The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-09-18
Dick JOhn5on'S Vengeance.

From the San Francisco Argonaut
They were the most contented family in the
world. The father was by turns prospector,
trapper, OF a rancher, but he never succeeded
in making good living in any way. He was
! remarkably handsome mountaineer, tall and
! strong. and he looked on honest labor as quite
| beneath him. His word was his bond he CON
tracted no debts that he could not pay, yet he
often cut mp fat steer and divided the meat
among his neighbors who set him vegetables
and groceries in return, aud never asked where
the fat steer had come from. Perhaps they
knew. When herd passed along the dusty
! high-road the women smiled at each other and
said: II guess wen hev some fresh meat to-
/ morrow
/ Sometimes he would drive into town with a
team OF housekeeping, smooth-eoated horses
attached to his rusty old blackboard. Then his
! friends crowded about them, stroking the gios-
| sy necks, examining the white teeth, but no one
in this little Mormon settlement ever thought
of inquiring where he got them.
| Dick johnson was the kindest of men to his
| friends and family, yet he had his record He
would be lynched promptly If he should ever
| return to Montana; he had shot o bridgekeeper
| who demanded toll of him. and, altogether,
| the deaths of half-dozen men were caused by
! the well known fact that cole Dick wuz
mighty lively with his pistols when he got
! huff whisky aboard"
His wife did not always have good print
dress to wear to town, the children were sell
| dom provided with shoes, but she always
seemed contented and lazily happily, but there
| was not merrier set of little ones. The
mother was a fair-haired blue-eyed woman,
and the children ali looked like her.
"The children mostly awl looks like me-"
she would say, with an amiable; awl of 'em
| 'cept Caddie, an guss she looks more like
her pa"
''You kin jest bet do, and I'm mighty glad
| havn't no tow-head like these. here young
| 'uns," Caddie would answer. She was re-
markedly handsome girl, and people who ad-
mired her delicate, dark face, were always
| shocked when her coarse voice and coarser
| language were heard. Of coarse, this energetic
| girl ruled the whole family; the man who in
| spite of his strength and ferocity, was as ten
! dernearted and supplemented as child, the
| INDECENT amiable woman, and the swarm OF
towheaded children.
! Caddie had dreams of something different
| from the vagrant life that satisfied the rest OF
| the family. Sometimes she saw herself busy
| wife and mother, moving about the two or
! three rooms of a log farm house, with a few
hardy flowers struggling for existence in the
! small front garden, with currant bushes, straw
| berry vines, and flourshing vegetables sur
rounding the house. and with waving fields OF
| grain stretching away to the dark mountains
| that bound these western valleys.
She contided these visions to her mother
] once
81 Tell yer what, maw." she said, when
| git married ] hain't goin to hey no Sec IL
| ferlorn DOLBY shanty ez this here. It'll hev %
! be log house, and derned well plastered an
whitewashed inside an out. An, there'll be
the pirtieSt rag carpet on the front room faer
! you ever see, an good board floor in the
| kitchen, too. An III hev likely colt to ride
! an some cows, SOS to hev lots of milk an but
| ter, an yer bet yer life I'll be boss o. the hull
| golderned ranch"
"Yew'vo always he'd fine idees in yew're
head, Caddie," drawled her mother; ian eff
| De-.
|. wants yew tew, maybe he'll Civ yew log
| house; but yew know well enuff that Dan
Williams CANT do no sech thing fer ye."
"Huhl" observed Caddie; "ef that bull
| headed ole Burns ever comes a-shinin' round
me, he'll get sech a crack in is jaw II make
him see stars, or else my name haiDt Cad
| Johnson"
"Wall guess he'd better not risk it then,"
said the woman. with feeble laugh; "yew're
pas a-hitchin' up the bosses, Caddie, an 1
reckon yew'd better pack tibet there bit O but
ter in box, an mebbe ole Burns ull give yew
some shoes fer 1t eff yewre real nice tew him"
"All right" answered Caddie; "look-a- here,
! you Tom, I'll kick you into the middle of next
week if you don't stop tryin' to laso that there
! pig. Come along here now, an git yer face
washed. We're goin' to the Coop an
mebbe you'll git some candy, eff you behave
| yourselves"
There was only one seat in the wagon and
on it sat Dick johnson and his wife, who held
the baby in her arms. Caddie sat the box
i'll the back of the wagon, and the children
! rolled around her in the hay that was always
taken along for the horses to eat while the wo-
men were trading the cooperative store and
the man was drinking at the saloon
The road ran along the bank Of a river,
! whose cleaning breadths, seen at intervals
| through the overhanging willows. together
| with the long sweep Of green and brown and
| gold bunch grass that bowed its tasseled heads
! as the breeze passed over it, waving like
many-coored sea away to the dark mountains
with their snowy tops, formed picture almost
| sublime in its perfect loneliness.
THAT there grass is en'en Almost ready to
cut" remarked old Dick, II guess Ill berry
| the bishops haY-rick tomorrer an go after
! load O hay, an you younsters kin come along
! an help stamp it, eff you want to-"
The children set up joyful shout, for this
| was treat 10 them, as it would be 10 any one
| to tumble about in the long grass, to fish for
| minnows in the cool, gurgling creek, to wade
| into ii knee deep for water-cress, TO pick TART
| wild strawberries and to eat all these delica-
| cies with the sweet homemade bread and
country butter And after this delightful day.
! how pleasant it was to roll in the sweet-smel-
! ing hay, with the breezes cooling their sun
burned cheeks during the long ride home.
The wagon drew up at last in front Of the
! village store, and the girl marshaled the chill
dren into the Coop" with good deal Of
! forcDle persuasion.
GLOW de do, Sister Johnson" said the store
! keeper, who was also the Mormon bishop;
"well, Caddie, see you're as fat and sarsy as
] you ever was"
Caddie stared at him scornfuly, not because
she was offended at his free language, she was
| quite used to that; but this uncouth creature
| had as much natural coquetry as any other
! fifteen year old girl
| GLOW much be you payin' fer tptop butter
now % she asked I'm lot you hey this here,
! II you'll Civ me six bits a roll fer 1t"
40, come now" he said you don t want to
do me out O all my profits like that. Seein
\ it's you, III lei ye hey two bits pound fer it,
/ an that's more'n Ia do fer ennybody else"
"Well," said the girl, II guess III jest look
I al some shoes, and if i kin see par 1 like
! Iii take em fer the butter"
/ Caddies mother had gone with her numerous
offspring 10 visit a friend, and Caddie was left
/ alone 70 do her trading. Her elderly admirer
took advantage of this fact to plead his cause
/ with the handsome girl.
you've got a pretty foot fer gal o your
size, he said a. she tried on pair Of calfskin
I shoes declining all help from him.
"Huh"' said the lady, too eugrossed with
! her task to notice the compliment; "yas. these
/ here shoes fits kinder slick, but don't b'lieye
| thcys hold water when the snow comes"
90, they'll hold water fast enough" he an
swercd "but they amt half nice enough, fer
| sech a hansum foot az yourn, Now here's q
/ par o. kid shoes | IN a-8ayin' fer nv wife"