A look back in time to a century ago
By Bob Oliphant
“Center. The Cadman peach orchards at the Old Homestead farm [now Abbot School] have been a beautiful sight this week, being in full bloom.
“The sewing class, under the auspices of the Tadmuck club, is making a good start and there is much interest in the class. Miss Tomer, of the Middlesex County Farm Bureau, is the teacher, and her pleasant and capable personality is a large factor in the enterprise. The class of twelve, which is the quota and some spectators, met at Library hall for the first meeting on Tuesday….
“The home guards held their regular meeting and drill on Tuesday evening. Major Tuttle of Concord paid a visit. He … told the gathering that the prize battalion drill planned later in the month has been cancelled….
“George H. Cadman, who has recently returned from England, finds the war’s effects very real in his native country. Two brothers have given their lives and in all Mr. Cadman counts seventeen in his family connection the toll of the great war.”
“The fatal automobile accident which happened to Burton Cole on Sunday evening on the Groton road seems very real to this community. Mr. Cole, as a younger man, worked in town and married for his wife Miss Marion O. Hartford, of this village. [He] was returning to Lowell in a Hudson automobile which, in turning quickly to avoid another machine, ran into a tree. Mr. Cole was taken to the Lowell Corporation hospital, badly maimed and unconscious, where he died the following day. Mr. Cole was forty-five years old and for the past twenty years had been an efficient engineer for the Boston and Maine railroad….
“Sergt. Walter A. Logan, who has been overseas with the 26th Division for eighteen months, is about to be discharged. He has seen hard service on the western front and has been wounded several times, as well as gassed. Private Edward Perkins, who served a year with the Canadian forces, is also at home, as well as Private Justin B. Jenkins of the Y.D. [26th Yankee Division]….
“The workers for the fifth or victory loan have been hard at work. This drive is under the direction of Charles H. Robinson, chairman, and other members of the local state guard company…. The town’s quota is $165,000. At a meeting on Wednesday evening the members reported [donations] to the amount of $162,950, with 305 names….
“The annual memorial services for the civil war and world war veterans will be held under the direction of Wesley O. Hawkes, commander of the Westford veterans, and the sons and daughters of veterans of the town, May 30….
“About Town. We shall have to revise our hasty conclusion in regard to damage to fruit by the recent ice cold wave. Years haven’t witnessed so full and handsome a peach blossom; plums are not so handsome or so numerous, but they are there; the apple blossoms are close to a full promise in the Stony Brook valley, where our prior calculations were miscalculated. The steady, strong breeze of the recent cold storage weather was what prevented a knock-out by the frost.
“The Prairie farm [of Amos Polley] has limed an acre of land and sown white clover, which has a record of growing eight feet [undoubtedly meant as a joke] when the clover is sufficiently supplied with plant food.
“Brookside is being brightened up by George C. Moore with new paint on all the mill cottages.
“The entertainment at the last meeting of the Grange was in charge of Mrs. F. C. Wright. Aside from songs and readings by local talent … Miss Lee, of Lowell, spoke on “School gardens,” and held the close attention of her audience. Prof. Trask, of the Farm Bureau, illustrated many phases of farm life by motion pictures.
“W. R. Taylor, on Twin Brook farm, is passing around the despised Ben Davis apple. It is noted for its keeping qualities and holding its original flavor, which some think is not worth holding, yet some of our best fruit men … are advocating setting them out.
“Forge Village. Rev. Lester Wallace preached his first sermon at St. Andrew’s mission last Sunday. He will make his home in the vicarage.
“Several acres of land have been turned over to the employees of the Abbot Worsted Co., to be used for gardens. In addition to the use of the land it was also prepared for the seed, and the only expense will be the cost of the seed. The same firm has also prepared the large piece of land in the rear of St. Andrew’s mission, and the children of Cameron school are planting it under the supervision of the principal, Mrs. Nelson O’Clair.”