The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-09-11
Annals of Belfast tor Half a
Century.
BY AN OLD SETTLER
(Hon. VIM. G. Crosby)
CHAPTER XXXI. 1887


blowing gale all the while, during five
days of the first week in January At
noon of the Sth the mail arrived six days
overdue AS late as the 25th of Feb
ruary the snow in the woods lay four
feet deep on a level; there were drifts in
the roads six and seven feet deep,
through which avenues and canals were
cut very much after the fashion of 1878.
A ''CitiZcn Watch" was organized
early in the year and was maintainad
through the winter. 1t was a purely
voluntary association. The watch fcr
each night consisted Of six, one of whom
was constituted Captain of the Watch,
Who earned his laurels by providing suit
able entertainment for his subordnqtps
The Rev. Alfred johnson, father of
the Hon. r. c. johnson and the late
Judge Johnson, died January 18th, aged
seventy. He was born at Planfield.
Conn, graduated at Dartmouth, with
the highest honors of his class in 1885.
was ordained to the ministry at Free
port, III this State, IN December 1889.
and continued to reside there until he
came to this place and was installed
Pastor of the First Congregational
Church in September 1905. His pastoral
relation terminated in 1873 He was no
Ordinary man; under other circumstances,
IN some broader neld, he would have been
rPPODn'7Ed u IIo5 l.,
born in country where Roman Catholic
ISM was the prevailing religious creed,
and educated to the priesthood, mitre
would not have been beyond his grasp.
Had he been born in Scotland, and in the
days Of the Cameronians, he would not
nave been whit behind the noblest and
most fearless of their devoted leaders:
no voice would have rung from hilton
and valley louder and clearer than his;
there would have been no hand reader
than his, if need called, to WELD 1.-THE
sword OF the Lord and of Gideon" He
was bold, strong thinker, a thoroughly
fearless and independent man. He was
man OF commanding presence, of great
physical power, and endowed with
voice that, when occasion called, RANG
like trumpet. F0r many years he was
called to exercise the office of Chaplain
a our military musters. No one who
ever saw him on those occasions, as the
compiler of these annals often did when
he was boy, can forget him as he stood
there, the central point of the hollow
square, his broad massive brow uncover
ed, his herculean form looming up above
all around him, his voice ringing out far
above and beyond the crowd awed to
silence as he poured forth his prayer for
the soldiers that they might put on the
whole armor Of God-that they might
stand having their lons girt about with
withdrawing on the breast-plate of
righteousness = taking the shield of
faith, the helmet of salvation, The sword
OF the Spirit-and having done alto
stand. 1t was scene worthy the pencil
Vi the artist
Mr.. johnson was a learned man in his
professlon; too learned, probably, for
the congregation to which he ministered.
He could not have beer, could he have
made the effort, sensational preacher;
he could not have toyed with TROPICS and
hgures. lie was man of stubborn
facts; and in his dealings with them he
was Boanelges. He had not the art
to make his hearers weep; but he had
the power to make them tremble. Per
haps in these our days the art is prefer
able to the power. If SO it need only be
added that i: is we'll that his labors ceas-
ed when they did.
The steamer Bangor made her first
appearance for the season in our waters
on the second of April, going up the
river no farther than Frankfort on ac-
count of the ice. She continued her
trips regularly through The summer.
AT the annual spring meeting, April
18th, Nathaniel M. Lowney, Isaac AL
lard, and Arvida Hayford, Jr., were
chosen Selectnen, David w. Lothrop,
Clerk, James White, Treasurer. The
meeting was very fully attended, the
exciting cause being the disposal of the
towns proportion of the "Surplus Rev.
enue' which under an Act of Congress
had been apportioned among the States.
A vote passed by large majority to
distribute the portion coming to this
town among it's inhabitants, per- capita
and it was ''divid" accordingly. William
Salmond was appointed to make the dis
tribution and it was com menced on the
18th of June.
On the 26th of April Mr.. Isaac C.
Brown, of the firm of Brown and Nick
erson, man highly esteemed for integ-
rity of character, respected and beloved
in his social and domestic relations, com
mitted suicide; ne was about thirty years
of age He had been for some months
suffering from partial alteration of
mind, superinduced by bodily disease; the
burden had become heavier than he
could bear and he sank under it.
At an election held May 9th, Hon.