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Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, December 12, 1903, LAST EDITION. 4:30 O'CLOCK., Image 17

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VOL.. IilJI. NO. 47.
KOCK ISLAND, ELIi- SATURDAY, DECKMBEK 12, 1903.
PAGES 17 TO 24.
9
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-VI
AjFfer Forty
yi Christmas "tory by
Elizabeth E. S'tctv
Copyright, 1303, by Elizabeth E. Stow.
SOMEHOW she looked out of place
among the gay throng of Christ
mas travelers that enlivened the
dull waiting room. Whenever
the station toaster's stentorian voice
rang through the room she started
tensely, only to settle back stiff and
alert, ns before.
She was small and slightly bent. Her
decent black dress, though far from the
latest cut, had a nattiness of its own.
She had probably passed twoscore and
ten, yet there was a youthfulness about
her that had detied hard work and
trouble and forrow. I felt sure that
she had experienced all three. At last
she glanced shyly in my direction.
"It's tiresome waiting, is it not?" I
ventured.
"Oh, no! It's all so new and strange
to me, and then I've only an hour to
wait" Her voice, like herself, had a
pleasant alertness.
"Perhaps you're unaccustomed to
traveling," I suggested tentatively.
"This morning is the second time
since I was ten years old that I've
been on a train of cars," she answered,
with suggestive accuracy. "I didn't
used to mind staying at home, but the
longing to go somewhere has seemed
to grow on me. Why, one time I even
thought of setting in the milk train that
makes up at our station. It backs up
and switches round for 'bout an hour,
so I could imagine I'd started for no
body knows where. I even got so far
as hoping a cinder d blow in my eye,
like when I was a little girl and went
to the city with father. It's a mercy
I never told my idee. Folks would
have thought I was getting In my do
tage. I ain't tiring you, be IV" she
asked anxiously. "I don't know when
I've talked so much about myself."
I hastened to reassure her, remark
ing that home cares had doubtless pre
vented her getting away.
"How did you know?" she said, wth
a birdlike turn of the head. "Why, I
was only eleven when I began making
bread "and pies. I was the only child,
you see, and mother began to be lame
then. She kept right on growing worse
and worse till finally her joints all
stiffened "up, Just like the bones be
tween. She suffered dreadful till the
last fifteen years or so, when the sore
ness kind of left."
"How long did you say it was since
you rode on the cars?"' I asked.
"Just forty years ago this morning.
It was tonmy eighteenth birthday. I
was born the day before Christmas.
I'm fifty-eight today."
"I wouldn't have thought it."
"That's what folks all tell me. I
should think I'd look as old as Jle
thuselah, though somehow I don't feel
It. I remember that day, forty years
ago, just as welL 'Twas just such a
mornimj as tbijs, the. snow .all a-SDaxkle
and crisp underfoot. ' Uoodiofl.Y'sji&I
'twas like fairyland. It was Goodloe
Morton" a faint flush came on her
faded cheek "who- took me' on the
Christmas excursion to Buffalo. We
was going to the falls, but something
prevented. It was the next spring ne
asked" me to marry him. Dear me!
You wouldn't think to hear me running
on thai you're the first person I've ever
told it to. I wouldn't let Goodloe tell
it neither, I was that afraid mother
might hear. She was growing worse
fast, and it would have worried her
to think I couldn't leave home and
marry like other girls, lioodloe felt
quite worked up for a spell, but finally
he married Sally Skinner. She's raised
him a big family and been a good wife."
I fancied a sigh escaped her, but aft
er a moment she went on in her cheery
way: "Well, as I was saying, the last
time I rode on the cars was on my
eighteenth birthday. Iy pushing a
chair in front of her, mother cou!d
walk a little yet, but I got Susan Ann
Iluggles to look in ou her once in
awhile, for father couldn't be depend
ed on if he got after a new patent idee.
You see, he was always going after
patents. Were they a success? Oh, my,
no! He spent pretty much all mother
had. Her folks was pretty well off, you
know. The only one of his idees that
was ever anjT good was a machine for
lifting mother. I don't know ' what
we'd have ever done without it. It
turned with a crank, like a windlass,
eo I could lift her alone, just as easy.
"IT'S TTBESOME WAITCXO, 19 IT KOT?"
for all she was such a dead weight.
Our doctor said we ought to have it
patented, but I made him promise he'd
never lisp it t; father.
"One time the doctor had a young
doctor up from a New York hospital
to see mother, and he thought the ma
;j . '"s.r A y
- f5a$iN
it'. ' ; f s-0i&. T ' "' nsef,i''.
chine, was great. 'Why, he "says, turn
ing to me, 'you'll let me get out a pat
ent on it, won't you? 'Oh, jes,' says I,
'get out all the patents you want to
and welcome.' So he had a photo
graph took of It. Afterward I felt real
kind of sorry I let him do it, he was so
young and green looking.
"Well, you can see, what 'with moth
er helpless and father patenting, there
wasn't much chance for me to get
away, but I always had a hankering
to see Niagara falls, it's a sight once
seen stays by, they say. When our
money was more plenty I laid out to
go a number of times, but something
or other always turned up to prevent.
The first time father was took with a
crick in his back. The next time the
daughter of the woman who was com
ing to take care of mother had her leg
broke in a runaway. Once everything
seemed moving favorably. Clarissy
Stringham had come to take care of
mother. I had my ticket there and
back, and even my lunch was put up,
for I was to start at 5 in the morning.
That night there come tip the worst
thunderstorm you ever see and wash
ed out the track on our branch, so the
trains couldn't run for two days.
"Yes, mother died a little more than
a year ago. just a year and three
months after father. I was so thank
ful she went before me. You see, she
had been sick so long, and then she
was naturally pretty high spirited (she
said I'd just let folks run right over
me), so she used to speak out pretty
sharp, and sometimes 'twas awful
hard to please her, but I never minded,
for I knew she meant all right. Oh,
you don't know how lost I was after
she was gone. Why, there hasn't been
a night sence I don't wake up 'bout
the hour she used to ask. me to pull her
a little to one 'side or lower the cushion
under her knees or do something to
make her easier. Sometimes I find my
self setting right up in bed, thinking
certain she's calling me."
She was unable to go on for a mo
ment, and though I'm called easy in
conversation I could think of no com
forting word.
"And I'm so thankful," she contin
ued, regaining her self control, "the
money held out till she was gone. I've
had to let the place go. Last week
after everything was settled up I had
just $23 left. Through it all every
body's been just as good to me as they
could be. I often wonder why, for
I've never had time to do anything for
them. Well, I had plans all laid to go
to work for Mrs. Jennings at a dollar
a week when one evening it was just
a week ago I was setting alone feeling
pretty blue and thinking 'twasn't likely
now I'd ever see the falls, and in
stepped Dr. Brown. 'Well, he says in
hi3 offhand way, 'Miss Fannie, can you
bear good news?'
" "'Why, I don't know, doctor,' says
I. 'I've never had much experience at
it.' You see I was feeling blue yet.
' 'Well,' he says, with a twinkle in
his eye, 'I guess you're goLng to have
a chance now. I've just heard from
the young doctor who wanted to get a
patent on yoar mother's lifting appa
ratus. "He gave me a letter which had a
check In it and winch said I'm to have,
$10 a week my lifetime: 'It's' half the
royalty he gets for his patent on moth
er's machine. Well, when I realized it
wasn't a story out of a book I never
waited to have a dress made nor noth
ing, for fear something Td happen. And
so here I am on my way to Niagara
falls. The falls are pretty badly froze
up, of course, but I ain't going to take
any chances on not seeing 'em. Be
sides'" "Train going west!" came in sten
torian tones.
A warm hand clasp, and the last I
saw of my little friend was a cheery,
expectant face lost in the hurrying
crowd of Christmas travelers.
CHRISTMAS REMNANTS.
Way of Srrvlux tlie Portions of
Turkey Left Kroiu the Keaat.
After your Christmas dinner you will
probably find that you have a goodly
portion of turkey left. ; This has hap
pened a great many times before, and
as a result many way have been de
vised for preparing these left over
scraps of turkey meat. This does not
mean the large white slices of the
breast, for this portion of the meat can
be simply arranged on a platter and
eaten as it Is.
A salad of the white meat of turkey
is as good as If not better than chicken
salad. Take one cup of turkey meat,
rather coarsely chopped; one cup of
celery, also rather -oanely chopped;
the whites of three hard boiled eggs,
I also chopped, l'ut the yolks of the
bard boiled eggs Into a bowl and
mash and then pour over them three
tablespoonfuls of melted butter or pure
olive oil. Into thia put one teaspoon
ful of salt and one of mustard, with a
dash of red pepper; then thin with half
a cup of good vinegar.
Another way to use the white meat
of turkey Is to chop It fine, then put
a spoonful of cranberry sauce that has
been run through a colander in tho
bottom of a mold or small bowl, on this
a layer of chopped turkey, then a lay
er of cranberry, and so on till the mold
is full. I'ress bard and put in a cold
place till ready to use; then turn out
on a platter.
Turkey Croquettes. Take one cup
of turkey meat, chopped fine; one cup
of bread crumbs, one spoonful of but
ter and two of cream; season with salt
and pepper; moid Into little fancy
shaped cakes and fry.
Turkey patties are made exactly as
are. chicken patties. 'To one cup of
turkey take one cup of turkey gravy
or one cup of water made rich by a
generous lump of butter; season and
thicken with a little flour; pour" into
pastry shells and bake tn a quick oven.
A LESSON FOR CHRISTMAS.
How a Grnrronn Giver of Present
May Retaliate For Neglect.
"Here's something cheap. Let's buy
St," said the tall, angular woman.
"What for?" asked the jolly, little
one.
"Oh, for a Christmas present," an
swered the other.
"Who for?" queried No. 2.
"Oh, I don't know. It will come in
bandy for some one."
"Here" (to the clerk), "wrap me up
two of these and hurry my change,
please. How much? Seventeen cents?
Oh. all right."
"My goodness!" ejaculated her jolly
companion. "You don't mean to say
you buy all your Christmas presents
that way?"
"Pretty nearly at hjust that's what I
Intend doing this year. I've taken lots
of pains to buy things before, but from
now on I'm going to go about things
differently."
"Why, what has changed you?"
"Well, ifs thisway: I'm an old maid,
you know, but 1 like pretty things aw
fully well. T am accointed well off.
and so I am," but .almost every year I
have soTight out-the nicest, prettiest
things I could find and sent them off
to those I count my friends. And
what did I get tn return? Nothing,
positively nothing. Now, the value of
a thing doesn't count one bit with me,
but I do like people to be thoughtful,
and when I get two or three marked
down calendars and a general collec
tion of stuff picked up to send at the
last moment which is not of the least t
use to anybody I rebel. So this year
I am going to try to toach them a les
son." Smokinar 'the ChrUlmn Fool.
Ill some parts of England the custom
Is said still to continue, two days after
old Christmas day, of "smoking the
fool" that Is, a pile of straw being col
lected and set alight the "fool" Is hung
over it by a rope around his waist and
swung backward and . forward till he
Is nearly dead. Then he goes around
with his cap and collects "what the
spectators thtok proper to give." as the
chroniclers express it. In these enter
prising days, when almost any game is
worked that can, Induce any one to
give anything. It seems strange that no
one has imported this custom, for It
must be a successful one.
Hound to Be Ladylike.
Ethel What did you do when Gus
proposed to you? ;
Mabel I was so surprised I puckered
np my mouth to whistle, but then I re
membered that would be unladylike, so
I hurried a"nd pressed my' lips against
his to keep myself from whistling.
A shell from a 12 inch e-un makes
It9 flight of nin miles la forty-two sec-
onca.
The characteristics of the blusterer
are a killing tongue and a quiet sword.
Copyright, 1903, by F. A. Ober.
morning not
many years ago
I found myself
up a tree in
Crusoe's island.
I was hunting
meat for my
Christmas din
ner shortly aft
er daybreak
that morning,
and as the most
abundant sup
ply was prom
ised by the pec
f thy TSJ
1
EOEISSOX CRUSOE.
caries, or wild
hogs, that ranged the island, I had left
camp and started out after them. It
was great fun for awhile, for I fell in
With a herd of about a dozen and had
Becured two of the "varmints" when
the survivors, seeming to think that
"turn about is fair play," began hunt
ing me. Then the situation assumed a
different aspect entirely, for the pec
cary when aroused is one of the most
bloodthirsty of creatures and as re
vengeful as an Indian. Fortunately
for me, a great gum tree stod conven
iently near, and by means of the lianas
that swung from its branches I was
Boon safe from harm and looking calm
ly down upon the little black beasts as
they raged around the trunk. But a
peccary, as is well known, can enter
tain only one idea at a time, and the
idea that possessed the shallow brains
of my friends below was how to effect
my destruction. After rooting around
awhile they all sat down in an attitude
of expectation and patiently waited for
me to descend. And they would sit
there, I felt sure, knowing peccary na
ture as I did. until they starved me to
death rather than allow me to escape.
I had only a few rounds of ammuni
tion suited to their needs, but I killed
three more before it was exhausted
and peppered the hides of several oth
ers so that if they ever had entertained
the idea of leaving they abandoned it
entirely. I had not a morsel of food
about me. The limbs I sat astrjde of
were not so soft as they might have
been if they had been made to order,
and I was getting uncomfortable when
I noticed a commotion in the herd.
The leader of the band, a grisly old
tusker with recurved fangs like Turk
ish scimiters, suddenly stood up and
sniffed the air; then ho uttered a
"wboof" of rage and despair, struck a
2:10 gait and disappeared in the jungle,
followed by all the survivors. I was
saved by a black man and a dog.
It may or may not be true that the
peccary has as intense a dislike for
the black man as he has for a dog,
but anyway the combination proved
effective in thus instance. The man
who appeared at this juncture was the
'4 K
i ' , -
- I I " -
THE
only other in that forest save myself,
my sable servitor, Fappy Ned. He had
been out all night hunting crapauds,
or forest frogs, and was on his way
back to our camp with a backload of
batrachians, the legs of which were to
be served up in a style which only
Pappy Ned knew to perfection.
"Goramighty, massa!" he exclaimed
in astonishment. "Was dat yo' gun
goln' off pam! pam! lak yo' shootln' a
reg'munt ob sogers? Ki, but It's lucky
ole Pappy Ned ettme 'long, hey? Dem
hawgs done know Pappy Ned an' jes
cl'ar out when dey hear um a-comin'
along wiv dis yer dawg. Dey don lak
niggers, an dey don' lak dawgs nuther,
but dey'se death on de buckra man."
"Well, pappy, the buckra man. as you
call me, has brought death to the pec
caries this time, and they've good rea
son for not liking me, I fancy. " But
you came along just in the nick of
time, old friend, and I owe you another
reward for saving my life a second
1, i fi II
sa Mini m
time." lie had' nursed me tnrougn a
fever a few months before.
"Oh, me massa, dat ain nnffin. Me
only too glad to sarve me good massa,
fo' shuah. Yo jes set down an rest,
while me done cut up an' skin desa
hawgs one, two, three, fo', fibe. Golly,
massa, we done gut "nuff meat fo' de
Christmus dinnah, ain' we? Not to
menshun dis yere bag wiv two dozen
line fat crapauds in um, sah."
I'appy Ned set to work dressing (or,
to be exact, undressing) the peccaries,
being careful not to taint the tiesh with
the contents of the peculiar musk gland
which the species carries on its back,
and while he is thus engaged seems a
good opportunity for tne to make my
explanation as to the exact location of
Crusoe's island.
It is not, as ninety-nine persons in a
hundred think, the island of Juan Fer
nandez, on the southwest coast of
South America, but it is a good many
miles nearer the coast of our own Unit
ed States, in the southeastern part of
Mie Caribbean sea. I will not waste
any time, either the reader's or my
own, in argument, but respectfully re
fer the earnest inquirer to old Crusoe
himself. Robinson Crusoe, Esq., "Mar
iner, of Bristol, England, whose adven
tures were first written out and pub
lished by Daniel De Foe in 1710. was
somewhere in latitude 11 degrees north
of the equator when he was wrecked
that is, of course, assuming there ever
A PECCARY.
was an entity called "Crusoe" in the
flesh. But. whether he ever existed or
not, that is where De Foe placed his
hero when he had him wrecked on the
coast of his island. To quote the
words of Crusoe himself, just before it
happened, "Tho master made an ob
servation as well as he could and found
that he was in alout 11 degrees of
north latitude, so that we were gotten
leyond the coast of Guiana and beyond
the river Amazones, toward the Orino
co, commonly called the Great river."
Now, that would be evidence suffi
cient for any sailor, but let Crusoe fnr-
ther explain, a he does well along in
his narrative, when he first circum
navigates his island kingdom: "The
lajnd which I perceived to the west and
; o
, J ' '
yA-i
SXTRVIVORS BEGAN HUNTING
southwest was the great island of
Trinidad, on the north point of the
mouth of the river Orinoco."
Trinidad, as everybody knows, is off
the north coast of South America and
is one of the finest British possessions
in the West Indies. The only other is
land which fully answers the descrip
tion. given by Crusoe in relation of lo
cation to Trinidad is that of Tobago,
from which Sir Walter Raleigh prob
ably derived the name of the "weed"
we call tobacco.
I long held the theory that this was
Crusoe's island, and in order to prove
it went down there on a hunting and
exploring expedition, afterward writ
ing a book about my adventures which
gives all the evidence, even if it does
not sufficiently establish the facts. At
any rate, I "played Crusoe" for months
in Tobago, the island of the ancient
mariner's adventures, built a hut of
palm leaves in the forest and for a
time .lived as good old Iiobi.nson lived.
f AAA
W ! ? . J
x " N
vmn the exception tl&f I did "not" have
any goats: neither did I tempt an at
tack of rheumatism by residing in a
cave. I even had my poll parrot, myi
hammock under the palms and m
"Man Friday," only the latter was no
a Carib, like Crusoe's factotum, but a;
black man, honest and faithful ol
Pappy Ned, who soon finished skinnln
those peccaries and was ready to gi
wun me nacK to
our hut. Hang
ing three of the
pigs up in a
palm tree to
await his re
turn I'appy
Ned shouldered
the other two
and the sack of
crapauds and
toted the load
to camp, which
was distant but
-a mile or so,
and I followed
FREDERICK A. OBER.
alter wun my
gun. As Tobago is a tropical island the
meat won Id not keep a great while, and
we really had much more than we couldJ
eat, but I'appy Ned said he knew of
some black pnple over on the other
side of the forest who would devour
what there was left provided he could
get word to them in time.
There never was a more beautiful
situation for a hut than the site of
mine on a hilltop above the forest line,
with views of tropical woods and shin
ing shore, and. as the weather that
Christmas day was simply perfect, I
ordered my man to make our "spread"
in the open, beneath the cocoa palms,
sheltered from the blazing sun by the
golden rooftrees only. So he set the
table out of doors and lost no time in
getting at the cooking, which was dona
over an open fire. I'appy Ned was as
adept at preparing exquisite dishes
from next to nothing as any Parisian
chef that ever lived. We had a garden
filled with such plants as the manioc,
tania, sweet potato, arrowroot, yam,
etc., not to mention corn and mountain
rice. From a wild grove of coffee trees
I obtained the fragrant berry for my
morning beverage; also cacao, or choco
late, from another copse on the border
of the forest, while the cocoa palms
above and around my hut held a de
licious cool drink in their unripe nuts.
Fappy Ned dried and grated the cassa
va tubers, making "farine," from which
he cooked great cakes more than a foot
across. The juice of the cassava is
poisonous in its crude slate, but it Is
converted into a palatable substance by
heat and forms the basis of t lie noted
"cassareep," or pepper pot. We always
had a pepper pot on hand as a stand
by, into which we threw the odd pieces
of meat left over after ordinary .re
pasts, and a goodly amount of the pec
cary flesh was thus disposed of. .tho
i
x
Afv 4,
V
- y
' - f "
s."- A
ME.
cassareep acting "as a preservative as
well as condiment. But pepper pot
was a poor man's makeshift, Pappy
Ned always declared, and the day be
fore he had walked the beach for sea
turtle eggs, several score of which ho
had brought back to camp, together
with a fine fish he had caught on the
shore.
After working three or four hours
over the open fire Pappy Ned canre to
announce, "Dinnah done ready, sah,"
at the same time handing me a
"cashew cocktail" made from the julco
of an aromatic fruit brewed with mm
and stirred to effervescence with a'
"swizzle stick."
The grand repast of the day opened1
with gumbo soup, followed by fish,
frogs' legs and turtles' eggs, while in.
the center of the table was peccary
roast, flanked by a nicely browned
guinea bird and a native wild turkey,
Continued on Page Eighteen.
Jt
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