Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-12-18
LUKE.
qn the Colorado Park. 1879
BIZ BRET HxRTE.

BRET HsRTE-
wot's that you're readiu'?-a novel; A novel
wei. darn my SKIN
Xou, MAJ grown and bearded, and histin' sucl
stuff abo 4 ga,s and their sweethearts. No won
der you're thin a knife,
Look at me .-clar two hundred-and never read
one IN my life,
That's my opinion o. novels. And, ez to their lyin
round here,
They belonged to the Jedge's daughter-the Jedgs
who came up last year
On account Of his lungs, and the mountains and
the balsans o pine and mr.; $50
And his daaghter-well she read novels, and that's
whats the matter with her.
let she was sweet on the ledge, and 81 by him
Alone in the cabin up yer-tin she grs "a ghost
ali white
She was only slip Of thing, ez Light and up and
away
IL rife-smoke blown through the woods, but she
wasn't my kind-no wayl
speakiu' . gals, dye mind that house ez you rise
mile and half from Whites, and jist above Mat
tingiys milf
1ou do? Wei, now, thar's gal? What, you saw
her? o, now, thar, quit,
She was only bedeviliD' you, boys, for to me she
don't cotton one bit.
Now, shes what cal gal-ez pretty and plump ez
quail;
Teeth white hounds, and they'd go through
atenpenny-na;
Eyes that can snap lk. cap. So she asked to know
'Whar was hid
She did on its just lie her sass, for she's pert
as kafydld-
But what was 1 talking of 10. the ledge and his
daughser-she read
Novels the whole day long, and reckon she read
them abec,
And sometimes She read them out loud to the ledge
on the porch where he sat,
And twas how .. Lord Au yastusr said this, and how
Lady Blanche" she said that.
But the sickest Of all that beerd yarn that
they read bout chap,
misunderstanding" by name, and a hunter chock
full o the greenest o. sap:
And hey asked me 70 hear but [ says. "Miss Ma
bel, not any for me;
When likes can sling my own lies, and tibet chap
and shouldn't agree
Yet somebow-or-other she was always sayin
brought her to mind
Of folks about whom she had read, suthin belize
OF tibet kind:
And thar warnr no end O. the names that she gave
me thet summer up here
- Robin Hood, Misunderstanding Rob Roy -
o, L tel you, the critter was queer.
And yet, ef she hadn't been spilled. she was harm
less enough in her way,
She could abcer French TO her dad, and they say
that she knew how 70 play,
And she worked sle that shot-pcuch UP thar-which
the man doe-nt live ez kin use,
And siippers-you EN- down yer-eZ would
cradle an Injun's pappoose-
let along O. them novels, you see, she was wastn'
and mopin' away.
And then she eot shy with her tongue, and at last
had rofnln' to say.
And whenever happened around, her face it was
And it warnt until she lef. that she gave me. ez
much ez look
And this was he way it was: It was night wher
ken up here
To say 'eIn all .Good-by," for reckened to go
for deer
AT sun-up- The day they left. So shook EN- all
round by the hand,
'Cept Mabel. and she was sick, ez they gave to
understand.
But, jist as ! passed the house one morning. at
dawn, some one,
Like little waver O. mist, got up on the hill with
the sun:
MissMabel it was, alone-an wrapped in mantle
And she stood there straight in the road, with
touch o tie sun in her face.
And she looked right in the eye-Id seen suthin
like ii before
When hunted a wounded doe to the edge of the
Clear Lake shore
And had knee on its neck, and jist wa raisn'
nv knife.
When it gave me look like that, and-weI, it got
OF with its life
"we are gsing today she said, and thought
would say good-by
To you in your own house, Luke-these woods, and
the bright blue sky
You've always been kind TO us, Luke and rapa has
found you still
As good the air he breathes, and wholesome ;
Lau-e. Tree Hill.
@Ans wei Always think Of you, Luke, the thing
could not take away:
The Basam that dwelis in the woods, the rainbow
that lives in the spray,
AID yCu'- sometimes think Of me, Luke you
kaow you once used 10 say,
A rife-smise blown through the woods, moment,
but never 70 stay
And then shook han IL. She turned, but s-sud-
dent she tottered and fell,
And caught her sharp by the waist, and held her
minit-weii-
1t only mint you know, that cold and ez
white she lay
Ez a snowflake here my breast, and then-wen
she melted away
And was gone. : . And thar are her books, but 1
say not any for me,
Good enough. maybe, for some, but them and I
mightn't agree.
They spilled decent gal ez might hey made some
chap wife.
And look rne,-clar two hundrei-and never
read cne in my life.
-Scri6aeT's for December.