The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-11-06

yond reasop. after the knowledge even of
his own identity and Of his very name was
lost
Tho woman caught the contagion of his
"De chipn say he mighty comical, an he
layin' down in dc bald" she said.
EphraIm rose from his scat.
"Whar you gwine?V
~ mus 20 to sec bout him. he said,
Ain you gwine finish eatin'?"
~ gwine kvar dis to him."
swell, l kin cook you nnurr when we
come back" said his wits, with ready ac-
quiescence.
In n few minutes they were on the way,
going single file down the path through
the sassafras, along which little Eph and
his followers had como an hour before, the
man in the lead and his wife following,
and according to the custom Of their race,
carrying the bundles, one the surrendered
supper, and tho other the neatly folded
and well patched shirt In which Ole
'Strncted hoped to meet his long expected
loved ones.
AS they came In sight of tho runous
little hut which had been the old mans
abode since his appearance in the neigh
borhood a few years after the war, they
observed that the bench beside the door
was deserted, and that the door stood
ajar-two circumstances which neither of
them remembered ever to have seen be-
fore; for In all the years in which he had
been their neighbor Ole 'Stracted had
never admitted any one within his door,
and had never been known to leave it
open. In mild weather he occupied n
bench outside, where he either cobbled
shoes for his neighbors, accepting without
question any thing they paid him, or else
| sat perfectly quiet with tho air of person
waiting for some one. He held only the
briefest communication with anybody,
and was believed by some to have inti-
/ rain wi Ia nd his
tumble down hut, which he was particular
| to keep closely daubed, was thought by
such as took this view Of the matter
to be the temple where he practiced his
unholy rites. For this reason. and be-
cause the little cabin. surrounded by dense
pine and covered with vines which tho
popular belief held "pizonous," was the
most desolate abode n human being could
have selected, most of the dwellers in
that section gave the place q wide berth,
'Stracted would probably have suffered
but for the charity of Ephraim and his
wife, who, althouh often wanting the
necessaries of lite themselves, had long
divided it with their strange neghbor.
| Yet even they had never been admitted
inside his door. and knew no more of hlm
| than the other people about the settlement
know.
His advent in the neighborhood had
been mysterious. The first that was
known of him was one summer morning,
when he was found on the bench beside
| the door of this cabin, which had long
| been unoccupied and left to decay. He
was unable to give any account of him
self, except that he always declared that
he had been sold by some one other than
his master from that plantation, that his
wife and boy had been sold to some other
person at the same timo for 200 Che was
| particular as to the nmount), and that his
master was coming in the summer to buy
him back and take him home, and would
bring him his wife and child when he came.
| Every thing since that day was a blank to
him, and as he could not tell the name o
| his master or wife, or even his own name,
and as no one was left old enough to re-
member him, the neighborhood having
been entirely deserted after the war, he
simply passed as a harmless old lunatie
laboring under u deluslon. He was devoted
to children, and Ephraim's small brood
We're his chief delight. They were not at
| all afraid of him, and whenever they got a
chance they would slip of and steal down
| to his house, where they might be found
any time squatting about his feet listening
to his accounts Of his expected visit from
| his master, and what he was going to do
aftcrward. 1t was all of great planta-
tion, and fine carriages and horses, and u
| house with his wife and the boy.
This was all that was known of him, ex-
| cept that once stran ger, passing through
'Stracted, said that he heard a similar one
| once, long before the war, in one of the
Louisiana parishes, where the man roamed
at will, having been bought OF the trader
by the gentleman who owned him, for
small price, on account of his intirmity.
sis you gwine in dyahy" asked the
woman as they approached the hut.
"Hi! yes; tain nuttin gwine hurt you;
an you say Ephum say he layin' in de
baid!" he replied, his mind having owl
IDENTIFY been busy on tho subject.
"An mighty comical," she corrected
him. with exactness born of apprehen-
sion.
"Well? feared he sick"
II ain't nuver been in dyah."
"Ain' de chil'n been in dyah"
"Dee say 'stracted folks oon hurt
chil'n."
"Dat ole man DON hut nobody; he jos
tame as q ole tomcat."
Il wonder he aim feared to live in dat
lonesome ole house by hisself. | jes
leve stay in graveyard at once. aim
wonder folks say he see sperrits in dat
hanty-lookin' place" She came up by
her husbands side at the suggestion. 81
won der he dom 20 home."
'Whar he got any home to go to sep
Heaven?" said Ephreim.
Ephum?"
"Mymy," said he simply.
They were at the cabin now, and a brief
pause of doubt ensued. 1t was perfectly
dark inside the door, and there was not a
sound. The bench where they had hereto
fore held their only communication with
their strange neighbor was lying on it's
side in the weeds, which grew up to the
very walls of the ruinous cabin, and
lizard suddenly ran over it, and
with a little rustic disappeared un-
woman it was an i'll omen. She
glanced furtively behind her, and moved
nearer her husbands side. She notice
that the cloud above the pines was getting
faint yellow tinge on its lower border,
to call her husbands notice to 1t, when a
voice within arrested their attention. 1t
was very low, and they both listened in
awed silence, watching the door mean
while as if they expected to see something
supernatural spring from it.
"Nem min'-jes wait-'tain so long now
he'll be heah torectly," said the voice.
'"Dat's what he say--gwne come home an
buy me back-ien we gwine home"
In their endeavor to catch the words
they moved nearer and made slight
noise Suddenly the low, earnest tone
CHANGED to one full of eagerness.
"Who dat!" was called in sharp in
quiry.
"'Tain' nobody but me and Polly, Ole
'Stracted," said Ephraim, pushing the
door slightly wider open and stepping in.
They had an indistinct idea that the poor
deluded creature had fancied them his
longed-f for loved ones, yet it was relief
to see him bodily.
"Who you say you iss" inquired the old
man, esbly.
''Me am Polly"
~ done bring you shut home," said the
woman, as II supplementing her husbands
reply. "iiit all BRAN clean, an l done
patch it.o