Turner's Public Spirit, July 12, 1924
A look back in time to a century ago
By Bob Oliphant
Center. The teachers of the Lowell Vocational school tendered a surprise shower to Miss Madeline McDonald at her home on Monday. Miss McDonald, who had been one of the popular teachers of that school, was the recipient of many beautiful gifts. A general good time was enjoyed and during the afternoon refreshments of ice cream, cake, sandwiches and fruitade [sic] were served.
Misses Marion Fletcher and Alice Johnson are at Star Island, Me., summer school, as delegates from the Y.P.R.U. Next week the Misses Julia and Gertrude Fletcher go as delegates from the Alliance.
Miss Marjorie Seavey has been at Lewiston and Bar Harbor, Me., the past week.
Mrs. George F. White [nee Lena Dustin] and mother, Mrs. Dustin, are at Orr’s Island, Me.
Mrs. George Forson (Bertha Blaisdell) and children, of Waltham, are guests of her mother, Mrs. A. J. Blaisdell.
The teachers and officers of the Congregational Sunday school held a meeting recently at the home of the superintendent, H. G. Osgood, and made plans for the work to be taken up after the vacation season is over, and also appointed committees to arrange for the Sunday school picnic to be held in the near future, the date and place to be announced later.
The salad and strawberry supper was held at the congregational church on July first. This was the last of the suppers given under the auspices of the Ladies’ Aid to be given during the summer, and was a decided success. After the supper an entertainment followed consisting of songs by the Harlow male quartet of Lowell, and bag-pipe selections by Messrs. Thompson and Russell of Lowell; also, readings by Miss Olive Hanscom, the seven-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Warren K. Hanscom. Little Miss Hanscom’s readings are deserving of special mention, showing talent and great prospects of becoming an elocutionist of merit. The committee in charge of this pleasing affair was composed of Mr. and Mrs. John K. Felch, assisted by Edward Felch, Mrs. Bartlett, Mrs. Shupe, Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. Clara Whitney, Arthur Walker and Miss Mabel Prescott.
Frank Readon [sic], of Syracuse, N.Y., was a weekend guest of Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Wright. Mr. Readon reports business being exceptionally good in that city, with shops and factories working full time and overtime in some cases.
Mr. and Mrs. James Fraser, of Groton were weekend guests of Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. Wright.
The fire department were on their job the night before the Fourth, seeing that property in the vicinity of the firehouse was not too dry, thus increasing [paper torn, line missing] firehouse the greater part of the night to see that the fire signal was not tampered with and to be on hand in case of fire.
Many from here attended the celebrations in the nearby towns, both the night before and on the Fourth.
Principal Edwin Whitehill of the Watertown high school, with Mrs. Whitehill and daughter Ruth, have been recent guests of Rev. and Mrs. Edward Disbrow. Mr. Whitehill gave an excellent talk to the young people at the church on last Sunday evening.
Mrs. Alice Wells, of the Center, and Mrs. Fabyan Packard, of Graniteville, have been on an auto trip to Vermont.
Frank C. Wright has recently had a hay fork installed in his barn which will facilitate the work during the haying season.
The ties used on the old street railway are being removed.
The fire department answered a call for a small grass fire near East Littleton station on Monday, and also brush fires on the Groton road on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Ladies’ Aid held an enjoyable outing at Whalom Park on Thursday.
Mrs. A. H. Sutherland [nee Martha Luella “Mattie” Cass] has been visiting at the home of her sister, Mrs. Louis Marden [nee Lillian Cass], of Campton, N.H.
Alfred Sutherland spent the weekend in town.
Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Knight entertained Miss Velma Campbell of Hudson, N.H., and John McIntyre, of Nashua, N.H., on the holiday.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wright, of Quincy, are the guests of Harwood L. Wright. [Henry and Harwood were brothers.]
Miss May Day has been attending a library conference at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel [R.] Whitney and son [Nathaniel H. Whitney], accompanied by relatives from Forge Village, are on an auto camping trip.
The [American Legion] Auxiliary is planning to hold a box party at the next regular meeting, July 28. Mrs. Helga Bale is the chairman of the committee in charge of refreshments.
Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Christensen are entertaining Mr. Christensen’s brother and family from the west.
Mrs. Ella Wright, R.N., is enjoying her vacation.
About Town. The Abbot Worsted Company band has arranged an excellent program to be given on the school playground at Forge Village this Saturday.
Francis W. Banister has bought all the standing grass on the John H. Decatur place, estimated to be twenty tons by good judges.
Gerry and Luanna Decatur are at home from teaching in New Rochelle, N.Y., for the school vacation. Their mother, Mrs. C. R. P. Decatur, has been ill, but at present is better.
The Lybeck house on the Lowell road [38 Lowell Road] is much improved by recent painting.
On the last Sunday in June we were much delighted to meet our old-time former neighbors and friends, Mr. and Mrs. Edson G. Boynton of Harvard, and listen to Mr. Boynton’s all-round melodious keyed voice in the choir of the Unitarian church. He has one special favorite of ours, but it not being keyed to church music or appropriate to the Sabbath day I did not feel like letting go an encore for it, any more than I would for baseball, etc.
Is anyone able to measure how far we have wandered from the humility of the days of Washington in seeking office? For his second term it took much urging to make him accept. To those who pressed him his answer was “I am tired of the strife and contention of disagreeing factions and I long to get back to my farm in Virginia.” So much unlike this day and age when we choose a committee to devise a way to reduce the number of candidates, who are overloaded with willingness to leave their farms or other occupation to serve humanity and at a financial loss. Oh, isn’t it just hopefully delightful that we are raising such a large crop of self-sacrificing candidates that the convention hall is neck deep with candidates and gaining so fast that a committee is chosen to politely ask some of them if they will not “long to go back to their farm” and become a George Washington minus his troubles as president?[1]
The Abbot Worsted Company band will give a concert on Cameron park at West Chelmsford this Friday evening. Let us all be present and encourage the cause and try and make it an epidemic contagious and try and encourage it to spread to Westford, where we voted ourselves too poor for this inspiring enjoyment. What a pity to have a home-developed band as up to date in tune, time and jingle that inspires and then let these warm, pleasant, summer evenings pass from us without a note from the band!
In cutting down the dead pine trees along the highway, caused by pine blister, and this caused by currant and gooseberries, the state reserves the right to cut down and root out all your currant and gooseberry bushes in the interest of preserving our white pine forests[2] and we have yet to hear of an objection on the grounds of an infringement of personal liberty; but just shift this picture from pine tree blister—let these currants be made into wine that intoxicates and men get drunk and abusive and a menace to the community and let the government cut these currant bushes down to save humanity from perishing off the earth and up rises several million quartets all tuned and practiced in singing “It’s an infringement of personal liberty.”
A gavel made from the old historic bridge of Concord it is expected will hereafter be used in the conventions of the National Education association. This was made known on July 1, when Payson Smith, commissioner of education, who is in Washington attending the annual convention of the Education association, has taken with [him] the gavel as a gift from the school children of Concord. The Concord bridge, or more familiarly known as the Old North bridge, about which the shots were fired “heard around the world,” and from a portion of which the gavel was fashioned, was washed away by a freshet shortly after the men of Concord had victoriously laid down their arms. Thus liveth in history those deeds of daring.
The Farm Bureau gave a demonstration on Wednesday evening at the farm of Oscar R. Spalding on trimming apple trees and thinning the fruit, followed by a discussion. It costs on an average of fifty cents per tree to thin the apples, as per testimony. As an unbeliever in adding any more expense to the cost of producing apples I would be delighted to encounter a handshake of the man who could take a 25 and 30-foot ladder and thin apples for fifty cents per tree and do the whole tree thoroughly with wages at fifty cents per hour. This comes pretty close to beating all the fish stories, ancient and modern. I was sorry that I was unable to attend this meeting.
A stubborn fire of large proportions started on Tuesday noon and defied all fire-fighting apparatus clear into the darkness of the evening. The fire started in what is known as rabbit swamp, north of Long Sought and Flushing ponds, and north of the Groton road, close to the Westford-Tyngsboro town line. The dryness of the unrained upon earth and brisk warm dry wind quickly headed the fire in the direction of Tyngsboro, burning up much cordwood in its onward northerly march. Harry L. Nesmith, forest fire warden, was quickly at the pump handle of affairs who summoned the Westford fire department, and after a prolonged afternoon and evening encounter succeeded in subduing it. The origin of the fire is not known.
Frederic A. Brown, of West Chelmsford, long in the employ of P. Henry Harrington, of Graniteville, has sold his cottage house and land on School street, West Chelmsford, to the Vincen [sic, probably Vincent] family of Amherst, N.H. Mr. Brown has come into possession of a seven-acre farm in Warren, Vt.
Fragmentary parts of the Old Oaken Bucket farm folks visited in Acton and Littleton on Thursday. In the first-mentioned town repose the dust of ancient relatives in Woodlawn cemetery, who fought at the Old North bridge; also, former neighbors in the Stony Brook valley some of whom saw fighting service in the civil war and served a campaign of starvation in Libby and Andersonville prisons. In patriotic reverence I lift my hat and pause in meditation at the graveside of the Eben Barker family, who many years ago lived in Westford on the farm now owned by Amos B. Polley, which adjoins the Old Oaken Bucket farm. The Barker family I recall as schoolmates at the old Stony Brook school. [Eben Barker enlisted Aug. 18 1861, was mustered Sept. 12, 1861, in Company F, 50th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and died at Quincy, Ill. Jan. 31, 1862. His tombstone at Woodlawn Cemetery, Acton, has a GAR marker with flag next to it. See https://www.actonmemoriallibrary.org/civilwar/records/barker_eben.html.]
Our sweet corn planted in the mud is tasseling out, but more rain would make it grow faster.
Graniteville. The Abbot Worsted team defeated the South Boston team in a league game in South Boston on Monday evening by the score of 11 to 4. On Tuesday evening, in Graniteville, the Abbots were defeated in a great [game] by the Lynn Cornets, 2 to 1. The Abbots played the Dilboy post of Somerville on Thursday evening. Saturday is an open date, but the Abbots will play Maynard in Maynard on Sunday afternoon in the first of a series of games. Manager McCarthy of the Abbots has also arranged a series of games between the Abbots and North Cambridge. The first game will be played in Lowell on Saturday, July 19.
The annual Sunday school picnic of the Methodist church will be held at Whalom park on Saturday, July 19. The trip will be made in special trolley cars from here.
The many friends of John R. Green and his mother, Mrs. Green, tendered them a house warming on North street last Saturday evening. The affair was largely attended and the time was spent very pleasantly. During the evening refreshments were served. A pleasing incident in connection with the affair was the presentation of a beautiful cut glass fruit dish, filled with choice fruit, to Mrs. Green. Horace E. Gould did the honors in a neat speech. After informal whist and the singing of the old songs by the entire company this pleasant affair came to a close.
A large number from here attended the [Sells-Floto] circus in Lowell on Monday, and although the weather was warm they enjoyed an excellent performance.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred M. Defoe and daughter Evelyn, of West Boylston, have been recent visitors here.
Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Fletcher, with their baby girl, of Springfield, are spending a few days at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Harry N. Fletcher [Vernon’s parents].
Mr. and Mrs. Friel [Axel Fridolf] Hanson and family have recently returned from the south and are spending a brief vacation at the Gagnon home on Beacon street.
Graniteville was well represented in the parade at Forge Village on the Fourth. The first prize was awarded for the best float to the truck representing the Graniteville mill of the Abbot Worsted Co. Rosinin Degagne did the decorating and he certainly made a fine job of it. Ernest Deeming got the first prize for the best decorated automobile.
The Abbot Worsted Company band will play at the lawn party to be held in West Chelmsford on Friday evening, July 11.
- J. LeDuc and family left here last Sunday for an automobile trip to Canada.
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Morrow and son Forrest, of Haverhill, are spending a few days at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Carpentier.
Mrs. Charles St. Lawrence and son Roland, of Nashua, N.H., have been spending a few days at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred LeCroix.
Mrs. Alice M. Wells, of Westford, and Mrs. Fabyan Packard are spending a few days in Bakersfield, Vt.
Master Edwin Packard is spending his summer vacation at Camp Winota in Denmark, Me.
Mr. and Mrs. William F. Buckingham and daughter Arlon, of Southbridge, have been recent visitors here.
Miss Doris York is enjoying camp life with Mr. and Mrs. Fred Farrow and family in Connecticut.
Ayer
District Court. On last Saturday morning … Lewis A. Garden, of Westford, charged with drunkenness in that town, was found guilty and paid costs amounting to $8.
Real Estate Transfers. The following real estate transfers have been recorded from this vicinity recently:
Westford, Hattie C. Bonnell et al. to Anthony J. Lewis et al., land on Concord road; Joseph H. Boyle to Ester M. Sjokvist, land on Long road; Danenika Kowalchuck et al. to Abbot Worsted Company, Westford, land on Central street.
[1] Samuel Taylor’s rant about the many Presidential candidates was likely in response to the recent political conventions, the Republicans meeting in Cleveland on June 10-12 and the Democrats meeting in New York City June 24 to July 9. President Calvin Coolidge easily won the Republican nomination but was opposed by Sen. Hiram Johnson, Sen. Robert M. La Follette, and Gov. Frank Orren Lowden. Democrat candidates were Amb. John W. Davis, William Gibbs McAdoo (Pres. Woodrow Wilson’s son-in-law), Gov. Al Smith, Sen. Oscar Underwood, Sen. Samuel M. Ralston, and Gov. James M. Cox. The Democrats could not agree on a candidate until the 103rd ballot when the exhausted convention nominated former Ambassador to England John W. Davis. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924_United_States_presidential_election.
[2] “White Pine Blister Rust on Currants and Gooseberries
“Michael A. Ellis, Department of Plant Pathology
“Leona Horst, Department of Plant Pathology
“White pine blister rust is not a serious disease of currants and gooseberries; however, it is a very serious disease of white pines (Pinus strobus). Currants and gooseberries serve as an alternate host for the rust fungus that causes white pine blister rust. Therefore, planting currants and gooseberries in areas where white pines are present can lead to serious losses of white pines. North American white pine species … are highly susceptible. White pine blister rust causes significant damage in pine forests by forming cankers on the branches of white pines. These cankers ultimately kill the trees. Black currant is the most susceptible of the Ribes species.
“To protect white pine forests, several states have enacted laws concerning planting of black currants.” …
See https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/HYG-3205.