PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE EARLY EUROPEAN IMMIGRANT.
THE PARRICIDE: KILLS FATHER WITH AXE. {con't}
squatted on the grass by that midnight fire, with the oxen and wagon,
the roan horse and the road cart, the animals contentedly munching in the
background, made a picture in which an artist would have seen some
points. When the tea was ready the speechless Pole handed the tin cup
first to me. He then produced a piece of heavy dark bread. This he cut
in three pieces, and apparently just as a matter of coulse handed the
stranger the largest piece. Times were hard; this piece of bread was
their only provision with a little tea, and sugar for the trail. Yet the
stranger got his share.~ He was not a very good looking Pole, as a matter
of fact he looked rather a cut-throat, but I have often thought of him, his
fire, his hay, his boy, and above all that piece of bread as constituting the
finest and most spontaneous piece of hospitality I have ever experienced.
Among the Russians was an educated man of middle-age who I found
was strongly suspected of murder. If so he carried his conscience pretty
lightly. A middle-aged pleasant fellow. There was no doubt a man had
disappeared. Information was given the police anonymously of where
nothing. I am convinced that there was a tragic mystery of some kind
behind these rumors. The Russian was a somewhat refined and fastidious
mortal. He grew and smoked home grown tobacco, but he also grew lav-
ender. He mixed dried lavender with the home manufactured narcotic
in order to disguise its strong smell. He carried his lavender scented weed
in a bag. I have smoked out of that bag and the mixture was very palat-
able. I mentioned this a year ago to a friend of mine who was smoking
home grown tobacco, the odor of which was not over-pleasing to his wife.
He is a good gardener. "I'll grow some lavender next year" said George
and at the time of this writing I doubt not the lavender is scenting the
air among the cabbages and peas.
One of the Bohemians moved into Whitewood in the early nineties and
built a remarkable unlicensed two storied hotel, which was used for some
time by the colonists till it fell into disrepair. It was built of small poplar
poles cut into lengths of some twenty inches. These he cemented together
with mortar made of mud, and plastered the whole with the same com-
modity outside. It was a novel building, and the only one I ever saw made
of sawed up lengths of little poplar poles. The labor and patience re-
quired to build that relatively large place were immense. The result
was architecturally pleasing, at any rate to me. Some of the outlines
were rounded off and the general effect was distinctly oriental.
I am tempted to tell a story of the social side of these colonists. Wed-
dings, and social events led to celebrations in which the hospitable fire-
water was often liberally dispensed. An English-speaking man was a
guest on one of these occasions. He got exceedingly mellow, and his su-
periority to his foreign brethren became uppermost in his mind. As he
surveyed them he muttered drunkenly "All cattle, all cattle". He was
overheard by a Hungarian who fortunately mistook him. "Not all Cath-
lic," said he, "not all Cathlic; some Protestant, some Protestant."
Bibliography follows:
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