Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1908-07-15

The Gossiper enjoyed q trip to To-day
pond one day last week, drawn there not
because Of any particular fascination of
the name, but because Of stories of its
beauty, which have reached far beyond
its boundaries. He was not disappointed.
Teddy pond furnished all that was ex-
pected of it, except the toddy.
To-day pond is q beautiful sheet of
water, some eight miles long, and averag-
ing less THIN a mile in width, with two
'snarrows" which might be easily bridged.
1t is dotted with small islands, and there
are many beaches Of beautiful white sand
on its shores.
But it was not Of the pond itself that
the Gossiper intended to write, but of an
interesting farm which he visited in the
To-day pond settlement. This is the Nc
Caslin farm, and here lives a remarka BILE
old couple, 'Uncle Alexander" McCaslin,
who will be ninety-two years old next
November, and "Aunt SUSAN, his wife.
For sixty-six years this interesting old
couple have been married, and lived here
on this farm.
"Aunt Susan" came to the To-day pond
settlement with her father, Thomas Car
ter, when she was little girl. There was
no settlement there then, no roads, only
forests, wood paths and blazed trails. Her
father came across To-day pond from Pc
nobscot way, cleared small tract of land
and built log house. This was the be-
ginning of the present McCaslin farm.
Here ''Uncle Alexander" found "Aunt
Susan. 1t was not 'suncle" and ssaunt''
then, but young Alex McCaslin and buxom
Susan Carter-the years and the broaden
ing circle Of loving friends have added the
dignity Of ''uncle" and 'sauntn to their
names.
Alexander McCaslin cleared land ad-
joining Mr.. Carter's, and here his eighteen
year-old bride began housekeeping. How
well they have succeeded in making a
home the farm itself tells. The years have
been kind TO them. Uncle Alexander, in
spite of his ninetytwo years, has this year
worked as usual in the bayfield,, despite the
pouring hot sun, while "Aunt Susan" was
scarcely less busy in the house. ssUncle
Alexander" by the way. is the oldest
Mason in Hancock county-perhaps in
Maine. He is member Of Rising star
lodge of Orland.
But the heavy work of the farm now de-
wolves on Capt. George Gray and his hos
pitable wife, who have for the past two
years looked after the farm aud helped to
make happy the last years of the old
people.
If there are any who believe in the oft
quoted statement that 'sa sea-dog never
yet made farmer, they should visit the
McCaslin farm and look over Capt. Gray's
farming. Capt Gray is sea-dog, il there
ever was one. Nearly all his life he has
followed the sea. For twenty-seven years
he'went regularly to the Grand Banks in
Bucksport or Lamoine fishermsn-for
twenty-seven springs he never saw the
trees come into leaf. For several years
he went trawling out Of Boston, and in
fact, since boyhood, he has seldom been
far from salt water.
But now he is as thoroughly at home on
farm as on the heaving deck of q vessel.
Perhaps the location of the farm has
something to do with this. From the
comfortable farmhouse where ssthe wind
always blows", the cultivated land sweeps
in long aground swells' away to the
southwest until it mingles with the
waters Of Teddy pond, where . dory ID
drawn up on the beach. On the day the
Gossiper visited the farm, big forest fire
was raging near North Bluehill, and the
smoke which settled across the pond and
obscured its head added to the illusion
that one was looking away into fog
bank at sea. No wonder Capt. Gray is at
home ON the McCaslin farm.
Over the rolling hills Capt. Gray steers
his pillow or guides his cultivator a straight
as he would lay his course if bound home