Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-09-24
Love in the B~ackwoodsa:
OR, OLD JIMMY wADDLE's FIRST couRTsH1p.

mind o my young days; I should rattle
guess | was in for 'em some myself then
times"
This was said by an old man whom VI
will introduce as Mr.. James Waddle, o.
rather as "old jim Waddle." Everybody
Except the reader knows him and hi:
penchant for yarn spinning. 1t is the ev,
ening of a militia training day. There arc
a goodly number, after the company i:
dismissed from duty, who were ~..lounging
around, and all gathered about the afore.
said old jim to hear his yarn, to which be
had already begun the prelude, and waits
for somebody to urge him to 90 on this
there are enough to do. He then enquired
what they would have-.one of his hun
tin or courtin' sprees?" The boys unan-
imously took the latter. Then, after re-
questing that none of them should laugh
till he got through, with a few preparatory
'ahems." and assumption of a cOmical face,
he commenced. Il wish l could report in
his inimitable language rerbatim ct EterG-
TIM
"When 1 was a boy, you know, daddy
moved from Virginia to Ksintuck. I'd
been born and fotched up on the frontiers.
and Kaintuck was a paradise for me to
hunt bars and Injins in. But | forgot you
want a courtin' story. Well, although l
was always 4 cuttin' up some deviltry
among the boys, yet somehow | was a little
shy and skeery among The gals. l liked
the critters prodigiously, but about the on
ly way | could manage to show it was BY
castin' sleeps eyes in abundance at EN-
We had meetin's as well as frolics some
times. While the preacher was preachin'
tender heartedneSs, bro herly kindness and
love. | wasn't thinkiu' O uothin' else. l
used to set where l could look the gals in
the face and then gaze at some purity one
till she'd blush as a pepperpod. Then L.
felt so queer about the gizzard, and wish
ed an earthquake would come and throw
me right in her lap. l was in love, but 1
couldn't tell who l loved most. There
was Peggy M~asonhammer, a mighty fine
gal. even in her tow-linen frock her cheeks
were as full as a China pigs, and as red
as a turkey gobbler's; and then there was
Sally Perkins, with her glorious striped,
homemade cotton frock, her bar and eyes
as black as ink; and then there was dim
ple-cheeked, blue-eyed Lofty Smith, who al
ways to;ed her shoes and stockings in her
hands till she got in sight of meetin'.-
Well, on these three l couldn't tell for my
life which l liked best-sometimes one and
sometimes another, but alters the last one
1 looked at. But when Squire Crumpton
came to our diggin's, his two gals took
the shine off the rest on EN-. specially the
Oldest one, Betsy. l shan't attempt to de-
scribe her, but when | tell you she had a
calico frock. with yaller flowers as big as
your hand, brass earbobs, besides half a
dozen strans O. beads as large as the end
of your little finger, you may think she
was a charmer-I did, any how. Of all
the magnuR b0num charmers | ever seed
she was the mognum bonun7eSt. And SO
all the young fellers said, too. When 1
fust seed her. it was at Deacon Shocks
l fastened my eyes on her till
hers met mime; she looked steadfastly. then '
a charming smile, and blushed and
looked down. LOrdy ! there was a iutter-
then equal to a saw mill, tween my two
Jacket pockets felt as a goner. From
that hour 1 was too big for my breeches :
Oh Sundays 1 bOrried daddy's breeches he'd
been married in before the revolutionary
and come off at his knees but as he
was tall and l warn't, they came below {
mine three or four inchos. Agin the meet
in l was prepared to cut a big stif-sister
Sal, for the purpose, starched and irOned
my new fine shirt as stiff and sleek as a
sheet of tin. The shirt had the finest kind g
Of fax linen in the bosom and collar, but !
he invisible part Of it was course tow, with
/ hem that would cable a steamboat =
Now. while she was smoothing the wrin- !
lies near the said hem with an iron Just
lot from the fire, down stairs tumbles one
: the tarnal brats, knockin' the breath G
ut'nt it. 1t was Saturday night, and she O
vas the only one up, and ran to it in
curse, but afore it come to, the iron had Z
made its mark-that is, burnt two holes in :
he extremity Of my linen. Next mornin'
put it on as it was, then dads true blue, :,
hen the fust reg'lar built par Of shoes I'd \
yer had. "
L was seventeen just that Sunday morn
a and in my Sunday riggin', felt myself \
man, and was resolved, If Betsy Crump-
on was at meetin', to show it. Well, she
thar, and axt her for her company, a
nd gotit. Walkin' By her side, I felt as r.,
ight as nothin'-skercely touched the
round l walked on. But I shau't tell the -
w thingsI thought and said to her IN the \
ay. and more after we got home"
'-0b, yes, do" said several voices.
NO. you'll have enough without that O.
,u are to skim the cream of the story yet N,
be kept me up late. say two o'clock, and in ~
ute o the noveity-Gt being the fust time)
got sleepy. Now the Squire had Just
omc to these parts, and put up a one-story b
le-rOomed log cabin, and the whole family, lie
opt some of the young ones, slept below is
was a leetle bashful about goin' to bed CO.
but l was three miles from home. ST.
id it was rainin' like blue blazesl | had
do II. and did it without exposin' the E:
ank in my linen. l resolved to be up in al
e moruin', on the same account and some
hers. II
That was the last l knowed till waken-
BY the hounds (half a dozen Of which ).
ept under the bed) a pullin the kivers off
E. Holy heavens! the sun two hours VI
Oh, breakfast on the table, and NE in "
d Just as l was gwine to spring out. in Y
ps the old omen with a plate O. sassage. Wa
was dog-days now. and she cooked in a VI,
anty. | pQssumcd sleep till she went or
t again, and then locked for my trows- u" q
thar they were in the jaws of the pups ~i
the foot of tie bed. / made a mighty w
nge over the foOt-board to retake them, II
t oh horrors! my head down and my i
els up! What's the matter, thinks l. nist
t it flashed across me in n moment tbot ern