The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-05-01

SduueSt SATURDAY AFTERNOON the conquer
of these annals ever knew was the one
when he dropped his new fish-line over
board before his sinker had touched bot.
tom.
For many years after the first bridge
was built the annual meeting of the
proprietors was quite an event in the
village. According to tradition it was
an event that furnished occasion for a
larger amount of hilarity than would be
deemed becoming in these days of the
stringent enforcement of the M aine Law;
but the tradition is not we'll founded.
The annual meeting, always held in De-
cember, was strictly business meeting
AS faithful annalist, however, it is our
duty to record the fact that our progeni-
tors, the bridge proprietors, were not
unmindful of creature comforts; to their
credit be it added, they paid for them
out of their own pockets, not from the
treasury of the corporation.
At the annual meeting held Dec. LIST,
1907, the following vote was passed, as
appears Of record: THAT the members
of this corporation with their officers and
such gentlemen as the directors may in,
vite, sup together on the first day Of
January, unless that day shall happen to
be Sunday-in that event on the succeed
ing day-at such time and place as the
directors shall appoint, ard give notice
thereof by their Clerk"
1t is a we'll authenticated fact, al
though it does not appear on record, that
these ''sups" were sometimes of a
rather eXuberant character, as the fol-
lowing incident serves to show At the
close of one of them, after the party had
risen from the table and We're about to
separate, a member made a motion
''that We all take anight-cap and adjourn
to the first Monday in next January"
Whereupon worthy deacon, who was
embracing one of the door posts at the
time, suggested that it would be well be-
fore acting on the motion to look at the
almanac and make sure that the day
named didn't come on Sunday. The
question was divided; the night-cap was
taken, but the consultation of the alma
nae was indefinitely postponed.
The military strength of the town was
composed of two Companies of Militia,
locally known as the East side and West
side Militia, Company of Artillery, or
ganized in 1903, and a Company of
Cavalry organized in 1904. They were
all attached to the Second Regiment,
First Brigade, tenth division Of the
Militia of Massachusetts. Alexander
Campbell of Steuben was Major General,
John Crosby of Hampden, Brigader
General, and Thomas Knowlton of
Northport, Lieut.. Colonel. The Military
Rosters of those days embrace no such
officer as Colonel.
The east side militia was commanded
by Capt. Robert Kelsey; the west side,
prior to 1906, had been commanded by
Capt. Samuel Pierce, then pronounced
Pairce; he left here in the fall of 1905,
and the company was for some time COM
manded by the Lieutenant. Capt.
"Pairce" was man of decidedly
military turn" but too much of the
"fuss and feathers order to command
the respect or suit the fancy of the
rough-hewn and boisterous wags whose
names were borne on his roll, or, to use
the language of looker-on, "who train
ed under him, and round him, and over
him." "Training-day, while he was
in command, began the night before. 1t
was the custom to "salute" the Captain,
as it was styled, by fusilade made up
of the discharge of muskets loaded, half
loaded, squibs, and flashes in the pan, be-
ginning about midnight, around the Cap
tain's domicile. and kept up until the
parties concerned were ''invited in"
and then followed scene that
"Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night"
1t annoyed exceedingly the staid and
sleepy villagers, but the Captain was
delighted with the attention paid to him.
Morning came in due time, and with it
came the Captain, gorgeously arrayed in
military costume, and his soldiers armed
and equipped in the most fantastic man.
ner that human ingenuity, in those days,
could devise; one with shoe on one foot,
his trousers leg cut off at the knee, an
old boot on the other foot; another with