New England -- Social life and customs; Newburyport (Mass.) -- Social life and customs
out,--"Now I'll bet Tom Souter" (pronounced Saouter) "could take this
'ere fellow right here by the collar and shake every g---- right aout of
him,"--using a more vulgar phrase, and suiting the action to the word so
vigorously that the reeling and astounded Spaniard was glad enough to
relinquish the field and to slink away crestfallen with his companions.
As a further illustration of the ways of our neighbors, I will give one
more anecdote of an affair which occurred years afterwards. Not far from
the hamlet of our friends, the Algerines, but within the borders of
Massachusetts, was another settlement, on the outskirts of a thriving
village, the male inhabitants of which also followed the calling of small
farmers and fishermen, some of them diversifying these pursuits by the
occupation of shoemaking, at the ungenial season of the year. They were
industrious, and far less rude than their compatriots, to whom reference
has just been made. At this point lived three young men, hard by each
other, and brothers, of the name, I will say, of Lowe. One day a tall and
respectable looking old gentleman called upon the writer of this history,
announcing himself as Colonel Lowe, and the father of the three young men
in question. He had formerly commanded, it seems, a regiment of militia,
and had a sort of semi-military bearing. He was now in great agitation
and distress, occasioned by some trouble in which his sons were involved,
through forcible resistance to the civil authorities of the Commonwealth,
and he required the professional services of the writer for their
defence. He justly regarded it as a case likely to lead to very serious
consequences, and particularly dreaded for the young men the disgraceful
punishment of the State Prison. It was a case to elicit every degree of
sympathy for the worthy Colonel, and to prompt every effort for his
relief. The facts, as they appeared at the trial before the Court of
Common Pleas, were quite picturesque. A constable had appeared with an
execution against one of the young Lowes, in the matter of a claim which
he disputed as unjust; but without giving the peace-officer opportunity
to discharge his duty, he was driven from the ground by the trio, in
mortal terror of his life. The execution of the process was then
undertaken by a somewhat fantastic country deputy sheriff; who was
ordered off as he attempted to approach the parties in defence, and
between them and the officer there was a good deal of raillery, which had
an important bearing upon the final result of the trial. At length, the
elder brother Lowe drew a line with a stick across the road and defied
the officer to pass it, which he declined to do, but at once made good
his retreat, smothering his indignation at such a rebuff, until he could
give it vent in more safety than the existing circumstances warranted.
Such reckless conduct was not to be endured, and no doubt the deputy was
laughed at by his neighbors for his failure to carry his purpose into
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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