Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-05-25
A DOUBLE WEDDING.

BOnage, with shoulders Ike & drome-
dary's. His face is long. like that of
3 horse, and he mas black hair, streak
ed with gray. on his head, with tuft
OF the same on his chin. Old man
StringfellOw wears neither mustache
nor whiskers, being very particular
to shave himself at least twice a week.
undergoing some pain, and twisting
his long face into all manner Of con-
tOrtIOns-which a circus clown
would give $1,000 to be able Co i'm
itate-during the operation, owing to
the stiff nature Of the crop, ne is reap
ing and the dullness of the instru-
ment with which be works. He sell
dom wears a coat, going In his shirt
sleeves summer and wiuter, only
changing the gar ment Of hickory for
the garment of wool as the seasons
vary-his jean pantaloons being
hOisted up with uspenders-galluses
he calls them-almost to his armpits.
making him look at a little distance
like some queer animal with very long
Legs.
He lives in a log cabin Of one rdom.
with a shed attachment, and has a
wife and six children, equally divided
as to sex. In the room, which Is
rOomy enough, he and Mrs. Stringfel-
low occupy one bed, and the three
girls-Nancy. GIN, for Jane. and
Merier-anOther, and here all the
cooking is done in the wide clay fire.
place of the stick and mud chimney.
The shed attachment accommodates
the boys, Bill, Ben and jim.
Occasionally a belated traveller will
stop at the Stringfellow mansion and
ask for a nights lodging. He viii be
invited to 60 light an come in" and
when ne has done so will be treated
with primitive hospitality.
These people are poor and unedu-
Gated, but there is spirit Ofindepend-
ence about them that nothing can
conquer, and so long as their potato
banks hold out atd their razor backs
come home, to pick up a lit
tie fat IN the field after the crop is
garne"ed, and then pay tribute to
the larder. they care not for king nor
kaiser. They never treat anybody,
no matter who he may be, as any
thing more than an equal, and would
show no difference to the car of all
the Russians should he chance to
travel.their way, with all his cortege.
Should he stop he would be invited to
light" and the boys would ask
about the price of potatoes in town,
the old woman inquiries as to mar
ket value OF eggs, while the girls stood
by and giggled, and the old man put
IN a request for a chew of tobacco
that Is, if they did not mistake the |
whole affair for a circus as, like as
not, they would. They had walked !
fifteen miles once to see a circus-an |
except the old woman, who rode a
shaggy pony about as big as year
ling cali, and with more hair on his
hide than flesh under it.
happened to be a guest Of the
BtringfellOW family once. Finding
myself near their residence one night, /
when it was so dark that I could see |
nothing but the glimmer OF a light IN |
their cabin, 1 rode for it through !
brush and brier, and when / reached !
1t hallOed IN the usual country style. !
Immediately the light, which came |
from the open door, was shut OF by /
two human forms, and VAS bid to |
light an come in"
The family WAS just preparing to |
eat supper, and a savOry mess of /
pork and potatoes were being dished |
up. was invited to join them in .
their meal, during which was pump /
ed pretty dry Of all knew about the |
affairs of the town, which was too far |
on to be visited by any of them very
often. But to this 1 did not object,
nVUIn0 that ETTrh inf -
could impart was all would have to
pay tor the entertainment of myself
and beast-which had been led on by
one OF the boys to share the stable of |
the shaggy pOny-sO l let the ripple
OF my talk fOW in q continuous cur
rent, turning on my inevitable valve
at the same time to give a sparkle to /
plain facts indispensable to make
them enjoyable.
During the evening I gathered from
the whispering and Cycling going on
among the young folk that there was
some mystery Notwithstanding in
which they all seemed more or less in
terested-and when they had gone to
bed 1.-THE old woman had retired i'm
mediately after supper, getting into /
one OF the beds without my knowing
any thing about it until / heard her
snOring) old man Striugfellow enllght-
ened me after a rather peculiar fashion
of his own.
''Well, stranger" he SAID, ''I disre-
yer name. I reckon you'l
stay"
I had already told him my name
half a dozen times, and he had often
aforementioned it. so I did not repeat
it, but told him proposed to stay-a
fact which I supposed he was already
cOgnizant of.
eyes. " he SAID, rubbing hislongiaw.
bone thoughtfully, Il lowed yer