PATTEN, April 1-The most im- portant real estate transaction to take place in Patten in years occurred last week when Robert Adams and Lowell Barter, in business with the firm name of Patten Hardware company, bought the general store business of Henry C Rowe and the building which houses it.

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Important as the sale is, it is overshadowed to the citizens of Patten at least, by the news that Mr. Rowe is retiring from active business life. If the term "genera- tion" can be used to mean a span of 30 years, then it can be said of Mr. Rowe that he has been serv- ing the people of Patten and its surrounding towns for over two generations. Which must be a record for any part of the country.

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When a boy twelve years old, he entered the employ of the late Rivers Mitchell, who was conducting a general store here at the time. Laws regarding child labor and working hours were unheard of at that time, sixty-six years ago, but Mr. Mitchell was a man who lived by the Golden Rule and he paid his new employee good wages: $10 per month! Both employer and employee must have been well satisfied for Mr. Rowe stayed until Mr. Mitchell went out of business ten years later. Then, after being in Massachusetts for one winter, he returned to Patten and entered the employ of Calvin Bradford. When Mr. Bradford sold the business to George T. Merrill, Mr. Rowe continued his employment in the store, staying there eight years in all.

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When he became a proprietor in his own right, it was as a partner in the firm of Quincy, Cooper and Rowe, the other partners in the company being George W: Cooper and Charles Quincy. This firm bought out George Merrill and carried on the business for a number of years until Mr. Cooper sold his interests to his partners and moved to the Pacific coast.

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The store was completely destroyed by fire together with all its contents in the big fire of April 1917 which burned all the buildings on the east side of Main street from School street to the Robinson block, now occupied by Patten Grocery company.

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The new building was built the following summer and Quincy and Rowe carried on their business un- til Mr. Quincy's death in 1920. At that time Mr. Rowe bought out Mr. Quincy's heirs and has since continued in the business.

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A volume could be written on the changes Mr. Rowe has seen in his 66 years of business life, the progress that has been made in manufacturing alone would read a Jules Verne novel. The changes in women's wear would be a fascinating story but perhaps for the greatest change of all, one I would have to look to the method of transportation. When Mr. Rowe began his career as a clerk, all goods were hauled from Mattawamkeag by tote-team. The European, North American railway was giving service to that section but it was so new the novelty had not yet worn off and the Bangor and Aroostook was still ten years in the future, with the Patten and Sherman branch line not to come into existence for sixteen years. Though he is in his 79th year Mr. Rowe is not retiring because of advanced years nor ill health. And when one meets and talks with him for a few minutes and thinks of the length of time he has been in business, of the depressions and boom times he has seen and weathered, it somehow gives strength and courage to face the future, knowing that so long as our country can produce men like him it is safe.

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Mr. Rowe married Miss Alice Waters of this town and they are one of the golden wedding couples of which Patten is so proud, hav- ing been married for 57 years. Though not interested in public office, Mr. Rowe has always taken an active part in the civic life of the town and has always actively supported every movement for its improvement. He was the first president of Katahdin Trust company and is still a member of its board of trustees. He is a member of the board of trustees and treasurer of Patten academy, and has been a member of the board of trustees of Patten Mem- orial Library since its organization. Few men can be in business as long as Mr. Rowe has been, and still fewer can retire with so many friends, whose good wishes for continued health and length of days follow him into his retirement.