The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1909-01-29

| The advance on tickets from England,
west. t.bound, is $3.50. Although the
rate TO and from Mediterranean ports
has not as yet advanced, it is expect
ed TO within a short while.
Mayor George A. Hibbard, IL was
announced. recently, would, if his mu-
nicipal duties did not hold him to the
city, probably spend the months OF
February and March far away from
the tTeacherous east winds OF Boston.
The Mayor is exercising the great
est care. He is a Boston boy and
realizes the weather variations that
make the coming months unpleasant
for anyone not enjoying vigorous
health.
The mayors pluck and determine
tion to do his duty as chief executive
of the city has not deserted him, and
without regard TO personal risk he
says he will stick to his post until his
term OF Office expires.
Mayoralty duties at the City hall as
Mr.. Hibbard performs them ape of the
most eXacting character. There is not
a minute during the Office hours that
the mayor has not pressing business
to occupy it and besides this pres
sure OF official business which Mayor
Hibbard will not permit to be neglect
ed, there is every day small army Of
office-seekers and visitors.
Fifteen hundred dollars was paid
in Boston for a hen the other day
just an ordinary-looking partridge
cochin fowl. That's lot more than
Simon Legree used to pay for able
boded farm hands way down South.
Not many generations ago that
fowls ancestors were common, every
day farmyard habitants. worth about
80 cents a pound ITS simply case
of selection, care and feed" explained
the breeder, as he pocketed the $500
This incident should appeal to those
who question the work of institutions
like the Massachusetts Agricultural
College on the ground OF practical re-
suits"
Selection, care and feed" as "A re-
suit OF experiments at the agricultural
colleges, has produced the Country
Gentleman" sweet corn, which increas-
es the value OF a bill so percent; has
resulted in the Countess Spencer"
sweet pea, the newest glory OF the
flower garden; has developed the
worlds champion milch COW, "Colan.
tha Fourth's johanna" which has "A
record Of nearly twenty-eight thousand
pounds of milk in a year.
Away back in February, 1876, al
most thirty-three years ago, the ia
nous old elm tree in Boston common
came down with crash. A good,
stiff wind was blowing on the 18th Of
the month, and, as timed by a passer-
by, the old tree succumbed at exactly
III in the evening. The next morn
ing crowds of boys swarmed out from
the West End TO get some relics from
the old elm, the famous old elm which
had seen so much of Boston's history.
The authorities at first made no effort
10 stop anyone who desired some of
the tree, and the boys managed to
branches that they could lift Later
on, the police took an interest in the
proceedings, and the bulk of the fall
len landmark was taken care OF. Prob
ably there is many a Boston citizen
today who has a cane, or an ink stand,
nr oil
inal old elm.
A contemporary described the de-
struction of the historic tree rath-
er graphically. II said that at about
7.05, to few passersby it became evil
dent by the Creaking of the tree. the
es, and the swaying of the trunk, that
the end was fast approaching. From
time to time, as the wind gathered it.
self for each fresh attack, the creaking
of the trunk increased. until finally at
III. the tree fell with crash which
sounded like the report of a cannon.
1t fell toward the Park-street church
with such force as to splinter the
trunk i'm every imaginable manner.
while the upper limbs were broken
and scattered in every direction. The
trunk was torn clear down TO its roots,
on a level with the ground, and that
part OF the iron fence surrounding it.
on the side on which it fell. was
crushed into fragments.
The tree had been known as far
back as tradition can go. and is rep
resented upon the oldest map of Bos-
ton known to exist, and which was en-
graved in the year 1922, and then was
of sufficient size to have attained de-
stinction. II is reasonable 10 believe
that ii was growing before the arrival
of the first colonists. Probably it was
growing in 1880. Upon its limbs it
is supposed that some of the early ex-
ecutions in the old colony took place