The Grenada gazette., 1888-05-19

1 NtA'71 IA - EAoNbAa wv NAtts
You dass'n't hang nuthing," added
the children.
While | was eating 'smaek" the
woman stood before me. arms a-kimbo,
and the children completed the circle
around the table
From furP' queried the woman,
as a starter
From Bristol"
Hear 'em say any thing about mef'
Il don't think So"
you orter. fer Tn known all over
the State as the distressedest WON an
in it."
And hain't we distressed. toop' in.
| dignantly demanded the children, in
| chorus.
'Of course, but Tn the distressed
est, being wife and mother"
ANY particular causeP" asked.
"More'n ten miliyon particular
causes, stranger! No human being will
ever know what l.have suffered in body
and mind"
And we we suffered, tool" chorused
tho children.
Yes, some, but nothing in compari-
son. I've had tooth-ache. ear ache,
pleurisy, quinsy, chills, fever jaun.
dice and bilious fever, and through the
hull of it there has not been one hu.
man being to feel sorry for me-"
is it possibler'
''And | haven't a relashun as will
speak to me, on account of my mar.
rying Ezekiel, and if l was dying to.
morrow not one of EN- would come to
lay me out for my coflinr'
That is indeed sad"
Stranger, them is the first kind
words I've heard for twenty years,
and you must-must--!"
And man is bellering toor
shouted the children, as she held her
apron to her eyes.
Presently Ezekiel came Keeping in,
trying to look careless and Indifferent
but he had scarcely entered the dool
when the wife jumped up and said:
Didn't say you dassn' hang yer
self?n
And hain't you threatened to pizen
yerself a dozen times over?"
"And we want to die, too!' howled
the children.
Stranger" said the wife, as she
began to clear up the table. take
good look at that thing over there as
calls hisself u man. You'll never set
eyes on such an ouery. sbiftless, good.
for-nothing specimen of manhood.
He hain't tit fur bears to chaw on!'
Give it back to her, pap"' shouted
the oldest girl,
stranger, replied Ezekiel as he
spit out the bark he was chewing,
.you hain't blind. You kin see as
we'll as me, and you kin now realize
why am the down troddenest, mourn
fullest man in Tennessee. I've either
got to hang myself or 60 on in this
way"
Don't you believe him!' appealed
the wife. '.Its all owing to him, and
I kin prove it If any body is down.
troddenest it's mc!''
They dasn't pull ha'r and claw"
observed the girl to me in strict con.
fidence.
l was about to try and effect re-
conciliation when the teamster re-
turned, having hired a vehicle
couple of miles away, and as left the
house Ezekiel left with me.
No you don't!' exclaimed the wife.
you want to take advantage of me,
but you can't"
She put on her bonnet and walked
out with us, and the six children
brought up the tail-end of the process
sion. As l got into the vehicle, Ezekiel
began:
Stranger, I'm sorry we hadn't
sunthin better; but as I told you at |
the start, I'm the mournfulest, down.
troddenest''
Don't you believe him. stranger"
interrupted the wife. If any body
has suffered more'n n another, it's''-
They dasn't fght!' yelled the chill
dren.
And as we moved away over the
rocky road Ezekiel made another bolt
for the woods to hang himself
and the children were clapping their
hands and shouting:
Come back here, pap, and be
man!'-M. Quad, in Detroit Free