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NALE Ethelda Stoddard Richardson Page 1
TOPIC Study of Folklore in Franklin Coun ty
Shelburne Falls has always been the hone of healthy people
at least a large number of its men and women lived to be very- old.
Lany of them passed the century mark. The Smith family, long-
reeidents of this town, are examples. The SEith name appears
early- in the records of the town. They were originally of English
ancestry but long residence in New England made them part of the group
of individuals known as Yainkees. Beginning as mill workers as so
many English did, the Smith's, as time went on, were clever enough
to est blish a manufacturing busisftbs or their own and the grand-
father and great grandfather of the character we are tow,aescrioe
were the "go-getters" of the line. They made money enough to take
care of their families, which were large considering the number -4*
Smiths in town at one timelorid there was money left for the next:
two or three generations. This apparently would tend to aet "Gus"
4rnith and Luther Smith, his son, apart from any discussion of
"hill -billies". With money one may oe eccentric and the people
may talk, there remains a certain deference towards one's money
which glosses over characteristics which in a poor person would
make one definitely a "hick." In the cases of "Gus" and Luther
we must forget the money. They did. Either that or they were
shrewd enough not to mention it and people had to ,,udge that they
had money oecause their folks had it and thei evidently didn't
make themselves rich because they never worked. At least "Gus"
Smith never worked. "Fat Gus" could be seen walking the streets
almost any time. It may have been in a vain attempt to reduce
NAYE Ethelda Stoddard Richardson Page 2
TOPIC Study of kolklore in Franklin County
but it was likely that he had little else to do. One fact about
Gus that caused considerable humorous comment was the fact he wore
corsets to keep his abnormally large figure in some manageable
shape. It didn't matter to Gus that all the corsets did was to
drive his at from around his wast and distribute it above and
below the lines of the corsets. Ee bulged under his chin so that
he couldn't see the ground, within several feet of himself. Gus
was satisfied tho. He had taken the advice of friends and relatives
and wore the corsets and. was secure in the knowledge he "cut quite
a figger." Gus and Mrs. Smith both lived to be almost a hundred
years old before they died. Lrs. Smith was distinguished because
of her pure white hair. They had several children and two of them,
a daughter who is a nurse and Luther a son are still living on the
land the Smiths have always owned. Luther Smith is now eighty
years old and his sister is still caring for him aS she ha since
since
their folks died. he is in very poor health now having a compli-
cation of illnesses including a serious heart .ailment.
Despite the fact that there was money- in the family and that
Luther was given a college education he never was and has never been
more than a hill billy. He was character when he went to college,
supposedly to study dentistry and his extreme individualism has
only increased with his years. He explains, "Ma fengers were too
long to centinue on to De a dentist and nif the truth was knowna
didn't want ta be one anyway." .The reason Luther didn't finish
his studies was because of incurable fits.
great many townspeople in
NAIE Ethelda Stoddard Richardson Page 3
TOPIC Study of Folklore in Franklin County
the course of Luther's life and•progress around Shelburne Falls
have had to minister to him when he was "taken sudden". Luther
is a great inventor according to him but a number of his in-
ventions have almost been hie undoing. He was mowing the church
lawn one Jay, with a scythe he had made epecially himself and had
one of his "fits". He didn't relinquish his hold on the scythe and
nearly slashed himself to ribbons before he could be helped. It
finally took five men to get the scythe away from him and give him
treatment.
Before going into Luther's inventions an attempt must be made to
give la description of him. He is extremely tall and very slim.
When he walks he takee long, slow strides, head down and bent for-
ward and his hands are chasped tightly behind his back. Whatever
emotion he may feel, his face always registers thotfulness. His
expression %oula convey to anyone who might see for the first time
an idea that he was profoundly interested in some deep problem. To
talk to him is a different matter and one experiences the same feeling
of shock as when one hears a beautiful child use profanity. Luther
has only one eye. The other wae lost in a quarry explosion. An
old fellow who was zorking in another section of the quarry has a
wholesame disrespect for Luther's expirimente and Ihhen approached
concerning the incident of the quarry blast he voiced his sentiments
in no uncertain tersm. "By darn, yes awas theyah, but we none uv us
came out uv thet place with mor'n our skins. Lucky ta hey themi
NA LE Ethelda Stoddard Richardson Page 4
TOPIC Study of Folklore in Franklin County
Thet tarnal fool put anuff powder in thet hole that he was putterinl
aroun' with ta plow us all ta kingdom come. You know where thet
ol' quarry is dontcha? Wall its across the river on the Buckland
side. *Lute" owned the quarry soa guess he could do 'bouts he
pleased with it but hed we knowed he want up to his business with
thet explodin' powder we sure wount hey been settin, an' standing
'round theyah like ninnies, Waal 'twas funny ta think uv aftawerds.
Lute never was one ta wait 'round fer somethin' ta happen gradual
like. If'n it didn't come right along 'bouts quick as he thot it hed
ought ta he'd hey a coniption. As a remember he. was lookin' ta get
out a piece a rock ta use in some of his fool inventions. Waal the
rock came out fine but it blew Lutes eye out in the proceedinsl.
'Sa wonder it dilnt blow him clearn up onta Prospect laoun'n (Mountain)
an us along fer
et least he hed
company. Ya-uhl Lute hed to
one made attar thet business
dint fit some ways fer he never wore it none
wear a glass eye er
but it must uv hurt
ta speak uv."
him
Luther was an enthusiastic ice skater too and every year up
until this last year or so he has gone skating on the Beerfield
River from the cutlery mills dam, back under the two bridges the
regular highway bridge and the old trolley car bridge now called
the Bridge of Flowers. He delighted in the sport and was quite a
show off tith his absurd "fancy akating" before his "limbs" gave
him trouble. It is difficult to control him now for like so many
of these "tough" old Yankees he believes sickness is a sign of
Weakness and he hates to admit. he knows he could very well Oe
NAME Ethelda Stoddard Richardson Page 5
TOPIC Study of Folklore in Franklin County
out skating or puttering around in his old "work shop". Luther
even made himself a pair of old fashioned skates. He has allowed
a young fellow to use them when he wasn't able to Jut the boy is
a prime favorite of his. Yost of the young joys are "smart fry
to Luther because few of the town joys haven't laughed at him or
had amusement at his expense. The last time Luther went skating
before he was taken ill he .fell into the river. The ice was thin
under the trolley bridge and Luther wasn't taking advice so conse-
quently his young friend, who happened to be with him that day had
to pull him out and take him home. The episode didn't dampen Luther's
enthusiasm for the sport and if his- spirit holds out he may go skating
ag in before he dies.
The inventions that are Luther's are not his life work not his
living as he would like to have anyone believe. They might be called
his hobby altho he does no other work. If Luther had depended on his
inventions to bring him food and shelter he would long ago have faced
starvation and freezing. Some trees on Luther's property were dying
because some type of borer inseat had worked into the foot of the
trunk. He was much impressed and spent hours trying to make a wax
that would seal in those borers already in the tree and smother them
and at the same time keep other borers out. The wax didn't exactly
do that out it did work fairly successfully as a grafting wax. Luther
wasn't interested in that possiblity so the wax was put aside for
other "work".
NAME Ethelda Stoddard Richardson Page 6
TOPIC Study of Folklore in Fraaklin County
Lather had a cider press at one time. He became disatisfied
with the ordinary machanism of the affair and decided he wanted an
automatic press. Finally he set up one with an endless chain of
suck cloth that folded the apples into the cloth and pressed them.
The cider came out but the process was slower than the old press. It
worked out it never paid and Luther didn't mind because all he wanted
was that his press would be .automatic and he had accomplished his pur-
pose. Saws were another of the lines into which he went. He liked to
make saw blades for cutting intricate figures from wood such as the small'
figures for lawn decoration. They too worked if no pressure was exerted
on them. Each worker had to have a .stack of spare blades for one piece o
of work to allow for the breakage. Luther tried to organize a class
of boys to make the wood carvings with his saws but the boys couldn't
afford to buy all the clades they needed and the class never went
very far. There is also a machine to sharpen lawn mowers to Luther's
credit. If it had a contrivance to fasten it to make it stationery
the machine would work well. As it is parts of the lawn mower blades
are sharpened very sharp and other parts aon't get touched. The result
is that when one starts to mow the grass some of it clipped very close
and some of it bends around the blade. Luther thot so much of this
invention that he had it mounted and made into a trailer affair which
he dragged behind his ancient Essex from place to place in Shelburne Falls
.Curiosity on the part of most of his customers gave him his first work
but the steady employment with his machine died off after that.
NAVE Ethelau Stoddard Richardson Page 7
TOPIC Study of Folklore in Franklin County
People watched Luther's work, immensely amused because they knew
altho he had the ideas he lacked the capacity to carry them thru to
complete success and his- efforts were not made for any definite bene-
fit to mankind. When an invention failed, he had neither the will
nor the ability to start again and find the fault or faluts with the
idea and perfect it with an idea to ultimate success. When his inven-
tion didn't work it was cast.. aside and soon a new and as useless one
took its place. Had he possessed the spark of love for humanity he
might have invented less but perfected some one thing for the good
of other people. iomeone with an eye to this need'thot that if he
were put on a new line and given a new idea of the needs of science
he might accidentally stumble onto some truth that would prove valuable
at least to other workers so they gave hin an old spy glass. It was
a powerful glass and mounted on a tripod. Well, instead of using it
to study and gain new ideas, Luther went on a vacation --with it‘, Hi
stopped all work and began a long tour-of:the town.--Carrying_the,
tripod under his arm and wherever he want he soon became a •familiar
sight. he carried that unwieldly contrivance around like an ordinary
man might carry an umbrella. If he met an acquaintance or a perfect
stranger he Japped them. If a person were in a hurry they dared not
speak to Luther.
lhs object of Luther's interest and the re Lon he stopped every-
-one he met was to have them look thru his spy glass at the Fire Tower
on Lassamet or old Bald Yountain the highest elevation in Shelburne
NAWE Ethelda Stoddard Richardson Page 8
TOPIC Study of Folklore in Franklin County
Falls. People say it did bring the tower very near out to Luther
it WaS amazing. Be had to share this wonder with every person in
the town and he did his Pest to contact them all by taking his tripod
on to every street and finding every vantage point too look at the
tower. This went on until people avoided him and his only spectators
were a noisy group of children, who delighted in his oaaities. They
cuarrelled with one another .to look thru Lutherls spy glass until
Luther himself oecame incapable of coping with the situation and
retired again to his inventing.
He had. a small cutlery in which he made innumeraole small gadgets
which had very little use. He made axe handles which he shaved out by
hand and which were fine if they didn't shatter in the hands of a -wood
chopper at a good hard blow. His last big deed was putting a cement
furnace in a newly built house. He conceived the idea that the furnace
could Pe built of cement at the same time the house cement was put in
and instructed the workers to ouild this way. When the house was
finished and a fire was built, the furnace smoked so furiously that
it was impossiole to remain in the place. The outcome of it was that
a whole section of the house had to be torn down and a regular furnace
installed. It was a costly "invention" to say the least.
Luther Smith may not live
to but he has numerous serious
'until he dies. However he has
to invent anything more.
tie would like
illnesses now which may keep him down
L,iven the town material enough for
gossip and conversation so that his name may live for years. His ideas
may not have been useful in themselves but wht other people think and
say about them has proven to oe of some oehefit. he liklE and is a product
of Shelourne Falls and somehow representative of it.