Port Royal commercial and Beaufort County Republican. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1873-1874, 1874-02-19
Pete.

"I'm Pete. An I'm newsboy. This
story amt writ by me, coz I can'twrite.
Nor can't read, go if anythings took
down wrong, it won't be my fault.
CA gentlemnn in one of our Offices
says to me you tell me the story of
your young un, an I'll take it down,
and git it printed in ST. Nicholas An
he says to begin at the very beginnin' +,
wen I fust seed my young un-a little
chap what I foun' arter his father died,
an he hadn't nothin' but fiddle in the
world. When fust goes up to him in
the park, down to City Hall, and asks
him to play, he takes his site: an pulls
it acrost an acrost the strings, an
makes the wHst Mise ye ever heerd in
yer life. He felt so took down when I
laughed that I asked him, serious, to
keep at it, ill he says, lookin' up inter
my face, drefful disappointed, 'They's
awful n'ses, amt theyT 1 says, Wal,
no I've heerd the cats make ten times
wuss ones nor that. I guess it'll come
some time if ye keep tryin'.'
$50 he hugged up his fiddle an we
started down to the corner. An says,
Were air ye goin'? ? And he says,
sNow'eres.' An I says, Don't ye live
now'eres An he says, NO An /
says they wasn't no use in it, fur he
couldn't no more take keer of hisself
than baby ken, an he'd have to live
with me. An he says, Will you take
care O. me?' An I says, Yes, I will.
An that's the way he come to be my
young un.
"I axed him wot was his name, an ]
can't tell yer it, fur it was one of them
blamed furrin' names, an couldn't
never get it right, so I allus called him
jes Young Un.' An he axed me vet
was my name, ah' telled him, Pete,
an then we knowed each other.
"W'ere do ye live, Pete ? he says
an I sez, 'Wal, live roun'--jes about
roun'-here, I guess. Ye see, I moved
this mornin'.' An that was a sumner.
warn't newsboy then, ye know I was
on'ya loafer. But I seed a airy; so !
says, Wal, we'll wait till all the lights
are put out down stairs in this house,
an then we'll live here ternight. But
we mus go fust an get our bed afore
it's dark I says. So we walks roun
to lot were they was buildin', an he
waits vile digs out the bed from un-
der pile O. stones. Yer see, I had to
bury it in the mornin's fur fear O. rag.
pickers, cause it was VERY good bed
an comf'table, specially in Aries.
sWot was it ? It was q ole piece O
carpet wot I foun in front Nv house
wunst arter some people moved away
from it, an it was ez long ez yOu air,
sir, an longer too. I takes it under
my arm, an the young un hole on
to my other han, an we finds the airy
agin. But we has to loaf roun' good
vile fore the lights is put out. When
it's all dark we goes down under the
steps, an I rolls up the carpet kind o
loose an tells him to crawl inside of it.
will ther' be room fur the fiddle too |?
he says; 'coz if ther' won't I don't
mind, I ken sleep outside, Pete An
he looks 80 Worried that I sings out,
'Of course ther' will Do yer think I'd
leave the fiddle out ter cotch his death
O. cold an be laid up an tooken to
the orspital? An that makes him
laugh, an then he crawls in fust an ]
crawls in last, an then theer we was,
all three of us, squeedged up comf'ta
BILE together. st. Nicholas.