Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1884-12-02

4
I've seen the time when ! wouldn't q
s.ked nothin' be,,er'n TO a done jus, a.
,ha, f,ller did tha, come back here with
that bottle minute ago. Bat ! quit
sboa, ten year. ago. and since then !
hsint put drop between my lips. Id
rather a thousand times. be took home
With hole 10 me big enough to drive a
yoke o cattle through You see. stranger
IL Amt everybody that's 90, such a wife
as me; and when man gets such
woman q. mine-~hy. Lord bless you.
stranger. IL you only knew wha, woman
Dick i.. aud something o wha, shes
lived through. and hos she done IL. you
wOuld't wonder You see the difference
between you and me nov. don't yoa
BIT don, you fret. stranger yOu did all
night"
lie had taken bis hand from my arm
after the frs, few words. and 90, there,
swinging hi. lan'ern As he talked Al
the mention Of Dick his eyes grew ''rang.
D, bright Ny ia,eres, in him grew. ..
he spoke. and When he stopped. As he did
.omesha, abruptly. ! found my.slf es-
ceedinsly Antiols TO kaow more Of him.
aud especially Of Dick.
Dropping the ,abjse, Immediately un-
der e1nsiiera,ion. hoseser. offered tie
ordinary comment. uPoa the ~ea'her aud
the night |, va. bitter cold. the ihsr-
moms,sr ranging several points belo~
rero. The ground vas covered ~i,h snow
TO the depth Of nearly three fee, on q
level. and three locomotive. were doing
their best 10 make time" with our train
over the heavy track. The wheels ran
90 with that msfil a. echole.s hum which
only deep snow and extreme cold can pro-
dgce. The wheel. hugsed the rail. With
an ICY crunehing. while the frosty rattle
Of frozen iron made one feel tha, every
piece of metal either on or under the
train mus, b. q. brittle a. glass. ln re-
ply TO my remarks on ,hssr matters, my
companion wen, on .. follo-si
"Ye.. IT,. = bed nish, for run. and q
woalda't surprise me any minute TO see
u. so into The ditch. You see | kno~
,hi. road pretty veil. I've been breaking
here on a through freish, some more
year. now. and ~hen f,llos make. four
trip. a we,k over road. in all kind. o
-e.,hsr. and q, al hour. of the day and
a sh,. he get, to know the thing Prty
vii. sf,er while. Were on pretty
.caly pi,ee o track noe. just coming
dnwn the bridge over Ksnnsys Run.
The bridge wen, oa, last fall. and -hen
they pa, !, back they Pu, in 10, Of old
rail. ,ha, had bcen ben, AMI s,raish,ened
and they're jas, about like a s'ring o
clay pipe stems tonight II Jack don't
take hsr slow over that hole he II leave
q. all in IL. q. sure G-,here F! |
though, he'd pull her up Hess mighty
foe fellow. Jack l.. aud he kno~s ~hs,
be-. about. See bin bold her level nov
round ,hi. curve as, ahead"
A, the train sped on. the noisy erosd.
one BY one. dropped OG iniO a limp and
naadlin sleep. Ny companion seemed
pleased to talk and va. sqaslly pleased
20 h.,-n. Presently little ineiien, oe-
cured tbs. turned the Conversation into
the d.rse'ioa had wished.
Lookins on, Of the -indov over the
snow ,ks, sli.isred under the clear. full
noon. be pointed on, 10 me lo~, log
house. half buried in the snow. standing
tew rod. from the track. !, was ia
.ish, bu, an instant a. We sho, by.
There" sAid he. us the old house
where Was born. thirty seven years ago
come May. My father moved oa, here
from New York mOrsn forty years ago,
when ell there was ia this region was
bears, Indians. timber and ague. I've
heard the old man tell about shooting
bears rish, on, o the door o that Old
house back yonder. lie come ou, all
the way in wagon. aud 'qua,,ed here in
the woods. Lord. be had no idea then
ths, ,here'd ever be railroad within five
hundred mile. Of him. lie VAS q resu-
lar old pioneer-,he old man wss-al-
ways wanted TO be on the 20. His name
~as George whipple. and was his old
est boy. aud named after him. so I've al
ways h,i to write 'Jr.' after my name.
a.. pity folk. can, fad name. enough
for their children. without givin' EN- some
,he,'. been all used up in the family sfo'e.
Ba, then IL took a good many names To
70 round in our family. There was thir-
teen Of US altogether, big and little. old
and young. Well, my mother died when
was about fourteen, and after she died
my father married again IN few months.
don't blame him the way he W. hsed
you see he va. poor. and had 10, Of
children to be took care Of, and he had
to have somebody; 50 be 90, married.
"well, me and the old woman be got
couldn't agree, 50 run away and went
to Detroit. and began life fOr myself. .
-e,un' up nine-Pins ia an alley. In ~his-
key saloon. That's bad place to begin
Stranger; bu, that's the way began fo'
myself and ,hsi'. where ! begun to drink.
81 s,sid there for couple o years. ,il
| 90, tired o that place. then wen, in'c