Document text
out of
for an
Barney
save
Francis Donovan
Thomaston,Conn.
Thursday ,Dec
am on my way to Mr.Botsford's house,but I meet thexisixtx h
I
38
coming
the postofice. "Still out working?" he inquirestand wi out waiting
answer,he says: "I'm omcmgx going down to spend the a
Lynch.
"There was something I wanted to tell youlbut
ernoon with
t remember to
my llfe what it was. Maybe I'll think of it la r. You getting anything
out of all this stuff I been telling yodel
assure him that his recollections are irnishing me with much
material. He gays: "By the way,wh7t are you t ling 'ex about me? I don't
want anything personal about me put in no •.dk. I don't want pamplax people
to be able to pick up a book and read few pages and say 'That's ,krt
Botsford,' and have a god laugh aver. I don't mind tellinl you as
much as I can about old times, but/I don't want nothing personal in it.
assure him that he will entirely unrecognizable,and that there
11 no attempt to cleitnitxx de neate his character "as is. 41
ho
Mr. Botsford
has spent
has a fierce New England pr the dignity of one
his life in honest toil s paid his debts and has always been he in
high regard:ana the t ght has apparently occurred to him that he is being
placed under
the knowing
"I been
a few alread/y but I didn't get none this afternoon. No,I don't get my
mail deli red. I got my own box. Had it for 50 yearstand I didn't give it
up when ey put the mail delivery in. I got in the habit of mamillocxx cominl
doln hax for the mail ye -Ts agotand its hard to get out of.
"iell,come up and see me anyway. Ithether you want information or not.
like to get visitors."
glass 'Or the delectation of strangersland what is worse,for
inspeetion of friends and neighbors.
ill.' a few Christmas cards," he continues. "I got quite
W 13u30
-2-
In- th- fire house,Mr. MacCu-rietwiespacipurapsxrixtmxtentlyit
the last of the
old ruard who has not sue curbed in one way or the other to the rigors of
winter,is occupied with the paper as usual. His perusal of the news each
afternoon is a rite which is not to be disturbed with impunity,as other
members of t'.e cli-ue have discovered. So I wait until he lays it aside.
xftittx Eventually he does so,with the remark: "What to you think of
that mess down in Bridgeport?" (He refers to the McKesson Robbins expose)
"o you think they'll find politicians mixed up in it?" he asks.
"1 Twouldn' t surprise me if they did. I think tho se f ellas can
smell money. wherever there's a money mess ,you' re bound to f ind
mixed up in it.
Having delivered himself of this opinion Mr. MacCurrie is silent. Not
nearly so verbose as scrne of his companions,Mr.MacC-:_r-4_:--, re-uires cctasiderable
priming before warming to a sub!ect. But he is something of a philosopher
upon occasion
and is capable ullamagmastang of profundities beyond txsptisxx the 6epth
of his more garrulous friends. ror exam -le his characterization of
prohibition.,
PX*-tatties as -the by -pro duct of war hysteria."
ask him about his daily walk.
"I didn' t go very far today," says he. "Too doened cold. A good day
to he out chop 17'
y °wager d.ayS.
I ask him if he did much of it in his
"Not much," says he. "I did it for ?lune and Ntwood for a while. The7
used to use wood exclusive. No co.1,1 9,t all. Used wood for everything. They
had the own lots/and they used to ccntract for it beSlaes.
"It Ilas domed hard work. They paid 65 cents a cord for it. 0 f course
in those days,a dollar and a half a day was the aver lge fIctory pay. You
try to set anyone to chop wood for 65 cents a cord todl,y.
"30'71E111 tell you about choppinl five or six or seven cords,but
believe me,three or four -7as a c,00d days' work. I chopped mostly chestnut,
-3
the woods used to be full of it -.round here. It was soft wood and that was
the kind they w1nted for the muffles. Used to be a hell of a nuisance to get
wood over in the yard at Plume and "ttwond,and have to sort out the soft and
the hard. You'd get maybe four or five hard pieces out of a cord,and you'd
have to sort it all through to find th4m.
Mr.MacCurrie peers out the window nearsightedly,trying to identify an
elderly man makcil walking down the street. By God," he says,"If that don't
look like old Dosky." (Once the town bootlegger. "That ain't him is it?
No,I se,- it N.).n't. He hasn't been around here in years. Mr. MacCurrie
likes his "nip" 3,1-1d much of his conversation is along.lirid lines.
once.
"Dosky wasn't 1 bad fella," says he,"even if some of his stuff snl
so wood. He had his faults,llut he wasn't all bad. I saved his hide
"They had him paitmatxx arrested tmrx on suspicion and they were
lookinl for scmebody to testify against him. Dan Sanger the cop came
over after me. They knew Dosky had done t me a dirty trick one time,and they
figured I'd testify against him.
"I told Dan I wouldn't appear, so he says,"Sell,%ndrew,if we have to
we'll got out a subpoena for you.' I says,'If that's the irly it is,I
sup-ose I better go.'
"/hen I rot in ccurtpDosky was there,and tm his head was hanginl
pretty low. He saw me come in and he give up hope entirely. He figured I'd
testify against him,you lee.
"George Gibbons, the proseelitor,he says to me,'Did you ever buy liquor
from this man?' I says max 1No,I didn't. Dosky looked up and began to
gx
smile. It was the last thing he expected to hear. It was the last thing
George Gibbons expected to hear,too. He looked at me,and he says,'Do you
know the value of your oath?'
-4-
"I says,'Just as well as you do,George.'
44 They had to let Dosky go. That was one tme I perjured myself,for many's
the
pint I
matter, one
"That
don't need
bought off Dosky. But I never felt bad about it. It wasn't a hanginl
way or the other.
time does
any clock
it say up there?
to tell me that.
a good hearty breakfast and a big supper.
man gets my age,and inttstnx doesn't work hard. All you need is
keep the old maaiine goinl--no sense in stokin' it.
Must be pretty near supper time. I
I don't eat lunch,you ix see. I eat
Two meals a day's enough when a
enough to