The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1889-09-19
SIGN OF THE GOLDEN SWAN.

| would write out the story as l knew 1T,
| and as the poor dear told it to me be-
| fore she died. Nothing would induce
| me to do it if | was as able as | am
willing to provide for the dear boy she
| left in my care.
| remember the night well. 1t is
| nearly fourteen years ago now. Gran
ford Douglas (and a wilder gentleman
Virginia never produced) was in here
| with a crowd of his friends almost as
| wild as himself Ah! that was gen.
erous crowd! | was younger then,
and was considered rather rosy, and
plumb, and pleasing. You mightn't
believe it, but | really used to tlirt
good deal with my customers -
of the first water. then. Why, it was
business. loved my husband; but If
l had been straight, severe. and prim,
or sour, where would the Swan beP
No, can not forget that night Mr..
Douglas, Cram Fennell, Jarvis McVey,
and Col. Ralph Forrest sat at the larg-
| est table in the room out there. They
were none the better for the liquor
they had drunk. They were very
wild and very boastful, | must say,
much as dislike to; for brave men
shouldn't boast, and every one of them
was as brave as a lion.
Well, as the night grew older, my
| gentlemen grew wilder and finally
| they got talking about women. Now
that is something | always dislike to
hear discussed in a tavern; it is too
delicate a subject. Women should
never be spoken of there. Something
is sure to be said by some one of an
offensive nature and some one is, nine
times In a dozen, ready to flare up and
take offense at what is said. 1t was
the way that night. First they spoke
| of the great women of the world; of
the young girl who left her home over
400 years ago in mans clothes, with
her long hair cut off and the courage
of a god in her soul, to save her be-
loved country from one of England's
wicked kings. Col. Forrest did stout
ly maintain that she was an inspired
and simple virgin, and Crawford Doug
las did as strongly assert that she was
an artful hussy and lewd mink, God
bless Us. They called her Joan the
Rip"-that is, Crawford did; Col. For
rest and Jarvis McVey did call her
1.-The sweet maid of Orleans" Then
they spoke of woman for whom "a
thousand ships were launched and
ever so many battles fought in some
far-away country called Troy, l think
it was. Then they tore poor woman
all to pieces-who had been dead,
guess, over 1000 years-for loving
more than one man. They called her
"serpent" of some river-all but
Col. Forrest; they couldn't get him to
say one single unkind thing about any
of my sex, not even when they brought
mp a woman who killed q very brutal
man in bath-tub early one fine morn
ing. He said that sit served the cusS
right and that "Charlotte was just
as good as JOAN" and Crawford Doug
las, with great big oath and a thump
on the table that broke six glasses and
a finger bowl, said that "she was no
better than she ought to be. or than
the majority of women Col. For
rest said that only angels were better
than they ought to be.
1t panied me to hear them talk, but
what could do? And besides | knew
Mr.. Douglas didn't mean one-half that
he said. | was sure that he wasn't
talking. but that liquor was. Well,
they went from one great woman to
another and at last came down to that
day-thati is, that time-and they spoke
of the women then in the public's eye.
Mr.. Douglas gave it as his opinion
| that there was not decent woman on
the stage. God bless us! But here
| Cram Fennell begged to differ with
him and named one whom even L
shut out from the world as | was all
my life you might say-had heard of
as being one of the sweetest, loyeliest,
purest, and best of woman and ac-
tresses. Not that | care much for that
sort and not that | don't. / have no
knowledge of actors, because l have
never been ieside of q theater in my
| life. After that actress was spoken of
| as being all that good woman should
| be, Crawford Douglas burst into the
| maddest and most insulting laugh it
has ever been my ill-fortune to listen
| to, and when asked what the laugh
| meant he shouted so that the horses
| of the gentlemen were disturbed out
there under the shed and neighed
loudly: why, she is the worst of the
lot!'
And then a gentlcman-the very
handsomcst gentleman l have ever
seen, who had been eating a chop and
| quietly reading paper at little Ia
| BILE by himself-got up, came over to
Mr.. Douglass party and, with a very
white face, which showed that his
heart must have been going up and
| down at dreadful rate, he told Gran
ford Douglas that he thought that Mr.,
Crawford was u blackguard and vile
| liari
| l thought should faint. l couldn't
do anything, and my Dick conldn't in
terfere with gentlemen. If they were
every day people, now, something
| might have been done; but these gen.
tlemen were of the best blood in Vir-
ginia.
SO Mr.. Crawford says. as cool as pie,
without getting up:
| And whom have l the honor of