Frostburg mining journal., 1883-12-22

! for mo to put Miss NIary's Crismus present in,
on the back porch, and about ten o'clock told
| em good evenin and went home.
I sot up till midnight, and when they was all
gone to bed | went softly into the back gate,
! and went up to the porch, and thar, shore
enough, was great big meal-bag hangin to the.
| jice. 1t was monstrous unhandy to git to it,
| but | was termined not to back out. So | sot
some chairs on top of bench and got hold of
the rope and let myself down into tine bag; but
jest as l was gittin in it swung agin the chairs,
| and down they went with terrible racket; but
nobody didn't wake up but Miss Stallinses old
cur dog, and here he come rippin and tearin
through the yard like rath, and round and
round he went tryin to find what was the mat
! ter. scroochd down in the bag and didn't
breath louder nor kitten, for fear he'd find
me out and after while he quit barkin.
The wind began to blow bominabe cold, and
the old bag KEEP turnin round and swingin so it
made me sea-sick rs the mischief | was afraid
to move for fear the rope would break and let
| me fall, and thar sot with my teeth rattlin like
had the ager. 1t seemed like it would never
come daylight, and | do believe if didn't love
Miss Mary so powerful would froze to death;
| for my heart was the only spot that felt warm,
and it didn't beat more'n two licks a mint only
when thought how she would be surprised in
| the mornin, and then it went i'll IA canter.
| Bimeby the old dog come up on the porch and
begun to smell about the bag, and then he
barked like he thought he'd freed something.
| ''Bow WOW WOW T. ses he. Then he'd smell
agin, and try to git up to the bag ''Git out !"
ses l, very low, for fear the gals mought hear
me. "Bow WOW !" ses he. "Be gone you
bominable fool ses |, and | felt all over in
spots, for | spected every minute he'd nip me,
and what made it worse, didn't know whar
abouts he'd take hold. "Bow! WOW WOW !"
Then tried coaxin-''Come here, good fellow"
| ses /, and whstled little to him, but it wasn't
no use. Thar he stood and KEEP up his ever
| lastin whinin and barkin, all night. / couldn't
! tell when daylight was breakin, only by the
| chickens CROWN, and | was monstrous glad to
hear EN-, for if | had to stay thar one hour
more, don't believe I'd ever got out of that
| bag alive.
| Old Miss Stallins come out fust and as soon
as she seed the bag, ses she:
''What upon yeath has Joseph went and put
in that bag for Mary? I'll lay it's a yearn or
some live animal, or Bruin wouldn't bark at
| it so."
She went in to call the gals, and sot thar,
shiverin all over so couldn't hardly speak if |
| tried to-but | didn't say nothin. Bimeby they
all come running out on the porch.
'sMy goodness what is it y ses Miss Mary,
'Oh, it's alive p ses Miss Kesiah, II seed it
move"
"Call Cato, and make him cut the rope" ses
Miss Carline, "and let's see what it is. Come
here, Cato, and git this bag down."
'Dont hurt it for the world, ses Miss Mary.
Cato united the rope that was round the jice,
and let the bag down easy on the floor and l
tumbed out all covered with corn meal, from
head to foot.
Goodness gracious !" ses Miss Mary, 'if it
aint the Majer himself "
''Yes," ses |, ''and you know you promised to
keep my Crismus present as long as you
lived"
The gals laughed themselves almost to death;
and went to brishin off the meal as fast as they
could sayin they was gwine to hang that bag
up every Crismus till they got husbands, too.
Miss Mary-bless her bright eyes-she blushed
| as beautiful as mornin glory and sed she'd
stick to her word. She was right out of bed,
and her hair wasn't komed, and her dress wasn't
tix'd at all, but the way she looked pretty was
real distractin. | do believe if / was froze
stiff, one look at her sweet face, as she stood
| thar lookin down to the floor with her roguish
eyes, and her bright curls fallin all over her
snowy neck, would have fotched me too. tell
you what, it was worth hanging in a meal bag
| from one Crismus to another to feel as happy
| as | have ever sense.
went home after we had the laugh out, and
sot by the fire till got thawed. In the fore
noon all the Stallinses come over to our house
| and we had one of the greatest Crismus din
ners that ever was seed in Georgia, and don't t
believe happier company ever sot down to the
same table. Old Miss Stallins and mother set
| ueu ble iha.sh, anu etiheu oNei eNely tilliS
that ever happenedin ther families, and laughed
at me and Mary, and cried about ther dead hus-
bands, cause they wasn't alive to see ther chill
dren married.
It's all settled now, 'cept we haint sot the
weddin day. I'd like to have it all over at once,
but young gals always like to be engaged a
while, you know, so spose must wait month
or SO. Mary (she. says mustn't call her Miss
| Mary now) has been good deal of trouble and
| botheration to me; but if you could see her
you wouldn't think ought to grudge little
sufferin to git sich a sweet httlewife.
Your friend, till death,
i ~ Jos. Jones