The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1886-03-26
GAIN AND LOSS,
The Burial Place of Jake Hollis
Little Girl.

I'll The Burial Place of Jake Holt's
III Little Girl
arN My first night at Hustletown promised
es to be dull enough. The Metropolitan
enl Hotel, at which am stopping, was al
together barren of metropolitan at
nd fractions. A hard rainstorm had set in
up3 about dark, and the heavy drops clat-
NJ tered against the window panes and ran
VI down them in shining streams, /
inE strolled into the bar and billiard room,
Idd in which at western hotels there is
th& usually abundant life and animation.
1nf The only inmate was the bartender,
who, seated on low stool and leaning
MI against the beer refrigerator, was read
leI ing an illustrated paper. The single
. Il billiard table, covered with what looked
ND like faded old bed quilt, wore very
av distressed and woe-begone look, as if at
bil that moment it might be suffering from
1nl a nightmare consisting of all the ex-
ouE ecrable shots to which during its life
zenE time it had been made an unwilling
.v+ party. Several rows of shining pool
ar balls in the rack against the wall winked
on& in the dim light of the dingy kerosene
av lamps. Eight or ten cues, stained with
rel the grasp of many dirty palms, stood up
stiff and prim in line in the cue-rack,
bal and at the end of the bar stood a large
it'd box spittoon, the fresh sawdust in which
rga showed the effects of a recent center
ava shot.
Id shook my head at the barkeeper, who
ha1 had raised his eyes inquiringly, to signi-
atf fy that l wanted no bar-room refresh
asI ments, then glancing out the dripping
eiF window and seeing a bright light across
orr the street, / turned down the brim of my
but slouch hat, buttoned my coat around my
,hoE throat and scurried over to the little sa-
lvd loon which is, as had learned during
int the day, the favorite retreat of the vii
s$ lage tipplers. a Arough-looking man sat
sil at table slipping gin and water, and
thsE slipping it, too, with deliberation indi-
net eating either an absence of ardent thirst
hd or desire to make the most of the
hi drink
led "Gineral," said to him one of the
md three or four like-looking men gathered
around the stove, s'this howlin' bad
an night"
, i The s'gineral' so-called in a
apE spirit of compliment for military serv-
ichE ices, perhaps duly recorded somewhere
emit in the war annals of his country, or in
M the way of a facetious allusion to his
he marked propensity for gin andawater, ]
ofE shall not attempt to say-poised his
sntE spoon long enough in the air midway
ur- from his glass to his lips to reply that il
les was, indeed, 60 a tough 'un and gettin'
hisk wus and wus." And as if to corrobor-
M ate this unfavorables opinion of the
lg,E weather, the rain beat against the door
ill and windows with increased fury, the
moi wind tore headlong through the street
d hitting the swinging signs a blow that
md made them shrek with pain and rage,
led and the rising creek roared in the gulch
youE below
ion THAT boomin' creek down there, .
hi, resumed 'the gineral," after a little
osiB pause, tmakes me think of the terrible
i'm night when old Jake Hollis little ga
ilYE was carried away in the big spring rise
leyE 1t was nineteen years ago the comm
fe;E spring. Yes, it started in just like this.
to a-rainin' and blowin' and the creel
val howlin' itself hoarse. What an awful
tedE night it was, and what a deal of bat
md luck and what deal o. good it brough
1e-E to old Jake Holt. Jake, We see, wa
ma allus just the poorest seediest, good-for
nothincst cuss anywhere round here
,neE But he was a rich man almost from th,
Ike fust hour that big storm burst over th,
out holler, Eyes, sir, sure's you're born
wn eft it hadn't been for the drownin' o
o of that pooty little gal down in the rur
er- there Jake might O been yet the poor
oc shifless coot he was them days, instea,
al o. the richest man in these parts, whicl
md he is now"
tn swell, / don't mind tellin' We tn
'ol story, stranger, though it's an old un t,
re- folks hereabouts.
ed ''The weather all that spring was jus
cd little the wust you ever see Th
, snow melted and ran down the noun
tains, leavin their brown sides bare
ris sight sooner than I'd ever seen it do be
th# fore. The drizzlin' rain never misse,
va% day 1t rained just all the time, some
sd times slow and sometimes harder Th
me sun didn't shine, and for days an,
at days together we didn't see
oil patch o. blue sky. Great banks O
vel mist went sailin' slowly along tn
ingH the sight of everybody on this side tn
no. run. A shower of rain drops fell out O
old the pines with every breath of the wind
RAip, rain, rain. The snow KEEP meltin
os and the mountains was checkered wit
ing cutsSin the red clay down whicl
o streanled the rain and melted snow
de Everything was damp and drizzling
'ns everybody felt blue enough to tax
and piz6M
mes fssAil this time the run had hep creep
hi, ih' up the banks. From little stream tina
you almost could stand and jump acros
In dEy times, it got before long tp rushin
andfagin' like the old Missouri liver o.
the D bender.
me 40 Jake lived in little shanty half wa
lee up the bluff on t'other side O. tht creek
ler 1t was a mean, tumble-down sort G
ind place, for Jake, just as / said, wa no
oil Acfaoi1pt fallar--a chifflacs Kind NJ o1cs
! il who never had the knack O. gettin' 'hlon
ey like ether folks. If he ever tried Ito d
anything it never panned out as ittoul
fa dope for anybody else. Hard llc
was ailus at his heels. He took uB NOR
b n bzen different claims herebont'
but they never amounted to ndthih
Isvhi} a}allara all ro,.o6 ,li,4, xvoro ,,,s BIZ,