The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-12-21
MIR. MJIMsEY's CHRISTMAS.
A Hoosier sketch.

.sHello, Sam, shaker' "Howdy, Jimp
Where've We been at for q month";
Haint seen We since-not since day be-.
fore Christmas. Member / met We then
jest as / was gettin' into the Nory hack
to go out and spend the day with ma an
the girls. Come to think, didn't I
hear@P Is it SO 'at you've been
gettin' married againp Don'tstan' there
an grin an look so ALFRED sheepish.
Can't ye tell a fellerabout itp The amt
no call to be bashful. I sh'd think
second trip. Wilder got We, did sheP
o, ye needn't fire up. I'm the bestfriend
we've got. Come, speak out!'
Eyes, We air, Sam; burned if We amt.
Enough / may a thought different at
dimes when we've tried to keep me in the
traces. Jump into the buggy an I'll
tell We the petic'lars while we drive out
to the stockyards. Got to go an see
about a drove O. hogs I've brought up
from Lizton.
.sSpeakin' o. Christmas I never was
brought up to think much o. the day.
Didn't get n opresents nor nothing when
I was a boy. Ways is changed, though.
now, in them things, an specially in
towns ye can't help knowing when the
holidays is near. Every woman an
youngun is in such a hutteration, the
windows are SO gay an ixy, at you're
'bliged to know what's goin' on. 1t
makes a Teller feel lonesome like when
he amt got NJ home nor nobody to re-
member of him. Somehow, the day I
met you atthe p~ostoffice corner, Pdbeen
a thinkin'-a thinkin', ye know, o.
Maria, an how she used to fix up some
jimcrack, a pair O. slippers, or the like,
for me on Christmas. Ifelt mighty blue
Jest then, I don't mind a sayin'."
Yes, an now at it's over with, an
you're married again. don't mind tellin'
ye, Jim McJimsey, at I felt powerful
mean for not takin' We out to mas. The
reason was Gist hold yerself in the buggy,
Jim) at, much as / think of ye, 1 didn't
want to interduce We to my sisters. Folks
said you was a lookin' around, an, if I'd
tuck We, there's no tellin' what might: O.
happened, an 1 didn't low to have a
sister O. mine marry airy divorced mar.
Those as wants to kin, but none o. mine.
'Scuse the interruption an drive ahead.
Lonesome, was We, an thought O.,
Mar1aP1 A@Aa1@ ESLsG( -
Eyes, something made me think o. old
times, anil couldn't fix my mind on
nothina else. Got the morning paperan'
fggeredson the markets, tried t. calc'late
what;Td clear on forty head o. cattle I
had down the road, but it was no go.
Begun to .dread the next day, Every
thing'd be closed up AMID have nothin'
special todo. Hdbeen jest about a year
since we-Maria an me-had parted.
Christmas before this hadn't been no
ways what you'd call gay to me. Fact
is, it came an went 'thout my knowin'
it. Was busy SEEM lawyers long then,
diyidin' property, an SO on, SO my rec
lection went back tothe years jest after
me an her was lined. Well, as I was
sayin', L felt right lonesome. Hung
around down town till the last minute
lively enough there. you bet-an' then I
went up to supper. Made up my mind
come to look at the bills, there, was
nothin' but East Lynne, an I couldn't
he drug to that play, not by wild horses.
Saw it once, an n sight O that pore,
her husband when he wasn't really her
husband no more was enough for me.
Begun to wish / could go to sleep an
not wake up till-well, till the day after.
Thought some o. gettin' on an old-fash-
ioned tear-reg'lar jamboree, like we
used to have when we was sowin' our
wild oats, hey, Samp I'd kind O. been
out o. the way O. such tricks for several
years, an it didn't hardly seem as il
there'd be as much fun in 'em as the
used to be. I was wonderin' where I'd
find some O. the boys who'd be willing
to celebrate, after the old style, when ]
t-~A A. ITs1I- Ez1---
met me in the hall. Boarded at the same
place. We know.
Thought I'd come to the wilder if ]
KEEP griudin' on, did YEP Jest shet up.
Sam, will ye, till 1 get through I've
got to tell this yer story in my own way,
an'n you don't like my style of delivery,
why next time jest lasso a norator.
"Folks had joked bout me an the
wilder from time to time, but there
wasn't really no occasion. She was al
ways pleasant an smilin' when people
was around, but when she got 10 talkin
about business matters to me she go
real sober an down in the mouth some
times. She said she couldn't get the
hang o. such things herself, never havin
had it to do when Folsom was alive. an
now she felt sort O. helpless an discour.
aged. Seemed grateful for any advic,
Icould give her. She looked right cut
that night-some sort O. white fluffy
fxin round her head an shoulders
Said she'd like to ask me, Is a grea
favor, to walk down to the toy store
with her; had forgot a present sht
wanted to make to q child Of her ac
quaintance, an was 50 timid about goin
out alone. She's one O. them skeer,
critters, jumpin' at her shadow. CoursH
I had to go, an when I'd had my sup
psr We started out. She came an talket