White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1859-06-09

Hitch your boss to that treei / 'spect
not; no. no, stranger; you can't come
nary such dodge as that %
Our traveller seeing that he had an
original to deal with, and being himself
an amateur performer upon the instrument
to which the settler was so ardently at.
tached, thought he would change the tao
tics, and draw his determined not to be
host out little, before informing him
tbat he, too, could play the Arkansas
Traveller which once being known, he
rightly conjectured, would be a passport
for his better graces.
T.-"Well. friend, if / can't stay, how
far is it to the next house 90
A. A.-"Ten miles and you'll think
they're mighty long ones. too. afore you
get thar. came nigh unto forgettin' to
tell you the creek is up; the bridge is
carried off; there's nary yearthly chance
to ford it /; and If yer bound to cross it,
yer'll have to go about seven miles up the
stream, to old Davy Lody's puncheon
bridge, through one of the biggest bam-
boo swamps you ever see. reckon the
bridge is standin' yit-'twas yesterday
mornin'i though one eend had started
down stream about fifteen feet or such
matter"
T.-"Fricnd. you seem communicative,
and, if it's no offence, I'd like to know
what you do for living ?"
a. A.-"No offence on yearth, stran-
ger we Just keep a grocery"
IA grocery Where in the name
of all that is mercantile do your customers
come from? Your nearest neighbor is
ten miles distant! '
A. A.--"The fact is, me and the ole
woman is customers yet ;; but we 'spect
these diggins will improve, too. How
Sever we do suthin now, even. Me an
the ole woman took the cart t'other day,
and went to town; we bort a bari of
whiskey and arter we cum home, and
gin to count the balance on hand, we
found there want but Just one solitary
picayune left, and, as tue ole woman allus
carries the puss. in course she had it.
Well, | sot the bar'l agin one side Of the
room, and shortly arter, the ole woman
sez 'S'pOsin' yOu tap your end Of the
bar'l.' and did and she bort drink
and paid me the picayune. Pretty soon
begun to get dry, and SEE /: 'Ole wo
man. s'posin' You tap your end of the
bar'l-and she did /; aud then she sell me
drink and the way that picayune has
travelled back ards and for'ards over the
bung of the bar'l. is caution to them as
loves red eye But, stranger, losses is
apt to come with every business and me
and the ole woman has lost some in the
grocery business and I'll tell yon how
twas. Bill, our eldest son. he sees how
the Ticker war goin'. and didn't have nary
red to iine the retail trade; so one night
he crawls under the house, and taps the
bar'l atwixt the cracks in the puncheon
floor and l rally believe he's got more
than me or the ole woman 'ither; the
good for nothin' vagabon. to come the
'giraff over his nat'ral born parents it's
'nnff to make man sour agin all crea-
ton: that boy'll be the ruination of us
yet. He takes to triekery jist as material
as hungry 'possum takes to a hen roost
Now, stranger, what on yearth an to
do? He beats me and the ole woman
intirely."
T.-'It would be difficult for me to
advise in regard to your son, as | have
no family of my own. You say it's ten
miles to the next house; the big creek is
up the bridge carried away no posi-
bility of fording it, and seven miles thro'
a swamp to the only bridge in the vicin-
ityl This is only a gloomy prospect,
particularly as the sun is about down
still my curiosity is excited, and as you
have been playing only one part of the
Arkansas Trveller,' ever since my arri-
val, would like to know, before leave,
why you don't play the tune through :"
A. A.-"For one of the best reasons
on yearth, old hoss-I can't do it.
hain't larnt the turn of that tchune; and
drot me If b'lieye ever shall"
t." Give me your instrument, and
I'll see if / can play the tune for you.
A. A.-"Look o'here, my friend, do
you play the turn of that tchune."
TT believe can"
A. A.-"'Light, light. old boss II
we'u find place for you in the cabin
sure. Ole womanI "a 'halloP within
the shanty was the first indication the
traveller had of any other human being
on the premises the traveller plays the
turn of the 'Rackensack Traveller. My
friend, hitch your boss to that 'slmmon
tree, or anywhere you please. Bill II be
here soon, and he'll take keer OF him.
Ole woman, you call Sal and Nance up
from the spring-house. and cut of good
large piece of bear-steak, to brile for the
strangers supper; tell Sal to knock over
a chicken or two. and get o1t some Hour
and have some hour-doin's and chicken
fixin's for the stranger. (Bill Just heaves
in sight, twenty-four hours earlier tnsn
he was expected half hour before Bill
o, Bill! there's a stranger here. and ne
PLAYS the turn of the 'Rackensack Tray
eller > 90 to the corn-crib and get olg
pumpkin, and bring It to tho house, SO
that the stranger can have suthin to sit on
and skin a later long with me and the
NwwwA CINT nj