Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-12-01


scent bag TO Il rabbit, and by rubin
some of this scent stun on the cat she
smclt more rabbity than half dozen
IT. 1bits.
al member now OF funny thing
that happened one time when ! wur
out huntin' rabbits aud sich small
game with my ole cat. 1t wur jist back
of the corn patch of my Neighbour Jack
man, who had an ole she cat that wur
a. great ore to ketch and bring in rab-
bits. When she had kittens she'd
some times ketch and bring in three or
four day. some of EN- biggern her.
self Wull, l wur out back of neigh
Dor Jackman's corn field, and my cat,
in her disguise, wur sittin' up in an
open patch of ground two or three rods
away, waitin' for game of romps
with the rabbits. All ut onct l ketched
sight of Jackman' cat a-slippin' along
the edge of a thicket She wur maxim
for what she thought wur pore silly
rabbit. When she got close enough
she guy a spring and landed on the
back of the make believe rabbit. Sich
surprised cat as that of ole Jackman' 3
| never seed. My cat faced about with
| Al tiOihShJOuS lONA "hu b"N ""N
cat rake over the eyes; then the air
was full of cat fur and yowls for half y
mint. But il wur my cat rs wur doin'
all the iightin'. The Jackmm cat
broke to the edge of the thicket and
bounced onto the top of stump.
Thar, with back bumped and eyes
stickin' out'n her head, she made n
sortcr stand while trying to git over
her establishment of mind. But when
she seed my eat maxim at her, with
cyeballs glarin' and her rabbit ears a
stickin' straight up, she jist guy q spit
and u sputter and broke for home like
the very devil was after her. Jack
man s cat wur never with cent for rab-
bits after that. Jist show her rabbit S
head and she'd go up the corner of the
house and sit thar under the caves and
yowl for an hour. Jackman said he
wouldn't of had his cat so split for five
dollars. He said she soon got so de-
ranged in mind that she was ruinated
for all practical purposes, and wouldn' t
face mouse. Eventually he was
oblecgcd to git new cat.
"Onc't when | was goin' home from
hunt jist loaded down with game
rabbits, squirrels, quails and the like
| had fine piece of fun. You know
how cverlastin' supcrstitious niggers is
about rabbits, anyhow. They've alters
got rabbits foot hangin' about thar
nccks. or somewhars about 'em, to give
'em luck, and they think the rabbit
hiss got sense to outwit all the other
animals put together. Wall, | wur on
my way home jist little afore sun
down, and my cat wur trottn' along
two or three rods ahead of mo. She d
jist got out inter the main wagon road,
back of Squire Baxter's place, an /
was still in the brush maxim my way
out to the edge of the clearin', when
along comes an ole Niger with u gun
Oil his shoulder and little yeller
dog at his heels. The dog seed the
rabbit in the road and made for it with
yelp. The rabbit, or what appeared
to be SIGH, flew to a small jack oak tree
near by, skinned up it, got out on one
of the fust limbs and sot thar with har
up and back bumped. At sight of this
queer conduct of rabbit the little dog
wur all broke up. lie dropped his tail
between his legs and went whinin'
back to his master. But yer jist ought
'er seen that old niger! He'd brought
his gun down of II his shoulder at the
fust yelp of the dog, but when he seed
the rabbit go tcarin up the tree and
hump itself out OH the limb he was a
little the WHIST skecrcd Niger in all
Tennessee. II he'd seen hog start
and 60 up tree he couldn't been
more taken back. His eyes stuck out
even with the bridge of his nose, and rs |
stood in the edge of the brush list
oppersite him, it seemed to me that |
could almost hear the kinks of his
wool as they began 10 straighten out.
"'Fore dc Lord!' says he, fore de
Lord, what kline o. fing is dat?' and
shakin' like man with the agcr he
brought up his gun. He was tryin' to
take some sort of aim when his little
dog rubbed against his legs behind and
he jumped three feet high, thnkin' he
had been attacked in the rear. At the
same time his gun went off, when
pinted nearly straight up. At the
crack of the gun the cat jumped to the
ground, dashed into the brush and
run ten rods off afore the smoke of the
shot cleared away. But the ole darky
didn't stop to see the ellcc' of his shot.
He turned and went back the road he ID
come, PAWN up as much dust as pair
o. runaway steers.
81 stepped out inter the road. and
yelled ut him: 'Ephraim! Stop, Eph,
you old thief! but thar wur no stop to
him. AT the sound of my voice he
partly turned about, tuck one look,
Hung his gun and his ole wool hat
away and then jist laid down TO his
work. Every time one of his big flat
feet came down it sent splash of dust
from the middle of the road out onto
the grass on each side. To see an ole
Teller of fifty who had alters been COM
plainin' of rheumatic in his legs git
over ground like that was surprisin'.
He'd ave beat the best foot racer in
America. His little yaller dog was left
yelpin' rods behind. AS he run he
bellcrcd like bull, but all could
make out was: Don't come nigh me!
Don't come a-nigh me! longs to de
Lord! | longs to dc Lord!'
Next day thar was an awful story
among the niggcrs bout the devil bein'
in the ncighborhood. Old Eph Sells
had seen him in the shape of rabbit
that had elm tree. To tell of q rab-
bit going up tree was enough for any
niger, but when Eph enlarged on his
story and swore that the rabbit was as
big as yearlin' calf, had ears as long
l. q