Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-08-20
Rjp Van Wrinkle Outd0ne
By Visiting Veteran.
Had Not Been in Augusta for
Nearly Half Century,
DARED Search for q Former Hotel.
thought Station a Church.

The return of Rip Van Wrinkle to his
Catskil village, after 20 years, has
keen outdone. Had we Washington
Irvipgs ready facility at word group
: ing we might develop from the return
:. of Alpha Wlthee to Augusta, after A.
years, literary masterpiece to chez
: the hearts of future Joseph Jeffer-
n sons-or, perhaps, even squelch for q
moment the rush to the Bridge tablt
buildings of Robert Bedrooms ano
Rex Seaside. But being only a pool
newspaper tyro whose greatest ambi-
ton is to be able to say. some first OF
the month when the landlord haughti-
, " demands our nine dollars. why
of course. How theughtless of me
I'll write you check for the next tive
!, months,' We can but subdue such
flights of fancy and continue to earn
our salary as follows;
! Last week, Alpha Withee of New
Vineyard Maine. stepped from train
into the new station of the Maine Cen.
trail Railroad Co. in Augusta. Nov
that isn't SO remarkable, but Alpha $
first visit to this city in mighty near
a half century is distinctly so. In
IdGl we DllSHt 1dCSllouSiA iliSpcI tiit'I
the difference between Mr.. Withee's
former mountaineering and the pres
ent condition of business hustle is
about the same as between Alpha and
Omega.
| He wasn't here very long but he
didn't miss many of the changes. He
saw the new post office the State
House. the new Augusta House, the
| library and a lot of our leading citl-
zens We are given to understand
that Mr.. Withee went TO the Opera
House. the Colonial theatre, the Air
dome-and that he shook hands with
Niles Perkins. Anyway, he went home
full of wonder and happiness.
When he arrived in the new station
Mr.. Withee declares he didn't know
whether TO look for a hymn book or
, To try to get check cashed Being
unable to decide whether he had in
vaded a church or a bank he backe j
out and started for the "kennebec
House to put up"
| Rines Hill had an unfamiliar look as
he hurried away but it was nothing as
compared to the change in the occu-
patton of the site of the hotel sought
For long time Mr.. Withee wandered
about the hank and drug and fruit
stores under the Opera House. Then
, ne turned toward the spot where he
had once been confined in the guard
house in war times. The post ohica
confronted him in all its cold gray
grandeur.
! The Kennebec House might go hang
He would accord his patronage to the
Franklin House. But there he discov-
cred Mr.. Bilodeau strongly encamped
amid his shoe boxes, and continues
dazedly on his way. The Stanley
House had gone and done likewise,
and Mr. Withee plodded up Winthrop
hill to rest at the Cushnoc-where he
found he might sit and regale his min
but that Mr. Bithgow had provided no
sleeping quarters.
why, there wasn't any Jail nor
anything" walled the wanderer to a
passerby. And where we used to
have a bowling alley has been all filled
in for little house and garden"
Where the old Mansion House once
held sway he found the Vickery build
ings, and now, almost unable to be-
leye himself in Augusta, he scurried
along on the verge of a panic. The old
to light after Il search about the i'm
posing brick structure which now
marks the spot, and he hardly dared
brave the new. But he was getting
his bearings. 1t was merely the build
ings that had changed. and not the
sites, and when he reached the State
House the readjustment had begun in
earnest.
After open-mouthed examination of
the great executive building, Mr..
Withee shook his head and turned to
the camp grounds he once had known
so we'll He had been in the 3rd
Maine for one year and in the 9Th
Maine for four years before mustered
out to leave the city. On the grounds
he recovered most of his composure in
recognizing several of the gigantic
elms marking the place, and, once
more unafraid bravely STROBE back
into the city. Inquiries resulted in
comfortable quarters in North
End rooming house, and Mr.. Withe :
settled down to work out the situation
to his own satisfaction.
Incidents of the remainder of his
visit included discovery that the toll
bridge had disappeared and that the
shipyard is no more. And the logs in
the river" lie exclaimed, aren't much
compared to those three-foot thick
specimens we used to see,'
NORTH AUGUSTA.