St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1867-11-01

LET. of the brain.
RULE THAT CUT BOTH WAYS.
On Thursday, June Sd, 1853, l was
in the office of the Lawrence Herald of
Freedom, when a boy came in with the
report
There has just been a fight up
town.
This was such an every day affair that
l did not look up from my writing. A
moment afterward another messenger ell
tered and said:
There's a man killed"
Even this excited little attention in
those times of violence But suddenly a
voice was heard from the street
Jim Lane has killed Gains jenkins.
and mob has gathered around his house
to hang him ~
There was no more Indifference the
unarmed ran for revolvers and we all
hastened TO Lane. house, half mile away.
Around it were two or three hundred
excited men, few proposing to lynch
Lane, but the majority declaring that he
should be tried by due course of law
Among the former was the notorious ex-
Sheriff Jones, who had led the border
rutlian horde i'll sacking Lawrence two
years earlier. During the comparative
quiet which now prevailed he frequently
visited the city. In the midst of his
loud talk sheriff Samuel Walker quietly
remarked:
Look here Jones be careful how
you recommend hanging. These people
are good deal excited already. and if
they hang anybody, will be very likely
TO begin with you ~
The visitor Instantly apolosized for hi>
intrusion into Lawrence affairs, and took
the first stage for Lecompton.
WESTERN PRovINCIALIsMS.
In Kansas one heard the slang and
proyinciali>ms of every section of the
country, besides some indigenous TO the
soil. The importations were chiefly
from Missouri, which had furnished more
than half the entire population. Most
readers have heard Ohioans spoken OF a.
''Buckeyes" from the buckevc trcc), Ill
inoians rs Suckers" Indianians a
''HooSiers," and MichiganderS as "Wolv-
crimes" Early Californians christened
rs 'l'ukes' the immigrants from Mis-
souri,, declaring that they had vomitc,l
forth from that prolific State And how
ever shocking to ears polite, the appella-
ton has aIherad TO them ever since.
MisSourians tranSplantcd into Kansas
many of their pet phrases. One morn
inc at breakfast Squatter host OF mine
remarked
These molas>cs Is Swectcr than any
maple malaSscs | ever seen"
This unique use of the national saccha-
rine only in the plural, not uncommon il
the southwest, originated in Pennsylya-
MIA. heard another MiSSourian reply
to inquiries touching his health:
Il had the shakes last week, but now
| have got slut of them"
A third. asked concerning his crop of
corn, responded:
"Yes, l raised power of it. | hav,
fed heap TO my cattle and got right
smart chance lett"
Rural Mi>sourians never carry burdens,
but always packed" or ''totcd' them
Among other provinciali>ms through the
the Southwest the use of ''crapped'' "a
corruption of croppeD is sometimes drol
and startling. General Marcy tells OF
an Arkansan who, pointing to a littl,
man with huge wife, inquired
cap, don't you reckon that that thai
little man has L bit over crapped him
self?"
The use of beef as the singular o
"bceves," obsolete through the East, i
common, the western farmer usually say.
ing, 81 have just sold a beef
The New Englander shouts to a dis
tant friend '.IIallo-a. John =" TIN
Southerncr or Westerner cries: ''O-o-o-o
. John :"
Immigrants from the East were Yer,
: merry at the expense OF their Missouri
, neighborS In a street discussion
lounger was defending as correct the ru
raj Southern phrases, I'VE uns" an,
"You' uns" One OF the bystanders ask
ed him,
"Are YOU a grammarian -
(Which ~ was his bcwiIdcred in
quiry.
, Are you a grammarian -
"Why, no, I'm Mlssourian ~
1t was distinction with difference
But the fun is not all on one side | re
. member an old Mssourian who wa
brought i'll contact with many Easter
men by the establishment of a new stag
line through his neighborhood Sai
he:
J, I've lived OH the frontier all my lif,
4 | know English and the sign-lansuage
: and have picked up smattering ,
French, Spanish, Choctaw and Della
ware but one language | can't under
stand, and that Is this Internal New Yor
language"
HOUSE On WHEELS.
5 In most land-otlices man cannot pr,
e empt unless he has house at lea.
r twelve feet square. | have known
k witness to swear that the house in que
: ton was twelve by tourteen,' when a,
: tually the only building upon the clan
d was one Whitfield out with pcnkni.,
twelve inches by fourteen.
Some offices require that the hou.
a must have glass window. While tray
cling in the interior, | stopped at a lit
- slab cabin, when | noticed a window
n sash without lights hanging upon mai
;. As had seen similar frames in 9th,
.l cabins. asked the owHer what it is 10
ii 80 pre-empt with was the reply.
If "How ~
"Why, don't you understand ! L
d enable my witness to swear that there
Inflow IN NV hOusa ~