The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-08-04

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the Lord preserve us Did you ever hear him
say what he was agwine to do in the boys case
agin Simpson? No! good Lord Well, squire
will you ak him the next time you see him and
write me word and tell him what l say, I'm
nothing but poor widow, and my boys has
got no larnin', and old Simpson TUX 'cm in; it's
mighty hard case on my boys, any how. They
ought to have had mighty good start all on
'em but God bless you that old man has used
'em up twell they amt able to buy creeter to
plow with It's mighty hard case; and the
will oughtn't never to have been broken, but
Here we interposed and told the old lady
that our time was precious-that we wished
to take down the number of her family and the
produce raised by her last year and be off.
After good deal of trouble we got through
with the descriptions of the members of the
family, and the Statistical table" as far as the
article "cloth."
GLOW many yards of cotton cloth did you
weave in 1889, ma'am?"
You know Sally Higgings, that used to live
down in the Smith settlement? Poor thing,
her daddy druv her off on the count of her hav-
in little 'un; poor gal, she couldn't help it,
I dare say. Well, Sally she came to stay long
VII me when the old man druv her away, and
she was powerful good hand to weave, and
did think she'd help me power Well, arter
she'd bin here awhile, her baby hit took sick
and old Miss Stringer she undertook to help
it-she's powerful good hand, old Miss String
er, on roots and YARDS, and sich like! Well,
the Lord look down from above! She made
sort of tea, as I was saying, and she gin it to
Sally's baby, but it got wuss-the poor creatur
and she gin it tea, and it looked like, the
more she gin it tea the more
"My dear madam, 1 am in hurry; please
tell me how many yards of cloth you wove in
1889. 1 want to get through with you and 60
on"
"Well, we'll the Lord a-mercy Who'd a
was a sayyin, SAILS child hit kept gittn' wuss,
and old Miss Stringer she kept giving it the
yearb tea; we'll the child hit looked like hit
would die, any how. And bout the time the
child was. at its wuss, old Daddy Sykes he come
along, and he said if we'd git some nightshcd
berries, and stew 'em with little cream and
some hogs lard-now old daddy Sykes is q
mighty fine old man, and he gin the boys a
heap of mighty good counsel about that case.
Boys, says he, I'll tell you what to do; you
60"
'In Gods name, old lady" said we, "tcll
about your cloth, and let the sick child and
Miss Stringer, Daddy Sykes, the boys and the
lawsuit 60 to thunder. I'm in hurry!'
"Gracious bless your dear soul! don't be
aggrawgated. / was jist tellin' you how it
come l didn't weave no cloth last year"
"Oh, well, you didn't weave any cloth last
year. Good we'll go on to the next article"
eyes YOU see the child hit begun to swell
and turn yaller, and hit kept wallin' its eyes
and moanin', and knowed-"
"Never mind about the chld-:ju just tell me
the value of the poultry You raised last year"
"Oh, wcll-ycs-the chickens, you mean.
Why, the Lord love your poor soul, reckon
YOU never in your born days seen poor crca-
tur have the luck that did-and looks like we
never shall have good luck again for ever
sence old Simpson tux that case up to the
chanccry court
"Never mind the case; let's hear about
chickens, if you please"
'God bless you, honey, the owls destroyed
in and about the best half what did raise.
Every blessed night the Lord sent, they'd come
and set on the comb of the house, and hoo
hoo-hoo, and one night particular, remember,
l had jst got up to git the nightshed salve to
mint the little gal with"
'Well, well, we'll, what was the value of
what you did raise?'
"Tie Lord above look down They got so
bad-the owls did-that they TUX the old hens
as well as the young chickens. The night |
was telling about | hearn somethin' squat
squaN and says I'll bet that's old Speck that
nasty oudacious OWLS got; for seen her 60 to
roost with her chickens, up in the plum tree,
fornenst the smoke house. So went to whar
old Miss Stringer was sleepin', and says l,
Miss Stringer! sure's you're born, that stinkln.
OWLS got old Speck out'n the plum tree; we'll
old Miss Stringer she turned over pom her side
like, and says she, what did you say Miss
Stokes? and says /"
We began to get very tired, and sgnifed the
same to the old lady, and begged she would
answer us directly and without any circumlo-
cution.
''Thc Lord Almighty love your dear heart,
honey, Pm tclin' you as fast as l kin. The
owls they got worse and worse; after they'd
swept old Spcck and all her gang, they went
to work OH 'tothcrs and Bryant that's one OF
my boys,) he lowed he'd shoot the pestersome
creatures-and so one night after that, we
hearn one hollcr, and Bryant he TUX the old
musket and went out, and sure enough there
was owley, las he thought,) a-settin' on the
comb of the house; so he blazed away and
down come - what on airth did come down
do you reckon, when Bryant fired?
",rhe owl, suppose"
"No sich thing, no sich! the owl warnt thar;
twas my old housc-cat came tumblin down,
splitting, sputterng, and scratching, and the
fur a hying every time she jumped, like you'd
a busted feather bed open Bryant, he said,
the way he come to shoot the cat instead OF the
owl, he seed somethin white"
"For Heavens sake, Mrs. Stokes, give me
the value of your poultry, or say you wW not :
Do one thing or the other"
ooh, well, dear love your heart, I reckon
I had last year nigh about the same as I've got
this"
"Then tell me how many dollars worth you
have now and the things settled"
"I'll let you see for yourself" said the widow
Stokes, and raking an ear OF corn out OF crack
between the logs of the cabin, and shelling off
a handful, she commenced scattering the grain
all the while screaming, or rather screeching
-"chick-chick- -chick-chick-ee chick-ee-