New-York tribune., 1889-10-13
NANTUCKET IN AUTUMN.
ODDITIES OF THE ISLAND.

ODDITIES lcbhNh'
slasconset Mass, Oct l-ffon inc 'au ~
hotels nearly all the guests nave gono' p"S - '
eottagers Inger and will be the mndle OF oc'ooor
before the last family Will so 10 ther ho,"o ~ 80
continent "The continent you sayf doht mean
- = homs IN Furope but the A" continent az uhusr-
stood by Nantucketers. They are isianoers, anu
the mainland OF America Is 10 them the continent
vhna nm tbe subject let me toll OF some OF inc
necuIarites of Nantucket speech beai =" '
island IS forty miles from the nearest s'eauo'
on Cane Cod and sixty miles from No".po.oiu
Until fifteen years ago, intercourse po'"eI" ~ -
and the continent was nfrcquont. Inc lsianuos oN"
80 d so lint little of the world as the world comes
a. ,ho, ~ 600 strong each season, between MAY anu
October Books they have, and in obtaining iio"ios'
from those perennial fountains they acquire ',u ESQ
~ words equal 10 the range OF our iho'' i''is "'
communities: but the speech fhey near ioi .o'o
montbs except during tho presence oi 'no 'i'oi'
a., ernmer Is that which they have hearu from
infancy Remember also that the islanu "ao 80
,,o On tbe seventeenth century, and that, rom ,ho
heonn,nr by force of circumstances It's men 'oho"eu
the waters As the whale fishery oeVoiopou' ,ne
interests OF the island became moro anu 'oi0 i"0u
with the ocean, and the large portion OF 40 n' '
ON shipboard fully three-quarters OF uer aD'i,o
careors Theirs was the talk of the SHIP lheir
sImftudes were drawn from their vocation anu its
surroundings, and from them their "Noe "'N ''"0'''
learned the same methods OF speech
tn tbe stranger many OF the expressions no
hears In conversation are odd, ana Soihe-
times they are unntelligible, uniesS .he
surroundings and context Will help MN 10 hsh
OUT the meaning. I was told the other uay uat a
certain man on the island who is IN perpetual trouble
4, bI. aga,rs was always runnan afoul Of himself"
Which wav are YOU headingf" was the question
asked me By old Captain Folger as he met me IN his
box wagon in the outskirts Of the village gong 10
the town" And what IS the town. TO inc
native II is not Boston New-YorR, but the Viago
OF Nantucket Tho carpenter who framed mousse
for stranger asked him whether he would nave inc
iolsts "run fore and aft. or 'thWart-
sbinss For "a stranger say. BY
stranger is meant visitor 10 the lsianu,
but those who remain long enough to get acquainted
como to be known as offisanders.' went few days
since with a lady 10 Wauwinet "in teah'1 n
team on Nantucket is horse and wagon, ana the
wagon is as much component part OF the 'oah as
the horse. The team was run by captain Baxter
long since retired from active service on a whale
shin and now at eighty-hve years Is stil about
and during the season carries parties about the town
and over the island How do get inf' the lady
asked him: "the wagon is too high'" oct In asern
said tho Captain. He pulled out me tai ooaru' anu
the lady climbed in one would n an OMNIBUS, out
not so easily by any means. After we hau s'ar'o'
the CAPTAIN said to her. Miss won't yon shirt 70 me
windwan a ntle,1 She did as requested after learn
inc ubcrs the "windward" was. But even then he
was not satisfied for IN a few minutes he asked her
10 get up while he moved her scat hltie lurt'cr
aftp In dark night 'Sconset woman, when driving
from the town in a thick fog got of the ROAD ihto
tbe moors and IL was a fun half hour before she got
hack into tho travelled way. Whom relating the
circumstance she said mat she had lost her recKohh
In comin' outs I bought an old Connecticut CLOCK
in the town. and the brio abrac dealer told me that
he had lashed the pendulum the side OF the case
So tat II wouldn't get adrift' OF clergyman, VINO
had been connected with various denominations ana
had died a ritualst an old whaling captain SAID mat
II he hadn't peaked his oars so quick hed nave
boxed the compass of savin' grace by pnn the Catho
Iicss The other day there was rain for haH hour
I'm which there were one two inohensive nashes
Of lightning followed by spoogeuc reverberaiions OF
distant thunder "Qulte tempest" said old Captain
Ptman as l passed by. And let me say, that any
thunderstorm on Nantucket, heavy or light, Is
tempest The more blindlng the lightning ana Inc
ouder the peals of thunder tae bigger the tempest
and vice versa A young woman who had accepted
a place as seamstIess, when asked to do some work
IN the family declined, saying that she didn't ship
for that kind Of work" The butcher, and grocer, ana
gardener do not deliver the commodities you have
ordered: they Gland" them at your porch; and on
Naptucket the porch Is the Kitchen, though some
,mes II is called the cook.room.n Bring the skein
taut.r said Nantucket girl to me when was holding
he ,vors,ed for her 10 wind in a ball. fisherman
told me that once when fishing on Tuckrnuck Shoals
he found a drowned man in the water. "Was he on
the bottoni - "NO, he was floating ON even Reel"
A. write his an old whaling master tells me that
C,bbs,s horse got scared this morning on the beach
and kicked his owner on the hand and stove II all
TO pieces"