Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1857-06-13

/ thar children, stranger. Do they look pa
lish and sickly-- ?--do they look like they
ever had the ager? Yet all their born
material days they've ct nothing bu! bar
meat.
"Do you never have any coffee 20
! "Coffee now look here, stranger, we
are poor folks. but along side of all that, we
don't like to have fun made of us. do we,
Sim? ?'
"No, Stree, and no m;stuke," responds
Sim, striking his fist violen., upon lie Ia
BILE.
A pretty stew L have got myself into by
questioning "Bets" A great big, trnwny,
hirsute six and half fooler, tliking his FIST
upon the table, with force enough to fell a
Durham bull. Suppose he should strike
! me between the eyes with that bony fist of
bis. saw storm was rising, and the only
alternative left was to "back oul" by apollo
| giving.
"Madam says T. and my voice was re.
markably bland and conciliatory 10 its mod
ulations, 'you misapprehend me, 1t was
not my intention to offend you. But mas
much as coffee is very much used, though
| despise it myself" (the most unmitigated
falsehood ever told), al thought perhaps,
| you used it0now and then as sort Of bev.
crage, and"
"'Nuf sed stranger. huff sed, we are
satisfied, amt we, Sim 2"
"All right, Bets all right stranger,
gin us your ta,er skinner" an with that
he gave me such grip as thought would
crush every bone IN my hand.
This little scene somewhat subdued my
| inqusiorial disposition. | ate in silence
sho balance CT the meal. II 4 short time,
we arose from the table, and seating our.
selves around the fire. place, / requested the
hunter to give me sketch of some of his
adventures in hunting bear.
oval. stranger, if you desire it, ] will
tell you of "A fight between bar and me,
and how Bets saved my life from the cussed
varmint.
y" Stranger, was born and fetched up 10
the State of Alabama. Many years before
canrecolect, my daddy moved from North
Carolina to Alabama, where bars and In
juns was plenty as acorns. Twas thar
first larnt how TO kill bars Daddy was
sum in that line himself, and twas him that
larnt me how TO shoot the rifie and larnt
me how to ind bar signs and the places
where they lie, and SO on,
Now, stranger, an old hunter like me-,
what's been at the business off and on for
the last forty years, and larnt the habits of
the bar, can give a mighty close guess
where they lie, and no mistake. Some old
hunters say they can smell the bar as soon
as the dogs, but that's gwine leetle too
far In tod there's = pa.son up in Jeffer
son county in this State, what says he can
smell bar track. Wal,if he can, all I've
got TO say Is, ne more uog 7ruau PREACHER. e.
But told you war fotohed up in
Alabama. When | war youngster about
seventeen years of age, old daddy died. and
left me alone to get along in the world the
best way could. Bout that time, the rich
folks come crowding in, hugging up AL the
rich airtb and forcing the poor man off the
sile. Bar, deer and turkeys don't like tie
sound of axe and hammer-the noise skeers
them; SO after a while thur war no more
yarmints 10 be kilt in that part of the State.
81 had been hunter all my born mater.
al days. The woods war my school house,
and varmints of every kind and description
war my play fellows. When they began
TO git scarcer and more scarcer, and when
great big cotton and corn fields began TO be
opened in the deep wilderness. then il was
l sed, Sim, it's time you war moving your
stumps; you'd better cross the Mississippi
river, young un, whar bar are plenty, and
deer and turkey can be kilt without any
trouble, for, if you stay here in Alabama
you are bound to suffer, and no mistake
SO you see, stranger, | shuk the dust
from my feet, and speaking to Bets thar
bout the matter, the parson spliced us, and
: off we started for Arkansas, with nothing ir
I, the universal world but that old rifle. two
half, breed dogs. and Eve dollars in silser
4 But we didn't keer, for had my rifle aut
dogs, and soon as we got out of the settle
: ments, | knowed the vaimints would bt
abundant
We crossed The Mississip. and striking
out through the forest, KEEP travin on anc
: on, till we arrived at this spot Here, Bets
z. says 1, let's rest awhile So down we sot
: Next mornin' | TUX my rifle on my shoulder
e and walked right down into them woods
right out thar, TO see If any varmints wa
I bout in these parts. hadn't gone NOR,
g than three hundred yards from this 'er,
r spot, than what should see? Bar sign
stranger, and a plenty on 'em I went OF
;. further and further, and the further wen
the sign we're more abundant, and no mis-
Q take.
"'Fhis war enough for me. So walk
back, and when | got back to where Bet
and the dogs war, says L: Bets, this place
o good enough for me. Here's bar, and n
n rich neighbors to drive 'em away. No airtl
here, Bets, for corn fields and cotton patch