Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1892-06-18
AN ODD INCIDENT.

Hdu Colllc W LIieIu lhe d wen WI ~
garment, and without multitude OF
oddities they would not have seemed
like Uncle Jacks folks"
1t is as well to explain here whom the
folks" comprised. First, there was
john IIardwick, "Uncle Jack" to all per.
sons old and young in the little settle
ment of Greenport, where, as boy and
man, for over half century he had fol-
lowed, as he termed it, fishing and farm
ing next, there was his wife, Patience,
spoken Of far and near as Aunt Patty
Jack, to distinguish her from Patience
Gre N, James Green's widow, who was
known as Aunt Patty jim; third, there
was, at the time we are writing Of, a
months old baby that they had adopted
on the death of its parents.
1t was peculiar thing for an elderly
couple, after 81 years of childless mar
ried life, to adopt an infant. but they
were well able to provide for the child
properly. They had no near relatives,
and long years Of industry and saving
had mado them. in the language Of the
settlement, the most "forehanded" fam
lily in the place.
The nearest to anything like reproach
Or ridicule that had ever been cast upon
them by their neighbors was with regard
to these same habits Of Shaving and saw
ing after they were in more than COM
Portable circumstances. Even the best
disposed could not forbear little joke
about Uncle Jack using bis boathook to
stir hay in the field, to save the expen se
of new light pitchfork, or Aunt Patty
making his overalls out of the fragments
of an old sail from his little fishing
schooner. Then, after the infant came,
it was said that Aunt Patty pressed the
clothes basket into service for baby
crib. Uncle Jacks method Of carrying
the baby was also the subject of much
goodnatured ridicule, the mildest of the
comments being that he "lugged" it as
he would an armful Of kindling.
The baby was about the oldest mem.
Der of Uncle Jacks household, with its
quiet ways and its solemn face, its habit
of sleeping Is hours a day and contin.
ually creeping about when it happened
to he awake. 1t wasn't any more regu-
lar in its times of rest than the average
infant, but would just creep from one
room to another until tired, aud then go
to sleep in some corner, where Aunt
Patty would soon, in the lull of the
household duties, pounce upon it and de.
posit it-n the clothes basket? Well, no,
to tell the truth, a new wooden cradle,
of brilliant red color, had been bought
from the village carpenter shortly after
the baby came into the household, but
not soon enough to prevent some village
wag from manufacturing that story
about utilizing the clothes basket for a
crib. In rural districts some one family
is generally made the butt of the fun.
makers. and it really seemed that most
of the standing jokes of Greenport were
at the expense of Uncle Jacks folks.
Soon after the baby came to Uncle
Jacks, the old couple made the most Pc
culiar decision of their lives, and that
not to work harder and add to their accu.
mutations, but just for change. AS they
had numerous relatives in the city, and
possessed, moreover, the means and the
will to pay their way, there was, per-
haps, no reason why they should not,
for once in a lifetime, be like their neigh
bors in one respect at least-that of liv.
ing up to their income.
They rented neat little furnished cot.
tage in the Highlands, and in order that
Aunt Patty might not be too much bound
by household duties and the care of the
baby, they employed Sarah Briggs, a
daughter of one of their poor neighbors,
to go with them as general "help "
Strange though the city appeared to
them, they took to the new order of
things very kindly, and the novelty and
| pleasures of their season in Boston were
talked about the remainder of their lives.
just at the close Of their stay an Incl.
dent occurred which afforded material
for humorous comment until long after
the baby became man. 1t was on We'd
nesday that Uncle Jacks folks were to
move out of the city cottage, and on
Saturday they were to start for Green.
port in coasting packet, as rail and
steamboat lines had not yet made that
place one of their stopping stations. AT.
ter moving, they had arranged to stay,
until the packet sailed, at the house of
Joe North, one Of their old neighbors,
who was now living in the Highlands.
They were all in the sitting room on
Wednesday, waiting for the ever tardy
truckman to come and take their lug.
gage to the packet, when Aunt Patty sud.
denly recalled their visit to the photogra-
pher few days before. They had been
took, "and were to have called for the
finished pictures the day before; but in
the hurry of moving they had been for
gotten.
Like good general in an emergency,
Aunt Patty formed her plans on the spot,
and gave orders quickly and sharply.
"Now, Jack, you go and look up an.
other truckman, while Sairy goes after
them picters. Then Sairy can take the
baby and 60 to Joe North's and I'll go
with you to the packet to see about get.
ting our parcels in safe place. P'raps
I'd better take the baby myself, but I'll
see about that when Sairy comes back"
The studio was not very far away, but
Sarah was delayed some Is or 90 minutes,
rs the photographer was busy. When
she returned, she found neither Uncle
Jack, Aunt Patty, nor the baby. As she
ran down to the door, after a look into
the sitting room, a woman who lived
across the street informed her that the old
people had gone away in the truckman's
team some minutes before, taking the
baby, the trunks, and the parcels with