St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-06-21
A MARTYR DOLOROSA.

Aunt Nancy was the wife of Uncle
'Lisha.
1t would be impossible to give BIZ
ography of Aunt Nancy without inclu-
ding Uncle 'Lisha, or to eliminate her
individuality long enough to serve her
up alone. And doubt if the dear old
lady would like such marital independ-
ence. Nor do think she would recog-
nize any picture of herself that was not
. reflection of him. Like the moon she
shone by borrowed light
Uncle 'Lisha was a living illustration
. of tine old adage. 1T is better to be born
lucky than rich" His property was
inherited, and he never did days
work in his life: But everybody else in
his family worked. Aunt Nancy, his
wife, more than any of them. Uncle
'Lisha didn't work because he enjoyed
poor health. A partial list of his COM
plants would read about like this
Fever and ague.
Chronic indigestion.
Paralysis of the heart.
PARALYSIS of the liver.
Iniammatory rheumatism.
Lamencss in the left knee.
Lameness in the right knee.
Ossitication of the joints.
Hereditary consumption.
(On the mothers side.)
Hereditary apoplexy.
(On the fathers side
These were just a few of the ills
which beset the poor man, and made
him exceedingly careful of himself. He
couldn't stoop for fear of apoplectic
hn ofv f0
thing on account of his spine: he never
dared hurry, rs his heart had habit
OF beating, and in fact nothing agreed
with him eXcept-doing nothing. He
was the very same boy referred to in
the following incident. / am aware it
is credited to the Beecher family, but
they never had a monopoly of lazy boys,
if they did of bright ones. Uncle 'Lisha's S
father. the good doctor. had one time
been away from home few days,
leaving his two boys. Elisha and
Ezekiel. to do the chores. When he
returned nothing had been done. and
the bows were discovered in hay-mow
reading stories.
..Zeke..' thundered the doctor.
"come here, sir"
Zeke came and stood shamefacedly
before him.
..What have you been doing since 1
was away?"
Nothing, sir"
elisha, come here, you, and give an
account of yourself. Tell the truth
now What have you been doing?"
Helping Zeke. SIR
This faculty was Uncle 'Lisha's stock
in trade, and he steadily improved it
and made others believe in it, until
they really considered it wrong to ex-
pect him to do ANYTHING. l can see
him vet putting on his boots of win
ter's morning. All the cattle had been
foddered, water drawn and wood car
ried in. Aunt Nancy had been up hours
getting breakfast and hushing the
children and telling them not to make
noise and wake poor father" who
hadn't slept wink all night.
Gentle soul! 1t is possible that
she believed it, for she was too
tired herself to lie awake to see. And
when he came down they all waited on
him and handed him his boots, while
he fingered patiently in front of the hot
fire. Then he would cough feebly, put
his hand to his heart, sigh-and warm
the inside of one boot. After resting
from this exertion he would take strap
in each hand and with several attempts
get it on. Then long rest, before a
similar process with the other one. A
drink of reviving water was then
handed by one child. while another
stood by and looked at him as if he had
been a ten-horned wonder. "Poor
father was only afflicted with spring