The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-04-19
old Times in Belfast.


| "reminiscences of John F. Gould.
To THE EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL: [
have been reminded so many times late
ly that / ought to have a few lines in
the paper that | will now say few
words which might interest some of
your many readers. Belfast is the
home of my boyhood days, and oh how
pleasant they were, and how much l
would like to live them over again.
They were days of sunshine and glad
: ness and the sweet memories still fresh
in nv mind are revived nearly every
day by meeting two or three old school
mates-John Bennett, Ansel White and
Charles Havner; and quite often dur
ing the year meet Capt. Ephraim Ry-
der, and you boys in Belfast ought to
fell proud of him, the oldest captain on
the coast of New England in continu-
GUS service He has seen nearly, if not
quite 80 years of steady sea-going, and
has not lost vessel or a man up to the
present time. This is a record to be
| proud Of. | remember him when cap
| tain of the Jane Otis, and that was
good many years ago; or may be wrong
| it might have been the Eliza Otis. and
the time somewhere in the early fifties.
! | went to New Orleans in the bark L. |
| r. Hazeltine in 1888 and came back |
again in 1884 in the bark Ortona, Capt |
( Daniel Carleton, one of the old Belfast |
; families that think has become ex-
tinct
| | noticed in reading the obituary of
aunt PAMELA Wight that quite an in
teresting item was left out. She was
| the mother of one of the largest, if not
| the largest man. ever raised in the State
of Maine. Hezekiah Wight was be-
tween and feet tall and weighed
over 400 pounds. He was school-mate
of mine, as also were Henry Dunbar
and his sister Prudence, my sister
Fidelia, Julia Pote, Fred's sister, Ann,
Jane, Sally and Nancy Emery, and the
Emery boys, Robert, John, William
and Dean, Thomas Speed, Royal War
rem, and quite a number Of others
whom | do not now call to mind. Henry
Dunbar will remember them ALL Those
were happy days, and the girls were all
pretty, too. OF course we never forget
the girls, and the boys all turned out
well. Nearly all of them became sue
cessful sea captains.
| remember quite a joke Hezekia h
Wight played on Col. Watson Berry, one
of our nice old grocers. At that time they
used to sell old-fashioned keg raisins,
and the old Colonel would tell us boys
to get handful for cent. One day
while the Colonel was busy writing
HeZekiah came in and said, Uncle
Berry, want a cents worth of raisins."
Without looking up from his books he
answered, $50 and get a handful = and
when Hezekiah laid them down on the
counter he had over a pound. The joke
was too good. and the Colonel laughed
over 1t for years after. Horatio can
tell you of all things which happened
| ~ 'iiooN .iiIloo. liClIl DOuSe, COlOI-
ed boy, lived here some years, and the
boys used to buy those big red sticks
called lobster candy and Hen. would let
us break them on his head if we gave
him the candy. | had just as soon he
struck by a big piece of wood, for they
We're or 6 inches long and two inches
through.
How are my old-time friends, David
Libby, Jones Davis, Joseph Havner and
Jake. We hear from Percy Sanboln
once III while. He says there is no
money in the music business in Belfast.
Keep the interest up, boys, encourage
music, for it is always refining in it's
nature, and old Belfast always had as
good musical ability as any town in the
State. Keep it up.
! In strolling through Prospect Park
to-day, | met Ex-Mayor Body of
3 Brooklyn, looking hale and hearty. How
many pounds of butter | have bought
from his mother in years gone BY.
think she is still living in Belfast.
| would like to drop in and take a look
at you all, my old and dear friends, and
4 hope some time in the near future to do
SO. Best wishes and regards to all.
Yours Truly.
1 }. F. GOULD.