The sun., 1897-06-13
STARTED TO BE A PIRATE.
rUr sIyNEM4HONING MAN'S TALE
OF GRIZZLY BEN.

q PAY the NortEuEc On hhtS FhthSEs Ate1T-
ing aud tho Grand scheme Grizriy Hen
onrred to Him TO Accomplish II onickiy.
ROULETTE. Pa. June l2.-"You've often heard
no sneak OF my cmarkablo father, Reuben Pet
,ihone. said the man from over Slnnemahoning
,rny. and doubtless remember many OF the In
.idents have recalled that illustrated tho most
worthy and utterly blamelcss life ho was in the
ba.i, OF living Consequently, 1 am sure you
vrnI be amazed 20 learn that he started out once
N be n pirate. There! l knew that would
startlc you Even you folks on this side the
mountain would be apt to draw the line at pi-
rates. I'll say that much for you anyhow. Yet
nv father. Reuben Pettibone. deliberately
s,nr,cd out once to be pirate! You'd hardly
b,licyc that, now would youf This was before
he got 20 Ne my father. though
would he "A ben your father II he had gone
, ,piratin'l" asked the man In the red. blue, pur-
nc, yellow. pink. and green Mackinaw jacket.
NO replied the man from Sinncmahoning
way. II think not
.Thcn he mowt better n gone piratn |" de-
clarcd ;he man in the many.hued jacket set
Ting back in his chair to go to sleep.
The man from Sinncmahoning way looked at
the aian in the varlegatcd jacket as II he was
sorry for him. and then continued his narrative.
at was out OF the goodness and generosity OF
his heart. though, and from the promptinss OF
sllal piety that my remarkable father once
turned his inclination toward becoming
pirate" said he. Now that seems strange too,
doesn't it'll You would hardly think such emo
,ions would lead TO start out to be n herco
and rainpagcous pirate-a blood.wading skim
mer OF the rolling deep, so to speak, making
folks walk the plank. and laughing at them, per-
haps, as pirates do as they plunked into the dark
md salty sea and went down like stones, not
leaving as much as bubble behind EN-! You'd
hrtIr fhN nj Of
architecture like my remarkable father would
have inclined that way. would you'll Hardly.
Rrt that's what moved him to 1t. Nothing else,
Iassure you.
LAS near as Reuben Pettibone used to be able
TO recall it. he just turning 10 years OF age
when he got the idea OF starting out as bold
buccaneer. There was mortgage on his fathers
little clearing down on the Sinnemahone, and
Reuben was helping to lift it by trapping foxes
and otters and minks and the like OF that. for
their pelts were worth much money in those
thrifty days. Along about that time it was that
Grizzly Ben appeared in the Sinnemahoniug
country This person must have been a sight to
see according to my fathers account Of him. He
was six feet six in height, and, in the picturesque
language of Reuben Pettibone. he had whiskers
enough to stuff pillow He had voice that
seemed to have its origin way down in his
boots and as for teeth. my father used to say he
never saw anything human or unhuman that
showed as many teeth as Grizzly Ben showed
whenever he opened his mouth. and they were
rs yellow as saffron tea. He had only one eye,
but. Goshen's Land. PraNiteles! my father was
won't TO say to me, I Just wish you could have
seen that eye. Why, it looked just as If he
could shoot fire out Of it, and he told me once
that was no trick at all for him to melt candles
right down to flowing tallow just by turning
that eye of his on to 'em sharp
This facility of Grizzly Ben's in the way Of
reducing solid candles to melted grease by the
turning OF his eye upon them impressed young
Reuben Pettibone so, in fact. that he was led to
purloin a candle from his mothers pantry one
day which he took forthwith to Grizzly Ben to
see him turn his awful eye loose on it and make
oft am moving ,. grease spot, -, father r..d -
Ben had corking hard headache that day. and
had to keep his eye shut, so he told me to come
some day when he was feeling hearty. But when
took it away from me. and lock ked the pantry so
couldn't get any more. and so l never saw
Grizzly Ben melt candle, and he was amazing
Nobody ever knew where Grizzly Ben came
from. nor what the rest Of his name was. He
didn't seem to have any particular business
around there, except to sit in the tavern and
he'd have something. and always ordering Ja-
H ths SO seaTy this
was like the busy little bee, and was improving
each shining hour by putting in a stock to carry
him over some hours that might come when no
hours which were not shining. Naturally every.
body on the Sinnemahone took to conluring their
heads and trying 10 figure out who Grizzly Ben
was and what he had sat down so suddenly and
puzzlingly among them for. Some surmised
ing to bet that he was that, and others were Just
as sure be was something else. until between
them all they gave il up. and Just sat down and
stared at Ben's whiskers and shuddered when
he showed those yellow fangs OF his and quiv.
cred when he flashed that awful single eye. And
Ran tarF at,I ant fF,nFNr NF,gr HI
shining hours as regularly as they rolled round.
Reuben Pettibone was in the habit OF passing
by the tavern every morning on his way to take
up his traps and every afternoon when he came
back from them, laden with his foxes, his mtnks
Ben was always standing outside when he went
BY, and Ben looked at Reuben so fierce tina,
Reuben Re- was afraid Of him. But he found that
couldn't help looking fierce. because that was
the way he was cut and fitted. By and by Ben
or 50, and the arst thing the sympathetic young
ster knew, he had told Grizzly Ben all there wa:
to tell about himself and his folks. He told him
about the mortgage on the clearing. and how he
%ss t5dPRas to help his poor 9Id father father pay Il
arainy day on his own account.
One day Reuben was on his way home with
the pelts be had trapped and was passing through
frightened him, for at irst he thought 1t was
bear growing at him from the bushes, and il
he discovered il was not BEAR for he hearc
words and made out that 1t was some one singing
liIc uhSstst KIM OF Ddbs voice. ret
tioone never forgot the words he heard, and
only wish you could have heard the way he useC
70 sing EN- TO me years and years afterward
he sang en- Just as he heard 'em sung. anC
nr,Ftr.r how 1t always made my blood run colt
TO think oft! | cant begin to sing EN-, but
can tell EN- 10 you. and then you can imagin,
bow they must have struck little Reuben Petit
bone that day. in the deep woods, as they cam
rolling out OF the bushes at him. the singer no
where to be seen. This is the way they ran:
Oh under the skull and cross bones nag
gioat at my victims means.
As cut on their heads with my sctmitAr bare
And laugh at their dying groans
And ther rusty chains clank
As they walk the plank;
Oh music IA their wAils
And as they sink
This toast drink:
Dead men tell tales
AZ, That's the cheerful song young Reu ben Pc,
tibOIe heard in the woods that day and as b
STOOD there wondering what 1t all meant, out o
me bushes stepped Grizzly Ben. his whisker
Sft'tnng, his eye shining like coal Of fire. an