Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-07-09
An 6Lb! -B8Y's HlND5'SE7ICHf'I

Once more to Times old graveyard l
return.
And scrape the moss from Memory s
pictured urn.-Hohnes.
"Mr. Ct. was here today. He said
the snow, in places where the road
had been dug out, was above his
horses heads, and not team had
passed his place for fourteen days"
This sentence in a letter from my
boyhood's home, written after a big
Snowstorm, and some remarks of Il
couple of friends. matchmaking the
winter weather, set me to thinking
over the "old fashioned winters
which were the rule when l was a
youngster, and which, now that l have
become somewhat accustomed to a
milder climate, degree or two further
south, seem to have been indeed "old
fashioned" for we no longer See the
like.
Whittier, in one of his inimitable
poems, tells of "Cobbler Keezar'S~ vi
SION" ard of the wonderful lapstone
which. looked through as lens,
showed the changes of the future,
Paraphrasing the cobbler's Invocation.
l would say:
CHOW bring hack the old before me
And :.hut me out the new.'
Like a cloud of mist the blackness
Rolls from the magic stone,
And 4 marvellous picture minsles
The long past and the known
At the foot of a long hill, locally
known as "Old Burnt" still stands the
house connected with my earliest
recollections. Here, at the window,
too young to realize the meaning of
what l saw, l remember standing one
winter day, and watching the long
procession of sleighs and teams enter
ing town from the "back LOTS and
neighboring settlements, crowded with
passengers, as though bound for some
entertainment. And so they were
but a gruesome one, indeed, for on
that day a, convicted wife poisoner eX-
plated his crime by death on the gal
lows. This, by the way, was the last
execution in this part of the. State,
for a change in the law gave Il years
respite after sentence, and then fixed
execution at the pleasure of the Gov
ernor. 1t is hardly necessary to say
that the Governor found no pleasure in
hanging the criminal, so the convicted
man continued in the State prison,
practically a prisoner for life. 1t is
related of one such convict that, af-
ter long Imprisonment, he demanded
either his release or his execution, as,
by the laws, he was to be hung after q
years confinement. The plea was I'M
availing, however. The law SUISSE
quently made the penalty of murder
life imprisonment, and an effort to
restore capital punishment failed in
recent session of the Legislature
The heavy fall of snow, blocking all
back, to have been not unusual ac-
winters. A customary mode of
breaking out the roads was with heavy
wood sleds, drawn by large teams of
oxen and loaded down with men and
boys. This, with an occasional turn
out where teams could pass, usually
proved effectual. Then, with the APP
preach Of spring, if at all early, came
the softcning Of the roadway, and the
"slunping" of the teams, often with I,
spill of their loads.
At this season, when rain would b.
followed by freezing weather, a crust,
often strong enough to bear up :
horse, would form, and the boys woul
ind ideal coaSting down long hillside.
and literally above all walls and fence
which in summer divided the fields ami
gardens. On such an occasion, | re
member coasting by the side of :
V1llntr fresh from
studying in his fathers office to be
come a lawyer, who was playing gal
liant to a beautiful yellow-hairc
blonde, then his brother-in-laW's sis
ter, and not long afterwards his wife
His frame sled, Steel-shod, soon out
run my wooden coaster. yet he did no
have all the fun. I little thought
then, that I was racing with the tu-
ture Governor of his State or that |
should live to read the obituaries O
both my coasting rivals
"old Burnt" before referred to, wa.
4 favorite and famous coasting place
for US boys. From its top far above
the village at its foot there was q
quite rapid descent for about 81 quar-
ter of mile, then plain of about an
cnua! distance, and then Il second hill.
shorter but sleeper, if anything, land
pitch Of a few rods from the main
street down to the river. About half
WY across the level plain was d
Slight hollow where the slcds turned
'fi INTO side street and completed
their run. This was by no means Il
coast, but, in special con-
il,ions Of Weather and track. the best
'lcds would often run the full length |
IF the plain, so down the second HILL |
md, with accelerated speed, make
1uite Il distance out on the glare ice |
u the river. At such times it was a |
aVorite. though risky, practice to slide |
Town "Old Burnt" in a pung. loaded |
With boys and girls. one of the BOYS. |
10 flor II e.