The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-02-11
LOOKING FOR THE CONFLICT.

As A stranger was riding through the llackett settlement" a range of worn and gullicd farms spread upon each side of crcck in Alabama, he WAS hailed hy an old follow who sat on fence.
 Say, thar, mister have you come rum very fur down the road?"
 "Yes, quite distance"
 Do you rickolleek back wander whar thc road crOsses the erccky"
 "Ics,"
 Didn't sec any calico lyin' round thar, did you?"
 No"
 "Sec no ha'r nur mthin' that mout lead n pusson ter b'l'evc thar had been a scutllc?"
 No, l didn't sce anything but why do you ask2"
 Wall" taking ofl his hat and scratching his head, my wife wont down thar jest now ter pay her re- specks ter Mig Blake You see, Mik Blake an my wife hain't been lovln' each other with sistcrly affection lately, an wife she went down thar jest now ter havcH settlement About il week ago the church folks had big eatin' over at the mcctn'- -housc ter raise money enough ter buy our preacher CT hoss, ez hiZen wuz statchod off sorter sudden with the bots, an my wife an Mig Blake wuz app'intcd n co.nmittce on pies. They have been buckin' agin each other In tho pie line fur some time, an' this crfair give them Il chano, to spread therselvcs, My wifi, gcthcrci up A passul of dried peaches, she did, an 'gunter turn out pies like n regular machine. Wall, when the feed come of, my wife she had sick headache an couldn't 70, but she sent her pies over an then laid back k a-waitin' fur the compliments ter pour in. Miz Blake wuz on hans, she wuz, an whnt did she do when she sed nay wifc's pies but 'liberatcly walk over, take up one, twist 1t in two an slam its life out ayin the ho'. went up ter her, fur my pride was techcd, an says, says l.
 "Mk Blake, that ain't no way tor treat A body's pies
 "'ltS the way treat bad dough an spilled fruit she lowed, an with that she gethered another pie An Of hadn'ter dodged she would have plas- tered me 'twixt the eyes with 1t. Then she turned an 'pologized ter a man that the pie hit. That want all she done. A gre't big dog came a-slIppin In an showed his good sense by nailin' one uv my wife's pies, ap' wbut did Mig Blake do but holier out whar ever body could hear her; Anybody got any parcgoricf' she yelled. 'Ef some body ain't got some sortcr medicine thar'll be dead dog putty soon.'
 "IIer husban' wuz a-standin' el0st by, an he looked At me an sn0rted like glandercd hoss. That wuz mon l could stand, an' we mixed an eur mingled, ez it were, right thar. They sipsrated us, an' come home. Wife wuz s,ttin' up in bsl waiting fur m C, an she wuz 80 anxious an fdgety that she couldn't hardly wait fur me ter tell her, ez she expected, how the praises uy her pies had been sung, an how Mh Blake had completely eayed. an when 1 told her, shs hoppsd over in bed, an knowd then down deep In my soul that thar wuz goin' ter be war. She waited til she got strong an jest now she sat out to fulGll her mission here on the yeth. So you diin't sec no calico lyin' roundf"
 "So, didn't sec any"
 "Ssw no tattered fragments uy sun bonDets hangin on the bushes?"
 "EO.1
 "Wall, that do strike me strange. Hearn nobody h0llerin, reckon?"
 "So, didn't hear q sound"
 "That sorter makes me oneasy. Bat mebbe Mig Blake want at home, an wife's a waitfn' till she comes back. Wall" getting off the fence, "bi'eve I'll sort ssnter down thater way, fur I wanter git the soonest possible returns