The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1884-10-22
. TALE OF THREE TRAMPS.

est to Steal OF too Wise to Confess.
Last night about midnight u reporter
for The Wees and Courier was eating
ina w~ell-known downtown restaurant,
when two peddlers walked in and met
a third. They were in good spirits and
wore preparing to start out on the fall
trip" After taking two or three rounds
of beer they began to relate reminiscent
ces Of the last season. One forid indi-
vidual whose eyes twinklcd as he talk
ed, said "Poys, te Bible say a fool
an his money zoon ish parted but Of
all de fool to part nit his money easy,
sif Inc a Swanncr Rifer neegpr. Las
zcason | bought bout POO pictures, all
,Yon kind. Veil, dem pictures In: tree
'olnans Oh it, an dey cos me Won dollar
\ dozen. Veil, I Gun to a plantxshun,
bout dark, on Swanner Rifer, an / built
a fire eeh front Of tenn neegur house
and make a speech on tenn pictures vat |
show. ! says cen my lectlc speech dat
do tree 'omans cen dot picture vas de tree
Hebrew childreng, Mary, Martha an
Rebecca, vat walked cen de fiery fur
mace init de angel and don git hot nor
jump out. And | says. my cullcrcd
frcns, dis picture was took just as ley
c inns out der fire, before dey change der
close And dem neegers purchase
twenty-five Of dem pictures fur a dollar
an a halluf = piece. Won ole neeour
fetch his picture pack to me and toll me
| cheat 'um beease he. cannot see dc an
gel in de picture an | tells him dot
picture vas took cen dc day time, and
you cannot see ghost lessen it DO night.
And he say dot wax satisfaction. sells
tose neegur about 40 spools Of tread,
warrant to have ltO yards on tenn, but
IS Of tose yards vas some we're else dot
day. Oh ten Swanner Rifer neegur
ish te peddler's fren. Dey purchase
red close an red picture ef dcy has to
steal vat dey eats. Hurrah for Swan
ner Rifer neegur." And the forid man
rubbed his big hands gleefully, and
looked child-likc and bland. and order
cd the beer again. AS he chuckled over
mis- r~ascaily exploits.
Peddler Number 9 hailed from Con-
nrcticut, and looked like he kept his
nose paint in a jug. The beer was fast
ioosening the roots Of his frigid nature.
He said Wal, if l ain't stuck it to
'cln in my time, nobody amt. On a
rice plantation in this same State last
season | sold some prize boxes and sill.
yer knives and forks. The silver knives
And forks cost me s~eventy-fvc cents a
set and the prize boxes ten CENTS each.
/ first axed the niggers ten dollars a set
for them knives and forks, which they
couldn't give. Of course. Well, says ],
sou buy Il prize box for three dollars,
and if it don't have \ Ave dollar bill in
IT when you open it you takes one of
them ten dollar sots. The niggers
didn't see through the brick, so they
bought & prize box for three dollars and
opened it. and thar warn't no five dollars
in it. l looked awful scared and put
out, but See / III be as good as nv
word if it breaks me and the niggers
jest whoopcd with delight at the way /
had sold myself. Mcbbe had sold
Inyself. but | sold them Jest exactly
eighty-fiye cents worth Of goods for
thrca dollars. The next week I passed
that same plantation in n little sail bout,
and all the niggers run down to the
shore and shuck their claws at me and
says, Them silver knives and forks j.
all jet black SO are you. scz /; YOU
Jest match one another VOW. Iaint 90
Ing back there no more though. can't
gall white folks on cheap s~ilvcr,' con-
unued the Connecticut man, but III
tell you what ] did do. One night over
here in Berkely County dark ovcrtuck
me with nowhar to stny. Bin'by |
come to one Of the aristocratic felIer,s
big white house and a.ed to stay. At
first he said no; but talked so pitiful
II" told me to come in. His wife was n
purity woman, and treated me like | was
the Gnvner and give me howlin' sup-
per, and a fine room to myself. Next
morn'n' ! felt grateful, but still ALWAYS
has an eye to business. Well, the
spread on my bed WIS brand new and
of IL unique design. | took it of and
strapped it up and put it in my pack.
After breakfast, when ! was l~eayenn I
a1ed the lady what I owed her. and she
said nothin' at all. Well, madam. saws 7
scncc you're 80 kind. I'll show Won n
spread I'm got here. | sells um ut
three dollars and Il half, but you can
nave :his last II for two dollars and n
half. 'Ob ! scz she, it is almost n per-
feet match to one I'm got .jout the
house. ! believe III take it, and she
did. sen off then and ! had beat her
on, Of two meals and a bed and sold
her own spread to her for two dollars
and a half Amt roin' hacL, ,h.r, ~,