On this date about 130 years ago, Leander Eaton, Esq., of Canard was busy building an addition “to his already large and first-class barn.”

At the same time, E. and O. Chase of nearby Church Street were making extensive repairs on their farm where an “old barn is being raised to the same level as the new one.”

This informal, folksy news was reported in the June 10, 1891, issue of Kentville’s weekly newspaper, the Western Chronicle. In the same issue, the paper reported that horse racing would resume at the Kentville Driving Park, that there have been “fine catches of salmon” in weirs at Halls Harbour, where coincidentally, J. W. Thorpe is “making extensive repairs in his house.”

On a serious note, the paper advised the public that the steamer ferry Acadia was being withdrawn from service on the Minas Basin. Instead of the ferry, “passengers will be conveyed across on small vessels and boats.”

Kingsport was in the news at the time, the newspaper announcing the arrival at the port of the schooner Harold Borden. En route from Philadelphia, the schooner carried coal destined for Wolfville.

Kingsport being the terminus of the Cornwallis Valley Railway, the editor of the Western Chronicle opined that the port was destined to become “a summer resort of no mean proportions.” While it had only opened a year or so before (in 1889), the paper noted that the CVR already was bringing visitors to Kingsport, who “appreciated the scenery and the seaside breezes.”

A mixture of reports on community happenings and “hard news” (re the ferry closing down) was typical of weekly newspaper content of the time. Also typical were patent medicine ads – in the issues I looked at, this kind of ad was found on every page, all guaranteeing to relieve every common illness known to mankind.

As for business advertising, there’s only one word to describe most of them, and that’s “quaint.” For example, A. E. Calkin’s two-line ad stated simply that he “made a specialty of Amherst Boots and Shoes.” Another Calkin ad asked the public to “Wear our own make (of) Ready Made Clothing.” And J. Edgar Batton announced that he would “sell for the next 30 days, for cash, dry goods, boots and shoes at 10 percent discount.” His advertisement, along with Calkin and other merchants, was set in news type and inserted in community notes, a sneaky tactic supposedly guaranteeing more readership.

The Western Chronicle used this format, for news and ads, as long as it was being published. In 1930 the paper was purchased by the Kentville Publishing Company and within a couple of years was folded into The Advertiser. The latter paper’s lineage can be traced to 1892, the year it moved to Kentville from Wolfville, where it was called the New Star.

When I started in the sales department of The Advertiser in the late1950s, the paper was still carrying community news and patent medicine ads. Gone were the sneaky two and three-line ads that had been hidden in the community notes, as per the Western Chronicle. Otherwise, when both papers were published in Kentville, except for their names the Western Chronicle and The Advertiser were identical in format.

However, The Advertiser had the temerity to publish signed My Wife Having Left My Bed and Board advertisements, which stated that the scorned husband (who was named) would no longer be responsible for debts incurred by the departed spouse.

It is difficult to believe today that newspapers printed such hurtful notices. They were legally invalid, as the paper pointed out to anyone who placed them, but they were still accepted and published – well into the 1960s, as I recall. Newspaper ethics didn’t exist in Western Chronicle times or in the early days of The Advertiser.