New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-01-02
TIE RUIN OF CALvERr's coRNERs.
BY PETROLEUM v. Massey.

Calvert's Corners wuz to hev bin large
and fourishin town, and wood hev bin,
only it wuz nipped in the bud one day, OF
ruther in one week. One man killed wat j,
he'd taken many men to accomplish. Il wuz
a hose tnat roOined that promisin town, and
made micerable hamlet Nv wat otherwise
wood hev BIN prosperous city.
Hoses Hoses hev made and rooined
more men than any other instoOshun the
Lord ever created. Hoses hev bin my
room three several times, witch is twict ez
many times ez avridge man OF to be
rO0ined. Wimmen kin stand it offner, but
three times is toe many tor . man. hev a
talent in that direckshun.
Thirty years ago l lived in Calverts
Corners, witch wuz prOmisin village, and
wuz to be a promisin city. 1t he'd all the
elements. We he'd churches to build, skool-
houses to erect, plank roads to construct,
and raierOde or two wuz promist US. 1t
wuz hoes that ruined it ala boss that
ssowed ealt On that garden and made it a
howlin wilderness.
Thirty years ago l wuz not the venerable
6ein am now. On the contrary, l wuz ez
green yoOth ez ever bet his last lone dol
lar on the little joker. on q race track, and
immejtly walked home becoz Nv irremedia-
BILE impecOOniosity.
In them days l knowd Sol Loflin and
envied him. Sol wuz the owner Nv a dozen
bosses, witch he run, or tIo.ted, ez the case
mite be, agin watever sport who he'd the
pOssibles TO risk on sich event. He wuz the
mOst Onlucky man l ever seed-he lost
0ffner than he won-but somehow KEEP on
gittin richer and richer, and addin boss to
hoss, and farm to farm. How did he do it {?
Let the sekel show.
Sol lived in Calvert's Corners, and the
people wuz proud Nv him, becoz he led
done so much to improve the stock Nv the
country. He wuz so public spirited ez to
import boss from England with witch his
Majors yOosed to improve their stock-at
six prices. Their wuz an eggsoitement when
that boss arrove. He wuz blankesed from
his nose to his tale, and wuz taken off the
cars with eZ much care ez tho he he'd bin
the Prince Nv Wales. Men cum fifty miles
to see that boss, and Sol made q forenoon
out w him.
Ez Sol he'd did so much for the Corners
in the way Nv furtherin its m aterial inter-
este, the Corners bleeved in Sol, and stead
tasty refoozed to bleeve in anybody else.
They bleeved in him all over. They alluz
bet OF Soils horses. and seemed better
pleased to lose with him than to win with
them ez wuz agin him.
Sol he'd hcss Nv witch very much wuz
expected, becoz Sol he'd printed pedigree
Nv him framed in his stable, and besides he
alluz KEEP him blanketed. Sol limited to
the Corners that he wuz holding Blazes till
he COOu gilt SUNNI Win enuu money OellnQ
it to make it with while, and then he
.wantid his friends to 60 in regardlis. But
he didn't hev long to wait. for over in Bnl-
ger there wuz man very like Sol witch he'd
boss called Calico, WITCH he intimatid Good
git away with Blazes easy. The Corners
smiled, and the upshOt Nv it wuz match
wuz made. Sol told us all to git all the
bets We Good, even to givin odds, for he
knowd eggsackly wat Calico Good do, and
wat Blazes Good do, and he ASHFORD us he
he'd the softest thing in the world
So we did go in, and when we coodent
git bets even we gave odds, until every
dollar that the Corners he'd, and all the
promissort notes that Good be drawd, wuz
vencherd ON the result. Deekin Adams bet
$500, and then stopt. He sed that Bulger
deserved punishment; but it wood be on
chrishen to completely room the entire COM
munity. Elder Smith thot diffrent. Eff
Bulger he'd faith in Calico. let it show its
faith by its works. He sh00d take all the
bets he Good git. and smite the Philljstines
hip and thigh. That wuz the kind of
saint he wuz, halleloojer! He thot Dekin
Adams tOrbearance wuz culpable week.-Mrs.
He wuzR't sheor that he hedn't OF to be
churcht for it. 1t wuz wiltully keepin capitle
out Nv the Corners, and he who wOOdent
s,pervide for his own household wuz wuss nor
an ainfiddle. Besides, he lacked about $1,000
of enuff to complete the church, and how
i. could it be raised easiera 1t wuz throwing
away an opportunity, which he woodent be
guilty nv, n0how.
Il struck come ov us ruthar Gurus that
, the people NV Bulger wuzn't bettin' their
= selves, but it wuz all bein dun by two or