The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-11-06
DAVID.
A Little Queer, but Good Withal-
His Many Courtships.

His Many Courtships.
That's David, said Uncle Reuben, as
we drove by a cluster Of fishermen's
shanties, that's him asserting there, an
ne allts sets that way, David does, as eff
he was lookin' at suthin' that's comm
in from the sea, when there's nothin' to
look at, not even a lobster booy. There
amt nothin' han some about David but
his smile; you'll see it when he looks
aroun this way. He's got pleasant
eye, and teeth as white as a hounds,
an when he looks at you David allns
smiles, an when he does, he smiles all
over; now, don't he?-there.
MOrnin', David, how-dy?
David's queer; there 5 n streak o.
queerness in the famerly, an wqen it
don't crop out i'm one place twill in anoth-
err He's straight enough in his head;
he's honest, an tidy, an industrious,
an kindly disposed, an alters dom
some one a good turn, though he's
trihe near in money matters as the
ole man was, an is alters lodging ques-
tons.
Nobody ever got David to say yes
or mo Ask him if he got a good
catch o'fish to-day, an he'll say "tolla-
bly, middlin';' ask him if he's goin' out
TO his lObster-pOts, an he'll say, jest
rs like as mott ask him if its goin' to
be fair weather, an he'll cast his eve
around a while an then answer ''meb-
be- Nobody ever got to the wind ard
o David, askin' questions. He's bin a
witness in two lawsuits, an the hull court
couldn't a fetched a direct answer from
him, not ef il was the dawn o Judgment
day.
David was fifty-two years old before
he begun to talk o. gettin' married, an
he's made a fool of himself about the
women ever since. 1t broke out all on
n sudden two winters ago. He never
spoke much with women. an never
visited any, but was alters trife shy
hangin his head in a bashful sort o way
an keepin his words to himself when
women folks was around. But he
spruced up all to wunst, begun to shave
his beard an so to mectin'.
Then he begun to talk o. gettin mar
ried, an folks they begun to laugh.
He's a likely enough sort o. man,
David is, an he's a nice house where he
lives all alone by himself, with his old
mother to do the cookin'; besides one of
the best farms in the township, an quite
farmin' an fishin', an from what the
old man left; but somehow there amt a
woman in the county who II have David,
though he's safe, an stiddy, an kindly,
an all that.
He's proposed to a dozen or So of old
maids, David has, but they've all eli
him the mitten. He's shy o. widders
an young girls, David is, an mebbe
that's why he's had such bad luck
courtin'. Widders, he says, is apt to be
contrary an set in their ways; young
girls is too hity-tity an spend too much
on dresses an ribbons, but old maids,
he says, is sort o willin' an easy to
please.
David might O married easy as not
years ago, for he was as likely young
man as there was in the county, an his
folks was alters fOrehanded; but the old
man was a terror to women, an David
alters lived TO home. Money was the
old mans god, an he never gil himself
nor his family no comforts an no pleas
IRE. He never did nothin' but figure
out the easiest way to get rich, an he
had tOllabul luck at il. David is a good
deal that way himself, an is anxious tc
accumulate, but he'd give any woman
good home eff he'd get one TO marry
him.
Stinginess come material to David, an
he couldn't no more help bein' neal
than he could change the shape of hi,
nose, which is just like the old mans al
over. Twas David's father that an old
story's told about. 1t want true. but
might as well a been. He was so mean
they say. that he didn't feed his chill
dren nothin' but potatoes, an they got
so sick o potatoes that their mouths
wouldn't open To- EN- any more. They 4
= A. u Al.
hOldin' up piece O meat an motionin
with it jest as if he was goin' to feed il
TO EN-, but when their mouths a oper
he'd shove in a lot Of potato instead.
He paid David's mother-she that i,
Twin still-nine shillin's a week wage,
after they was married Jest the same a.
before, an alters docked her when sh,
was sick an want able to work. Sh,
was his hired help before marrvin' him
YOU know, an might as well a beer
after so far rs betterin' her condition
went, for she was Independent when sh'
was single an could a left him, bu
after they was married she want
never hecrd o. her complainin', al
though she had to put up with a goo,
deal from the old man, an most peoplt
wouldn't a stood it, but she neve
murmured, an when he died sh,
showed genuine sorrow. Mebbe if he't
died i'm bed she wouldn't took on so
bat the way it was went hard with her
an was an awful shock TO her nerves
David didn't take ON much though.
The old man was hard master, an
his famerly was his slaves. 1t was hi
raspin' way that shattered WOODBURY.
Jnost folks thinks, an its wonder 4
all the neighbors that David an the ole
woman stood it as long as they did
He'd one daughter, an she died afte
she'd been married year or so. He
hUsban' brought her body TO the OF,
family buryin ground to find it's rest
in place, an when they come 10 cover
in of il there wa MT no lid to the coffin
box. The old man went TO the barr
an pulled out an old hemlock boar,
that had laid there no one knows how
long, an by a little sawin' an chopin
twas made 20 fit. He charged his son
in-law nineteen cents for that board
the old man did, an made him pay il
toO-nineteen cents for the board tina
covered the coffin Of his only daughter