Litchfield enquirer., 1841-07-08
JACK DoWNING's COUSIN.

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 MISTER ED1TuR-Did you ever in the l1ulE course O your natural life 20 a blackberrv-
 in! If you haint, golly grashus, why you
 don't know nothin' no more about real labor SaVin, high presshur, galvanic-' 'lectifyin' sport than the butt eend O nothip' arter its, been whittled. Lor' ha' massy upon ofiss- holders, l say why nothin' in all creation can come up to blackberryin', but gittin'' dumped out'n slay into a snow bank, and even that aint as good when it aint a moon- shiny night. Menny and nnenny is the time when lot O the Jordan Spankers-that's what our village boys was nicknamed- would raise party O the gals after the grain harvestin' was over, and afore the corn and 'taters was ripe, and start off early in the mornn' for Hop Toad Hill, where the black berries was eenamost as plentiful as mus keeturs in these diggings, and sich all-fred prime times as we'd have was Q caution to forrilerS.
 Fust off, when all hands got collected, and lot O Suthin' to cut, pork and beans, new cider, gooseberry pies, green corn, 'lasseS gingerbread an smart sprinklin' of other good things were pervided, we'd lokermote the gals all a walkin' by theirselves; the gals with their tongues runnin' about scan. dle. new ribbins, kaliko gowns an' sich con- sarns, jest as fast as a saw mill in freshet;, and the fellows gablin about horses, cattle, gineral musters, an corn shukins-a tellin' how twas all Ike Shaw's kerelessness that made his grain mouldy-that Jim Bingy was the orfulest liar that ever was, and that Hen Sprague told uncle Seth that Zebc Arm. strong's wife had heerd how that Harrison Stebbins hadn't the funs to go on with his new frame house, and that comin' so strait from one who'd orter know all about it, all hands sot it rite down for fact, and said that 1t sarved him jest rite; and then tu think of his havin' the sass tu build a new house, without tellin' the hull village how menny rooms there was to be on the fust floor, an he member O the church tu-"it sarved him jest rtes by crackey!' So we'd keep torkin' till we cum to the hill then all hands div rite intu the bushes and bra'n- bles, and sich a scramblin' and scraichin' for blackberries as there wass wasn't to be sneezed at.
 It happened that on one O these blackbe,- ryin' frolics that sarting long haired feller, with leetle bunch rite over his mouth lookin' at distance just as though he'd been among the pots an kettles, and got great geb O crock on his upper lip-was visitin' down our way, an appeared to have taken an amazin' fancy to Sally Ann, the Sally Ann that I'd been payin' 'tentions tu kep chat. tin to her the hull livelong time, and snum if could scarcely b'leye my own natteral senses, when he begun to pick berries an' put lem intu her basket an' she not sayin u word agin it. Wal guess as how was a leetle riled to see myself cut a drift in that fashion, an' I had a great mind tn go off and shine round some other gal. jest for spite, but somehow or mother wanted 10 keep Rn eye on that dandy. So tu Sally says !, "Therfs q smart sprinklin ov berries over here--k guess leetle moro than grow around your way" Sfs
 GOh thev're thick as pnddinassixilk. says she.
 "I calculate that you are booty consumed ly thick" says I.
 You.aw remarks are demd supawhuous,'' says the long haired creetur.
 Suz alive but want my dander up to hear myself called a "demd suporfus"-' down slat the basket and upset all the ber- ries-marches rite up tu him jest as brassy as hull militia trainin', an says l, {" ony you call me porpus or supeTfus again, an see how I'll go to work an spile your hansum countenance for ye."
 With that, Sally she bust out cryin', an VOW ifI could help boo.hooing leetle my self, felt so conflusticated.
 "You-aw laboring under an erraw." says he, |" but awnaw demands an explawnatlon -awm demd."
 Vuls yOuT AouS "AO6S WUhsS explainin', that's fact"
 So he turned round to sit down, hauled out his handkerchief, an as hope to be saved, went 10 dustin off the top of hornets nest, and afore one could say "git out" sot down ont tu ixplain. Gorashus! didn't the hor- nets come at him for squashin' their nest, an' didn't he run an holler, an scoot thro' the briar bushes, and tear his trowserloons- an the gals snikkered out, an the fellers haw.ha till they was eenamOst ded, to see that dandy marvel down in the main road, without enny hat, his trowsers all split up, his hair fyin' in the wind like hosseS tail, and the hornets goin' it tu kill. Sally was shocking shamed of actin so. but we soon made up, and sich prime sport as all hands had for the rest of the day, wasn't to be beat. Long Locks mended up his trow- serloons-they were the ony ones he had and sneaked out'n our village that day, an' haint shown his nose there since-the poor creetur said he found no less than few dozen ded hornets in his boots when he took lem off! We come from the blackbeEryin' in pairs and not as we went-had a loud cargo O berries, an' don't b'leve that one on us 'll ever forgit the haw- -hawin' we had about the fellow who sot down on the hornets nest.
 Yours, truly, JEHosHAPHA1 JENKINS.
 W1r.-Many persons pray for wit-they had better pray for wisdom. If they had wisdom, they would never pray for wit. It is sharp, bright, shining instrument, chief ly used for .poking persons under the ribs til they writhe again. An amusement, not unlike the past time of evil disposed boys, who run pins through the tails of cock reaches to make them wriggle. At first, its possessor uses it cautiously, and turns it's