The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-06-23

Monday, we got to camp somewhere bout
Jim-Ned Creek Sunday night"
'Jes to think o. me goin' TO town oncet
mo- ~ said Mrs. Pinson, meditatively, that
night, when she and Becky were getting
supper In the brush arbor behind the cabin.
u Amt been sence you was baby, Beck.
Yo' paw an me went TO Wash Dingwalls
infair-he died with his boots on four year
ago; an Tempunce Loo-thet's his widder
she's married agin to Billy Green. rid
behin' him, an he toted you on his lap.
Townfolks air mighty bigaty," she added
warning,y; I'M ye mus do up thet pu'ple
caliker o. yourn, Beck, an put on yo' shoes
an stoclkin's."
"Seems lax TO- days won't nuvcr co."
fretted Beck, "an' ole Baldy air sho TO lame
his SET, or sump'n'. It's alluz that away
whence body are plumb sot on doin' q
thing"
But the four days did go, and when the
eventful Sunday afternoon came, old Baldy,
unusually sound and spirited, was with
jimmy, the gaunt gray mule, harnessed to
the wagon; the patched and dingy cover
was drawn over the bows, bundle or two
Of fodder and few ears of corn were
thrown into the hinder part, and Mr.. Pinson
drove gayly alongside of the rail-fence in
was drawn to with rock behind 1t to keep
1t shut. A couple Of chairs were handed up
for Mrs. Pinson and Becky, and they clam
bered In with the baby. The yellow cotton
poke, we'll stuffed with corn bread and
bacon, and the battered coffee-pot and fry
ing-pan, were slowed under the chairs.
Polly Maria and the boys sat on quilt
spread over the sweetsmelling fodder;
Rove, Ring and Spot, the lean, long-eared
brown hounds, yelped and whined against
the wheels. ill7ttt NT 7i
They jolted away, serious, as became
perfessin' family on Sunday, but full of
inward excitement At night they camped
on the pecan-fringed banks of Jim-Ned, and
were off betimes in the morning. But not
too soon to find the roads lively with friends
and acquaintances from all the settlements
around, bound on the same joyous errand as
themselves. They passed Joe Holder. with
his wife and sister-in-law and the thirteen
children Of the two families, creaking along
in q huge freighter's wagon drawn by five
yoke of gannt wide-horned oxen; they were,
overtaken and outstrAped by noisy squad
OF girls and young men on horseback from
the Fork Valley neighborhood; they kept
within hailing distance for dozen miles or
more Of old Daddy Gardenbrier and his wife,
The Mount Zion folks, they heard, were
ahead of them by some hours, and an i'm
patientyoungster who trotted by on paint
pony threw over his shoulder the informa-
tion that the Big Puddle layout was coming
on behind.
'Lord, Nance!" Mr. Pinson exclaimed
more than once that morning, 81 wouldn't
of took five dollars to of staid at home"
"Nuther would I, Newt" Mrs. Pinson as
often returned, with a kind of solemn de-
light on her thin, sallow face.
The long reaches Of post-oak trough"
were heavy with sand; the shinn-oak prai-
ries between were tangle of roots that
zigzagged across the road, and made prog
ress slow and painful; the abrupt banks Of
the frequent "dry creeks' were steep; the
October sun was hot; and by noon old Badly
had become utterly dispirlted. He had,
fallen little lame, and he moved
along by jimmy, who long ago
had Topped her big ears downward in sign
of weariness and discomfort.
The Prisons under the dingy wagon cover
were well nigh speechless with impatience.
Suddenly Dan stood up. knocking his head
against the low wagon bows. "Jes over
yan," he declared, "pas' one little bit o.
shinn-oak prery, am crost dry creek, an
up hill is town" Dan had been to town
once with Sam Leggett to lay out his long
boarded egg money in four-bladed knife
and pair of store suspenders.
Polly Maria, slim and thin-legged, stand
ing up beside him, pitched backward into
the fodder as the wagon came to sudden
halt behind group Of dismounted horse
men, who, with their brides over their
arms, were squatting down, apparently
for something in a half-dried mud
puddle to the right of the road. "Hullo,
Jack!" called Mr.. Pinson; "what We lost!"
One Of the men looked over his shoulder.
"Hy're, Newt9 Howdy, Mis- PinsonN he
cried, springing to his feet and coming back
to the side of the wagon, where he shook
hands all around. 1--WE 'ain't lost nothin',n
he went on. putting foot upon the hub Of
the front wheel and resti ng his arms on the
hot tire; tive done found sump'n', though,
you bet! A gcnooine el'phunt track in the
sof' mud yander, plain ez daylight, an no
mistake"
Polly Maria and the boys scrambled in hot
haste over the tail-board. Mr.. Pinson
threw down the reins, and held the baby
while Becky and her mother jumped out.
swish may die ef it amt elphunt track
sho ~ he exclaimed, when he had Joined the
circle gathered about the huge
footprint.
"It looks to m LAX ez ef It were hind.side
afore somehow" said Mrs. Pinson, timidly.
II have just been explaining to Mr.. Jack
Cyarter here and these other gentlemen,
said Mr.. Tolliver, the old virginian
who taught the school at Ebenzer Church,
"that it is q fact in natural history that the
track Of the elephant always presents that
appearance" He removed his hat as he
spoke, and ma de an old-fashioned courtly
bow. ",
"Ye don't say!' murmered Mrs. Pinson,
over-awed.
Jack Carter and his friends mounted their
horses and dashed away, followed ut more
sober pace by Mr.. To liver on his slab-sided
tt
The Pinsons eli mbed back to their places
and logged on, across the bit o. prery and
over the dry creek-where they came near
getting stalled-and up the hill. On its
crest Newt Pinson involuntarily drew up.
"By jing this beats mel" he calculated,
with widening eyes. The square at the foot
Of the slope was in an uproar. Horses stood
nose to nose around the courthouse fence,
md were hitched to the scraggy mesquit-
trees that shaded the town we'll. The dusty
streets leading away from the plaza were
blocked with wagons little and big, carts,
dilapidated hacks, high swung,
red-bodied stages-every imaginable kind
of vehicle-and all the intervening spaces us
well as the irregular sidewalks in front of
the four infacing rows of stores, were alive
with men, women and children, who el-
bowed one another, whooping, laughing,