The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-05
NO WHALE FOR THREE YEARS.
Dismay of the People on Southern Lon
Island Over Losing Pin Money.

Dismay of the People on Southern Long
Island Over Losing Pin Money.
The inhabitants of the southern shore OF
western Long Island are in dismay because
the third season in which they have caught
no whale is past. They have usually cal
culated on about one good sized whale a
season, and they have for many years re-
| lied on it. Some of the institutions of the
country are arranged on the supposition OF
the whales keeping up their average.
! Among other things, the minister's salary
is partially dependent upon the capture of
a whale. But now three seasons have gone
| by without the appearance of one, and that
source of comfortable pin money Gf that
term can be used in SO homogeneous con-
nection) threatens to become obsolete.
In the good old days when whales came
that way there would often be $1,000 to
$500 to divide among the seaside people
The retired sea captains who lived in ease
aud dignity on that coast built their houses
with broad observation towers on the
| roofs, and spent large part of their time
upon them with their spyglasses sweeping
| the horizon for whales. When they saw
one the neighborhood was aroused. 1t
| didn't take long to do this, so far as the
immediate circle of those interested was
concerned. The church bell was generally
rung, and news travels fast in the country.
There would soon be good sized crowd
gathered on the shore
Then the appointed crew of old, expert
enced whalers launched their boat, kept in
Z readiness, and if they were successful in
happening their whale would have him
towed in to shore. Then there was big
blubber trying bee. The "whalehouse" on
the shore was opened, the big kettle it con-
tained put into requisition, and the whole
countryside engaged in a profitable if not
very appetizing recreation of cutting up
the whale and trying out the blubber, and
extracting the whalebone from the head.
Then came the division of the spoils. The
man who first saw the creature had GER
tain extra share, and the others divided,
while the minister received an exceedingly
welcome addition to his stipend.
So absorbing is the occupation of look
ing for whales for the linen folks of the
shore settlements that they have far
away, Captain Cutie look in their eyes all
the time; their gaze being bent, not exactly
on the coast of Greenland, but on those
quarters whence whales are generally to
be expected. One grizzled old mariner,
who had been spending the declining years
Of his life right on the edge Of the water,
was one day compelled by exigencies of
domestic nature to move up into the viii
lage, back from the water side, and quite
inaccessible to views of the ocean.
mp wife got crazy notion that she'd
have to be in the village" querulously ex-
planned the old captain to any inquiring
visitor, as he sat disconsolately whiting
and splitting in the warm sunshine, "'n |
had to do what Miranda wanted, though l
did make a powerful kick. But it's a
mighty poor place to live.
Convenient to the store. Oh, yes, N
to church, N all that. But it's way back
from the water, N it's so cluss n dusty,
n they make such an infernel racket
aud here the Captain Cutie look came into
his eyes as he added the chief clause in his
Indictment of village life-"and you can't
see a whale nor nuthin, if there should be
one. New York Tribune.