Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1847-08-25
A Coon Hunt i'm a Fency Country.

'Tis really astonishin' what monstrou.
sight of mischief is in a pint Of rum. Il
one of'cm was to be submitted to an anal
found to contain all manner Of devilment
that ever entered the head Of man, from
cussin' and stealin' up 10 murder and whip
| pin his own mother, and nonsense enuff to
turn all the men in the world out of their
senses. Ifa mans got any badness in
him, it'll bring it out jist as sassafras tea
does the measles, and if he's good for no.
thin sort of Teller, without no bad traits
pcrtickler, it'll bring out all his greenness.
1t effects different people different ways
it makes some men monstrous brave and
full of fight, and some it makes cowards-
some it makes rich and happy. and some
poor and miserable; and it has different ef-
feet on different peoples eyes some it
makes so blind that they can't tell them.
selves. One Of the worst cases of rum
foolery that lve heard Of for a long time
tu;k place in Pineville last fall.
Bill Sweeny and Tom Culpcpper is the
two greatest old coveys in our settlement
for coon huntin' I he fact is, they don't
do much of anything else and when they
can't ketch nothin' you may depend coons
is scarce. Well, one night they had eve
ry thing ready for regular hunt, but ow-
in to some extra good fortin', Tom had got
a pocket-pistol, rs he called it, Of regular
old Jamaky, to keep eff the rumatics. AZ
ter takn' good startin horn they went out
on their hunt, with their lightwood torch a
blazin', and the dogs q barkin' and yelpin'
Al
stoppin' to wait for tho dogs, they would
drink one another's health, till they began
to feel very comfortable, and chatted away
bout one thing and another, 'thout mindin'
much which way they was gwino Bime-
by they cum to fence. We'll over thev
got 'thout much difficulty.
'Whose fence is this?" says Bill.
"Taint no matter" ses Tom; ''lct's
take somethin' to drink
After takn' drink they went on, Won
derin' what on yearth had cum Of the dogs.
Next thing they cum to was q terrible mud
dy branch. After pullin' through briars
and gettin' on t'other side they took nnoth-
er drink, and after gwine q little ways they
cum to another branch, and little further
they cum to apother fence-a monstrous
high one this time.
'Whar upon yearth is wo go: TO, Cul-
pepper?" ses Bill; 81 never seed sich
heap of branches and fencesi in these parts"
''Why," ses Tom, ''it's all old Slurlin's
dons-you know he's always bildin' fen
ces and maxim internal improvements, as
he calls 'em. But never mind-we's thro'
em now.'
':The devil we is" ses Bill; 'hcre's the
alfiredest tall fence yet"
Shore enuf, there they was, right again
another fence. By this time they began to
be considerable tired and timber in the jints,
and it was sch terrible high fence-Tom
dropped the last piece Of the torch, and thar
they was in the dark.
"Now you is done it, ses Bill. ...s.
Tom know'd he had, but he thought it
was no use to grieve over spilled milk, so
ses he:
"Never mind, old hoss-cum ahead, and
I'll take you OUT" and next mint kerslap
he went into the water. .r-.. ..r.. e..
Bill hung on to the fence with both hands
like he thought it was slewin' round to
throw him off: --.s -sg.-. .,..-.-
"Hellow, Tom,'' ses he, "wher in the
world is you got to?''
"Here is" ses Tom, spouting the wa
ter out Of his mouth, and coffin like he'd