The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-12-25
Nan and Sim.
BY OPIE P. REVIL.

man, come here er mint, said old
Bob Horner, addressing his daughter.
The girl, who stood spreading the COW
ers on an fashioned bed, pretended
not to hear her fathers demand. Man,
eff I come airter yer, I'll bet yer'll wish
yer had come. Oh, yer neenter founce
around thater way
'Pap,' said Mrs. Horner, looking up
from her work of baking corn bread on
the hearth, don't nag at the child.
Martha, ever when l want yer advice
I'll ak fur hit. Nan, air yer comen?'
'Yas, I'm er comm. KANT yer gin
er body time2'
'Oh, yas, ken gin er body time, but
don't feel like givin' er body eternity
The girl slowly approached him, and
III lhe sto the yither day lay 1 hearn that you
wuz a goin' ter marry Sim Buck next
Chrismus. The girls eyelids dropped.
The fellers out ther that peered to know
all erbout it said yer loved one nuther
fit ter kill. Whut yer got ter say erbout
it?'
'Nuthin'.'
wall, then, I'll say suthin. Eff I
kitch Buck round here I'll hurt him, an
mo- rn that eff yer run off an marry him
I'll foller yer up. Wall, never mine,
yer shaint marry him, that's all. I've
been er tellin' yer fer er long time that
| wanted yer ter marry er preachur.
Thar never wuz er preachur in aur fam
ily, an it's now time thar wuz one. I've
sot my min on this, an yer neenter
think 1 amt goin' ter have it thater
way. W'yjis look at Preachur Martins
wife. She gifts er new caliker coat ever
when she wants it. Er new one, min
yer. Err new caliker coat all spotted ez
putty ez yer please. I've dun said ernuff.
Eff Buck comes on this here place ergin
it won't be good fur him.
Old Horner was hillside farmer in
the northern part of Arkansas. He lived
in the conventional double-log house
on whose stack chimney the whippor-
wills sang their melancholy songs when
the summers twilight settled down.
The old man was set in his ways-had
become convinced that he was right and
that every one else was wrong. He was
tall and gaunt, with long, yellowish hair
and sickly sprinkling of beard, like a
thin growth ofwire grass, growing where
the land is poor. His wife had been
educated into meekness, and thought
that she should find her greatest pleasure
in lowering over the Sizing bacon and
watching the hoe-cake. Nan, the girl,
was a beautiful blonde, full of life, but
afraid of her father. Sim Buck, to
whom Nan was secretly engaged to be
married, was, the neighbors said, "a rip
shorten sort Nv er feller that mout el
mount ter suthun eff he would try, but
the chances wuz ergin him.
Mrs. Horner took up the supper, and,
sighing YEARLY, said:
Come, pap, an eat er snack
The old man drew up his chair, wait.
ed, with an air of impatience, until the
other members of the family were seat
ed and then asked blessing, beginning
with an elongated gracious Lord ano
ending with an unintelligible sigh.
'Ain't yer goin' ter eat nothin', Nan2
'Ain't er hungry
Bucks tuck yer appertite, / reckon.
'Sir!'
Heard whut l said. Wall, never
min, I'll take his appertite the next time
| he comes on the place.
'Pap,' said Mrs. Horner, don't tor
ment the child
The old man took swallow of but
ter-milk, looked at his wife and replied
Let us don't have no advice, Martha
Keep in the straight an narrar path an
don't fret
About one month later, on the day
before Christmas, old Horner, while
splitting 'rail-cut, some distance from
home, accidentally stepped in the open
ing of the log just as one of the 'gluts
flew out. The two sections of the los
closed on the old mans foot and ankle
and but for the thick sole of his boot
would have crushed his foot. He uttered
an exclamation of thankfulness, mutter
ed few words in praise of old Riggsby
the shoemaker, and then attempted t
liberate himself. This, he soon found
was not an easy or even possible task
His axe, maui and wedges were beyont
his reach. He shouted until he coult
only croak, and then, in despair, he be
gan to pray. The stiff sole of his boo
began to yield, and the splintered side
of the log began to painfully press hi
foot.
| 'Helloa, old mani