Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-09-30

" 'i"ueipnla, and the fifth in
washington. Among the mail carriers
at TINS time were Jerry Wyman. a
brother of the late Josiah p wvmap
Amos Rollins of Belgrade, Cyrus Ham
lin of China, John Holmes, Jesse and
jeremiah Black and Howe 90,
George w. Stanley was the agent for
the Bangor line. Among the improve
ments of that is to be noted a large
yellow gig constructed by Mr.. Little Of
Lewiston Falls, and a mail contractor
constructed especially for the rand
transit Of mail matter.
The pay which General Chandler al
lowed his clerk was one half the in
come Of the office, and the free rental
Of the office, provided he would sleep in
it. One day Parson Stone entered the
Post Office and inquired for the news.
"Ah, good news, good news" said Cen
eral Chandler, jackson is elected"
1T is strange" answered the parson,
How Providence takes various ways
of Furnishing the people"
General Chandler resigned and then
followed the appointment of William
Woart, Jr., who had been clerk in Mr..
NOse's store, and who was recommend
ed to the President by General Chan
dler. Mr. Woart was an affable gen
tleman, who gave satisfaction as an Of
ficer. and who held the office until Har-
rison was elected in 1910. A quaint old
character by the name of Reed, a man
who served in the Revolution, then
! lived in Augusta. He had brought
home from the war a box of cartridges
every Independence Day. Reed en-
tered the post office one day and asked
| Squire Woart for the news. THE
devil is dead" said Wort. Reed drew
| himself to his full height and, looking
at the Squire, Numbered out, Then
why in - amt you in mourning"
was kept in small wooden building on
/ the east side Of Water street. nearly
opposite the present Granite bank
building.
Mr. Richard F. Perkins. well remem-
bered by most of our older citizens as
an active and able Wing politician. was
appointed by President Harrison to sue
coed Mr.. Woart His term of office. ow-
ing to the death of Mr.. Harrison and
the political detection OF his successor
/ Mr.. Tyler, was a brief one. In 1913
Perkins was removed and Daniel c..
! Weston. an uncle to the present Chief
Justice of the United States, appoint
ed in his place. The Wings in Augusta.
on the eth of September of that year.
/ held an indignation meeting on account
Of the removal and passed several high
toned resolutions, complaining of it as
a serious grievance. In the following
| March. Weston was rejected by the
| Senate. On June 18th Of the same year
! Daniel T. Pike was nominated for the
| office but met like fate. Mr.. Pike,
however, knew of his appointment and
rejection before he knew he was a can
didate. in which his case is without
| parallel in the history of Augusta poll
| tics. Governor Fairfield and Mr.. Cary
} induced the President to send in the
name of Asaph r. Nichols for the Of
flee. which nomination was confirmed
| by the Senate.
Mr. Nichols had been engaged in
trade in early life; was an auctioneer
for many years; was clerk of the
House of Representatives in 1888 and
1894; was secretary of State for three
years, commencing with 1885: and after
being postmaster held several posi-
tons of trust until his death in 1863
He was very obliging and accurate
man: stood high in party councils; |
was highly esteemed by his fellow |
tory administration. During his adj |
mnistraton the era of cheap postage |
commenced, and the mails became to |
be more commonly used, so that in |
1915 it was necessary to add a second |
daily western mail from Augusta. Up |
to this time the modern convenience |
of letter writing and transmission was
unknown. 1t was before the day of |
self-sealng envelopes and cheap post |
age. Letters We're almost invariably |
written on a foolscap sheet and folded |
so that the address could be inscribed |
on the center of the fourth page and |
then sometimes sealed with wax often |
er with wafer, a box of which was |
always a necessary part of the fur
nishings of writing desk. These with !
bunch of quill pens and a box of |
black sand, used to prevent blOtting, |
made up the equipment for all pur-
poses of correspondence and compost
ton The art and business of letter
writing received little encouragement |
in those days from the general gov