Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-01-12

they was Frenchman down & Milford
were oferin' quarter piece for 'em
L jest intarmined TO ketch few. Ye see,
this here French pollyvoo' jest got these
turkles and billed 'em, dirt and all,
s'pose, into kinder soupfer them con-
sarned city people which 'ud eat musk
rat eff Frenchman cooked it. Well, me
an Jerry-he's m youngest, an a rip
tearsnorter on fght-we jest billed a
hunk o. salt pork an took loaf or two
o. bread an hitched up tn OF
mules n off we started for tn pom.
Well, you'd busted all tn buttons of
fen your clothes eff you could seen tn
gang we found camped out at the sand
spring. They was the confoundest ga
loots ever / see. Lem me see, thar was
Van Fredenberg, which wore corsets
like woman an lives down & Mauch
Chunk now, an they was Fred Salmon,
he did the cookin', then they was
Thompson o. tn Middletown newspaper,
but he stole all tn liquor an got so
drunk 'twouldn't be fair t. count him in.
Lemme see, they was Erve' Fowler and
Charley st. John an Doty, tn Of cuss
what never eats salt nor nothin' an fn'-
ly Deacon Nearpass. There wasn't no
doubt but what tn deacon were the
boss trump o that pack, an he an
Thompson was tn only ones that would
MT keep sober Wall, finally Van Fred
enberg come T. me an giveme fifty cents
and years subscription TO tn paper eff
I'd get deacon away from the crowd an
get him straighten'd up. SO me an
Jerry an the deacon went arter turkles
in one O. Barney Stigler's boats that
Doty stole while Fredenberg talked
Pennsylvanv Dutch an Carbon county
ring politics to OF Barney.
"Wall, when we got out to tn pom
tol' tn boys I'd show 'em q new wayfer
t. ketch turkles an I'll be blamed ef
them fellers didn't call me a cussed fool
when L showed 'em that all tn tackle L
he'd we're tn OF family Jew's-harp, the
holler bamboo stick an an OF red fan
mel shirt. We pulls outen tn middle o.
tn pom an let tn boat drift. I stuck
one end o. tn stick under water, put tn
jew's-harp on t'other an commenced
playin' like tn very old Nick. In less
than twenty minutes arter struck tn
fust chords o. tn Battle o. Prague onto
thet iew's-harp the whole top of thet
pond for more'n mile were blacks tar
with turkles. They'd come close up
round tn boat, then / ketches hoP o.
the red flannel an holdin' onto tn
sleeves into tn water. Now, We see,
turkles is zac'ly like turkey gobblers,
they'll grab anything red The fust
haul / made I had seven, an L KEEP
haulin' 'em in till had boat load, an
all this time Jerry an tn deacon were a
settin' thar jest par'lyzed with maze
ment. l wish you could seen them
newspaper fellers when we got back to
the camp. Deacon were sober 'nough
" llldb ll1nG JC4 Cu4 AOW ~ AdBJCuCus
"Wall, t. make long story short, 1
drove down t. Milfore with tn mule
team an tn load O. turkles, an you orter
seen that Frenchman swear when drove
up & his door. The way he 'bused
Jake Kleiuhaus oncet weren't circnm-
stance to th' way he cussed me; but ez
he took tn turkles thet's all cared fer.
Come t. find out, he thought I'd pizened
all of them turkles, so he goes an bar
rels 'em up an sends 'em down to N OF
cuss ia New York; think they called
him Mister Delmonkey, which keeps a
little eatin' sloon thar, an Pompey
Flood, o. Port Jervis, tol me that Del
monkey paid dollar piece for them
country turkles. Wall, that summer
ketched nine hundred an sixty-three
turkles with that iew's-harp, and when
any feller tells me thet turkles don't
like music I set him down fer durn
busted galoot every time.