Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1886-08-20
THE DOWN-HILL ROAD.


II guess never told yc bout Josiah's
accident that he had few years ago, did
l, when he and 1 was goin' to Murry-
vile, tradin'2 Wal, if hain't, then 1
will, that is, if you won't tell him that
told ont, cause he's alias sayin' wom-
an can't keep nothin' to herself, and
allow there is some things can't keep,
and this is one on 'em.
Gas was goin' to say, Josiah had got
to go and git lot of stuff, some paint, q
few rails to fix the fence with, some
meal an bran, an one thing an' another,
don't remember jest what now, only
had occasion to remember these few. I'd
got to have some cotton cloth, calikcr,
molasses, sugar, etc., so 1 told him 1
guessed I'd go along too. So 1 packed
some eggs into peck measure of oats,
an I had pretty near pound of feathers
tied up in paper bag that I had been
savin' along, SO thought I'd take 'cm
an turn 'cm towards my cloth an
things.
"We loaded up an got started carly
one Saturday mornin.' We took the old
gray mare an the lumbcr-wagin. Yc
see, Josiah thought he could bring the
rails better in long wagin. The dash
board was split off pretty low down, but
he said he guessed 'twould hold all we
should want to bring without spillin'
out So we drove along an got to town
about ten o'clock.
II went round to Jacobs's and sold my
eggs, an to Hyde & Taylor's with my
feathers, but they wouldn't give me my
price, so I jest put 'cm back into the
wagin, an went to Loomis's and bought
my cloth and things, an got back to
Williams's stable = where Josiah alias
keeps his horse-at jest two o'clock, nm
he WANT there, SO went to the milliner's
shop to git my bunnit fixed, an so told
hc stable feller to tell Josiah where I
was, nm to come after me with the team.
When got there the bunnit hadn't been
touched, an in few minntcs up drove
Josiah. Now, if you ever went any,
where with man that's alias in hurry,
why, then, it's no use for me to under
take to tell yc what I went through with
a-tryin' to keep that man from goin' off
without me or sassin' that millincr. But
we got started at last, and Josiah savs
says he:
We've got sich a load, and its so
kinder hot, Pm goin' to take tho down
hill road; it's n good deal higher that
way than tits t'other, an better road,
too, except that pcsky hill.'
eyes says ], ''pesly hill" is lest
where shan't go. I've rid down that
hill once, a-holdin on with all my might,
an like ter pitched out the wngin head
fust. No, sir, if you go that road you'll
have to stop an let me git out
"Now you know Josiah MS we'll as 7
do; he'll do anything to save cent o.
money or minutes time, and he's alias
sayin' "timc is money"
"Wal, let him have his.way ruther
than to have any more wonls about it.
but when we got to the hill I got out,
an after Josiah had took good cud o.
tobacker into his mouth, hc.and the old
marc logged along; but see few bram-
BILE berries 'longside the road, and stop
ped to pick few on 'em, when l hccrd
somethin' go kerslam, and there the old
marc was, flat down, the wagin kinder
standin' on end, an Josiah a-sprawlin'
around on the horses back, an the jug
o. molasses, pot O. paint, an measure o.
oats on top of him, an somcthin' o.
ruther had wet my bag of feathers . an
made a big hole int, and things was
kinder squeezed onto 'em, so that they
was a-puffin' out in all directions. The
cork got out o. the jug, an the fence
rails was stan'in' in the air, some on 'cm
cross-ways an dc..'s know what not.
If that didn't beat all the sights I ever
see. never was so tickled in my life,
an if it had killed him / don't believe
could have helped lafIin', for there he
lay, covered with paint, molasses, fcath-
ers, oats, bran an dirt, an madder
man you never see than he was.
'sNow, Josiah don't very often swear
in my hcarin', but tell ye there was n
blue streak ont down that hill that after
noon, what WANT already strcaked with
paint and molasses. SaysI:
Josiah, what's happeneda Don't ye
like the down-hill road2'
"Consarn it'll that's woman ell over,
Amt satisfied with scein' q man stove
round in this way, without twittip' On its