The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-12-20
"TEW WAYS O. REMITTLN'. >

His window Is the factory flume;
And Elkanah there in his cOunting-room
Sits huRgiug "a Uttered table.
His beard is white as the foam. and his chael
Is weather-bcaten and wthCrcd and bleak
AS the old brown factory gable.
Christmas is near; and ne, it is clear.
is squaring accounts with the parting year;
Setting forth, in column and row,
Whatever penny OF gain can show
CITY bonds and Governments,
A factory here ana a tannery there
Good bank stock ana railroad share
A fast rs his busy brain can count
Or his busy pen indite EN-,
Figuring profit and gross amount
And adding item 10 item.
Thinks he: Its n good round sum I make:
Don't seem much like ! was gOin' to break =
And he looked again, as he poised his pen
To tillip the drop OF ink of.
But just as nc gave the pen Il shake,
He said HO! hO.' at a strange mistake
II e found himself on the brink of:
He said 'Ha! hu.' and his lips drew in
With hard, dry. lcathery Kind of grin
As much like the smile of a crocodile
As anything you can think Of.
declare! there's Wilder Brown
IN the cottage over in Iaunery TOWN.
The family had the house rent free
As long as her husband worked for me-
a good, smart, faithful chap was Jim
Wish had forty as good as himl
But he died one dIy, and left her there;
And put the place in the parsons care
For the only man in the town dare
To trust IS ParsOn Emery
To see that the house don t run away,
And collect tho rent she agreed to pay.
III write letter this very day,
To jog the good man memory"
The letter was straightway penned and sent;
ana It preached hard times to drcary ex-
For money is tight at ten per cent;
Often no sooner got than spent;
Tho poor man finds 1t "A heavy stcnt
To earn his mess of pOttage;
And So" concluded the argument
- You may, If you please, remit the rent
Jims wilder owes for the cottage"
In two days time the answer came.
THE parson IS prompt But-what in the
He cried, as ne opened and read the Same:
How extremely odd it sounded
Dear, nobie, gcncrol 8, h0Eored. friend"
We're terms he couldn't well comprehend;
And when he had struggled to the end.
He was utterly astOunded.
He gaspcd and gurgled, and then burst out:
what n thundcT'S the OF fool ravin' about?
He's crazy. without a shadder o. Doubt
A-writin to me as if l was "A saint
Wa'al, mabhy be, and then mabby amt.
An what's his argymcnty why, to be sure
An feel for the suiIcrin brother,
An stay the wilder whose staff is gone,
And 50 he containers a-lnyin' it on,
An he Amt sarcastical, nuthor
Blamed oil blundcrhcad! couldn't he sec
IT the poor / was mdrcilul tn meant met
But here he goes on, in IA gUshin mood
TO tell o the woman gratitude,
because I've been SO Crcecding,B good
4 tJ piiU her sat condition,
an NtDC nun me MES UtGhDTUU to
Remd-REMIT-thc rent that is due
Why don't he remit, them wish / knew!
std o that, here's more of his hulabaew,
To thank me for the remission!
"Rcmssion-rcmit. on, drat the dunceV'
And he rushed for Il dictionary;
u having occurred To- him all at once
or even the simplest words write;
Ana that a prosy old parson might
4 Sc one, ana a man OF business quite
Another, vocabulary.
Finger and eye ran down the page;
IA he he was flushed with rage:
-ItEMIND-REMITl' at last
The terrible talon had it fast,
With definition against it set:
send back he read; but, lower yet,
To release, to forgive as a sin or a debit
All, through that mesh in the treacherous net
Had slipped the wiGOw 3 pittanccl
Twas so! twas strange! twas very absurd
with equal reason could be inferred
Collection of debt, or quittaucol
Words have cirforks, like highways, whence !
10 Ieit and right run the roads of sense;
And, taking the wrong dcriVutivc,
INC needless old parsou had come to give
remission instead of remittance.
Elkanah glarcd for a moment, and then,
with snort at the book, and scon at the !
Who invented the language sliced his pen,
Tore one letter, and wrote again,
Protruding his chin, while the hard dry grin |
Grew terribly savage and sinister;
II i, a tee img aPT,,t to brook delay
swung on his ulster and swoOpcd away
Toward Tanncry Town aud the Widow |
And the good old laundering minister.
AS out by the forenoon train he went,
He had ample time to consider:
To be soft-sOapcd to SIGH extent
Cracked up like a spawned boss that's meant
It's poOty dumbcd rough on plain old gent
Ihat never was known TO give cent
92E n0 nRad % sG ,,ii,,y dollars rent
An, amt one o the kind that cares
To be boosted up in "a woman's prayers
For a favor l never did her.
Yet She might pray for me all her days,
An wouldn't object to the parsons praise,
Which he spreads SO thick in his letter;
But though he believes it himself, and though
other folks may think It. all ics' so,
The plague is, | know bcttcrl
He wonder what sort of IL beast be,
" men tel him square out how it seemed to
What blamed, ridickelous, fools idee
That l should forgive debtor!"
quick moist Pushes, strange hot streaks.
shot down to his shius and up to his cheeks
He loOsencd mis- collar, and wondered what
I'm time made om keep the cars SO hot.
still, as he thought OF the interview
lie was going To seek, the warmer he grew.
Ana ne said TO himself. with n leer: Must
I'm fond Of parsons s'cictyI
For what else under the canopy
/, m maxim the trip for can't see,
'encc letter or IN would as soon undu
The suarl he's got me inter,
save railroad fare, an the wear an tear
VI ' jun lltA III hlluNiulcI.
: It's an uwI1'ard mess. I du declare!
The wilder she'll cry an the parson he'll
stare,
IN like enough somebody else viii swear
Wish was back i'm my Office chair!
Tor why should go twelve mile or so
p, An lose my time an my dinner,
i amt no saint, as they make ont, .
But a hardened sort of a sinner
ono such thoughts perplexcd his brain. =
to the station rolled 10
With slackenng speed and brakes screwed
down,
md the brakeman bawled out: ''Tannory
TOWN.
wa'al, here be- with gathering frown +,
'OOk his way to the parsons gate; /
10 longer inclined to turn about,
In furry of confusion, /
nd like a coward retracc his route,
iut grimly resolved to carry out
His original resolution.
hOugh, after all he approached the spot, l
cold and inwardly hot
u brave man goes to be hanged or shot.
II whatever else he thinks is not
The thing, for his constitution.
nd when this answer he received.
PnrsOu aim TO hum will is be beIicvcd?-
lie felt like the very same man rcprieved
At the moment of execution,
IA al, no he wouldn't go in and wait; :
10 stood IN the snow at the parsonage gate; =
nd the village bells had just begun
e stood uncertain what to do.
ooking douhtmlly up and down n
he dreary streets of Tanncry Town, 1
nd thought Of his money and Mrs Brown:
Then this is what he did do 4,
C turned his feet up the snowy street o.
And went TO call on the widow. \
was Christmas-time, as I said before, y
nd when, arrived ut the cottage door, n
He reached for the old bcl-hundlC,
G paused a moment, amazed and grim.
or he heard such racket as seemed to him, u
J the home of the late lamcutcd Jim, n
cause for scandal. a
short sharp ring, then hurried noise
{ whispering, scampcring girls and boys, A
Il n LLALAn n.-.L. - - Il. :.