, 1884-04-09
WAS IT TRUE?
[Piscator in New York Times.1

&A "iN OhiJ Oho ASB ~ u urn WOulu ISLl
q Ief'
1t was drawing toward evening on one of
the very rainiest of the many recent very
rainy days we nave had up hero among the
mountains. A yellowish fog, such as l had
never seen lowering at such an elevation as
this, where such fogs as visit us are white and
heecy and as ephemeral as dew, had formed
around the south border of the pond, and
was climbing, close-ranked md slowly, up
the bold escarpment of Big Hickory, like an
army storming a hight. Through the dag
onal lines of the failing rain the edge of the
hemlock forest could be seen but dimly from
the cabin window, and the spiteful rain
seemed to ~begrudge one even that
dismal outlook, so savagely did it
dash against the small and grimy
pane. Tiers was as much water on the
ice in the pond as there was under it, and we
could not fish. The utter cheerlessness of the
prospect without had penetrated the cabin,
and neither the efforts of the blaze on the
hearth, nor the influence Of IN Opaque bottle
that stood on the table between a teacup and
a green glass goblet had been able to dispel
it.. So Uncle Andrew Piper and myself had
sat for two hours without a word, when sud-
lenly he broke the silence with the above
startling inquiry. 1t took me by surprise.
[ said nothing and stared ut Uncle Andrew.
.-Do We b1ieve it or notlr he repeated, tax
ing up the bottle and the teacup aud exact
ing its duty from each.
swell, Uncle Andy l replied, "that's a
bard question to answer, not knowing"
81 see," interrupted the host. "Ye don't
know the man, never see him, an never
heerd him talk. Well, ez this moistur' ami
keep a wringin' Of itself out many days
longer, 'cordin' to the way that fog's a
bankin' itself down yonder long the pond,
an the way that winds beginnin' to
,losh 'roun' 'mongst them hemlock
branches, an ez conz'kwently we wunit
hev no time to go wen it clears, fur wen it
does clear there gointer be some all-slappin'
prime picker'l fshin' on this pond, we'll jes'
slide over through the woods to Bige Good
years an spend the evenin'. Lise is the man
I'm puzzled on. He's told me sumpin' at
least once every year fur thirty years, an 1
amt make up my mind whether he's n lynn
about it or not. Wen he fust toll me it L
thought sure he were a-stretchin' of it pooty
durn taut, cause then he were only As, an had
both legs an arms, When he got ketched in
a b'ar trap by his right arm, 20 years age, an
had to stay ketch'd fur three days fore any
one COME along to take him out, au' then had
to have his arm cut Off, l says TO myself, if
over a man had the habit o. lynn that orto
cure him, sure ez guns, So l went over to
zee Lige. He were nusSin' his arm, or ruther
the place Nnur Tue arm nhu DetDt III WeIe
cut up wuss'n a billed ham at a stone frolic.
But, by guml he came straight to the
dough-trough with that story, an never
hinched a muscle or missed a word. Still
/ couldn't get it just squnr' in my mind what
to think bout it | got to tossin' up PEN
MES to see what | orto set down as the
proper heft to give Lige and the yarn.
I'd say: Here goes! If it comes down head
Lige's a liar. Tails he amt Wall, some
times it'd come down heads and sometimes
it'd come down tails, an SO | see that
'twouldn't hardly be fair to jedge Lige by
tossin' a cent, an l were left foupderin'
'roun' in the swamp-holo o. onsartinty, ez old
Deacon Slocum usety say in his prayer. So
1 give up thinkin' bout it all, an usety go
an hear Iiges story w'enever l felt like it.
Say, hev We noticed anything absent-minded
or kinder gone-away about me latelyi"
al have not"
@wall, TIL her benz continued Uncle
Andy, LAS December Lige Goodyear got
ketched again; 'twan't his arm this time, an
tw'an't in u bar trap. He sot down on Jerry's
runway to wait fur a deer, an fell asleep.
The deer come along, an ez it went slashin'
through the brush it woke Lige up. His gun
were lyin' on the groun' 'longside of him, an
he made a grab for it an ketched it by the
bar'l. He gave it a yauk, the ham,
mer struck again a stone or sumpin',
an the gun went off. The ball jist
plowed through Lige's knee, an they car
ried him hum and cut his leg OIL. Then /
got to thinkin' bout that yarn agin. 'Lige
is 10 years DID, l says, am drawin' long
lords the time wen the hunter that never
misses will draw bead on him an totcu hiin
down. II Lige tells me that story now, with
one leg Off an one arm of, an him 10 years
old, how kin l help blew iti An if he don't.
49,. l,f~ -. ~ NO. ,V.,aar,ffpl 1fur fa.
thirty year that ever tramped these woods
sence the days of-of-ohl you know them
fellers l mean. Them TWO fellers / usty hear
Deacon Slocum preach about. They got
struck with n shower o. sulphur an brim-
stun, or turned into salt or sumpin'-yes,
them's the fellers l mean.'
avail, arter / tho't Lige mus be gittin'
long poorly smart L went over to see him.
He said he were poorly, an he looked it 1
sot thar for nn hour an more, and Lige didn't
seem to see the tinger-board ez pinted him in
the direction o. that story. 1t made me feel
bad, but 1T were a great relief to my mind.
BY gumr I says, 'Lige is a liarI' Then 1 sot
a. spell longer, an got up to go, when if Lige
didn't begin with that story js ez solemn ez
Ii he were only % year old an were preachin'
a funerl sarmint, then ye can bait me on a
coon trap He told it js the same ez he toldit
to me thirty year ago, showin' me how he
ketched one OF the bars with one han by the
throat an choked it till it weakened, while
he kicked the life out'n one o. the others, an
But hol' oni I'm a leetle ahead o my
self. When Lige fus' begun to tell me that
story he usety show mt how he grabbed one
O. the bars by tho throat with his right ham
and kicked another one to death with his
left foot. After he lost his right arm, when
he come to that place in the story he'd say:
'Ye'll'scuse me, Andy, but we mus remem-
Der that 'twere with my right han I choked
the Bar this h'yer way-but now I've got
to show We with my left han how
l done it. 3d. he'd say, 'p'etend this
were my right ham, an on he'd so with his
story. An that usety puzzle me.
I'd say to myself that II the man were lynn
he wouldn't be so blame conscientious as TO
'scuse hisself for havin' to use his left arm
wen he didn'th ev no more'n an inch an a
half a, rinLt aruuaI lNaII LIZ hnnnnnal thnt