Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-06-19
Saws Josiah, "Can't l fix the clothes-lint

Says Josiah, ''Can't fix the clothes-lin
| so it would trip 'em up p
Not in the daytime says 1 depress
edly.
Take that old pop-gun Of Thomas JET
fersons, and load it with beet juice. ant
shoot 'em with it, and make 'em thinl
you've drawed blood
There amt no beet juice says l, in ;
gloomy tone. And if there was, how
could l take aim with my head as it il
to-day p
sWall,'' says Josiah, 81 have got to &c
anyway. You lock Up the house and go te
bed, and mebby you can keep 'em OUT
And so did as soon as Josiah had started
off. I let down the curtains and locked
the doors, and laid down. heard knock
in to the door good many times. and a
considerable moving and stamping round
the house, bnt never stirred until it was
time for Josiah to come home, and then
reused up to hang on the a-kettle. Wall,
I just histed up little corner of the win
dow curtain, and could just see pair OF
shinin' boots in front of the parlor door.
went to the other window, and there
could see the hull ON hint was the ever
lastin' piano man. / went into the kitch-
en- just as still as could, and heard a
talkin' on the piazza. Peeping through a
hole in the curtain saw two of 'em; one
a sewing machine man, and the other a
organ; SO they was friendly to each other,
and sot together.
AS I stood there the organ man spoke
up 9A# 81
They must be to home pretty, soon, and
1 guess that piano Teller will find that |
can stick it out aslong as he can,' says he.
YES says the other Teller, and guess
that t'other Teller will find that he can't
tucker me out if he should stay here all
night
Thinks mebby can slip out the front
door and fill the tea-kettle, but I'll be
hanged if one didn't set there on the back
stoop looking down the road that led to
Jonesville, as close as cat would watch a
rat hole.
went back to my room again, worn out
and depressed, and I wished that Josiah
would come. | peeked out Of the winder
towards the barn, to see if I could see him,
and happening to cast my eye down to-
wards the ground, | see one of his boots
stick out a little ways from under the
barn, then see that he had got as fur as
the barn before he see 'em, and then he hid.
I knew there would be no getting him into
the house till the enemy had dispersed, but
yet it was satisfaction to know that my
companion was so near me.
Wall, they never went away SO Josiah
could come out of his hiding place, and I
could get supper, till shutdown, and had
to get supper and Josiah had to milk after
dark. And says Josiah, as we was eating
supper after bed-ti me,
Samantha, as for standin' it so much
longer, can't and won't. It's a run MIN
you down, and I'm spilin' my clothes a
crawlin' under the barn so much, to say
nothin' of film my hair and mouth with
dirt, straw and feathers He helped him
self agin to the cherry pie, and says, with a
gloomy expression onto his face, there has
got to be a change
How is there going to be change p
says I.
'I'll tell you, says he, in whisper, for
fear some one on 'em was prowlin' round
the house yet 'Wewill get up before light
tomorrow mornin' and go to Jonesville
and buy an organ right OUT
fell in with the idee and we started for
j onesville the next mornin'. Wegot there
jest after the break of day, and bought it
of the man at the breakfast table. Says
Josiah to me afterward, as we was goin'
down into the village:
Let's keep dark about buying one, and
see how many of the creeters will be be-
settin' ON us today
Says 1, You must love to be haunted by
'em better than do
Says he, Cpd love to fool 'em.'
Says [, 1T is jest about such foolin' as
the little boy that let his father whip him
through mistake, jest to fool his father
But seein' that my companion looked dis
told him it wasn't my way
to tell everything knew. 1 shouldn't
say nothin' about havin' bought one.'
So we KEEP still, and there was half a
dozen fellers follerin' us round all the time
Almost, into stores and groceries and the
And they would stop on
the sidewalk, and argue with us about
their organs and pianos. One Teller, a tall,
slim chap, he hever let Josiah outen his
sight a minute, and he follered him after
he went after his horse and walked by the
side of the wagon, clear down to the store
where was, a arguin' all the way about
his piano. Josiah had bought number of
things, and left 'em to the store, and when
we got there, there stood another one, the
organ man, by the side of the things, just
like watchdog. He knew Josiah would
haveto come to get 'em, and he could get
the last word with him.
Amongst other things Josiah had bought
a barrel of salt, and the piano fellow that
had stuck to Josiah so tight all day. offer
ed to help Josiah on with it. And the
organ man, not going to be outdone by the
other, he offered, too. Josiah kinder wink
ed to me, and then he held the old mare,
and let 'em lift. They wasn't used to such
kind of work, and it fell back on 'em once
or twice, and most squashed 'em; but they
hipped to, and lifted agin, and, finally, got
it on. But they was completely tuckered
out.
And then Josiah got in and thanked 'em
for the liftin', and the organ man wipin'
the sweat dffen his face, that had started
out in his hard labor, said, The should be
down tomorrow mornin' and the piano
man, a pantin' for breath, told Josiah not
to make up his mind till he came. He
should be down that night if he got rested
enough.