Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-01-22

gram was preceded by the Rotarian
dinner.
The speaker. Mr.. Sprague, pointed
out that person to write in its en-
tirety the story Of all the famous sons
OF Maine. would have compiled a his
tory Of Maine as a province, as a dis
trict and as q State; would also have
written some chapters in the history
OF other states to whom we have fur
nished famous sons, and in one in.
stance at leavt-Sir Hiram Maxim
would occupy some space in the his
tory of the world itself. 49, -.
The history Of the Indians in Maine
discloses the names of great and pow
erful chieftains and valient warriors.
When the first explorers came here
Champlaine, DeMonts, Weymouth and
others-they found tribes presided
over and ruled by chiefs, sachems
and sagamores. And they also tell US
of one who was ruler over all the
others. The English called him the
Bashaba. ruler of rulers, one to
whom all the tribal governments owed
obedience. The facts relating to him
are meagre and misty. Just what was
his system of government is unknown
to historians.
Mr.. Sprague stated that during the
past two or three years it had occurred
to him that p 'ssibly Bashabas super
government-if he had one-might not
have differed entirely. In fundamentals
at least. from President Wilson's
League Of Nations" He could make
war or make peace as he thought best
for himself and for all the tribes of
red men in his dominion. &C..
But later on. after colonization had
begun and civilization was planting its
feet on the coast of Maine, Indian
chiefs of renown' and real greatness ap-
pear. One of these Is known in history
as Joseph Orono, for whom the town Of
Orono derived its name, leaving behind
him worthy record as a noble chief
tain and who has been charmingly
written about recently by Rev. FIR. Har-
rington Of Orono in Sprague's Journal.
Another. whose name was Madocko-
wondo. was In the 18th century chief
Of thatb ranch of the Abenakis nation
known as the Penobscots. His name
will best be known because of his re-
lations with that wonderful character,
Baron de ST. Castin. Their names are
in separately. entwined with a part of a
century of conflict between the Anglo
Saxon and the Latin for supremacy in
Maine and Acadia.
In the year 1888. an Englishman, a
laborer and uneducated, landed at
Pemaquid off the coast of Maine where
in 1907, the Popham colony was at
tempted and failed. His name was
James Phips. He did not long remain
there, but soon settled farther up the
bay. He was one of the first settlers
where is now the town of Woolwich.
The speaker told Of Phips' eventful
life in which he commanded a ship.
managed an. expedition and succeeded
in securing a treasure from a Spanish
ship loaded with gold and silver which
had been wrecked of the coast of the
Bahama Islands. He returned to Eng
land with the treasure valued at 800, 600
pounds. His share made him man of
wealth and the government made him
Sir William Phips. the first of four
sons and citizens of Maine to be knight
ed by the government Of England. the
others being the two Sir William Pep
perells. father and adopted son and Sir
Hiram Maxim, born at Brockways
Mills in the town of Sangerville. 'Phips
was the first royal. governor Of the
Massachusetts, Bay colony under the
charter Of William and Mary.
Passing over the names of Pepper
ell. jeremiah O'Brien. General Waldo,
Hon. William Widgery Thomas,
Stephen Longfellow. and many others
to whom the speaker referred, there
appear the names Of Sir Hiram Max
i'm, inventor of the machine gun. and
Dorothea Dix, who in her crusade
for a life time against the cid bar
berous treatment of the insane, won
enduring fame. The speaker also re-
ferred to that brilliant son of Maine,
Thomas Bracket Reed Of Portland.
Mr.. Sprague spoke with enthusi-
asm of the former need for the
study of Maine history in the schools
of the State and of the work of the
present State superintendent of
schools. DR.. Thomas. in making this
study an important feature in the
schools. The speaker was given
rounds of applause by the Rotarian
audience for his splendid address.
Another speaker at the Rotary SEES
sion was DR.. Charles S. Curtis, chief
surgeon of st. Anthony's hospital at
Labrador CDR. 'Grenfells mission),
who told of the work of the Grenfell
mission and later in the evening
spoke at the All Souls church upon
that subject.
At the very opening of the meet
ing, the entertainment committee,
through it's personally appointed rep
Elmer E. Newbert. ad-
ministered an obligation to the Ro-
tarians. Mr.. Newbert stated that he
understood that this obligation was
after an acient form of Rotary and
was discovered by Dan Nash be-
heath the corner stone of Fort West
on enclosed in birch, bark with copies
of the New Age and the Maine Farm
er's Almanac Of that early period,
and that Mr., Nash thought the form
dated from 700 B. C.
Rotarians. standing, with index
fingers Of the right hands pointing
to the aortas, with heads hanging in
token of humility, repeated after Mr..
Newbert the pledge by which they
pledged themselves to improve their
voices SO that all the protoplasms
contained in their homogeneous ap-