The Red Cloud chief., 1885-04-24
THE JUMPING FRENchMEN.
Peeul;srisies Of Wonderful People In TIT
state Of Maine.

Probably every drummer Of six
months experience on the road has
seen or heard Of the little travel-worn
man who has been sell ng trusses for
nearly ascOre of years. HIS territory
is the United States. and there is hard
" town Of 200 inhab. tants or over IN
the country that he has not visited
e n and again. On his return 10
New York a few days ago a reporter
called On HIM To get the story Of some
Of h S experiences. 'Ihave just come
from a part of the country TIA had
never before seen." he said. lard l
have now something to talk abOu; that
/ had always bel eyed was the rum ny
down story of a wOund-up drummer.
/ have often seen Shakers and Quakcrs,
Dunkels and MormOl Is. Creole, and
Oneida people. poor whites and clay
eaters. the funny Dutch Of parts Of
Pennsylvania. and many other sects or
classes that differ from the Ordinary
run of manxind; but AS q genuine curl-
os.ty of human nature there is moth ne
to equal the jumping F%renchmen of the
.ATOtb>tOOk III TIC NOiutt
Of Maine. first heard Of these people
from 4 travelling man who years ago
WAS on. the same route ! have just been
over. He was driving along one day
with . f .end. followed by two French
men in the rude kind Of cutter common
to that region. Coming to a little
'thank-you-ma'am.' or rIt in the road.
which he had not noticed. he was sud-
denl- p tched out Of tn, sleigh head
70, emost into the dep snow. lie
jumped up laughing. but was aston
lshed to see one of the Frcncamcn
p tch out OF the cutter in precisely the
same way AID jump up laughing. as he
had done. Ii was u plain case Of MINI
cry. and he was o puzzled ;han
ever when the frcnchmen rode by with
Scowls on the.r faces. This was = COM
mon kind of incident in the lie of the
Frenchman. ard he could not have re-
strained himsef had his life depended
upon his not following ~exactl, the ac-
ton Of nv surprised friend
The Aroo stook County and the adj
jacent rarts Of Canada have a popula-
tion made up largcls Of frcnchmen.
and aboa; n in every four - an lmi-
fator. or Jumper as he is generally
called. 1t is believed that there Is no
such peculiar ~ known in M other
part of the world. and 10 one has yet
gwen 3 satisfactory explanation, Of the
queer cond ton of ,he nerves OF these
people: for il is undoubtedly \ nervous
affection. l saw aGd heard Of many Gu
rious antics OF Jumping FreEchmen- A
large number of the losge.s IN the
great lumbcr districts of No. TN IN
Maine are Canadian frenchmen or hall
BREEDS and y good proiort on of tncse
are jumpers. WI le several Of The log
gers were at supper seated around >
long table the opportunity was taken
advantage Of 10 show Their popularity.
Thevs tors slipped into the o Gu ct
" and one Of them pointed his fore
finger % . spot on the ceiling AID
hoarseiy whispered .Sh-h-k' 50 il could
be heard by al. In a. instant nearly
every Frcnchman dropped his kn1e.
jumped to his feet and in exactly the
same attitude pointed 10 the spot on
the ceiling and cred 'Sh-h-h.' in ahc
same rough m~ysscrioas way. The
sight Of all these touGa-look.ng men
acting Ike 20 many dummies On wires
Gas lsjicrous enoogA. and Z vas
almost Impossible % keep iron
u.shsns, h e6eee vees q ia