The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-08-08
The Old Sucker; or Chances and Changes.
By MRS. FRANCES D. GAGE.

, the rough Gu stion.
Eleven o'clock and thirty minutes! G.
to Texas! Why, it's ten this very minute
III bet my boots against jack knife th
morning express is of.
Eyes, sir, it has been gone hall an hour.
"Why in natur' didn't you get US her
sooner? Fourteen hours in Chicager is nui
to break fcller all to smash. Fourteen
hours in Chicager, putin and bowin'! ",
> bcen told they keep regular six hundred
hoss steam power all the while a running, t.
blow themselves up with, and pick the pock
cts Of every travclc: TO pay the firemen ant
I've a twenty that's never been broke, ant
guess that will put me through. Why
: didn't you fire up, old brag-giye your ole
hoss another peck Of oats! tell ye, this
fourteen hours will knock my calculations
all into the middle of next week"
every sorry, sir-we'vo done our best
but as we are not clerks Of the weather.
hope you will not lay your misfortunes to
our account. Snowdrifts and the termom.
eter sixteen below zero, are enemies We
can't readily overcome"
That's a fact" said the first speaker,
with broad emphasis, and good -natured
forgiving smile. Fourteen hours in Chi
cager!"
The s.entorian voice, sounding like a
! trumpet, had aroused every sleeper from
/ elysian dreams into which he might have
| fallen after his long, tedious, cold nights
travel. Every head was turned, every eye
! was fixed on the man who had broken the
/ silence. He was standing by the stove
warming his boots. II. have warmed his
] feet through such q mass o6eI3whide q "
i sole-leather would have bsd ~ ? -sold eaeal
hos operation Six u Tsn .selere Sne .d .diiia pay an
es he stood ib p'ibfic generally can siroul my
bearing up world than fou will meet ordi-
narily in half a lifetime. His head Web
sterian, his shaggy hair black as jet, his
and bis jaws etcrnally moving, with 4 rous-
ing quid between them, with smile Of good
humor, notwithstanding his seeming impa-
teuce, attracted every ones attention.
"Fourteen hours in Chicager, eh, Wal,
| can stand it il the rest can if twenty dol
lars won't carry me through, I'll borrow Of
my friends I've got the things that'll
bring en-
And he thrust his hand little less in size
than a common spade down into the cavern
Gus depths Of a broad-striped, flashy pair
Of pants, and brought up that great red
hand, full as it could hold, Of shining TWEEN
tydoT,ar pieces.
"Don't yer think can stand these ere
Chicasers for one fourteen hours.'
y nod Of assent from three or four, and
smile Of curiosity from the rest, answered
his question in tAe affirmative.
"You must have been in luck, stranger"
said ap enyious looking little man, You
have more than your share Of gold
- have, eh? Wal, reckon not / came
IL l.Nr IN An ri
them living who can remember this child
when lie went round the praiIics trapping
prairie hens and the Ike, to get him a
nights lodging, or pair Of shoes, to keep
the ma5sasaUgers from biting my toes; I've
hung myself up more nor one night in the
timber, to keep out Of the ways Of the wild
varm;nts; best sleeping in the wor d, in the
crotch of tree-topl Now, reckon you
wouldn't believe it, but I've gone all winter
without a shoe on my foot; and lived on
Wild came, when | could ketch It. That's
a fact."
Didn't stunt your growth" said voice
near.
Not bit Of it. It brought me up right.
These praiyies are wonderful roomy. |
thought one spell would let myself out en-
trely, but me and mother held a corcus,
and decided that she was get ing old, and
blind like, and it tux too long and cost too
much to SOW up the legs of my trow,sers,
SO put stop to it, and concluded that six
foot five would do for fellow that couldn't
afford the expensive luxury Of n wife to
make breeches for him. 1t was only the
loYe for my mother that stopped my growth.
If I'd had an idea of a sewing machine,
there's no telling what might done.
"Iou have SO many gold pieces in your
pocket, you cal afford to get your trowsers
made now. Why don't you and your mo-
ther hold another caucus, and see what you
can do? If she would let you expand your
self, you might sell out to Barnuu, and
make fortune travelling with Tom Thumb,
and take the old woman along"
stranger said the rough, great man,
and his whole face loomcd up with min
gled expression of pain and pride; " stran-
ger, spoke word here | didn't mean to;
a Slightly word ike, about my mother
would give all the gold in my pocket to
bring her back for one hour, to look upon
this country as it is now. She had her ca
bin here when Chicager was nowhere; here
she raised her boys-she couldn't give them
larnin', but she taught us better things than
books can give: to be honest, and useful,
and industrious. She taught US to be faith
generous to an enemy. It's thirty years,
stranger since we dug her grave by the
lake side with our own hands; and with
our hands; and with many tear and sob
turned ourselves away from the cabin where
we had been raised-the Indians had killed
our father long before, and we'd nothiI 8 to
keep us-and so we went to seek our for
tunes. NY brother, he took down there to
ST. Louis, and got married down there SOM
'ers; and just went where the wind blow
ed, and when I'd scraped money enough
together, came back and bought a few
acres of land aronnd my mothee's old cabin,
for the place where I'd laid her bones was
sacred, like Wal, in the course of time it
turned up right in the middle of Chicager.
couldn't stand that--I loved my old mother
too well to let the omnibusses rattle over
her grave, SO come back about fifteen years
ago. and quietly moved her away to the
buryin' ground; and then | went back to
Texas, and wrote to an agent afterwards to
sell my land. What cost few hundred to
begin on, sold for over forty thousand
and if Id kept it till now, 'twould been
worth ten times that-but got enough for
it. Isoon turned that forty thousand into
eighty thousand, and that into twice as
much, and so on, till don't know nor don't
care what I'm worth. work hard, am the
same rough customer; remember every
day of my life what my mother taught me ;
never drink nor, fight; wish didn't swear
nor chaw; but them's got to be kind O. Sc
cond natur' like, and the only thing troubles
me is my money-havn't got no wife nor
children, and I'm going now to hunt up my
brother and his folks. If his boys is clever
and industrious, and amt ashamed of my
b;c boots and old fashioned ways, and his
Gals is Young women and not ladies'; if they
help their mother, and don't pnt on more'n
two frocks day, III make 'em rich every
one on 'em. s a.
"Now. gentlemen, 'taint often I'm led to
tell on myself, after this fashion. But these