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VL—Lesier: A Checkered Career.
TER, the youngest of the four children
of Aunt Mi"y and Uncle Andrew,
appears to have been wholly different
# from Sylvia or Freeland.
Freeland, from all accounts, was a noble-
hearted boy, of caln, even temper, who, had
he lived, would probably have made a pros-
perous farmer and an exemplary citizen ; and
Sylvia — well, little Sylvia was Sylvia, But
Lester was more of « Yankee boy and a genius.
He liked to se¢ wheels go round and peep into
clocks and make little mills down by the brook.
When he was ten or twelve years old he
spent much of his time at 4 thrashing-mill and
““shingle-machine” at the other end of the dam.
This mill was owned by the Chase family, and
for a year or two it was Lester’s favorite resort
and the scene of his inechanical exploits, some
of them rather dangerous to finges
Among other devices, he made a water-wheel,
shaped like a, barrel, and laving a large, wide-
thread~! .ciew inside’ it, through which the
water poured, turning the serew on its axis with
great force. He “pottered” with this water-
wheel for a year or more. Uncle Andrew
.«'himself placed some faith in its efficacy and
fird thoughts of assisting the lad to patent it.
But suddenly Lester grew tired of it, or rather
became engrossed with a new idea.
The very winter that Elias ITowe and others
were puzzling out the first sewing-machine
young Lester Chase, who had never even heard
the name of Elias Howe, was sitting by the
farmhouse table one evening, watching Aunt
* Milly sew; and thereupon he conceived the
idea of running needles by wheel gear, as the
“up-and-down saw at the sawmill played
through a log. :
He studied over this scheme all the rest of
the winter, and made a kind of “sewing-mill,”
nearly as large as a loom, operated by water-
power and having large wooden wheels,
It was wiot till-the folkswimrad pril Suat Je
read, in the Eastern Aryus that one
Ilowe had invented ‘““a machine that would
sew as fast as ten women.” Consumed by a
desire to see it, he set off on foot to walk to
Boston, a distance of a hundred and seventy
mil But he went no farther than Portland,
having learned there, at Uncle Nahum Chase’s,
that Elias Ilowe had gone to England and
taken the machine with him.
The war with Mexico was now in progre
and balked of his wish to see the new sewing-
machine, Lester was with difliculty dissuaded
by Unecle Nahum and Aunt Rose from volun-
teering for the army. '
To divert his mind from the thought, they
took him with them one evening to a lmu:w.
tual mediums,” were producing “spirit rap-
pings,” then a new thing in the world. The
method pursued at Portland was for a group
of people, one of whom was believed to be a
“medium,” to sit at a table and invoke “the
spirits of the departed”” to “rap” or “tip” the
table.
Abundant rappings were heard that night,
and the youthful Lester’s impressionable mind
was diverted with a vengeance. “If this is as
true as it seems to be, we can learn all about
the next world and what happens after death,
and we ought to be about it at once,” he
remarked, on his way home to Uncle Nahum’s
house.
“But anybody can see the tremendous impor-
tance of this discovery!” he exclaimed, when
Aunt Rose expressed doubts. “ Why, the
spirits of the dead are-all about us! They are
alive and can converse with us.”
I1e was so wrought up that they could not
persuade him to retire to bed. Ile urged them
to sit down at a table in the dining-room with
him, when, sure enough, he proved to be an
able medium. Nt only did very audible raps
occur when he held his hands on the table, but
the table followed him across the room when he
placed one hand n it and walked away. In
his faith he seemed to be charged with mes-
meric foree. “Why, I feel as if I could move
mountains I’ he eried.
Uncle Nalium again sought to have him go
to bed, and at two o’clock he was induced to
go to his room, but they heard him walking
about all night.
The next morning there were more rappings
at the breakfast-table. Lester was quite trans-
ported by his success, and that evening he
invited in a company of thirty neighbors to
continue these novel and attractive inquiries.
This went on for some days, and really
injured Uncle Nahum’s standing as a church-
Boston, Mass., December 25, 1902.
THE SHERIFF CAME TO ARREST HIM.
at at tables, in communication, as he believed, | sigh of relief when he was out of her house.
| with the shades of departed great men. He|She was a plain-spoken old lady, and she sent
had a blank book and wrote down the com- | word to her niece, Milly, that if she had any
munications that he received. more such children as Lester and Sylvia, she
In this way he expected to convey to the | “hoped to goodness” that she would keep them
world at large a perfect guide of life, obtained | at home. Milly and Andrew, although a little
| directly from the wise men of the past. When | mortified, laughed heartily over this message.
he was not receiving these communications he | “Lester’s return home did not prove an
was reading them over to Aunt Rose and |unmixed joy to his father and mother, ITe
Uncle Nahum, | worked on the farm, but he immediately formed
They began to fear that he would become |a “circle” for spirit rappings,—the first ever
demented,.and Mr. Chase succeeded in putting | known in that region, —which in the course
a new benevolent idea in his mind. It was the : of a month badly upset Jericho religiously and
year of the memorable famine in Ireland, owing | socially.
to the repeated failure of crops, particularly the Andrew and Milly bore it all with commend-
potato-crop. Reports had come that thousands | able patience ; but by midsummer they became
of the poorer Irish peasantry were starving, |convineed that, whatever the origin of the
Unecle Nahum Chase was chairman of a com- | “manifestations,”” the associates whom Lester
mittee for raising funds to buy corn and wheat | was attracting about him were not desirable,
with which to load a vessel to sail for Cork. | In fact, Andrew was constrained to forbid any
The United States government war-ship | further circles at his house.
Jamestown was soon to be despatched on this | By this time Lester had four thick blank
noble mission of charity.
Lester became much interested, and Unele | trious dead of all ages of the world. Ile con-
Nalium succeeded in luring the young man | ceived a grand scheme for teaching, or rather
away from his tables and note-book, and equip- | preaching, the truth, as revealed by the spirits
ping him with a subscription paper to solicit | of the dead, to the living, and he resolved to
funds for the starving Irish: | become a clecgyman. To this end he at once
1Ie collected a hundred dollars that d atd | began the study of Latin and Greel:, with a
became fired with enthusiasm to canvass all | view to entering Bowdoia College. Through-
the large towns of Maine, and, later, to 2o to | out the summer and fall he conned classie
Ireland on the Jamestoun, to assist in disirib- | text-books at home, and rode to Livermore
uting the corn and wheat to the famished i every Saturday to recite to a college-bred
people. clergyman, who aided him in his studies.
On' the day following, however, a letter | With such «duity did he apply himself that
arrived from Andrew, exhorting Lester to come | by the following June he was able to pass the
home and take his proper share of the spring | preliminary examination and enter college.
work at the homestead. 1Te was sorely reluc- | Finding him really earnest in his desire to
tant to go. TIle felf that larger ente | obtain a liberal education, his parents assisted
demanded his attention. But a s e of duty | him.
impelled him to obey; Lester was in all things Immediately after going to Brunswick, how-
conscientious, and Aunt Rose and Uncle | ever, Lester established a circle there for spirit
Nahum therefore succeeded in sending him | rappings, and this soon brought him into trouble
home on the following day. with the college professors. The college, at
On his way he went through the town of | this date, was conducted largely for the prepa-
Brunswick, and collected thirty dollars there, 1 ration of young men for the Congregationalist
which he sent back in state bank-bills to Uncle | ministry. When the president and professors
Nahum. ITe proved himself an earnest and | became aware of Lester’s beliefs and designs
effective solicitor for this charity. in coming there, they first remonstrated with
member. As for Lester, he scarcely slept, but
~
i
None the less, Aunt Rose Chase Leaved a | him, and then, finding him firmly fixed in his
. enmit;
| books full of communications from the illus- |
i
Vorume 76. Numser 52.
$1.75 A Year. Singre Copies 5 CenTs.
spirit theory, they advised him to withdraw,
which, in the following year, he did, rather
than be dismissed.
After this unfortunate college experience, he
returned home in a state of chagrin and revul-
sion. Ile was one of that type, however, that
must of necessity be actuated by some strong
parpose. Projects of various kinds seemed to
run their course in his mind and decline in
interest for him.
After moping at home for a week or two he
took up again his old scheme for a sewing-mill,
then reverted to the hollow water-wheel. Of
the latter he constructed a new model, ten feet
in height and three in diameter. Water could
be delivered in the top of this wheel, through
a closed penstock, at any pressure which the
height of the supply rendered possible.
Mitherto all the water-wheels used in that
part of the country had been what were termed
overshot wheels, or undershot, both limited in
power. DBut by this new “barrel-wheel” well-
nigh unlimited power could be generated. [le
estimated that with water at a pressure of
eighty feet in a penstock pipe five feet in
diameter, he could develop two thousand
horse-power.
Uncle Andrew himself was greatly impressed
by this scheme, and advanced the money to
construct a long experimental penstock and to
patent the device,
A fatality, however, appears to have followed
in the wake of every project in which Lester
became interested. Of the good intent of his
schemes there could be no doubt. ITe was both
honest and earnest, yet his efforts invariably
got him into trouble of some sort.
The neighbor who owned the sawmill which
vas on the opposite side of Wild Brook, and
vas supplied with water from the same dam as
the shingle-mill, had two boys who, for some
reason, disliked Lester and bothered him
exceedingly. Ever since Lester had begun
exper'menting with his water-wheel those hoys
hed)troubled They = D UL S iy et
on top of the dam when' his back was turned
and hide his tools, clog the water-gate, run
waste into the penstock, choke up the new
wheel and pester him generally.
I cannot learn that Lester ever gave them
any real cause for offense. ITe was a youth too
busy with his own schemes to pay much atten-
tion to others or their affuirs. Perhaps that
was itself the cause of their mischievous
for it is unfortunately true that if a
| boy is different from his fellows and a little
| superior tothem, numbers of the baser sort will
seek to trouble him.
Lester was exasperated, and his exasperation
| grew day by day. One morning he found the
| new wheel so choked up with “edgings” that
| it required two hours of hard work to remove
them. Knowing that the youny rascals crossed
| over on the dam, he lay in wait for them the
| following evening, and caught one of thé boys
|in the very act of crawling in at a dusty
| window on the stream side of the shingle-mill.
A rogue thus captured in the very act must
expect to suffer. It would have been far better,
however, for Lester to have had him punished
according to law. Instead, he gave the scamp
a thrashing, and did not let him off until he
promised faithfully to keep away in future.
As is usual when a meniber of such a family
| gets his deserts, there was a great “to-do’” about
|it on the sawmill side of the brook; terrible
| threats were made.
Early one morning, about a week later, as
Lester was on his way to the shingle-mill, he
caught sight of a person—one of his youthful
tormentors, he thought—dodging to the Jower
side of the dam. Ile hastened on till he was
near, then approached yuietly and looked round
the corner of the mill. No one was in sight,
but he could hear a noise under the mill, at the
tail-race of the new er-wheel. Ile made
pretty sure, therefore, that.it was one of the
Lurvey boys down there, doing damage to the
| wheel.
1t occurred to Lester that it would be quite
proper to give the rogue a ducking, such as he
‘would receive at the tail-race if the water-gate
were suddenly hoisted. Without stopping to
reflect, he stepped quickly to the lever and
raised the gate.
A muftled shriek was heard as the tense
stream of water surged into the wheel, and
in sudden alarm Lester shut the gate and ran
round to the tail-race. A human being, a man
he had never seen before, was struggling in the
pool below. -
Lester leaped down and drew him out. It
required but a glance to see that he was terribly
injured, for blood was flowing from his ears,
and one leg moved limply when he was raised.
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