Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1880-01-01
From the n. Y. Sun,
SALLY Wages.

BY all accounts it was more than q
century ago that Miss Sally Wages SO
astonished 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 q few
years earlier is not so certain as that it
was just as the pumpkin pie OF a 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 60 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 Litchfield
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 OF 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 man 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 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 CON-
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 iail
three weeks therefore.
80, by reason of her fathers business
and position. and perhaps because of bis
name, Miss Sally Wages had nothing to
commend her to anybody. And yet of
all the eirIs Of that day, there was none
who could milk COW with her, nor
sooner find one that had strayed into
the woods. This doubtless led Squire
Scribner to take her into his family az
help to his wife, aud 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, young gentleman
who was regarded as man Of parts, and
especially worthy of consideration,
because his father sent brigantine to
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 have
addressed more than one missive to
S4NAAo StIAOAoI OAuxnG0I y Iu608. AT
all events, he was friendly to the family,
and had tried his wit at q Jest with
Sally, and came off sadly worsted,
because she said nothing to him, but
only looked at him with q vacant stare
In her brown eyes. 8
He did not like being laughed at, for
he had vowed, ~ Jest, a. he was COM
Ing home from the Thanksgiving sermon,
that he would make Sally Wages say
something that would astoniAh them
that day. ~: 80 E.~ -: Z =
"Niaepence ha'penny to a sixpenoe
you FAIL" said the Squire. II g *,
IN win that, and wear the silver a.
token," said young Lathrop. s.
80 ne said to Sally a. she brought a
pitcher, Of cider in and put It 81 the
rs "salLy, what would yoa do If you was
smiled. - S