Smyrna times., 1879-04-16
=" Call a Man"

Call a Man"
A plain unassumin., bashful young man
was John Eldred, living with hls mother
on a good farm, left him by his father who
was dead. They were in excellent crcum.
stances. and John was as happy as q we'll
Io-dO farmer can be. lie was no fool, for
he had good library and-and read it,
too-and gained great deal of useful
knowledge. John was good looking, not
a handsome man (for there are nOnel, but
u tall, finely formed man. But John had |
one failing in my eyes he was twenty-six |
years old and not married. Nor was there any
prospect of any such event happening very |
soon, for of all the bashful men that ever |
wore a shirt collar, John Eldred was the |
worst. The girls in that immediate neigh
borhood were strangers to him. John |
always avoided everything that wore |
dress, save his mother and sister.
Johns mother was a quiet, loving |
woman, who had ever uppermost in her |
mind the happiness Of her children, con-
sequently She had for some time secretly |
wished that John was married.
Gertrude, Johns sister, was very pretty |
young lady, and also shared her mothers |
wish, but how to bring it about she could |
not imagine.
In the same neighhorhood lived Judge |
Clark, who had daughter named Mabel. |
Now John had for long time secretly ad.
mired Mable, and although he had never
betrayed it, his sister had guessed his secret
and resolved to bring about u match
between the two, but just how 10 do it she
did not know.
1t happened in July. the anecdotc am
| now in shape to relate. Gertrude had
invited a number of girls To quilting
party. She told John that they were com.
| ing and added
Now, John, for my sake. do come in to
! tea this afternoon. You know all the girls
that will lie here, and"-
But, Gertrude, that patch of timothy
! by the north wood must be cut, and rs Jim
has gone home to stay over Sunday, shall
have to cut il"
And so, much to GeItude's chagrin, he
took his scythe over his shoulder after din
ner, and started for the patch of timothy.
But he fingered around the orchard until
he saw the plump figure of Mabel Clark
coming, and then heavlng sigh he started
for his work
The patch Of timothy referred to was a
newly cleared piece of land. nearly sur.
rounded by woods, and SO full of stumps
and log liies that it was impossible to use
the machine. Here we will leave John
moving and return 10 the party.
1t was very warm day, SO the girls had
moved the chairs out doors in the shade of
some large naples, and there they sat chat
ting, joking and laughing as only party Of
lightheaded girls can.
Meanwhile John had moved several
times across the patch, and it began to be
terrible hot The sun poured its rays down
with great intensity, and the thick wood
on all sides kept oil any breeze that might
be stirring. John was more than hottie
. was fairly boiling and as thirsty as an topper
So John, thinking that no one could posi-
bic see him, sat down on a log and took of
his shoes and pantaloors and then, with
his long gingham shirt and wide.rimmed
straw hat and his socks, resumed moving
He had moved twice across the piece, ana
was picking out the tall grass around al
old log pile, when right beside him he saw
o a pair OF blue racers.
John was no coward, but he was MORTAL,
afraid of snakes. If he had been warn
before, he was a lump of ice now. With
dash of his scythe he cut off the head o
one of them, and the other one raised hi
head and darted toward him. John drop
ped his scythc, turned and jumped just a
the hooked teeth OF the snake caugh
above the wide, firm hem of the rear EN-
of his gingham shirt.
He cast one look behind him and say
his dreadful enemy-streaming out lk
the pennant from a steamship-and think
ing only of the terrible fate that awaite
him if he stopped, bounded toward tn
house with the speed of an express trair
On, on he ran through the north meade,
and orchard, and as he nearad tho hous
! the thought Of the party flashed on h
mind. But there was on ether way, and s
on he ran.
He dashed down past the west end Of til
house, and as he rounded the corner tt
whole party of girls met his view.
"Call man ~ he yelled, and then turne
T. the corner So great was the momentu
that the snake swung around and struc
him on his bare legs like the sharp sting
a raw.hde whip
The girls screamed and jumped, and Il
quilt went over on the ground. The visiC
sped around the corner, and once mo
came the cry:
"Call a man."
o No quicker did he disappear around L
corner Of the house than he would appe
at the other corner. Every time he turn
urr the corner he would receive a terrible blt
Id. from the cold, Shiny snake, which wou
raise him from the ground at least 70
md feet, and every blow he would yell
D do Call man
lass The frightened girls rushed for t
'aii' house, and had barely got inside the dC
and af John flew past it with the shout
sket "Cail manr'
cul- Down across the road he went. leapi
% the gate at a bound, and as he cantel
. through the flock of hens, scattering tn
in all directions, the shout rose loud a
clear
Call a manr
! Around the barn, back again to the hot
went the strange pair, and as the gate
again leaped, came the cry, this time G
C For Gods sake, call manN