The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-05-09
A STREAK OF SQUATTER LIFE.

A STREAK OF SQUATTER LIFE.
BILL sApPER's LETTER TO HIS COUSIN.
LIBERTI, Missury, May 9th, forty S.
Cousin Jim, tina aint nuthin' occur
red wuth ritin' about in our settlement
fur long spell, but about the beginin'
of last week, thur war o rumor sot
affoat in town, which kept the wimen
for two OF three days in q continooal
snigger, and it war half day afore the
men could find out the rights of the
marter-sech anuther Tease as all the
gals got inter, war delightful to con-
template. The boys kept asliin' one
anuther, what in the yearth wur the
martcr, that the gals kept a whispcrin'
and latin round town so?-at last it
cum out! and what 90 you think, jim,
sour the marter?-You couldn't guess
in week. 1t aint no common occur
renee and yet it's mighty natral. Lit
tie 10 Allen, the shoemaker, had an
addition to his family, amountin' to jest
three Jab6ys-one boy and two gals!-
His wife is a leetlc cretur,' but / reck-
on she's ssomc' in countin' the census,
and sech anuther excitement as her lit
tie brood of pretty babby's has kicked
up among the wimen is perfectly intic-
in to bachelors. When tue intcrcstin'
marter wur first noiscd about, the VIM
en- wouldn't believe it, but to know the
tights of it tha put on thur bonncts and
poured down to see Mrs. Allen, in a
perfect stream of curiosity; and, sure
enough, thar tina wur, three raal pcert
lookin' children, all Jest alike. Bein'
an acquaintance of JOS, he tuck me in
to see his family, and it wur raaly an
intercstin' sight to sec the little crcturs.
Thar tina wur, with thur tiny faces
aside each other, hcvin on the pretticst
cars,-all made and fixed by the young
wimin, as present to the mother.-
and then thur infantile lips jest openin,
like so many rose buds poutin,' while
thur bits of hands, transparent as spar
macity, wur q curtin about and push
in, all doubled up, agin thur little nos,
cs, and thur mother all the time lookin'
at 'em SO peert and pleased, jest as eff
she war fcclin' in her own mind tina war
hard to beat-addcd to which, thar
stood thur daddy, contemplatin', with
glow of parental feelin', the whole
unanimous pictur! 1t amt in me Jim,
to fully describe the universal merits Of
sech scene. and 1 guess it couldn't re-
ccive raal jcstis from any mans pen,
,cept he'd ben the father of twins at least.
Gracious mc!' sed Mrs. Sutton,
very literary womin, who allays talks
history OH extra occasions; sef that lit
tie Mrs. Allen amt ekill to the mother
of the Graship
She looked at little 10, the daddy,
fur spell, and TUX to admirin' him so
that she could scarcely keep her hands
off on him-she hadn't no babbys, poor
womin
'Ah! Mr.. Allen scs she, 'ycu C
suthin' like husband-you're uctcrm-
ined to dccend namc down to your
anccstcrs!'
l raaly believe she'd a kissed him eff
thur hadn't ben so many wimcn thar.
The father of the babbys were mitcly
ticklcd at furst, cause all the wimcn
wur praisein' him, but artcr spell he
gin to look skary, for 50 whar he would
he found soomc wimcn tryin' to sit
look at hin--tha jest besiegcd his shop
winGer all the time, and kept pcepin'
in, and lookin' at him, and askin' his
age, and whar he cum from? At last
sum Of the gals got so curious tia asked
him whar he did come from, any how,
and as soon as he scd Indianee Dick
Mason bccum one Of the popularest
young men in the settlement among the
wimcn, Jest cause he war from the
same state.
Things went on this way for spell,
till at last tha heerd Of EN- in the coun-
try, and the wimen all about found some
excuse to come to town to cit store
goods, jest purpose to see the babby's
and thur parents. The little daddy war
wusser plagued now, and they starr'd
a. him so that he couldn't work--thc
fact wur, his mint wur gettin' troubled,
and some of the wimcn noticed the ska
ry look he had out of his eyes, and kept
a wondcrin' what it meant. One
mornin' it war noticed by some of the
gals that his shop warn't opened, so tha
got inquirin' about him, and arter a
sarch he cum up missin'-well, Pm of
the opinion thar wur an excite
mcntin town then, fully ekill to the