Taunton City (part 13 of 13)

The Home Bureau Creed

To maintain the highest ideals of home life; to count children the most important crops; to so mother them that their bodies may be sound, their minds clear, their spirits happy, and their characters generous; to place service above comfort; to let loyalty to high purposes silence discordant notes; to let neighborliness supplant hatreds; to be discouraged never; to lose self in generous enthusiasms; to extend to the less fortunate a helping hand ; to believe one's community may become the best of communities; and to co-operate with others for the common ends of a more abundant home and community life. - This is the offer of the Home Bureau to the home maker of today. - By Ruby Green Smith.

County 4-H Service Club Meets

The program of the evening included a business meeting and an excellent moving picture entitled "Partners Three", games, songs and a general good time. A special committee consisting of Mr. Anthony Thatcher, Mrs. Doris Johnson and Mrs. Hilman Cash, had charge of the evening's program.

Those present were HoWard Jennings, Easton, President of the Club; Robert Sharpies, Seekonk, Vice-President; Mrs. Clara Ashley, Secretary-Treasurer; Anthony Thatcher, Herbert M. Ashley, Executive Committee; Mrs. D. Lee Johnson and Evelyn Morse, Membership Committee ; and Mr. and Mrs. James Talbot, Easton; Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Haglund, North Rochester; Mr. and Mrs. Chester Munroe, Mr. D. Lee Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Cash, Christina and Michael Schobel, Gladys Johnson, Bernice Howard, Wilfred Vincent, Charles Viall, all of Rehoboth; Emma Stokinger, Mrs. G. H. Jennings, Raymond Webber of Easton; Rosamond Davis, Natalie Ogosalek, Marion Doel, Aldo Fasolo, Emanuel iCabral of Taunton; William McConville, Dartmouth; Robert Sharpies of Seekonk, and the County Club Agents, Miss Dorothy M. Stewart and Edwin R. Wyeth.

The individual ribbon winners in the ^SS laying contest for November were - First, Wilfred Daigle, North Rehoboth, with a flock of 18 birds and an average egg yield per hen of 19.6 eggs; Second, Ralph Doran, Jr., of North Dartmouth, with a flock of 39 hens and an average egg yield of 16.1 eggs per bird; Third, Lester Ralph, North Attleboro, with a flock of 56 birds and an average egg yield of 14.4 eggs per bird.

The following boys exhibited poultry and rabbits at the recent Boston Poultry Show. Poultry: Edward Fitzsimmons, Taunton; Lester Ralph, North Attleboro; Raymond Harrington, North Dartmouth. Edward received three firsts, one third and one fourth; Lester one second and one fourth, and Raymond one second.

In the rabbitt classes Omer Harrison won two firsts, two seconds; Charles Dagnall, Jr. won three firsts and one third and Arnold Booth won two firsts.

The following boys from this county judged poultry in the 4-H Judging Contest at the Boston Show, which was held on Friday, January 1st. Harvey Smith, Westport; Raymond Harrington, Dartmouth; John Cahoon, Fall River; Lester Ralph and Alfred Glode, North Attleboro. None of these club boys were placed in the judging contest. The order of placing in this county, however, was first, Lester Ralph; second, John Cahoon; third, Alfred Glade; fourth, Raymond Harrington, and fifth, Harvey Smith.

Forestry Club Notes

The "Junior Woodmen", the Forestry Club in North Dartmouth, vidth the County Club Agent, went to the woodlot belonging to Robert Hawes' Uncle of Smith Mills, North Dartmouth recently and did a good job thinning out a block of trees. At noon a small fire was built and the club ate their lunch and roasted "hot dogs" and marshmallows. Those on the outing were Julius Silvia, President of the Club and assistant local leader; Robert Hawes, Ralph Hawes, George Graham, Russell Sisson, Andrew Goodwdn and the Club Agent.

The clubs in Acushnet are planning an outing in the woods in the near future says Superintendent Charles H. Holmes, leader of the forestry clubs in that town.

Robert Sharpies, in charge of the poultry department at the "Robetna Farm" in Seekonk, is taking over the local leadership of the Handicraft Club in the Anne C. Greene School in Seekonk. There are 20 boys in this club and they are a very enthusiastic group.

Arlan Dow of Myricks, a graduate of Taunton High School last year, is taking over the leadership of the Handicraft Clubs in the Myricks School.

Handicraft primers have recently come to the county oiFice from Amherst. If you have not received one please ask for one from your local leader or the Club Agent at Segreganset.

My Experience Raising Pheasants

One of my best hobbies is raising pheasants. I secured my application blank from a gun club. Ten pheasants arrived August the 25th from one of the State Game farms in East Sandwich. The North End Rod and Gun Club of Taunton supplies the feed. The pen in which I keep them is 40 feet long, 9 feet wide and 5 feet high. It is in back of a barn, sheltered from the north wind. There is a small house in the pen for the birds and brush in the corners of the pen for protection of the birds. I feed them greens, suet, sour milk, grit, shells, and a commercial dry mash. They are not difficult to raise as most people think. They are very tame and beautiful. There is not much experience needed in raising pheasants. I am planning to raise twentyt-five next spring.

Food Club Notes

A local leader requested this recipe for rolled oats bread. Perhaps you Would like it too. 2 cups scalded milk % cup molasses V2 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon butter or crisco % to 1 yeast cake dissolved in 1 cup

Add heated milk to oats and let stand one hour; add molasses, salt, butter, dissolved yeast cake and flour. Let rise, heat thoroughly, turn into buttered bread pans, let rise again and bake. To make shaping of biscuits easy, take up mixture by spoonfuls, drop into plate of flour and have palms of hands well covered with flour before attempting to shape or drop fi'om spoon into buttered muffin tins.

Home Craft

Some interesting articles are being made in the Home Craft Club. Set of 3 or 4 mayonnaise jars which have been "dressed up" by painting the tops some delicate color and putting a simple design on the jar are popular this year. They make very fine containers for spices for the kitchen or for such things as bath salts or cleaning powders for the bathroom.

Small tucki-in pillows can be made by appliqueing an animal design on unbleached cotton and binding the edges with bias binding to match print of which animal is made.

Sophomore Hop

On the evening of December 18, the main doors of the B. C A. S. were flung open to welcome all graduates, friends, parents, neighbors and colleagues, to the first social event held by the class of '34.

It was an invitation dance where all persons presented an invitation at the door. Over seventyi-five couples filled the large assembly hall which was beautifully decorated with hemlock wreaths, cedar trees decorated with ornamental lights and poinsettias producing a touching Christmas effect. A large star was placed at the top of a huge cedar tree in the rear of the hall illuminating the surroundings, giving them a glistening brilliance during the moonlight waltzes.

The feature of the evening was the American Legion Cadet Drill. Twelve young men, clad in Turkish costumes, under the direction of Captain Andei> son of the Taunton Post of the American Legion, drilled and enthused the spectators as they formed different designs.

Reports on the October Show and Union Agricultural Meetings will prove it the best ever. The combination of these two in a single event is unique to Bristol lOounty and every year proves the rightness of the combined program.

Mr. Gaskill, as our first Bristol County Agent, started this Annual Show, and more recently has been largely responsible for rejuvenating the Topsfield Fair. He vrill be interesting. A little good music and light refreshments, complete the program. Better be on hand.

Builders Of America Assembly

The annual midyear assembly of the Builders of America was held in the Bristol County Agricultural School auditorium, Friday, January the eighth. The program consisted of music and readings on Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto.

Special features of the afternoon were songs by Chong Man Pak a high caste native bom man from Korea, and by the B. C. A. S. Glee Club and also the awarding of semester Honors. The Builders of America Honors are given for Character Building, Education, Economic Service, Civic Service, Social Service, and in the Fine Arts.

Poultry Team At Boston

The poultry judging team composed of Harvey Smith, Albert Haracz and Victor Martin, with Frank Ward as individual competitor, went to the Boston Poultry Show to compete in a vocational agricultural judging contest.

The team took second place and Haracz won second individual prize, a medal and a ribbon. His picture appeared in the Boston papers. The rest of the fellows all made creditable scores and had the pleasure of seeing one of the nation's best shows.

The annual struggle for victory - that game with Norfolk ! Let's be there ! Let's fight with the team to the finish. Friday evening, February 12, at 7.30.

We are standing on the top and this should give you all the excitement you crave. And after it is all over and the game won (?) we will dance. If we win it will be AN INFORMAL DANCE, if We lose it vrill be an informal dance. You cannot miss this evening.

Bristol Defeats Rehoboth

The Bristol Aggies in preparation for its coming Narragansett League schedule, defeated the Rehoboth Congregational Church five at the school gym in Segreganset. The game was hard fought by both teams. The score of the first teams was 28 to 15. The .Rehoboth seconds defeated the Aggie seconds by the score of 32 to 25.

The Aggies w'ere led by Mendoza, left forward, who scored seven field baskets and one foul shot for fifteen points. Johnson and Hoole assisted him in scoring. CharKe Fletcher, with seven points was the leader in the Rehoboth attack.

Source changes here: from A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts (Vol. 1), by Hutt, Frank Wolcott, published 1924; 2,360 words in this source stream.

Introductory 13

population of 136,300, total consumption 11,858,000 gallons; Fall River, estimated population 132,800, total consumption 7,556,000 gallons; Taunton, estimated population 40,000, total consumption 3,756,000 gallons.

Because of her dominant manufacturing interests, Massachusetts is rightly considered an industrial rather than an agricultural State, writes George H. Gilbert, director of Bristol County Agricultural School. And what is true for the State as a whole is similarly true for Bristol county. Yet this is not so much because of the meagerness of her agriculture as because of the wealth of her manufactures. There is somewhat over a quarter of a billion of dollars of capital invested in agriculture in Massachusetts, yielding an annual return of more than $50,000,000 in created wealth. Among the counties, Bristol ranks but third or fourth in agriculture, outranked only by such large counties as Worcester, Middlesex, and by the intensive farming in the county of Essex. The exact figures of the latest census are not at hand as I write, but the investment in farming in this county is between fifteen and twenty million dollars, with an annual income from agriculture of about one-third that sum. Bristol enjoys the rather unique distinction of being the only county of the State in which the dairying industry has shown an increase during the past decade. Poultry husbandry within the county has shown like development. But the possibilities for production of poultry products, of small fruits and orchard fruits for the special market, and of vegetable gardening, have hardly been touched. Until recent years the county has supplied its own whole milk, but of late some milk is being shipped in from distant farms; yet there is no good reason why Bristol county should not largely supply its own food and help supply the large cities just beyond its borders.

The markets are at our very doors, and the roads to market and transportation facilities are nowhere better. Home conditions for those on the farm can, in many sections of the county, be made equal to those in the village or city. The best educational opportunities are available for the farmer's family wherever he may live in the county, on a par with those for the children of the city. There are considerable areas of land well suited to farming in the county that are not being farmed, or are only partially developed. The soil is often poor, but is of a type that will respond quickly to right handling. What, then, is lacking? Why is farming in such ill repute with the vast majority of people who are residents of the county? There are several reasons. One has already been mentioned - that agriculture is overshadowed by the wealth of city industries. Another very potent factor is that farming in this section very rightly lost prestige in an earlier day, when the Massachusetts farmer could not compete with the free, rich lands of the Middle West, and, consequently, few able young men went into this as a life work. Those conditions have changed, and we shall see steadily increasing numbers of capable young fellows taking to farming in Bristol county. Farming has lagged behind all other industries, almost, in organizing to rightly sell the products of the farm, with the result that a fair price at the farm has been the exception rather than the tule. In this, also, a very rapid improvement is already well under way. The California Fruit Growers worked out their own salvation, and have pointed the way to others. The movement among farmers for codperative selling and effectively handling their products to their own advantage has, during the last few years, spread to the South and East, and to every line of farm products. Selling organizations have thus far not come to pass among the farmers of this county, except in a limited way among the duck growers, the market gardeners and the dairymen; but it will come, and in the meantime those farmers of the county who rightly grade and put up their products will profit measureably by the effect of selling organizations elsewhere in the better prices that result from standardizing the product and stabilizing the market. This sketch would hardly be complete without some word in regard to the forestry of Bristol county. We have stripped our timber lands bare. There are thousands of acres that must be replanted - land that is suitable for growing fine timber, but of little value for anything else. Here, again, a movement is now well under way that promises to do much to replace our wasted resources and add tremendously to the natural wealth of the county. The readiness with which those who hold lands have responded to the first call for reforesting, insures a steady improvement in this direction also, contingent on one condition only, namely, that the public generally protect our forests by suitable precautions against devastating fires.

Proposed Waterway. - For more than one hundred years the question of the canalization of Taunton river fora barge-way between Weir Village at Taunton and Massachusetts Bay has been frequently presented to the State Department of Public Works. The county as a whole has its leading interest in the project from its north bounds to Narragansett Bay. Should the plans of the Atlantic Inland Waterways Commission meet with their expectations, they would bring about a solution to a large proportion of transportation problems that have always confronted the county.

The earliest recorded survey of an inland waterway from Boston harbor to Narragansett Bay was that shown in a map by Benjamin F. Baldwin in February, 1808, and it included two routes: The one beginning at Weymouth Back river, and passing through Weymouth, a corner of Hingham, Abington and East Bridgewater, to the Taunton river at Titicut bridge, about ten miles above Taunton; the other route began at Weymouth Fore river, and passed through Braintree, Randolph, North Bridgewater (Brockton), West Bridgewater, Bridgewater and Raynham, to the Taunton river near the easterly line of Taunton. The water supply was considered at the time, and it was decided to be sufficient.

A survey and report were made in 1902 of the cost of a canal 130 feet wide on the bottom, and 25 feet deep, extending from the deep water in the Taunton river at Somerset to deep water in Boston harbor, at the mouth of the Weymouth Fore river. The length of this structure would be about three and one-half miles between the outer faces of the terminal locks at each end of the canal. The summit level would be fourteen locks, sixty feet wide and 550 feet long, with intermediate gates. The amount of water required for the canal was so great that there was no source of supply which could be used, nearer than the Blackstone river; and this could only be used by destroying the water power of the river. It was also found that water could be pumped from the ocean cheaper than it could be secured from the Blackstone river, and the estimates were based on installing pumps for furnishing this water. The total was estimated at that time as $57,618,358. At the present time, the cost would doubtless be at least double that amount. Surveys were made in 1910 and 1911, when four routes were planned under the direction of a special board of United States Army engineers. Both routes started from Taunton river, one terminating in Hingham bay and Boston harbor, the other in Plymouth harbor, thirty miles south of Boston harbor. These surveys were found to be superior to all the others that had been considered, including the route surveyed in 1902, and the Cape Cod canal route.

In 1915, the Harbor and Land Commissioners were authorized to make surveys from Weir Village to Brockton, and they reported two routes: One along the Matfield river, at an estimated cost of $8,861,960; the other along the Town river, at an estimated cost of $9,026,531. The summit level of the canal would be sixty-nine feet above tide-water in the Taunton river; and the distance from Weir bridge by the Town river route 25.85 miles, and by the Matfield river route 25.45 miles, the summit level being the same in both cases. In 1916 the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners were authorized to make further surveys for the construction of a canal from Taunton river to Massachusetts Bay, by the construction of a canal from Taunton river to North river, and the canalization of various rivers to Boston harbor. No final report was made, as none was called for by the resolve for the survey.

It is evident that the cost of a ship canal from Taunton river to Boston harbor would be prohibitive, but the only solution of the problem would be a canal of barge dimensions. The report of Colonel John Mills, of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, upon the improvement of Taunton river from Fall River to Weir Village, submitted June 30, 1916, gives the sum of $1,301,746.60 as the total cost of a channel which would have a minimum width of one hundred feet and a minimum depth of eighteen feet at mean low water.

County Treasurer and Commissioners - The functions of these officers are directed by a group of practical and far-sighted officials who have in their financial charge a number of county institutions, judicial, educational and medical, each of which adds in no small degree to the general excellence of the aggregate of similar institutions throughout the State. It has been the continuous endeavor of these officials to make the institutions paying ones; and the latter are at this hour county foundations that are gradually being freed of debt through their efforts.

A statement made by Chairman John I. Bryant, of the County Commissioners, early in 1923, was to this effect. The county debt twenty-three years ago amounted to $1,250,000. Since that time the commission has built the Registry of Deeds building in Taunton, the Bristol County Tuberculosis Hospital in Attleboro, the Second District Bristol Court building at Fall River, the Third Bristol District Court building at New Bedford, the Registry of Deeds building at New Bedford, and the Agricultural School building at Segreganset (burned in January). With all this improvement to the county, affairs have been so managed that the debt before the school building burned was but $331,500. The records of County Treasurer Edgar L. Crossman show that in the twelve months previous there had been a net reduction of $69,000 in the bonded debt of the county,

The New Bedford district continues to lead all the registries of deeds of the county, as it has for several years past, in the amount of fees from recording real estate transfers. The total receipts there were $23,489.75. The receipts in the Fall River Registry in the same period were $17,432.90, and the Taunton Registry collected $11,475.45. Criminal costs in the superior courts were increasing, the expenses of this branch of the county business during 1922 being $33,716.19, as against $29,227.86 in 1921. The expense of the civil side of the superior court was more than $2,000 less than in 1921. The amount received in fines was $28,632.28, as against $20,068.96 in 1921.

Work at the Bristol County Agricultural School had been making commendable progress, the receipts from produce sold and from other sources outside of the appropriation having been $28,039, as against $22,605.96 in 1921.

In 1922, the county treasury paid out more than $64,000 for improvement of inter-city roads, through more sparsely settled communities, such bills totalling in 1921 only a little over $38,000.

The following was the 1923 inventory of property of the county of Bristol: County Court-house, land and furnishings, Taunton, $385,000; Registry building, land and buildings, Taunton, $100,000; Jail, land and buildings, Taunton, $175,000; Court-house, land and furnishings, New Bedford, $100,000; House of Correction, land and furnishings, New Bedford, $400,000; Registry of Deeds building, New Bedford, $175,000; Third District Court-house, New Bedford, $150,000; Court-house, land and furnishings, Fall River, $260,000; Second District Court-house, Fall River, $100,- 000; Third District Court-house, Attleboro, $100,000; Agricultural School, Dighton, $75,000; Law Libraries, $50,000; Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth Union Training School, $3,500.

County Landmark - The most famous landmark within the bounds of Bristol county is the "Dighton Writing Rock," at Berkley, that town having originally been a part of Dighton, This noted granite rock within the river margin is eleven and one-half feet long and five feet high. Since the year 1889 it has been the property of the Old Colony Historical Society at Taunton, from a deed of gift of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen. The rock was purchased in 1857 of Thomas T. Dean, of Berkley, by Neil Arnzen, of Fall River, who placed it in the possession of the Copenhagen Society in the belief that the findings of the archeologist were proof positive that the markings were those of Danish explorers.

Up to the present time, and dating from the year 1680, there have been proposed more than twenty distinct theories concerning the origin of the symbol-like drawings and letter-like marks that cover the face of the rock, but all of which traceries are slowly becoming defaced both by tides and weather. The theories of the writings are many and varied, the leading one being that they were originally those of native red men. Professor E.

The Indian Story 17

D. Delabarre, renowned archzologist, whose earlier criticism was that the drawings might have been made by Egyptians, 2000 B.C., has compiled three volumes from the publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts on the subject of the rock. His more recent theory is that there are marks on the rock that appear to disclose the name of Miguel Cortereal, Portuguese explorer, and the date 1511. In the realm of ethnology, archeology and cheirology, this monument of great age has been visited and written about by savants of all times and for nearly three centuries. John Fiske and others refute the Norse origin of the writings. Schoolcraft, the explorer, in 1853 decided they were of Indian origin. Yet concerning the source of the writings on the rock, about which a small library has been written, no one is absolutely sure.