The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1880-07-02

How He Took Has Vacation and What
Came OF 1t.

/
Now in Che sixth month of the reign Of
the good caliph. it was so that Mustapha
said am Wearied with much work ;
thought, care and worry have. worn me
tout; need repose, for the hand Of ex-
now lieth at the doom
| And he calleth his physician, who felt
his pulse and looked upon his tongue
and said:
"Twodollahsr' (For this was the
oath by which all physicians swore. }
l"Of verify thou must have rest. Flee
unto the valley of quiet and close thine
eyes in dreamful rest; hold back thy
brain from thought and thy hand
i from labor, or you will be candidate
for the asylum in three weeks.
And he heard him and went out and
put the business in the hands of the
clerk. and went away to rest in the vail
ley of quiet. And he went to his Uncle
Ben's. whom he had not seen for 10!
these fourteen years. Now, his Uncle
Ben was farmer and abode in the val
| ley of rest, and the mountains of repose
rose round about him. And he was rich
and well favored, and strong as an OK,
and healthy as an onion crop. Oftimes
he boosted unto his neighbors that there
was not a lazy bone in his body, and he
swore that he hated lazy man.
/ And Mustapha visit not that it was
10.
But when he reached his Uncle Ben's
they received him with great joy, aud
| placed before him a supper of homely
! viands, well cooked, and piled upon his
plate like the wreck of a box car. And
when he could not eat it all they
laughed him to scorn.
And after supper they sat up with
him and talked with him about rela
tives whereof he had never in all his
| life so much as heard. And he an
swered their questions at random, and
lied unto them, protesting to know
Uncle Ezra and Aunt Bethesda. and
once he said he had letter from Uncle
George last week.
4 Now, they all knew that Uncle
George was shot in neighbours sheep
pen three years ago, but Mustapha visit
not that it was so, and he was sleepy,
and only talked to ell up the time. And
then they talked politics to him, and
he Municipalities! So about one O'Clock
in the morning they sent him to
bed.
Now the spare room wherein he slept
was right under the roof. AM there were
ears and bundles of ears of seed corn
hung from the rafters, and he bpnged
his eye with the same, and he hooked
his chin in festoons of dried apples, and
shook dried herbs and seeds down his
back as he walked along, for it was
dark. And when he sat up in bed in
the night he ran scYthe in his ear.
And it was so that the four boys slept
with him, for the bed was wide. And
they were restless and slumb ered cross
wise and kicked, SO that Mustapha
slept not a wink that night, neither
closed his eyes.
| And about the fourth hour after mid
night his Uncle Ben smote him on the
back, and spake unto him, saying:
Awake, arise, rustic out of this and
wash your face, for the liver and bacon
is iried and the breakfast waiteth. You
| will find the well down at the other end
of the COW lot. Take q towel with
you
| When they had eaten his Uncle Ben
spake unto him, saying: Cone, let
us stroll around the farm.
And they walked about eleven miles.
And his Uncle Ben sat him upon awagon
and ttught him how to load hay. Then
they drove into the harm and he taught
him to unload it. Then they girded up
their Ioins and walked four miles, even
into the forest, and bis Uncle Ben taught
| him how to chop wood, and they
wa ked back to supper. And the nl0rn-
ing and the evening were the tlrst day,
and Mlstapha wished that he was
4 dead.
| And after supper his Uncle Ben spake
once more and said: Come, let us have
| e..
team and drove nine miles down to
Belcher's branch, where there was d
hop. And they danced until the second
hour in the morning.
When the next day was come, which
wasn't long. for already the night was
far spent, his Uncle Ben took him out
and taught him how to make rail fence.
And that night there vas a wedding,
and they danced and made merry. and
drank and ate, and when they went to
bed at three o'clock Mustapha prayed
that death might come to him before
breakfast time.
But breakfast had an early start and
got there first. And his Uncle Ben took
him down to the creek and taught him
how to wash and shear sheep. And
when the evening was come they went
to spelling school, and they got home at
the first hour after midnight, and Uncle
Ben marveled that it was so early. And
he lighted his pipe and sat up for an
hour, and told Mustapha all about the
forty he bought last spring of old
Mosey Stringer to finish out that north
half, and about the new calf that was
foaled last spring.
And when Mustapha went to bed that
morning he bethought him of a dose of
/ stryehnine he had with him, and he ssid
his prayers YEARLY and he ate it.
| But the youngest boy was restless that
| night, and kicked all the poison out of
him in less than ten seconds.
And in the morning, while it was yet
night, they ate breakfast. And his
Uncle Ben took him out and taught him
how to dig ditch.
And when evening was come, there
was revival meeting at Ebenezer
Methodist church, and they all went.
And there were three regular preachers,
and two exhorters and a Baptist evan
gelist. And when midnight was come
they went home, and sat up and talked
over the meeting until it was bedtime.
Now when MustaDha was at home, he
lett his desk at the fifth hour in the after
noon, and he went to bed at the third
|
the sun was high in the heavens. So
the next day when his Uncle Ben would
axe him out into the field and show him
o take post and rail fence, Mustapha
would swear at him, and smote him
with an axe helve, and fed and got him
selfhome.
And Mustapha sent for his physician
and cursed him. And he said he was
tired to death, and he turned his face to
the wall and died So Mustapha was
gathered to his fathers.
And his physician and his friends
mourned and said: ALAS! he did not
rest soon enough. He tarried at his
desk too long,
But his Uncle Ben, who came in to
attend the funeral, and had to do all
his weeping out of one eye, because his
other was bh.cked half way down to his
chin, said it was pity, but Mustapha
was too awfully lazy to live, and had no
get up about him.
4 But Mustapha visit not what they
! said, because he was dead. So they