STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 73 



has improved upon that structure. There was no ceiling or floor 

 overhead, and no care for a tight roof. 



You have all heard of "the cold seasons," one in particular, 

 1816, I was here and know all about that. The birds were so cold 

 some days that I could catch them with my hands, and many 

 pretty ones died. I knew some people who went to Ohio then ; 

 others would have gone if they had teams and thinrs to go with. 

 Some large boys set traps for fur animals, and men killed bears 

 when they came for the corn or sheep. Some boys were hunting 

 and fishing niost all the time. Some of the men hunted bears and 

 other animals. My father killed the foxes when he saw them 

 come for the geese. I saw my father set his gun in the cornfield 

 so that a bear fired it off himself and was killed. Boys who had 

 to work did not have many play-days beside the Fourth of July 

 and trainings and muster. My father was captain then, and all 

 his company lived in Foxcroft and where Dover town is now. I 

 saw the men training. More companies helped to make the mus- 

 ter. Mr. Towne had a large field and no stumps on it. Mr. 

 Towne was one of the officers in my father's company. Some men 

 always came to our house on muster days before it was light, and 

 they fired awful loud guns, and then my father would ask them to 

 come in ; and then they drank something that was in the kegs that 

 father had filled at Bangor in the winter. And they had sugar 

 that came from Bangor. 



"What I have indulged in saying, is directly in the line of that 

 sentiment which binds each of us in loyal affection to our birthplace 

 — to the home and liaunts of our childhood — binds us to the lands 

 amended by the industry of our ancestors — lands improved by their 

 wisely directed labor from the condition in which they found them 

 in this unfinished world ; — in the line of that sentiment which binds 

 us to our country and our fellowman. Under favorable conditions 

 this sentiment gains strength with our increase of years, and at 

 times we may advert to early experiences with profit. 



The settlement within the present limits of this county was 

 effected in the first years of this century, and twelve of its town- 

 ships were entered upon at nearly the same time. The census of 

 1810 gives Foxcroft sixty-five inhabitants. This number was 

 exceeded in six other townships. These people coming from the 

 older settlements, missed the fruits to which they had been accus- 

 tomed, and took immediate steps to supply themselves. A few 

 apple trees were brought in, but most people waited till supplied 



