STOUGHTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDED 1895

Volume IV, Number 10  - November 1973

NOW THAT WE HAVE A PRINTER and a new method of printing we are allowed the luxury of a bit of artwork occasionally. (Unfortanately, the Easton editors beat us to the punch by completely redesigning their Newsletter . . .

YOU MISSED IT . . . those of you who were not present at our last meeting missed a fine slide presentation by Mr. John Gorman of the Plymouth ant Brockton Street Railway. By way of a professionally done program he took us to New York City, Cape Cod, Nantucket and other beauty spots in N.E.

OUR NEXT PROGRAM . .  November 19 at 7:30 in the Jones Room . . . member Steve Adamson will offer the story, enhanced with music, of Charles Ires. Mr. Ires was a New England insurance broker who composed music of and about New England from the turn of the century into the 1940. WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR ATTENDANCE at this, the third interesting meeting of this season.

YOUR HOSTESSES at the October meeting were Evelyn Healy and her daughter Nancy McAvoy. On November 19 you will be greeted and served by Marie Sheehan and Angie McEachern. We are fortunate in having so many fine cooks within our membership who are willing to serve as hostesses.

A GROUP OF LADIES is desired (this will, automatically, make them desirable ladies) to continue with the filing and cataloging. Anne Petterson and Dorothy Woodward will be very willing to teach the filing system to any and all who come forward. Remember how warm it is downstairs? Perhaps it will be rather more comfortable in our file room than elsewhere during the Impending fuel crisis! We will appreciate from 2 to 8 hours of you tine per month . . . willingness and dependability are the only two requisites.

BOTH MIMEOGRAPH MACHINES have been sold and the money is being used to build 6 tables for use at flea markets, rummage sales, exhibitions, etc. One table is being made slightly smaller and will be our serving table for refreshments during the social hour at each monthly meeting. Our work party is building the tables Thursday evenings. We have been very fortunate in having received as a gift from a local furniture store .the sturdy folding legs for four of the tables. The donor wishes to remain anonymous ... but how many local furniture stores are there in Stoughton?

GIFTS HAVE COME from Carl L. Smith, Carrie Sievers, Angeline McEachern, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph DeVito, Dorothy Woodward and Mrs. Robert (Kathy) Murphy, A most unusual and generous gift was received from Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Holmes' thirty-seven pounds of pennies! These pennies will figure as a feature of the next meeting. Come and see how.

WE HAVE A FUND to be used for our part in the celebration of our Town's 250th Anniversary. WE NEED a committee to plan the use of this fund and to organize ways in which to augment this fund ao that it is a more workable amount by 1975-76. Names have been suggested . . . but let's have some volunteers first so that we'll not have to beg.

FOR THE YEAR ENDING in December, 1898 the Town Report included, as usual, the doings of the fire department (James J. Pye, Clerk). Mr. Pye proposed a fire whistle as the bell was hard to hear if the wind was not just right; alarm boxes were extended up Morton Street to Plain Street "as there are quite a few houses -at that end of town" then he wrote: "We would like to say a little about the horses that were bought for the Fire Dept., and why they were bought. They were bought because we thought it a benefit to the town. We bought the horses of Mr. Leander G. Britton, and on account of some not being satisfied, and Mr. Britton being a square man he refunded the money to the town and took back the horses. . .  "Now as to why it would benefit the town to own their own horses ..." and Mr. Pye very respectfully explained the need and concluded hie report. From the same Sown Report we learn that the Superintendent of Schools was advocating that those students desiring higher education (beyond eighth grade) be transported at public expense to a central class. Looking further into the operation of the Town we find this quote from the Water Commissioners: "Ex-Town Treasurer Capen carelessly used the sum.. of  $6342.71 belonging to the Water Department fund to defray other expenses, and the auditors, not being versed in the peculiar intricacies of the Capen method of book-keeping, failed to discover the mistake." (Note from ye ol' Ed: once again I say how rewarding it is to find such entertainment in the work (?) of straightening out our artifacts and files. Only recently we found a bust of Charles Sumner which was purportedly "lost" and many were pleased to see it again on display. Come Join us and find out what serendipity is).

PLEASANT THOUGHTS of former Presidents: During the visit of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in Washington President Buchanan slept in a hallway of the White House in order that the royal visitor could be put up in decent style . President Wilson, during World War I, had a flock of sheep gracing on the White House lawn ... Abigail, wife of President Millard Fillmore, is responsible for obtaining the first library for the White House. Until 1850, no books were part of the White House furnishings.

ATTENDANCE has been disappointing, le now have an entire building and the nucleus of a fine museum which may go down the drain unless we all contribute. 

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