Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1900-12-19
No. /.

ot innings AT ati OF the coast settlements
OF New England. The parent stock was,
for he most part, made up OF sdventur-
Gus and restless spirits, offshoots from
| the Massachusetts Bay colonists. They
cossted all the shores of the Gulf of
Maine, and landing parties became tenn
porary sojourners, then residents of I'M
occupied regions where land was cheap per
than in the regions they had left. They
multiplied and attracted others, and the
beginnings were made.
Some communities grew faster than
others, Of course, for all were not alike.
Some are growing faster now for the same
reason. The conditions of life were easy,
though rigorous. Shelter was to be had
by telling the trees OF a practically un-
limited forest. The soil and climate we're
| suited to the sustenance OF the sheep and
cattle that furnished them with most of
their articles OF clothing and much OF
their food, while the teeming seas OF that
day provided the rest. II they wished for
more, 1t was not to be had from the un-
settled wilderness at their backs but only
to be brought over the waters Of the broad
ocean in front OF them.
Ii was for these reasons that prac-
tically all of the early settlements
were coast settlements Like man.
kind of to-day, they sought to crafty
their desires in the easiest way open to
them. The sea then was the key to every
thing. 1t WAS necessary then Ms now TO
give in return, and their resources were
limited in variety. Products of the sea
and products OF the soil, in this case
meant fish aud timber, beca use it u as not,
| is not, and never can be All agricultural
country in any large sense. Added to
| these we're the by-produc;s OF each and
the business OF exchange aud Transports
ton by t he sea OF course. Hence natur-
ally wooden shipbuilding.
These were emp!oymenis OF our ances-
tors aud their communities throve just
! in proportion to their advantages along
/ these lines Boston led and still leads,
! chiefly because OF her harhor, and Port
land and Portsmouth followed next for
the same reason. The principal sdvan-
/ tage due to a superior harbor in those
days expressed itself tRrough the CHAN
| nels OF transportstion~snd exchange
| trading. 1t is true that Portland had Il
better har Dor than Boston, so had Castine,
and that the results in these cases were
small in comparison with Boston, but the
development OF our country took place
on the other side of Boston, from these
other ports for he principal part of our
| country lies there-and that made Bos-
ton more accessible as a centre of ex
| changes.
! 1t is a law OF human nature and human
society that 1t is only with great reiuc-
| lance that any consderabl bic change W III be
made in the methods and modes of life
to which they have been long sccus-
toned, If they can be made to answer
their purpose even but tolerably. 1t is
the persistence OF habit. 1t was even
truer during the past generation or two
| than 1t Is now, because the means OF
knowing that there were other ways in
| which wants could be satisfied were not so
many. The press and rapid transit at
| low cost are having their effects, but even
| yet the NJ ussuimaD women still veil their
faces, buttons are worn on the backs OF
mems coats and The mass of mankind per-
mits hereditary privileges.
Our people did the best they could with
the means they had at hand. From the
small bt ginbing OF about century 70
" hieh is not very long time in the lie
| Of any community outside OF America
they steadily and heaithiIy advanced.
Like their neighbors, they worked along
he lines that would accomplish the most
| with he least labor. The Union river
! setl 4 ment MSS coast and forest settle
ment. The settlers cut the forests aud
fshed the Tbey butt vessels Of
wood to transport their products for
themselves aud others. They helped out
with such Il lage aud gr.Zing nature
permitted. Artisans snd tradesmen ap-
/ pesreo as fast the field opened for their
/ en- pios meut. and in strict accordance
/ with the law Of human progress, they
| KEEP, themselves to these lines SO long and
! III suen numbers as the resources to be so
/ wot krd up would permit.
| NoIhing material remains unchanged
/ in this world, but the transfer mat ion Is
| grad uai, not sucden. We see it not until
long af.er - has begun. 1t is apparent
now that industrial conditions in this
vicitity have charged, and many of them
never to return. Ii is plain that we have
not OF late developed and progressed RS
| rapidly rs We did in the early days. In
| looking back it would seem that our cul
mination up to this time WAS reached
sonew here "a bout the early '70's or in the
flush times following the Civil war-a
period OF inflated currency, irredeeRable
green backs issued in large amounts and
made legal tender by law.
OF course prices rose and kept rising
the settling day was yet far Off More
over, the destruction OF property and its
use simply to provide for the wants Of
cur enormous armies, together with the
stoppage OF production consequent upon
| taking men fr om their leg itimate la bors