One of the sights of the fair happened the other day in the grand stand when a large middle-aged lady attempted to make her way down one of the flights of stairs just as a popcorn boy tried to come up the same place. They met, and the boy was the vanquished. Together they rolled down the steep stairs, first he on top, then she. When they came to a standstill both picked themselves up. The boy looked at his scattered wares and remarked “what’d you do that for?” in a most matter of fact voice. The lady, apparently unhurt, answered nothing, but hurried off.

50 years ago, 1958

One of the main reasons that Paragon Glass Works Inc. will move to Lewiston is that the locally manufactured gas and water are “perfect” for its glass-blowing units, it was reported yesterday by Lewiston Industrial Development Director Samuel Michael. He quoted Paragon president Angelo Paione as saying the natural gas in New Jersey did not produce a hot enough flame.

Tests conducted last May at Lewiston Gas Light Co. revealed that both the gas and the water quality locally were far superior. Paragon will move into the industrial venture building under construction.

25 years ago, 1983

If you have a bunch of Bates College numbers in your little black book, you can throw them all away. Bates College has a new phone system: a Dimension 400 phone system, to be precise. The system was installed this summer by New England Telephone Co. It features such options as the ability to transfer calls anywhere on campus, automatic callback functions and the ability to automatically route calls through the most economical channels.

It also involved giving new numbers to most of the phones on campus.

“This will be a big help to people calling us,” Jim Weston, Bates business manager, said. Though Weston was unable to say how much the system cost to install, he did say it will probably cost about $5,000 a month more than the old system to run.

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