Standish High School - Crimson Rambler Yearbook (Standish, ME)

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Wages for men on the roads were brought up at nearly every Town Meeting. In 1738, they voted to pay men 66 cents per dayfll hourslg oxen the sameg for a plough 33 cents. Usually when it was voted to build a piece of road, it would specify going from one neighbor to another and then add, uFollow the Trail as now ian. It is no wonder that roads used to be so winding. Our present Maine Central Railroad, a branch of the Boston and Maine, was, at one time, the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad. The original survey ran up the valley, between Almon Marean's farm and Standish village, bypassing Sebago Lake and Steep Falls Villages. Standish voted to hire money and take Q20,000 in stock. At that time prominent in Town affairs from Steep Falls were Coolbroths, Tuckers, Sanborns, and Baileys. The story went, no doubt much exaggerated, that these men and others put on a banquet for the railroad paowle, witf plenty of liquid refreshments. After the change in the railroad location, nSquireH Swasey was able to have the Town relieved of its financial A obligations, as the first location was a part of the agreement whereby Standish voted to buy the amount of stock. We have a great many odd names for the different communities, such as: Pudding Hill, Oak Hill, Mount Hunger, Cooper Town, Harmonville, Paine Neighborhood, Paddy York Hill, York's Corner, Cabbage Yard, and Deer Hill, to say nothing of other Neighborhoods. The number of these little communities brings to mind the family cemeteries scattered over the Town. There are nearly forty that are listed, as having veterans of different wars buried there. This is in addition to a great many which have no veterans buried in them. No comments on the Town would be anything like complete, without mention of nPoet Thomas Shawn who lived near Sebago Lake Village. He could strike off unlimited numbers of verses on any event that took place in the Town. At one time following a day of training of soldiers, when some of the irresponsible element went on a wild spree partly demolishing a church which stood in the Square, the Poet wrote a long poem which ended with a prediction that: nFire and brimstone would come down on the Town, as the result of the wickedness.U In the matter of education we have come a long way since November 27, 1786, when the Town, at a special meeting, voted to raise 3a5,oo for a school master for at term of three months. Included in the vote, it was specified that he should be boarded around. In 1792 this was increased to about Q500.00 and no mention made of board. This was the period when School Agents hired teachers and it was not always that teaching qualifications secured the position. One young teacher when asked how she was getting along replied uPretty good. I am not much of a Grammarist,

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Those early years were hard and trying for the new sett- lers. Thehonly condition for building on a grant of land was a house sixteen by eighteen feet, with a seven-foot shed. In addition he was to clear five acres of land. It was not until l768 that there was an ordained minist- er. Reverend John Tompson was the first minister of the Town Reverend Jonathan Gould, the secondg and Reverend Daniel ' Marrett, the third. Small pox and dyphtheria were the dreaded diseases of those early days. Sometimes whole families would be wiped out. Members of the family, as long as they were able to do so, would attend to the burial. i Mention is made in the records of a Josiah Shaw who was ambitious enough to build a two-story house. He removed the second story when his friends persuaded him that it was dang- erous to have so high a building, as it was apt to be blown off in a high wind. That is the house where William DeLoia and family now live. It was formerly owned by the late Rufus E.. Gray, but he never occupied it himself. The first grist mill was on the farm now owned and occu- pied by Norman A. Smith. It was nearly a mile from the main road and on the brook that crosses the road near the Smith house. There were two dams and a overshot wheel that went with the mill. In the early days cattle and hogs were allowed to run at large anywhere. So-called hog and sheepnmarksn were recorded with the Town Clerk. Here are a few taken at random:HJames Moody's mark is a swallow's tail out out of the left ear. Simon Sanborn's mark is a hole in the right ear. Caleb Rowe's mark is a half-penny out of the under part of the left ear.H Families or individuals who through sickness, death of the wage earner, or other causes, became objects of charity, were often put up at auction and set off to the lowest bidder for care and board. Religion played a large part in the lives of the early settlers. A church was built in l769, probably where the old fort stood. Some of this lumber later went into a church that stood where the Hanold factory new stands. ln l806 the Unitarian Church was built. Later, HDue to differences in religious mattersu, the present Congregational Church was built. The early records of the Town would almost give the idea that the settlers considered Town Meetings a part of their social life. They were brief but frequent. It is not uncommon to find a record of a meeting and, within a week, to find another was called to undo all that had been transacted at the previous one. .

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but I am a good Arithmeticker.N For the most part the boys, after getting to the age of real assistance on the farm and in the woods, attended school only through the winter. That created a real problem in the matter of discipline. Men, for the most part, were hired for teachers. It was here that physical strength had to be considered, as well as teaching qualifications. As late as 1885 or 1886 a Mr. Chapman taught at Standish Village. He was six feet, four inches and weigh- ed nearly 200 pounds. It is needless to state that he never had trouble with any boy more than once. Our first high school was established in l893, with an appropriation of 3500 from the Town andQ25O from the State. Until 1915 the school was conducted something along the lines of a traveling library. The first term was at Standish Village, and while it was voted to rotate to Sebago Lake as well as to Steep Falls Villages in those first days, it was not until the new building was completed in 1915 that it was held at Sebago Lake Village. The high school was on the second floor and Primary and Grammar grades occupied the first floor, until September 1922 In 1897 the high school faculty consisted of a Principal and Assistant, who were paid 516.25 and S10 per week respectively In 1929 the Gymnasium When we consider with an appropriation voted a total of over serious we take the m A LA- and Assembly Hall were added. how our first school started in 1786 of th5.oo and that in March of 1949 we Q53,000, we get a little idea of how tter of education for the children and youth of our Town. Fred E. Cole, Town Clerk, WGRTHY USE OF OUR LEISURE TIME I am sure that all of us at one time or another find our selves with time on our hands, we dornm know what to do with ourselves, there is no place to go, nothing to do-we are just bored. Of course, some have more leisure time than others. Often we just sit and wish away the time, wishing that the hour when we have some appointment to keep or something spec- ial to do would hurry up and come. If only we would stop and think of the short time that we are alive, I am sure we