Joe Lincoln’s keen interest in anything having to do with the Cape was
expressed in the following letter to the editor of the Boston Traveler
on December 26, 1935, in which he wrote:
“The preserving of Cape Cod as Cape Cod is, in my opinion, a vitally
important subject for consideration by Cape people. We are adding to
our summer population each year. The great majority of the visitors to
our county have been attracted to it because of its simplicity, the
charm which is its own. There are thousands of seaside resorts, but
only one Cape Cod.
“It seems to me that every Cape Codder and lover of the Cape should
realize how important it is to save our towns and villages from
becoming mere copies of towns and villages elsewhere. We come to the
Cape in the summer to get away from all we remember and love Cape Cod
as it used to be, we love it as it now is. We do not want to be an
imitation of anything. An original is always better than a copy. And
this is not entirely a sentimental consideration.
“In my opinion for Cape Cod to lose its individuality would be very
disastrous from a business standpoint. Cape Cod all-the-year residents,
its shop-keepers and business men and hotel keepers, should, I am
convinced, do everything in their power to save the old buildings
and landmarks, to preserve the genuine Cape Cod flavor where it is
possible. They will profit materially by doing so, I am sure. I am a
Cape Codder born and bred, and even now I spend almost half of each
year on the Cape.
“I want to keep on doing so. My summer neighbors are, many of them,
importations--they came to the Cape almost casually, were attracted by
the charm and individuality I have mentioned, came again and again,
and, at last built homes here. And they are now as staunch lovers of
Barnstable County as the rest of us. They are the sort of people we
want here as summer residents; they bring their families here, they
spend their money here. If Cape Cod becomes something other than the
Cape Cod they know and love, they will continue to do none of those
things. So, when any movement is on foot to save and preserve the real
Cape Cod it should have the support of us all. Let’s get together
and work for that end. That the work will be worth working for I am
certain. This letter is longer than I meant it to be. I apologize for
the length but--well, you see, Cape Cod, its people, its welfare and
its future are pet subjects of mine.”
The removal of the oldest windmill on the Cape, a 300-year-old
structure at West Yarmouth, had set Joe Lincoln and the Cape Codders
thinking that it was about time for them to band together to save the
old landmarks of the Cape. The windmill which was bought by Henry Ford
was moved off the Cape to be added to his collection of Americana.
Joe Lincoln was appreciated by his neighbors in Massachusetts as
few other writers have been during their life time. On September 30,
1941, hundreds of his admirers attended a luncheon in his honor at the
Copley-Plaza and sponsored by the Boston Herald. The luncheon which
marked the publication of his book “The New Hope,” took place in the
ball room of the hotel with many noted speakers including his son
Freeman, Dr. Claude M. Fuess, headmaster of Phillips Andover Academy,
who was toastmaster, Governor Saltonstall, Mayor Maurice J. Tobin of
Boston, Alice Dixon Bond, Herald literary editor, and Joe Lincoln
himself. Dozens of other guests who attended made the list look like a
special edition of “Who’s Who”.
One of the interesting side lights which the affair brought out was
that the author himself did not have a complete set of his own books.
However, Harry M. Fletcher, head of The Traveler printing shop and
a rabid Lincoln fan and one of the first to make reservations for a
ticket to the luncheon disclosed that he had a complete set of Lincoln
books, something which few others on hand were able to boast.
According to newspaper reports of the affair the audience was as
typically New England as the characters Mr. Lincoln bequeathed in his
46 books since the publication of “Cape Cod Ballads” in 1902. Dr.
Fuess, the toastmaster, read congratulatory messages from the governors
of the other New England states and described Mr. Lincoln as “A prophet
not without honor in his own country.”
Personal tributes were extended by Governor Saltonstall on behalf of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Mayor Tobin for the city of
Boston. There was a table of Mr. Lincoln’s 1885 classmates at Williams
Grammar school in Chelsea, where the author edited a paper while in
school.
Freeman Lincoln, junior partner of his novelist father, made a
gracious speech which he concluded with delightful imaginations and
likened his “New England Conscience” to a game of bridge “before bridge
became blitzkrieg” in which the cautious player “reserved” his bid.
Lincoln told a number of amusing stories about the casual wit of New
Englanders and explained how he came to write about “Our People.” “When
I was a boy,” he said, “the favorite indoor sport in winter was talking
about the neighbors, so when I started to write I wrote about those
same neighbors.”
“Our casualness is salted with what we claim to be a special brand of
dry New England wit--a definite way of saying things.” And with that he
told a group of New England stories; one of the man in New Hampshire
running down hill because he was too lazy to hold back, another, of the
Vermont housewife whose husband hung himself before doing his chores,
and a tombstone on the grave of a prating wife which read “Quiet At
Last.”
Then in a serious vein he said, “It was so kind of the Boston Herald to
bring this group together. What can I say--nothing, I’m sure. I’ll try
to pack into two words what I am thinking and say from the bottom of my
heart, thank you.”
Governor Saltonstall said in part:
“The people of the Commonwealth--and I like to include myself among
them--read Mr. Lincoln’s books because he always writes a good story.
But that is only one reason. As we have grown older, we have realized
that a Joe Lincoln story has other and, perhaps, more important
qualities; an appreciation of the best and most enduring elements of
the New England way of life, an ability to find the good which is in
all of us. Mr. Lincoln, as you see, enjoys life, and he understands how
to pass that enjoyment on to his readers. Massachusetts has given a
great many writers to its reading public. But Joe Lincoln is the writer
who, more than any other, has given Massachusetts to its readers.”
Mayor Tobin entered a claim in his speech for Boston in the prestige of
the author, explaining that at one time Mr. Lincoln “was in business
in our city.” The Mayor urged Mr. Lincoln to “for our sake, please
continue to write your delightful stories, or we will be disappointed
if we are unable to find your books on the shelves of our libraries.”
Alice Dixon Bond, literary editor of The Herald, wound the titles of
Mr. Lincoln’s books into an engaging and cleverly concise story, which
can readily be followed by readers of Mr. Lincoln.
She said: “He has gone back to ‘Cape Cod Yesterdays’ and found ‘The
Ownley Inn’ in ‘Our Village’ which is situated near the ‘Rugged
Water’ of ‘Fair Harbor’. ‘All Alongshore’ you will find ‘Partners of
the Tide’, ‘Cap’n Eri’, ‘Mr. Pratt’, ‘Keziah Coffin’, ‘Galusha the
Magnificent’ and even ‘Queer Judson’.
“When ‘Storm Signals’ flew, ‘The Depot Master’ and ‘The Postmaster’
and sometimes ‘Dr. Nye’ would gather at ‘Cy Whittaker’s Place’, and
‘Mr. Pratt’s Patients’ would be left to the tender mercies of ‘Cap’n
Warren’s Ward’. ‘The Big Mogul’ of the town was ‘The Aristocratic
Miss Brewster’ although ‘Aunt Lavinia’ owned ‘The Old Home House’ and
considered everyone else ‘Back Numbers’.
“It was a town of political differences, of obstinacies and
generosities, of strong loyalties and clannish insularity. ‘The
Rise of Roscoe Paine’ was attributed by some to ‘The Peel Trait’ of
perseverance but others thought it due to ‘Thankful’s Inheritance’,
which was so helpful in ‘Extricating Obadiah’ from the clutches of ‘A
Hall & Company’ and the machinations of ‘The Portygee’.
“When Christmas day drew near and the great ‘Head Tide’ could be seen
full and deep ‘Out of the Fog’, ‘Silas Bradford’s Boy’, who lived in
‘Blair Attic’ would walk with ‘Cap’n Dan’s Daughter’ along the curving
shore, letting their fresh young voices soar above the pounding surf in
old ‘Cape Cod Ballads’ or ‘Rhymes of the Old Cape’. He called her his
‘Storm Girl’, but when the wind was ‘Blowing Clear’ they would drop in
at ‘The Managers’ who were known as ‘The Woman Haters’, and there with
‘Shavings’ on the floor and ‘Kent Knowles, Quahaug’--he got his name
because of his trade--to join them, they would plan their future, full
of ‘The New Hope’ which the world needs so much.”
=Transcriber’s Notes=
Perceived typographical errors have been silently corrected.