Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-10-20
MRS. Wleos At PEACE.
Heroine Of the Cabbage Patch Is Her.
self Again.


Mrs. Wigs of the Cabbage Patch
the real Mrs. Wigs of the real Cabbag
Patch is thankful. Peace has come to
her humble shack in Louisville's Shan
tytOwn, and she is once more able RI
visit the old pump or to water the flow
ers in her ''denominationaP' garden
without being assaulted bv a dozen
pairs OF sightseer's eyes or harassed by
the lnsolent interrogations of the
curious tourists. Public concern over
her and her neighbors is uuieted. the
Wide-eyed and Open-mouthed visitor
posters her no more, and her son no
longer has TO stand guard over the
premises with a shotgun to frighten
away insistent intruders. The Good
Angel of the Cabbage Patch is herself
again, dispensing optimism with a
lavish hand and doing the best she can
to make life in the Patch worth the liv-
ing.
For time there were indications that
Mrs. Wigs was ''a-gittin' sour" Her
sudden leap to fame, and the con-
sequent rush of visitors into the region
across the tracks," got on her nerves
a tritie, and she laid aside for a while
the rose-colored spectacles through
which she had been wont to view her
troubles. They broke off the boughs
of her peach tree, they shipped sprigs
from the "denominationar' flowers.
they peered into her windows, and
asked her foolish questions, all of which
she bore with patient forbearance-until
the Louisville society woman with
French heels and other sartorial i'm
pertinences. shifted at her closets and
peened under her bed one day. Then
she rose IN her wrath and deluged the
offending person with dish water that
had been used. She was arrested and
put in jail, but the police magistrate
told her that she had done right, and
since that time the visiting has almost
ceased.
I'm gittin' back to a right way of
Twin now" she told one of her ac-
quaintances this week. For a while
there l was 'feered they'd drive me
crazy with their Mrs. Wigs business,
but since / sOused that woman with the
dishwater for which they didn't do
nuthin' to me they've kind O. let me
alone. / s'pose they meant all right
but even an angel wouldn't stand bein'
treated like menagerie. Now that
I'm feelin' better over it I may go to
see that play they've writ about me
though I swore I'd never go near it as
long as 1 lived
BY many persons the Cabbage Patch
and its people are supposed to be myths
merely creatures of the novel written
by Mrs. Rice and dramatized by her
frtn
bage Patch is real. and SO is Mrs.
Wigs. The patch is a triangular piece
of ground. comprising about eighteen
acres. and is between the Southern and
the Illinois Central railway tracks. In
the deeds this tract is known as
"Burkhardt's annex" The original
wild growing cabbages from which the
neighborhOod took it's name, have all
and in their place is a
mass of weeds. The pump is there, just
as it is in the play, and the characters
who come across the tracks to work it's
handle are there Also much as they are
depicted on the stage. 1t is curious
little settlement on the outskirts of the
city, and it is peopled by poor white
folk, something of the character of the
denizens of New York's Shantytown.
1t is not, however, the Shantytown of
the Edward Harrigan play type, being
almost native American in it's racial
features, and more true than the con-
ventional Shantytown type to the
American home idea.
1t was to this neighborhood that Mrs.
Rice-then a girl in her teens-found
her way one day in search of material
for the home missionary work in which
she and her mother We're deeply inter
ested. Not far from the corner shown
in the picture she found a little boy
deiving into a garbage barrel in search
of something to eat. She persuaded
him to take her to his home, and in a
few minutes she was face to face with
Mrs. Mary Bass. the real Mrs. Wigs
of the cabbage patch. What followed
is well known to the readers of the
story. for Mrs. Rice chung closely to
the facts in her sketch of the cabbage
patch folk. They appealed to her as
types-eccentric, perhaps, in their pro-
nounced characteristics but faithfully
representing a specific stratum Of life
in every American city.
Before Mrs. Bass naturally cheerful
and angelic disposition was ruined by
the discourteous intrusion of the public
into all parts of her house, and the I'M
welcome given her by her identifica-
ton as the heroine of Mrs. Rice's
stories. she was just about as Mrs.
Wigs is pictured in the book and play.
She was quantity humorous and kindly.
and struggled bravely in her surround
ing of pathetic poverty. She is still a
motherly old soul. possessing
spiritual beauty that ennobles her
poverty and commonplace life. and that
shines in her humor and wisdom like
sunshine through tears or rainbow
through the sorrows of life. Now that
she has been relieved of the annoyance
of her notoriety she will stay on the
patch for the remainder of her days,
continuing to help her less fortunate
neighbors by the force of her cheerful
example. For a time Mrs. Bass threat
cned to leave Louisville and hide her. |
self where she would never again be
spoken of az Mrs. Wigs of the Cab f,
baee Patch"
The picture of Mrs. Wigs and the !
little boy is the only one Of her IN ex-
istenne. She successfully evaded all