following report: This
village, containing about 500 people,
has living within a mile radius 3S wild
ows. There is no other community in
the State where widows form so large
a proportion of the population. The
combined ages of these widows make
$500 years, averaging 66 years. The ex-
treme ages being % and 30 years. To-
gether, the years of their widowhood
number 42s. the average being 11A
years. The longest period Of widow
hood is 40 years. Two are in their Sec
ond widowhood, and two only are SOL
diers' widows. About so per cent of
them have lived here ever since they
were married. One among them en-
joys the reputation OF being the hand
soonest woman in the State. There are
no divorced or grass widows here.
which indicates happier domestic rela-
tions than commonly prevail. There
are II widowers in the village"
Bangor Commercials: The business
men in this vicinity feel very much
encouraged over the outlook for the