Will Work While Not in School

Many moons ago, I received a nice pile of old Eastern Argus copies.

This Portland, Maine newspaper was published for over 100 years, starting in the very early 1800s. The Portland Public Library has microfilm versions of it from 1803 to 1921, but there is no way to compare with holding a copy of it in your hands! 

The paper is soft and cottony, and it was printed using movable metal type, producing texture and a much more enjoyable reading experience than the inky flat newsprint of today. In the Friday issue of December 9, 1836, among the advertisers is:

A YOUNG MAN, From the country, being anxious to attend School, either day or evening, -- will work in a family, at a very reasonable rate, whilst not at school. Inquiries at this office.

I do love creative problem solving.

The President has a pachyderm's feet!

In a recent orgy of historical research in the Portland Room at the library, I uncovered volumes of bound manuscripts of Sketches Written for the Daily Eastern Argus 1912 - 1913 by one Nathan Goold. There was a very curious anecdote related by the author about the poet J.G. Whittier:

The poet Whittier is said to have related the story that when President Monroe visited the town, in 1817, where he [Whittier] then lived, a caravan exhibited there the same day. He said he saw the tracks of the elephant in the sand, and being but a small boy at the time thought they must be those of the President.

I need to do a little more biographical research on Whittier to see how likely this story is, but either way, it is an intriguing local legend that I've never heard of before. Whittier was born in 1807, so he would have been ten years old at the time of this story.

Illustration by Michelle Souliere.