Turner's Public Spirit, May 5, 1923
A look back in time to a century ago
By Bob Oliphant
Center. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Gumb have arrived home after having passed the winter in Florida. Mr. and Mrs. James Kimball have also arrived home from Florida.
About sixty members of Westford Grange attended neighbors’ night at Stow on Tuesday evening. The local Grange furnished part of the entertainment, which consisted of the symphony quartet, composed of the following: Miss Edith A. Wright, piano; Mrs. W. R. Taylor, triangle; Fredrick Meyer, bones, and Mrs. Frederick Meyer, tambourine. Solos were also rendered by Miss Elva Judd and Mrs. Nora S. Colburn, with Westford Grange joining in the chorus. The Stow Grange, for their part of the entertainment, furnished a delightful farce. During the evening an excellent supper was served.
Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Merrill of the Hotel Ontio [sic], Ogunquit, Me., and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Merrill, of Hotel Lookout, Ogunquit, Me., have been recent guests of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Knight.
Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Abbot arrived in New York on Monday after having spent their honeymoon in foreign travel.
Mrs. Alma Richardson has opened her house after spending the winter in Marblehead.
The Ladies’ Aid society will meet with Mrs. William Roudenbush on next week Thursday.
The W.C.T.U. held their monthly meeting at the home of Mrs. Warren Hanscom on Wednesday afternoon.
A large number of ex-service men turned out on “Buddy night,” which was held at [American Legion] headquarters on Monday evening. State Com. Doyle was unable to be present as speaker of the evening, owing to a death in his family, but sent in his place Com. MacDonald of the Mattapan post, who addressed the boys. Comrades Connors and Johnson of the Clinton post furnished the musical part of the entertainment and Comrade Lane of the Roxbury post, cartoonist and sleight-of-hand performer, proved a pleasing number of the evening’s program. There will be a business meeting at headquarters on Monday evening, May 14, at which time the final arrangements for Memorial day will be made.
The Graniteville M.E. church has extended an invitation to all legion men to attend the Memorial service at the church on Sunday morning, May 27, at 10:30. It is the wish of Commander Harold W. Hildreth that as many as possible of the comrades will attend the services in uniform.
The academy ball team played the Groton high school team on Wednesday afternoon and were defeated by a score of 4 to 1. On May 8 the team will play Littleton high here.
Some of the students at the academy are going about town soliciting subscriptions for the Ladies’ Home Journal. The commission received from the subscriptions will be used for athletic purposes.
Don’t forget the academy senior play on Friday evening, May 4, in the town hall.
Meetings for prayer at the Congregational church on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30. The pastor will preach at the morning and evening services on Sunday. Sunday school at noon. C.E. service at five o’clock. Young People’s league meeting at 6:30. The Lord’s supper will be observed at the morning service.
Three freight riders wanted by the Boston and Maine railroad were arrested in town on Monday by Chief Whiting and appeared in the district court in Ayer on Tuesday morning. They were found guilty and the cases placed on file.
Tadmuck Club. The Tadmuck club held their annual luncheon at the Unitarian vestry on Tuesday afternoon with a large number present. A very dainty luncheon was served by the Lydon Catering Company of Lowell, with Mrs. Clarence Hildreth as hostess. Mrs. Addie Buckshorn served very acceptably as toastmistress, in response to whom a prayer was read by Miss Sarah Loker and interesting papers by Mrs. Henry Fletcher, Mrs. Frank C. Wright and Mrs. William Roudenbush, the last-named reading one written by Mrs. Martha Taylor Howard, of Bound Brook, N.J. The outside talent also met with good approval and consisted of vocal solos by Andrew McCarthy and Mrs. Leahey, readings by Mrs. Cage, and vocal duet by Mr. McCarthy and Mrs. Leahey. Miss Julia Fletcher acted as accompanist.
At the close of the program Mrs. Packard, the president, called the members to order for a business meeting, at which reports from the various committees were read and the officers for next year were announced: Miss Sarah W. Loker, honorary president; Mrs. Alexander A. Cameron, pres.; Mrs. Arthur G. Hildreth, vice pres.; Mrs. Alonzo Sutherland, rec. sec.; Mrs. William R. Taylor, cor. sec.; Mrs. Perley Wright, treas.; Mrs. William Roudenbush, Mrs. George White, Mrs. Elbert Flagg, Mrs. Arthur Whitley, Mrs. Harry Prescott, reception com.; Mrs. Warren Hanscom, Mrs. Annie Hamlin Mrs. Norman Young, Mrs. Charles Carter, Mrs. F. Everett Miller, Mrs. Austin Fletcher, ushers; Misses Alice Howard, Mary G. Balch, Dorothy Latham, library extension com.; Mrs. William R. Taylor, Mrs. Frederick Meyer, Miss Julia Fletcher, music com.; Mrs. William R. Carver, Mrs. William E. Wright, Mrs. John Feeney household economics; Mrs. Frank C. Wright, Mrs. Fabyan Packard, Miss Ruth Tuttle, industrial and social; Miss Edith A. Wright, Mrs. Arthur G. Hildreth, Mrs. Cyril A. Blaney, education; Miss Harriett Horton, Miss Eva M. Lord, Mrs. David L. Greig, public health; Mrs. Charles L. Hildreth, press com.; Mrs. Charles Colburn, flower com.; Mrs. Annie Hamlin, door keeper; Miss Julia Fletcher, pianist.
About Town. First Parish church (Unitarian) Sunday service at 4 p.m. Preacher, Rev. Frank B. Crandall, the minister. Subject: “The permanent function of prayer.”
The Old Oaken Bucket farm has planted eighteen bushels of potatoes and more have a liability in the same earthward direction.
Owing to freshets and washouts the Stony Brook railroad was alive with passenger trains on Tuesday forenoon, detouring from Nashua via Ayer to reach Lowell and Boston.
Last week a guinea hen owned by Walter Fletcher flew to the top of an elm tree at Westford railroad crossing, and as a freight train passed it flew at the train with much force. Whether this was intended as a bold attempt at a hold-up we have been unable to ascertain.
Mrs. Bessie (Moore) Griffin, wife of Harry S. Griffin, and daughter of George C. Moore, of this town and Chelmsford, died at her home in New York city last week Tuesday evening. This sad news was received with the keenest regret by her host of friends in North Chelmsford and this town. She is survived by her husband and daughter, her father, George C. Moore, and a brother, George C. Moore, Jr. She was a frequent visitor in North Chelmsford and Nabnassett, and at the time of her death was the owner of the Nabnassett farm. Her husband, Harry S. Griffin, is well known as a former manager of the Woolworth branch chain of stores in Lowell, and now manager of the chain of stores in New York city. The funeral took place on last week Friday afternoon from the home of her father in North Chelmsford, Rev. E. Ambrose Jenkins conducing the service. Burial was in the Shedd memorial tomb in Lowell cemetery.
West Chelmsford Grange exemplified the third and fourth degrees at Abbot’s hall, Brookside, last week Thursday evening. The third degree was exemplified by the ladies’ degree team, and the fourth degree by the regular officers. A state deputy was present and inspected the work of the officers. Refreshments were served under the direction of Mrs. Annie Edwards. Visitors were present from several neighboring Granges.
Fifty-nine Grangers from here observed neighbors’ night with Stow Grange on Tuesday evening and furnished the following program; solos, Mrs. C. D. Colburn; reading, Mrs. W. R. Taylor; solo, Elva Judd; several selections by the Grange symphony orchestra. Stow Grange also furnished a short program. The following was the order of exercises: Business meeting, supper, entertainment, dancing.
George L. Farley, State club agent, from the Massachusetts Agricultural college, talked to the boys and girls of the grammar school this week Friday. His object of this talk was to interest these young folks in the garden and canning club work supervised by the Middlesex County Bureau. Much interest was shown and many will be enrolled in these achievement clubs within the coming week. George R. Erickson and his assistants are confident that this town will come through with a full quota of members.
Obituary. Miss Caroline Elizabeth Hewett passed away on April 26 at the home of Mrs. Ellen Cary Stone, in Medfield, where she had lived for nearly fifteen years. Miss Hewett had been confined to her bed for twenty weeks, where she was most tenderly cared for by Mrs. Stone.
Miss Hewett was born in this town on November 20, 1834, the daughter of Charles and Caroline Smith Hewett. She was a direct descendant of Peregrine White of Mayflower fame. At the age of five years (the farm being given to Capt. Jacob Smith, who lived there from 1840-1898 [near what is now 132 Concord Road]) she, with her parents, moved to Ipswich, N.H., where she was educated, going when fitted to the New Ipswich seminary. After many years they came back to Graniteville, where she taught for about twenty years with success. Her leaving was regretted not only by the school, but the town. During her long stay she had allied herself with the Woman’s club, the Unitarian church and the Alliance at the Center. Her scholars and friends in Graniteville have kept her in remembrance and have done much during her last illness to help her.
Soon after finishing in Graniteville, she went as matron to Powder Point school in Duxbury and later in the same capacity to the Normal school in Plymouth, N.H. Coming from there she was offered the school in Gleasondale, where she taught about five years. She was a person of ability and great energy. “A woman nobly planned to cheer and comfort and command.”
Forest Fire. On last week Sunday a forest fire of large proportions started on the east side of the Rail Cut hill in Carlisle, which is the dividing line between Westford and Carlisle. The fire companies of Westford, Acton, Chelmsford and Carlisle were all summoned and responded. The fire was not under control until after it had burned over a trail of 600 acres and threatened the dwellings of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Dow and Mr. and Mrs. A. Scott, the fire reaching close to the Dow house, where everything was removed, and the Scott house was heavily guarded. For a time it looked as though the celebrated “Carlisle Pines” would perish in the fire, but the fire was vigorously fought off. Besides help from the above fire companies a trainload of help landed at the Carlisle station in Westford on the Lowell & Framingham railroad, and a large reserve force from the Robbins hill observatory. It being Sunday, the services at the Unitarian and Congregational churches were brought to an abrupt close just at the beginning of the sermon service. Sunday automobile pleasure-seekers gathered in large numbers at the fire. It was the largest fire the small town of Carlisle has witnessed for a great many years and perhaps the largest in its history.
Blueberry Culture. The little old swamp blueberry, found growing wild only in sour swamp land, and long remembered as impossible to transplant or cultivate under domestic conditions, has been lifted under the nursing of specialists of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, from its wild environment to occupy an important place among domestic fruits, and a blueberry an inch in diameter is a possibility. As evidence of progress at the testing plantation at Whitesbag, in New Jersey, about 25,000 hybrids have been fruited. Many of them have produced berries three-fourths of an inch in diameter, several four-fifths of an inch, and one seven-eighths of an inch. The progress of blueberry culture is evidenced by the fact that during the season of 1922 nearly a thousand bushels of blueberries were picked at Whitesbag and sold in the open market in New York at prices about seventy-five percent higher than wild blueberries. In the autumn of 1921 more than 250,000 cuttings of selected blueberries were made by nurserymen. There is an altogether too large a class of farmers who think that farm bureaus, state and national, are an expensive, needless nuisance, but if it was not for the advanced scientific experiments that have developed workable, practical results, we would still be more open to the truthful charge of old-fashioned fossil hay-seeds. Let us outgrow this long standing charge and adopt all the various modern blueberry scientific developments.
Public Fishing Rights. It will be interesting to know that the state is about to enforce the rights of the public to the “great ponds” in the state that are now owned by all the people, but where for several years private interests have debarred the public from fishing and boating by barbed wire restrictions. The bill, as recently passed the legislature, will have the land court re-establish the commonwealth right of way and mark out the rights of way for the convenience of the public a safe passage to these ponds. The so-called great ponds are bodies of water of ten aces or more in extent which under a law passed in 1641 by the colonists were placed in the name of the commonwealth in order to present to the people the right to “fish and fowl” on such waters. There are 1316 such ponds in the state with a total area of over 100,000 acres. In Middlesex county there are 153 such ponds with a total area of 11,310 acres.
While it is proper and right for the state to enforce the rights of the public to these lakes and ponds, the state will fail to be just to the minority land owners and residents around these summer resorts, if while asserting the rights of the public it fails to defend the rights of the resident property owners around these from the annoyance of the modern drunken hoodlums. These property owners are entitled to protection from the disturbances of a rowdy-disturbing element, even if it take a special police patrol. For the most part the public were shut out from their rights because of a lack of proper police protection and between the two evils, for one I choose the least of the two—protection, or let the public be deprived of the rights. But perhaps since we have turned Sunday over to baseball sports it will create such moral tonic on our lives that we will not need a policeman to handcuff us into goodness. The evidence looks like it, don’t it?
Library Notes. Edmund and Walter Belville of the sixth grade have been awarded certificates by the J. V. Fletcher library for reading and reporting on five [books] from the list prepared for their grade by the state division of public libraries. Lists have been prepared for each grade from the third to the eighth and a certificate will be issued to any child who reads and reports on five books from his grade list or the grade above or below. A very attractive honor certificate will be given to every child who receives four of the ordinary ones. These two boys have received the first certificates but it is expected that others will soon receive theirs.
“America of yesterday,” the diary of John D. Long, is now in the library ready for circulation. About twenty pages of the book are devoted to his life as preceptor of Westford academy, from 1857 to 1859. It is interesting to know that he “procured a pleasant room at Mr. Hamlin’s for fifty cent per week. Am to take meals at Mr. J. W. P. Abbot’s at $2.75 per week, including washing.”
Graniteville. The Abbot Worsted soccer club will journey to Lynn this Saturday, where they will meet the General Electrics in an industrial league game. Both clubs have been in constant training and the game promises to be a good one.
The last of the series of whist parties in aid of St. Catherine’s church building fund was held in Abbot’s hall on Wednesday evening with a good attendance. The following were the wines: Gentlemen’s prize, Charles Robinson; consolation, Philip Healy; lady’s prize, Miss Alice Harrington. The prize winners for the entire series were Fred S. Healy and Miss Veronica Payne. Both received silk umbrellas.
A meeting of Court Graniteville, F. of A., was held on Thursday evening with a good number in attendance.
Rev. Lewis Havermale, a former pastor of the M.E. church here [1910-1912], now of Boston, gave an illustrated lecture on “Western China” in the Methodist church last Sunday evening. The lecture was very largely attended. Mr. Havermale, with Mrs. Havermale, were weekend guests of Mrs. Lucy Blood [60 Broadway St.].
Death. Miss Caroline E. Hewett, a former school teacher here, died at the home of Mrs. Ellen C. Stone in Medfield on Thursday, April 26, aged eighty-eight years. The funeral took place from the home of Mrs. Stone in Medfield on last Saturday morning at eleven o’clock. The services were conducted by Rev. Mr. Latham. There were many floral tributes. The body was taken to Westford where interment took place in Fairview cemetery, where Mr. Latham read the committal service. There were many old friends and former pupils of Miss Hewett present at the service held in the cemetery.
The passing of Miss Hewett causes deep regret to her many friends. She lived a long and useful life that was devoted to the service of others. She was born in Westford on what is known as the “Capt. Smith place,” and taught school in Westford for many years, particularly in Graniteville. She was an excellent teacher of rigid discipline, but held the love and esteem of her pupils at all times. This kindly feeling existed long after Miss Hewett left Graniteville, and continued throughout the succeeding years. It is a great comfort to her many friends here to know that Miss Hewett received every attention and care during her illness from Mrs. Stone, with whom she had lived for several years. The end came very peacefully and a good, true, noble woman has passed to the great beyond.
Ayer
District Court. Judge Atwood, who has been away during the winter on a trip across the continent, has returned home and presided over the court on Saturday.
On Tuesday morning, Anthony Puska, Francis Stennes and William Riley, all of Peabody, were before the court for riding on freight cars. They were brought in by Officer Whiting of Westford. All three were found guilty and there cases placed on file.
- R. C. Veterans’ night at the W. R. C. last Thursday evening was attended by over a hundred people. The usual family supper was served at 6:30 p.m. in charge of Mrs. Florence L. Blanchard and Mrs. Etta A. Craig. The table decorations were favors of American Beauty roses and May baskets of the national colors with bonbons. One hundred and eighteen were privileged to partake of the delicious menu, which consisted of creamed chicken, chicken patties, masked potatoes, salads, fancy desserts, creamed peas, relishes, rolls, pies and coffee.
Harvard, Shirley, Westford, Littleton and Brockton were represented as well as Ayer.
“Gunman” Scare. A call reached the police station about 11:30 last week Friday evening from the night operator at the Willows station, stating that three motor cars had passed on the nearby road leading to Ayer in a hot chase with a running fire of shots, accompanied by groans from one of the machines. The police, under the leadership of Chief Beatty, were quick to respond and were at the foot of the East Main street bridge, armed, and with a powerful police searchlight before the machines had time to reach the spot. They had but two or three minutes to wait before the expected car arrived. Bring it to a halt in determined fashion, they discovered the supposed “gunman” to be Rev. Leslie F. Wallace, the popular vicar of St. Andrew’s church, who was bringing back to Ayer a part of the cast of the play given that evening at Forge Village under the auspices of the Order of Sir Galahad. Mr. Wallace explained that the shots were blank cartridges left over from the evening’s performance and were fired off by one of the young men in one of the other two cars, which had accidentally escaped the police trap by turning off the main road at Flanagan’s crossing and coming up Central avenue to two of the boys’ homes on that street. The groans were a realistic touch furnished by one of the girls to make the effect complete.
Funeral. The funeral of Edward O’Brien, who died Monday as the result of an accident at the tannery, was held Wednesday morning at his home, 18 Lawton street. A funeral mass was celebrated at St. Mary’s church by Rev. Cornelius O’Brien. Mrs. Charles A. Lothrup was the soloist. A delegation from the tannery attended the service and the tannery closed from 8 to 10:30.
Interment was in the family lot in St. Mary’s cemetery, where the officiating clergyman read the committal service. The bearers were Thomas Donahue, Thomas McDonald, J. Frank O’Brien, Chester Root and Harold F. Root.
Mr. O’Brien was 29 years of age and was born in Westford, where he received his early education. He came to Ayer about twelve years ago. He married Theresa Root of this town about ten years ago [May 11 1915 in Groton]. Besides his wife he leaves three brothers, Major Harry O’Brien of Seattle, Wash., James O’Brien of Lowell and John O’Brien of New York, and two sisters, Miss Agnes O’Brien and Mrs. L. P. Morrow of Portland, Ore.