Bicentennial Parade - Watatic Grange Float
New Ipswich Historical Society
New Ipswich Bicentennial Parade - Watatic Grange. Driver George Standley, Eva Preston, William E. Preston, Lila Luhtala, Louise Briggs, Winifred Harty
William Jurian Kaula diary
Last November entry for today, none for November 30th. Starting with December entries. Almost back in sync.
29 Nov 1897
Logan is back from Venice. He said that it is very cold there and some snow. I never can associate snow with Venice but they have as much or more there than in Paris. Logan has not painted much and spent most of his time in travelling through Italy besides to Munich and Switzerland. Miss Dunlop (Anna Mercer Dunlop) left Paris for America this morning. Her home is in Petersburg, Virginia. She carried several of my water-colors that were painted at Crécy and she has hopes of disposing of them. Cartwright and I are suffering from poverty since we furnished the studio and we are making a great study of economy for the rest of the year. Old clothes and delapitated [sic] shoes are so common among the students that no one notices or makes any comments. It is fortunate for me that it does not rain owing to the ventilation around my feet. Adolphe and Shepard have about the least amount of money to live on of any of the boys - they never come to the restaurant at Creuset's as they cook their own meals at an average of only eight cents a meal. Adolphe says that he has something different to eat for every day of the week. When I saw him he seemed to be dressed in a somewhat striking fashion and with clothes I had never seen. He let me into the secret of how he painted a portrait of a dead man from a photograph and the widow donated the clothes of her husband in return. Adolphe looked like a sport with a shirt bosom of huge horizontal bars and a long coat. I hope that these two fellows will not be sick in Paris as it would go hard with them. They both study at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts where the tuition is free.
Felix McKenna called at our studio this afternoon. He is another man who lives on very little money. McKenna is one of the most amusing fellows among the boys at the American Club. He has a great reputation of being very kind and obliging to the new arrivals and I shall not forget his kindness to me a year ago. McKenna is always full of gossip about the management of the club and takes an active interest in every dispute of the day. He told us about a fellow from New York who "knew all about it" and had never heard of Haverhill and thought that it must be only a village. This same New Yorker was "bunkered" out of 250 francs by two American sharpers on the Avenue del' Opera a few days ago.
D'Orisy, the Frenchman comes to our studio often after dark - when we prefer our visitors so as not to interrupt work. He had an invitation to go to the opera and was going to refuse because he did not have the proper clothes to wear. He wears huge baggy trousers that swell out at the hips like a balloon and taper in tight around the ankles. His hair is cut in the style of Botticelli (as he calls it). He is a sculptor but never seems to be at work. No one ever saw him eat as he is always around at meal times and always refuses to dine. "Are you not going to have some supper", said Glover one day. "No, I had a three-franc déjeuner this noon," he replied. D'Orisy knows everything about French literature and writes verses for some periodicals once in awhile and read some of his contributions of the "Gil Blas."
1 Dec 1897
There are hundreds of new arrivals among the Americans in Paris. The Club is full of them - they are easy to distinguish by their clothes and American shoes. I don't enjoy going to the club now since the effect has been made to make it a more social affair. Rodman Wannamaker has donated and subscribed much useful money in putting the club on a good financial basis. There are now two distinct classes of students (Americans) in Paris, those that belong to the club, and those that do not. The place now seems to attract only the newcomers, the architects, and those who have lots of spare time to kill. The quarters are splendid but it is far from being an artistic place in spite of the profession which the men follow. The whole trouble seems to be that the management is composed of men who are only half-artists. No one could object to an occasional reception or a "Soiree Musicale" but the idea of a ladies' night and dance every Saturday evening has too much of the full-dress flavor for the majority of fellows who are over here to study. Amusements are plentiful and cheap in Paris, the boys only want a place to go and be comfortable, to read, to write, or to smoke when work is done. Let the Women's Club have their dances and their afternoon teas - those who want such things can go there.
On this day - December 15, 1908
James Roger diary entry
15th (Tuesday)
Cloudy morning mild day with west to SW wind. Snow melting sleighing very poor. David logging with E.O.C. Wheeler for Shirland from Steve Wheeler’s to Watermill. Meeting (Social & Literary) at Parsonage tonight. Mr. Peacock and Dixon Wheeler got Xmas trees today. Party at Parsonage tonight. Literary program “Nature of Man”.
Camilie Piper became Camilie Twiss and last I knew (2016), was the treasurer for the Watatic Grange. Her husband was my neighbor and big brother protecting me from the bullies at school.
What does 'P of H" on the above float stand for? Where are Lila, Louise, and Winifred? George Standley, the driver, was Camilie's Piper's stepfather and husband of Emily, the woman I worked with at Tricnit who was a 'turner'. He was also our 'fishman'. He drove to Boston in the early AM and brought back fresh fish to New Ipswich delivered fish to a number of households. William E. Preston was around 80 at the time of Bicentennial and died a yr after this. His wife Eva lived with us for a while and then went into a nursing home. She was fascinated with television and would look behind our TV to see where the picture was coming from. I think my sister Eva was named after her.