The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-05-02
A REMINISCENCE.

On the banks of Puget Sound half
way between Seattle and Tacoma,
there stands great artistic log
house. Up in the cobwebbed attic un-
der the cedar roof, where the peep
of day strains itself to enter its il
Eliminating power, there rests an an
cient-long worn spotted calf skin
trunk. The hair covering shields
from the ravages of time and mice,
a page of Anthology, almost obliter-
ated by time and tears; not tears of
sorrow, but tears of unsurpassed
mirth Twenty-forty-six years
have intervened since that document
was folded, with the precious re-
licts of boyhood days.
Father, mother, brother and sis
ters are buried beneath the surface
of mother Earth in different parts
of this great Republic, sheltered by
the holly and the laurel of the
South, the beach and the maple of
the East, the fig and the alder of the
great northwest, and the sleeping
ivy of the world. The struggle for
existence through the walks of life,
along the highways of these unsym-
pathetic combination of states for
the past sixty years has not caused
neglect or care for these unalloyed
items of youth so sweet to my men,
ory in these last years of life. And
while unfolding them in this hour of
reminiscence, l cannot but picture
and recall the faces and forms; the
tidy as well as the scraggy hair, the
dirty and clean faces of the pards of
that joyful time in their ragged
pants and sockless shoes. Especial
ly do l remember the glaring an
nouncement so kindly donated by the
boys friend, F. B. Penniman in his
Honesdale Democrat of the mass
meeting to be held in the campaign
of Pierce and King and Fremont and
Dayton.
1t was the time of our lives when
the spirit of our Fathers took pos
session of our childish pastimes.
Our long column of marching
school boys lowered around the cor
ner of Mr.. Duanes church towards
the court house, that had been ten
dered through the solicitation of
Tom Jim Ham for our gathering.
John Owens consented to furnish
the fluid for the lights. A. Whitney,
through the influence of Horace,
loaned the speakerto-be, George
Snyder, a sulky to ride in the pro-
cession, pulled by twenty of our
crowd. Banners and flags were dis
tributed. George Knapp's drum
manipulated by Frank Corey and
Ed. Farnham were at the head. We
arrived at the court house, where a
committee consisting of Tom Torrey,
Ike Ward, Frank Penniman and
Graham Watts awaited to conduct
the speaker to the Judges chair. The
court house was already filled with
mamas and sisters, as we'll as some
of Jene Slockbower's followers. All
went we'll until George made his bow
to the audience on his arrival pre-
paratory to his taking the chair,
while the quartette selected from
Poctor and Todd's academy opened
with a campaign song. But George
spoiled the purport of the meeting
by getting mad and going home.
Some one of the gang had filled the
hair cloth chair with crooked pins,
and when George arose so suddenly
and prematurely, that the fellows
that were on started to laugh, which
made George get so red in the face
that he tore up his manuscript and
bolted out of the door as if he had
h66u SSuI lOl NY blo LhoLhh' any
way it was an extremely fast gait
that blocked the campaign speech.
No one else of the crowd having
studied up any stunt of that nature,
we would have to resort to any kind
of a speech, even if it did not per-
tain to Pierce and King and Fre-
mont and Dayton. Now, could we
find a chap that had the nerve to
face that vast audience of twittering
mamas and misses? Finally Tom
Torrey arose to boost for Charlie
Skinner, or "Skinnie," for short l
believe they called him. Just about
the time Tom tried to be PConnor-
like, throwing out some fierce ora
tory and swinging gestures, Bully AL
lens bull dog made his appearance
at the open door, and mistaking
Toms eloquent work as a demon
stration against his presence, delib-
erately made a swift jump for the
judges stand, which made Tom take
a desperate but graceful leap over
the desk in front, landing on Jennie
Booths new hat. Well, the eX-
preston that highly esteemed young
lady made, when she remarked to
Tom that providence was kind to his
hearers in sending that interference,
with further remarks from him. And
that she was willing to suffer the
loss of that new hat for humanity S
sake caused an impression upon
that vast assemblage that continued
throughout the magnificent cere-
monies to such an extent that the
lines of every ones mouth were hard
strained from being irregularly shap-
ed. To be right plain about it, l
never remember of being in an as
sembly so easily provoked to mirth
as upon that special occasion.
The call for Charlie seemed to
please the audience immensely for
he was actually the John Burke of
our crowd. Many of us down deep
in our minds imagined that Charlie
would some day be President. The
gestures that boy could make and
the grimances of his face when
snaalyinp WOuld nanca anU pOW m