Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-08
THE Jumping FRENCHMEN,
uccu1inrities of a Wonderful People in Il
State of Maine.

pcculiHrlties of a Wonderful People In the
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 selling trusses for
nearly ascore of years. His territory
is the United States, and there is hard
lyatown of 1000 inhabitants or over in
the country that he has not visited
again and again. On his return to
New York a few days ago a reporter
called on him to get the story of some
of his experiences. "Ihave just come
from a part of the country that 1 had
never before SEEM" he said, ''and 1
have now something to talk about that
/ had always believed was the running
down story of a wound-up drummer.
l have often seen Shakers and Quakers,
Dunkers and Mormons. Creoles and
Oneida people, poor whites and clay
eaters, the funny Dutch of parts Of
Pennsylvania, and many other sects or
glasses that differ from the ordinary
run Of mankind; but as a genuine Curl
.sity of human nature there is nothing
to equal the jumping Frenchmen of the
A1nostook in the northwestern corner
of Maine. I first heard of these people
from a travelling man who years ago
was on the same route l have Just been
over. Ee was driving along one day
with a friend, followed by two French.
lei in che rude kind of cutter common
to tha' region. Coming to a little
'thank-you-ma'am,' OF rut i'll the road,
which he had not noticed, he was sud-
denly pitched out of the sleigh head
foremost into the deep snow. He
jumped up laughing, but was aston
ished to see one of the Frenchmen
pitch out of the cutter in precisely the
way and Jump up laughing, as he
had done. 1t was a plain case Of MINI
icfy, and he was more puzzled than
ever when the Frenchmenrode by with
scowls on their faces. This was a COM
mon kind of incident in the life of the
Frenchman, and he could not have re-
strained himself had his life depended
upon his not following exactly the &C.
ton of my surprised friend. fe,a.
1.-The Aroostook County and the adj
jacent parts Of Canada have a popula-
ton made up largely of Frenchmen,
and about one in every four is an imi-
tator, or jumper as he is generally
called. 1t is believed that there is no
such popularity known in any other
part of the world, and no one has yet
given . satisfactory explanation Of the
queer condition of the nerves OF these
people; for it is undoubtedly a nervous
affection. I saw and heard OF many GU
rious antics of jumping Frenchmen. A
large number of the loggers il the
great lumber districts Of Northern
Maine are Canadian Feenchmen or half
breeds, and a good proportion of these
are jumpers. While several of the log
gers were at supper seated around a
long table the opportunity was taken
advantage Of to show their popularity.
Ihevis. tors slipped into the room quiet
" and n Of them pointed his fore
finger to a spot on the ceiling and
be heard by vi. In an instant nearly
every Frenchman dropped his knife,
jumped to his feet and n exactly the
same attitude pointed TO the spot or
the ceiling and cred 'Sh-h-h.'i in thu
same rough. mysterious way. Tht
sight o. ali THESE tough.lcok. ng mer
ac:,,Iy | t.: 80 many DUNN cs on wires