The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-03-31
THE BROOKS TOWN MEETING.

As 1t " as In the Past and As 1t Is To-day.
In the good old days prior to the building
of our railroad the Brooks town meetings
were marked by turbulence and dlscord.
The momentous issue of aid to the rail-
road was the basis of many an acrimonious
debate, and it was not an unusual thing
for the annual town meeting to consume
the whole of one long March day and pass
well through the daylight of the next.
Then it was that we listened to the thrill
ing eloquence of a Daniel Jones, to the
subtle argument of a Joseph Ellis, to the
leonine roar of Sam or Henry Reynolds,
to the resonant thunder of an l. G. Rey-
nolds and to the contagious enthusiasm of
Chas E. Lane. The crowd was never
seated. You could only keep them still for
a minute. They surged about the room
with their muscles knotted as for deadly
conflict, their foreheads wrinkled as in a
frenzy of hate, their eyes flashing with
the electrical excitement that filled their
brain. One side pictured the successful
future that awaited Brooks as railroad
town, the other the financial ruin that lay
just before us. To those of US who remem-
Der it all it is now but an echo from the
distance. Many of the most active partici-
pants are sleeping in their quiet graves.
Like many other issues this one is dead.
The railroad has become an accepted fact !;
it is here to stay and our people are thank
full for it. We have bright, clean, happy
and prosperous village. Teams from miles
around are daily at our station. Our bust
ness men are active and well-to-do We
all realize that without the railroad we
should have been only a sleepy little ham,
let in the woods.
But what has this to do with the recent
Brooks town meeting. Not much, it is
true; it is only to note the change wrought
by the passing years that we indulge in
these "reminiscences The meeting March
Z, 1904, was held for the first time in our
new $4,000 building. The people were
seated. Everybody who wished to speak
could be heard. Due respect and Difference
was paid to the opinions of others. The |
decisions of the Chair were as recommen-
dations and not as commands. And oh
shades of the past! The business of the
meeting was pleasantly despatched.
NJ. j. Dow, Esq, then begged the indul-
gence of the chair and of his courteous |
toWnsmen, for few remarks. He mention |
ed the fact that it was d custom now quite |
generally observed among bodies of people |
where business of all important and excit- |
ing nature had been transacted, where diff
ference of opinion, it may be, had existed,
and where acrimonious debate perchance
had occurred, where passion, perhaps, had
been aroused and excitement predominated,
to take little time at the close of it all for the
purpose of good fellowship and fraternity,
that all might remember before they parted
that they were all but as one family, each
benefited by the prosperity of his neigh
Der. He then asked to be allowed to intro
dnce to an assembly of the citizens of
Brooks, who can be met in a body like this
but once year, gentleman who had re-
Gently come among us, who wished to adapt
himself to his new surroundings, and who
was anxious to look into the faces and be-
come personally acquainted with the sturdy
controlling element of this community, the
men who own the homes and pay the bills,
and make the town. He was man who at
the age of twelve was drummer boy in
the army, who had associated with men in
many conditions of life, and who knew by |
personal observation the sentiments pre-
dominant in the hearts of mankind.
In response to this Introductory adj |
dress Rev. E. f. Colburn said that he was |
in the condition of the man who had prayed |
to be delivered from his friends and he then |
proceeded to deliver witty and eloquent |
speech to an audience as quiet and atten
tive as that in any church. And this in a
Brooks town meeting.
What have former residents of the town
to say to that?
One thing in particular is worthy Of nc
tice in this town meeting, and that was the
unanimity of sentiment in regard to the
value of the snow roller which we have
tried for two winters. They raised money
to construct two more rollers, making three
in actual use in town. Were they crazy or
were they not? No other town in Waldo
county has one
Many former residents of Brooks have
friends buried in the new cemetery, So
called. They will be interested to know
that it is to be enlarged and improved.
BRUSQUE.