17 



It is a matter of some pride for the lovers of the "Maine 

 Liquor Law" to know, that the honor of making the first 

 such law belongs to Pemaquid. September 11th, 1677, 

 was the date of the council's order, which reads : 



"No Rum to be drank on this side the tiort stands." 

 Is this in the boy's text-book? It is good enough to be. 



Massachusetts like a kind mother, gave us educational 

 laws. We return our best thanks. They are good laws. 

 Everything done in that State is spread upon the page of 

 history in a bl.ize of light. But who expects to find at 

 school in a book the bewildering, true statement that 

 " Peinaquid was once the metropolis of all the region east 

 of New York before Boston was settled? Boston was set- 

 tled in 1630, only ten years after Plymouth; but Pema- 

 quid was the metrojjolis — of all the region — before Bos- 

 ton was settled ! Which was the mother then? It begins 

 to look as if Massachusetts was the eldest daughter of 

 Maine, and Maine somehow parent. Clearly Pemaquid 

 with its paved streets may claim its antiquity as greater 

 than Plymouth, But who ascertained the truth of the above 

 statement? An honored member of this society and of the 

 Massachusetts Historical Society, and his book Thornton's 

 "Pemaquid" will amply repay one for its perusal. 



The first church service of the Pilgrim colony is put 

 down as a notable event, but it was 7iot the first in New 

 England by English settlers. The first church service in 

 the region was in Maine, the year 1605, at Calais, and the 

 second service was that of the Church of England, and it 

 was in Maine, at Fort Popham in 1607. Should these 

 things be deemed unworthy of record? 



Who saved the Pilgrims in that bitter winter of 1622, 

 when food from the East was brought in a shallop ? Do 

 you find an answer in the school history? Manna once 

 fell from invisible hands to persons in dire distress, and 

 there is no need of inquiring whose were the hands. But 



