Grand Teton National Park (Wyo.); Jackson Hole (Wyo.)
Holiday Menor came to Jackson Hole about 1905. He lived for a number of
years with his brother, Bill. But the disposition of each was cut on the
bias, and the two disagreed over a neighbor. So Holiday took up land on
the east shore and built his houses directly across from brother Bill,
and let the river run between them. Like a great many individualists,
Bill and Holiday considered strong hate a mark of character, so they did
not speak to each other for 2 years. Nevertheless, they were proud of
each other, and the name of one always cropped up in the conversation of
the other, mixed well with curses. And each watched across the river for
the other, to make sure all was right on the opposite shore.
One Christmas the brothers were invited to the Bar B C Ranch for dinner.
It was Holiday’s birthday. Neither knew the other was to be there. When
each arrived he was given a strong drink of whiskey to insure
amiability. The 2 brothers shook hands over the Christmas table. Ever
after they were on speaking terms.
And sometimes they spoke too freely, shaking fists and cursing each
other over the river. There was much gusto in their living.
Though Bill read hardly more than the daily paper that came to him,
Holiday subscribed to a number of magazines. He read 7 long months of
the year and “talked it out” the other 5. He argued politically with
everyone, whether they would argue or not. “Now, mind you, I’m telling
you, this ain’t W. D. talking, this is H. H. Menor talking, by God.” And
for emphasis he would bang things with a stick of stove wood. Once he
came down on the red hot stove with his bare fist and for a short while
political views were unimportant.
Gradually the land was taken up by a homesteader or Government leaser,
and the Menors were surrounded with neighbors. Then, as now, persons
living 10 or 15 miles away were considered close neighbors. Everybody in
the valley knew everybody else, or at least knew stories about him. For
Holiday to have a close neighbor other than Bill was intriguing. Mrs.
Evelyn Dorman, a Pennsylvania woman, homesteaded on the east bank, and
her buildings were only a quarter of a mile below Holiday’s. She called
him the Patriarch of the Ford, and he called her the Widow down the
River.
To have Mrs. Dornan ask how he prepared some dish filled him with pride.
He enjoyed giving away his recipes. He would say, “You take two handfuls
of flour, that is, and a pinch of salt, that is ...” All his recipes
were generously seasoned with “that is’s”. He was an excellent cook and
loved to have his friends eat with him.
But there was the rooster episode.
Bill had a beautiful barred Plymouth Rock rooster; a huge single-combed
domestic fowl with graceful feathers in its tail, and pride in its walk.
But Holiday’s rooster had only two feathers in its tail, its body was
completely bare, and it had no pride.
It was a sad sight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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