Claiborne guardian. [volume] (Homer, La.) 1877-188?, 1877-08-29
OLD JOHN RADDLE.
ny col. u W. DE FOREST.
(C0,cluded.J

AsiS nsua "''
worldly persons who interfere III
sncb nassionate complications, he
,'lundered. He SHOULD have gone
straight at Mayihld; he should have
AL TO him, .Yoi are q gentleman,
and yoa abuse pur position; you
have been EDUCATED under worthy
Influences, and vt you play the
,smn,er and misleider; you are re.
snonsible for this idly, and you must
Rut he was prsudiced against
Lucv. rs not bein,a church mem'
her and as being ne daughter of
a Cracker and ruaseller; he con
c,,ded that it wal her rustic eff
frontery which was chiefly respOn
chile for this fuItivesnd indecOrous
love making; aud, asie did not find
in himself the hardnss to face her
With snch q charge. " resolved to
report her to her fa,!.r.
By the way, Mayflel hnrsed simi.
lor notions as to Lue's guilt; he
conveniently forgot hat he had
Touched his lips to her,heek before
abe had ever opened his to speak
10 him: he maundera and grum
bled, after the fashion & over lucky
lovers, about "a woma throwing
herself at a fellows had.' And
vet. if Parson Seymourhad boldly
said TO him, "Thou artthe crimi-
nal.r he would have admitted il.
As the minister approached Rad
dies he saw q chance frightening
his dreaded task. In flnt of the
tavern, Just about to mOut his tall
and bong bay, stood the'ather OF
sickly Mrs. John Raddle, aeathery
sinewy, round. shouldercd O, farmer
Of eighty, poptiarly styled I'd Zeke
Jeffris. This man being n some
undiscoverable reasons, fuous il
Somerville, we must not bhg hin
into our narrative without wore
of description. AS a philosRhica
artist defined a lion to be "a pir o
Jaws mounted on four legs so
may portray Old Zeke Jearitas {
nose on two legs. The pro- Der
auce Of bis bowed shoulders sAne'
barely sufficient to balances hi
enormous aquifine proboscis. lhi
dren we're terrified at it, an il
their manhood never forgot 1t.
., His claim TO antiquity waslr
questioned; he was not obliget
. insist upon it, after the egotii
fashion OF John Raddle; time ON
mind everybody who knew him !
carcd him old Zeke Jeffris. To
i,naginatiOns of the students
American history in the Methot
Seminary it seemed possible {
he might have been clearing
land about Somerville before
advent of Columbus. Men '
have measured the monuments
the iaeand builders OF the "
have confessed that they never
held anything which had 10 Il
such an air of forgotten ages as
Zeke Jcfiris
1t is, however, difficult TO acco
for his reputation as q "charac,
He was called "a keen old CHI
"a dry old chap 80 severe
chap;- and yet henever SCENE
do or say anything to Justify 4
epithets. He simply minded his |
ness and held his. tongue. ii
made a remark to him, his Il
comment was a noiseless laug
round .shouldered lurch, aud
steps to right or left, by way o
covering his equilibrium. But
BILE who knew him felt that
laugh and lurch were very slt
cant, being always on the loo
for keenness, or dryness, or seve
in Old Zeke Jefiris.
When the Seymour family
ran away with Mrs. Seymour
two children, and the ancient
obandman gallOped after the
pade hallooing like a foxhu
thereby soaring the family hOr
to twice the speed that he had
templated, all Someryille WAS a
ably conscious that he had win
ted his reputation for being
thing out of the common
Poynt Hendricks Chloe, the
laundress, related from hou
house how ssOle,-Aars Jeffris
poundin down de holler;;'
Johu Raddle triumphantly oil
cd several times day for q
afterward, ~ told We the old
had it in him.
To this incarnation Of myst
kecnness, dryness, and SOY
Mr.. Sey mour gently broke
formation that his grandpa,
vas carrying on Irritation
Grove. Old Zeke received .
D0unOe mAnt a he r0O0iyol