Words from old Argus-Champion newspaper

Coincidental with the recent report that the Argus-Champion newspaper was closing up shop, I found two old, yellowed newspaper clippings. One was the Claremont Advocate, dated Thursday, April 11, 1940; the other the Argus and Spectator, dated Friday, Dec. 19, 1916. I believe these are older versions of the Argus-Champion.

Both articles were about my grandfather, Lemuel R. Barton, a resident of Newport, where he raised his 20 children.

He lived off his farm, the Sugar River Maple Farm. Grandfather was a stoic Yankee whose life was strictly defined in his own terms and built on the foundation of home and family.
In these interviews he said:

"If business would stop complaining about government and get together, like my hens on the farm and start scratching for themselves, we would be a lot better off."

And: "People today are depending too much on what they can get from the government. Silly isn't it when they have to turn around and pay it back in taxes. It is destroying our sense of independence and initiative."

Jane Cate
Contoocook

YOU read this week by host Arnie Arnesen