Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-01-20

| this old weekly newspaper accomplished
IN behalf of the dOwntrodden slave and
me theme OF many essays withou, dong
| full Justice to those brave pioneers in the
| ant-slavery movement
me hrst stick-fuli of type that I ever
set was Tor the columns of the StanCard
| and can. today. repeat the item verbu .
tim. The Standard was worked Off on Al
| large Washington hdnd-press. with Jo-
I in no ord ro Thomas at the !eSer and do
mlddle-aSed bachelor. of q very nervous
and errdtic Dispositions coward of the
highest type. and hence he became the
kng-pin for the jokes and ,ibes that n
dozen or more mischievous boys could IN
vent. Cine day while engaged in working
on the paper, with an extra heavy i'm
preston on which required all the
strength of a powerful pressman, a band
or music came into the street. and all
hands went to the windows to enjoy the
sight-all but the devil who for revenge
for scolding he had received from the
pressman for leaving ''friers.'' drove buck
the impression wedge in the platen of the
press, thus taking off all the strain neces-
/ sary to pull over the lever. and smeared
the lever with OIL This was done more
with the thought of bothering the press
man than Of hurting him. But when Jo-
siah came back to the press. refreshed by
the minutes delay he seized the lever
with a snap that landed him on his back
in a keg of ink. and this was but one of
series of .pranks played on this man
that would have driven some to commit
suicide.
AS was the custom in those days. the
employer boarded most of his help and
Mr.. Thurston had Il house full of roguish
boys and young men to urge them To
all kinds of mischief. ! will not take up
your time to recount the jolly times the
boys had in those good Old well-remem-
bered days, but in speaking of Josiah
Lord Thomas who was the oldest man
among the boarderS. | wal mention on.
harmless prank that nearly frightened
this poor man to death. In the attlc
chamber where | rOomed We're two beds
occupied by four persons. and in an adj
joining closet was stored barrel of dried
beans. Now in the course of time josiah
had been smitten by the charms of an
evenings, but was always punctual 10 re-
turn by midnight. and sure to encounter
something disagreeable. which the boys
had put up for their amusement. One
night the sheet was taken from his bel
and securely tackled upon the ceiling d.
rectly over the bed, and then the sheet
was filed with all the beans it would
contain. something near bushel. one
end of the sheet being fastened by SIN
gle nail to which strong string was at
tached. the end of which was in the hands
Punctual at the hour of midnight. Josiah
came creeping UP the attic stairs. CROP
ing into the room by moonlight. for the
boys had taken the precaution to have
whispers to the boys. to ascertain If any
We're awake. he rapidly dsrobed and laid
himself down to dream of the sweet inter-
course which he had had with his sweet
heart. A sudden jerk of the string pulled
out the nail. the weight of the beans let
loose the sheet, and down they came like
IA hail storm upon the poor mans head.
He jumped out of that bed as if he had
been thrown out by dynamite. and with
out stopping to dress. ran down stars
to the room occupied by Mr.. and Mrs.
Thurston. where: trembling from head 70
foot. he invoked their protection. Mr.
Thurston dressed hmsen and went up
I stairs to investigate. But he found the
occupants of the room apparently sound
, asleep. dreaming the dreams Of the inno-
cent. But he was not to be fooled: he
reused up every boy and set them to
work picking up the beans. which con-
sumed something near an hours time
but every bean had to be found and re-
placed in the barrel before Mr.. Thurston
would retire.
But to get back to the subject of the
essay. What subject? All. that is the
thing which is 3otfering me.the subject.
Perhaps | might find fruitful theme III
recalling some of the many pleasant ex-
cursiOns the association had INDUCED IN.
but such reminiscence would hardly be
Il proper thing to be digniiied by the title
of an essay. And such recountins would
be interes, ing only to the few here pres
ent who participated in the old bySone
days. which evoked such infinite pleasure
and women who participated in our year
| ~ pilSrimaSes. To my mind the most
pleasant and enjoyable trip that the assoc
citation has ever taken was. i think, in
the year 1881. when we made the Range
ley Lake region our objective point. go
ing in at Rangeley and coming out at An
dover On this trip We made stay Of
| three days at Richardson's primitive
Camns and every hour was full of ENJOY
ment to ALL with the possible exception
! of Brother MorriiD.
! Well do we recall the first evening there.
when the moon was at its full. shedding
its brilliant rays upon the glistening wat
| tiers of MOoselucmeguntic. which speedily
! induced one after another to secure a
| boat and join the merry ones who were
| enjoying a row upon the water, until the
entire company were soon lured from the
house to the more inviting lake: and the n
! the boats were fastened together on.
after another. and for d long time CON
| tinued to circle around upon the CLASSY
waters, while the melody of sweet song
was waited from shore TO shore. And. o.
such sweet. thrilling music.. That was ii
| time when it seemed every one in the
boats were trained singers. and Their
voices blepded in sweet song which gave
delightful Inspiration to- every partlci-
pant, while the spruce-perfumed air was
gently waited over the placid waters. and
fwinkling upon the shores on every hand
and mingling with the moonlight on the
water. was seen the evening bonfirts
| which rapidly arose one after another Ia
lend additional charm TO the fairy-like
4 scene upon the lake.
| Then the rainy-day entertainment-in-
! augurated by Miss Mabel Eiwell. and