MAINE AFLAME
One of the younger-old-men sat in the warm country store one evening and his mind was farther away than the stars. He was asked by several different people what the problem was and he gave the same answer every time, �Can�t talk about it.�
As the evening wore on he became more and more depressed, but good Maine neighbors are not ones to pry into somebody else�s deepest thoughts. Finally it was close to closing time and the depressed one said out in a loud clear voice, �I did it. It�s all my fault.�
Nobody else said anything so I asked him, �What did you do?�
He looked at me with eyes that were anything but happy and his face was as solemn as the four faces that were being sculptured into Mount Rushmore.
�As you all well know last year was 1938. I own a cabin just outside Ellsworth and I had gone there to do some trapping. I�m sure you�ll all remember how cold it was last year, remember, it went down past fifty degrees below zero. How much farther down it went I don't know, but I do know I never seen it so cold.�
Every head shook in the affirmative, even mine.
�The first day I was in camp I knew I had to find some game for food so I went out hunting. I saw a big buck and fired at him. It was so cold the bullet just froze in the air. I walked over to the thickets and hoping I could scare out a partridge or a pheasant so I yelled at the top of my lungs. It was so cold all the words froze in my mouth and I couldn�t scare out a thing.�
I don�t know why but about now I figured he might be really enhancing the story.
He continued, �I went back to my cabin to get warm and
just before bed time I had to go to the outhouse. I stepped out of the
cabin into the dark and stepped on a skunk. It was so cold he tried
to squirt me but his stink just froze in the cold air. I nearly froze
as I finished what I had to do and went back to bed to get warm. Sometime
during the it got so cold the flame in my lamp froze and the next morning,
without even thinking about the consequences, I picked off the frozen
flame and threw it out doors. In the spring of this year, when that
flame thawed out, it started the fire 
that burned down half of the state of Maine. I didn�t mean to do it,
I guess I was just plain careless."
| South Lubec not only had SPECIAL DAYS it also had a very unique WINTER RATING SYSTEM. |  |
| 1. | At 60 above when foreign states were turning on the heat, we were planting gardens. |
| 2. | At 50 whan southerners shivered, we sunbathed. |
| 3. | At 40 when most cars wouldn't start, we drove with our windows down. |
| 4. | At 32 distilled water froze and Moosehead Lake got a little thicker. |
| 5. | At 20 southerners wore thermal underwear, gloves, and woolly hats, and we wore a flannel shirt. |
| 6. | At 10 southerners stayed inside and we had our last cook-out before it got cold. |
| 7. | At 0 people in Miami froze to death and we licked flagpoles to cool our tongues. |
| 8. | At 20 below Californians drove to Mexico and we got out our winter coats. |
| 9. | At 80 below Mt. St. Helen freezes and we postponed "Winter Survival" classes until it gets cold. |
| 10. | At 100 below Santa Claus abandoned the North Pole and our cows complained about farmers with cold hands. |
| 11. | At 110 below we always asked our neighbor," Cold 'nuff for ya?" |
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