New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-07-27
UGLY AS SIM

swell, stranger, you air ohawed up pretty
considerably bad, and that's a fact. Bar or
catamount?''
The scene was the country store at the cross
roads, in the town of H, whitehall who have
hunted or Travelled much in Herkimer County
will recolleet; and the polite interrogator was
a large, bushy -whiskered, hard faced man, in
red flannel shirt, whose appearance, no less
than dialect, proclaimed him to be from the
Far West. 1t was evening, and group of
| loungers were smoking and chewing by the
open fire, whose warmth, though it was mid
summer night, was far from unpleasant.
The person to whom the question was ad-
dressed, partly turned his head toward the
speaker but did not Immediately reply; and
took the opportunity of examining him more
closely than had done upon his entrance He
was, without exception, the ugliest, most pitable
specimen of humanity have ever seen One
| of his legs had been amputa above the knee !;
his right hand was Withered and contracted, as
if by a severe burn ; his shoulder had a curious
hump; and the cords of his neck were so drawn
| and shortened that the cheek seemed to rest
upon it, as on a pillow. His eyelashes were
gone, and his bloodshot eyes were continually
moving uneasily within their raw and inf1amed
/ lids. But more painful to the beholder than
all this, was strange, underlined expression Of
| fear or horror, which was never absent from
the face, and which told, more strikingly than
his wounds, the story of some awful trial to
which he had been subjected.
With all this, however, there was somthing SO
mild and gentlemanly in his manner that he
seemed at once to challenge and obtain the pity
| and sympathy of every one. His entrance into
the store, apparently a total stranger, had
checked the lively flow of the ordinary bar
room conversation, but more than one chair by
/ the fire was offered him, and many glance o1
4 commiseration exchanged between the rough
laborers. -.-E 8
g Bar or catamounts" repeated the Hoosier
4 81 thought said the stranger, in the hollow
voice Of consumptive, &c that should fine
some one in here tonight who would reeoilec!
me. l recognize many of your faces. AnG
yet he added, sadly, ssmy own mother die
not know me-
There was quick movement in the groul
about him at these words, and every eye wal
bent once more upon him. But no one spoke
g Deacon Pelton,7 resumed the ugly man
"your son Bill and I used to go to school to
gether down at the creek
g Lood help u.s. said the good old deacon
g to think of the changes! WELL" he added
resignedly, sits what we must all come to-
1t was plain that the elder was fairly puzzled
81 never thought till lately" pursued TIL
cripple, ssthat should be obliged to tell M,
name to my old companions and friends. Iool
at me again. ...,5
s'No, no. muttered the man in the red shir
audibly; s' one look a day at that fellow is a
much as | can comfortably stagger under"
But the store-keeper, taking step OF tw
forward, gazed into the ugly mans face for
moment with an eager air, and said:
ssNeighbors, it's Ben Larkins %
&c Ben Larkins p said the deacon, why, W
heard you were dead ....-...5zs
'sYou will hear that again soon," saidEth
newcomer, q and it will be a true story then.
There was an awkward pause; for the Eol
friends of the poor man, with all their curiosity
F had native delcacy which restrained thei
question. But the western man, who now SAL
him for the first time, was wholly free from an
such embarrassment ,..z..z
> ssStranger,' said he 's I mint much given t
pumping man against his will, but shqul
like to know how you come so, just to keepEou
of such scrape myself" @3
ssl came here this evening"" said the ugl
man, "on purpose to meet as many of mytol
acquaintances as | could, and tell my storys
knew l should have to tell it some time q
= other, and want to have it over, to feel tha
my misfortune is known, and that am fre
: from questions.
He shifted his seat, rs if to obtain an easie
To- position, and continued:
r ssThose of you who saw me a couple of yea
since will recollect that | was then, as | ha
e been for many years previously, warm ar
lactiye politician. Now that have come hon
: to die among you, it seems of little moment vi
i comes out winner in these doubtful races , b,
then it was different thing to me, and belle
: / was never wanting in any service whichtn
y party asked of me from the time of the ele
ton of the good old General Harrison, who is
a trust, in better place than the white Hons
now" is.