Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-02-19
Music Hall, 1876 " ater Street, Augusta.
MELVILLE SMITH

| ton, New Jersey, an erect, white
haired, soldierly, yet withal philo-
sophical and unassuming old man
watches the marvellous world progress
of the first decade of the twentieth
century as a player once thick in the
scrimmagc. now watches the game
from the side lines. Not, however.
that Colonel Washington Augustus
Roc bling has been relegated to the
side lines. His days of activity are
far from past. To the eye he is still
as active and full of energy as he was
when, hanging between earth and sky
.. in the frail basket of a balloon. he Sc
cured for Meade the information re-
garding Lees movements that led to
the occupation of the favored ground
of Gettysburg, perhaps to the winning
, of the battle and the end of the re-
| bellion.
And no less active does he appear
when he walks brskly between his
office and his home than he was at
| that later time when he helped string
| the first slender thread of wire which
| later was to grow into the Brooklyn
| Bridge. These two achievements stand
out toldly in Colonel Roeblings long
| life % achievement now in it's seventy
| third year. He was one OF the first
men to use the balloon in warfare in
the United States and he is the man
who built the Brooklyn Bridge. for his
| father, John a. Roebling. who was the
chief engineer, died before the work
of construction actually began. ~
! Even prior to the Civil War he and
his father had achieved an interna-
tioral reputation as builders of sus-
! pension bridges. His fathers first
great triumph, was the completion in
| the early fifties Of the original sus-
pension bridge across the gorge at Nj
agara two months ahead of the con-
tract time. Colonel Roebling enlisted
in the Union army in the early days
of tine Civil War and Immediately
| turned his attention to the use Of the
balloon as means of accommodating.
His knowledge of bridge building also
came into good play and it was he who
restored communication across the
Rappahannock at Fredericksburg. and
across the Shenandoah at Harper's
Ferry. by spanning these streams with
| suspension bridges.
| He has for years been president OF
the John a. RoebIing Sons Company
Il
sons in the manufacture of iron and
steel cable, an industry which Colonel
Roebling established when most men
think of retiring. He Is still active
in it's management. A part of the
plant Is located in ROebling, New Jer-
| sew. known as a model Industrial
town.-Hampton's Magazine for March.
Miss Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore. the
, well-known traveller and writer. has
| written for the March Century OF THE
Cherry blossoms Of Japan than which
no other flower in all the world is SO
| beloved. so exalted so worshiped.
It is not only the national flower. but
the symbol of purity, the emblem of
chivalry and knightly honor, the crest
Of cult the vernal celebration Of
which has been observed with unffag-
ging zeal for at least two thousand
wears" The article will be illustrated
from drawings by the Japanese artist.
Genjiro Kataoka, who made the Illus
trations for Little Sister Snow" and
| two of the paintings will be reproduce
ed in full color
| The article will have special tinieli-
ness. as, largely through Miss Scid-
nore's influence, Japan presented to
this country, two thousand OF these
towering cherry-trees. which were to
be planted this spring in Potomac
Park, Washington. Recently 1t was
| announced that government experts
had been forced to order the destruc-
ton of these gift trees. finding them
infected with certain fungus diseases
| and insect pests. A similar gift for
Riverside Drive. New York, has not
left Japan, whose authorities have
been asked to take precautions with re-
gard to the health Of TIM trees.