Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1859-04-30

Traveller:
"Wcll, friend, if can't stay, how far is it tc
the next house er'
Arkansas Artist
"Ten miles and you'll think they're might,
long ones, too afOrc YOU get thar / came nipi
onto forgettn' to tell you, the big creek is up
the bridge is carried off; there's nary yearthl,
chance to ford III and if yer bound to cross it
yer have to go about seven miles up stream
to old Dave Lody's puncheon bridge, through
one OF the darndest bamboo swamps, ever YOU
see. reckon the bridge is standin yet-twas
yesterday mornin'j though one ccnd had start.
ed down stream about fifteen feet, or sich mat.
ter"
Traveller:
"Frcnd, you seem communicative; and il
its no offence, Id like to know what you do for
a living hereP"
Arkansas Artist:
'No offence on yearth, stranger we just keep
a grocery"
Traveller:
"A grocery! Where in the name of all that
is mercantile do your customers come from p
Your nearest neghbor is ten miles Distant"
Arkansas Artist:
"lhc fact is, me and the old woman is the
best customers get; but we 'spect these diggins
Will improve, and in course business will i'm
prove too. Hows'evcr, We do spthin' nou, even
Me and the old woman took the cart t'other
DAY, and went to town; we bort bar'l vhis-
Key and arter We come home, and gin to count
the balance on hand, we found thar want but
jist one solitary pickayune left, and as the old
woman allus carries the pus, in course
she had it. Well, sot the bar'l agin one side
OF the room, and shortly arter, the old woman
seq; 'Supposnt you tap your end of the bar',
and did; and she bought drink and paid me
the pickaymc Pretty soon begun to get dry,
and seq old woman, .spozin' you tap your
eend of the ar'l?'-and she did and then she
sells me drink and the way that pickayune
has travelled BACKYARD and ior'ards over the
bung of that bar'l is a caution to them as loves
red eye. But, stranger, losses is apt to come
with every business; and me and the old wo-
has lost some in the grocery line and I'll tell
you how it was. That boy Bill, he is our eldest
son, he see how the ticker was goin, and he
didn't have nary red to jne in the retail bust
ncssi so one night he crawls under the house,
and taps the bar'l atwixt the cracks in the pun
chcon floor; and | rally believe he's got more
than me or the old woman either; the good
ior-nothin vagabond to come the 'giraf- over
his material born parents its enuf TO make
man sour agin all creation that bowl be the
ruination of us yet. He takes TO trickery lis,
as material as a hungry 'pos>om takes to a hen
rooSt. Now, stranger what on yearth am to
do lie beats me and the old woman entire
ly"
Traveller
1T would be difficult for me to advise in re-
gard to your son, as have no family of my
own. You say its ten miles to the next house;
the big creek is upi the bridge carried away;
no possibility of fording it, and seven miles
through a swamp to the only bridge in the vi
cinity This is rather gloomy prospect, par
ticularly as the sun is just about down; still,
my curiosity is excited and you have been
Ter" since my arrival would like to Know Know
before leave, why YOU don't play the tune
iirouh ,"
Arkansas Artist:
For one of the best reasons on vcarth. old
hoss-l can't do it. | hain't learnt the tur7,
of that tchune, and drat me if believe ever
shall"
Traveller;
Give me the instrument, and I'll see if |
can't play the tinn for you.'
Arkansas Artist:
Look o here, my friend do you play the
tUn of that tchune?"
Traveller:
al believe can"
Arkansas Artist:
lite, lite, old hoss reW find a place for
YOU IN the cabin. Old woman old woman Ia |
halo" within the shanty was the first indica-
tion of any other human being on the prem
misses,) the stranger plays the TIM, of the
'Rackensack Traveller My friend, hitch your
hoss to the 'simmon tree, or any where else YOU |
please. Bill IL be here soon, and he'll take keer
of him. Old woman, you call Sal and Nance
up from the spring tell Nance to go into the
spring house, and cut off good large piece of
bar steak, to brile for .ihe strangers supper /;
tell Sal to knock over chicken or two, and
get out some flour, and have some four-don's
and chcken-fXin's for the stranger. (Bill lust
heaves in sight, twenty-four hours earlier than
he was expected half-hour before) Bill. o
Bill there's a stranger here, and he PLAYS the
turn of the 'Rackensack Traveller 90 to the
rorn-crib and get big punkin, and bring it to
the house, so the stranger can have suthin' to
sit on, and skin tater long with me and the
old woman, while the gals is gettin' supper;
and, Bill, take the hoss, and give him plenty of
corn-no nubbins, Bill then rub him down
we'll; and then, when you come to the house,
bring up dried hide and bar-skin for the
stranger to sleep on and then, Bill, | reckon
he'll play the turn of the 'Rackensack Travel
er' for u.s.