From the Otsego Herald for Saturday, September 8, 1810 Compiled, with comments
BY HUGH C. MACDOUGALL
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE
The Trenton True American gives us an account of great progress in religion in Georgia, principally with the Baptists and Methodists, and among other good effects is mentioned its influence on the slaves, and on slaveholders in ameliorating the treatment of their servants. — The Columbian, Aug. 28.
COMMENT: A very large proportion of newspaper ``news’’ published in the Otsego Herald was in fact copied (usually, but not always, with credits) from other newspapers.
The Post Office at this time allowed newspaper publishers to exchange their papers with each other without paying any postage, thus encouraging the spread of information around the nation. The True American was a weekly in Trenton, New Jersey, and The Columbian was a daily paper in New York City. Both, like the Herald, were supporters of the Jefferson-Madison Republican Party.
FIRE IN CONSTANTINOPLE
Extract of a letter from an American at Constantinople to a gentleman in Boston, dated April 21, 1810.
Yesterday a fire broke out in Pera, one of the divisions of the suburbs, and to the N. and E. of Constantinople. It raged with the greatest degree of rapidity, and presented a truly terrific sight to the spectators.
At 11 o’clock it extended nearly a mile, and formed one continual flame; nor was any stop put to it until sunset, when some stone buildings stopped in some measure its rapid progress, and about midnight its ravages were nearly at an end. It is supposed that 30,000 are now in the fields, and burial grounds with the little they were able to snatch from the destructive element. It is supposed that about 8000 buildings were entirely consumed.
COMMENT: Pera is the name of that portion of Constantinople (today’s Istambul) on the European side of the Bosporus. The British traveler and politician John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869, First Baron Broughton), who was visiting the Ottoman Empire in 1810, wrote that: ``A fire which had burned down nearly the half of Pera, rendered it difficult to procure lodgings, but in three days we were settled at a house in the main street....
On the conflagration in Pera, just before our arrival, Sultan Mahmoud posted himself at Galata Serai.... He distributed, according to custom, several bags of piasters among the assisting populace. The householders are by no means gainers by this singular usage, which has often been the cause, and contributed to the continuance, of fires.... The Turks, who are very expert at pulling down the houses adjoining to those where the fire rages, often wait until the arrival of the Sultan ensures them payment for their exertions, and employ the interval in pillaging. The number of general fires in the capital and in the suburbs, cannot be rated at less than three annually.... The houses, of lath and unburnt brick, are soon rebuilt, and the inhabitants prepare by lodging all their valuables in a chest.’’
PLEASE, PLEASE, PAY UP!!!
NOTICE: All persons indebted to the Subscribers in sums which ought to have been paid, one, two, three or four years ago, are hereby requested to settle the same by the 1st day of October next.
Those who treat the above with neglect, will (of necessity) be put to cost immediately after that date. COOK & CORY. August 31, 1810.
COMMENT: The partnership and general store of Oliver Cory (1762-1858) and Seth Cook (1782-1819) was established in 1806, and would break up in 1811. The Partners had been trying to collect old debts for years.
AND ANOTHER ...
NOTICE! The Subscriber intends starting for New-York after his FALL AND WINTER GOODS, on the first of next month, (October) previous to which time, he earnestly requests all those whose engagements are expired, to pay the WHOLE or part of their accounts.
Columns
Otsego Herald: Merchants ask customers to pay up
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
Time to bring you up to date on Fly Creek’s happy clambering into Spring. First, the eatery scene. “Is Jerry’s open yet?” The answer is, “Oh, yes!” The porches are freshly stained; the lawns a uniform green, and the hop vines are already climbing the posts on the covered side deck. Blue and I went up there to lunch earlier this week, and I celebrated spring with my traditional bacon, onion and Swiss cheese hamburger. We two sat on the deck, enjoying the broad view and some spectacular clouds marching across, up toward Schuyler Lake.
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In These Otsego Hills: More from 1986 ...
This week we continue with the discussion of telephone service from the pre-dial days. On March 12 we noted that: “No one has yet produced a telephone directory from pre-dial days, but Doug Preston of New Hartford recalls that some business (which one?) in the village had the phone number 7.”
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Home Notes: Celebrations abound at the Thanksgiving Home
April was a month of celebrations and much to appreciate. We had a 90th birthday celebration for Wanda Noyes on April 4 including her family and friends. Personal care staff Dee Bouck worked with residents to hand paint Easter eggs for the tree in the activity room.
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In These Otsego Hills: 1986 continues ...
This week we continue our journey through the columns of 1986 with the answer to the question “for whom, according to tradition, was Hannah’s Hill named?”
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Book Notes: Baseball book features local contributors
Baseball is part of the nation’s fabric. Most kids have a memory of the game either from playing Little League, attending a major league contest or meeting a favorite player. In Cooperstown that feeling is magnified since we are the official home of baseball. We get to see firsthand what has made the sport the national pastime.
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From Fly Creek: Ya really wanna know?
SETTING: Fly Creek General Store. CAST: Assorted seated geezers, drinking coffee. [Door opens, enter heavy-set geezer; walking slowly with wide stance, maybe prostatitis.]
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In These Otsego Hills: Returning to 1986 ...
For the past several years now we have undertaken sharing some of the area’s oral history we have collected over the years that we have written this column. Therefore, this year, we would like to go back to 1986 to share that rather unusual year. Those who were here then no doubt remember that it was that year that the village celebrated the bicentennial of its founding.
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From Fly Creek: For reasons unknowable
[Jim’s reached back to 2002 to share one of his favorite columns.] My father was born as the last century began into a river village in tidewater Maryland. He told me once of a man there in his boyhood who, like so many, made a thin living tonging for oysters in the cold months and, in the hot and humid ones, crabbing and raising vegetables.
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In These Otsego Hills: CCS balancing act ... side two
Last week we shared a number of activities in which students at CCS can participate. We thought it was an impressive, if not overwhelming, list. And we are indeed pleased that the young people of our area have these opportunities. However, we think it is also important to keep in mind that these undertakings do have a cost associated with them. They are not free. In fact there are, no doubt, those who would say they do not come cheap.
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From Fly Creek: A graceful crowd
Make of this what you will, friends. I feel I’m really meant to share it with you. Despite good medication for my Parkinsonism, every four or five weeks I can sensethe symptoms building up on me, giving me more than ordinary trouble. Lately it’s been falls, and last week brought a typical one. I’d gone out to get the paper, moving along with penguin steps on the snowcoved ice patches, and usingmy spike-tipped cane the waya climber uses an ice axe. But circumstances overcame me. Parkinson’s wipes out the possibility of multi-tasking.
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In These Otsego Hills: This and that and the other side ...
We note that the CCS Class of 2012 is presenting its senior class play, “Snow White” by Tim Kelly, this week with performances 7:30 p.m Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30, and at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31. All performances will be at the Nicolas J. Sterling Auditorium at the Middle/High School.
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In These Otsego Hills: That green thing ...
Of late we have noticed that our email inbox has been much busier than usual. In fact, we find ourselves hard pressed to keep up with all the various messages we receive. As a result we suspect we have not answered some in as timely a fashion as might be thought appropriate.
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From Fly Creek: What you need to know
In their last Sunday’s bulletins, all 84 churches of Otsego County were to have carried announcements of an important meeting; most of them did. But because the announcement is so important, and not just to the churched, here it is again.
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Book Notes: Living the magic of ‘Hoosier’
A lot of people consider “Hoosiers” the best sports film of all time. The 1986 classic follows the exploits of a fictional small town Indiana high school basketball team in 1952 as it attempts to achieve the impossible dream of a state championship. The story is inspired by the true life achievement of the 1954 Milan team, who with an enrollment of only 161 students shocked big city power Muncie Central on a last second shot to win the state title. It’s the kind of sports story that represents something that is hard to grasp unless you live in a small town.
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In These Otsego Hills: The most perfect village... home to heavy industry?
We suspect we would get a whole lot more accomplished if we spent less time thinking, pondering and musing about things. In fact, there is a good possibility we might actually have completed our goal of cleaning the basement if we only focused on the task at hand, instead of trying to figure out the world around us. It almost makes us wonder if it is possible to think too much about things. We certainly hope not because should that be the case, we are in deep trouble.
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Up On Hawthorn Hill: The past in the present
Clichés abound about the value of photographs. Most are probably true at least to a certain extent. What I do know about an image is that it represents something of the past that is not the pastitself. But that is the power of any image. It represents something that once was. The beauty of an image, revisited, is that it functions as a catalystfor reliving in the present a past experience. My own view, one that I thank the Spanish writer Jorge Luis Borges for, is that all we ever can experience is the present.
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Home Notes: Workshops held for Thanksgiving Home residents
We welcomed Linda Keller, Ph.D. of the Bassett Research Institute and Ida Baker of NYCAMH who presented a six-week workshop for residents and staff.
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From Fly Creek: Late-winter hamlet news
Well, at least I’m “guessing” it’s late winter now — in the winter that wasn’t. But, if not snow, I can provide a flurry of Fly Creek news to share with you, scooping Associated Press, Reuter’s, and United Press International, not to mention all local news services except our General Store.
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In These Otsego Hills: Waiting for spring to have sprung ...
Difficult as it to believe, both January and February seem to have flown by and we find ourselves turning the calendar over to the month of March, which we have long thought is one of the more dreary months of the year. Of course, as in the pastthere are signs of spring as reflected by the tapping of the maple trees. For many years, the trees sprouted buckets to capture their all important sap. However, we now know to look for the sap collection lines that are strung from tree to tree.
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Book Notes: Kennedy: a unique individual
It’s been almost 50 years since the Kennedy assassination shocked the nation. Since then much has been written about President John F. Kennedy and whether he would have achieved his destiny (whatever that may have been) if he had lived. It is said he inspired young people in a way that has never been equaled. And there is the notion of Camelot, espoused by his widow Jackie, that there will never be a time of hope and promise like that again.
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
