Show through the Years With W Ernie Py e Pyle Old Year Alaska Adventurer Real Story Book Prospector I FAIRBANKS Alaska Jack Alaska Jack BOlton is more than twice as old hasn't tenth one-tenth K as I j am and of my worries He is I believe vie ft ie happiest man I ever saw old he h has a lim lIe He is 82 years she Ian can ean dog dogget that that he loves hell he'll t UP any time of the day or get ht to take a drink of whisky as gay as a college girl and andie andt tA tes t ie If has an imp in his eyes Jack is the oldest timer old-timer in Alaska He has been 7 ve seen lasHe rye here Jere iere 50 years He came in 87 an adventurer Been lie Be e was all over India and South AmerIca Amer- Amer and everywhere A real Ica ca story book prospector But when he hit Alaska he stuck We dropped in on him hire just justat justat justat at noon My old friend Albert Moss a himself was with me Was Old Jack glad to see us His eyes gleamed like a naughty boys He hopped around the cabin like a flea talking in a sly whisper making making making mak mak- ing remarks apologizing for the place which was perfectly neat saying he was sure glad we dropped inI inI inI in I just got through taking a abath abath abath bath he said Imagine takIng taking taking tak tak- ing a bath right in the middle of the day I feel good Old I Jack feels good I have a lot lotof lotof lotof of fun We passed your cabin the theother theother theother other day Moss Did you see us 1 Didn't you hear me singing singing singing sing sing- ing We would of stopped bu but we had too big a load of ot gin aboard That brought up the question of how about a drink and Jack said he had never been known to refuse day or night So we poured him a a. big drink and he downed it and went and shook his leg and said Say that's haYs good whisky Now if I just had a shot for the other leg So he took a shot for theother the theother theother other leg Just got through taking a abath abath abath bath right In the middle of the I day He went about putting on a snowy clean pair of white wool socks I want to show you a picture Moss Old Jack with his beard Wait Walt a minute Ill I'll find It it Old Jacks Jack's face is a master master- piece His face just says without without without with with- out words that the world is a aswell aswell swell well place and and gd Old Jacks Jack's go got It by the tail Wish you could st stay stay a a while longer Id I'd sing for you you- Jack is famous up around here for his singing Really can sing they say Doesn't have to tobe tobe tobe be drunk to sing He lives in his room one-room cabin up on Faith creek about 60 miles north of Fairbanks The walls are covered with pictures pictures' of himself and his friends and with dozens of magazine covers and big co colored ored cartoons all a little suggestive out of the magazines He gets away from home every now and then Some cronies cronies cronies cro cro- nies will drop past in a car and get Jack out of bed and give him a drink and say lets let's letsgo letsgo letsgo go to Circle miles away and they'll pile in and buzz off down the road singing and yellIng yellIng yelling yell yell- ing and raising hell Theres There's nothing degenerate about Old Jack Hes He's not the sodden and morose kind of drinker you sometimes see Hes He's meticulously n neat at and hes he's smart and up-to-date up in his thinking and gay as a bird I hope that when Im I'm 82 Ill I'll have a clean cabin to live in and a mean dog I love and feel good all the time and be able to take a bath at noon and put putdown putdown putdown down a shot for each leg and sing a song and go off down the road raising hell I sure hope I Ican Ican Ican can but Ill I'll have to grow younger mighty fast if I 1 do Mrs L Laura ura McLean keeps a astore astore astore store in the village of McGrath over on on- the river You wouldn't know it was a astore astore astore store till you for its it's just a log house and no sign signor or anything outside And even inside its it's just halfway store store store- some long board tables with new overalls overalls' and candy and stuff piled on them and some steel traps hanging on the wall And Mrs McLean sitting there sewing sewing sewing sew sew- ing or talking with some Indian girls Mrs McLean is a large luge woman woman wom worn and she an she's white-haired white gets around a little stiffly And she is generous and kind She has been in Alaska a long long longtime time She is sad Her husband died years ago She keeps on with the store store meagerly meagerly emp emp- tily How long have you been In McGrath Mrs McLean 7 I asked her Seventeen years yeats she said Her voice rose Seventeen years in jail my boy Seventeen years in jail s r rOne One cold afternoon I sat in a forlorn tiny cabin on the edge of a bunk talking with a aman man who was drunk His eyes were sunk in like caverns and his head jiggled and his words ran together It had been days or maybe weeks since his last sober breath He had been in Alaska 40 years He was old Young man he said youre looking at a misspent life And AndI I dont don't give a damn |