Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-02-26
Stumng = Stranger.

Do you remember, some weeks since
l was greatly annoyed by an inquisitivs
man down in Maine and abruptly closed
my letter for the purpose of stufling the
aforesaid man.
Well, stuffed him.
Much of place. your town." he
said.
"Oh, yes," said, with the matter OF
course carelessness of citizen of the
great western metropolis, "abOut forty
five thousand, guess"
The man eyed me with keen awaken
ing interest. $50 big as that" he said,
l nodded. and he presently said
"Well, 1 had no idea there was such a
large city in Iowa. State must be
pretty well settled up, 1 reckons"
said, "Yes it was. Some portions
of it pretty wild, tho ugh"
"Any large game in the State?''
"Herds of it," said. al killed deer
last winter not two miles from the
Burlington court house."
l Ipacified my conscious for this lie by
explaining to that rebellious and vocif-
erous monitor and that there was no
Burlington court house, that it was
burnt down seven years ago, and the
county was waiting until it could buy
a secondhand court house for $l.75,
before replacing it. Therefore, could
tIuthfully say that had killed all the
deer that came within two miles of our
court house.
IL want TO know!" the native sx-
claimed.
''Do you, though :" thought l, "then
I'll tell you" And so L went on.
"Why the wolves only two years ago,
made 4 raid into Burlington and killed
all the chickens on South Hill.
Conscience raised terrible protest at
this, but hushed il up too quick, by
citing the well-known case of Meigs
Schenk's wolf that got loose and in one
single summer night ate up everything
on South Hill that wore feathers. The
native looked astonished ard doubly in
terested.
"Any Indians?" he said.
''Land, yes" told him yawning
wearily, as one who talks of old, stale
things. "Sitting Bull was educated at
the Baptist collegiate institute, in Bur.
lington, and was expelled for trying to
scalp Professor Workman with horse
shoe magnet"
lyon don't tell me-" exclaimed the
native in wild amazement. By this
time | was perfectly reckless, and told
conscience to keep its mouth shut and
give me chance.
"Oh, yes" l said. "Yellow VOLTS
old medicine lodge is still standing,
right out on West Hill. The Indians
come into the city very frequently,
tearing through the streets on their
wiry little ponies"
Ever have any trouble with them ?"
the man asked.
"Oh, no." l said, carelessly, 'the
citizens seldom do. The cow boys, who
come up from Texas with cattle, hate
them terribly and occasionally drop
one in the street just for revolver prac-
tice. But nobody else interferes in
their fights"
81 suppose" the man said, "you all
carry revolvers strapped around you,
out there?
"Oh, yes" | replied, "of course.
We have to; man never knows when
he is going to have trouble with some
body, and in case of any little misun-
derstanding, it wouldn' t Go for fellow
not TO be heeled."
/ think the man shuddered a little.
Then, fearing he might ask to look at
my revolver, casually remarked that
| never carried my barkers when l
came East.
He said, no, he supposed not. Then
he looked out of the window long time
and said nothing. Finally 1 asked him
in what part of Maine he made his
home. He looked up at me in surprise.
''Me?" he said, ''Lord, 1 don't live on
this rock patch. I'm only on here Wis
iting some relatives"
In feeble voice / asked him where
did he live then.
The man yawned and again looked
listlessly out of the window.
'Oh," he said, al live on g farm just
by Leffier's: about six miles out of
Burlington. / wish l was there now"
So did /. So did |. l wished he had
never left there.
We didn't talk together any longer.
Shortly after that the weather changed,
the car grew very cold, and L went in
to the smoking car to look for fire.