Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-12-31
From the N. Y. Eun.
SALLY w AGES.

SALLY Wages.
By all accounts it was more than 8
century ago that Miss Sally Wages so
astenished the people of Danbury, Conn,
that they made the remark then, and
were given to frequent repetitions of it
afterward, that Sally Wages would have
made great stir in the world had been
man. Whether it was in 1879 or few
years earlier is not so certain as that it
was just as the pumpkin pie of Thanks
giving dinner had been eaten, and the
hickory nuts and hard cider were brought
from the pantry. It was while all the
company was at this dinner that Miss
Sally Wages said 3 thing to the people
that made the grandfather look very
stern, and the son go for his gun, and
the others, dozen of them old and
young, forget the heaviness that followed
their eating.
What Sally Wages then said, and
what she did for an hour or two there.
after, is story that has been told in the
old Scribner mansion on the Litchfeld
turnpike over the nuts and cider at
every Thanksgiving night since, and the
freshness and delight of it are always the
same. 1t was told tonight again, and
the faded coat that Sally Wages wore
was held up and reverentially touched,
as it has been on hundred or more an.
niversaries.
Now the wonder of it all seems to
have been that such damsel as this
young Sally Wages should have turned
such corner in her manner of life of q
sudden. For her character, or rather
her disposition, like her name, appears
to have been, up to the time she was
twenty years old, very fat. Moreover,
her father, old Timothy Wages, was of
no more account in the community than
to be regarded as Just the msn to dig
the graves for the dead, and toll the bell
for their funerals, and to touch off the
swivel at Kick Hill at suspicious mo.
ments. When he did not do these
things he seemed to make business OF
partaking of rum and hard cider, and ii
is said of him that there never was q
time that he did not have his failing,
because it appears in the old records of
the town that about the time when the
capture of Louisburg was celebrated he
went so much further than his com.
panions as to make merry On the Lords
day. This was more serious by far than
to be little merry on any other day,
and they sent him to the common jail
three weeks therefore.
So, by reason of her fathers business
and position, and perhaps because of his
name. Miss Sally Wages had nothing tc
commend her to anybody. And yet OF
all the girls of that day, there was none
who could milk a cow with her, mol
sooner find one that had strsyed into
the woods. This doubtless led Squire
Scribner to take her into his family as 8
help to his wife, and Mrs. Scribner used
to say that she was past dispute stupid
In her speech and brisk about her WORK
beyond comparison with any damse
thereabouts.
There happened to be at the Thanks
giving dinner at which Sally made the
revelation of herself, a young gentleman
who was regarded as man of parts, ane
especially worthy of consideration
because his father sent a brigantine tx
the West Indies from New Haven once
in while laden with goods and brought
her back laden with sugar and rum.
Thisyoung fellow was thought to have
addressed more than one missive tt
Squire Scribner's daughter Jerusha. A
all events, he was friendly to the family
and had tried his wit at a jest with
Sally, and came off sadly worsted
because she said nothing to him, bu
only looked at him with vacant stare
in her brown eyes.
He did not like being laughed at, fo
he had vowed, as jest, as he was com
ing home from the Thanksgiving sermon
that he would make Sally Wages So,
something that would astonish then
that day.
"Nioepence ha'penny to a sixpenc'
you fall" said the Squire.
cpl win that, and wear the silver al
token," said young Lathrop.
SO he said to Sally as she brought ,
pitcher of cider in and put it by the
'Squire's place:
"sally, what would you do If you wal
King George of England?"
She looked at him only, and the Others
smiled
"Sally," he continued, perhaps lit
tie irritated, would you 'troth yourself
to me- if | asked you?"
Not till you won me, she answered,
without seeming to be conscious of any
sharpness in the reply.
Sand how could win you?" he per-
severed.
"By lighting ten red coats at once"
Give me the chance and I'll do it,"