Turner's Public Spirit, January 12, 1924
A look back in time to a century ago
By Bob Oliphant
Center. Mrs. Frank C. Wright met with a painful accident last week, having fallen and injured one of her legs.
Inez Blaney, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. C. A. Blaney, is ill with tonsillitis.
The order recently issued by the selectmen requiring dogs to be restrained from running at large for a period of ninety days has been rescinded.
The W.C.T.U. met at the home of Mrs. Fred McCoy on Wednesday of last week.
The Ladies’ Aid of the Congregational church met with Mrs. Perley Wright on Thursday.
The regular monthly social of the Young People’s league of the Congregational church will be held in the vestry on Saturday evening.
Three new members were taken in at the Congregational church on last Sunday, Rev. and Mrs. Edward Disbrow and Herbert Shea. Rev. and Mrs. Disbrow were admitted by letter.
A preliminary meeting for the purpose of organizing a choral society in town was held at the home of Rev. Edward Disbrow on Monday evening. It is hoped to start the society by the last of January or the first of February. Forty-three persons have already signified their intentions of joining.
Miss Blanche Lawrence will resume her classes in dancing and expression on Monday.
Miss Sarah W. Loker sustained an injury to her ankle recently, having taken a mis-step while performing her household duties.
Miss Blanche Lawrence returned on Monday after a pleasant vacation spent at her home in Amherst, N.S. Misses Mabel Drew and Lillian Sutherland acted as substitute for her during her absence.
The fire department answered a call for a chimney fire at the home of Ralph Cutting on Monday.
The Y.P.R.U. of the Unitarian church held a meeting on Sunday, at the conclusion of the regular Sunday afternoon services. At the close of the meeting refreshments were served in charge of Miss Freda Johnson.
The Republican league held a meeting at the town hall on last week Friday evening at which time various matters of interest were discussed and the following officers were elected: Alfred W. Hartford, pres.; Mrs. Eva Wright, vice pres.; Julian Cameron, sec.
Frederick Jordan and Miss Marguerite Jordan were weekend guests of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Jordan [paper torn, two lines missing].
poultry club and other young friends recently enjoyed a sleighride. Mrs. Frank A. Wright acted as chaperon for the young folks.
Grange Installation. The regular meeting of the Grange was held in the town hall on Thursday evening of last week at which time the officers were installed by Mr. Preston, gatekeeper of the State Grange, assisted by Mrs. Preston, of Wenham, Mrs. A. W. Hartford and Mrs. D. L. Greig of the local order. The officers installed were Fred Meyer, m.; Frederick Robinson, o.; Charles Colburn, stew.; Carl Lydiard, asst. stew.; Mrs. Mildred Robinson, l.a.s.; Miss Eleanor Colburn, lect.; Mrs. Josie Prescott, chap.; Norman Day, g.k.; Mrs. Mabel Wright, treas.; Clifford Johnson, Frank A. Wright, Mrs. Lillian Meyer, ex. com.; Katherine Ott, Flora; Ruth Swenson, Ceres; Ethel Ingalls, Pomona.
The secretary, Mrs. Frank C. Wright, was unable to be present, owing to her recent injury. Miss Edith Wright and Mrs. Edith Blaney were the soloists of the evening, with Miss Freda Johnson, the pianist for the year, acting as accompanist.
The retiring master, Clifford Johnson, was presented with a past master’s jewel, and responded with a few well chosen remarks. After the installation a supper was served in the lower hall.
About Town. “Lest we forget”—there will be a hearing before the county commissioners at the court house in Lowell on Monday morning, February 18, at ten o’clock, on the petition of W. R. Taylor and four other citizens of the town, praying for relocation and specific repairs on the road from Littleton town line to its intersection with the Boston (state) road near the Amos Leighton place. For one, I am willing to appear before the commissioners and describe my whereas and whereat on being tossed hither and yon in a joyride through the air and the number of times I charged up and down, forward and backward in the auto, and in the mix-up lost my hat—who will pay for that?
Miss Luanna B. Decatur, who has been spending the holiday vacation at her home on the Lowell road, returned last Saturday to her teaching in New Rochelle, N.Y.
Cancel up all arrears past, present, future and to come against the Banisters. I am making them a New Year’s present of all including 1924, in memory of Mr. Banister’s mother, who was my first teacher—of much blessed memory and personality.
I owe two apologies this week without pleading guilty to the cause of apologies. First, I had a telephone request of a message to be sent to this paper to be published last week. The message was being sent by mail and was mailed at the Westford postoffice on January 1, but it did not reach the Old Oaken Bucket farm until Thursday afternoon, January 3, which was too late to be used. The cause of the delay in traveling two miles I cannot explain, except that the non-delivery of the mail on New Year’s day missed and mixed the delivery of the mail for several days. Unable to learn who telephoned, I am unable to make a personal apology. The daily paper of January 1, not arriving until Thursday afternoon, I glanced at one for a few moments, but long enough to memorize incorrectly. I reported erroneously on the death of John Foye, whose name was “Thomas Foye,” a resident of Graniteville for many years and a man who was esteemed in this community, who died on Sunday, December 30, after a brief illness, at the home of his nephew Michael Foye, on Oak Hill road, Whidden’s Corner, Westford, aged seventy years.
Hold Your Apples. Hope and hold on all you cooperative Nashoba folks scattered all over the United States in your optimistic view that apples are going to take a rise and stay arisen. But before you stock too heavily in such hopeful views, let me quote the government report for December on the size of the apple crop: “This year’s commercial apple crop is the largest ever grown, according to the December estimate of 34,403,000 barrels. It exceeds by half a million barrels the big crop of 1920 and is 8% above last year’s production. The net increase of 880,000 over the November estimate is largely explained by the higher figures for the Potomac Valley region—Illinois, the Pacific Northwest and California. These gains were partly offset by the 14% decrease in New York and Maine.” Are you still listening? Well, here is something more and worse for your hope and hold:
“Cold storage holdings of barreled apples on December 1 were 860,000 more than the month before, and far above last December’s (1922) report and the five-year average 8,000,000 additional boxes of apples went into cold storage during November, making the total holdings more than 13,000,000 boxes, or nearly twice as many as on December 1, 1922. Storage plants also reported 1,370,000 boxes on hand. Reduced to equivalent barrels this season’s holdings are about 3,000,000 barrels more than those of a year ago.”
But with all these government facts to meditate upon I am advising all hands to hold their apples. But I am selling mine as fast as I can reasonably dispose of them. It is very rare that I ever take my own medicine.
A High Type of Manhood. Our good Orthodox friend, Dr. Charles E. Jefferson, in his New Year’s message in the Congregationalist, says, “The masses are held in the grip of hampering traditions and many of our leaders are bound hand and foot to ideas which belong in the scrap heap. We men of today are too small to deal with the problems that confront us. We are too weak to carry the burdens which the age has rolled upon us. We have village notions when we are called upon to play a part on a stage wide as this planet. The whole universe is groaning and travailing in pain, waiting for the emergence of a higher type of manhood. We have hung before us the calendar of a new year, but no year can be new unless it is made new by new men; otherwise the new year is but a continuation of the old.”
To all of which I subscribe full endorsement and all in his new year’s message which was too lengthy to quote in full.
In view of Dr. Jefferson’s New Year’s auditing of the lives of men which are evidently too largely animal developed and bonded and mortgaged to the fossilized idols of the past, “which belong in the scrap heap,” is anyone so unwise in their head gearing as to think that all that is necessary is to press the button for a league of nations, a world court or pass a resolution “Presto change-O” and war ceases without any regeneration in lives of men, the same old crowd and governed by the same motives that has caused all wars? Well, say, that is asking the Lord to make us good without even any development or effort on our part to effect a landing. Personally, I haven’t got so lazy and shiftless yet as to ask someone else to do all the paddling of my life canoe. Let us hope that the world court, serving as a counsellor and jury, will do something to lessen the possibility of war, and let us hope that part of the prescription that they order against unjustifiable warriors will be to make the ring-leaders tenants in the electric chair. And while this world court is courting let us seriously consider Dr. Jefferson’s “emergence of a higher type of manhood.”
[torn paper, title missing] I have been seriously pondering over these words set forth and sent forth by “The Man About Town” in last week’s issue, which reads in part as follows: “The Man About Town has been trying to figure out what all this talk means between the two camps of Harvard and Westford. It was reputed three years ago that the mighty majority given the G.O.P. nominees was a decision by the electorate against the league of nations plan. In other words it was a dead issue.” I accept it as a dead issue, but sometimes dead issues cause more trouble than live issues by the friends of the dead issue persisting in trying to pump life into it. Before entering the ring I desire to say that if I appeared in my last communication like being saucy and lacking in due respect to my superior and to the office that he holds, I take this opportunity to apologize and can only excuse it on the grounds that when my Scotch dander gets well “het up” there are no emergency brakes that will hold it and I want to say further, if there is any one or more than one (as has been hinted to me) who think that I am practicing for soap-box oratory on the corner of the street “to be seen of men,” [Matthew 23:5a] or that I am aiming for the swelled-head reservation, they are very much mistaken in the analysis. The only swelled head that I ever had was when I went to the old Stony Brook school and got my head in between the old-fashioned desk corner and the shelf that held the school books; both the corner and the shelf fastened with the largest sized nails. A hammer and chisel had to be sent for to pry my head out and the teacher with leather strap whipping until the hammer and chisel arrived—and I thought they would never come. I can only account for my swelled head at that time on the grounds that I held the honor record of standing at the foot of the class against all competitors; but it cured me and anyone can have my swelled head honors and floggings and rewards of soap-box oratory. By nature I prefer the fireside comforts and delights of a retiring home life. I am quite conscious of the fact and no one need tell me that on this question of the league of nations I waded in far beyond my depth, but it is only justified on the grounds that you cannot learn to swim in a pint dish or a bird learn to fly sitting upon a limb of a tree.
Replying to Mr. Kent’s last communication I am not able to always understand how to interpret owing to the difficulty of penetrating the thickness of my upper horizon. For instance: “We can see in the portrait (Scotch-Yankee) he presents to us a caustic humor, a canny shrewdness, a keen eye for self and a controlling passion for squeezing every penny, and getting of every bargain.”
Oh, I say Reverend dear sir, I am so delighted with being portrayed with being so smart I do not care whether it is meant for a sort of verging on sarcasm or the real complimentary truth about the boy, it all tastes alike to me whether I am set up or “sat” down. I do not care. I am just delighted with it by any old interpretation, and the wonderful thing about it is I have lived in Westford over seventy-eight years and not even one person has found out I really am, and they have only just found it out in Harvard, which proves “that a prophet is not without honor save among his own people and kinsfolks.” [Mark 6:4] I am so thankful that I have been able to quote scripture to prove the truthfulness of my own town. Oh, for that old Stony Brook school oak-nailed desk to cure what has got started again! Well, I do not know how I am going to control it, and that is the only sad thing about these otherwise joyous pictures.
After telling a Scotch story about Sammie, which is too prevalently true of too much of our daily living, Mr. Kent says “So when my friend Sammie exults in the thud with which we threw down our allies in the world war and left them to squirm a bit and perish, when he chuckles over what looks to him like the mangled remains of the league, he makes me think of Sammie McPherson (who sacrificed the life of his wife for ten dollars and saved his own).”
Well, now, see here, Mr. Kent, you are a college-educated man (I have got your analysis in my house) and you must know that there is a great difference between exulting over anything and being grateful. For instance, if I should have a narrow escape from falling into a hornet’s nest or a nest of rattlesnakes I would not feel like exulting over my narrow escape, especially while they were laying in ambush for a favorable chance to attack me again—gratitude would be the word to use. We saw exultation in all of its premature send-off at the close of the world war—when America was shaken to tremors like an earthquake with cannon and the ringing of bells on every church, mill and schoolhouse in every state, town and city. This was exultation; was clearly premature from the fact that time has since proved that as soon as the exultations were over and the vapors were cleared away that the cause of the war and wars left the same old legacy—a conglomeration of heterogeneous matters and morals not far enough removed from frogism to prevent their playing at each other’s greed in a greedy attempt to swallow each other, and unchristian America, who had loaned money to these warriors of the unintelligent low-downs (some of them such) and has already reduced the agreed interest and has resigned into the belief that the principle, like the interest, will never be paid. Unchristian to mean deserted against any future world war attack by Germany which would involve her own liability to annihilation.
There is too much self-preservation involved to warrant any such sweeping interpretation as all that came to. But England has deserted France in any effort to collect her debts. Unless France took her pay in marks worth about a cent a ton, and there appeared to be nothing to collect the German debt on except land, if you feel more reconciled with that word than Ruhr, and England has stood at “attention,” frowned in jealousy that France will thus hold a dictating monopoly of steel, coal, forests and other natural resources and thus be able to dictate terms to England.
“America deserted France.” Why, my dear sir, I am surprised at such a statement. You must remember that this message was wired to America from the fighting allies: “We have been driven with our backs to the wall.” At this critical juncture America turned in to help France and England and only for their help England and France would have been bayoneted to annihilation with their backs to the wall—America, who sacrificed the lives of thousands of the flower of the land to the rescue of England [and] France from German annihilation, unchristian America who has fed the far East and the Near East; unchristian America who has been and is now feeding millions of starving German women and children; unchristian America who freed Cuba from the tyranny of Spain and took her part in trouble and more trouble, is now asked to swallow all the trouble of this heterogeneous conglomeration too, much of which is worth more to prove Darwin’s theory of evolution than it is to prove their eternal fitness for self government.
Mr. Kent says, “We are ashamed of our ignorance for one thing, the very kind he rejoices in when he tells us for instance that England has deserted France. England has not deserted France. It was we who deserted France and forced her to seize the Ruhr.” Well, now, see here Reverend Sir, when I said deserted France, I did not suppose it would be misinterpreted. Do you not recall that American troops remained overseas long enough after the close of the war to protect France from any renewed efforts by Germany? Having prevented France and England from being bayoneted to the wall, we have withdrawn with the feeling that it is not our duty to collect German debts when we are unable to collect from France and England.
In reply to your pessimistic view of the industrial life of America I will offset it by the official report of the federal reserve board—it was reported in last week’s issue: “The American people produced more, spent more and saved more in 1923 than in 1922. As a whole the year was characterized by the larger industrial output, practically full employment, a sustained customer’s demand for goods and a level of prices more stable than in any year since 1915.” To this I will simply add that the statistics show that 1923 had the largest deposits in the savings banks of the United States since Columbus or some other fellow discovered this country.
Managing the Managers. And now comes forward so competent a man as President Kenyon L. Butterfield of the Massachusetts Agricultural college in his annual report to the trustees at the winter meeting in the state house on last week Friday, and says, “I criticize the state commission on administration and finance for interfering with the work of the college, and there must be a change of the morale if the staff is to be maintained and the institution to carry on its work economically and efficiently.”
The department of administration and finance, which has been in existence about a year, has come in for criticism from members of the legislature and department heads, and bills are pending calling for the abolishment of the commission and restoring the duties of the various state departments.
President Butterfield closes his report most sensibly in the following words: “I assure you that many of us who come into close contact with these administration relationships have reached nearly the limit of our endurance. We desire that you have your power of control of the college restored to you that it shall be specifically recognized that neither the commissioner nor the commission on administration and finances shall have more than advisory and recommendatory powers. We believe that the trustees should have full power to decide the scope of our work, the type of expenditures that are justifiable to employ members of the staff and to fix their salaries. We believe that this power should be final and not subject to veto by any other state official.” To all of which I assign my name.
Has government come to this that we elect a board of trustees to manage, and then we elect a board of managers to manage the managers? I have often heard of setting a thief to catch a thief, but this setting a board of managers to manage the managers would be refreshing for a change if it wasn’t so solemn financially. I have sometimes seen cases where a person under guardianship appeared to know more than the guardian. If this is so with the trustees of our agricultural college, why not remove them as managers and let the managers of those managers be permitted to do all of the managing and then we could retire one board of managers as “managers emeritus?”
Inconsistent Ideas. There has been so much boiling over like a “tempest in a teapot” against the eighteenth amendment [establishing prohibition] being such a usurper of the liberties of the individual that I wish to contrast it with the infringement of individual liberties as exemplified in the law and role of the zoning act in cities. A case is pending in the supreme court of Massachusetts, whereby a citizen of Lowell had an injunction served on him by the supreme court restraining him from building an up-to-date, modern tailor shop in the residential section of the city where once rum shops were tolerated, but under the restraints of the zoning act he has far less liberty than he had under the rum-zoning act. And the two exceptionally bright youths who edit a daily paper in Lowell have shouted themselves long and loud against the eighteenth amendment as being a direct assault on the liberties of the people, and defenders of the rum shop nuisance and approve of them in localities where you cannot be allowed to build a modern tailor shop, and befriend the imposed restriction. Part of this zoning act either ought to be kicked out into the street or else quit making such inconsistent facts of yourselves “straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel” [Matthew 23:24] in hurrahing for a rum shop to preserve individual liberty and calling on the supreme court to preserve our liberties by preventing the opening of an up-to-date modern tailor shop.
What kind of a college education have you got to have to be able to see that the tailor shop is the menace of our liberties and the rum-saloon shop is the preserver of our liberties? With a line of reasoning it is quite easy to fall to the belief that the earth does not go around the sun once a year because there is no sun to go around, and if there was a sun to go around the earth could not go around it because it has no axis to revolve on, and it couldn’t revolve if it had an axis because the world is flat. Even if the world is flat it is not so flat as the arguments of those two youths—freshmen youths I mean—in their equity ideas on the restriction of zoning and the liberties of rum.
Church Notes. First church (Unitarian)—Sunday service at 4 p.m. Music: “Our Fathers,” Mason, chant by chorus choir; “When with doubting and dreaming,” Tosti, Miss Eleanor Colburn, soprano. Preacher, Rev. Frank B. Crandall, the minister. Subject, “The ark of the covenant.” Church school at 2:30 p.m.
The Westford Y.P.R.U met Sunday afternoon following church. Refreshments were served.
Annual Parish Meeting. The annual meeting of the First Parish church of Westford was held at the vestry Saturday evening at 7:30. In spite of a snow storm there was a good attendance. Herbert V. Hildreth was elected moderator and presided at the meeting. Official announcement was made in the report of the treasurer of the bequest of $2500 to the parish by the late Emily Frances Fletcher [who died April 13, 1923, in Westford], a devoted member of the parish during her whole life time. The bequest includes three funds—the Sherman D. and Emily A. Fletcher [Emily F. Fletcher’s parents] fund of $1000, the income of which is to be used for the general work of the church; the Cornelia F. Day [Emily F. Fletcher’s sister] fund of $1000, the income of which is to be used for procuring the services of a choir director, and an unnamed fund of $500, the income of which is to be used to give an annual picnic or excursion to the pupils of the church school.
The following officers were elected: J. Herbert Fletcher, Sherman D. Fletcher and Herbert V. Hildreth, assessors; Edward Abbot, clerk; Mrs. Harry R. Prescott, treasurer; Homer M. Seavey, Miss A. Mabel Drew and Edward Abbot, parish committee; Miss Julia Fletcher, Miss Gertrude Fletcher, Miss Eva Fletcher and Mrs. Charles Colburn, music committee.
It was voted to change the fiscal year to make it end on December 31. A committee consisting of the parish committee and the minister was appointed by vote of the meeting to prepare appropriate resolves expressing the gratitude of the parish for the bequest of the late Emily F. Fletcher. Homer M. Seavey, Miss A. Mabel Drew and Edward Abbot were elected trustees to administer the Fletcher funds. It was also voted that the thanks of the parish be expressed to Miss Wood and Mrs. McDaniel for the gift of the Wayside Pulpit.
About Town. The Merry-Go-Round Whist club met at the home of Mrs. Edward F. Coburn, West Chelmsford, on last week Wednesday afternoon. Miss Annabelle Carlson won the first prize and Mrs. Archie Colburne[?] consolation.
Announcements have been received in West Chelmsford of the marriage of Harry Carlson and Miss Elizabeth Adams Hall.
Bishop Francis J. McConnell, of Pittsburg, Pa., a former minister of the West Chelmsford M.E. church, where he was and is universally loved, is listed as a visiting preacher at King’s chapel, Boston, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
A New Year’s eve party was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund B. Whitney at Brookside with twelve couples present. An entertaining entertainment was given, consisting of violin solos by [the] Pendlebury brothers, saxophone solo, Alvin Nelson; piano duet, Edna Whitney and Rita Pendlebury; piano solo, Gladys Whitney; songs, Miss May Donnelly. Games of the usual in-door variety took up a large part of the evening. Supper was served by the hostess, assisted by her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, after which the floor was cleared for dancing, led by Miss Alice McEnaney and Alvin Nelson. Fancy dancing was illustrated by Mathew Smith, who was the whole show—and a good one.
Graniteville. The soccer fans are now making arrangements to charter a special train to Pawtucket, R.I., Saturday, January 19, when the Abbot Worsted team will meet the Fall River [team] at the Londsdale avenue grounds in the national cup contest, or what is termed the semifinal for the eastern championship. This trip to Pawtucket is always looked forward to as an unusual event for the Abbot “rooters,” and it is expected that fans from Lawrence, Lowell, North Chelmsford and all surrounding towns will turn out in large numbers.
The M.E. church Sunday school board held a meeting in the vestry of the church Sunday afternoon at one o’clock, at this time the election of officers taking place and following were elected: Edmund Delahaye, supt.; Samuel Fletcher, asst. supt.; Samuel Fletcher, sec.; George L. Wilson, treas.; Miss Ada Eaton, pianist.
A very spirited bowling match was staged at the Richards bowling alleys here on Monday evening when the independents defeated Brisson’s Stars by 21 pins. A return match will be played in the near future.
Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Richard and little daughter Irene have recently returned from a very enjoyable visit spent with friends in Canada.
Mrs. Hannah E. Harrington of Moore, Penn., is now spending a few days here as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. P. Henry Harrington.
The M.E. church choir will hold a rehearsal at the church on Saturday evening at 6:30.
Excellent coasting has been enjoyed here this week.
Groton
Lawrence Academy Notes. In the field of athletics basketball holds the center of the stage. Manager George Griffith has arranged an extensive schedule of games, including contests with River’s school, Dummer academy, Westford academy, and a number of high schools in the vicinity of Groton. On Saturday of this week Townsend and Lawrence will try conclusions on the Lawrence floor.
Ayer
Real Estate Transfers. The following real estate transfers have been recorded from this vicinity recently.
Westford—Glarvina Beneit [sic, Benoit?] ex. [et ux.?] to Joseph A. Leclerc land in Forge Village; Adelord [sic, Adelard?] J. Brule to Julian Dymowics et ux., land on Maple street; John A. Healy to Philemon Benoit, land at Graniteville; Charles W. Hildreth to Mabel E. Wright, land on Main street.