Cape Cod (Mass.) -- Description and travel; Cape Cod (Mass.) -- History -- Anecdotes; Cape Cod (Mass.) -- History, Local
Henry, in spite of a wide streak of plain badness, was a man of
unquestioned charm, and the possessor, when he cared to avail himself
of them, of extraordinary native wit, skill, and intelligence.
He was a good hand aboard a fishing vessel, an expert mason, a
better-than-average carpenter, a wit and raconteur, and to the mutual
misfortune of himself and society in general, he was also a rare man
with a bottle and a glass. A wise employer would pay Henry his wages
only at the very completion of a job if he ever expected to see him
again. This was entirely satisfactory with Henry who was aware of his
own weakness and had the greatest respect for employers who treated him
accordingly. For when pay day for Henry came at last, a week or more
of outstanding celebration would follow, just as surely as the night
the day. One such celebration ended with his return from New York in a
taxi with a monkey and a parrot for fellow passengers. Directing the
driver to a neat, white house, Henry requested him to wait while he
went inside for the money with which to pay the fare. The driver has
obviously been impressed with the easy manner and good fellowship of
Henry but, after some minutes had passed without sign of his fare, the
driver hurried to the door of the house. An elderly and gentile Cape
lady answered the hasty knock.
“Where is your husband?”, the cabbie demanded.
“My husband?”, echoed the good lady. “My husband has been dead for
twelve years!”
Of course it was so and there was nothing to do about it. Henry,
knowing that his Cape neighbors were not much for locking doors, had
casually let himself in at the front and, without being seen, made
a quick exit out the back, into the safety of neighboring woods and
familiar haunts.
Henry’s episodes generally took place during the spring and summer
months because he planned on spending the cold days at Barnstable,
enjoying the warmth, food and hospitality of the County Jail. He was
always expected there then, and he hardly ever varied the routine. He
was popular with fellow inmates and with prison personnel and, if his
crimes were frequent, they were always of a comparatively minor nature.
Once, though, he betrayed the rules of hospitality and it can be
believed that his hosts must have taken a very dim view of it, indeed.
That was the time when Henry, having completed one of many sentences,
emerged into a bustling Cape springtime looking considerably stouter
than usual. It was not surprising. A mile or so down the road he drew
a prison blanket from under his swollen coat and sold it at a bargain
price to an unsuspecting householder. With these funds he obtained a
bottle and commenced the celebration of his release.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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