The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-06-16
A TARDY REMINDER.

place had just been punched after an
approved method, and the flames were
leaping up as flames wilF ON windy
nights, roaring steadily and starting
shadow dances in the corners of the
room. Suddenly some quick change
subdued the flame till it merely hung In
the smoke above the hearth. and at this
moment a most unearthly sound, ap-
parently at our very door, startled me
into an unbecoming posture, that was
taken advantage of by my friend, who
thereupon indulged N a succession Of
chuckles Of kind could never locate
IN him. He soon recrossed his legs,
however-he conld never chuckle ex--
cept with feet wide apart as he
did so eh
'eYou never heard a. screech-owl be-
fore, reckon. We hear them often IN
Indiany-often, and he added, after a
moment, more intensely, and as if a
little startled by some Thought soften.p'
"Was that an owl Heavens it sound
ed more like the scream of LOCOMOTIVES
whistle" A =,
,sPve a notion of writin' home to-
night, JIM" g 9g 4h
g You have?' 1t startled me almost
as much-quite in different wayAas
words carried me back to our place of,
meeting a year before Taking Mis-
sissippi river boat at Cairo, found
must share my state-room with another
or rather hS with me, since was the
later conner He did not strike me
faVornbly at first. / was New En-
gland boy and suspicious Of everything
south of st. Louis, and this man looked
not unlike the men had been cautioned.
against. He could not very well help,
that, indeed, since had been warned in
very general terms that included every
one / did not know. However. weBhook
hands, exchanged some remarks meant
to be facetious, and in few days i knew
his name-William Jackson. f+-o
At home they call me Bill-short,
like myself, you see, he said, and
grinned in bashful sort of way that
came very near to capturing me- on the
spet. In fact, he was not short, but,
insead, the tallest man i ever saw of
hislength of leg and body; for what he
lostNelsewhere he made up in. neck
thataever ceased to be wonder to me.
1t raj up like the watch-tower of fire.
engip house, slim and so long that, /
whilehis shoulders barely reached mine,
his had overhung all others, and was
two iIshes more than six feet above the
grounl His head was large, too, and
that mde his general appearance more
striking while the general slimness of
his bodyended below In q pair Of enor-
mously lrge feet His face was mueh
tanned All smooth-shaven. except the
upper hip. thich was covered by coarse
atnbble of derce-standing, sandy zhaiR
But no decription of him would b
complete tht did not touch on thet
feature OF hi tcountenance which was o9
ten concealed entirely and which weu4
have made hh trusted anywhere As b
fellow-traveleAsaid, ''His general looks
Is agin him. br his mouth captures me.
BE said his nouth, but he meant his
laugh-not thai there was much noise
about it, but it as so far-reaching in its
effect on his owlperson. First, around
his mouth woni break two deep
wrinkles; then utside of these two
more; and so on, on TIL his eyes were
brought into thewhirlpool Of wrinkles /
and the long-stan6ng ones on his neck
and forehead shahd themselves to the
general effect of on.supreme expression
of delight. 1t wasthen you believed
him from your very cart. L did. and he
never, as he himselfvould express it,
threw dirt" on me. ~ afllt-rF Ia |
After all, he had, so ar as I learned, /
little to often bring fdh so CREST q
Z revelation ON his face. ut few of the 4
amenities of life had beenis at any time. |
BE said little of somewhere IN |
Indiany"-exoept when one time be
spoke bitterly of his deafather's grand
mistake in life, which itppeared was
simply this, that he kel his children
(boys and girls, large fniiy) ON the
farm TIL he died, then the came of ne
cessity out into the worldo find them /
selves great. Rroyn-up sbsies-nothing 4
moreAw ithoHt any othelfeeling than
that they must, as Jim sal 9'shitch on /
to some one." All the els, but one /
who died, were too old tc' hitch on. y
The BOYS did the best theJSnld in that |
line. and after a time Jim hitohed on"
to met was in New Orles, after COM
ing down from Cairo-andve soon be-
came what at the West theyu pards."
We were friends, at any re, and, hay
ing joined forces to the am1nt of about
$3.50, were farming in Tas On poor
lands on what our lsnord called
"a sheers:" that Is, he furnisld the tools, i
mules and land and we tn brains and
human muscle, keeping crown house
and dividing the spoils-at is, the
crops equally.
So, knowing how little .e looked 70
any other home than theme around
him, Fcould but question: } .snction."
) and add :sw ffs. "a.
WHO to, JimG" q ratr thought 1
less question. sse a.E
His voice went down alnst the whole I
length of that wonderful ne. LkhouRht, q
: as ne threw his face for~d into his
hands, and, staring into aark corner
cf the fire, sid 4,
90 A woman
A woman, Jin T? why, hal Oh,
a sister, perhaps ?" i saiseeking the i,
only refuge TINT seemed aAand- II.
gs ssNo. - . - no sfg.2 A long
pause. 'sIfs ike this, md he said i.
nothing more for some rahtes, but DO Il
sently reached over Tor violin and r