Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1871-10-06
CHAPTER III.
MIRANDY, HANK, AND SHoCKY.

the bulldog In his composition. Mi
randy fell in love with the bulldog
Like many other girls of her class, sh,
was greatly enamored with the a. suo
lection of women" and she stood rea
dy to fall in love with any man strons
enough to be her master. Much has
been said of the strOng-minded VIC
men. / offer this psychological re-
mark as a contribution to the Eatura
history of the weah-minded women
1t was at the close of that very sec
ond day on which Ralph had achiev-
ed his first victory over the school, an6
in which Mirandy had been seized
with her desperate passion fCr him,
that she told him about it. Not in
words. We do not allow that in the
most civilized countries, and it would
not be tolerated in HOopOle County,
But Miraidy told the master the fact
that she was in love with him none
the less that no word passed her lips.
She walked by him from school. She
cast at him what are commonly called
sleeps eyes. Ralph thought them
more like calf's eyes. She changed
the whole tone of her voice. She
whined ordinarily. Now she whim-
pered. And so by oglIng him, by
blushing at him, by tittering at him,
by giggling at him, by snickering at
him, by simpering at him, by making
herself tenfOld more fool even than
nature had made her, she managed to
convey to the dismayed soul of the
young teacher the frightful intelli-
gence that he was loved by the richest,
the ugliest, the silliest, the coarsest,
and the most entirely contemplate
girl in Flat Greek district.
Ralph sat by the fire the next morn
ing trying to read few minutes be-
fore schoOl-time, while the boys We're
| doing the chores, and the bound girl
was milking the cows, with no one in
the room but the old woman. She
was generally as silent as Bad, but
low she seemed for some unaccOunta-
bic reason disposed to talk. She had
set down on the broad hearth to have
| her usual morning smoke; the pop
lar table, adorned by no cloth, sat in
the floor; the unwashed blue tea-cups
sat in the unWashed blue saUcers; the
unwashed blue plates kept company
with the begrimed blue pitcher. The
dirty skillets by the fire were kept in
countenance by the dirtier pots, and
| the ashes were drifted and strewn over
| the hearth-stOnes in most picturesque
way.
| You see," said the old woman,
knocking the residuum from her cob
pipe, and chatting some dry leaf be-
tween her withered hands preparatory
| to filing it again, "yOU see, Mr.. Eart-
sock, my old mans purity well along
in the world. He's got right smart
| lot of this worlds plunder, Cne way
and another" And while she stuffed
the tobacco in her pipe, Ralph Won
| dersd why she ShOIIl mention it to
| him. " G0U SEE We moved il here
nigh upon twenty-five year GgD.-
Twas when my sack, him as died
afore Bud was born, was baby
Bud'Il be twenty-one the fifth OF next
June"
Here Mrs. Means stopped to rake a
| live coal out of the fire with her skim
nv finger, and then to carry it III her
! skinny palm to the bowl-Or to the
hOLe-of her cob-pIpe. When she got
the smoke agoing she proceeded
:" You see this ere bottom land was
all Congress land in them there days,
and it sold for dollar and quarter,
| aad | says to my ole man, Jack says
|, Jack, do you git plenty while
YOU'RE a gittin', says L, fer 'twon't
never be no cheaper IN tits now and
it haint been, knowed 'twouldn't," "
ard Mrs. Means took the pipe from
her mouth to indulge in a good chuckle
at the thought other financial shrewd-
ness. "'uiit a plenty while you're a
rittin'. saws |. / could see, you know,
they was a powerful sight of money
i'm Congress land. That's what made
me say, Git plenty while you're a
| eittin.' And Jack, he's wuth lots and
gobs of money, all made out OF Con
| gress land, Jack didn't git rich by
hard work. Bless you, no! Not him.
That amt his way. Hard work amt,
vcu know. Twas that air six hum
dred dollars he got along of me, all
salted down into Flat Crick bottoms
at dollar and a quarter acre, and
twas nv saying Git a plenty while
YOU'RE a Citing as done it," And
here the old ogre laughed or grinned
horribly, at Ralph showing her few
Struggling, discolored teeth.
Then she got up and Knocked the
ashes out of her pipe, and laid her
nine away and walked around i'll
front of Ralph. After adjusting the
"chunks" so that the fire would burn,
she turned her yellow face toward
Ralph, and scanning him closely came
out with the climax of her speech in
the remark: You see as how, Mr..
Hartsook, the man what gifts my Mi
randy III do well. Flat Crick lands S
worth nigh upon a hundred acre"
This gentle hint came near knock
ing Ralph down. Had Flat Creek
land been worth a hundred times a
hundred dollars an acre, and had he
owned FIVE hundred times Means five
hundred acres, he would have given
it all Just at that moment to have an
INITIATED the whole tribe of Means.
Except Bud. Bud was a giant, but a
/. COod-natured one. He thought he
would except Bud from the general de-
struction. As for the rest, he men,
tally pictured to himself the pleasure
of attending their funerals. There
was one thought, however, between
him and despair. He felt confident
that the coTdiality, the intensity, a1d
the persistency of his dislike of Sis
Means were such that he should never
inherit a foot of the Flat Creek bot
toms.
But what about Bud? What if he
Joined the conspiracy to marry him
to this weak-eyed, weak-headed wood
uymph, or hack-woods nymph?
If Ralph felt it a misfortune to be
loved by Mirandy Means, he found
himself almost equally unfortunate in
having incurred the hatred of the
meanest boy in school Hank"
Banta, low-browed, smirky, and Graf
ty, was the first sufferer by Ralph's
determination to use corporal punish
ment, and so Henry Banta, who was
a compound of deceit and resentment
never lost an opportunity to annoy
the young school-master, who was
Obliged olive perpetuaily on his guard
against Henry's tricks.
One morning, as Ralph walked To-
ward the schOol-hOuse, he met little
ShOcky. What the boys first name
: or last name was the teacher did not
know. He had given his name a,
! ShoCky, and all the teacher knew wa:
. that he was commonly called Shocky
! that he was an orphan, that he lived