Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-03-27
THE OLD TOWN MEETING.
Rer1iniscence of This New England
Institution as It Was Fifty Years
Aqo.

For the MasSac husettS born exile tn,
coming of March inevitably stirs 3
vivid memory. There is little roman
tic about the memory. 1t has moth
ing to do With vernal poetry or mead
uW coWSirS. but about the time OF III.
fist honest thaw he will instinctively
say To himself: 1t NUT be about
time tor town meeting day al home
What man of forty or 6fty, Middle
sex or berkshire born, Il native ot
Worcester or Franklin. or any of the
fourteen counties, can forget his
Youthful impressions of that great
dan? 1t began when the schoolmaster
put on his hat and went forth 10 con-
front tire cmbattled taXpayers OF the
community. alone of all the village
grown small on that occasion when his
employers Were come to town.
Fer days i'll advance. the town war
rant decorated the elm before the town
hail and in solemn and unintelligibe
language summoned the freemen t.
tie annual village council. The very
phrase of the pronunciamento Dor
roWcd from an elder Common wealth
stood forth To puzzle old and young
while beneath the formal langua 81
stretched endlessly those articles
which contained d whole years pro
gram fer the village progress.
And when the town meeting day was
come. then from every section of the
township, from Nine Acre Corner and
the Limekiln road from the Lincoln
Woods and strawberry Hill, from the
four quarters of the world known IL
the 4 ilIIon hoy thpra r. fhn aiti :
zens, clad not merely in their sombre
sunday best" but also invested with
| that dignity a Massachusetts freeman
puts on so easily when he goes forth
to perform public duty.
Foremost of all the questions to be
decided that day was the ever present
question. the fatal Interrogation to be
answered yes or no" tic question
of license. III earlier and simpler
days. when blue ribbons and temper =
an"e societies We're as common as good
government and shorter ballot clubs
now, To be suspected or voting Eyes,
this WAS in itself to be recognized as
an enemy IF the republic. ard the
small boys gathered to whisper as the
traitor passed by. while from pulpit
| and prayer meeting came prophecies
of more dire disaster than would fol-
low the course Of an invading army il
yes prevailed.
In the afternoon. when school was
ont" - mockery of school it had
| been the big boys ran down the viii
| lage streets, climbed breathleSsly into
| the gallery, and silent and awestruck
| looked down upon the village parla
! ment in full debate, looked down up
| ON the moderator who from his lofty
| platform commanded q reverence they
would today refuse to pay 4 governor
| or bcstoW upon President. AS fol
| the "Sclectmcn. yesterday the hum
| blest of sterekceperS. farmers or livery
| men. for that Gay they took on a dig.
| nit dinlly unprecedented in dog care(
sc'lnpl books as the attribute Of Ro-
| man ConsulS.
| Us for the dcbatc itself. doubtless il
! was devoted TO some sublime question
! sucn as ''shinsline" the town barn
| rcrlanking the Red Bridge or rep;iir
! ing the sidewalk or the mill dam
| but for the gallery it was more i'm
| pressive than the debates Of the Web
sters Calh"uns and Douglases upon
/ the floor of the United States Senate
| Not infrcuuently. too. some familia
| friend. the blacksmith or the farme
| wnose wndfall apples We're freely be
! slowed rose and put to shame til
/ hateful lawyers who daily went dow
to Boston in trains and returned Wit
SNUG success written upon their faces
| Then the gallery dared even the mod
orators wrath, pounded it's faint ap
| pl2use and became silent again under
the menace of the gavel.
| Last of all when the East Side ano
tn" West. the town and the Junction
! had quarrelled over appropriations ano
/ debate mad grown so bitter tnat tht
delighted gallery looked down in nope
of speedy bloodshed. the village oracle
the Judge" or the squire, rose t1
close the discussion. AS he spoke the
village voted. for there still survived
4 a tradition which had outlasted man,
4 sHpesationsssf ,oyfshda tocracy. Ant
this oracle, this man who had borne