The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-12-22
MIR. M,JIMsEY's CHRISTMAS.
uOosier sketch.

Hello, Sam, shaker "Howdy, Jim?
WHEREBY We been at for month i?
Haint seen We since-not since day be-
fore Christmas. Member met We then
Jest as l was gettin' into the Nory hack
TO go out and spend the day with ma an
the girls. Come to think, didn't
hear Is it so at you've been
gettin' married again? DON'T stan there
an grin an look SO ALFRED sheepish
Can't We tell Teller about it? The amt
no call to be bashful. l sh'd think
second trip. Widder got We, did she?
o, We needn't fire up. I'm the best friend
we've got. Come, speak outr'
Yes, We air, Sam; burned if We aint
though | may a thought different at
times when We We tried to keep me in the
Sraces. Jump into the buggy an I'll
tell We the petic'lars while we drive out
TO the stockyards. Got TO 90 an see
about drove o hogs I've brought up
from Lizton.
''Speakin' o Christmas l never was
brought up to think much % the day.
Didn't get nopresents nor nothing when
was boy. Ways is changed, though.
now, in them things. an specially in
towns We can't help knowing when the
holidays is near. Every woman an
youngun is in such flutteration, the
windows are so CAV an fxy, at YOU re
bliged to know what's goin' on. 1t
makes Teller feel lonesome like when
he Amt got no home nor nobody to re-
member of him. Somehow, the day
met you at the postoffice corner, I'd been
a thinkin'-a thinkin', We know, o.
Maria, an how she used to fix up some
limerick, pair o slippers, or the like,
for me on Christmas. felt mighty blue
Jest then, / don't mind sayin''
Yes, an now at it's over with, an
you re married again, don't mind tellin'
We, Jim McJimSey, at l felt powerful
mean for not takin' We out to mas. The
reason was (iist hold yerself in the buggy,
JIM at, much rs | think of We, 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 / didn't low to have a
sister o. mine marry airy divorced man.
Those as wants to kin. but none o. mine.
'Scuse the interruption an drive ahead.
Lonesome, was We, an thought o
Maria?'
Yes, something made me think o. old
times, an l couldn't fix my mind on
nothin' else. Coz the morning paper an
figgered on the markets; tried to Gale late
what I'd clear on forty head o. cattle l
had down the road, but it was no 90.
Begun to dread the next day, Every
thing be closed up an L d have nothin'
special TO do. 1t d been Jest about 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'
il. Was busy seem lawyers long then,
Il
lection went back 70 the years Jest after
me an her was iined. Well. as / 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
: at L d 90 to the theater that night; but,
2ome to look at the bills, there was
Sfrfn' bat East Lynne, an L couIdn' {
TIE drug to that play, not by wild horses
Saw it once, an one sight o. that pore,
miserable woman comm back to be nigh
her husband when he wasn't really her
husband no more was enough for me.
Begun to wish l could go to sleep an
not wake up till-well, till the day after.
Thought some o gettin' on an old-fash-
toned 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 if
there'd be as much fun in 'em as the
used to be. 1 was wonderin' where L d
find some o. the boys who'd be willing
TO celebrate after the old style, when /
got to the house an the Wilder Folsom
met me in the hall. Boarded at the same
place, We know.
Thought I'd come to the wilder if /
KEEP grindin' on. did We? Jest shet up,
Sam, will We, till get through? I've
got to tell this yer story in nv own way,
an if 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 to talkin'
about business matters to me she got
real sober an down in the mouth some
times. She said she couldn't get the
hango' 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 advice
/ could give her. She looked right cute
that night-some sort o. white fluffy
fixin round her head an shoulders.
Said She like to ask me, as great
favor, to walk down to the toy store
with her; had forgot a present she
wanted to make to child of her ac-
quaintance, an was so timid about goin'
out alone. She's one o. them skeery
critters. jumpin' at her shadow Course
/ had to GO, an when I'd had my sup
Per we started out She came an talked