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A MAINE PAUPER SETTLEMENT.How a Pfone«r Family Relapsed IntoRarbwrism.[From the Boston Globe.]Maine lias a singular illustration of the tendency of mankind to relapse into barbarism when cut off from the j» lluences of association. More than 40 years ago, a family named Bubier left Lewiston, and took to the continuous woods where rolls the Dead River. Whether they were disgusted with the world and longed to be at rest, or thought to lay the foundations of a thriving colony by going where land was to be had by the square miie with no one to dispute the title but wildcats and owls, we know not; but they penetrated into the forest primeval far from the habitations of other men, and built a log hut. In the course of years applications began to reach the authorities of Lewiston from the settlement of Rungely for indemnity for relief furnished to the Bubiers. They were somemiles from that settlement, but as it was the nearest organized community they had obtained assistance from it, and such authorities as the place boasted of made application to Lewiston for indemnity. This thing went on for some years. Lewiston sent sometimes $100, sometimes §500, sometimes more and sometimes less, in a year to its far-off paupers, at the call of the selectmen of Kangely. Finally the Lewiston overseers of the poor concluded to investi gate the condition of the lost tribe and to bring such paupers as they felt called on to support to the fold at home, that is, to t he alms-house under their supervision.They set out for the northern woods in person. They reached the borders of civilization and passed the last lone hamlet, they followed a lumber trail until it diminished to a squirrel track and ran up a tree, and then, with thehelp of a guide who knew the Bubiers, they made their way into the forest primeval near Saddleback Mountain. Finally the huts and hovels of the Bubiers were reached, scattered about in the patches of cleared land which they had made. Here they found the effects of lodging in a vast wilderness. The vagrant family had increased and multiplied into several families, including over 50 persons, and was dwelling in abject poverty, utter ignorance and unconquerable sloth. The log houses were shabby, filthy and unprovided with any thing that could contribute to human comfort. One of them e«n sisted of two rooms, of which one wras occupied by a cow and the other by a man, his wife and five children. The cow had the best of it. There was no furniture except blocks and pieces of log, no clothing but shreds and patches, no provisions but a peck of potatoes, and the tilth and vermin were sickening. Other families were scarcely better off. But one person in the whole plantation could read, and he wouldn’t. Not a book or a scrap of printed paper was to be found in the place. None of the younger generation had ever been to the nearest town, and rumors of unsuccessful or successful war had never reached the place. Its denizens were profoundly ignorant of the world, and utterly devoid of either religion or morality. Virtue and decency were unknown. Whisky had never found its way into that retreat, but tobacco was the one luxury for which the people would make an effort.They obtained a precarious subsistence from such scanty crops as their lazy habits prompted them to obtain, and from the game of the forest andthe fish of Dead River. A few cedar shingles were the only product of industry which they ever sold, and for that they obtained chiefly tobacco. Men and women alike smoked their black pipes, and indulged in filth of language and of conduct; and in short the Bubiers, under the benign influence of nature and solitude, had relapsed into a barbarism more depressing than that of the savages that dwelt in those woods three centuries ago.Two of these families have been brought forth from the wilderness and lodged in the Lewiston alms-house, an I the rest are sadly in need of missionaries. The women who were brought awav showed that the better instincts of human nature were not dead within them. Their chief solicitude was lest their children should be taken from them, and they were glad when told that the neglected little ones would be sent to sehuol. We know of no more striking illustration of the effects of retiring to a ledge in some vast wilderness, or being placed beyond the influences of society, tiian is afforded by the sad effects upon the Bubier family of living a full generation and more in the wood* of Main*.
Newspaper Details
Bowling Green Review
Bowling Green, Indiana, US
Thu, Mar 29, 1877
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Audrey S.
USA 14 Feb 2021
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