Oxford Democrat., 1903-07-07
My Recent Visit and What Came of 1t.

My Recent Visit and What Came of |
During the eight seasons that workt
out on farm In my early manhood, tv
of them, 1923, were for John B. MAJ
). of Winthrop, who lived on the Mo
!, mouth road nearly two miles from Il
). village. AS the years slipped by, brin
y ing the half-century mark rapidly neare
g the desire to see the place after the laps
|. of fifty years, and learn who still live
o there, If any, whom then knew, becam
: too strong to resist.
tlast, having completed the program
], and fixed on all the objective points,
!; started off on foot and alone like Bridge
when she went to get married. In du
;. time found myself at South Paris wit
; the genial editor of the Democrat, q
before mentioned. While in the place
and never having seen the interior of tn
bad mems boarding house, that seeme
to be the proper time for the purpose
. So, finding the landlord, Mr.. Tucker, h
kindly showed me the principal work
ings of the institution. There wer
thirty-odd boarders there at the time
and although they seemed fairly vel
contented, rather prefer house havin,
more elbow room. At last, having fount
the residence of John Small, former
resident of this town, put up with hin
for the night, in the meantime calling or
Harvey SWEET, who lives near by anG
was schoolmate in our boyhood days
The next morning, feeling as good az
new, started for Mechanic Falls. The
air was full of smoke, the sun looked
like red hot ball, and the weather was
so cold that mittens were needed. Long
before noon found myself at the resi-.
dence of A. A. Woodsum, whose wife
was Minnie F., daughter of the late
Charles A. Coffin, formerly of Bryant's
Pond. Mr.. Woodsum is running two
stores, owns fine residence and is a
prosperous young man. There are now
four children, three boys and girl baby
eight months old, in the family; also
Mrs. WoodSum's mother.
Here found pleasant stopping place
for night, and in due time the next day
reached the city of Auburn. My object
in calling there was to visit niece, Mrs.
Harry Bumpus, daughter of j. w. Cum
mings of Albany. There was no diff
Guilty in finding Mr.. Bumpus, but 1 was
disappointed to learn that his wife and
daughter were on visit to her fathers.
An amusing little incident occurred on
leaving the city, which may be worth
giving away, although the joke was on
myself. A man came along in an auto
mobile and hauled up for a short time
time near by where I happened to be
standing. Seeing that was particularly
interested in his carriage, and learning
that never had ride in anything of
the kind, he offered to drive me a short
distance, as he was not busy at the time.
Of course there was no objection
offered, providing he would take me so
far on my journey. Being informed that
was going into Lewiston he said, "Get
in and we'll soon be there" Gin a mo-
ment we were winding our serpentine
way along the street, in order to keep
clear of the numerous carriages; and in
a few minutes he halted in front of a
big store, at the same time remarking
that he had fulfilled his part of the
agreement. "Thanks for the ride" said
1. "But didn't you promise to take me
over the river into Lewiston?" "Sure,"
said he with smile, "this is Lewiston.
We were talking so busily when riding
over the bridge that you probably didn't
notice it." l acknowledged the joke,
him for his kindness, and went
on my way feeling that there is still
humorous side to the world, and that
"man's inhumanity to man" is not yet
In due time l found myself gliding
over the railroad and bound for Mon
mouth, that being the nearest station to
where my next visit was to be
made, in the family of Isaac Lapham.
Arriving at the station l learned that
my place of destination was more than
seven miles away; that there was no
public conveyance to that town; and
since travelling on foot over roads COW
cred six inches deep with dust had lost |
the most of it's charm, the prospect of
getting there on that day seemed rather
dubious.
However, as there seemed to be no
other way of getting there, l started off |
on foot again, hoping to get ride part |
Of the way at least. But a streak of
good fortune awaited me, which more
than offset my former disappointment in
Auburn. The outskirts of the village |
had hardly been reached when along |
came Mr.. Lapham, whose errand was to
get something left by mistake few days
previous. To say l was never more |
pleased to see an old friend and neighbor
would be no exaggeration. He carried |
me back with him to his place of trade,
and in short time we were on our way
10 his home, my mental thermometer
having risen several degrees since start
ing from there before.
On our way we came to flock of An
CORA goats, and wishing to see them at
close range, Mr.. Lapham hitched his
horse and we went into the pasture for
that purpose. There were fifteen of
them, including buck and a half-grown
kid. They were rather smaller than l
expected to see, rather thin in flesh, very
tame, and came around bleating and
looking up into our faces as though try
ing to ask for salt. What has been said
about their preferring browse of almost
any kind for food is probably true. The
bushes, such as the gray birch and rum
ming juniper, were well trimmed up,
there was plenty of grass in
the pasture. The fence was about four
feet high, made of wire, the strands
being not more than six inches apart;
and yet we noticed that all the goats,
except the kids, had yokes on.
A ride of few miles further brought |
us to Mr.. Lapham's residence; he, to-
gether with his son and son-in-law, own
a large farm and carry on mixed farm
ing, such as dairying, fruit growing and |
poultry raising. Here Mr.. Lapham and |
wife. his two children and their families,
live in the same house which is large |
and commOdious, and in this way carry |
on their work without jar or friction.
Several times Mr.. Lapham had invited |
me to visit him, adding that he would |
go with me to the insane hospital and |
soldiers home, at any time when would |
come; so starting off Wednesday morn
ing after the rain, by way of Gardiner
where he left his team, we soon found
ourselves travelling at the rate of twenty
miles an hour, drawn by that invisible
and mysterious power called electricity. |
Being well acquainted all the way up
the river, and having worked several
years at the hospital in former days, he
proved to be very congenial and valu-
able companion. We visited nearly all
the apartments in the institution, and
found everything kept clean and in per-
feet order. There were 647 inmates
there at the time, with two of whom we
were formerly acquainted-Frank w.
Farr and Matte Swan.
The next place at which to call was