Daily camera., 1898-02-07
zERAH wEsTeEook.s FLUTE.
II Some One Hadn't Broken 1t Hs
Would Not Enxe Ecen a ZIG 7on

1 Zs
81 see they've elected Zeary West
brook mayor Of Amsterdam, in Ycrl
state somewhere" said Pike county
man, referring to Hon. Zerah West
brook, ex-deputy comptroller of New
York aad lately judge CT Montgomery
| county. THAT shows what a lucky
think it was for him that his flute got
broken years and years ago up in Sus
sex county, n. j., the right we went
over and gave him surprise party.
''Zeary was born in Sussex county
| and lived on the farm Only few miles
from the Delaware. and lie came over
into Pike county when he was i6 or II
to go to school at Milford. He was
popular among US young folks. but
thunder! there wasn't anything about
him, either of outward show or inward
light, in those days that would have
furnished material for the best all
round prophet in the business to build
a future for him beyond the confines Of
the rail fence around that old West
brook farm over in Jersey. Some folks
went so far as to prophesy that he
would come to some bad end, basin Q
their forebodings on what seemed to
be the all-sufficient fact that he PLAYED
the flute. He didn't exactly play the
flute, either. He teased it. He worried
it. He hurled from it staccato toots
that jabbed holes in the Silly summer
night. He forced from it distressful
meanings, gasping gurgles, woeful
walls, and'wild and desrairing shrieks
He cut these up into sections and called
them tunes. The most despairing, the
most hopeless, the most distressing of
these was his favorite. He called it
Napoleon Crossing the Alps!' Inever
believed it. Napoleon had a bad time
crossing the Alps. but it was never,
never so bad as that. People who fore
saw his awful finish declare to this dav
that it would have come long before
this ii something hadn't happened to
separate him from that flute.
"Zeary quit going to school in Milford
after awhile, and thought he could do
better by going back home to help with
the pig killing and the chores about the
farm, so he took his flute and went,
leaving a vacuum in Milford musical
circle that fife and drum corps failed
to fill. Then, after awhile, when the
weather got cold and the sleighing
good, lot of us young folks thought
we'd take sleigh ride over to the West
brook farm and give Zeary a surprise
party, taking lots of cakes and things
along, as was the surprise party custom
in those days. That was the coolest
night l was ever out in. II was so cold
that when our sleigh upset on the way
over and dumped us all down a ten
foot bank, and pan of custard I had
charge of climbed up on my head.
turned itself bottom side up, squashed
down on my crown, and sat there as
cocky as helmet on a tipsy Trojan
soldier, it froZe fast before | had recov-
cred from my astonishment sufficiently
to take it off, and I either had to be
scalped to get away from it or leave it
there until we could get somewhere to
thaw it out, and left it. The girls all
had Mysteries for awhile, but no one was
hurt.
"We were only couple of miles from
the Westbrook place when this mis-
hap befell us, and we soon Strengthened
things up and went on. As we neared
the CHEEKY lights that cleaned from
the Westbrooll windows, suddenly the
horses pricked up their ears, stopped.
and tried to turn round in the road and
go back. The driver quieted them down,
but looked back at US, frightened him
self. Then, brought to us on the night
wind, we heard sounds of agony-de-
spairing moans, eNcruciating walls, and
cries.
"'Great Heaven!' exclaimed one of
the party; have we come here to meet
with sickness. and perhaps death?'
NO. replied another, who recog-
niZed the sounds. we haven't. That's
only Zeary boosting Napoleon over the
Alps
''It was Zeary and his flute, still
tempting fate. We soon hustled inside
with cur surprise, and it was surprise.
too. But even the sight of me frozen
fast by my hair to a tin pan couldn't
turn Zeary from his course. He had
Napoleon at such critical spot in the
Alps that he couldn't leave him there
with safety, and he kept on crossing
him over. He got him to the pinnacle
of the Alps at last .and cast him down cn
the other side with such an appalling
burst from the depths of the flute that
one of the girls reached out fer more
Mysteries and got 'em. Then Zeary
threw the house wide open. They
thawed me out, and we were having q
joyful time, when Zeary moved toward
the flute again. We were about to
order up the horses and fly. but we
didn't have to. Somebody or something,
somehow, had wrecked the flute.
Whether it had been sat on, or jumped
on, or what, there it was, broken beyond
repair.
"Zeary was sad, but he kept up. He
never could get another flute that suited
him, and the charm of the farm was.
broken. He left the place by and By
and went up into New York state.