The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-05-22


relation TO Tabitha Green; the old cou-
pie were grandpa and grandma of the
entire community, simply by reason of
age and genuine worth.) Its Mon
day morning. you know, and you are
sick, too, aren' t your
ITS my old tic-dullerrOo,' said
grandma, resignedly, going on to tell
of her late su1erings with it, TO which
Iabitha lent listening ear, her sharp
eyes meanwhile taking an inventory of
the disOrderly room, to repeat at the
first opportunity.
And declare fort, Tabitha, seems
as if YOU were sent here this mornin'
| want YOU to take this shirt and put in
the bosom, and do it up this week. I'll
allow it on your milk-bIlL. Don't fail,
for he hadn't fine shirt fit to wear yes
terdav"
.'Thcrel' said Tibitha, triumphautly.
that explains it. / knew YOU must
be sick yesterday, and | says TO one and
another, when they spoke Of Grandpa
Horncr's shirt, saws l: 1t ISM grand
ma s fault, you may be sure of that, for
she always gifts him up As slick rs if
| he'd Just stepped out of a handbook.
| Depend ont, she's sick. -
Il UdS sick Saturday" said grand
ma, tingling all over at the idea that
| his shirt had been noticed and COM
mented upon, and thankful that he
! WASH present to hear tie startling
/ story. Had she known that nobody
/ spoke OF it but Tabitha herself, she
\ would have felt better. IF | hadn't
! been sick | should have had this one all
| fixed and done up. but Ann came over
| in the afternoon, and said she'd send
/ him over one of Prime shirts TO wear
/ yesterday; and when he came to put it
| on, there want no bosom it it.
Just So said Tabitha, rising to
| go, so iull of her story that she was
/ ready To- burst for lack of somebody TO
| tell il to then and there. She had long
| been jealous of Mrs. Prime, and now
I was her chance to tell good story
/ against her. A church member putting
| OF her poor old father, and he one Of
salt of the earth, and deacon, too,
/ with n common coarse shirt to wear
/ communion Sunday!
Why she was Jealous of Mrs. Prime
and wished to spite her, nobody could
/ tell. They were near of an age, had
/ been girls together, and nobody could
I point to any crime Ann HOrner had
/ ever committed against Tabitha Green,
/ unless il was TO get married! But il is
/ just rs true as that there are lovable,
/ swcet-tcmpcred old maids, that there
/ are sharp, spiteful ones who seem to
/ owe a grudge to all their mates who
| fail to walk through life in single
| blessedness OF this latter class was
/ Tabitha Green.
That was the beginning of a busy
week with her. Under one pretext and
| another she called at every house in the
/ village where she might get hearing,
| and everywhere related the shirt story,
| with such additions and embellishments
as her lively fancy could invent. AS
we all know, there is never village of
/ any size but contains more or les Cos
I sips, whose interest in any bit of scandal
seems to be in inverse ratio to the i'm
/ pOrtancc of the matter; when YOU add
I to this the fact that Mrs. Prime was a
/ leader in society, and rs such an object
of Jealous envy to some naruOw-minded
women who stood lower in the social
scale you can understand how greedily
they drank in Tabitha's story
Il allus said, and l say it now more n
ever, that Mis- Prime amt what she
I perfcsses to be. I'm no perfesser my
self, but / like to see pcrfessers that is
+ possessors, too. Her old father is q
Christian, if ever there was one, but be-
cause She married Ben Prime, and he
got into the Legislator last fall, seems
as if she thought nobody else was of any
count. l hain't no doubt that as She
said, Prime has plenty of fine shirts,
but you don't ketch her giviu' one oil
EN- away, even for her own father to
wear a-carlying round the elements.
She had the impUdence TO send him
over common coarse shirt, and it lust
about killed Grandma Horner. | be.
lieve it hurt her 'nough sight worse
than all her tic-dullerroo.
''She was as earnest as could be tC
have me get this shirt fixed and done
up for him this week, and I'll do it, too
if / don do another stitch of work.
shan't Slight it, neither, if it is only al
old shirt fixed over. I'll show Mis-
Prime that l put my best work onto
things for good folks, and if grandp,
amt my father, I'll do my best fOl
him.
''She allus sot herself up to be lit
tie better n common folks, but she ain
any better than she ort to b., and | car
prove 1t. l did feel to pity Grandma
HOrner, she looked so mizzable, and Of
all the lOokin' houses hcrn was, yoI
never see the beat! / couldn't he'll
thinkin' Mis- Prime had better leave
her own work and come over and slicI
Ia! l s'posc She had so many of Prime.
shirts 20 wash she hadn't no time
Grandma didn't say nothin' agin' Ann
she ies' told how it happened thai
grandpa didn't have on fine shirt sun
day, but l can tell by a little what
good deal means, and I'm sure she fei
rs though Mis- Prime didn't treat EN-
very well. But / must be a-goin.'
thought, scein' as | was so near. I'd les
rust run in and see Mis- Brown few
minutes. l jest came out of Mis- Ben
son 5, and I was a-talkin' it over will
her, | says, sez l: If / was a member
of that church I'd have Mis- Prime dis
b ciplincd; it amt livin' up to her GOV
enaut vows. Mis- Benson is an easy
soul, you know, and she says, pr APP
it was mistake But YOU necdn' t tel
me; | know Mis- Prime. Wal l mus
be goin'.'
The loungers in the village stores anC
at the post-oilice talked over the shir
story. Ii was in the mouths of the
school-children, and was rehearseC
again and again in the mllnCr's shop
And as no two people had the same
version of the story, it was something
new and unique every time it was told
Tho people who are most directly
concerned in floating gossip, are usual
ly the last ones to hear it, but the at
mosphero being SO heavily saturated
with INSTRUMENTATION that week. il
finally bore down on Mrs. Primo her
self
1t was Saturday afternoon again, and
she went over to her mothers, as she
had done every day all through the
week. The Maltese cat asleep in the
cushioned chair by the stove was the
only living thing in sight when she went