The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-29
'"oLD MEDFoRD."

ing rooms. 4a.
 ... OLD MEDFORD." < The Manufacture of Rum Comes to a, Dignified End After Nearly 200 Years.
 Medford, it is needless to say, is a place near Boston. Paul Revere rode through, Medford town on his way to arouse the countryside Yet for over century the thing that has brought the greatest fame to the place has been the Medford rum. It is quite within our province as chron- iclers to call attention to two recent events of importance in the history of the town The 275th anniversary of, the first settlement on the Mystic, where Medford stands, was celebrated most tittingly on Thursday. Dr. Will liam Everett of Quincy, whose facility in tn writing of occasional verse is cited a historical poem whose con- cluding stanza audaciously reminds one of the towns most celebrated in dustry: * < What means "old Medford'' to her ex-
 fled sons?
 What dear domestic dreams in want
 and wandering through their visions runs!
 Close to their hearts warning taste of home Z They praise perchance; they share and
 feel,
 Though from their mother far they
 roam. Her spirit still is there. But, as matter of fact, her spirit has departed. Medford rum is no more save in very small and con stantly. diminishing quantity, for the firm that has made it has decided to close up the business and withdraw this redoubtable article of commerce forever from the markets of the world When the supply now in the bouded warehouses Is sold Medford's chapter in rum will be ended, and the old taunt that so distressed our orthodox grandmothers about New England
 Bibles and Medford rum going on the same ship to the heathen will lose both it's pertinence and it's sting. %
 The public is not fully informed as to the reason for the discentinuanee of this notable Medford industry, al- though the Boston Herald Is authority for the statement that the firm of Daniel Lawrence & Sons, for several years : * have not taken an active interest in the plant Competition would have made it impossible for them to have entered the field with many of the newer concerns, and the family feeling is that 1t is better to close out of business without any deterioration than to continue in conl- petition with firms producing an in- ferior article that might be sold under a similar name" The devotion to high ideals in the manufacture of rum is truly old fashioned, and it seems to be entirely genuine. The Medford rum manufacture has always been con- servatively managed. The distilery used down to the present time is a small one story brick building of for- bidding aspect that was constructed in 1797, assserit has never obstructed itself upon the attention of the population. The business, indeed, in recent times, has been of a retireing nature, quite unlike the Haunting modern brewery, and visitors in Medford have often had difficulty these 50 years in finding easily the seat of the towns most cele- brated industry. The idea of the Law rences has been evidently for nearly a generation merely to supply the exist ing demand, without opening up new markets and extending the sales through widespread advertising.
 Rum in Medfor began in 1735. It's manufacture was then and for many years after held in high esteem. The Rev. Charles Brooks in his history of Medford, relates what is indeed com mon knowledge concerning those times: Tt. was not uncommon In the first century of the growth of Ned ford for private families to have a. still, by running which they supplied l themselves with alcohol for medicinal purposes, sold small qunitities to their neighbors and made for use different | kinds of cordials. It was considered breach of hospitality not to offer a visitor some kind of spirituous liquor, and if the bottle was empty when the clergyman made his call many words of apology were deemed necessary" In New England we have long since passed the period when an apology was due the visiting clergyman if the rum bottle was empty. It is with the conviction that, so far as inebriety is concerned, our people have im- proved in the bulk and that temper ance is more and more recognized as 1 a necessity of sound living and as a