United States or Netherlands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Friday last, being New Years day, a large body of the Milicete tribe of Indians including a considerable number of well dressed squaws, headed by their old-old-chief Thoma, appeared at Government House to pay their annual compliments to the representative of their Sovereign, and were received by His Excellency with great kindness.
Colonel Francklin was quite aware of the necessity of giving careful attention to the Indians at this juncture, for the Machias rebels threatened to destroy the "King's masts" and endeavored to get the Indians to harass the mast cutters and obstruct, them in every possible way. In consequence Francklin sent the following letter to Pierre Thoma by James White, his deputy:
Thoma Grigorovich was on the point of setting his spectacles astride of his nose, but recollected that he had forgotten to wind thread about them, and stick them together with wax, so he passed it over to me. As I understand something about reading and writing, and do not wear spectacles, I undertook to read it.
"He then went to where the tribe was living and remained some weeks, being very tired and weary. Pére Thoma, taking a great fancy to his red jacket, offered to canoe him down the river to his old camping ground if he would give him the coveted garment on their return. Paul consented to do so.
Placido was about to sign to make an end of it, because he was in a hurry, already his classmates were reciting the O Thoma, but again his ears twitched, so he said, "After the class! I want to read it first." "It's very long, don't you see? It concerns the presentation of a counter-petition, or rather, a protest. Don't you understand?
Perhaps after all, after this age of ice, Canterbury will rise again and my little son even may hear them singing in the streets, gay once more and alive with endless processions that noble old song: Laureata novo Thoma, Sicut suo Petro Roma, Gaude Cantuaria!
These are told in the naïvely impudent language of the school-boy in Tales of Bad Boys and the continuation of this book, Aunt Frieda . The philistine population of the little town, Bavarian administration of justice, scenes in the Munich street cars, and many another subject of that kind, Thoma humorously treats in Judge Charlie and Tales of the Little Town , in the broad anecdotal style which he has made his own.
Once upon a time, one of those gentlemen who, like the usurers at our yearly fairs, clutch and beg and steal every sort of frippery, and issue mean little volumes, no thicker than an A B C book, every month, or even every week, wormed this same story out of Thoma Grigorovitch, and the latter completely forgot about it.
Curiously enough at this crisis the old St. John river chieftain, Pierre Thoma, arrived at Machias in quite an indignant frame of mind. His annoyance was caused by General McLean's ordering Major Studholme not to furnish any more provisions to the Indians.
Thoma Grigorovitch had a very strange sort of eccentricity: to the day of his death he never liked to tell the same thing twice. There were times when, if you asked him to relate a thing afresh, behold, he would interpolate new matter, or alter it so that it was impossible to recognize it.
Word Of The Day