Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1884-06-05
tEbr the Bsacon.l
Uncle Tony.

st. Mary's county was stationed, for
several weeks, at fine spring by the
side Of the public road from Leonard
Town to st. Clements Bay. / had a
maternal uncle in the camp, and my
mother sent me down there one even
ing with some clean clothes. and some
provisions for him. The weather was
a little cool, but whether in the spring
or fall, I do not now remember. Be-
ing in no great hurry to accomplish
my errand, I made it late ilthe after
noon before reached the damp, and,
being a kind of pet with my uncle, he
obtained permission for me to mess
and lodge with him till morning.
I found dozen or more persons in
the tent, but knew only one of them.
They all. called him "Unole Tony"
and so did |, though he wasno kin to
me. He was on old bachelor, and,
when at home, lived with q maiden
sister older than himself, who was
generally called "Sooky,' but Tony
called her "Sook." She had lost all
of her front teeth, and likely the
| grinders also. She had however four
sharp pointed eye teeth, as they are
called, still left two above and two
below. These, when the mouth was
shut, crossed each other, in pairs, and
in close collision, the points extend
ing considerably above and below the
edges of tho lips, and making deep
impressions in them. Besides this,
she was badly marked with the small
pox, and was uncommonly large and
badly proportioned. Sooky was, how
ever, quite useful woman, in her way.
She had considerable reputation as
doctrees of the herb and root school,
and presided, as mistress Of ceremo-
MES, at nearly every birth, in her
neighborhood. In her professional
excursions, she generally travelled on
foot, with handful of her over dress
in her left hand, and murky pipe
stem in her mouth. You may readi-
ly imagine how frightful she looked,
and she spoke so uncommonly loud
and fierce, that was really afraid of
her. and / thought everybody else was
afraid Of her also; was satisfied that
Tony was.
very soon discovered that Tony
was the runt Of the mess. Every
body in the tent seemed opposed to
play tricks upon him, and TO crack
Jokes 1T his expense: and after the
old fellow went to rest, some one or
other was always putting snuff 10 his
nose, burning bis fingers, or tickling
his ears with straws. At length,
Uncle Tony gave up the idea Of sleep
ing, as matter past hoping for, and
took the studs, in good earnest. He
turned his back upon the rest of us,
and would neither join in the CONVEX
sation, nor take any interest in it.
While he was sitting up against the
post in this sullen mood, Que of the
company began tickling him on the
back OF his head, with switch, and
Tony obstinately refused to notice it,
he, at last, succeeded in getting the
hair so wrapped and twisted around
the end of the twig that he jerked the
old man fiat on his back, to the great
amusement of the rest of the compa-
ny. They all laughed heartily at the
trick, and their laughing suppose
made me laugh too, though did not
like to see them treat the old fellow
80 rudely. He singled me out. how
ever, as the object Of revenge, asked
me what / saw to grin and nicker
about, called me "a ragged cotton
head" and ] know not what, and at
last slapped my jaws. To snatch
burning stick from the fire, was but
moments work, but old Tony, antici
pating my object, was up and off be-
fore was ready for battle. Round
and round the tent we went, he fore
most and after him, amid deafen-
ing roars Of laughter from the neigh
boring tents. | succeeding in aiming
one successful blow at his back, but
this did not satisfy me, and he seemed
to know it, for he ran down the hill
among the chestnut trees, and kindly
cautioned me to beware Of the burs.
Being without shoes, thought it pru.
dent to take his advice, and 80 ] went
back to thu tent amid the plaudits of
the spectators. was then about
eight years old.
Soon after this, several persons
passed by the door of our tent, and
one of them called upon my uncle to
mount guard. ! wanted To 90 with
him, but my uncle refused and order
ed me to go to sleep, and told me
that his messmates would take care Of
me. The captain Of the guard how
ever told my uncle to take me along,
and learn the brave lad as he called
me, soldiers duty. On our way,
we found several soldiers standing
sentinel in different places around the
camp and not far from it. Each of
these was sent to camp and one Of our
companions left in his place. My
uncle was posted under large chest
nut tree about quarter Of mile to
the sunrise Of the camp, and close by
the main road. As soon as we were
alone, he began, half chidingly, to
talk about my fight with uncle Tony.
"By jung he said Joe, but you hit
the fellow hard lick" / told him
that Tony hit me very hard, that he
made my ears ring, and that it was
cowardly to pitch upon me, when
there were 80 many grown men BY
that laughed at him more than I did,