The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-07-18
WHOLE, No 204.


I = Inc -Catt10-lHcH- Vi -4DE1fsAlOh sA1IAtS
often to wait half-hour for the horse
cars, which take them out of Boston.
They wait at what is known as the
I" Cambridge Caf-ofiee." They have
a ruddy, bovine look, as. a general
thing bat you will be surcst TO know
them by way they have of chewing
their cud-a single straw, with which
they also pick their teeth at Intervals
Theirs is u species of Yankee dialect
cosmopolitanizedb by travel on stock
| trains, aud refined by current slang.
1t was not very long ago that one OF
these fellows caused me to miss the
Cambridge car by getting me interest.
ed in story he was telling toa friend
who also seemed to be in the cattle
business. ' We had" !" said my story
teller, !" u great scare up to Shirkshire
t'other night; we see a ghost 70 Then
the dfover paused, thrust his ,brohdr
brimmed felt hat ON the back of his
head, shifted the straw from one side
of his mouth 10 the other, strokcd his
long wlIiskers, and bent his merry
bright eyes inquiringly upon the face
of his companion--just as If they had
beguha "bargain1 over a halt-dozen
steers. Q This was, = OF COURSE only
bid for his friends curiosity. aln'iiaa ?
-" Seen a ghost p asked his friend,
And thus the preliminary bargain
being struck, the drover shifted the
straw back to the other side of his
mouth once more, and continued -
Yes, stree, q ghost. all in, white,
goin' about on all fonrs, like a ragin'
| lion, see'in' who he could deyOur,
with deuce of a noise. The hull OF
| Shirkshire was reused as one man, an
specially the women. The tarnal
| thing 'peared to take q partic'la lar spite
agin cattle, for it chased COW bellerin'
down the whole length of the village
street. The COW raised its tail in the
moonlight, an run more'n two mile.
Wall, it kicked up q duced of a fuss
round them parts. Did / ever tell
you of old Deacon Ranshead? Well,
old Deason Ranshead an his wife are
about the meanest folks we've got up
to Shirkshire. They're always got
their noses in everybody else's bnsi-
business, an the all-firedest, pesky
liars anywhere. Now, it was about
their house this here ghost was first
seen. Fact is, Jim ellison and some
other jokers got the whole thing up.
Better'n two weeks ago, when the hull
village was, sound asleep, Jim and the
boys takes the deacon's calf away
from his COW, an goes to Mrs. Dea-
cons clothes-line, and gifts one of the
deacon's shirts, and pair % drawers
from it. Then they drawed the shirt
over the fore legs and the drawers
over the hind legs of the calf, cuttin'
off its tail from sight for the time bein'
lappilr' the two garments over each
49,, -. a.
middle with q piece of, sursingle.--
Then they took an put the calf, quiet
like, an not hurtin' of him, in the
deacon's kitchen. Wall, OF course the
calf begun prOmenading upfan, down
the kitchen, upsettin of the milk pans
an gittin' confused with the gridirons
an such. This kinder stirred up Mrs.
Deacon, and the deacon, too, andIthey
was both powerful scarf. . Mrs, Dea-
con thought the deocon better 20
down an see what was in the Kitchen.
The deacon didi7t move. They both
listened while, and the pans an
gIidirons rattled louder'n ever. The
deacon, very naryous-like, said he
Gidn't reckon there was anything
THAR, but, il his wife felt anxious
about her milk pans, she'd better go
down an look erter 'cm. Then there
came a rumblin' and clatter that
sounded like the stove'd started up TO
visit 'em, an got lazy aud rolled down !
stairs again. Mrs. Deacon, q trcnl-
blin' all over, said she s'posed the |
noise warn't in the house al all but q |
shutter'd get loose, on the front stoop, !
an she guessed the deacon ought to |
go down an fix it. ~ ''.." 3'i-
!" That's toe kind of folks these is"
continued the droyer, /" that's the way
they lie even to themselves. You |
ought to see ,eln skin an average char |
acter. Why, wouldn't take a COM
mon saint, at tile price of his hide an |
taller, after he'd went through their |
slaughter house. It's by siftiD' their |
lies about one another, ye see, that we |
afterwards got all the circumstances !
how scarf they was"
At this point the arrival of two |
cars on the heels of each other, abb
sorbed the attention of both drovers, |
and they became separated in the |
crowd IThia event also had the effect
OF bringing my thoughts back from
Shirkshire, just in time to see the car
should have taken disappearing
around q distant corner. There was,
am ashamed to say, a good deal of |
curiosity mixed with my vexation
and resolved now TO have the rest OF |
the story, if had to wait the whole
AFTERNOON for it. While was follaw-
ing the yarnster with my eye, as he
loungcd lazily in the thick of the hur-
rying passengers, ! was accosted by
gentleMau in rather shabby black at
tire, and IN au exceedingly dishevelled |
beaver hat, knew he was gentle
man by his manner, and especially by
his speech. Excnse me, sir" he said
with altogether too much beer in his
voice." excuse me, sir, j am a rich
mans son myself, but could you let
me have six cents TO ride out. on the
East Cambridge cars?" Who could |
resist the subtle tiattery ef That appeal
1t was certainly worth six cents, and
that Is Just what it cost me. Rid of
him, looked around for my story
teller again. lie having satisfied him.
self that The Brighten Gar, would not
be along tQE ten or fifteen minutes
more, had loafed back 10 the curb
stone. Here he reversed the straw in
his month and had begun 10 make up
for the interrppsiSn his story had been
to his chewing. lie did not look
about for his companion, he seemed
shrewdly sure that hiss. companion
would look about for him Ills ap-
parent confidence in the power of his
absurd yarn was not misplaced, for
the other cattle-mag soon made his !
way to the ourh.stone and said;
6 Wall, the deacon an' his wife was I
purity scarf, was theyF dsf1 ell ga 4ai |
g You're right they was, an they'd
have lay there am lied at each other |
all night If they dared, but they didn't
Ye see, they was afcerd that their |
slowed como up am call on 'em any. |
how, for it now N e a,worse attempt /
than ever. This time, though, when
it appeared 10 change its mind aud
roll down stairs agin, it 'pearca TO be
lined hy The cniililal lipa of lhnn Trihir'n |