Sprague's Journal of Maine History
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Class J- / rn Bonk , Fb 76 -I Sprague's Journal of Maine History VOL. Ill APRIL 1915-APRIL 1916 10HN FRANCIS SPRAGUE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER WM. W. ROBERTS CO. Stationers and Blank. Book. Manufacturers Office Supplies, Filing Cabinets and Card Indexes 233 Middle Street, PORTLAND, MAINE The Royal Standard Typewriter PUBLIC AUTO The Established Leader Tire Repairing and Vulcanizing All kinds of Typewriters bought, sold, Satisfaction Guaranteed exchanged and repaired. LESLIE E. JONES FRED W. PALMER 130 Main St., BANGOR, MAINE DOVER, MAINE Send Your Linen by Parcel Post to Guilford steam Laundry V. H. ELLIS, Prop., GUILFORD, MAINE We Pay Return Postage E) A VC I C^ Ayr Lay your plans to start your savings account I 1 ' HIO I II <^ H I L with this bank on your very next pay-day. Set aside One Dollar—more if you can spare it come to the urt nk and make your first deposit. Small sums are welcomed. Put system into your sav inu's. Save a little every week and save that little regularly. Make it an obligation to yourself just as you are duty bound to pay the grocer orthe coal mm. SAVE FAITHFULLY. The dollars you save now will serve you later on when you will have greater need for them. PISCATAQUIS SAVINGS BANK, Dover, Maine. F. E. GUERNSEY, Pre s. W. C. WOODBURY, Treas. Monej Back If Not Satisfied Bangor & Aroostook Is Your Protection RAILROAD JOHN T. CLARK & Co. DIRECT ROUTE to Greenville, Fort CLOTHIERS Kent, Houlton, Presque Isle, Cari- BANGOU, MAINE bou, Fort Fairfield, Van Buren and Northern Maine. I. Splendid Service, First Solid Trains. SMITH & SALE ( l.iss Equipment, Vestibule Am ticket agent will be pleased to furnish PRINTERS OB all informal r literature desired or same rim lie oMaineci by writing to the Passenger [raffle Manager. De Luxe Editions Geo. M Houghton l . Exchange Street Passenger Traffic Manager PORTLAND, MAINE Bangor, Maine CONTENTS THE WORK OF SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY has been heartily endorsed by the press of Maine and other leading Journals in the country and by many of the most prominent men of Maine and New England. Thus we desire to call your attention to the fact that this is the only publication in the world today that is devoted exclusively to the advancement of historical subjects and historical research along the lines of Maine's early history. We need the hearty aid and co-operation of every person in Maine interested in this matter. If you are not a subscriber, kind- ly send your name and address with one dollar for one year's sub- scription. If you are already a subscriber, bear in mind that the success of the enterprise owes much to prompt payments. Spragues Journal of Maine History DOVER, MAINE CONTENTS PAGE PAGE Workers With the Divining Rod 3 Colonial History of Maine 32 Honorable Peter Charles Keegan 11 Maine Society, S. A. R 35 A Famous Lawsuit 15 Stephen Longfellow 36 Biddeford Cemetery Inscriptions iq Androscoggin Notes 39 Elias Dudley and His Corres- Some Early Maine Journalists.. 4T • - pondence 22 vr -r T . t, , Maine History as a Popular William Hutchings 26 Study 44 Franklin Simmons, the Sculptor 27 Notes and Fragments 46 The Shepherd Boy of Woolwich 30 Sayings of Subscribers 50 2 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY ;£*£ v*j The residence of the late Calvin C. Chamberlain, of Foxcroft, Maine. The building has been moved and the grounds now form a part of the estate of Colonel Edward J. Mayo. : — Sprague's Journal of Maine History Vol. Ill MAY, 1915 No. 1 Workers With the Divining Rod; Sometimes Called "Water Witches" By Edgar C. Smith. (A paper read before the Piscataquis Historical Society.) In a bulletin recently published under the authority of the United States government, by the Department of the Interior, U. S. Geo- logical Survey, Water Supply Paper 255, titled Underground Water for Farm Use, on page 15, appears the following: USE OF DIVINING ROD. Numerous mechanical devices have been proposed for detecting the pres- ence of underground water, ranging in complexity from the simple forked branch of the witch-hazel, peach, or other wood to more or less elaborate mechanical and electrical contrivances. Many of the operators of these de- vices, especially those who use the home-cut forked branch, are entirely honest in the belief that the working of the rod is influenced by agencies: usually regarded as electric currents following underground streams of water—that are entirely independent of their own bodies, and many unedu- cated people have implicit faith in their ability to locate underground water in this way. The writer then gives the results of his own experiments with the rod, and goes on to say No movement of the rod from causes outside of the body could be detected and it soon became obvious that the view held by other men of science is correct—that the operation of the 'divining rod' is generally due to uncon- scious movements of the body or the muscles of the hand. The experiments made show that these movements happen most frequently at places where the operator's experience has led him to believe that water may be found. The uselessness of the divining rod is indicated by the facts that it may be worked at will by the operator, that he fails to detect strong water current in tunnels and other channels that afford no surface indications of water, and that his locations in limestone regions where water flows in well-defined channels are no more successful than those dependent on mere guesses. ; SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY The only advantage of employing a water witch, as the operator of the divining rod is sometimes called, is that crudely skilled services are thus occasionally obtained, since the men so employed, if endowed with any natural shrewdness, become through their experience in locating wells better observers of the occurrence and movements of ground water than the average person. It is not my purpose to enter into a controversy with the learned author of the foregoing, for I realize that I am poorly equipped, and I am aware that, scientifically, the theories and dogmas are against me. The statement simply offers a good excuse to present a historical sketch of the use of the divining rod in Piscataquis County, Maine, and of the men who have been locally famous as successful operators. Perhaps, before entering upon the historical part of the article, it would not be out of place to offer one suggestion or thought that the scientists seem never to consider in coming to their conclusions and that is ; that some persons possess a power or sense of which other persons are not cognizant of or do not possess. The law already recognizes the unreliability of the fixed rules of the scientists and of human experience. In Post vs. United States, 135 Federal, page 1, the court say: Science has not yet drawn, and probably never will draw, a continuous and permanent line between the possible and impossible, the knowable and unknowable. Such line may appear to be drawn in one decade, but it is removed in the next, and encroaches on what was the domain of the impos- sible and unknowable. Advance in the use of electricity, and experiments in telepathy, hypnotism and clairvoyance, warn us against dogmatism. The experience of the judiciary, as shown by history, should teach tolerance and humility, when we recall that the bench once accounted for familiar physi- cal and mental conditions by witchcraft, and that, too, at the expense of the lives of innocent men and women. Those who have studied the sciences must admit that there are invisible forces, but vaguely understood, which influence the visible. The powers of hypnotism and mental telepathy are now generally admitted by all, yet there are but comparatively few who possess the ability to work along these lines. Those who have never wit- nessed the working of the divining rod in the hands of a successful operator, and who have had no personal acquaintance with these men, have been altogether too ready to relegate them to the class of charlatans and fortune-tellers. Any man of science, with his theories and bald statements, would make but little progress in convincing the people of Piscataquis : W< )RKERS WITH THE DIVINING ROD 5 County that "the uselessness of the divining rod is indicated by the fact that it may be worked at will by the operator," or that "he fails to detect strong water current in tunnels and other channels/' because their experience disproves these statements. One of the earliest investigators of the merits and demerits of the claims of these workers of the divining rod, or water witches, was Calvin Chamberlain, late of Foxcroft, Maine, and to his writ- ings and investigations on the subject the writer is indebted for much information. Mr. Chamberlain was not an operator himself, and did not pro- fess to understand the reasons or explain the cause for the working of the rod, but accepted the fact. He was a man of broad culture, having acquired a liberal education, and he was a forceful and able writer. He wrote much for the press and agricultural publications, and was a pioneer advocate for forest preservation and conserva- tion, talking, writing and lecturing along these lines when that science was, in its infancy. For the many years of his long life he was prominent in the educational life of the community, and an active worker in all things tending to promote the interests and develop Piscataquis County.