100 Years Ago: 1924

A man named Collins has an article on Governor Baxter in the Woman’s Home Companion which is well worth reading. Mr. Collins says that the Governor is a “character” which may or may not be taken as a compliment according to the way you look at it.

50 Years Ago: 1974

Twelve persons fled to safety early this morning from a three alarm blaze which heavily damaged a rooming house at High and Drummond Streets, Auburn.

Firefighters from Lewiston and Auburn and surrounding towns battled the blaze and three were injured as they sought to save the 60 High St., building owned by Mr. and Mrs. Martin Schulze.

25 Years Ago: 1999

Comedian Tim Sample dropped his trademark twang and took to the role of teacher Wednesday morning at the Dixfield Middle School, leading workshops on the art of storytelling to enthralled eighth-graders.

“I think it was pretty cool,” said Katie Bradeen, who was able to read her story aloud for Sample. “It’s not every day you get to meet a celebrity.”

“Plus, I get to make my dad jealous because he’s a big fan.”

Sample — a Maine humorist and regular contributor to the CBS television show “Sunday Morning” on facets of Maine life — led classes of Tania Clark’s eighth-grade language arts students. His visit was made possible through a grant from the Libra Foundation.

When Clark got word of Sample’s visit, she said she began students on a writing project on storytelling so they’d have something to share with the entertainer. He listened to those willing to share.

Eighth-grader Katie Brandeen read her own story about her father slaughtering pigs on the front yard. The tale drew laughter and shock value.

“It was funny in a sort of bizarrely tragic way,” Sample said. “A lot of storytelling is, ‘Don’t try this at home.'”

He also enjoyed Kate Guadet’s story of her great-uncles pulling off the tail of a calf and gluing it back on with a flour and water concoction so their mom wouldn’t notice. “It’s wacky; it’s like a ‘I Love Lucy’ episode,” he said.

“I think it helped kind of validate that they were good writers,” Clark said later. “When he told them they were good, they believed it.”

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.