It requires a certain amount of nerve to climb up a 52-foot flag pole and give it a necessary coat of paint, but it requires a whole lot of nerve to climb and paint a 52-foot flag pole when it is planted on a five-story building like the Falmouth Hotel, Portland. Numbers of people stood on Middle Street Friday noon, gazing upward watching the maneuvers of C.E. Lord as he worked on the flag pole of the Falmouth Hotel. He gave the pole its first coat of paint yesterday and made a second trip to the top Saturday to put on the finishing coat.

ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK – A Moncton dispatch says that 40 houses are quarantined at Grand Digue and vicinity, five miles from Shediac, on account of smallpox and the church there has been closed. There are a large number of cases of a mild type. No fatalities have yet been recorded.

50 years ago, 1958

AUGUSTA – Gov. Edmund S. Muskie has designated June 14 as Maine Hereford Day and praised beef cattle growers for stimulating the industry in Maine. He said the programs now underway mean a great deal towards developing herds of top quality animals for the nation’s market.

• Ten students of Bliss Business College will receive their degrees at the school’s commencement exercises Thursday evening. The seniors will hold an outing today at Bear Pond Park with the annual banquet scheduled for Wednesday at the Worster House, Hallowell. Prof. Brooks Quimby of Bates College will speak at the graduation at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Kate J. Anthony House.

25 years ago, 1983

AUGUSTA – Bruce Van Wagner will serve as chairman of the Whatever Week Kick-Off Dance scheduled for the Augusta Armory on June 24 at 7 p.m. The dance signals the beginning of an extended week filled with a variety of events leading up to the Great Kennebec River Whatever Race on July 3. The Kick-Off Dance, originated last year, features the selection of the Whatever Week Queen, who reigns over the week’s activities.