Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-08-15
Misttllanecus.
JIM FISK, JR., AS A PEDDLER.
The Prince Of Erie Among the Green Mountains.

fanlllar with the name OF James L leh, ol.,
at this day when no chronicle of bulls and
bears is complete without him, when
every American retina carries an image OF
that rollicking, plump figure, and Saxon
physique, it is amusing to witness the sem
sation which this hero's notoriety has
caused among the dwellers in the rural
section of New England. In Vermont,
particularly, from South Vernon to derby
Line" there is not busy village, or
remote farmhouse, where this man is not
known-where those gay peddling wagons
and prancing horses are not matter OF
social history. Along quiet roads where
every hay cart was an event, past hillside
schoolhouses, where juveniles were scold-
ed for stretching their necks out windows
to investigate the movements of a nomad
COW or noisy wheelbarrow-in such To-
calties the advent of an ambitious chariot
luminous with varnish, and brave with
paint and gliding. drawn by quartette OF
mettlesome steeds, whose driver, favored
mortal. sat aloft, arrayed in all the glo-
ries of a city tailor, and from his eleva-
ton beamed down upon the gaping chill
dren distributing smiles, peanuts, and
peppcrmints in equal measure-this, ah,
this was an event worth notice, sensa-
ton second only to the arrival of the an
nual circus.
The writer recalls one buXom matron,
of a sturdy will, who harbored a sovereign
contempt for peddlers in general and for
these tlashy fellows in PARTICULAR
never let em step over my threshold, l
tell YOU - and the good woman shut her
lips as though she would never open them
again. But before the echoes had dis
missed her asseveration there was sound
of wheels, a flourish of whips, neighing
of horses, and Fisks carriage stops the
way. With Spartan front the matron
opens the door There is an apparition
of figure bowling Iowa face all smiles
the most affable of greetings. and be-
fore the good woman remembers to slam
the door she is back in the kitchen, and
the enemy is inside the beleaguered fort
ress. Once there and success is assured.
! 1t wasn't bad school for any man. Com
mon sense is coin current the world over,
and as a general rule man who can 60
up and down those Vermont hills, and
carry his point with those close Judging,
far sighted, farmers wives, can go any
where.
In this case, before she knows it, the
stranger has detected madam's vulnerable
point. Don't want to trade Bless you,
man, nobody asked you to trade! You
won't object to looking though, perhaps.
There's that pretty daughter of yours she
wants to see those silks now, I'll wager
anything" Here glance over his shoul-
der to where pair of black eyes are fixed
modestly upon some sewing. ''Now I've
got the iovliest pattern of blue silk! just
the thing for wedding dress" Eyes
cast down lower, and cheeks pinker than
ever. The mother looks grave, and
calculates "Pooh - ''Pooh. Of course,
my dear madam Fact is. you'er so young
Yourself. and it's such a little time since
YOU got through with your own wedding
dress, that you can't realize you've got
daughter old enough to need one. But,
| gracons how these children do grow
Yes, that blue silk, man, its just the
thing for Il wedding dress" Blushes
again. 80, you can't cheat me- Beside,
| Tom Aleck rode up the hill with me.
There Didn't tell you / knew9 Mrs.
Judge Mac just bought seventeen yards
off the same piece. OF course you don't
care for that, but you Just let me bring it
in to show you. Don't cost anything to
look, you know"
And, forthwith, that agile salesman
rushes out the door, leaps over the cat
and kittens asleep on the stone step,
whistles to the dog, cackles at the poultry
and, in a twinkling comes dancing back
under the lilac bushes, head and ears just
visible above pile of dry goods of every
sort 1t is needless to say that goodly
share of them adorned the matron's
kitchen table when the merchant left. 1t
was something to see, not to tell, the way
in which this man promenaded up and
down the tidy kitchen, gay shawl
thrown over his shoulders, flinging the
blue silk in ravishng folds across the lap
of the tIark-eyed daughter, ami even mold
ing up the draperies of II thick black lus-
terless against the skirt of the non-resist-
ant mother. For Mrs B. had long ere
this laid down her arms, surrendered at
discretion, and was no more to be ranked
among belligerent powers. And so the
pedler drove away in triumph, leaving the
chest still empty, and the blushing damsel
at liberty to dream of going to her own
wedding, attired in blue silk, seated in a
gay painted chariot. with the rolicking
vender, arrayed in crimson shawl and
officiating as parson. AS for the mother,
she surveys the bazar-like kitchen, sighs
as she closes the chest till, and Don't see
how upon earth the creeter did it,.
There wasn't shaded ''ribbon' road
any where among those hills where these
wagons did not penetrate. and Tor once
the orioles and yellow birds peered out
from the thicket at something gayer than
themselves. Where they went once they
were welcome to 60 again. Indeed, 1t
was not uncommon for II poor woman to
be trusted for her children's outfit until
they came the next time, and, to the cred
it of these men, be it said, they were new
er held to be hard paymasters. Probably
no one knew better than James Fisk, Jr.,
the value of small favor graciously be-
slowed The three -cornered remnant of
silk, valuehss in that great wagon, thrown
into the bargain, and serving to cover
buttons for the good wife's gown, or, bet
ter still, making Sunday neck-ties for the
boys to last until the peddler's next visit ;
such transactions as this were not without
their influence. They told then, they tell
now, and they will tell again if James
Fisk, Jr. ever aspres to run for President ;
and it is not unlikely that he may desire to
add this to his list of titles, and it is stated
ha now desires to do that of asdeacOn OF