Turner's Public Spirit, September 24, 1921

A look back in time to a century ago
By Bob Oliphant

“Center. Mrs. Alice M. Wells went to Bakersfield, Vt., last week and brought home her three
children, who have been spending the summer with relatives. Mrs. William C. Roudenbush
accompanied Mrs. Wells on the trip.
“Charles L. Hildreth, while playing baseball the first of the week with his son Roger, was
unfortunate enough to get one eye badly injured, making it necessary for him to remain at home
from his office for a time.
“There is to be a meeting of the Legion members at the Legion headquarters [at 20] Boston
road Monday evening, relative to the formation of a Ladies’ Auxiliary. The mothers, wives and
sisters are all cordially and earnestly invited to be present and make the auxiliary a success.
“The rain Wednesday evening was welcome, but not so welcome shortly before nine o’clock
to have the house circuit of electric lighting go out of commission and householders had to resort
to emergency lighting.
“Don’t forget to change back the timepieces one hour this Saturday evening to normal time,
when the so-called daylight saving is at [an] end for this season.
“About Town. Last week we reported on the Old Oaken Bucket farm one stalk of corn nine
feet tall and three ears on it, we said at the time that we were not boasting but trying to coax a roll
call of others and here is the first answer from Rev. William E. Anderson, who has about three
acres of field corn that averages over nine feet tall and one stalk with eight ears on it. We are
glad to be sent to the foot of the class by an individual with so much jolly good nature that it is
contagious and who knows how to live in and act out the various phases of life without too much
burdensome solemnity.
“There was a good and appreciative attendance at the open Grange meeting last week
Thursday evening…. Rev. William E. Anderson was introduced as the first orator of the evening
and sent forth one of his well balanced sensible bits of wit and other wisdom, followed by W. C.
Roudenbush, principal of Westford academy, in a similar vein of wise instruction….
“William J. Parfitt has raised seventy-five bushels of potatoes from three bushels of planting
and only two bushels of small ones. We call this remarkable and that is why we remark about it
in this year when only now and then, here and there a potato was expected to escape the long June
drought.
“The Lowell road is ditched out ready for the county surveyor to try out which way the water
will run—up hill or down. Such is the level of affairs there….
“While we were busily engaged at our work on Wednesday afternoon we heard the
unmistakable humming of an airplane and lo! we could see it high above slowly making its way

towards the south. The sight of an airplane is still rare enough here to be of special interest, but
so was the automobile once upon a time.
“On last week Friday the engine on the train of the New Haven and Hartford road struck a
cow at Byam’s crossing in South Chelmsford, derailing the engine and ploughing up the track
quicker and better than a tractor plow. The cow, one of W. C. Wright’s herd, valued at $250, was
instantly killed.
“Wild Flowers. Recently, while picking wild grapes that were left over from being stolen, we
came across a cluster of handsome wild flowers. We do not recall ever having seen such
before—if we ever did see such before our eyes must have been holden with the hayseed view of
life so that we didn’t see them when we were looking at them. This flower is about two feet tall,
has a cluster of ten blossoms at its summit and six more close beneath it and another cluster of six
about a foot from the ground. These blossoms are a handsome blue color and make us think of
the fringed gentian, but are a much handsomer flower to behold the eye to…. They tell me it is
the closed gentian.
“Graniteville. The Abbot Worsted Co. baseball club played the last game of the season here
on last Saturday, when they defeated the James E. Hayes council, K. of C., of Boston, 5 to 0. The
game was played in drizzling rain that became so heavy in the fifth inning that the game was
called off by mutual agreement. Williams and Coughlin did the battery work for the Abbots….
“The duck hunters are certainly having their innings now. Several of the local nimrods have
already bagged several ducks.”

A closed bottle gentian like that found by Sam Taylor in 1921. Courtesy photo /
www.friendsofthewildflowergarden.org.