Year: 1871

! y


letter writer in the New York SIN. whose
pocket was picked Of watch on the


BECKER street ears. describes his search


for it. up river, on ears and boats


| got into a sitting posture alongside oI
a sweet nut. lie was greener than rhu.
barb pie, and resembied a piece OF picked
beeswaA without lemon | could take q
piece of soft gInger-Suap dough, ram my
knuckles into it, and make a more harmo-
nious face than his The only redeeming
quality to it wa- a wart, and 1t was poor


wart at that Old Becswax said his name
was Doolttle. Then | answered in tones
a. sweet as the sighing Of the wind through
a worm-hole in a cranberry The weather
Is delightful lie said 1t was too cold for
tle crops How about the hens crops .


said / lie said it warnt too cold tor
,hem hut il was too cold fer potatoes


Darn 1t, said /, raise cold potatoes


anl / remarked to him as he sat by my
side that last year we had It hot enough
Ito raise fried and mashed potatoes lie
gave a weary sigh, as if a cold bean and
a go0=cbcrry were wrestling IN his wind
pipe. asked him a number Of pleasant
little questions How did watcrmelous
sell small measure in his part2 and
such. Then We got to Albany. While
wa in 4 wagon going through Albany fifty
cents worth. a woman stuck her head out
of q window and shouted Watch, watch,
watch Thinks L. one of these three
watches may BE mine lost on the Blocker
street ears. Jumped up, hut somebody
said il was oH.y an Irishmau chaStening
his babe with crow bar lie was doing
it 20 give the young 'uu an iron constitU-
tiou Then we rot iu the boat, and | went
of board GA a board / saw a fellow look


ug through "a window up in one corner. 80
Iyi~itei him and said, BE you the clerk p
He sajd. | be- Then | asked was any
other passenger but me going down He
said there was. Then he gave me ticket
for a dollar ana | bought a pantry oft up
ia the garrett Tor two dollars 1t had two
~helve, To it, and | climbed up on to one
Of en- and slept edgeways all night. At
midnight we passed the Highlands The
scene in the soft glow of the surrounding
gloom wa magulticent. ! fell off the
shelf early in the morning, and went out
in the front yard and saw i fellow in q
summer house grinding a wheel | had
heard teii how much water a boat drew,
ana thought he was drawing some. says
1, Why IN thunder don't YOU jerk the
wheel clear around Said he. DO YOU
know who | am Says l. No, who in
thunder are You He said he was the
pilot Then | asked him, was he related
to Pontiu~ Plate Then | said, How
does she head He said, sou-sou west.
+ Well said 1, when She heads pig-pig
east let me know. will ye2 You see L
had eaten boiled mutton and was full of
caPors He gave a squirt of tobacco
juiee vog than a brown rainbow, and I
told him | guessed that was the sou west
spit Said he Wait till we pass that
buoy and I'll talk TO YOU Says |, What
hoy Says he, That buoy dead ahead.
Says |, Taint a boy but he stuck to
it il was, and that is the way so many ac-
cidcuts happen Here was whole steam
boat load Of NE and the rest of EN-. our
lives all in the hands Of man so ignorant
that he couldn't tell the difference between
a boy and an old post sticking up in the
water That man had a stern duty to
perform in steering that boat, and instead
Of being stuck up in glass summer house
away out Of the front part Of the boat, he
should have been back by the rudder