THE RIDE TO THE DEPOT. 133 molasses and water. His hair was looking a thousand ways for Sunday,-long-necked, cat-hammed, heavy-headed, flat-eared, crooked-shanked, narrow-chested, swelled-hocked, and as solemn as if he had been contemplating his latter end for the last twenty years. And his tail,-oh what a tail! It looked as if it had been cut off and drove in, being pretty well battered and bushed up in the operation; or, as Mark Twain says, 'he had set down on it too hard. Well, it is no use, I won't attempt any further delineation of that wonderful horse, and the cart was altogether indescribable, especially the jolting part of it; but on our way to the depot I could say, without exaggeration, that it was better felt than expressed. What a jolting, and creaking, and splashing, and din; And in this way I, poor man, had to accompany my poor mother to the train, which was to bear her away; and all this for selling my pigs and getting drunk on the proceeds. I could say, 'O Poverty, where are thy charms that sages have seen in thy face?' I had been at work pretty steadily for three months, when my overseer asked me one day if I should not like to go out and take a drop. As I could never resist an invitation, I went out with him and his brother into a liquor shop, where the overseer treated us, and I followed. We drank quite a number of glasses, and, going over into Saco, we drank more there; and, to finish our day's recreation, the overseer proposed that we should go up by the railroad bridge, and have a swing. We went up by the side of the river, and while there, the overseer laid down upon the bank, and fell asleep. His brother proposed, as he had only treated once, to rob him, and to treat ourselves, to which I readly assented. We searched his pockets, but found no money there; but I knew that he had money about him, and I was not disheartened yet, and pulling off his boots, I 134 ROBBING THE OVERSEER. found in his stockings forty-one dollars. When his brother saw it, he said, 'Now we will have a spree, let us go over to Saco again.' 'I am ready,' I said, and, starting off, we went over, leaving the overseer asleep on the ground. When we arrived at Saco we went into a shop, and called for some liquor and drank it, and I paid for it with my own money, as I had some left. My companion wanted me to break into the money, but as I had some left of my own, I would not. We soon went over to Biddeford, and I gave the money to my wife, telling her at the same time where I obtained it. The next morning, when I went into the mill, the overseer, the moment he saw me, became very much excited, and with harsh language asked me where his money was. I have not your money,' I replied. He soon left me, but my wife came in soon, and, going over where he was, gave him the money, and told him the circumstances about it. He felt so well pleased that he went out and brought in a bottle of brandy and treated us, unknown to my wife. I was in the habit of going with a scout into the woods every Sunday to learn them the military drill, and to go through the sword exercise, and thus pass God's day. We often ended in a regular drunken skirmish, and returned home carrying the marks of war upon us. GETTING BETTER LIQUOR. 135 CHAPTER XXI. As I went to and from my work, I noticed a pretty polite little fellow that kept a saloon in Dudley's block. When I met him he would most of the time have a covered basket, and many were the conjectures that were made in regard to what he carried in that basket. I thought one day that I would go into his shop and see if he kept anything to drink. I therefore went in and asked him for a glass of ale, which he gave me, and I thought that it tasted much better than that which I obtained at other places. I followed getting my beer regularly here for some time, and was treated so politely by the keeper of the shop that I could not help thinking how foolish I had been in getting my liquor at the low holes, as I thought they were, that I had been accustomed to. In a room in the back part of the shop was a domino-table, around which quite a number of young men would be seated every night. I used to be called quite a skillful player when I was in the army, and the table attracted my attention, and I soon commenced to play there, and used to win tickets which I would spend for beer. One evening, while playing there, I noticed a teamster coming into the shop, and he made some motions, upon which the keeper reached under the counter (I had my eye upon him), and taking a cover from a butter-firkin, pulled out a decanter, out of which he turned a glass of liquor and handed to the teamster, who drank it down in a hurry. I soon finished the game and arose and asked the keeper for a glass of that article that he kept under the counter. 'Won't you say anything about it?' he asked. "Of course not,' I replied. 136 THE CUSTARD MAN, The keeper then turned out a stiff glass, and telling me to drink quick, I eagerly seized it, and drank it instantly. I never drank such liquor before; I thought that it would truly burn me up, and in my eagerness to get some water, I kicked over the domino-table and made considerable confusion before I succeeded. 'What kind of liquor do you call that?' I asked. 'Why, that is the fourth-proof brandy, and the very best that can be obtained,' he replied. 'We never have such liquor as that in the old country,' I said. 'Ah! you get cheated there; they don't care what they sell to a man, and they probably water it considerably before selling, but we don't treat our customers so.' I felt quite satisfied with the reasons that he had given me, and thought that I had found a place where I could get good liquor. There was one young man who visited that place, a freehearted and pleasant fellow, that did not spend his tickets for liquor (that he won by playing dominos), but for custards. The keeper of the saloon, when settlement was near in the ship-yard, would bake up some two or three dozens of custards expressly for this young man, who always came in as soon as settlement, and commence at one end of the custard board and 'sweep all before him.' And it was a common saying among the frequenters of the saloon, when near settlement, to say that it was about 'custard time.' I continued to get my liquor at this place on tick,' which I would square up every settlement, paying from five to ten dollars for liquor per month. One night, while in this saloon, I took quite a number of glasses, and when he closed his shop I heard the sound of a fiddle behind it in a small house. Having some pork and beans and herring for my Sunday dinner, as this was Saturday night, I buried them in the snow, and then went up to the house and went in. I was acquainted with a number, and joined in the GETTING INTO A FIGHT. 137 dance with them. After having danced a short time, a woman asked me if I was not going to treat, upon which I ordered a quart, which was brought and drank; and after drinking I said something that enraged some of them, and they seized me to put me out of the house. I knocked down quite a number, but they overpowered me and put me out, minus my hat and part of my coat. I felt that I was an injured man, and I started upon a run for the watchman at the covered bridge, but as I went running toward him bare-headed, without my hat, he took to his heels and ran with all his might, and finding that I could get no help, I determined to venture into the house again. I went in and found that they had broken the fiddle and were abusing the fiddler. I took his part, but being the weaker party, we were roughly handled, and put out of the house into the street. I went and found my provisions that I had secreted in the snow, and, having found my hat, I started toward home with my companion, who made a grab at my herrings, taking a number of them. I told him that if he was not peaceable that I should box him; but he paid no attention to it, but made another levy upon my herrings. This somewhat aroused me, when I began to box him, giving him a pretty severe whipping, but lost some of my provisions. I went home in a somewhat dilapidated condition, and I have found ever since, that 'those that dance must pay the fiddler.' One night I was in the 'Yankee Saloon,' as the English termed it; and as he did not have much liquor, I went into an Irish house, and there I met an Englishman, and we drank together, and in the course of the evening we got to quarrelling and he challenged me to fight him. At that time I was ready for a challenge, and we went out in the street; the snow was some two feet deep, and we fought some two hours. We both found ourselves in a sorry plight at the close of our long-contested conflict. I remember going home feeling rather ashamed. I tried to keep steady again, and succeeded in doing so about one month, and saved up a little money, and with it I bought me a watch, the first |