“Did you ever notice the left eared people right here in Lewiston?” asked a traveling man the other day. The interrogated party was at a loss to know what his questioner was driving at, but the commercial man explained himself. He said: “In speaking of left-eared people, I mean people who can hear better with the left ear than the right ear. How many people do you see place the telephone receiver to their right ear? It’s strange but it’s a fact that 9 out of every 10 who use a telephone, hold the receiver to the left ear, and some find it impossible to hear over a phone through their right ear. The fact that the majority of men and women are right-handed and that the constructors of the first telephone took the due notice of this is responsible for this new condition of left-eared people. Watch a telephone for half a day and it will be seen that almost every person that uses that instrument will place the receiver to the left ear. Or even if the instrument is resting on a table the left ear will be the one used.”

50 Years Ago, 1954

Miss Ann Poulin, 13, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lucien Poulin of 28 Horton St., will serve as Lewiston “mayor” during the annual Youth Week sponsored by Lewiston Junior Chamber of Commerce. An eighth-grade student at St. Peter’s School, Mill Poulin was elected by a group of 28 youngsters between the ages of 11 and 14 years, representing all of Lewiston’s elementary schools. The names of all the youthful city officials were announced by Raymond Thibault of the Junior Chamber at Friend’s Hall for an inaugural banquet. Lewiston Mayor Ernest Malenfant will address the youngster’s following the banquet.

25 Years Ago, 1979

The first day of operation for 1979 at the Sandy River Railroad Park, the restoration program sponsored by Phillips Historical Society, was held. The workers reported that few passengers were on hand although the train made several runs to make sure it was operating satisfactorily. Wesley Spear, a mechanic who is responsible for the construction of the replica of the No. 4 SR and RL engine and most of the park’s other reproductions, discovered after the initial run of the locomotive that rust had closed the fuel line. The ingenuity of Spear soon had this difficulty overcome and the engine now runs efficiently.