The Westford Wardsman, July 21, 1917
Center. We regret that inadvertently the name of Alec McDonald was omitted from the names of donors in the list of Red Cross givers last week. Mr. McDonald gave both time and money, doing the work in his locality and heading his paper. There was a fine spirit shown in this whole canvas and slackers seemed minus and only lack of space prevents giving every name of those who did their bit.
The Ladies’ Aid society of the Congregational church held an all-day sewing meeting at the home of Mrs. John P. Wright on Thursday of last week. The meeting was held on the piazza and was well attended and most enjoyable socially, and a good amount of work was accomplished as well. Basket lunch was enjoyed at noon, supplemented by hot coffee by the hostess. At one o’clock a business meeting was held and committees were chosen for the agricultural fair in September.
The oil for the streets arrived this week and has been applied throughout the village, and comparatively dustless streets will be the welcome order of things for the remainder of the season.
Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Fletcher, Mr. and Mrs. H. V. Hildreth and Harold W. Hildreth have been absent several days this week on a combined business and pleasure trip to granite dealers. The day at Rockport was especially enjoyable.
Miss Eva F. Pyne’s many friends in Westford village are glad to hear that she is resting as comfortably as can be expected at the Lowell General hospital after a serious operation for appendicitis performed on Tuesday.
J. W. Rafter returned on Tuesday evening from the Lowell General hospital, where he has been a patient since the first of the month. Arthur E. Day brought Mr. Rafter home in his automobile and he stood the trip remarkably well and was glad to be at home again.
The first shipment of raspberries have been made this week, and those having currants are also busy with that harvest. Perley E. Wright made a trip to Boston on Thursday night with his auto truck and goes again on Sunday night.
The Red Cross workers met on Tuesday afternoon with the usual good attendance and good interest. Since the scope of the work has enlarged the lower town hall proves excellent quarters for the work. Additional workers Tuesday afternoon were Miss Dorothy Haviland, guest of Mrs. W. R. Taylor, and Mrs. A. M. Burrill, of Concord, who is boarding at Mrs. Walker’s. It was most interesting to hear Mrs. Burrill’s account of the great amount of work done for the war in patriotic Concord.
Mrs. William L. Woods and Clifford Woods are spending the summer with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Ferguson. Mr. Woods goes back and forth from the city by auto.
Mrs. H. M. Bartlett went to Brookline last Saturday and Sunday to visit her son, Perley M. Wright, who is in Company 5, Coast Artillery, at Fort Wardsworth [sic]. Mr. Bartlett had a brief furlough to visit at the home of his brother, Walter Bartlett, of Brookline, and later went to Claremont, N.H., to visit an uncle who saw service during the entire period of the civil war.
The expected consummation of the transfer of the large farm known for many years as the Charles H. Fletcher farm [62 Main St.?] is expected to take place soon. The preliminary papers have been passed. The purchaser is George F. White, the well-known automobile dealer of Lowell.
A good number were present at the home guard drill on Tuesday evening and the best work yet was done. A letter was read stating that the company has been accepted by the state authorities and giving the men to expect an early notice of date for physical examination and mustering in. The company will drill every Tuesday evening at the town hall at eight o’clock. Squad drills will also be held in each of the three villages of the town. Graniteville squad will meet at the ball field Friday evenings to drill under 2nd Lieut. [William J.] Robinson. Private William Orange will instruct the Forge Village squad at a date to be agreed upon there. Capt. [Charles L] Robinson will meet Center squad at the common at 7:30 Thursday evenings for drill.
Wedding. A very pretty home wedding took place on Wednesday afternoon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo H. Sutherland, when their oldest daughter, Beatrice May Sutherland, was united in marriage to David Iver Olssen, of West Chelmsford. The ceremony, which was the double ring service, was performed by Rev. Howard A. Lincoln of the Union Congregational church. The bridal party stood in the bay window of the parlor under a large white wedding bell from which radiated streamers of alternating white and evergreen.
The bride’s gown was of white embroidered net and she carried a bouquet of bride’s roses. Miss Lillian Sutherland, the bride’s sister, was the bridesmaid, and wore turquoise blue crepe de chine and carried crimson roses. Alfred Sutherland, the bride’s older brother, acted as best man and Bertram Sutherland as usher. The bride was given in marriage by her father.
After the ceremony felicitations were in order and refreshments of ice cream and cake, fruit, punch and wedding cake were served. Later, the bride and groom started by auto on a wedding trip amid a shower of rice and confetti. The bride’s going away gown was of blue taffeta silk.
The young people were the recipients of many beautiful presents, among which was a handsome chest of silver given by the office force of the Lowell Bleachery, where the bride has been employed. The members of Westford Grange, where the bride has been a loyal member, presented a handsome fumed oak rocking chair with leather upholstery. After a wedding trip Mr. and Mrs. Olssen will be at home to their friends in West Chelmsford. No cards.
About Town. The W. R. Taylor and F. A. Snow families and the Old Oaken Bucket farm folks took a recent auto ride to Mt. Wachusett. The view from this mountain is calculated to take the littleness out of your life and fill in with the thought of Emerson. “The deed to none of which do I hold, yet I own the best part of it—the landscape.”
Amos Polley, of the Prairie farm, is earliest with sweet corn, showing the tassel on July 6. The Old Oaken Bucket farm loitered around with field corn, which showed the tassel on July 10, just sixty days from the time of planting. Considering the hail-snow-storms of May this is getting into port in good season.
Howard Judd fell at his home, near Westford station, and broke a rib. He is the fourteen-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Judd.
Charles Robey has charge of the summer farm at Dracut for the Boy Scouts.
Ralph Crosby, of Arlington, is haying, hoeing and happy at the home of his aunt, Mrs. F. W. Banister.
Dr. C. A. Blaney, Marden Seavey, W. R. and J. A. Taylor had a friendly game of lawn tennis on Whitney playground Tuesday.
The Berry children, for several years at the Read farm, were visitors in town last week. They were the guests of Mrs. Laboutly, Mrs. H. G. Osgood and the Sargent family in the love of old and enjoyable friendship. They were treated on Wednesday to the restful influences of Canobie Lake Park.
The Old Oaken Bucket farm has about an acre of spring wheat headed out. Some of it measures 4 feet and 8 inches without stretching the truth or the wheat, or standing it on a half inch shadow to tall it out. This variety is known as the Red Fife and plays a good tune.
Every person who is interested in obedience to the call for increasing the food production ought to be interested in reading the sense-stirring words of W. S. Hinchman, of Groton, which have appeared from time to time in the Groton items. His last article and advice on care of the crops after they are up is frequently much needed. But when he teaches the class in potatoes that it is necessary to treat potatoes to some sort of anti-toxin preparation, some of the older scholars who have been in the class seventy years or more report against all on-comers. A sound potato will not rot no matter when planted nor where planted, unless submerged in a solution known as water. A potato tinctured with dry rot, no matter when or where planted, will rot and no amount of treatment will prevent it. We are now treating ourselves to new potatoes raised from potatoes that were not treated, which were planted when it was wet and cold, and the frost hardly out of the ground. Mr. Hinchman’s allusion to a farmers’ exchange of produce is heartily endorsed by us.
Mrs. G. H. McGregor, of Westford Corner, is visiting her son, Charles M. Trull, in Detroit, and expects to be gone about two months.
Mrs. Mary Edwards (Fletcher) Brayer [Brazer, see next week], widow of the late William P. Brayer, died last Saturday at the home of her son, Ralph F. Brayer, in Brookline, aged eighty-five years. Mrs. Brayer was the daughter of Horatio and Nancy Fletcher, of Westford, and was born here in 1832. The family is well remembered by the older residents of the town, the farm being the one now owned by the Wetmores on Concord road and Hildreth street [98 Concord Rd., now a new house at 101 Hildreth St.]. Mr. Brayer was born in Groton and is probably well remembered by the older residents of that town. Both were interested in the First Unitarian church of Lowell and both were interested in charitable work. Mrs. Brayer was deeply interested in the Old Ladies’ Home, serving as director and presiding officer of the home. She leaves a son, Ralph F. Brayer, and two daughters, the Misses Kate E. and May Brayer; also, a sister, Mrs. Julia F. Morse, of Watertown, and three grandchildren.
Rev. Josiah L. Seward who died in Keene, N.H., last Saturday, was minister of the First Unitarian church of Lowell fourteen years, and was well-known to the older members of the Westford parish. He was a man of exceptional culture and scholarship, and prominent in Masonic circles in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Our friend, V. T. E., of Littleton, pounded out important and serious truth in his last article, “The mountain still labors.” In addition it might be said we are paying $55,000,000 per month to have the food speculators deal out our victuals to us. Now couldn’t we save money if these parasites are “too lazy to work and too proud to beg” by supporting them at some public charitable institution. Let them try the sweat of the brow habit and contribute their bit by raising the food that they impoverish the people by regulating the output at a price in violation of supply and demand. Let the government be distributing agent. If the senate passes the bill it will not be from love.
W. R. Taylor has sold the grass on about thirty acres worth of his farm to Charles W. Whitney, who promises to have the ground all cleared and ready for snow by January or sooner, if the weather permits.
Westford was represented at the recent pageant in Ayer. Those who attended report the pageant as splendid. Miss Chapman, the director, is well-known to aspiring actors in Westford in by-gone rehearsals and plays.
Graniteville. Many men in this village have joined the Westford home guard and pay close attention to the weekly drills that are held in Westford. A practice drill by the Graniteville members was held at the abbot playground here recently and the local men surely showed up to good advantage.
The Graniteville auxiliary of the Red Cross society meet weekly in their rooms over the postoffice and much good work is accomplished by the members. The making of bandages, comfort pillows and various work of this kind is successfully carried out and the local branch is rapidly growing in membership.
Joseph Wall of Cambridge visited relatives in this village recently.
The backyard gardens are now in fine shape and those who have planted potatoes on the vacant lots are assured of a good crop, judging by present conditions. It certainly looks as though the old H.C. of L. was going to get a jolt in this vicinity at least.
Owing to the war and the interest taken in local gardening the town is practically without baseball this year. There is a club in Forge Village composed of local players, but it lacks the “pep” that was put in the game by the strong semi-pro players that was produced when Graniteville and Westford fought it out on the diamond.
Owing to the increased traffic on the Lowell and Fitchburg [trolley] line it is understood that the public is soon to be favored by half hour service between Lowell and Ayer.
Fred Gagnon received a severe injury to his left hand at the foundry on last Monday afternoon.
Miss Annie Wyman of Worcester has been visiting with Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Healy for the past few days.
The C. G. Sargent’s Sons Corporation are now planning on building an addition to their office building here as the present building is entirely too small for their present needs.
The berry season is now on and many of the boys and girls from this village go daily to Westford, where they will be employed until the season closes.
The main streets throughout the village have recently received a heavy coating of oil. This work was done much later than last year, but nevertheless it is just as much appreciated.
Forge Village. Miss Stella B. Carkin is enjoying a two-weeks’ vacation in West Virginia.
Matthew Elliott returned to Framingham on Monday afternoon after spending the weekend at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Elliott, Sr., of Pleasant street. The young man, who enlisted in the army several weeks ago, has been confined in the Lowell General hospital for several days, suffering from a badly sprained ankle which he received while training.
Doris Caisse, of Leominster, is spending the summer with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Carkin.
Mrs. John E. Burnett and little son Leonard, of Clinton, spent the weekend with relatives here and at the Ridges.
Alvin S. Bennett is ill at his home here. His son Frank Bennett, of Worcester is caring for him.
William Kelly has been confined to his home by illness for several day.
The Ewars of Lowell defeated the home team last Saturday afternoon 9 to 8. In the ninth inning the score was tied. An extra inning was required, during which the visitors scored a run. The game was witnessed by a large number of people.
Miss Lizzett Simpson, of Boston, is the guest of her cousin, Miss Abbie Splaine.
Mrs. Sheehan and little daughter Catherine, of Leominster, were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Daly over the weekend.
Miss Annie Dare has returned from New York city, where she spent the last three weeks as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. P. J. O.Hara.
The Forge Village A.C. will play the Westford Oaklands at Cameron park this Saturday afternoon.
The Misses Edith P. and Caroline E. Precious spent Sunday as the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hindle, of Chelmsford Center.
The endless chain prayer has again found its way here. The writer has a copy and must write nine copies if a terrible disaster is to be avoided. This nuisance is signed Red Cross chain; it is needless to say it was immediately destroyed.
Thieves are commencing their work on the gardens here. James Kelly had a number of turnips taken from his garden this week. If caught, the culprits will be severely dealt with.
Mr. and Mrs. William Weaver observed the fifty-fourth anniversary of their wedding day on Wednesday, July 19 quietly at their home on Pond street. Congratulations and greetings were extended to them from their many friends.
Miss Annie Boyle has returned from a week’s visit at the home of her sister in Clinton.
Everett Scott spent Saturday and Sunday with relatives in Pepperell.
Shirley
News Items. A house to house canvass of the town in the interest of the soldiers at Camp Devens is now proceeding. Young people will wait upon the citizens and solicit the gift of old magazines, books and talking machine records to be placed in the Y.M.C.A. recreation rooms at the camp for the entertainment of the soldiers. Anyone who has any of these articles can await the call of the canvassers or leave them in person at the parsonage of the Congregational church where they are to be gathered together for transportation to the camp as needed. The cooperation of citizens of all churches is invited in this work.
Ayer
Camp Notes. The remainder of the Sixth regiment now encamped at Framingham is scheduled to leave for Ayer this Saturday morning to join Major William H. Dolan’s battalion, a part of the sixth, which is already here. The men will march from Framingham to Ayer, a distance of 27 miles with all their equipment. The hike will be taken at a moderate gait, three days being the time set for covering the distance. The men will camp each night along the route. At that rate of travel they should arrive here next Tuesday. The sixth regiment band has arrived at Major Dolan’s camp. A concert and parade was held Wednesday evening, which proved a very enjoyable feature.
A meeting was held Thursday regarding the prospect of providing recreation grounds for the soldiers at the Shirley reservoir. Those present included W. W. Sargent, president of the Fitchburg and Leominster street railway company, and R. S. Hubbard and Ralph Cate, who are engaged in Y.M.C.A. work at the Groton School.
The shower baths for the workmen were discontinued last Saturday till the sewer pipe is all laid. The principal reason for cutting the showers is that the water does not drain off and forms stagnant pools, which are not considered sanitary. The camp employees who have been used to daily baths are much disappointed at their discontinuance.
All parts of the earth are represented in the 3000 men employed. All the many races there work in perfect harmony and never have any trouble. A very remarkable thing is the almost total absence of any disorder when the men come to town. One would naturally think that when such a large number of people of such varied classes came together that the result would be otherwise than harmonious.
It is expected that a new mess house will be constructed within a week or ten days.
Two Y.M.C.A. camps have been established where the men can find recreation and enjoyment. Reading, games, singing and other pastimes add cheer to the places.
Mrs. Katherine L. Stevenson, president of the Massachusetts W.C.T.U., stated this week that the war welfare work of the organization does not include having a pie factory at the camp to furnish this sort of food. The meaning of a statement recently made by Mrs. Stevenson has, she says, been misconstrued.
The soldiers encamped along the Shirley road have organized baseball teams. A schedule of games has been arranged between the teams for the summer.
The war department announced this week that the local military camp would be known as Camp Devens, in honor of the late Brigadier General Charles Devens, a native of Massachusetts. Devens, in addition to his noted military record, held positions of great trust in the civil life of the country. He was born in Charlestown in 1820, and educated at Harvard college. He was United States Marshal for Massachusetts when the famous case of Thomas Sims, a fugitive slave, attracted the attention of the country. Devens delivered Sims to his master in accordance with the law, at the same time offering to purchase his freedom, which he succeeded in doing after the outbreak of the civil war.
He entered the union army in the beginning of the war in 1861, and served until the end of the great conflict in 1865, retiring with the rank of brigadier general. Devens was a noted lawyer prior to entering his military career. After the war he became attorney general of the United States and a judge on the supreme court bench of Massachusetts.
After his term as United States marshal he went to Worcester, where he took up the practice of law. After his service as attorney general he was again appointed to a position on the supreme court bench of Massachusetts by President Rutherford B. Hayes, holding this position until his death in Boston on June 7, 1891. Devens was also a United States senator for one year, from 1848 to 1849.
He had a notable war record, advancing from private to brigadier general. He was severely wounded at Balls Bluff and later at the battle of Antietam.
The war department in naming the thirty-two camps throughout the country, chose the names of men who had distinguished themselves in the sections where the camps are located.
M. F. Sheehan, general foreman for Wilson & English, of New York, who has charge of laying the tracks at the camp, expects to end his labors there soon, the work of building the permanent tracks being nearly completed. He goes from here to work for the Boston and Maine railroad in extending its yard in Lowell and laying tracks from the yard limit as far as West Chelmsford. Mr. Sheehan and family are spending the summer at the McNerney cottage at Sandy pond.
The engineers company went on a hike to Littleton on Tuesday. They spent the night at Long Pond hill, where they pitched their tents and returned to Ayer on Wednesday.
The Y.M.C.A. “hut” is now established at the training camp at Ayer and at a meeting held there Sunday night the speakers included Chief Justice Rugg and Percy MacKaye, the author of “Caliban.” Among the visitors were Henry Ware, of Brookline, and Rev. H. A. Bridgman, D. D., editor of The Congregationalist. Already the soldiers are using the Christian association tent and are enjoying the facilities it offers for writing letters and for wholesale diversion.
Gen. Edwards made a trip to the camp Tuesday. He carefully inspected the quarters to be assigned to the cavalry horses, for this is a point on which Gen. Edwards is unusually touchy about. He maintains that nothing is too good for the army’s horses and he intends that they shall have the finest possible stables that can be devised. He also viewed the remainder of the camp and said he was pleased with the visit.
The Russell & Erwin division of the American Hardware Company at New Britain, Conn., has received a government contract for 50,000 locks to be used in the Federal cantonment at Ayer.
Lieut. Charles J. Glidden, of Boston, has been appointed as an aeronautical officer of the Northeastern Department with headquarters in that city. Lieut. Glidden’s duties will cover the camps in the New England states, including Ayer. He is a well-known balloonist and pilot. In the early days of the airplane he transferred his labors to the improved method of air locomotion, in which he has become very efficient. Lieut. Glidden is also known as a pioneer in the telephone and automobile business. He is a native of Lowell.
A fire department has been formed at the camp which is rapidly increasing its efficiency. Former Chief Strong of the Springfield department is in charge. There were two fires Monday which were quickly extinguished. A system has been arranged whereby fires can be easily detected and all the department, soldiers and camp employees be summoned to any part of the huge camp in case of emergency. An observation tower has been erected on a hill where men work in eight hour shifts covering a period of twenty-four hours a day. These watchmen are provided with field glasses, telephone and a map of the camp divided into districts. With the camp and buildings under such constant observation, there is little danger of fire getting headway. A system of signals has been put in use whereby a summons for help can be given in a few seconds. When it is considered that there are a great many buildings which need constant attention from fire, the question of fire protection is of prime importance. Should a big fire occur the loss of property, measured in money as well as loss of time in rebuilding, would be enormous.
Walter D. Denman, of Springfield, has been appointed a major on the staff of General Edwards. Major Denman will be in charge of the engineering work and probably will be assigned here.
Episcopal Church. A large body of soldiers attended the services of the Episcopal church on Sunday. Mr. Peabody, the rector of the parish, welcomed the men and the rest of the congregation and announced some of the activities in which it was hoped that the church might take part.
In order to keep pace with the growing needs of the town and the camp, a large staff of clergy have offered their services. Besides the vicar, Mr. Ford, and the rector, the following clergy are expected to assist in various ways: Rev. Messrs. A. G. Gammack of Christ church, Fitchburg, Sherrard Billings of Groton School, Karl Cate of Providence and Norman Nash of Cambridge. The last two gentlemen will be working with the Y.M.C.A. Hut Unit supplied by the Groton School.
The new system includes services of the Holy Communion early or at mid-day each Sunday, morning prayer with sermon, and evening prayer with sermon. If the Union Tabernacle—for all denominations—for the establishment of which the church is in hearty sympathy, should be built, the evening service will probably be given up.
The church will be kept open all days of the week in order that people may have a quiet spot for rest and meditation. Each day there will be a service of intercession for the army, navy, airmen and the nation.
These plans, the rector explained, have not been definitely adopted, but it is believed that they embody in large measure the future policy of St. Andrew’s church. Towards their fulfilment the rector asks for the loyal and active cooperation of all the members of the congregation.
Recreation Spot at Camp. One of the recommendations to be made by Gen. Edwards as a result of his inspection of the building of the National Army camp here Tuesday will be the clearing and fitting up of Robbins pond as a recreation spot for the men encamped. The pond is approximately 400 yards in diameter and while more or less filled with brush and other obstructions is supplied by springs and, with comparatively little outlay, might be made a splendid natatorium for the soldiers, according to Gen. Edwards estimate.
The general advocates that it might not only be made a swimming pool for summer but a skating rink in winter and that on its shores could be built a dancing pavilion and other amusement features which would supply wholesome entertainment for the soldiers and keep them from seeking less desirable diversion elsewhere. One feature would be the lighting of the pond and its environs by electricity.
Col. Ferguson of the Department of the Northeast has been detailed to investigate the practicability of Gen. Edwards’ plan and upon his report will depend the recommendation made by the department.
Camp. Rapid progress is still being made on the construction at Camp Devens. The enormity of the task facing the Ley Brothers, having charge of the work, cannot be fully described in words. The place on Wednesday had all the appearances of a boom city, with all convenues [sic] that such a place affords. In going about the grounds one is attracted with the hustle and bustle everywhere from the eastern terminus of the camp to the crossroads at Shabokin [in Harvard, to the west]. Over this vast piece of land are buildings of all description, the greater number naturally being for the soldiers, who will train there.
Occasionally a fire station is seen with fire apparatus, and trained men in charge. Mail boxes, lunch counters, offices for the camp foremen, Y.M.C.A. buildings, the telephone exchange and other necessities required are seen. The rapidity with which the work is going on is perhaps the most remarkable thing about the place. There are sixty telephones on the grounds to attend to the business requirements of the camp.
On the camp grounds on the Shirley road may be seen the members of Major Dolan’s battalion undergoing their daily drill.
The roads at the camp have been widened and laid out like those of an ordinary city. They are sprinkled at intervals throughout the day by watering carts in order to keep the thick, dry, black dust settled.
Men on horseback are continually riding back and forth over the vast enclosure carrying messages or giving orders to the foremen in their particular work. Signs are placed all over the camp forbidding smoking. This is one of the many safeguards in preventing fire. The F. T. Ley Company is responsible for the safety of the buildings until they are formally turned over to the government. The firm and the camp firemen act on the principle that it is much better to prevent fire than to put it out after it starts. Firemen from Waltham, Springfield, Fitchburg and other places have agreed to spend their regular vacation time in service at the camp. In case of a serious fire the Fitchburg department will be called and the Ayer fire department will be assisted in every way possible even to the extent of sending camp auto trucks here to pull the apparatus to the fire.
There is a constant supply of lumber arriving continually, the cars being switched to the points where it is needed over specially constructed tracks. Huge piles of the lumber, posts, and other building material may be seen.
On the eastern and southern parts of the camp there still remain a number of young pines and bushes which suggest the appearance of the ground before operations were commenced. There has been such a change in the appearance of the territory where the camp is located that it is quite difficult to find the roads leading out of the grounds even by persons who have always been familiar with the place.
Mail for the camp workers is carried there every day in large bags from the postoffice and distributed as well as it can be. Many letters cannot be delivered because of the inability to read the addresses and because letters come for people who are not there, many of whom have left. The employees are coming and going constantly. One of the reasons advanced for leaving is that suitable quarters cannot be procured.
Federated Church. Sunday morning service at 10:45; subject of sermon “The wonderful powers of the human spirit.” The illustrated lecture before the Sunday school at the noon hour will be on the life of Jesus. The evening service at seven o’clock will be in charge of the C.E. society. The topic will be “Applying the golden rule to life.” After this service there will be a quarterly conference of the M.E. church for the consideration of important business.
The conclusion reached at the meeting on last Sunday evening was that an attempt should be made to have the different denominations represented in Ayer join in a mission to the soldiers of the Ayer encampment. And for further carrying out this purpose the state leaders of the churches have been invited to meet on Monday evening together with pastor and delegate from each local church, to see what can be done to carry this purpose into effect.
Clipping. The following interesting article concerning the military camp here is taken from the Boston Post of last Sunday:
Building a new city which will house 40,000 people is something of a job, but they’re doing it in jig time out at Ayer, where the new army of the Northeastern Department will be placed in training.
There’s something of an army there right now—2500 men working at top speed to accomplish one of the biggest construction stunts ever attempted in these United States. Besides this horde of workmen, there are more than a thousand army men—engineers, quartermaster, physicians and surgeons, truck drivers and privates.
The job is to build the structure for this city, that is to house as many people as the city of Newton, in about ten weeks.
Do you realize what this means?
Nearly 300 barracks, each capable of housing a whole company of embryo soldiers, must be erected. Besides these, there are quarters for the instructor, officers and civilian employees. It’s a big proposition, and it’s being done in a big way.
Three weeks ago the camp was a wilderness of rolling hills with intervening level stretches, covered with a dense growth of brush and here and there clumps of pine and spruce. Now—well, you should have stood with me on the top of an observation tower which has been erected on the roof of the contractor’s office. The office itself stands on the highest point of land in the camp. The tower is at least seventy-five feet higher than this.
There was a drizzling rain falling as we climbed the tower, but there was no abatement in the labor. From all sides came a dull rumble—an intermingling of sounds; the thuds of a thousand hammers, the buzz of saws, the calls of workmen, the sharp exhaust of auto trucks laboring over the slippery roads, the honks of auto horns.
The smell of fresh-cut lumber was borne on the air. Here, there and everywhere bright, new structures were reared, the clean siding looming up through the mist, like the sails of a countless fleet. Some were nearly complete; others were but in the frame. These latter seemed to grow as one looked so swiftly do the carpenters work. Board is placed on board at an amazing speed. It’s a wondrous construction stunt.
One cannot alight from a train at Ayer without immediately becoming aware that something out of the ordinary is happening in the town. A myriad of freight rustlers hustle about the station. Great gray army trucks are backed up to the platform, taking on prodigious loads and then rumbling over the road to camp.
The road to the camp is thronged. Remember Henry Sheahan’s description, in the Sunday Post, of the advance of the French army to the defence [sic] of Verdun? At Ayer this advance is being duplicated on a smaller scale, minus only long lines of marching troops to make it a real war scene. Hood to tail-light, the big army trucks move along in double line, one set moving toward the camp and the other back to the railway station for more supplies.
Smaller automobiles are interspersed among the trucks, and there are numbers of pedestrians all working toward the grounds. As one enters the army reservation, he immediately strikes a military note. For here are pitched the tents of the engineers and of the militia men doing guard duties.
Armed soldiers in khaki guard the entrances to the grounds. Before one may enter he must show a pass or give an acceptable account of his business, otherwise the site would be so overrun by sight-seers as to hamper the workmen. The visitor who satisfies the guard that he has business in the grounds must then present himself at the office of Capt. E. Canfield, the construction quartermaster in charge, and there obtain a pass which allows him to accomplish his errand.
As I entered the captain’s office I noticed that there were no screens on the building. A little later I commented on the fact. “We don’t need them,” said the captain. “This is a flyless camp.”
“Wish I could get a flyless house, even using screens,” I returned. “How do you keep rid of flies?”
“Of course,” answered the captain, “we have an advantage here in that the whole camp is under military supervision. We are able to enforce rules for strict sanitation. Right now I wish to say that Capt. Glen I. Jones of the medical corps, who is in charge of keeping the camp healthful, is doing the most wonderful job that I have ever seen.
“As you pass through the camp I wish you to pay special attention to this phase. Go into the cook house, into the workmen’s quarters, go any place and see if you find any flies. I’ll wager that you won’t.” And we didn’t. This camp at Ayer is an example of what our towns and cities could be if strict sanitary measures were observed.
All refuse and garbage is burned as it is deposited. Waste from the cook house is deposited in air-tight receptacles for conveyance to the incinerator; all excreta is covered with lime and dirt three times daily. The result is that the fly hasn’t a chance in the world; he’d starve to death in the Ayer camp. Strictest sanitation is enforced among the workmen. Each takes a shower bath every morning and must keep himself clean or he can’t stay.
When the work was started the men were quartered in tents, but now they have been moved to snug, frame quarters on the site of what is to be the camp parade ground. Everything possible for their comfort is being done, this being regarded as one of the necessities of thorough sanitation.
Doubtless the boys who will take up residence at the camp, and their mothers and fathers, will want to know something about how they will be housed. In the first place, it should be understood that no more healthful spot could have been selected. The camp is at a good elevation, and there is no low, swampy land. The air is pure and full of tang; just the stuff in training soldiers.
In the building of the barracks, full appreciation of the value of fresh air is being shown. There are great numbers of windows, which can be thrown wide open. With A. M. Kittredge, superintendent of housing, I inspected one of these barracks, which is nearly completed. The structures are two-storied affairs, the ground floor is 140 by 46 feet, while the second is 120 by 46.
The first floor is divided in two by a hallway from which the stairs ascend. From the walls and ends of the building large windows let in a flood of light and plenty of air. The buildings are large enough so that each man will have ample floor space for his cot and his belongings. In fact 250 carpenters have slept on the single cots in one-quarter of these barracks without discomfort.
The interior of the buildings is left rough, while the outside is covered with tarred paper to keep them tight in all weathers. The roofs slope to a ridgepole and are covered with a waterproofed material. Altogether, the barracks are very comfortable and should prove very healthful places of abode.
Just as interesting as the construction work at the camp is the method by which the several thousand workmen are fed. These men, working in the open air, get away with a prodigious amount of food; they demand plenty of wholesome, filling eatables. And they get them. At the central dining tent 4500 meals per day are served. Besides these meals, the workmen get away with 300 pounds of beef daily made into sandwiches as little snacks between [meal] times.
Arnold Oggier is the chef upon whom devolves the job of feeding these men. And it’s a big job. Breakfast starts off with a full barrel of rolled oats, followed by 700 pounds of sausage or the same amount of pork chops, 10 barrels of potatoes, 300 loaves of bread and 100 pounds of coffee. This vast amount of food must be prepared by Mr. Oggier and his staff.
Dinner consists of soup, meat, potatoes, another vegetable, all the bread and butter one can eat, pie and tea, coffee or milk. Supposing corn beef hash is to be the meat course, the preparation requires 800 pounds of corn beef and 12 barrels of potatoes. If it is to be corn beef and cabbage, a favorite dish, 14 crates of cabbages are substituted for the spuds.
Liver and bacon for supper requires 500 pounds of liver and 200 pounds of bacon. Lamb stew gets away with 1000 pounds of lamb fore-quarters in addition to the vegetables required. Eggs served at any meal means the cooking of 360 dozen of them, while the daily consumption of pastry is 475 pies and 425 dozen small cakes; 350 gallons of milk and 40 gallons of cream fill a day’s needs.
After each meal 10,000 pieces of china and 8000 piece of silverware must be washed. The whole feeding operation takes but thirty-five minutes. The men form in line at several entrances to the dining tent; a little more than half an hour later the last man has left the tent.
The above details give some idea of what it means to feed and care for some 4000 men. In a few months there will be at least ten times this population in the camp and the operations must be expanded by that amount. But the officials in charge say that it will be handled just as easily as at present.
Littleton
News Items. Co. B of the first corps of cadets, Massachusetts regiment of engineers of the Ayer camp, marched through town to Camp Wilderness Tuesday afternoon. There they were the guests of Charles E. Fay until the following forenoon and enjoyed royal entertainment. The men pitched their tents and slept on Long Pond hill, near Camp Wilderness. Their camp fires and singing at night furnished delightful entertainment for Littleton people.