Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-01-01
From the N. Y. Gun.
SALLY Wages.

By all accounts it WAS more than s
century ago that Miss Sally Wages sc
astonished the people of Danbury, Conn.
that they made the remark then, and
were given TO frequent repetitions Of il
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 az that il
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. 1t WAS while all the
company was at this dinner that Miss
Sally Wages said thing to the people
that made the grandfather look very
stern, and the son 90 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 a 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 reverentislly touched,
~ it has been on hundred or more an.
uiversaries.
Now the wonder of it all seems to
have been that such dsmsel as this
young Sally Wages should have turned
such corner in her manner of life of a
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 fiat. Moreover,
her father, old Timothy Wages, was of
no more account in the community than
to be regarded rs Just the man 20 dig
the graves for the dead, and toll the bell
for their funerals, and to touch off the
swivel ut 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 it
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 rs 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 to
commend her to anybody. And yet of
ali the girls of that day, there was none
who could milk a COW with her, nor
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 dsmse
thereabouts.
There happened to be at the Thanks,
giving dinner st which Sally made the
revelation of herself, young gentleman
who WAS regarded as man of parts, snt
especially worthy of consideration
because his father sent brigantine t
the West Indies from New Haven once
in while laden with goods and brought
her back laden with sugar and rum.
This young fellow was thought to hsv,
addressed more than one missiye t
Squire Scribner's daughter Jerusha. 4
all events, he was friendly to the family
and had tried his wit at a Jest viii
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, 70
he had vowed, as Jest, as he WAS com
ing home from the Thanksgiving sermon
that he would make Sally Wages SAY
something that would sstonish then
that day.
"Ninepence hs'penny to sixpenct
you fail, said the Squire.
"pll win thst, and wesr the silver a:
token" said young Lethrop.
So he said to Sally rs she brought {
pitcher of cider in and put it by tn,
'Squire's place:
"sally, what would you do Il you VS.
King George of Eneland?"
She looked at him only, and the other
smiled.
"Ssllv,n ne continued, perhsps lit