Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1895-11-25
SA|LORMAN SAL'S THANKSGIVING.

1t was very DaQ III lloSe udS DoAil-
ME Megapobusis complained that the
scum of New England was drifting in to
| the New Netherlands. Dominic Dresius
went boldly to Petrus Stuyvesant and
asked him why he tharbored persons
who were driven from the other colonies
as worse than pestilence."
| Petrus Stuyvesant stamped his wooden
| leg and said nothing.
| But when the wicked folk from Old
/ England began to come III, trailing art
err wicked Richard Nichols, when Rens-
| selaerWyck and the forts on the South
river yielded; when, in grave council
chambers assembled, the burgomasters
| and Schepens proclaimed the wicked
| Englishman governor of the province.
| What then!
! Then the grim old director stamped up
| to his bouWerie and pruned his pear
| trees Of those pear trees one lived
| for many years. Petrus Stuyvesant inn
ported the slip from Holland. Twenty
! years ago today it burgeoned and frulted
at the corner of Thirteenth street and
| Third avenue, and Senator Edward Fer
cival Hagan ate Of the fruitage. For
in those days Senator EdWard Per I;.oil
| Hagan was a youngster with llvely
gust for green pears. Other days, 9TH
or WAYS. That gust has passed away
now: he prefers ortolan in a chafing dish
| today.
The old pear tree is dead now as the
bullrushes round little Moses, what Tune
/ they picked him out of the blue mud
! of the Nile; dead as the cane rushes
round the old cannon at Princeton.
AS for old Petrus Stuyyesant!
| His bones are under the foundation
stones of ST. Georges church today.
So it might be a story of things tnat
| were.
after all.
1t fell out in this way. and a Mail
! and EXPRESS man saw it. A woman
| with a shawl hudded about her head
stood on the corner of Thirteenth street
and Third avenue. Not a nice woman,
you would say, in draggled clothes; VIII
| n Dinched and salloW face; small, art
/ FIJI boy yelping at her heels; a BABY
| tucked up under the edge of her shawl: !.
.sPlease. SIR she whined, s'me 'usbln'
| drownded an / event gawt penny.
Then she trod on the small; artfui
| boys foot and whispered, OWL, We HI
| tle beggar. owl" The small boy hoWled
and from under the shaw the Dapy
piped up feeble cry.
Now you, be it understood, are as
cynical as old Dominic Goetwater him.
/ self. and have no more love Tor the EnS-
| landers-new or Oldham had GOV.
| Stuyvesant For if they be New Eng,
landers they are given to bundllng ana
guessing and the eating of pie. Ii they
/ Re old Englanders- we'll, it's a terrible
| misfortune to be English. But IN spite
| of these settled opinions of yours that
| infantile wall from under the shawl car
| romed on your finer feelings. 1t remind
| ed you Of the fact that you We're once
an infant. and If fate had not ordered
| things Acknowledgements have plpeu
| from under a shawl.
s.Nbara do Won liye?' YOU asked.
| And the woman mentioned NUMBER IN
| Third avenue, within stone throw Oh
| Peter CooperS everlasting monumeht;
You picked up the little, artful boy and
and three pair Of black and broken steps
| led up to her room. There is a barber
| shoD on the lower floor, and pleasant
odor of hair oil went upstairs with you:
| There was one window in the room ana
it looked out over the ragged leads
where once upon a time were the green
| meadows of Petrus Stuyyesant, his bOu-
| werie. A clutter of straw in one corner
gave evidence of a bed. A battered sail
1 Orman's chest stood against the side
wall opposite the door.
| The woman dropped the baby into the
straw, and the small boy nestled down
| by it.
cay, an ay, an ay,' said the woman,
rocking to and fro, from toe to heel, /" e
| was good man, e was, ay e vase till e
| went down WI Gimmel, an ArterS
'Lydy Belle an hall lands abor, an. no
one to say 'Gawd speed We, Old man, =, as
! e went down an the waters gaWt lm!
The small boy whined and the baby
| snuffled in the straw; the woman rocked
| herself backward and forward on heel
and toe.
cay, e was good man, my man. she
| said, lay, an ay, e was good man. "A
| sailorman going down to the sea in ships.
! A sailorman drOwnded Ay, only. a
sailorman drownded an a woman left
| wi two kids in a strynge land. Ay, 'ere's
! Guy Fawkes' day over and GAVIN an
never a guy for the kids Ere's Thanks
| givin' day an never a dinner for the Kid.
/ Az. Oos Thankegivin' day? 90 is e to
| be happy about, WI a sailorman drown
| ded in the sea an two kids! Gawd, 'elp
| us. but it's 'ard to be a woman it is,
| wi 'er man drownded in the sea!'
You have pulled the weakened baby up
on your knee, and by this time your
hand is down in your pocket. The white
stork did snot leave any little ones at
| your house as it flew over the roof-tree,
| and you feel
'Ome agyne, Sal!'
| The rickety door is thrown open, and a
| great red-faced man dressed in sailor
| mans blue rusheS into the room and
takes the little sallow woman IN his arms
and kisses her mightily-with a smack
| that might have been homely at Mapping
| Old Stairs.
come agyne. Sal, syved from the
| bloomink seav' he shouted, and the
| small, artful boy and the thin. artful ba-
| by howled together. And the woman
| sobbed on his breast Did it touch you?
| Wasn't the warm glow. that stirred at
| your heart worth the So bill you slipped
into the small boys hand? Come, now,
| wasn't it?
"You have something to give thanks
| for now" you said to the woman as you
| turned the handle of the door.
cay" said the woman, with wet eyes,
| ''thank Gawd, e is hundrownded!'
But when you went out into the street
you came upon policeman; he stood
where once upon time the roots of old
Petrus Stuyvesant's pear tree went down
| into the fat earth.
| "Say, dat was Sailorman Sal, see?'
| he remarked. "Wot did she pull yer
| leg for? Two cases? Twins? Say,
yer otter have wet nurse. OATS right.
| Goo 2v