The Republican journal., 1906-09-06
The M0ntyiIIe Centennial

1t was hot, but happy occasion. A Lib
erty correspondence records his impress
sions of the celebration.
To THE EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL:
The one hundreth anniversary of the
incorporation of the town of Montville
was celebrated in the Wing Grove,
Center Montville, Wednesday, August
22d. But it is needless for me to tell
you that, for you and all the people OF
western Waldo know that as we'll as l
do, and doubtless The Journal had a
correspondent on the spot, who will
give your readers fuller and better &C
count of the affair than 1 could. But
| will not attempt to report the affair,
but merely describe it as l saw it, and
present as well as can the impressions
| [ received.
| The day was hot, the crowd large,
but orderly, and we'll dressed, and had
it not have been for the great heat all
would have been supremely happy, for
their friends and acquaintance from
everywhere seemed to be present. Had
Uncle Josh of ye ancient days who
CO mmanded the sun to stand still (and
it obeyed) been present and ordered the
sun 'to 60 way back and sit down, l
think he would have received vote of
thanks. But he was not there, and we
| had to swelter it out as best we could.
1t was interesting to see the more cor
pulent ones moving slowly around in
the crowd hopping their faces and puff
fling and blowing like a school of por-
poises or fleet Of high pressure steam
boats. Had some of us, say H. H. Ter
| ry of Boston, Col. Nelson of Liberty,
W. l. Neal of Waldo, Liant Caswell of
Searsmont or myself succumbed to the
heat, of which there was great danger,
our friends could have written on our
tomb stones: Greece! Greece! But liv-
ing Greece no MORE"
Notwithstanding the great heat it
was very enjoyable day to all. Every
one seemed to lay themselves out to be
social and agreeable, and such joyous
meetings, such happy greetings of
friends who had not met for years! 1t
was very delightful. This feature of
the centennial was the best of all,
though everything else was good and
affair in charge did their duties to per-
The first thing that attracted my at
I a.
the gentlemen present-was the capti-
waiting appearance of the ladies. No
more fine looking and stylishly CO.'S
tuned ladies could be found at any
gathering, in this State at least. There
were ladies present whose homes are in
other parts of the country, who had
gone out from the State in years that
have passed. Many of them, we are glad
to say, have become wealthy and came
on this occasion to visit the homeland.
There were ladies present whose homes
are in far-off Montana, Virginia, Ohio,
and other western States, and very
many from the neigeboring States of
Massachusetts, Connect u t, N W
York, etc. Many of them are accus-
toned to wear diamonds, but there was
no destinations display on this occa-
sion, and the ladies of the farm and
home compared favorably with those
from the cities. What made them look
particularly attractive on this hot sum
mer day was that the majority were
costumed in simple white, with white
canvas slippers, without hats, and with
fans, looking not unlike gay butter
flies fluttering about among the trees
They looked so cool and comfortable,
while others dressed in more expensive
garb seemed smothered in comparison.
l could not help contrasting the Co.'S
tunes of the ladies of this day and gen.
Grafton with those of their grandma 9TH
ers on an occasion like this. At the
beginning of the 10th century the bellies
of that day would have been dressed
in tow and linen or linsy woolsy, the
material for which was grown on the
| farm, spun and woven at their homes
by either themselves or their mothers,
colored with dye made from the barks
of the trees. Their hose, if they wore
any, were of wool from the sheep of
the farm and knit by members of the
family. Their shoes, if they had any,
we're made from the hides of their own