NORTH 
SHORE 
BREEZE 
MANCHESTER, MASS., SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1907. | 
THOUGHTS HERE AND THERE 
BY D. F. LAMSON. 
Public opinion is not a thing of small 
moment; it does matter what people 
think and say; no man can afford to be 
indifferent to the good opinion of the 
best men in the community, the men of 
intelligence, character and reputation; 
we may be independent of wealth, of 
fashion, of popularity, but we cannot be 
independent of a sane public opinion. 
Some say that we are being over-legis- 
lated, and no doubt there may be such a 
thing as over-legislation, especially when 
private bills and measures over-ride public 
affairs. There is too much legislation 
in the interests of classes, of corporations, 
of professions. In the times of Abraham 
Davenport and the “‘Dark Day,’’ so 
Whittier reminds us, “‘the state sent its 
_ wisest men to make the public laws;”’ 
these men were sometimes narrow and 
they sometimes made mistakes, but they 
were at least honest and earnest and they 
legislated as men who heard the sound of 
Doomsday coming. 
It is acurious commentary on an ad- 
vanced civilization that in the freest dem- 
ocracy in the world, there are such wide 
deversities of social condition, such vast 
accumulations of power in the hands of 
a few, such a tendency to the worship of 
wealth; it takes no prophet of evil to for- 
see that such a state of things bodes no 
good to the commonweal. 
The ancient Greeks held that the feet 
of the avenging deities were shod with 
wool; retribution for evil may be silent 
and unsuspected in its approach, but its 
approach is none the less sure for that. 
‘There are some things that are too ser- 
ious to be made a jest of, such as poverty, 
deformity, misfortune, ignorance. It is 
no mark of good sense or good feeling 
to turn what with so many is a source of 
mortification and distress into Durlesque. 
President Wayland, a famous educator 
in his day, had much to say to his classes 
of the ‘‘tendencies of things; ”’ a due re- 
gard to what things may lead to as well 
as what they are in themselves would 
sometimes save ministers, teachers, par- 
ents and town officials from serious mis- 
takes; the permitting of things innocent 
enough in themselves may prove as dis- 
astrous as the sowing of the dragon’s 
teeth that sprang up into a crop of armed 
men. 
No doubt the iron hand in the velvet 
glove, the firmness in affairs combined 
with the graciousness of manner, is the 
ideal of goverment in the family, the 
schvol and the state; and if it seems an 
Continued on page 28 
MEMORIAL DAY 
Manchester paid fitting tribute to Soldier and Sailor Dead. Public Exer- 
cises in afternoon and Entertainment in Evening. 
Memorial Day with all that it means 
to the veterans of the Grand Army, with 
its lessons of patriotism for the young and 
for the old as well, was appropriately re- 
cognized in Manchester on ‘Thursday. 
Public services were held in the Town 
hall in the afternoon and in the evening 
an interesting entertainment, to which 
the public was invited, was carried out 
under the direction of the ladies of the 
Relief Corps. 
Under smiling skies in the afternoon, 
followirg the cool winds and cloudiness 
of the morning and day previous, the ve- 
terans, under escort of the Sons of Veter- 
ans, marched first to the own hall, and 
then to the various cemeteries, where 
the graves of their departed comrades 
were decked with flowers. 
It was a little before 2 o'clock that 
Post 67 was escorted from Grand Army 
hall to the Town hall, when the follow- 
ing program was carried out: 
Selection by the band. 
Quartet, ‘“The Old Brigade.”’ 
Prayer, Rev. E. Hersey Brewster.  - 
Reading of General Orders, and ‘‘Lincoln’s Ad- 
dress at Gettysburg,’ J. H. Rivers. 
Quartet, ‘‘One Sweetly Solemn Thought. ”’ 
? £ 
Address by David S. Bostwick of Northbridge. 
Quartet, ‘‘Nellie Gray.”’ 
The selections of the Schubert Male 
Quartet of Boston were universally liked, 
as they have been on their former visits 
here. As an encore to their closing se- 
lection they sang ‘‘Vacant Chair.’’ 
David S. Bostwick of Northbridge, a 
veteran of the Civil War, delivered the 
Continued on next page 
MANCHESTER POSTzOFFICE 
ADVANCED” [O SECOND CLASS 
After July 1 the Manchester post-office 
will be advanced to second class and a 
male clerk will be added to the force. 
Edward H. Wilcox has received the ap- 
SAMUEL L. WHEATON, 
Postmaster at Manchester, Mass. 
pointment for this position and will as- 
sume his duties the 17th of this month. 
To the unprecedented growth of the 
office and the increase in business is due 
this change. Knowing for some time 
that the gross receipts of the office had 
been sufficient to change the office to 
second class, Postmaster Samuel L. 
Wheaton did not know that the change 
would be made until last week, when J. 
M. White, assistant superintendent of 
salaries and allowances of the New Eng- 
land Division, called at the office. 
The office became third class over 
ten years ago when William Johnson 
was postmaster. Since Postmaster W heat- 
on’s appointment over eight years. ago 
the business of the office has been steadi- 
ly increasing. During his first year the 
receipts were $5057. Last year the gross 
receipts were $8604, which is over $600 
in excess of the amount necessary to 
make the office sécond class, and which 
was $800 in advance of the previous year. 
The first thing that goes with this 
change is the addition of a male clerk, 
making two clerks the year around. The 
postmaster also receives an increase in 
salary, making an total of $2000. 
‘Tf the office keeps on increasing Man- 
chester will be entitled to a free delivery 
system within a few years. Less than 
$2000 increase in gross receipts is all that 
is necessary,—or a total of $10,000. 
Mr. Wilcox, who is the newly ap- 
pointed clerk is one of Manchester’s 
most popular young men. He is a phar- 
macist and has been with A. Lee & Sons 
for anumber of years prior to which he 
was with A. L. Green, now F. G. 
Cheever Co. Miss Lulu Johnson will re- 
main as assistant to the postmaster, and 
Miss Mary Barry will also be retained as 
clerk during the summer at least. 
