Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-06-14
QUILL'S YARN.
His Experience in the High
ways Of the Metropolis.
He Fell in With an Old Timer From
Augusta.
Why the Old Timer Thought Names
CAPITAL Was Small.

! against an ora inner WHO used to live
! in Augusta, way back in the frowsly
past, when the ancient bureh was :,
great big OverSroWn town. He was
| delighted 20 see me. or said so at least.
and to prove il took day off and al
lowed some other fellow to run all the
railroads and other lilcrc getting games
while we took in the town. fie hadn't
! been down this way since milk was
three cents a quart and good advice
| like tincturc OF rhubarb was Il drug in
| the market. So while / crancd my
neck and almost dislocated my verte-
brae, trying TO see the tops of the big
sky Scrapers on Broadway he lubricat-
cd his question asking machine and
turned it loose on me. | admitted that
my memory was in a fair state Of
preservation on anything this side of
the 4th parallel. / could hit the cor
rect answer once out of every three
times. But anything hack Of that.
especially at the time when the
indians used to boil sap on the old fort
lot and occasionally play ping pong
with Il harmless missionary not out If
any spirit Of frivolity but just to have.
something doing | said | would be OBJ
liged TO acknowledge my memory was
Il little rusty. He started in BY asking
me all about that trip which Benedict
arnold made up the i[ennebec on his
way to Quebec and wanted to know if
| remembered him and if he wore
whiskers or Il full beard | told him I
remembered the occurrence very well
and also the hickman who toted his
grip on that memorable occasion but
must have been turning the grind
stone for George Washington to sharp
en- his Ratchet at the time he arrived
50 din not get down to the wharf in
season 10 see the batteauX land but if
he wanted q gross or 50 Of Old baYonetS
| used by Arnold's men l thought
could accommodate him for it was a
| pretty uneVentful day when we didn't
| Dig up l. or 70 o. tht Sc old high kick.
| ing flint locks and that they were as
| common With us as bean poles. He
seemed to be thoroughly satisfied that
| he had struck an ineXhauStible mine
| of knowledge. sort of travelling
| library, bound in calf alphabetically
| arranged with marginal notes and an
index. He evidently appreciated 4
good thing when ne saw it ana pro-
posed to work it for all there was in it.
| He asked about the crops in Maine
and said that i had always been the
height Of his ambition to come baci,
and own Il little farm down in the
| Eonncbec valley and raise pumpkins
| and "Sjri' and ne Wa: II lI'4.s s.iI.e-
day to realize his dream. ! told him
| the crops were looking particularly
| well at this season of the year. the
ston" crop especially, ana if it bios
somed we'll ana if not too much affected
by strike microbes we should nave an
abundance Of al shapes ana sizes and
some to spare. snt u man NJ Mt.
| y crn,n way MAS doing til best. He
| planted seventeen acres to button
| tIdntS AL va: l.iI> uG go IhIn:,
raising buttons for q pantaloon factory
down in Connecticut ;;".! tEat he FAD
moro buttons than some people la
| hay ard by another spring half the
( farmers up mat Nay would be in he
| button raising business. He had heard
| Of button plant as being a prolific
Nielder ana Nhea h got that farm Of
lis running SlnoQth he said he guessed
he would set ont 4 few plants. He had
no desire to corner the market on bu.-
tons but raise Just enough for hi; own
family and might possibly Sraft a
few 50 as to haze NaJje,Y.
After leading me along the by ways
and hedges and into several places
where the tiger was supposed to dwell
and where signs Of the beast were very
apparent he suddenly stopped and said:
Don't you ever get lonesome down in
Augusta. Most everybody has either
died or gone away and failed to re-
| turn. Why you can't have more than
| tue, ht1ydrpI ,1ann1a thcra oil +nJ, IN
town must have gone to seed since |
left
Right there was where I saw nv OBJ
portunity. or thought did, to blow my
little horn ana boom my native hearth
so | said:
Jim. what do YOU mean? Why,
there are moro people to the acre down
in Augusta than there are grass widows
in Dakota end we have had to set the
Sidney boundary line over twice to
keep from crOWdng the neighborinc
town off the map and if we keep on
increasing in population for the next 10
years as we have in the past we shall
have to build gallery all around the
town to accommodate the overflow.
You ought to come down and look in on
Us Cnce if you want to get an idea of a
boom town. Why, the last long haired
census taker. who made a tour through
the town armed with a fountain pen
and a fat blank book, counting the
freckles on the children's faces and
picking up lots of Information. puts
the old town on the free rural delivery
list as having almost 12,000 people, not
counting a dozen or SO who were SO
busy flying around he couldn't catch
them.
7 thought I had him fioored with that
argument but he rallied beautifully
and said:
That may be all true as you say but
what sticks me is this: l have lived in
New York for great number of years
ana about every man who comes from
Augusta and falls in with the Phiis-
II tines and drops his bundle eventually
hunts me up ana borrows all the way
from 81 to 81 according to the state OF
my financial barometer and when they
turn their faces towards Maine they
grasp me by the hand and say: Well
Jim. when | get home | will send this
to YOU
Il never have received anything as
vet and | have concluded that they
. were all honest and that something
, must have happened to them on tbs