Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-09-16

Zen'S life. The floor was crowded with
the voters of both parties. and in those
days partisanship was carried to the
extreme of enthusiasm. The first ac
ton Of any meeting was the selaction
of a moderator, and this was not done
by rising vote nor by ballot. but a
committee of tellers having been an
pointed the entire congregation ad-
Journed to Winthrop street and ar
rayed themselves in two long files on
| either side Of the road, until counted
by the tellers. At these meetings the
galleries were filled with a hooting and
shrieking crowd of boys and young
men, who impartially cheered the va.
rious speakers. In these meetings
young lawyers. who afterwards be-
came giants in debate, first stretched
their forensic wings. Before these
audiences the Bradburys, the Evans
the Morrills, the Williams, the wes-
| tons, and an innumerable army have
debated the local questions of the
1.-THE of mint and anise and cummin,"
and here have been formed the readi-
ness and beauty of thought and ora
tory that later awoke such admiration
IN the halls of Congress and the great
| courts of our country.
Some of the older inhabitants tell of
| a school for boys which was held In
the ffont rooms of the old building un-
der one Larned, who seems to have
been curious old character and
taught school in manner ascribed to
the pedagogues in old English novels,
and never for a moment sparine the
rod or the switch in his efforts to
teach the young idea how to shoot. AT
this school many persons who after
wards attained national celebrity at
tended, among them John Potter who
afterwards emigrated to the West and
attained such fame as man who re-
fused to be subdued by southern fire.
eaters in the ante bellum days. He
was a member of Congress, and being
challenged to a duel by Roger A.
Prior chose as his weapons bowie
lean build and Prior's seconds objected
on the ground that the weapons were
unknown to the code of honor. Potter
stood firm and the result was that the
southerner withdrew from the duel.
About the same time, or little later.
for the date cannot be fixed. there was
a Free Baptist society which held
meetings in the building. Whether this |
was the original of the Free Baptist
know; but it seems to have been al
that time sort of independent series |
of prayer meetings under this denomi- |
nation. The members of this little So
ciety were at that time the poorer por-
ton of Augustus inhabitants and were
filled with an unqualified zeal which
atoned for their lack of worldly goods |
and scholarly accomplishments. Their
preachers Were what would be called |
rude and uncultiyated men. but fervent |
in their work. One was colored |
evangelist by the name Of Eason. his |
first name being Raphael if memory |
serves us right: and also one Thomas |
Rhines who lived somewhere near |
what is now called Rhines' Hill. and |
from whose family the name is de- !
rived. Parson Eason, as he was called. |
was alive as late as the days of the |
Civil War. if not afterwards and is re- |
membered by great many even of the |
younger generation as an eccentric and |
bright darkey of the old school who had |
a certain command of language and |
considerable oratorical ability which |
made him noted in local way as an |
evangelist.
The last notable event which l find |
in this period of the halls existence
was a great ball given in honor of i,
the victory of 1S4S. Whig though the
victory was, the young women of the |
town attended in a body and danced
till the wee sma' hours of the morn
ing. All, happy youth. The matron
of today, with hair whitening with the
snow of time, and cheeks grown pale
and thin with the cares and anxieties
and losses of later years, looks back to
that night when as young girl g-rI
Standing with reluctant feet
Where the brook and river meet
she made her first appearance in So
ciety, and by her beauty and tender
graces won her way to the hearts of
the attendant cavaliers.
The old town house which had been
occupied for town meetings and school
purposes for thirty-seven years, had
become dilapidated, and a general de-
sire was felt to remove it and appro-
pirate the lot, which had become val
liable, for a better building for either
public or private use. After various
attempts, at different times, to repair.
improve or rehuild had failed a cpao;,l