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.
L1BERTI, Missury, May 9th, 1 forty s.
Cousin Jim, tha 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 a day afore the
men could find out the rights of the
marter-scch anuthcr Tease as all the
gals got inter, war delightful to con-
template. The boys kept asliin' one
anuther, wha! in the year.li VIII the the
marter, that the gals kept whispcrin'
and latin round town so?~-at last it
cum out! and what DO you think, jim,
aOus 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 6abtys-one boy and two gals!-
His wife is a lcetlc cretur,' but I reck-
on she's some in countin' the census,
and sech anuther excitement as her lit
tie brood of pretty babby's has kicked
up among the wimcn is perfectly intic-
in to bachelors. When the interestin'
marter wur first noiscd about, the vim
en- wouldn't believe it, but to know the
rights of it tina put on thur bonnets and
poured down to see Mrs. Allen, in a
perfect stream of curiosity; and, sure
enough, thar tha 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 see the little creturs.
Thar tha wmr, with thur tiny faces
aside each other, hevin on the prctticst
caps,-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 curtin about and push
in, all doubled up, agin thur little nos,
cs, and thur mother all the time lookin'
at EN- SO peert and pleased, jest as cf
she war feclin' in her own mind tha war
hard to. beat-added 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 l guess it couldn't re-
ccive raal .jcstis from any mans pen,
,ccpt he d ben the father Of twins at least.
Gracious me!' sed Mrs. Sutton, q
very literary womin, who allays talks
history on extra occasions; sef that lit
tie Mrs. Allen amt ckill to the mother
of the Grashp
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, 'you arc
suthin' like husband-you're dctcrm-
incd to decend name down to your
anccS. -
1 raaly believe she'd kissed him eff
thur hadn't ben so many wimcn thar.
The father of the babbys were mitely
ticklcd at furst, cause all the wimen
wur a praiscin' him, but artcr spell he
gin to look skary, for 90 whar he would
he found soomc wimcn tryin' to sit q
look at him--tha jest bcsieged his shop
winGer all the time, and kept pccpin'
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 ho,c,
and as soon as he scd Iudiance Dick
Mason becum 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 a spell,
till at last tha heerd Of 'cln in the coun-
try, and the wimcn all about found some
excuse to come to town to git store
goods, jest purpose to see the babby's
and thur parents. The little daddy war
wusscr plagued now, and they starr'd
a. him so that he couldn't work---thc
fact wur, his mint wur gcttin' troubled,
and some of the wimcn noticed the ska
ry look he had ont Of his eyes, and kept
wonderin' what it meant. One
mornin' it war noticed by some of the
gals that his shop warn't opened, so tha
got mquirin' about him, and arter a
sarch he cum up missin'-wcll, Pm OF
the opinion thar wur on excite.
ncnt in town then, fully ekill to the