Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1872-02-29
''That Beat 'Kiah. 81
By CYT1L DuNsToN.

Tho't I had. Jest sot right down,
now, N I'll tell you the hull ont. You
see by the by, as Sam'l says, you
might help pare them turnips while my
hams are in the dough, you see, Xxi
all (his name was Hezekiah, but we
called him 'Kiah for short,) he used
to drop in at our house uncommon of.
ten, till at last l begun to think of
my calico and patchin'. We were get
tin on i may say 'mazin' rapid, when
but wait till come to that.
You see, mother she was set on hav-
in no end of chickens, geese an tur-
keys, an pap, he was contrary, he
| lowed he was no chicken farmer, and
that was the end of it. REt mother,
she went down to Sam Hulton's one
day (they had a Vendue' l forgot to
tell you), and doesn't she buy up a
lot Of new breed. The new breed,
they quarreled dreadfully with the
old, and worried mother most to death
She tried 'el in the barn a spell, then
she put 'em in the loft, but of course
pap said they couldn't stay there, so
she finally tethered passel of 'em in
the cellar. Well, as / was a savin',
Mail eIl lllS IldNl dDOuI llltlQ0 UP our
minds to get married, leastways l had,
jest as soon as he'd gave me the
chance, when-hut wait till l come to
that.
'Kiah he come up one night ruther
late, unexpected like, as l may say
I'd done a monsters days work. I'm
none O your sort to begin my wash
on Monday and have slops hangin'
around till Saturday. Law! There s
cousin Jerusha Jones. I've seen her
so to the fire for the shovel, carry it
to the coal shed, go back for the buck
ct, fill it, and after carryin' it half way
to the house, leave it stand there all
day. / never knew Jerusha to carry
the gourd and pail at one go in my
life.
If you're through with them tur-
nips you might take a slice off the
ends of them taters. 'Kiah, he was
a very bashful man, and required
DRAWN out-there's a plenty of men
requires drawin' out, though for my
part, as say to Sam'l, I'd ruther have
man with his eyes open and his ears
sot wide. We were sittin' quite quiet
(mother and pap they'd gone to bed, }
when 'Kiah, he begun to talk about 4
girl that I'd quarreled with on his ac-
count, when all at once there W as q
terrible noise in the wash boiler, a
kind Of ker-rumpety kerumpety sound
that made my very heart stand still
'Kjah, he jumped up clean off his
chair.
Whats that @ sez he. But it was
| not much wonder. cOnsiderin'- Bu1
/ wait till 1 come to that
4 You see, the fact was was so mucl
< hurried on account of his comm il
V on me so sudden that night, that
y threw the dirty disbwater into the
boiler instead of throwin' it out. 1
: was a dirty trick. | felt very guilty
t the worse of it. We had the spirit
4 ooual rappin' down here then. Sucl
Il time as we had. Chairs and tables
It a movin', fiddles squeekiD' thou
e hands, and all sich work.
u So sez TO 'Kiah, sez I, s'Its moth
/ in at all but the cat jumpin' unde
) some pans"
1t "Seems to nae we oughtn't to tall
t of Nancy Hitler so," sez he. Ther
0 after while, s'Do you believe in spir
II itooual knockin's p says he.
a ''Maybe do and maybe don't,
It sed 1, ,..but one thing do know. anC
a that is every word I've said abou
S Nancy Hitler, I'll say again, for it:
v true. Nancy Hitler pads herself and
j. wears a hustle"
J. Just then the wash boiler rumblec
e fearfully. 'Kiah, he jumped up and
j. caught his hat.
n IN bid you good bye" sez he, ant
n if you'll believe me, you could hung
Y your gown on his big eyes, they stucl
r out so with mortal terror. Talk abou
e towards. Although didn't like tin
0 idea of losin' my beau in that way,
e was determined he shouldn't see m
IT shrink.
n Good night" sez I, ',but befor
It you go, don't you think you'd ough
to PROFOUND some questions to tn
wash boiler ~ for was sure the nois
was there.
.e So 'Kiah came back, step by step
now that your hands in, if it ain
4 too much bother, just put patch o.
W Sam'rs coat there he came bac
t. slowly, anu stood beside me. Hi
81 hat was on the boiler. 1t was a littl
d ways off. Sez seriously. Let
It see what's in it. I'm not afraid of it.
It But 'Kiah concluded he'd ruther no
e get too cIost on to it. He jest reaches
t. out one hand to take his hat, whe
r the boiler went ker-r-I' Tumpe kTWna p
d kerr p-rwm6ety kYump! and while W
d looked Mt it the lid fell off, and out
d walked the biggest and ugliest rooste
5 of the new breed right onto the tabl
o with not so much as q single feathe
c on him!
e That beat 'Kiah. He never stoppe
sr to say good night, but just decent
r took TO his heels as if the very oil
l, Harry was after him.
is You see, the pesky new bree
re fought among themselves so tina
y mother, she had to separate them
d But whatever put it into her head t.
'e put it into the wash boiler is NOR
'e than can understand to this blesse,
le day. You sec, if I'd known it wa
n there, wouldn't a thrown my dish
water in on it in the dark 'thout look
l. in. And while I was up stairs a fix
e in myself, the ugly thing was sheddin
IS its last feather. That's how it was.
e Well, if you must go. But cal
=, again. You are quite handy.
}. When the Western Union Telegraph
d Company was stretching its wir
e across the plains, an Indian was en-
n rloyed who was one day carrying