St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-08-06
Jim Didn't Know Mary


mountain roads of Tennessee in a cart
drawn by a mule. The land was bar
rem, the cabins no better than novels,
and it was query how people made a
| bare living or were content to stay. BY
and by we came to turn in the road
where there was trough to water
horses, and the cabin of a settler. This
cabin was the poorest of all, and moth
ing around it indicated that the owner
made any attempt to cultivate the soil.
We reached the place just in time to
witness tableau. A woman, poorly
dressed, and her face bearing the look
of one who had seen much worry and
suffering, stood near the trough, and a
satchel filled with clothing sat on the
ground beside her. Five feet away
| stood her husband, burly, tough fac
ed mOuntaineer, and he held a switch
in his hand. Neither minded us as we
drove up, and it was II full minute be-
| fore the husband said
"Mary, I'll wOllop yep
"Jim, We dasn't J" she replied.
"Mary, we can't leave me, nOhOw."
"Jim, Pm gwine ter do it! I've
starved an suffered till Pm clean gone !!
Pm going home"
"Mary, if We don't take up that
satchel and march in I'll wOllop ye
good and stout ~
There were two of us besides the
driver. The woman looked up and
scanned our faces, as if to judge how
far she might count on our help, and
the driver said:
"'Tain't rulable for strangers to mix
in, Mary, and Jim's got knife and
would kill somebody. Better go in."
"Never" she Missed.
"If We don't" said the husband as he
drew a step nearer, "I'll make the fur
fly. Take that :"
With a swish he brought the switch
down across her shoulders and raised
it again. She stood stock still for a
minute and looked him in the eye, and
then walked into the howell.
"Rayther peart, but the CAD will
cure herw grinned the husband as he
drew the switch through his fingers.
His triumph was short lived. In
sixty seconds Mary reappeared. She
had the mountalneer's heavy rifle in
her hands, and as she came out she
raised it on line with the mans
heart:
"Jim, 1 want We ter git!'
mop
"Sartin -
"Shooi Can't do it"
Click click
"Mary, what yer gwine ter doW
"Kill We like wolf in yer tracks if
We don't walk away"
"Whar TOT"
Nobody keers Go sumwhar'-
keep goin'-don't never come back !!
Hurry up, fur I'm goin' down on the
stage"
He looked into her eyes and saw the
change. Poverty and brutality had
come to an end. Love had turned to
disgust, and in place of fear was such
bravery as he would not have looked
for in a man on the road. He saw
''shOot" III her eyes, but he still hest
tated.
"Mary, drop that rifle" he whis-
pered.
"Jim, git! If you are here when I've
finished counting 20 I'll Kill you as
sure as there is IL God in heaven !"
He began backing away. When he
had gone 20 feet he turned and walked.
When he had gone 100 he halted,
wheeled about, and after a long look
mnttered:
.Wall. by gosh! Mary, let's make
up"
"Keep a-gittin', JIM" she replied, as
she still covered him with the rifle.
In five minutes he was out of sight
ND the road. The woman placed the
gun and satchel i'll the cart, walked in
to the howell to be gone two minutes,
and when she came back to the cart
and took Il seat with us, flames were
seen creeping through hundred crew
ices between the dry logs. Without a
word she climbed in, and only once
during the five-mile ride did she utter
a word. At bend in the road she
looked back at the pyramid of smoke
and flame wrought by her hands, and
said, IA if to herself:
"Jim didn't know Mary, jim didn't"
-[DetrOit Free Press.