Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / Nov. 24, 1907, edition 1 / Page 20
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sight in the dens folia ere that clothed the mountain side. Horror-stricken, the men scrambled down the rocks as best ,they could by roundabout ways, to pick up . paor Nanni's mangled body. v., v , . Mangled, Indeed.; he was when they found, him, but not killed. He and the bear had providentially' tumbled into a thicket of huckelberry bushes on a ledge half way down the ravine. Bruin had made oft, leaving Nannl stunned, bleeding and highly indig nant, "Dat-a, bear no good-a," he said in a feeble out protesting tone to his rescuers. ''He not. know-a how to wrestle. He not wrestle fair!" , . (Copyrights 1907 by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co). ii2 Daar iiiiat Wouldn't Play Fair By HENRY TYIIRELL Tvr In the Catskllls? Well, there certainly are none prow, lug abost t famous hotels, nor even la TlcJnJtr of M romantic crag caned Rip Van Wmkle's Rock. But during lis week's ramble which we took ?ny friend and I among - the back woods and glen of Slid Moun tain and the Indian Head, we did dis- chlld. Such another animal was not to be found for love or money, and poor, Nanni's occupation was gone. Dlr heartened and without resources, he finally engaged himself with a num. ber of his fellow-countrymen, to work on the railroads. This employment; in the course of time, brought him to the CatskiU Mountains. "They'll go over, as sure as - ' Before the sentence was out of their mouths crash! - went man and bear brer tho precipice together. The others heard the crackling of branches 'as they: fell and were .lost to grappled with the infuriated bear, throwlnjr one -arm around the plump hairy body, and with the other hand clutcAing" the shaggy throat.- The struggle was terrific while it lasted and by' no .means one-sided. Bruin 'snapped with his Jaws and slapped out wildly with his huge paws, tearing great, strips from Nanni's clothing at each blow. Ha did not seem, to be at all particular whether bit. of Nanni's skin and flesh came with the cloth or not. Then the two fell and railed in the dust The spec tators cried: ' 'J ' - :IPPPP:(:J .P. 1 , . & t C ft ASH? . OVER THE PRECIPICE TOG ETh'er' Pumpkins of The Prim Little Lady By TEMPLE BAILEY. The Prim Little Lady was old and wrinkled, and ; she Bved In a tiny cottage at the vary far end of the vil lage, and beyond the cottage was a wide sweep of marsh, then the sands, and beyond the sands the sea. The 'tPrlm Little Lady's cottage was set in a field of yellow pumpkins, and when the fall came and ' the pumpkins were big and round and yel low amid the stubble, Jhe Prim Little Lady would stand In the door of ber cottage and say: . . "Gold and green and white and blue. Bring me luck what e'er you do." And the gold of which she spoke was the grass of the marsh, and the white was the glastening sands, and the blue was the blue df the sea. But no luck came td the Prim Little Lady and year after year her pump kins shriveled on the vines! all but one which she made Into pies and these she kept and ate all by herself. looked towards shore the sea was tlue and the sands were white and 'the marsh was green, and your pumqklns were as yellow as gold." , Then the Prim Little Lady gave a great cryi "You came by way of sea and the- sands and the marsh," she said, "and I found you on my pump kin. At last my luck has come to me.' - She led them to the house and set before them soup in little blue bowls and white bread and little round tarts, and the children ate, and then went to sleep, curled up lrke kittens, on the rug. "'.-. . The Prim Little Lady called in all the villagers. "My luck has come to me," she said: "See, It come by way of the sea and the sands and the marsh." And the vlllagess looked curiously at the strange children In the sea-stained clothes. But as time went on and the child ren simply ate and slept and played, the Prim Little Lady grew Impatient. "You have brought me nothing but work, she grumbled. "There Is little luck in that" "Let me help you work," said the Jit- cover traces of a fresh bear track or two. As for bear stories we found plenty Of them. Whenever we met a native we straightway asked fur a bear Story, and he seldom disappointed us, We soon had quke a collertlnn, the (urn Of Which Is the one I in going to tell you now. It has never before been told in print, 1 arn sure; for we had it from the lips of the hero hlmself an Italian laborer wh i, having origin-1 ally come Into tin- itkill lokorki'ii one of the railroad", had Dually mnde his home there. His name wus Nanri (short for (iio Vtnril) Rocco It poems that hi Italy, where Nannl wan born and grew up, he had been a kind of showman, lie used to travel among the Apr-nnln Villages wiih a performing mar which he had taught to wrestle so skillfully . that the huge animal tightly muzzled and with claws blunted, would "throw"' all cqntiers who ventured to tneaxnn their strength with him. Then master would try a bout, and always come on" victorious; hut this was due to a 'secret understanding with the bear, who. at a given signal, would fall to the ground and pretend t i be overcome. This was done so natural ly and so regularly that after a while Nannl came to believe hlmpclf really wore than a match for the ln-ast, anil the faithful creature never undeceiv ed him. The fame of Xannl and hi wres.l Ing bear spread far and wtd. Oni day an agent came along and engaged him for a foreign : mr. to extend an far as America. This began very mic cessfully: and no doubt Nann: would have made hlH fortune In America, had not his indlspheiiKahle liartner. ihe bear, sickened and died shortly after their arrival In Xew York. His master mourned him like a When the line of the railroad was first surveyed the region through which It passes had much more the air of a forest primeval than it possesses to-day. The principal "old settlers" then were bears and panthers and wildcats, with here and there a rattle snake. There was good sport In the mountains at that period. One dav a frond-sized hoar rlost.lv pursued by two hunters, came tearing through tbe underbrush, clone by the place where Nannl and his compan ions were at work. Tt was a wild spot, oveilooklng that stupendous ra vine where the snowy veil of the Kaat ersklll Kails hangs gracefully down the black wall of wet rocks. "Head him 'iff." cried the hunters. Hut the Italian laborers were too frightened to dispute the passage of the panting animal. The mere s!trht of them, however, caused him to Blacken his pace and look about him. his red tongue hanging out of his open mouth, and his mischievous little eyes Mashing with rage and defiance. lie.'ore him were the Italians, behind him the hunters. On qne side was the prci lph-e, and opjxifdte stood Nannl -and he was not the man to run away. If lie trembled It was from excite ment and emotion not from feir. The the free, full-grown bear at bav. ami rearing tnreateningiy upon his hind legs, caused a Mood of recollec tions to rush through Nanni's mind. Inspired by the thought of his trium phant wrestling days, he had but one Idea. :md that was to get a. good "side hold" on the bear, throw him on his back and capture hltn. Stop-n! st'ip-a:" he screamed, mo tioning hack the hunters, who had raised their guns to fire, "I'll catch-a him for yout" To the Seeehle.ss amazement of his comrades, he rushed forward anil 4 Z""""" rTrw I ' '-' T f SfcyQrtw inert? goMips lay, r ..: v ' - ' . , " ' " (rX ' ' "A alt of the UHThinkful Day;" - , - v , 1 1 rA I ' ' from hto peita on grandpa's luiee, ' i f . " Asl, 1 1 lx I . ' . Up te the dear ftce, soberly -' , ' ' . . ,) ; : . ylrH- - X. Vv, Looked Tommy Wet, thtt nwtry elf. .; . ' ' ; ' ' Z- J " rV ' "" " 7e srhllt he swinMfe4 WaMeB'1. Ar.--z-lx't ' ': " , : " Hell go to church nd pnxn4 prs, ;' v. ' t '- V ( r" x ' HH have jolly time, hi ijr x , . . ' , . " ,f ' :.-' :, - . . . J . , Up to the turkey ensp iTid broira, ' v . "f Up to th mmce-pies, tmiling down ' , - , V : yV J " Mid hosts o( goodie from As shell,-..... :..!! ' V I y ... , : . "He gon church to prsy od :.' "' ' LcJ f ' Up ia hi little trundtfrfeeoV .- - - j fMPL Jl " - , Up, covered close from toot to head, . 11 fi n T Lay Tommy Wee, a sorry elt, ." ' " '" -f ' ' J ftH Ly Tommy, murmurin( to himself : 1 ' ' ; C2fl " f J i ' "Ob, what-is turkeyf jrhst is pief - ' ' i 7 TTuV. ' Next .kHiow,' eoele, toi v ' . "t ' Q gf y ' 1"U p ehorcb and priy-o4 prsy , - " ' "Think you," the merry gossips sty, ' s Sr "Hem keep his wd, thU Thaakail Day? , ' . . ; Australian Tree Climbing ascends, the unknotted end permits the Implement to de adjusted to the ever-decreasing else of the tree, (Copyright, 1907, by Lothrop, Lee & snepara company). children 4Uia$ an tt ahtr Jufgett jutnjkin. J -r . Vnv-tferiktui orrinkTo-iv in rf Dav.1 " " one ut a time, Not and then one of the villagers would come to her and say, "Give me one of your pumpkins," and again one of them would offer to buy, and al ways the Prim Little Lady answered, "I must keep them all. Years ago a magician told me that through my pumpkins, by way of the sea and the t marsh, my luck would come, and If I sell one. my luck may go with it. Now, a year came when every pump kin vine In the village failed to bear , fruit and Ahere was not one to be had except those of the Prim Little Lady, and they were as big as barrels. We shail have no pies for Thanks- glvlng."' al the people of the village wulled, "there nre no pumpkins,'" and at last they went In a body to the Prim Little Lady and stated the calamity, but the Prim Little Lady shook her hoal and said: "No. no. I will not lose one of my presctous pumpkins," which was very selfish, Indeed. 'And the poor villagers went away sughlng, and the little old lady stood in her doorway and chanted: "Cold and green and white and blue, Bring me luck what e'er you do." But her luck stilt delayed, although the pumpkins mellowed and ripened In the golden sun. And the old lady, looking upon-them. murmed, gleefully. "On tho day before Thanksgiving, I will cut up Just onu. and I will make me six pies and those that I cannot use shall shrivel on the vines. And just before she slept that night, she stood once more in her door and chanted. - , . 1 "Gold and green and white and brut Bring me luck what e'er you do." Ana the wina, wnicn was mowing a gale, eaught up her words end carried them out 10 sea. L-.I cxn hold Such n awM lot tie girl, and the Prim Old Lady said "Come Into the field and help me cut up one pumpkin. I shall make six pleg and the rest of my pumpkins shall shrivel la tbe field.' And as the Prim Little Lady and the children worked and cut and stewed the Prim Little Lady told them that there would be no other pies in the vuiage. or i am not sure mat my luck has come and they shan't take It away with my -pumpkins. ' So sh carried Into the house a little pan full or pumpkin for six pies, and the rest she left to shrivel In the field But that night the strange children rose In the dark and went out Into the Held, and there they built a great fire and all night they cut and stewed, and when dawn came all the pots and ket ties that they could find were filled with pumpkin that looked like heap9 of gold. Then silently through the village went the children, and at every house they left pumpkin for as many pies as were needed, and at each house they said, "With the love of the Prim Little Lady,' and the villagers stared and said to each other, "After all she has a kind, heart." and all that day there were spicy odors as the house wives seasoned and mixed and baked the delicious pies. And when Thanksgiving evening came the villagers marched. In a body to the house of the Prim Little Laey, and when she came to the door with the children behind her,' the spokesman said: "We have come to present you with n token of our esteem, without you we should have had no pies," and he handed her a scroll on which It was set forth" what she had done, and at the bottom was inscribed In letters of gild: WITI THE LOVE OP A GRATEJFUL PEOPLE. And when the Prim Little Lady had read the scroll, she whispered, "Who did thls'Vtnd the children whispered hack. -We did It for you," and the fPrlm Little Lady put her hands to her Necessity is the mother of invention, and the Australian savages have de vised some effective methods of tree climbing which Illustrate the old adage. Not only have may Australian trees a large girth, but they are .very tail in fact, in Australia occur 'the tallest trees In the world. According to" Von Mueller, the botan ist, a species of eucalputs attains a greater height in Australia than does the giant redwood trees In California. It Is said that eucalyptus trees ' have been- measured, which are more than four hundred and fifty feet high. Be tween them and the redwood, however, there Is no comparison as to beauty; for the eucalyptus lsonly a naked stem surmounted by a few straggling branches, while the abundant and graceful .foliage of the giant redwood is perhaps us greatest cnarm. How to climb such trees waa th problem the Australian chose to solve, As the trunks are often too large around for him to clasp and "shin up" boy fashion, he had to Invent new de vices. According to an eye. witness the following is the method adopted In Queensland. . v When a tree is to be climbed, the native roes to the scrub and finds suitable piece of salamus, a tough climbing plant. As he carries' no knife, he uses his teeth to cut the tough wood, and by alternately biting and breaking he finally secures his climbing withe, which may be elgh- in fpt lone. It Is called kamla Having knotted one end of this, and havingiwlped all perspiration from his hands that they might not slip, he setzea the knot with the left hand. th other end round the trunk on f aw afforts catches It with his right Gvlng the kamln a couple nf inHxti riut tne riKni arm u int. rtrht toot aralnst the' tree, extending the arms . dtrectly in front and keeping bis body as far from the trunW as possible. He then proceeds, to walk up the tree, moving the kamin mi higher at each step. As he a, i w v - The Boy Who S,ncezed. , A gang of robbers In Arkansas had determined to rob a country store on a certain night, but as the place was de fended by shutters, bars and bolts, they obliged & boy 11 years old, son of one of the members or the gang, to hide himself In the store in an empty barrel during the evening. At mid night he was io opea the door to the gang. " .. AH went well with the boy for an " hour. Then he had to sneeze, and as the proprietor had .not yet gone home he was alarmed by the sounds and made a search and : found the y boy, told what the plan was, and the mer chant i cured help, and had the doors opened at the appointed hour, and the result -was the capture of five "robbers. That sneeze of the boy sent them to pr!8onvfor nve years apiece, while he was sent away to a home to be re-' formed. ' ' , ' A' THE FIRST THANKS GIVING DAY. By Mrs. Margaret J. Preston. O'er, Al) that night a storm raged, but I face and sobbed, "No one ever loved the next morning tne sun anone on the rain-washed world, and the Prim IJttle Lady going out to laak at her pumpkins found two strange children sitting on top of the biggest one. "Go away," she cried, shaking her apron at them, "go away." But ihe little girl shook her head. . "We came," she said "by by way of the sea and the sands andacros the marslt.V.C ' ' "There was a storm," the boy add ed, "and when the big boat went down, we climbed on a raft and s we me before. And while all the people stared, she confessed In clear voice that It was the children who had done the good deed. " "They have brought me luck because they have taught me love," she de clared,' "Henceforth my - pumpkins shall belong to the village. Never again shall there be a famine of plest" Then all the people shouted, "Long live the Good Little Lady!" . And the Good Little Lady the ' re mained to the end of her days. , A"utfNKSG-lViM? t) Ay CAlAMI x i aF.Avts !U2 Mince Pic,but"oh! lm $ ore yoo will TW ift b.r ' rAince Pie does. noT like cne'l TCopyrlght. 1907, by Lothrop,' Lee & Shepard Co.) And now." said the Governor, gazing abroad on the piled, up store Of the sheaves that dotted the clearings, and covered tho meadows '"Tls meet that we render praise because of this yield of grain; . Tls meet that the Lord of the harvest be thanked for His sun and rain. '- "And therefore, I, William Bradford (by therace of God to-da, And the franchise of this good people), Governor of Plymouth, sa Thro' virtue of vested power ye shall gather with one accord, And hold, In the month of November, thanksgiving unto the Lord. "He hath granted us peace and plenty, and the quiet we've sought so - "long; ' :.' "' '"." ' ' -. He hath th-warted the wily savage, and kept him from Jhlag us wrong ' ' And unto our Feast the Sachem Bhal 1 be bidden, that he may know s We worship his own Great Spirit who maketh the harvests grow. ; "So shoulder your matchlocks, masters; there Is hunting of all degrees; ' ?1 And fishermen, take your tackle, and scour for spoil the seas; ' ! V And maiden and dames ot Plyrnout a your delicate crafts employ ; , To honor our First Thanksgiving, and make it a Feast, of Joyt "We fallof the fruits and dainties, so clos to our harfd in Devon; Ah, they are the lightest losses we ' suffer for sake of Heaven I ' - - But see, in our open clearings,, how golden the melons He; 1 Enrfch them with sweets and spices, and give us the Pumpkln-Ple!" So, bravely the preparations went on for the autumn Feast; The deer and the bear were slaughtered; wild game from the greatest to least , ' ' : ' . ,i Was theaped In the Colony cabins; brown home-brew served for wine, '"V And the plum and the grape of the forest, for orange and peach and pine, , . ' " ' At length came the day appointed, the snow had begun to fall,. But the clang from the meeting-house belfry ran; merrily out for all,' " And summoned the folk of Plymouth, 'who' Jiastened with' glad accord To listen to Elder Brewster as he fervently thanked the Lord ''.', ' ' ' " i - ' ' . 4 , . " ; In his seat sate Governor Bradford; men, matron and maidens fair; ' . . i Miles Standlsh an.d all "nls solilers, with corselet and sword, were there; . And sobbing and tears and gladness had each In Its turn the away,' ' For the grave of the sweet Rose Standlsh o'ersbadowed Thanksgiving Ja. , f , - . f " . ' i l t , j And when Massasolt, the Sachem, sate down with his hundred braves, ' And ate of the varied riches of gardens and woods and waves, - ' And looked on the granarled harvest with & blow on his brawnv chest, lie muttered, "The good Great Spirit loves His white children best!" - And then, "as the Feast was en Jed, with gravely official air 1 ". . The Governor slrew his broadsword out from its scabbard there, J - - ' And smiting the trerrcher near hi'm. he cried in heroic way, " ' iiain jrie or tae i umpkini i quo tnee prince ox Thanksgiving DaylM
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 24, 1907, edition 1
20
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