Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-06-16
FrvoburH,

The books constituting the library OF
the late Benjamin Poor Snow OF Alfred,
who was principal Of the academy here
for two or three years In the early six
ties, were auctioned off In Boston on
Thursday and Friday, June and 8, by
the firm of Charles F. Libbie & Co. ct
their book.auction rooms, 646 Washing
ton Street, that city. One OF the
items of the sale was copy OF the
| pamphlet containing an account OF the
centennial celebration on Thursda9,
August 20, 1858, of the settlement OF
this town, the price 1t brought being
only ten cents. This pamphlet contains
| 10 pages, of which pages 8 to 30 con-
sist of the historical address which was
delivered at the celebration by Rev.
Samuel Souther, native Of this town,
but then resident of Worcester, Mass.
The committee which at the annual
town meeting held on the preceding 9th
of April was selected to make the prep
arations for the celebration first chose,
as the orator of the occasion, Hon.
William Pitt Fessenden, grandson OF
Fryeburg's first clergyman, Rev. vii.
liam Fessenden, but the pressure OF
other business rendered 1t impossible
for Mr.. Fessenden to take the part In
the celebration for which he had been
selected, and Mr.. Souther was chosen In
bis stead. Mr.. Souther's address was
delivered from q rough wooden stand,
facing the southwest, which had been
erected on the northeastern slope OF
Pine Hill, the auditors sitting In the
open air on benches arranged in front OF
the stand, and from that stand were read
the letters which had been received from
invited guests who were unable to be
present. Probably it would now be
very difficult, If not impossible, for any
one to point out the exact spot where
that stand was located, the part of the
hillside on which it stood having at that
time only tree here and there, but now
being quite thickly wooded over.
Governor John A. Andrew OF Massa-
chusetts was present at the celebration
as an invited guest, and he began his
address from the stand on the hillside,
but soon after he commenced to speak a
shower precluded further exercises or
the. hillside and caused the crowd to
sctfry for shelter, as many OF them as
possible crowding into the Congre
gational church, where Governor An
drew finished his address, and where he
so excoriated the "Copperheads" for
their course with reference to the civil
war then raging, that the late Henry D. E
Hutchins of West Fryeburg and the late
Henry Abbott of Fryeburg village Missed
his utterances, and in high dudgeon left
the church. The great majority of the
auditors were in thorough accord with
every word Governor Andrew said, bu
linasmuch as the occasion was one in
which people of all varieties of political
belief were to participate (the com
mittee which made the preparations fol
the celebration, including as one OF 1t.
members Henry D. E. Hutchins, who,
as already stated, took such offence al
Governor Andrews utterances that he
left the church while the Governor was
speaking), it would seem that politics
especially politics of so radical a kind al
those of Governor Andrew-should no
have been 80 aggressively introduced as
to mar the harmony and good feeling O
the occasion.
Very few of those who had parts IL
the exercises of that centennial cele
bration are now living, two of them be
ing all whom the writer recalls as still
alive, viz: Henry Hyde Smith, then o.
Fryeburg, but now of Hyde Park, Mass.
with an office in the Old South Building
I294 Washington Street and 10 Milk Street
Boston, and Kate Putnam Osgood
then of Fryeburg, but now of "a Worces
ter Street, Boston. (Mr. Smith read tn
/ -h;oh Joooh Monor Tavi in
coin and Nathaniel S. Benton, invited
lgussts unable to be present, wrote II
response to the invitations sent them
and which are printed on pages 81 to d
of the pamphlet mentioned above, ant
Miss Osgood wrote an ode which wa
sung at the celebration and which u
printed on pages SO of the pamphlet.)
1t may be added in conclusion tha
the Oxford Democrat of Friday, Sept
IA, 1868, contained an account of tina
Icentennial celebration from the pen o
the late William B. Lapham, which
covered the newspapers entire frs
page and two or three inches of th'
first column of its second page, but thu
Democrat was then of much smaller size
than it now is, the width of its page
then being only Is l-2 inches (enougf
for only six columns) as against pres
ent width of 90 IA inches enough fol-
nine columns) and the length of it
pages then being only % inches az
against present length of p inches
That account which the Democrat had
of the celebration states that the latt
Ex-Governor John Winchester Dana de
clined to serve as presiding officer of TIT
day, the reason he assigned for hi
declination being that he might heal
what would be obnoxious to him.
The magazine Supplement" of th'
Boston Globe of Sunday, June 7, has ar
article of some two-thirds of a column
in length on Miss Anna Barrows ant
her work as a teacher of culinary ant
household science, picture of her &C
companying the article Miss Barrows
birthday is the same day of the month
MAY 24 as that of the late Queen Vic
toria.