The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-11
CAPE GODS HAPPY JACKS.
THEY DANCE IND FROLIC AND An
N WORLD SEEMS GAY.
An Institution of the Peninsula which
Helps to Make Life Pleasing to the visit
ors-A whittier First Fashioned Them aud
They Remain His Cheerful Monument

NAA VIZ NNN u hhNN W w
Helps to Make Life Pleasing to the visit
ors-A whittier First Fashioned Them aud
They Remain His Cheerful
Thoreau may have known n good deal
about Cape Cod folks. but there's no written
evidence to provs that he knew the Happy
Jack man. That seems u pity. Happy Jacks
are ns essential q feature Of Cape Cod as are
sand and scrub pine, and not 10 have known
the Happy Jack man argues that ONES knowl-
edge OF the region Is superficial.
On second thought. however. one feels con-
WINGED that Thoreau wouldn't have appre-
ciated Happy Jacks. They aren't in his line.
They are too barbarously red and blue and
jolly to tit into the half-tone mood of the Wal
den sage. He could never have known the
delight that stirs the heart OF u commonplace
wayfarer when. upon turning u corner OF n
sandy. dreary road, he comes upon u tiny
front yard full Of Happy Jacks, who whirl de-
l~iriously around in the seq breeze like Il
crowd OF jumping jacks on u spree.
The average mortal. not weighed down by II
saRe's reputation and digestion. will greet the
convivial mob with a sympathetic grin. Par.
ticularly II the stroller is coming from a dip
in the sea and IL u cool southwest wind is fill
ing his nostrils with pine scents and salt air,
he will stop, and. iguratively speaking. shake
hands with the Happy Jacks. They don't
battle. Probably they would enjoy It; hut.
unfortunately. their colors are not as fast as
they are loud; and. after all. since the pine
scents and salt air make them so gloriously
drunk. one shudders to think of the gleeful
orgy into which Il sea bath would plunge
them.
Happy Jacks are TO be seen everywhere
along the Cape: but the spot where they
flourish in widest, maddest frenzy is in the
yard OF the Happy Jack man. A tiny white
bGtuun Na,l ,,slI I.-I. 49, H. A-.-A III.
its eyebrows raised in true Cape Cod archi-
tectural fashion. The sharp pointed gable.
the geometrical regularity Of the woodpile,
the scrupulously weeded paths Of the prim
little garden. all stand out against the back
ground OF rolling sand dune and blue.sea like
an incarnation of the old New England spirit
that wrung homes from this barren shore.
But in front Of the uncompromising Puritan
house. soothing at the severe frown OF the
gable. hurting jokes at the shell-bordere
garden paths; shouting. laughing, dancing.
genial. ribald crew. the very incarnation Of
fed. lost TO all sense of serious responsibility
IN this world or the next. There is the
TIE original ri Al Happy Ia Ts'! Jack man is dead. Re-
Q%"ieSCat IL pace. He lived to IA good old age.
and his fame and his Happy Jacks have
mer. visitors have their homes. Now his son
carries on the business, and the Jolly jack tars
landscapes. He was a, cheerful old soul. the
inventor of Ha ply Jacks. There are regular
who loved to sit and talk to him While he whit
tied and whitfield, with his lips. puckered into
a queer half smile. the other half Of which was
A mania for whiting is n sign of the sur
vival Of the iinmorta boy under the manly dis
man who whittleS is "a good companion for Il
day. He, may be lazy and more ,ad-
to hard labor. hut one can go fishing with him
with a TRANQUIL mind. He, will not talk too
Your confirmed whittier is Il great observer of
men and things. He has an unrailing resource
in time of trouble. a charm against loneliness.
an inspiration TO cheerful thought, but Il thor
ough-going whittier is born. not made. Ii
That were not SO, every generation would turn
The Happy Jack man was a horn whittier.
He couldn't. resist even Il gnarled stick, and u
piece of soft pine board filed him with trem-
ulous delight. He didn't have an imposing
array OF worldly goods. but that was of no con-
sequence TO a whittier he was iame, hpt 50
take much interest in his legs. His shrewd
old eyes took in all that went on in the little
lenient, and he approved Of the world and of
the people in It.. Best OF all, he liked the chill
dren. Perhaps that was because the children
recognized him as one of them and adored
him as a playmate who can white out boats
and dolls should be adored.
Tn old man grew more and more cheerful
as the years went by. and at last the cheerful
ness. which had attained proper
tons from being rolled over and over in snow
ball fashion. found expression in the first
Happy Jack-was rrystalIized into pine and
paint and stood forth as an illustration of the
amount of )ollity Il man NAV store up in his
so, through years of kindly living-and
To give any one who has never seen a Hap
py Jack the %faintest idea Of his charms is Il
hopeless task. He is II jumping jack, u wealth
He is whitfield out OF pine. His round, Jolly
face has a color like the COMPLEXION OF a sum
the Beach. He wears an irresistible smile
that would woo a, response even from IL minor
P2Shfti tys. Sa His h ha1 has red q dsPS2i 5Gss .il hs 1fer nit az
the sunshine. and his baggy blue trousers
seem 10 hitch themselves in ocular fashion.
ing two red paddles, which catch the breeze and
set the Jolly tar TO Keeling and whirling in the
Every Gatepost and veranda railing along
the south shore is adorned with one of the
Cne. Ev ,aFS' SIMMER EHsPy Fhl Hisi 99 the sn yeast H 2TPy
Jacks to take home to the children. The hi
l1rious jackies dominate the Cape and set
sticky fogs shroud the coast or the sun friz-
zles the poor, seekers OF summer comfort.
Visitors endure beastly weather. sandy
roads, pestiferouS mosquitoes. and swear they
UBIQUITOUS Happy Jacks. With apologies to
Wordsw9rth. one might say, of Happy Jacks
one could not but be gay in such Il JOcnnd
company" The influence lasts even after
one has gone far from the Happy Jack region.
Mosquitoes. heat, d~iscomtorts manifold,
dwindle, and fade in the memory. but the
Happy Jack stands out in resplendent and in
fictitious gayety. He jigs it merrily. on vision
AIRY gateposts; and heckons alluringly with
shining paddles. and when summer comes
under the spell Of the Happy Jack talk OF
Maine rocks and Adirondack forests. but go
back To Cape Cod and tramp the sand dunes
loyously while countless Happy Jacks wave
Jovial greetings To them aud cheer them on.