Another tall tale
Readers may recall the harrowing account in our Ramblings column about Alden Bennett’s climb on the Carriage Road on Mount Washington. He was hiking with several of his classmates in the Deering High School Class of 1936. Luckily, they all made it to the summit, though separated with heavy winds and blinding snow. They were welcomed by the hut crew and had to spend the night there.
His latest letter, from his home in Pennsylvania, has an interesting story about Chebeague Island, where his father’s family had lived. He has been interested in the accounts of Chebeague, now the Town of Chebeague Island. The new township includes Great Chebeague, Little Chebeague, and the eight or nine smaller islands near them.
Alden wrote about Stanley Doughty, of the well-known Doughty family of Chebeague.
“My father’s younger sister Dot married one of the more colorful Doughtys, with the same first name as my father. Stanley Doughty was the hero of a favorite island story of the 1920s and 1930s. He tore around those old dirt roads on a motorcycle and never had an accident except for the time a wildcat dropped on him from an overhanging tree. The cat showed no intention of letting go and, as the story tells it, ‘Stanley finally had to kill him with his bare hands.’ (You may recall that Dan’l Boone had to do the same thing with a bear, about 150 years earlier).”
You see, Alden Bennett, whose father was Stanley T. Bennett founder of Oakhurst Dairy, has many interesting additions to his personal letters, which I always look forward to. Sadly, a recent letter from him bore news of the death of his wife, Ellie.
Quotable
“Search for missing boy ends in thick woods,” was the headline on page 1 of the June 28 Lincoln County News, and the opening words, in Mike Colbert’s article, pleased me immensely: “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.” I knew that he was quoting American poet Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” in this verse:
“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
Colbert wrote that the 4-year-old boy, Silas Faria, was playing in a thickly wooded pine forest with a dozen other children while attending a party in the Winslow Mills area when he disappeared. By 11:30 a.m. no one knew where Faria was. He fell behind the group while running through the woods.
The sheriff’s office was called and a full-scale search brought in canine units, game wardens and an airplane as firefighters, policemen and about 30 volunteers searched for him.
The tracking dog, a golden retriever, picked up the trail that led to the footprints that led to Faria, at 4:30 that afternoon, about a mile from where he had last been seen.
Lucky boy! He had lost one of his shoes, and was a little scratched up, but otherwise OK.
Mike Colbert wrote an interesting account of it all, and there was a picture of Silas being greeted by his parents.
It means what?
In the June 4 Boston Herald there was an article about Paul McCartney, former member of the Beatles. I found it quite interesting, but I was unfamiliar with a word in the opening paragraph. It said, “After a post-Beatles career characterized by occasional high points and a whole lot of dreck” (the word I’ve never encountered), “McCartney is on something of a creative roll.”
I don’t own a slang dictionary. I usually call the reference library for help when I am perplexed, but they are not open on Sundays, when I usually am busy getting my column written. I’ll have to call about that word on a week day.
In the good old days, late 1930s and 1940s, when I worked at the Portland Public Library, we all had to work at least one Sunday a month, in the Periodical or Reference Rooms, the only areas open on Sundays. We were there to help the public – – but even the Sunday openings were discontinued after a few years.
Old favorite
Today’s recipe is from “The Country Store Cook Book,” 1962, with favorite recipes from the Women’s Association of the First Universalist Church, Providence, R.I. It was submitted by Mrs. Robert H. Crowell
OATMEAL MACAROONS
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup sugar
1 egg, unbeaten
1 cup sifted flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup raisins
Nuts, if desired
Combine first seven ingredients. Add flour and soda, sifted together. Mix well. Add remaining ingredients and stir together. Drop level tablespoons of dough onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.
Makes about 36 cookies.
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