The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-01-21
DR.. JeX'S PrediCament.

1t was the funniest thing that L ever
saw in my life. Cruikshank would have
eloried in it. 1 wish L had him here to
Illustrate that scene with the spirited
vigor that only his dancing pencil gives
1t was in Kentucky that it happened
that pleasant land of bluegrass, and to-
bacco, and fine stock, with white-teethed
girls. Mabel, my sister, had married
Dick Hucklestone, and they had begun
life In great contentment and little
three-roomed house scarcely big enough
to hold the bridal presents. But they
we're happy, hearty, healthy. They had
two COWS, ice.cream every day, charm
ing baby, and Uncle Brimmer. Who
shall say that their cup was not full? In
deed, they thought it full before Uncle
Brimmer added. himself thereto-a very
pondrous rose leaf. He was one of our
old family servants, who fondly believed
that Miss Mabel and her young husband
would never be able to get on without
him. He walked all the way from Mis-
sissippi to Kentucky, with his things
tied up i'll n meal sack, and presented
himself before Mabel, announcing atfably
That he had come to ''stay on"
"But 1 haven't any place for you,
Uncle Brimmer," said Mabel, divided
between hospitality and embarrassment.
''Lor' honey, you kin jes' tuck NC
aroun' angular. 1 don't take up no
room"
Mabel looked thoughtfully upon the
big brown gray-whiskered old negro,
whose proportions were those of Hercu-
les, and shook her. head "You are not .
Tom Thumb. Uncle Brimmer."
''No, ma'am,' said he, submissively,
"but I've got his spirit. Couldn't I
sleep in de kitchen, honey?" he went on,
with insinuating sweetness.
mo, indeed" cried our young house
keeper; II put my foot down on any
body sleepingin the kitchen.
Aunt Patsey, the cook, stood by, bal
encing pan of flour on her head, one
fat hand on her hip. I suspected her of
a personal interest in the matter, and in
deed she afterward acknowledged that
she thought Uucle Brimmer's coming
would prove ''hlcssin' To her feet. -
Those feet of hers had been saved many
steps through the service of her ten-year-
old daughter Nancy Palmira Kate
called Nanky Pal, for short. But of late
Nanky's services had been called into
.requisition as a nurse, and Aunt Patsey.
who was fat and scant \ breath, thought
she had too much to do: and so She
viewed with evident delight the stalwart
proportions of our good natured giant
from the south.
''Dar's de lof', Miss Mabel" she sug
gested
"It is too small, and is cluttered up
with things already"
"Gh, sho, chile, dar amt nothin' in
dat lof' 'cep' de 'tatters, an de peppers,
an de dried apples, an some strings o
terbacker, an de broken pillow, an
some odds an ends o de chillen's, an
Lucy Crittenden's pups. Lor', dar amt
'nothin' ter speak of In de lof."
''He can't get in at the window" said
Mabel, shifting her ground.
'Iemme try" said Uncle Brimmer.
The kitchen was small log-cabin
some distance from the house-''in good
hollerin' REACH" to quote Aunt Patsey.
Above it was o low room, or loft,
crowded with the miscellaneous articles
enumerated The only way of getting
into it was from the outside. A la der
against the side of the cabin n, mitted
one, through little window, no logger,
I am sure, than that of railway coach,
into this storehouse of treasures. Nanky
Pal, who was as slim as a snake, was
Usually selected to fetch and carry
through the small aperture. But Uncle
Brimmer!
'I'm pretty sho 1 kin do it, he said,
squirting up one eye, as he took of MS
coat md prepared to try.
We stood in the doorway rs he eau
Giously went up the ladder; and after an
exciting moment he pushed himself
through the window, and turning, smiled
4riumphantly.
This settled the matter. A cot bed
was procured for Uncle Brimmer, and
ne soon became the mainstay of the
family. Cheerfully avoiding oil the
work possible; indifferently as an ostrich
eating all he could find in cupboards or
highways; grimly playing hobgoblin for
baby; gayly twanging his banjo o.
moonlight nights-memory recalls o.
with smile, Uncle Brimmerl 1 Cen
close my eyes now and recall him. big,
shapless, indistinct in the semi-darkness,
os he sat und,r the pulberry-tree sing
sing,