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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, July 5, 1875
Gill, or the old shad fishery
Yielding to repeated solicitations to write something concerning old times at the falls, I copy from my introductory note to the "Shad fishers", given at Turners Falls last winter, hoping it may interest some of your readers. J.D.C.
...With the exception, perhaps, of the Columbia River in Oregon, there never was a more prolific shad and salmon fishery on this continent than this of ours in the years that are gone.
From time immemorial these Falls were the resort of the Indians, to whom the bounty of heaven furnished a superabundance of nutritive and luscious food in the season; and the fact that something like a permanent settlement and home was here made by these nomads of the wilds who are usually here today and gone tomorrow tells the whole story of bounteous supply. Our plows crumble their bones and turn up their rude implements of the chase and warfare; and almost every farmer of the vicinity has his private collection of these relics, picked up from time to time during his agricultural operations.
An old proverb, derived from the Indians, was common among their white successors, to the effect that when the shad tree was in blossom, the fish were in the river, and that they remained prime and palatable while the bough showed white. The fishermen, red and white, are gone; the fish are gone; but the little shad tree still shows us its token annually in our woods and on our river braes.
In the month of June, after spawning, the fish become less firm in flesh, and the "last run" were thin and emaciated. "Poor as a June shad" was another proverb common among the fishers, and still heard and repeated among our river people.
The fishing of the Indian was ended on the morning of the 18th of May, 1676, 199 years ago next May, when Captain Turner cut them off by surprise, and destroyed their settlement. It was one of the delights of my boyhood to spend odd leisure hours and winters in the society of some of our oldest inhabitants -- participating in the scenes enacted here at the Falls, and gather a fund of story and anecdote from their recollections. These old men are all departed’ but I have the pleasure of thinking that I have been able to rescue from oblivion many facts and incidents of interest in the olden times in this locality....
So very plentiful and so easily procured were the fish here in the days of our fathers that the people were absolutely ashamed to have the fact patent that they made much account of shad as an article of food. The fish were styled "Gill pork", and many a cautious housewife, surprised by the approach of a neighbor while in the act of cooking a fine fish, had thrown it behind the back log to hide it from his observation. Tempera mutanta!
So pure were the waters of our river in those early days that the fish were of the finest quality, and much larger than those taken in the North River, the Potomac, or any other of our waters. In the fishing season the falls were resorted to by people from circumjacent towns, and from the western hills, with teams, for the purchase of their annual supply of fish for salting. The usual price to these customers was 3 coppers apiece -- equal to about 2 cents. A barrel of A no. 1 shad was no costly thing in those days. I can show the antiquarian a fine meadow in Gill, worth now $100 per acre, which was originally purchased by one of our old fishers for the avails of one day’s fishing at the Falls.
Attempts are now making by artificial building and the construction of fish ways to induce the fish to ascend the river and multiply as of yore; and you will all join most heartily with me in wishes for success to the efforts making...The maratime [i.e. maritime] operations on the lower sections of the river, the poisonous and discoloring matter cast into its waters by the numerous mills and factories on its borders, with other obstructions, present to my mind an almost insuperable bar to our successful efforts in that line.
The days of our fishing are ended, and the numbers we shall see ascend to our old fishing grounds will be as a struggling and feeble rear guard to a mighty army already gone before...The building of the dam at Holyoke finished the business and cut off our people from their "fish rights"...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, February 22, 1875
Where they come from
Where they come from - by Olive Thorne [the pen name of http://www.harpers.org/NightMonkey.html Harriet Mann Miller ]. You’ll be shocked, I fear, when I tell you that your doll came out of a rag bag; her curls from the back of a goat, and her elegant china tea set out of a small hole. But what will you say when I tell you that your http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3180.htm jelly is made out of old boots, and your delightful perfumery from horrid smelling coal tars. You don’t own all the made over things in the family, either.
Johnny’s new http://www.bharattextile.com/dictionary/66 beaver cloth overcoat was worn out on the back of a beggar, and perhaps even played the part of a scarecrow in some farmyard, before it went into the rag bag and began to come up in the world again; and the http://www.adrynight...20Physiology129.html "Table Gelatin" which everyone in the family likes to eat, once did duty as skin on the back of a rat. The pearl of your paper knife lined the shell house of a modest little creature at the bottom of the sea, while mamma’s shell comb was the comfortable roof over a Sea Tortoise.
Your guitar strings were indispensable to the internal comfort of some poor pussy or unfortunate sheep, and your piano would be but a dumb wooden box, without some of the same internal arrangements of a horse. Your nice hair brush first saw the light on the skin of a hog, and its pretty back of papier mache came out of the ragman’s bag. The crinoline that stiffens the bottoms of ladies’ dresses was used originally to switch the flies from the back of a horse, and the mattress on which you sleep so comfortably served the same use before it fell into the manufacturer’s hands.
Your dainty toilet soap - dear me, how can I tell you! - was made of dead cats and dogs, found in the streets, and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond "bitter almonds" which so delightfully flavors your candy came from the horrible smelling coal tar, while the choicest are as deliciously flavored with -- putrid cheese. The scent hairs of that offensive creature, the skunk, furnish some desirable additions to the toilet table, used for removing freckles and tan, and the dreadful stuff left in drains is changed into a fashionable toilet article, and adorns the face of ladies. To be sure these disagreeable materials have some pretty rough handling before they come out in their new colors. The old boots, for instance. They do not step from the gutter into the jelly kettle by any means. They go through a long process of washing and soaking in lye and smoking with sulphur, and steaming and boiling, before they come out white and delicate, and fit for the table. T
he coal tar to grow into perfumery goes through the hands of chemists, who treat it with I don’t know what dreadful chemical processes, and the dead dogs and cats are boiled to extract the grease, purified, whitened and perfumed before we use them as a soap. The doll whose ancestors inhabited a rag man’s den endured unheard of operations of washing, soaking, bleaching, chopping, molding, and so forth, before she took her place in the nursery to amuse the little folks, and the clay from the mud hole was washed and patted and whitened and kneaded, and baked and glazed before it ventured to call itself china, and take its place on the tea table.
The horse tails that stiffen the dresses and stuff our mattresses are washed, and soaked, and boiled and baked before we use them, and the intestines which make the voice of guitar and piano went through long processes of scraping, soaking in lye, and washing, before they were drawn out into the fine, tough strings you are familiar with. The rat skin which we eat under the name of gelatin first flourished as the thumb of a kid glove, and after being worn out in that capacity went through ever so many purifying processes, somewhat as the old boots did, before it ended on our table.
Nearly all the things that we throw away in [?] or even in our drains - the most disgusting things you can think of - are valuable, and after going through the hands of skilled workmen, come out in new shapes and have new fields of usefulness. The feats of old fashioned fairies, who turned pumpkins into carriages, and shabby old gowns into elegant robes, do not compare with these wonders performed in our work shops by rough looking men in shirt sleeves and white aprons.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, November 16, 1874
(Athol) A very narrow escape from death occurred at the gas house on Sat. Eve. William Hayes, one of the employees, while at work became overcome by gas, and when found was insensible.
(Athol) A very narrow escape from death occurred at the gas house on Sat. Eve. William Hayes, one of the employees, while at work became overcome by gas, and when found was insensible.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, November 16, 1874
The women of Europe by Mrs. E.B. Duffey
The women of Europe by http://www.geocities...ace20/etiquette.html Mrs. E.B. Duffey - In those nations of Europe which have attained the highest degree of civilization, women are found enjoying the greatest number of privileges, mingling freely with the other sex, most respected and honored, and most worthy of respect and honor. This is especially true of Germany, England, France, Sweden and Norway. Russia is just passing from a semi-barbarous state into a civilized one. With the reign of the present czar, the nation awoke to a new life. The serfs are already set free, and next follows the emancipation of women. In the higher ranks, women are already permitted to enjoy peculiar privileges, and the emperor has given his voice in favor of the higher education of women. In truth, many Russian women were allowed to depart from their country and become students in German universities, until for political reasons, it was deemed best (whether wisely or unwisely it is not for me to say) to recall them. Sweden and Norway have, until a few years past, presented a strange contrast in the condition of their women. Mayhew tells us that " http://odin.dep.no/o...ex-dok000-b-n-a.html women in Norway occupy a position of superior honor. They have, perhaps, more to do with the real business of life, and more share in those occupations which require the exertion of intellect and study than in England. They enjoy less compliment, but more respect, which all the sensible members of their sex would infinitely prefer. She indeed who provides for a household, under the peculiar domestic arrangements of the country, and presides over its economy, is held in higher estimation. Women, in fact, hold a very just position in http://www.likestill.../english/norway.html Norway , having that influence and participation in its affairs which develop their mental and cultivate their moral qualities. Yet it is far from true that they occupy themselves entirely with the sober business, paying no attention to the elegant arts of life. Many of them adorn themselves also in those lighter accomplishments which gracefully amuse a leisure hour; but they certainly do not exhaust on song or dance, or the embroidery frame, the most valuable powers they possess. The able and observant traveler, Laing, supplies a true picture of their character and position, observing that among the wealthier merchants the state of the female sex is less natural and less to be admired than among the humble classes, which compose the general mass of society. Generally speaking, therefore, women nowhere play a more important part in the affairs of social life, than in that remote and romantic part of Europe. Among the poor the division of labor between the sexes is excellent; all the indoor work is assigned to the women, all the outdoor labor to the men. With respect to the actual morals of Norway, we may assign them the highest rank. The same author from whom I have just quoted, gives the following as the great difference between the institutions of Norway and those of Sweden: "In the former, manners influence the law. In the latter, law attempts to regulate every detail of public manners". The position of women in Sweden has hitherto been an exceedingly inferior one. http://www-rohan.sds...n1/History_Page.html Fredrika Bremer uttered her heartfelt protest against the wrongs done her sex, and others have spoken and are still speaking, so that already these abject conditions are becoming somewhat modified. The present king and queen hold exceedingly liberal ideas and as a consequence, under their rule progress is more rapid. What the condition of women has been in Sweden, and what it no doubt still is, in some degrees may be discovered from the following quotation, also from Mayhew: "Men, says the public law of Sweden, attain their majority at the age of 21 years, but women remain in tutelage during the entire period of their lives, unless the king grants a privilege of exemption; widows, however, are excepted. Men cannot legally marry before the age of 21. Even to this rule there is an exception, for among the peasants of the north it is lawful for a youth of 18 to take a wife. Women may marry immediately after their confirmation, which never takes place before 14. A man may marry without the consent of any one, but a woman must obtain the sanction of her parent or guardian. The condition of women in Sweden is low in comparison with the other countries of Europe, and offers a strong contrast with that which we discover in Norway. Talks are assigned among the humble orders to the female sex, against which true civilization would revolt. They carry sacks, row boats, sift lime, and bear other heavy labors. Among the middle classes they hold an inferior situation; but among the higher, though little respected, they are comparatively free". I have had some conversation with a Swedish lady of intelligence concerning the present status of women in that country, and am gratified to learn that there has been a marked improvement in the condition of women during late years. Those women who show talents of either literature or art, receive great encouragement and the genuine respect of the community. This lady related to me a significant incident concerning higher education for women in Sweden which is really worth repeating. Upsala University [i.e. http://info.uu.se/fa...university.id5D.html Uppsala University ] was opened to admit women, and recently a woman bore off the highest prize which had been accorded to any student for years, if not a generation, whereupon it was immediately decided by those having control over the university that it was not expedient to admit women to its privileges in future. The lady said she thought the public voice would be so strong in protest, that they would be obliged to revoke this decision, especially as royalty was in favor of giving women the best educational advantage. There is a marked contrast in the condition of the women of Germany in the different classes of social life. In the higher classes they are intelligent, refined and exceedingly domestic in character. They show an aptitude for study, and since some of the universities have been thrown open to them, they avail themselves eagerly of the opportunity for thorough education. The present crown princess of Prussia, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, is, in that country, exerting a strong and most beneficial influence upon society in favor of the higher elevation of women. In the middle classes the women are notable housekeepers, and perhaps, more or less the servants of the men with whom they are connected by marriage or ties of blood. The peasant women are mere slaves and beasts of burden. In this lowest rank in life they perform all the drudgery, while their husbands sit idly by, smoking and watching them. Women in Germany may be seen carrying the hod, wheeling handcarts, plowing, hoeing, chopping wood and engaging in all the menial offices of life, from which they are exempted elsewhere. They are even harnessed to the plow and made to do the labor of horses and mules. A traveler in Austria tells us all this, but goes on to say that these women are strong-minded as well as strong handed, and that their nominal masters suffer in every respect in comparison with them; and that if ever the time comes when political equality shall be extended to the lower class, the women will demand their rights at the same time with the physically and mentally weaker men, and will know how to make a good use of them.In all social revolutions this lowest class is always the hardest and the last to reach, but we may hope for a speedy improvement. In the condition of the women of the upper and middle classes, so that Germany will not long stand behind other nations in this certain evidence of advanced civilization. It is difficult to give any definite idea of the condition of the women of France. It is in many respects most favorable and in others most unfavorable. The http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/salic.htm Salic Law , which rules in France, and which totally excludes women from the throne, or from any political power whatsoever, has worked disastrously throughout society. Women are unconsciously degraded in the minds of men by the knowledge of this seclusion, and the laws are in many cases unjust to them. As a further consequence, those women who have aspired to political power have been forced to seek it in unrecognized channels and by unfair means. Forbidden to be stateswomen they have sought to influence statesmen, and to acquire by craft that power which they were forbidden to seek directly. Thus, less than a century ago, we had the spectacle of France ruled by an unscrupulous woman through a weak and dissolute monarch. In business relations women in France stand on an exact equality with men. The husband and wife are partners in business, the wife usually the head of the firm, and evincing her capabilities by the superiority and discretion of her management. Nearly all avenues of industry for which they are physically fitted, are open to women. In home life, if we go out of that great, boiling, seething cauldron of immorality - Paris - we find great happiness and fidelity. Husbands live for the love of their wives, just as in certain other countries wives are enjoined to live for the love of their husbands without any hint of mutual obligation. The family tie is very strong in France, and domestic happiness is perhaps the rule. The education of women in not yet all that it should be. The girl is a prisoner by her mother's side until she is sent to the convent, from which she issues to go to the http://www.sacred-texts.com/sex/rmn/rmn38.htm conjugal roof . Even the book education is narrow and superficial - a mere smattering of accomplishments; but of human life and the grand interests of science and the world, the girl knows absolutely nothing. She has been kept jealously from this knowledge as though it would contaminate her. Until this false system of education shall be superseded - until convents shall no longer be the training schools of young girls, and they shall find instead a broad life within coeducational institutions, we shall never know the full capabilities of the French woman. Until that shall be done, and young men shall be taught to look upon all women with respect and consideration, it will probably be found, as it is now, unsafe for any woman to walk alone in the public streets, in broad daylight even. Men and women alike need this education in fellowship. Among the peasant class, French women, like German women, perform much of the drudgery. Indeed this may be said, the world over, of that class which is the farthest removed from complete civilization. I have even seen, in this enlightened America, the wife of a farmer get up at daybreak on a summer morning, chop wood, build fire, draw water, milk one or two cows, and then get breakfast for three or four men who sat idly waiting, and never offered to help her in any way. When I have seen such instances, I have been forced to reflect that we would all be savages still if circumstances had not made us, and that these circumstances seem yet to bring no force to bear on some individuals. The position of women in Spain is one especially humiliating and false. They are kept in ignorance and under restraint, and regarded with suspicion. A recent English writer who has had ample opportunities for witnessing social life in Spain, gives the following account: "In the lower walks of life the Spanish maiden is absolutely a prisoner - the prisoner of her madre or 'tea' [i.e. tia] or aunt - until a kind Providence gives her a husband. No Spanish maiden, however poor, can ever walk alone in the street, even for a few paces; if she do so, her character is gone. She cannot go out to service unless her madre or tea be in the same service; and hence all the 'criadas' or maid servants, are widows, who are allowed to have their children in the master's house under their own eye; or unmarried over 40. The Spanish maiden has her choice of only two walks of life, until married life and a husband's protection become her own. Up to the time of her marriage she may, if her mother and father be alive, go to a tailor's shop each day, returning at night, thus earning a few pence a day, and learning a trade. She is escorted thither and homeward by her mother, whose tottering steps and gray hair often contrast strangely with the upright carriage and stately walk of the daughter by her side. If the Spanish maiden, however, have a mother who is a widow, or who has no settled home with her husband, and is for this cause obliged to go out to service to earn her bread, the maiden will probably be with her mother, and, receiving little or no wages, take an idle share in the household duties, and receive each evening - of course in her madre's presence - the visits of her lover. As to saying a single word, or at least, having a walk or a good English chat alone, the young couple never even dream of such a thing. The mother during this period treats her daughter quite like a child. If she does wrong - no matter though she be on the very eve of marriage - the mother administers a sound beating with her fists, and sometimes even a sound kicking. The Spanish mother has no idea of trusting her daughters, nor does she ever attempt the least religious or moral culture. Her system is to prevent any impropriety simply by external precautions. Mother and daughter, though constantly quarreling, and even coming to blows, are very fond of each other, and the old woman, when they go out shopping together, will carry the heavy basket, or cesta, under the burning sun, that she may not spoil her daughter's queenly walk. Her dull eye, too, will grow moist with a tear, and her worn face will kindle with absolute softness and sweetness, if an English senor express his admiration of her child's magnificent hair or flashing black eyes. The moment, however, that the daughter is married, all this is at an end. The mother, to use a vulgar but expressive phrase, "washes her hands of" her care. From the moment of the completion of the marriage ceremony, the mother declines all responsibility, seldom goes to her daughter's house, and treats her almost as a stranger. "Among the higher classes, although different in kind, the treatment of the young, unmarried maiden is almost as strict. She, too, like her humbler sister, can never have the privilege of seeing her lover in private, and very rarely indeed, if ever, is he admitted into the sala when she is sitting. He may contrive to get a few minutes' chat with her through the barred windows of her sala, but when a Spaniard leads his wife from the altar, he knows no more of her character, attainments and disposition, than does the priest who marries them, and perhaps not so much." With the above graphic description of the life led by Spanish women, and their total want of moral and intellectual culture and discipline, can we wonder that Spain, as a nation, is so degraded, so superstitious and so unstable? The mothers mould the men, and give character to the State. How shall I describe the condition of women in England? In many respects it is as similar to that of women in our own country, that it needs no absolute description, only an indication of points of difference. Among the abject poor, both women and men sink far below the level of degradation and suffering, common to the lowest class in this country. If women in that class have no respect paid to their womenhood, and become mere human machines, the same is true of the men also, with this difference, that between individuals of the two sexes, man is always the master and woman the slave. That is to say, there is always one step below the man which the woman occupies. I need not speak of the injustice which the English common law is guilty of toward women, in nearly all instances in which it recognizes her specially. Every intelligent reader is already familiar with its various details. Besides, public sentiment is fast outgrowing this relic of a barbarous age, and already acts of special legislation are doing the sex tardy justice. But woman's position before the law in England is far inferior to that in the United States. Among the higher classes, women have many social privileges accorded them, and many of them display rare literary and scientific attainments. Some of the choicest scholars, artists and literateurs of the age are English women, whose abilities and performances compare favorably with those of the other sex. The English woman, however, of average attainments, and in the middle walk of life, must lead, as viewed from an American point of view, a monotonous existence. Shut out, as she is, by popular sentiment, from all participation in active life, forbidden in the name of her womanhood to seek a career of her own, her mental growth is stunted, her moral nature developed in abnormal directions, and her energies paralyzed. If she is married, and living in the country, her life must be strictly a domestic one, which can only be varied by indulging in the frivolous pursuits of society, or in the highly enspiriting pastime of district visiting and almoner to the poor. I do not wish to speak lightly of the latter task, only, when viewed as the sole mental and moral relaxation in an otherwise humdrum and narrow life, it seems a little dull, to say the least. But the married woman is, after all, exceedingly fortunate tempered with her single sisters. The unmarried gentlewoman, if left unprotected and without means, has no choice whatever in regard to her future occupation. She must go out as a governess or starve. She would certainly rather do the latter than venture into the many occupations which her more independent and (shall I say it?) sensible American sisters adopt without loss of self-respect or esteem of friends. If she have a little means - even if she be an earl's daughter, or the daughter of a millionaire, she is not likely to have much, unless she is an only child, as the law of primogeniture secures all the real estate to the eldest son; the personal property is needed to start the younger sons in life, and the daughters are not supposed to need more than just enough to secure them from want - she settles down in a narrow home with her maid, and her cat, and her vegetables; becomes intensely respectable, and more narrowed in mind and contracted in ideas as the years roll around. There are tens of thousands of English gentlewomen leading this selfish aimless life, forced thereto by the false ideas of an artificial society, to whom a profession or even a trade, to take their minds and thoughts out of the mean center of their own little worlds and give them an objective interest in life, would awaken them to undreamed of energies, and add a vital force to the physical, intellectual and moral power of the nation. Yet England, with all her conservatism, has taken one step toward radical reform in advance of this country. I refer to household suffrage, in which all possessing a certain qualification, irrespective of sex, are entitled to vote in municipal elections. In these elections women have voted quite as generally as men, and no disastrous results seems to have followed. On the contrary, the positive advantages have been so marked that the fact has proved a strong argument in the mouth of the advocates of female suffrage. However, in a country over which a woman rules, it does not seem incongruous that women should take active part in politics. The strangest thing is that there should be any doubt about the propriety of it. Well, the world moves. What we look forward to today as a goal to be reached, may to a future generation be only a landmark of the past. One thing is certain, as the world goes round, and as nations move in ever ascending circles of progress toward perfect civilization, we behold women becoming freer and freer, and more and more completely recognized as her own mistress, the arbiter of her own fate, and as holding the destiny of the world in her hands. Free men must be mated by free women; and wise men descend from wise mothers.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, April 14, 1873
P.T. Barnum's Great Travelling Museum Menagerie, ten times larger than ever! [new illustration of the great man himself, showing hair loss on the top of his head, curly hair at the sides, and a flop
P.T. Barnum's Great Travelling Museum Menagerie, ten times larger than ever! [new illustration of the great man himself, showing hair loss on the top of his head, curly hair at the sides, and a floppy bowtie, worn over a ruffled shirt]. Will exhibit in Northampton on Wed., Apr. 30, giving 3 grand full performances of the entire 20 shows, morning, aft. and evening, in different departments of the 20 colossal pavilions. The great traveling museum consists of more than 100,000 rare, novel and interesting curiosities, the Hall of Classic Statuary, contains hundreds of magnificent works of art, including a complete set of Prof. Rogers' celebrated groups of historic and mythological statuary. Barnum's national Portrait Gallery contains 100 life sized oil paintings of all the Presidents of the United States, Statesmen, military heroes, kings, emperors, potentates and dignitaries. The Polytechnic Institute is replete with a universe of exquisitely beautiful lifelike automatons from Paris and Geneva, so numerous and elaborate in scientific and mechanical construction as to require a steam engine to operate. The Garden of Comparative Zoology and Ornithology contains 1500 animals, birds, reptiles, sea lions and other marine monsters. The Dept. of the Curriculum and Scientific Calisthenics, scores of the most famous artists ever known in Europe or America. The grand triple international equestrian and http://digital.nypl....6%20lobby%20cards%27 hippodramatic exposition contains Dan Castello's, Signor Sebastian's, and Mons. D'Atalie's three great circus troupes, and 3 separate and distinct arenic, circus and spectacular rings seen by the whole audience simultaneously, in one colossal pavilion, large enough to seat comfortably 14,000. The collection of animals is so rare and extensive that the management will exhibit in a separate pavilion prepared expressly for the purpose, a full menagerie, free of charge, the collection in this open and free exhibition embracing all the varieties usually seen in a traveling menagerie. 2000 men and horses, 12 gorgeous chariots, 100 resplendent vans, of gold, crimson, ruby and cerulean decked cages, animal dens, steam calliope, polyhymnian organs, beside the great musical chariot of Mnemosyne. Street procession of 3 miles long! 3 bands of music! 150 railroad cars required to transport the exhibition. Excursion trains at reduced rates will run on all tributary lines to convey the multitude to and from the great Universal Exposition. Among the leading features will be exhibited 100,000 new and interesting novelties, including all the most rare and costly wild animals, sea lions, and other marine monsters, and thousands of rare birds; Prof. Faber's wonderful Talking Machine; giants, dwarfs, Fiji cannibals, http://www.picturehi...ind/p/8411/mcms.html albinos , the celebrated http://www.geocities...ean/8535/freaks.html Aztec Children , the "What is it?" and many other human phenomena and strange freaks of nature...Ample accommodations for all! Doors of the great menagerie will be closed during the performances of the http://www.britannic...=Lovelace%2C%20Linda hippodrome . Free admission to the entire 20 great shows is granted to all who buy http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s00/barnum.html the Life of P.T. Barnum - 860 pages, illustrated, Reduced from $3.50 to $1.50. Worth a $100 greenback to a beginner! (quote from Horace Greeley) Will also exhibit in Hartford, Springfield and Worcester.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 28, 1873
A thousand acres of sand barrens in
A thousand acres of sand barrens in http://history.rays-place.com/bios/eastham-ma.htm Eastham [now called pine barrens] were sown with pine seeds a few years since, and the track is now covered with a vigorous pine growth. The seed was sown as an experiment which is now proved successful. Game of all kinds has greatly increased in the said region in consequence.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, February 13, 1871
The entertainments of the Dramatic Club on Mon. and Tues. evenings were, as everybody expected, an excellent treat
The entertainments of the http://sdrcdata.lib....id=/hilburn/1&page=3 Dramatic Club on Mon. and Tues. evenings were, as everybody expected, an excellent treat to all who were so fortunate as to attend. "The Bachelor of Arts" was a spirited comedy. Those who made their debut were exceedingly fortunate in the pleasant impression upon the public, and the old "stagers" won new laurels. The "Conjugal Lesson" was unquestionably the richest farce yet produced here, and was greeted with frequently repeated applause. On Tues. eve., "Dreams of Delusion" was presented, a tragedy, and differing in character from anything before attempted by the Club, but yet we doubt if they have played anything better. Mr. Hopkins as Sir Bernard Harleigh, displayed power and gifts as an actor that would have honored a professional tragedian. The other characters could not have been better sustained. The entertainment closed with a repetition of the "Conjugal Lesson" which was as warmly received as on the previous evening. The Club have added some new scenery to their stage property, and the arrangement of everything was exceedingly neat and tasteful. The orchestra was under the direction of F.D. Osbon and the music of an excellent order.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 29, 1873
(Greenfield
(Greenfield - Part 2) The other exercises of the day included the dinner of the invited guests at the Mansion House, after which a procession was formed, headed by the Bernardston Band, and including the orator of the day, invited guests, officers of the society and others, which marched to the Unitarian Church. It had been decided at a late hour that it would be next to impossible to deliver an address in the exhibition hall amid the disturbing confusion and noise, so the Unitarian Church was selected as a befitting place... http://bioguide.cong...lay.pl?index=D000101 Hon. George T. Davis , now residing in http://history.rays-place.com/me/portland-me.htm Portland, Me. was the orator of the day. The address, sparkling with wit and pleasant anecdotes, was quite in contrast to the stereotyped agricultural orations and was listened to with closest attention. Address of Hon. George T. Davis [also seen as http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis4.html George Thomas Davis ] : "...I came here more than 40 years ago, hardly then of the legal age of discretion. I was a part of this community, was molded by its influences, and assisted in molding them"...At the close, a vote of thanks was passed on motion of A.C. Parsons of Northfield. The Hall Exhibition - was the crowning success of the Fair, and called forth the wonder and admiration of all who visited it...Credit for much of this is due the Superintendent, Whitney L. Warner of Sunderland, who had been at work for weeks to excel if possible previous exhibitions. President Crafts, too, has worked early and late to produce the same results...In making a tour of the hall, the attention of the spectator is first attracted by the extensive collection of seeds, grains, grasses, vines and other products, contributed by Thomas Leavitt, a former resident of this county, in the interests of the Burlington & Missouri River railroad, and showing what their lands can grow...Next in order comes the garden vegetables. There were 39 entries in this dept., W.L. Warner, himself, being the chief contributor, showing 80 varieties...Everything in the shape of garden "sarse" seems to thrive under his hand, or that of his son, who we believe took the principle care of it. A.K. Warner of Greenfield came next in order with 30 varieties. William Brannon of Deerfield showed 5 pumpkins weighing 176 3/4 lbs., the product of one seed. William Schlatter of Greenfield, 2 big http://www.hwatson.f...eserve/marrowjam.htm marrows weighing about 70 lbs. each. Leaving the garden vegetables we come to pears. There were 17 entries under this head, the leading contributor being E.H. Judd of South Hadley, an extensive horticulturist and a new member of the society. He exhibited 25 varieties, including some splendid fruit. Hon. Alvah Crocker of Fitchburg showed his interest in the Fair by sending up a box of pears, which unfortunately arrived too late for competition for premium, but were afterward unpacked and made a splendid display. There were 25 plates and platters. David Mowry of Leyden exhibited 16 varieties, J.P. Howard of Greenfield 14, Whiting Griswold 15. It is a poor year for grapes, but those who visited the hall would have never dreamed the fact for the luscious fruit was piled up in a tempting display that the notice "hands off" was hardly proof against. The man who takes down all competitors in the grape culture is Jacob Steiglader, a German of Shelburne Falls, who somehow manages to produce in the open air all that growers are expected to do with careful hot house culture. He had 20 varieties, among which the Delaware, Ionas and Allen's hybrids were especially worthy of attention. J.P. Howard of Greenfield, who makes grapes a specialty in his agricultural operations showed 22 varieties from his vineyard. Dr. N.S. Wells and Lewis Farrell of Greenfield made fine specimens. Hiram Root of Deerfield contributed a platter of indoor grapes. Under the head of Miscellaneous Fruit there were 9 entries, J.N. Crafts of Whately taking the lead with 96 varieties. In his collection, which was unusually rich, was some California fruit sent him by a friend in New York - grapes as large as plums and pears that would feast a family, opening the eyes and watering the mouth in every beholder. Whitney L. Warner, too, had 96 varieties under this class, an excellent display of Baskets of fruit and flowers arranged with grand effect, were contributed by Mrs. M.R. Peck, Shelburne, ; Mrs. F.M. Thompson, Greenfield; Mrs. http://merrill.olm.net/shs/cens1850/cens1850.html Henry Wells, Shelburne ; all of which were exceedingly fine. More apples, we dare say, were collected in the Hall than a man could find in a week's tour of the County - There were 22 entries, William Stewart of Coleraine, had 43 varieties; C.M. Long of Shelburne, 31; Earl Shearer, Coleraine, 31; D. & H. Wells, Shelburne, 30; Elisha Bardwell, Coleraine, 24; J.S. Bell, Coleraine, 19; A.O. Buddington http://www.amherst.e...cbiorecord/1856.html Aaron O. Buddington , Leyden, 14; all nice, well grown fruit.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, October 7, 1872
(Greenfield) Who owns our trees? Are they not town property? And being such, are they to be destroyed at will by any "Gradgrind" who only s
(Greenfield) Who owns our trees? Are they not town property? And being such, are they to be destroyed at will by any http://65.107.211.206/dickens/pva/pva121.html "Gradgrind" who only sees in them so much wood, because he happens to be officiating as a town or county officer? The erection of the Franklin Co. Bank, the new stone church, the soldiers monument, have all been made pleas for destroying some of our fine old shade trees, the beauty and glory of our town. It seems strange that no one thought of cutting down the elm by the new watering trough. But this oversight is more than atoned for by the vandalism which now proposes to cut down the noble old Court House elm, one of the landmarks for years before we were born. It is enough to make the "sheeted dead squawk and gibber in the streets" to see the trees they carefully planted to beautify the town for prosperity, ruthlessly destroyed by this same degenerate posterity. Can't people see that a fine building looks all the better behind such a tree as that? Can't they see how hopelessly commonplace Greenfield would be with all its shabby mongrel architecture staring in the dust and glare without its one redeeming beauty of fine shade trees? As they evidently can't, as a citizen of this town I claim that its trees shall not be destroyed without a vote of the town to that effect (by Ruskin).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 25, 1873
Showmen at Niagara
Showmen at Niagara - The report has gone forth, we know not upon what authority, that the lands lying upon the banks of the Niagara River adjacent to the Falls have been purchased by a company of speculators, whose design it is to lay them out as a park. It is rumored that it is the intention of the same association, when their park is laid out, to inclose the same with a high wall or board fence, thereby shutting out from any view or glimpse of the Falls all such of the outside barbarians as are not prepared to pay toll to the company, or have not the means of circumventing them by going up in a balloon. [Where do such rumors come from?] And a great deal of indignation has been expressed against the project in various quarters, some cavillers going so far as to assert that a great natural wonder like Niagara is the property of the nation if not of the world, and ought to be as free as air and sunlight; while others have not scrupled to say unpleasant things about the company, accusing them of a sordid and huckstering spirit, and downright vulgar greed...(The article, from the New York Times, goes on to speculate that it might be best to dam up the falls and charge admission, move the fence to the seashore, so that no one may see the water, and go abroad and dam up Mt. Vesuvius - jokingly of course).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, June 2, 1873
The Pennsylvania coal supply
The Pennsylvania coal supply - The Pittsburg Commercial shows that the coal fields of Pennsylvania can hardly be called "inexhaustible". They comprise about 5000 square miles. The yearly rate of exhaustion, taking last year’s statistics for a basis, is about 2700 acres, or 5 square miles; but there can be no calculation on the future rate. It will probably be doubled in 10 years, and so on, until at the beginning of the next century, 10,000 acres of coal will be used up yearly. But the days of cheap coal are over, for even now it costs more to get it to market than it did when the beds chiefly worked upon were on the river banks, while timber is growing scarcer, and labor higher. Our contemporary’s conclusion is that "while we have plenty of coal to last us for hundreds of years to come, the supply is not inexhaustible" and as the near at hand supplies are being rapidly used up, the more distant supplies will cost more to deliver".
- Mon, Feb 23, 2009
