New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-08-12
JOHN PAUL AT NANTUCKET.
HE WALLS OVER HIS vILLANOUs HAND
WRITING AND DROPS INTO POETRY.
A DISCOURSE on PRIMITIVE HABITs-LiGHT FOR
LovERs-THoUGHTs on SEWERS AND
TIDAL WAVES.
Nantucket. Aug. 10.

thought too It would cease my o.d shippers But
when in Sundays Tribune found It "sprinter OF
the sea-" I sad Marry. come up.-whlch Is
vrat ;hey say 10 spnsts-s, be.eve. no to sprint
You voud call that smpy a mssprint. | suppose.
and lay The b4me my handwriting. But how
about the late Mr. Greeeys? Is It the same
sprlnters who set him up that set up in that
fashion?
Later on VIXEN found John Plncus" where |
tl1 written John x Bacon | became more commu-
rcatlye AMI profane AMI ro"ed my back
AMI SAID "AizoOks." Not because OF is being the
hrat and wort Pincus word that came T. hand. but
because It's what a.. my OIL shippers say when any
thing goes wrong with them. when bobstay fouls
tackstay or tho tom cat gets mixed up with the
dog watch don't know why they say "Adzooks'
under al extreme circumstances un.ess because it
rhymes with fiukes.
Splinter wasn't bad couldn't quite
the meaning OF It. but those who find columns
fenced of funny amusing and a grin
in gothic arch might. After much study one
might conclude that fishing bank
was limited at; But to call John Bacon John Plncus.
so far from being Joke. might result in something
intensely serious to an extremely interesting family.
and I've cut down my daily constitutonas to
the backyard
Bu, on second thought. I'm sure that those
who introduced and electric lights and such
things, spelling the quaint simple primitive habits
ca.'ed out OF their Though truth to tel. II
those simple primitive quaint manners ever ex-
isted-whch I mainly doubt-they vanished long
ago. Correspondents still write and tourists talk OF
them, but that does change the status. Beyond
doubt some modern gu.l Is still. sitting great
( auks regardless OF the fact that the bird be-
came extinct some time ago and that the egg Is
/ stuffed one. On landing here twelve years ago l
wanted a native 70 drive me out to Sconset and he
wanted s. for IT, That simple enough. the
distance being but five miles and primitive enough
for IL his frs, price well as his last one.
But my experience with ou-of- the-way PAGES gen.
crazy has been that the quaintness is al in ones
eye and the simplicity the part of strangers.
The Frenchman who after travelling the world
over gave as his deliberate opinion that It was IN
habitei principally by and far
| out Of the way. In the FIJI Islands. however.
one Ia eaten as well as skinnei-"skun" is what
say here-which proves that there's some differ
ence in Islands and explains my preference FOR Nan
| tucket,
When frs: here II one wished TO get
the North Shore bathing beach with and
Portable s;owness one took cart or catboat-!f
in a hurry you walked Now a horsecar umbers
and fro two three times day. carrying aver
age OF slng.e passenger on each trip. We're
proud OF It, notwithstanding that It doesn't pay.
being Of the few railroads OF the country that's
not In the hands OF a receiver.
our steam railroad 70 Sconset quit time ago.
That didn't go into n receivers hands; II quietly
and unostentatous,y tumbled of the bank and les
! there. The tender has come TO have tough sor;
| OF look now, and crows sit in the cab and roost
| on the smokestack Of the engine. In time sup
! pose TN be taken into the Missouri Pacific system
and made a part OF that property II ever the mana
| ger Of the latter happens this way on a Shaking
| expedition
But simple and primitive manners are.
doub, II the mos, plausible manpuiator OF the con-
| oil ed Of he stun us
We cd shippers know a hand-organ from rip
when the winds southery. and an eel from
cam let II blow wheresoever II listeth. And II any
think that he could twist OF us between him
self and an exploding bomb. twist he we'll
and wisely. he Is mistaken.
| Yet we're easy-golng and good-nature In the
main. The only the thing that strs I'M
| .eavened wrath is the absurd c,amor FOR modern
! improvements Modern Improvements. indeed,
! Who that Is really sensible and has no interest
| all In the matter. wants them. Yet some people
! howl for them. Here Harold Williams and Joe
Barney and Joe Clapp and 81 Freeman and William
Hoser and Alien Co'in sitting on the curbstone at
| all hours OF he night and day and singing out for
sewers. What do they. or-what is more TO the
! polnt-what do we want OF sewers? Our fathers and
other forbears all lived and died here quietly and
easily enough. Why aren't strangers satisfied 10
| come here and die without making such fuss
about It? lie, 'em pu; that IN their sewer pipe and
| smoke II. II common English Jaw holds every
mans house 70 be his caste how about his cess
| pool? Sewers here In Nantucket. quotha: III none
! OF II or OF them. Sooner let me die In the last
| often than incur the curse pronounced on him who
| removeth ancient landmark The Nantucket
| skipper who. when lost In fog dropped his deep
sea lead overheard and after hauling II UP and
| smelling OF II announced confidently that he was
| over old Marin Hackets garlen-where would be
| have been II Nantucket soil had not hal quaint.
primitive SAVIOR OF It's own? Talk OF soundinss;
| what Is sound for guide compared 70 smc?
And II I couldn't count nineteen distinct ones when
! the tide IL low the head OF Captain SWANS
! wharf-which Captain K:en and the harbor COM
| missloners wont let him and me ~ ind be lost,
| And now We have souvenir spoons Of the Island.
| For yuvenlrs why not longhand.ed shoye.s?
In my time we had no need Of souvenirs when the
| spoon business on All. those dear Cd wharyes.
| Each was a ong lovers lane-a lane that had no
! turning And before your Mr.. Pincus turrrd on his
electric search-.lghts. when there light but
| the mel ow one OF the moon. the youth and maiden
! strayed there. one could quote poetry TO ears that
appreciated without recognizing the author unit,
one came Almost 10 consider and sometimes Calm
| Il as his own. In the faint light then even the
| sharp-eyed old skipper with the most powerful.
| shlps g.ass from the highest Captains Walk
| couldn't tel a fellow the wharf from OF the
| "snlcs" n girl from a derrick Couldn't tel
| whether 1t was n Swain Hussy. Macy. a
| Coffin. or a starbuck. protecting arm thrown
| around an imper.l.ed maiden 10 keep her from sip
| ming over the edge OF the wharf showed no more
| in the kindly moonlight than would OF Saturn's
| bands on a background OF dark blue flannel. Now,
IN the fierce gare OF Mr.. Pincuss electric light.
would show and shine ike good deed In
| naughty and nautical word. Ike an arm OF the sea
| turned loose and Wandering round some narrow
| waste Little wonder that our maidens wall
| TO THE MOON.
oh moon this is rough
Wasn't your light enough!
| nv Il often thought
| F0ks saw more than they ought.
| But whate'er they might think
You knew when TO wink;
And when two people walked
| Together and talked
| Not obirusve.y loud
| And three a crowd
| II there small Cloud.