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Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Bummers in San Francisco
Bummers in San Francisco ... San Francisco has a ...full ... of bummers. Nowhere else can a worthless fellow too lazy to work, too cowardly to steal, get on so well. The climate befriends him, for he can sleep out of doors 4/5 of the year, and the free lunch opens to him boundless vistas of carnal delights. He can gorge himself daily, for a nominal sum get a dinner that a king would envy for 50 cents.
There are two classes of saloons where the midday repasts are furnished - two-bit places and one-bit places. In the first he gets a drink and a meal. In the second he gets a drink and a meal of inferior quality. He pays for the drink, 25 or 15 cents, according to the grade of the place, and gets his meal for nothing.
This consists of,in the better class of establishment, soup, boiled salmon, roast beef of the best quality, bread and butter, potatoes, tomatoes, crackers, and cheese.
Many of these places are fitted up in a style of Oriental grandeur. A stragner entering one of them casually might be under the delusion that he had found his way by mistake to the salon of a San Francisco millionaire.
He would find mirrors reaching from floor to ceiling, carpets of the finest texture and most appropriate patterns, massive tables covered with papers and periodicals, the walls embellished with expensive paintings. A large picture which had adorned a famous drink bar and free lunch house was sold the other day for $12,500. Some of the keepers are men of education and culture. One is an art critic of high local repute, who has written ...very readable...San Francisco. Scribner’s.
[After struggling to read this, I found it to be an excerpt of Scribner’s Monthly, July 1875, "The city of the Golden Gate", by Samuel Williams, p. 274].
Metcalf & Luther - [Illustration of an eye, with an imp leaning on top of it with a bandage covering one eye, between the letters O and C]. O C $50,000.00 worth of house furnishing goods to be sold this Fall, regardless of cost! ...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Shelburne Falls
Shelburne Falls - The ladies of the Baptist Society will give us an oyster and pound party at the vestry on Wed. eve. Many novel and interesting entertainments will be introduced. All members of the Society will each carry a pound of something which will be sold at auction. Let everybody attend.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Foreign
The oldest tree in the world is said to be a bo tree at Anuradhapura in Ceylon, which was planted b.c. 288. It is so decrepid [sic] with age that it would have blown down long ago were it not for a strong wall encircling the trunk and pillars supporting all the main branches. Every leaf that falls from the tree is picked up with pious care by the Buddhist priests and preserved in a holy part of their temple. The leaves are thence sold to the people as a souvereign panacea for their sins.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Sunderland
Sunderland - Albert Hobart has built a new tobacco barn and corn house. Deacon Gay is thoroughly repairing the house he bought of the E.E. Robinson estate. Tobacco is mostly on the poles, and on the whole is an average crop. Apples are selling low, there being more than was expected. The crop of onions is good, but prices rule low.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Probate Court Record
Probate court Record - Greenfield - Administration granted on estates of George W. Bardwell of Deerfield, Jane F. Bardwell and Cyrus A. Stowell, Adm'rs.; Jeremiah Dow of Erving, Edmund M. Dow of Erving, Adm'r.; Joseph M. Townsend of Coleraine, Sarah Townsend of Coleraine, Adm'r.
Wills proved - Samuel Alexander of Northfield, George P. Alexander of Northfield, Ex'r.; Sarah Cook of Greenfield, John J. Graves and R.W. Cook of Greenfield, Ex'rs.; Ansel C. Delano of Sunderland, Jesse L. Delano and Edward A. Delano of Sunderland, Ex'rs.; Moses Hubbard of Sunderland, Cyrus M. Hubbard of Sunderland, Adm'r. with the will annexed.
Accounts rendered - on estates of William W. Alcott of Bernardston, Clark Ellis of New Salem, Clarissa Battle of Orange, Mary J. Gore of Monroe, Harriet M. Brown of Greenfield, A.M. Kingman of Deerfield, George S. Boyd of Deerfield.
License granted to sell real estate - Of John Arms of Gill, Andrew Welch of Montague, Walter D. Thompson of Troy, Ohio.
Widows' allowance - Made in estates of Rufus S. Phillips of Greenfield, $500; Edward Thayer of Greenfield, $9018.
Affidavits filed - in estate of Charles S. Brown of Greenfield, Baxter Harding of Conway, P. May Buddington of Greenfield, Rufus S. Phillips of Greenfield, Moses Field of Leverett.
Estate of Ephraim Murdock, late of Orange, represented insolvent, H. Woodward and G.A. Whipple, Commissioners.
Commissioners' report filed in estate of John Haskins, late of Shutesbury. Distribution ordered in estate of George S. Boyd, late of Deerfield.
John Quinton of Greenfield adopted infant child of William H. Seley; name changed to John George L. Quinton. Name of Flora M. Reynolds of Shutesbury changed to Flora M. Freeman. Next Probate Court at Northfield next Tues. (tomorrow).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
Greenfield - The Walter A. Lee place on Conway Street was not sold last week. D.H. Newton, to protect his claim, has taken an assignment of the mortgage.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Cheapside as it was more than 50 years ago
Cheapside as it was more than 50 years ago - A good deal of business was transacted at Cheapside even as late as 1819. Two stores were in operation, one situated on the west, the other on the east side of the covered bridge. Robert Bardwell and Clark Houghton were the storekeepers. A line of boats, owned by Clark Houghton, run [sic] regularly to and from Hartford, and freight came in there to be distributed among the merchants of Greenfield and vicinity, even to merchants in Rowe, Whitingham, Wilmington and others west of here.
In later years Allen & Root of Greenfield run a line of freight boats to Hartford, and had a store on the landing, and sold quite a large amount of heavy goods. Uncle George P. Field had a bakery there and sold crackers - and good ones, too - to the people in all this region. Robert Field tended the gate, and made cut nails by hand, with the aid of a heading machine, and had a two story building on the side of the road next to the river.
There was no tavern there in those days, so the storekeepers had license to retail the ardent. The consequence was that in dull days, or rainy days, lots of thirsty bodies presented themselves to be lined inside with something to take. Old St. Croix was cheap then - about $1 per gallon; new rum .33 per gallon. Oh, how they did drink!
The main farm in Cheapside was owned by a man who died many years since, and not one foot of said farm is owned at present by any of his heirs; neither is there now a slab to mark his resting place in the cemetery, near the railroad station at Old Deerfield.
At the time when a division of the old county of Hampshire was talked of, there was a strong effort made to have the shire town of the (then) new county of Franklin established at Cheapside, but the man who owned at that time, hundreds of acres of land in that locality, would not sell any for the purpose, so that village today is not as valuable as in 1819. W.
[Those interested in Cheapside simply must read "History of Greenfield: Shire Town of Franklin County, Massachusetts" by Francis McGee Thompson, and Lucy Cutler Kellogg].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Turners Falls
Turners Falls - The Cemetery Association have received from R.L. Goss the deed of the land, comprising 12 acres, for $1500, which they intend for cemetery purposes; and will at once proceed to fence it partially, lay it out and put lots on the market.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
(Greenfield) School children who need new books will find a full assortment at Moody's. He furnishes them neatly covered if desired. Merriam has also a stock of all books in use, for sale cheap.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
(Greenfield) Those of our readers who do not raise their own winter squashes, can get an excellent article of S.B. Smith of Coleraine, who runs his wagon through the village every few days. He has 4 acres of the best varieties.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
Solomon Ray (poem)
A hard close man was Solomon Ray
Nothing of value he gave away
He hoarded and saved
He pinched and shaved
And the more he had the more he craved
The hard-earned dollars he toiled to gain
Brought him little but care and pain
For little he spent
And all he lent
He made it bring him twenty per cent
Such was the life of Solomon Ray
The years went by, and his hair grew gray
His cheeks grew thin
And his soul within
Grew hard as the dollars he worked to win
But he died one day as all men must
For life is fleeting and man but dust
The heirs were gay
That laid him away
And that was the end of Solomon Ray.
They quarreled now who had little cared
For Solomon Ray while his life was spared
His lands were sold
And his hard-earned gold
All went to the lawyers, I am told.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
"It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good". F.E. Field is giving people a chance to purchase the crockery saved in his store, damaged by fire and water, at their own prices.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Shelburne
The excitement down at the railroad seems to have subsided, and the work is commencing again as formerly.We understand that the Wards & Hogans have sold out, and a Mr. Ryan takes their place.But whether all parties get their full pay remains to be seen.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Buckland
Levi Stetson at the mill yard, has bought him a farm in Plainfield, paying $1000 for it. Joseph Packard has sold his farm to a Mrs. Haskell of Conway, price about $1000. Milton W. Thayer has advertised his farm for sale. It is situated on Deerfield River, nearly opposite Col. Leavitt's in Charlemont. It has a good deal of timber on it, and is a bargain for someone.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Montague
Our village has been very quiet and lifeless of late. E.L. Walker has again opened a harness store at his old stand in the Town Hall. The furniture business seems determined to maintain its existence here in spite of reverses. Richardson & Demond continue to buy, fit up and sell chamber sets, giving employment to a few hands. J.M. Clapp is at work in Lawrence's old mill, making small black walnut wares, tables, etc.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Bad dreams
A young man in Lancaster, Ohio sent a dollar to a firm in New York who advertised a recipe to prevent bad dreams. He received a small slip of paper on which was printed "Don't go to sleep".