Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-09-15
The FOG AT sQUONK
By Z. Z. MUNKlTTaIoK.

- E#HHWH@H
Talking about fog" said old uneia
Obed, a white-whiskered Squonker, az
he tipped his chair back in the chief
grocery of Squonk and crossed his
knees about a foot higher than his
head, when was q young man the fog
down here to SqIonk was 80 all-hred
thick that the wind could not blow it
away. The wind only dried it and left
1t lying around in drifts. We used to
cut it up in stove lengths and use II
:or fuel, as it was easier to chop than
wood. One day l got caught in the
log when | was in swimming when
the fog was so thick that you could
hold on to it to keep from sinking. r.
came all of a sudden and | could not
tell which way the land was to AVE
my life. | can just tell you / got
mighty scared when | couldn't tell
which way | was a-swimming. | struck
out and just took the chances on head
ing in the right direction. Soon bang
went my head against something
soj4,"
He paused o money! and a boy who
was munching a pc@ lermint lozenge
lutSA IuptSu nun ny dohiH6s tI
Was 1t a boat you struck?"
q thought SO at first" replied old
Uncle Obed, "but it wasn't no boat at
all. 1t was a rocking chair, and | land~
ca right a-ssutin' in it." 9
While the grocery crowd opened It's
eyes IL blank establishment the boy,
who was still engaged in grinding on
the peppermint iozenge, found time
to ask:
what! a rocking chair rocking id
The sca?"
mo, not in the sea-" replied the old
water dog, with a chuckle; mot in the
sea. but on my front stoop. You see,
had been a-swimming right along in
The fog, and not in the water at ALL
and | never could understand how I
ever had such luck as to land kerr
flop in hat there rocking chair"
Many queer things must have hap-
pened when you had one of those fog5
on" said a bystalder, whose remark
was intended to draw the old SQuonker
outs
Il just guess there did, replied old
Uncle Obed, in a reminiscent sort OF
way. Il just guess there did. Some
times the ~schoolboys would make q
lot OF fog balls Gust like snowballs,
you know, and have a regular fog
ball fight with them after the fog
banks had went away. They also
made fog forts and fog men. If you
could only get on top of a fog bank
once you could roll the stun up into
balls, and the more you rolled them
the bigger they got"
How could you get on top Of the
fog bank?" asked one of the summer;
residents.
when we began to climb on top
of Them" replied old Uncle Obed. Eve
used to lay a ladder up against stho
side OF 1t and Chamber up"
"And what did you want 10 60 up
for?" asked the boy, who was still
masticating the peppermint Iozengea.
ITO catch fish. Sometimes codffshl
and bluefsh would swim in on the
fog, just like | did wnen / Lit inter
the rocking chair, and when the fog
went away they would be left 1op-
ping en- the ground.
you may think it sounds like lynn
to say we could walk around on tho
fog that was wet enough to swim In
but it won't seem SO funny when / say
that we wore snowshoes. We used
to wait until the fog got sorter dry
and then we'd press chunks of it out
fiat fer wallpaper, rugs and mats
t~lesses. After we got these things
pressed out we'd varnish them. and
that would waterproof them so they'd
never warp or lose their shape. II
have seen ducks swimming in wet
fog down here to Squonk, and I've seen
hens scratching around in dry fog.
It's ali a question of your fog's beins
wet or dry. I've seen a fine imitation
of mineral wool made out of fog such
as we used to have down here to
squonk, and once wlhen. waahad CLIPPED
the sheep the foiTfs ~sproute,son them
and srowed so fEast that = rot five
or six crops that lcouldn't fa y7 them
every summer. This foo ali on was
just like raw silk, and r. wool .Nm
| was put out of business slikwo
sheep. Gosh. you ought 10 ~
curtains we made out of 1t! Buf1L'
I wasn't as good, by a jugful, for blank
I cts ana shingles as the raw fog right
I of the sea. Sometimes we would
( strain it for pearls
{ what" exclaimed the crowd.
{ Strain it for pearls" reiterated
{ Uncle Obed, as if it was nothing un4
8 usual
( do you expect us to believe that
: Uncle Obed?" asked the crowd.
K "Do you think it's unreasonable? 2
: We'll, ratherl" answered the crowd
I, In chorus.
"All right, then" replied Uncle
Obed, with an injured air. then I wonL
tell you nothing more about the wen
derful fog down here to Squonk. I
used to drive staples into 1t and fas-
ION the caws To The sama with :