The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-11-06

reputation as q nOrSe-uOclOE- Farmers
who came in TO town meetin' or to
trade used to put up at his stable an
paid him four shillin's for a mess of
oats for their horses. A shoe factory
down to Beverly failed one summer, an
the assets was sold at public vendOo.
Well, the old man, David's father, YOU
know, he bought a wagon-load o. shoe
pegs for the price of a knittin' needle.
an put them in the oat-bin in the barn.
The barn was dark, an no one couldn't
tell the oats from shoe-pegs without
tastin'. So when a critter was left to
be fed the old man'd give him four
quarts o shoe-pegs, an charge four
shillin's for the feed
Naturally the critter wOuldn' eat any
thing, and the farmer he'd worry be-
cause he'd lost his appetite. The old
man had a sort o. mixture, made o.
thistle tops, stewcd up, which was war
ranted TO restore the appetite of a horse
in twenty-foUr hours. 1t was harmless
stuff, an never hurt nobody, but it had
a great reputation, for the horse that
wouldn't eat the shOe-pegs would be
hungry enough to eat his own head off
after he'd got a dose or two of it an
had been driven six or eight miles
home.
OF course the medicine got the credit
o. curin' him, an gave the old man a
great reputation as a householder. He
made n mite % money scllin' his thistle
top stew for four shillin's a bottle, until
the shoe-peg business was discovered
one day. Then he quit the livery, and
took up driyin stage.
He made money that way, too, an
didn't lose but twenty-five cents all the
years he was at it. That was the time
stranger had fit, an died in the stage
before he'd paid his fare. There wa II t
no money an no marks on him, to tell
who he was by, an the county had to
bury him. The Commissioners refused
to pay his stage fare, though the old
man worried EN- a good deal about it,
an he had to give it up. 1t was the
| first an only money he was ever beat
/ out of, an it was a lesson to him, for he
never failed thereafter to collect fares in
advance.
Nothin' but death ever got the start
of David's father.
! The way he died was awful, an while
David owed the old man nothin' he
! hadn' paid twice over, he couldn't but
| feel sorry when they brought the body
/ home. He was so graspin' an mean
/ that he had but few friends, but what
there was OF 'em gave him a decent
/ burial
/ 1t was down on Turkey-foOt Spit that
| it came about The old man was haul
/ in sea-weed for manure, an suthin'
about the gearin' o the team gave way
while he was a-crossin the beach. He
was alters timid, but he overdid it this
time when he onhitched the team to
keep 'em from startin' while he was
under the wagon. He must a been
a-tinkerin' as he lay upon his back on
the sand, for the reach slipped out an
fallin' across his stomach, pinned him
down.
There's no tellin' what he did, an
| there's no tellin' what he thought; he
must a yelled, but he was a mile or so
from anywhere, an the breakers were
| SO heavy that he couldn't a been
heard forty feet away. There he was,
pinned down, dead sot, an no use a
stirin' under load o. sea-weed till the
tide come in an covered him over an
the wagon, too.
The team they wandered home, an
found the barn, an when the old man
didn't show UP, David, he an the neigh
! bOrs, they went to huntin' an it was
sun-up the next mOrnin' before they
found him, after the tide went out
Waal, when the old man was buried,
an they wa MT no tears shed except by
4 the old woman mebbe, for she'd sort o
got used to him, an missed him, don't
you know, David, he come into the
property an begun to fix up about the
place. He raised the old house a story
higher and shingled the roof; painted
the barn an fences, an made everything
as neat and snowy as a new harness.
Some one asked him what he was
doing so much fixing up for, as there
was plenty of room in the old house fol
him an mother, but David, he sort O
smiled, as he does, an said as how il
was the first time in his life he'd been
allowed to du as he was a min tn, he
thought he'd go the hull figger. Blu
sence then he's never spent a copper OF
the place, though he's alters KEEP j
tidy.
Woodbury., you know, who lives il
that flat-topped house down the road
piece yonder, is David's full brother
but he amt a mite like David. 1t ain
fair to David to speak on 'em both il
the same breath. Woodbury. took al
the old mans cranks and meanness, an
he's shattered too, SOS faint safe {
have him around; leastways / don
want him near me. He's an odd critter
Woodbury. is, an is up to all sorts o
capers, but there's good deal of Gus
sedncss into him, too. He was bOrl
and raised here, an everybody know
him, but that don't help him a bit
He's eternally cuttin' up didos, an
! scarin' the women folks, an most every
body wishes he was somewhere else.
Two years ago he ripped out the hui
insides of his house, maxim one room
upstairs an one room down, an no
even buttry or partition anywhere, an
he chopped up the doors for tirewOOd
He says he done it because he wante,
more air within, an as long as it is hi
own house l 'spOse he could do as h
, was a min to; but the trick didn't Civ
him very good name.
Then again he hauled a lot o. brusl
an piled it up in the road, an sot it OF
fire at midnight, an scared folks mos
out o their wits Everybody run out t
see what the fuss was, an there sa
Woodbury., smOkn' his pipe by tn
roadside, an askin' each one that cam
! up if he thought it Id be fair weathe
come day time.
! He's a widower, Woodbury. is, an h
! has a boy suthin' like twelve years old
/ who's as big a loon as he is, an goin
, 60 be more so. Las winter he Stripe,
the boy stark naked-there want
) rag on him-an' put him in bar'l o
! the strongest brine you ever see.
5 The boy yelled like fury when the sal
e began to eat into his hide. an tn
e neighbors all run in to see what Wood
, bury was up ter, an twas well the,
4 did, for he was just a headin' of I'll
a bar up. an the boyd been dead a
e a red herrin' in few minutes. Wood
{ bury, he said he was fearin' he'd ru
short o pork that winter. an as the bo
/ want no good anyhow, he though
I ] ha'H Mol II him Tlrrf fl,f. s11Ir,fe .-,,-