Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-10-13
The Largest Known Swell.

London Telegraph.
The Largest known Swell.
"Streaks o. wet weather mos alluz
fetches bad LUCK" said the Old Settler
of Pike County, Pa, ''but l never see a
wet season sech ez this un's ben but |
think o. the bully luck that Billy Cripps
tumbled into in the fall O '36. Uncle
Jonas Billduck had q farm down in Jer-
sey. burned if 1 don't b'lieye the APP
pies they raised on that farm of a sea-
son would a bought the hull o. LacKa-
wack. Billy wanted to marry Jonas
darter Jemime, but the ole man didn't
seem to like the notion, though he
hadn't nothin' agin' Billy 'cept that he
want rollin' very much in wealth.
"Wall, in '36 the apple crop was I'm
mense. Uncle Jonas he'd more'n his
sheer, like the rest on 'em. One day a
smart nelghbor O his'n got an idea. He
come to Jonas and argied that mas
likely the chances were, b'gosh, that
mex year the apple crop'd be a dead
failur' and that naturally there'd be q
big call for dried apples.
"'Now, Uncle JONAS says he, we'll
jist kind O. 60 pardners like, an peel
an dry a snortin' Ole pile O apples this
fall, lay EN- over, an ketch the market
heavy when it gets a hankerin' fur seoh
goods mex fall
"The idee struck Uncle Jonas, an he
sot the hull family to peelin apples, an
.twa'n't long fore they had 400 or 500
bushels o dried apples on hand. Uncle
Jonass house wa mt a very large un,
and it stood bout fifty foot from the
line o a pastur' lot b'longin' to Hoppy
Dusenberry. Not morn 100 foot from
n side O. the house, whar they was
only n winder, an that was up-
stairs, they was quite a steep knoll, an
at the foot o. this Jonas he'd built a high
wall. The groun' twixt that an the
house was stony, an WANT used fur
anything, so Jonas concluded to spread
his dried apples on boards 'twixt the
house and the wall. He built a roof
over EN-, an thar he had 'em slowed
away snug enough.
"Wall, that fall Billy Cripps was pes
term the old man more n ever to let up
an give him Jemime. One day Jonas
got mad.
"'See yer, Billy says he, I'm a
gittin' durn tired O this. They amt no
use. You'm jist ez likelyto git Jemima
ez l am to be a Twin thar in Hoppy
~Duzenberry's pastur! Now, the fuss'
fine mornin' you come long this wav
an find me a livin' over thar, list walk
in, tell me, an then you kin walk off
with Jemime.'
e mad ez he were, Jonas had to
laugh to think O. the joke O. the thing.
Billy he toddled off an made up his
mind that he and Jemime could never
hitch.
"Ihe season had been wet all through
the summer, an was keepin' it up. One
night, jist arter Jonas had given Billy
Grips his last walkin' papers,, there
come up an ole tearer of a rain-one o.
them warm fellers that soaks right in.
There was a rippin' wind come long
with it. | recommended 'twere on
Saturday night, fur Uncle Jonas family
alluz took a rest Sunday mornin's, not
gittin' up fore half-past six or seven.
That Sunday mornin', though, there
come a rap at the door fore six o'clock.
Jonas got up an dressed hisself an
vent down. Thar was Billy Cripps.
"'Mornin', Uncle JONAS says he.
"'Mornin',' says Uncle Jonas. what
in the name of the grizzly king be YOU
doin' yer this time O day?'
wall, says Billy, i were list goin'
by, an seein' you'd moved over inter
Hoppy Duzenberry's pastur lot, l thort
Id drop in an walk off with Jemime,
jist ez you tole me to- says he.
''Sure ez guns, thar were Jonas
house standin' plumb over the line inter
Hoppy's pastur lot. You see the high
wind @ the night afore he'd lifted the
roof off n Jonas dried-apple shed. The
warm rain he'd belted in on 'em and
soaked inter EN- through an through.
Wall, you know dried apples. They
jist begun to swell an swell. They
-couldn t push the wall down, but sum-
pin had to give. That sumpin' were
the house. Ez them 500 bushels O. ap-
pies KEEP a doublin' thcirself in size,
they list quietly pushed that house
along, b'gosh, never wakin' a mortal
up in it, till they landed it safe an
sound over on Hoppy Duzenberry's pas
tur' lot. Wall, o course Jonas couldn't
go back on his word, an Billy got de
gal. But the dried apples was split"
And the Old Settler took his umbrella
out Of the wood-box and went home
beaming.-Ed. Mott. IN ~. Y. Sun.