Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1855-02-03
Letter from John e. Cake.
GoURD VINE RErREET,


M1sTUR IONA WHITE, Eddytur Of the Minerry-
Deer Sur: Cordin to promise, I is sot down fur to rite to
yew agin. Yew remember l tole yew as how 1 wus gwine
on an xcurshun trip down to the sitty, and dern my picters
efIhaint been-so now I'm gwine to tel yew awl about it.
I've bin Grid on a rae'' and thars no mistake bout it, tho
l haint ashamed of it like sum feners. Now thares Bob
quilin, who wus rid on a rae wunce, and every time teller
alloods to it he gts pizenous mad, but as fur mi kase Pm
gwine to tel yew awl-the truth, the hole truth and nuthin
but the truth, as them lawyer Teller SEE. Wei persuin to
adjernment, las fridy mornin I got out Of bed and resolvin
myself into a standin commitiy untilI could haul on mi
black britches and a eileen shurt and havin tuck off mi beerd
1 struck a Decline fur the stabel and saddied up mi critter
and the ole bawl-face mare fur Polly to wride. Wei we
started, and arter wridin fur about a nour and a quarter,
We arriv neer to the rale-rode. AFTER we got there seq 1
polly l spose faint wurth while to talk the horses long fur to
wride when we gifts down to the sitty? See she why Lor
bles me, Mr.. Cake, Pm stonished to heer yew taulk so xlrav-
igant, why tina wood cost more nor both ofus. Wei I begun
to think the old womun wus rite on them pints and 1 con-
clewded l wood send the horses back home. I got off mi
critteer and stepped up to a fener and axed him which was
the depo and he tole me it wus up thar hi them nu houses,
well arter helpin polly off ole bawl face, we walked up to
whar the Teller sed, but Spite mi nu brtches eff / Good find
whar the Depo wus-I looked round and seed sevrai nifty
queer 1ookin consarns, but nary time did l see the depo, so l
conclewded tina had tuck the Depo with 'em doun to the
siuy and it hadn't cum back yit and me and polly sot doun
on the platform to waite fur the cussed thing to cum. Wei
we hadn't moren tuck over sect afour we heerd a noise which
peered to me like onto the bubble squeezed essense of 40
pig squeals bled doun into one, then polly mi wife she sed
why lor Mr.. Cake yonder Gums the depo now and shure
huff thar it was jes a humpin itself wuss than a skeerd dog
it looked like the very devil hisself asst cum a tarin throo the
feeds and I don't kno but what it mite hev run plum into the
byo eff the Teller what wus wridin on top of it hadn't kinder
pulled the rains on it so tite and even then it KEEP a snortin
like it wanted to brake luse and evry minnit I expected to
see it rare rite up with him, so I holered to him to hole on
tie or he wus a goner, but jes then a Teller toe me thar WIS
no danger fur tina always KEEP it too wen trained. Wei
when the thing stopped I stepped up 10 one of the men, and
SEE l, mister l didn't know befour that tina lowed fellers to
wride in the depo-sez he, how wride in the depo? why seq
1haint them what yew caul the depo? them's the kars seq
he, and the tarnal fool larfed rite out at me, well then I
turn'd round to Polly and tole her them wus the things we
wus gwine to git on and yew better bleeve she locked at
EN- nifty ambiguous.
As tina toe us tina wusn't gwine to leeve for a nour or too,
me and polly conclewded we wood talk a good loock at the
darnd smoke Wagons and we got a teller to wauIk round
and xplane 'em to us-the fust thing he showed US wus whit
he cauled, in his hifalutin logy, the iron boss, but shiver my
timbers u it locked a bit like a boss, ceptin it pulled them
wagons orful fast and I jest thot to myself eff that wus a
boss it must belong to sum imported breed, wlut tina has
laitly fetched to this country fur I've bin Twin beer a long
time and l never seed the like befour.
Mr.. Eddytur twix you and 1 it looked for awl the wourld
like a peece Of a %bote-bler, mounted on wheels, with a CRATE
big irun funnel stuck in one eend, while on "tuther eend'
of it wus a little kivered place fur the Teller to sit what rides
the hoss-I spose it wus the Saddle, tho I never seed one
maid like it befour, and jes in frnnto of the consarn was what
tina cauled a COW ketcher, but, fur the life of me, 1 coodnt
see how it Good ketch a cow-when mi wife polly seed that
part of the mersheen she locked purfectly delited and
xclamed " 0 mi god we hav diskivered the rite thing at last
Mr.. C9ke, as 1 liy, yew must bye me one of them cow
ketchers as sumo as you git to the sitty fut yew knose ole
Brindle gifts down in the swamp and nevur dus cum up in
time to milk Of a nite-Oh me how mulch pleshure it wood
be fur me to be spendin mi time in the house at mi nhtin,
while the cowketcher wood be out on the hunt of ole Brindle."
When I seed polly WIS SO pleased with it'll axed the Teller,
whit one Of them things Good be got for, and he snickened
rite out and woodnt givm no anser.
Rite behind the iron boss or the milne or whutever tina
caul it, wus q little square Wagon chuck full of wood, which
tina tole me wus the tender and behind it wus the reglar kars
what is made for passengers to ride in.
Mister Eddytur, hev you ever bin to an animal sho ?
Wei don't them kars look to yew on the outside jes like
the kages fur the animals, ownly tina is got windows awl
along on the side Wei when we got dun lookin at 'em,
the captin of the kars toe US to git aboard. tole him to
xkuse me, I wasn't acquainted bont thar, and didn't kno
whar the bo1rds wus, or I'd git him one with pleshure
SEE he, haint yew gwine to nu Orleens ? toIe him yes
I was. Well git aboard of the kars then, or yew'u be
left, seq he. When he sed that, you'd better kno me and
polly histed ourselves onto the kar in less than 3 shakes
Of q sheep's-tail. When we got to the dore Of the kar, I
stopt to look round and see eff I hadn't maid a mistaik
and stumbled into a meetin hous, fur I'm dernd if thar
wusn't the pews on each side and an lie rrnnin down
the middle and the peepel awl sittin in thar lookin fur awl
the world as tho tina wus xpectin the preecher or sum
uther axident TO happen in. So me and polly tuck a pew
to owerselves, and we hadn't hin settin thar more'n a mint
befour it struck me I had left mi saddel- bags and pony's
karpet sack out on the platform-krimenny how quick I
gethered up mi bones and tuck out after the baggidge, and
as / wus totin it into the kar, a Teller axed me if that
~bagsidge was gwine to nu Orleens 2 1 tole him it twern't
nuthin slicker. Wei, SEE he, hev yew gotta check fur it ?
Check 3! SEE I; what in thunder's that fur Z yew sartiuly
hant got no bank on the kars, hav yew? No, seq he, but
its to check your ~baggidge. SEE 1, git out, ole teller. yew
don't cum them ticks on me, I don't want mi ~baggidge |
checked; 7 aoants 1t to 90 long uiM me, I due! and
bavin sed that, I sided into the kar with mi ~baggidge
and stuck it under owerb bench, so me and pol y could hay
an eye to it.
hadn't got more'n fairly sot agn, when the mersheen
Civ 2 or unyerthly shorts and went a tarin throo the |
feeds like a streek of greezed ltenin, pullin us arter it, and
I tel yew what, l never rid so fast befour in awl the days !
Of mi life. Sune arter we had started 1 RACED the window |
to look out, and l seed a little painted board sot up by the |
track, which / sposed wus either a guide board or target
fur the ralerode cumpany to shoot at when they tuck ex-
cursion trips. Yew kno that seger cumpany Of nu Orleens
fellers what cum to Tibbydo erasmus fetched a board with
them what looked suthin like it. Ennyhow to be sartin
bout ii, I hunched the Teller hoo wus sittin in frunt Of me
and I seq to him. stranger, what's that board fur Z See he
that is a switch. Il jes thot to miselfi it wusn't like emmy
switches that erode doun over wa, it looked a darned site
moar like apaddle.) SEE I what's that fur I an he tole me
that it wus to switch the kars off the track. When he sd
that, l thought l wood a bustid a lariin but l didn't sa
nuthin at awl, tho I thought il that was used at awl, it
must be on the tea6er part ofthe inginc, fur I couldn't see
how 1t Good efeckt 'em ~ennywbares els, and then it struck
me awl Of a sudden, that that was what maid the ingine
skreem so. Wei while I was thinkin to misef in this wa,
/ seed a man cum In at the fur end Of the kar With the
wurd Conductor y rt on his hat in little gold letters.
When polly seed him, SEE she, Mr.. Cake, what DUE that
meen on that feller's hat7 Why SEE I, polly, that's the
don't yew see that little book in his hand
wei he's takin doum the behavior of the people in it. Then
polly she struck up and said, pleese the lord I kno he
haint seed nuthin amiss in US TO talk doun. In a flu minits
he cum round to whaf we wus sittin, and he axed me to
pa mine and polly's fare. Wei I told him sartinly, and
she}led mt the inter and then he rf n dou.n Il hi, 10