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From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: 7-Beckie Returns Home
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 1998 12:09:23 -0400


BECKIE RETURNS HOME

In my last letter I explained how Beckie Shtitsel was sent to the
poorhouse. Now she's back again, and the most fortunate woman
living on the whole Mountain. You remember, I described how her
children got rid of her. Well the other day a stranger came to the
Mountain with whiskers all over his face, a large broad hat on his
head, and a leather holster around his waist. Something glittered
under his coat, and many thought it was the handle of a pistol. He
was over six foot tall, and had arms as thick as a stove pipe.

As soon as the stranger came to the tavern he asked where to find
the person who owned old John Shtitsel's place. They told him that
Billy Blotner was living there, but the farm was subdivided into
small tracts and was owned by different parties. In less than three
hours the stranger bought up the old Shtitsel farm. Next he visited
Squire Lawbuck who handled the sale of the old Shtitsel farm and
found out who had bought all the property. He found the old
wooden clock with Sammy Sandepetzer. In five minutes it belonged
to the stranger. Old Beckie's antique rocking chair was found in an
upstairs room of Hullahecka's tavern all covered with cobwebs. An
old red cedar chest for keeping comforts, quilts, and pillows was
located in Sam Seelshuls pantry, being used as a pantry box. The
stranger emptied and cleaned the box. He bought back everything
that he could find. He even found the old coffee grinder and
returned it to its original place over the hearth. The old end
cupboard was found, returned to the same corner it occupied for
years, and filled with new chinaware decorated with red flowers.

When the stranger finished restoring everything, he bought
Kitzeldarfer's two matched black horses along with a brand new
buggy. Then he rode off--for what purpose, no one knew. He was
business-like, carrying a deerskin full of gold nuggets, but he said
very little. He thanked Mary Bixler, Billy's sister, for providing his
dinners and his six o'clock suppers at her place. The people were
really curious, and some thought he was a robber. Others said that
wasn't likely, since he paid for everything and still had a lot of
money left over. He was the big talk of the Mountain, and people
were wondering.

At quarter to six one evening the two black horses were coming up
over the hill like a storm--all covered with mud--and who do you
think the stranger had beside him? It was, so help me, old Beckie
Shtitsel! The strange man was her long lost son, Bill, who left home
twenty-one years ago with another man's horse! All this time he
was in California mining gold and becoming rich. When he heard
that the other children had let his mother go to the poorhouse, he
dropped everything and took a train home.

Old Beckie was waving and laughing, she was so happy, and now
she's living in the same old house with more money in her hands
than she knows what to do with. The son who was so hated by
everyone (except by his mother) is living with her now and takes up
the biggest place in her heart. He paid his neighbor for the overdue
debt owed on the horse--with interest--shaved off his long beard,
and has hung his pistol and holster in a closet.

* * *

Note: This collection of Boonastiel stories was written by H. A.
Harter in the original Penna-Dutch dialect and were published in the
Keystone Gazette, Bellefonte, PA, between 1894 and 1904. They
were translated and transcribed by Bob James of Alaska and they
are being posted to this PADUTCH-LIFE mailing list with his
permission.

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