Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-12-14

surprisin' how that meadow sand doe.
stick to stick o timber. One mar
can work it down about three or -four
feet and 20 men couldn't pull it up"
"How big was this wonderful house
of yours, Bill?"
"'Twas just IL feet square. I meas,
f, ured it with a six-foot oar" replied
the bayman. when I had all the
piles worked down solid in the sand
even, and the foundation was finished
There were three rows of piles. four
| feet apart.
"'Twas two months before I got
enough money to get the floor beams.
They were six-inch pieces of hemlock
in lumber at bargain.
when I got the beams laid down
solid laid some pieces o. scantlin'
down on top of the beams and did a
song and dance on the floor, my floor,
the only floor I ever owned"
The look of reminiscent gratifica-
tion on the bayman's face was so real,
so earnest, that the cynical visitor was
shamed into quiet.
AFTER that the clammin' was poor
and the oysterin' was worse, and twas
six months before I could afford to
buy my joists and weather boards.
When I got my joists and boards up
it didn't take long to finish the house.
THE roof was made of smooth pine
boards, tongued and grooved, and
covered with tarred paper. To make
the house warm put tarred paper I'M
der the flooring. When l got the
house finished had four winders in it,
with panes of glass foot square,
and two hunks in the corner with ex-
celsior mattresses in 'em.
ION summer nights I used to lay in
the lower bunk with the door open lis
TENN to the tide talkin' just like
folks, a-babblin' and a-gurglin' agin'
the piles, and a-murmurin' sleepylike
through the grass. But when the nor
casters blew shut the door. That's
when the tide got noisy and quarrel
some.
1T spit spray agin the winders and
jumped up agin the floor as if it was
jealous that my house was finished
and 1 was snug in my bunk. But,
Lord bless you, wasn't afraid O. the
tide. The ebb and the food are old
friends o. mine.
did you ever see the tides meet?
The ebb runnin' out and the flood
runnin' in? There's place in the bay
where they meet and pile up in a ridge
O foam a foot high.
THE ebb seems to say: Cit out O.
my way; I'm goin' out to sea- And
the flood humps itself and says: Don't
be foolish, I'm goin' all over the bars
and the meadows, and I've got the
sea behind me pushin' and, of course,
the food wins.
But twas the ebb and the flood and
the wind and the ice that wrangled
together and agreed to push my house
off the bar, and they did It,"
"Were you in the house at the time,
Bill?" said the visitor.
Sure" replied Bill. II was inside
with my three CATS
''Three cats?" said the visitor. II
should think that one cat would have
been enough for one man."
"One cat is enough for one man
ashore, but three amt any too many
when you're out here in the winter,
four miles away from solid ground, and
a Worcester playing peekaboo with
your winders.
when I got the house finished and
a half ton O coal in the locker, went
ashore to Canarsie to get some gro
ceries. When got there saw man
comm down to the shore with a bag
and inside of it we're three kittens that
he was goin' to drown.
'"They looked so measly and they
meowed so sorrowful like that l
grabbed the bag, cats and all, and
took 'em over to the house. I bought
a quart o. milk for 'em before we
started, and that was the last drink
O. fresh milk they ever had, for there
amt any cows or goats on Ruffle bar.
II named the cats after the three
men in the Bible that went through
the fiery furnace-Hayshack, Meshack
and Bendigo, for I knew the cats was
up agin it and were bound to see trou-
bic before they got through with me-
How long was it after your house
was finished before it was swept
away?" said the visitor.
From August till March," replied
Bill. II got along all right through
the winter, and the comfort them cats
was to me in the long evenin's was a
caution. used to lay in my bunk and
watch 'em rollin' over each other,
while the wind was screechin' round
the house and the tide talkin' noisy in
the cellar.
II think I'd ave gone crazy with
lonesomeness if it hadn't been for them
cats. You ought to have seen Hay
shack sparrin' with spider CT alb
tonged up one day! A spider crab,
you know, is all claws and bone and
has no innards to speak of.
"On the night before St. Patrick's
day the wind was roarin' around the
shanty. 1t had been blowin' from the
nor'west, and it shifted to the south
ard and blew the water tumblin' back
in the bay. To make things worse for
the cats and me, the bay was full of
float ice six to eight inches thick.
"The ice was f1oatin' back and forth
on the tide, and at low water it was
cfHondo1 IN hor
Some O. this ice came sailin' along