• Over 80 lanterns were counted by an Auburn man up at Lapham Brook the other evening. When there are usually three men to a lantern, it can readily be seen that the smelt fishers are turning out this year in large numbers.

• On Friday, May 1, the Auburn schools will hold a Music Festival at Auburn Hall and for this the pupils have long been working under the leadership of N. L. Mower, the musical director in the public schools of that city. These festivals are held to create interest in music in the schools, and it does assist in the regular work for the pupils are much more interested and will work harder when they have an aim of this kind to view.

50 years ago, 1958

AUGUSTA – May will be a statewide Clean-up Month, according to a proclamation by Gov. Edmund S. Muskie. The program is sponsored by the Maine Municipal Association which is calling upon all city and state officers to take the initiative in making Maine more attractive.

• Maine Liquor Commission stores and its licensees will continue on Eastern Standard Time after daylight time goes into effect on Sunday. The commission is required by law to remain on standard time, and this will allow the sale of liquor one hour later every night except Sunday when no sales are permitted.

25 years ago, 1983

MANCHESTER – Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov wrote to 10-year-old Samantha Smith to pledge that the Soviet Union would never start a nuclear war, but she said Monday the part she liked best was where he compared her to a character in a Mark Twain novel.

Andropov, in a 2½-page response to a much-publicized letter he received from the Manchester schoolgirl, invited her to visit Russia and said he judged her to be a “courageous and honest” girl who reminded him of Becky Thatcher in “Tom Sawyer.”

Samantha said she took that as a compliment and proof that Andropov is not as grim a man as she had imagined. She said the tone of the letter was like that of “a letter from a friend.”