The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-07-10
SAMUEL JARVIS AND WIFE.


few rods beyond them was n tumbe-down
cabin, with three children sitting on the door
step.
1t needed but a glance to show that man and
woman were husband and wife, and that the
cabin and children belonged to them. The
woman had on an ancient straw bonnet and
faded shawl, as if bound on journey, and
both people were somewhat excited. My APP
pearance cut short their conversation, and
both gave me 'howdy ?" as drew nearer.
1t was the lonelest, gloomiest spot in all the
gloomy spurs OF the lonely Cumberland Nine
miles back was mountain cabin i'll another
such cove--how far ahead to the next could
not say. Around the house was half of acre of
cleared ground All else was rock and hill
and bush. The nearest town was twenty miles
away, and as for schools and churches the peo-
pie had scarcely heard of them. 1t wasn't SO
much the poverty-though none could be
poorer-but the utter loneliness, the seclusion,
the cutting loose from all the great world, that
struck me. Once month some stranger
might pass that way. There was an aWesome-
ness about the spot even when the sun shone
the brightest. When the night came down
and the wind sighed through trees and bushes
and the solemn old mountain sent masses of
loosened earth and rock crashing down the
steep slopes it must have been maddening.
We three looked at each other for minute
without speaking. Then the man said:
'I'm jist glad on't!''
"So'm Il'' replied the woman.
s'Cause now I'll tell him all about it, and
you'll see if he don't fetch (agree) with me-"
'No, he won't Samuel Jarvis! He'll jest
fetch with me, and he'll tell you to yer face
that we orter be ashamed of yourselfW
'Is it IA family jaf?' inquired.
Come up to the cabin" replied the man.
The childrens faces wore an amused express
sion through the dirt They seemed to be
about 7, 8 and IL years old respectively, and
soap and combs and towels were articles un-
known to them. They snickered among them
selves as we approached, and the Oldest said
to his father:
MAN was a-goin' this time, fur suah."
"Shet!' was the brief command of the
father.
dad and man is always a-fussn'," added
the second oldest.
Hiram, you shet" exclaimed the mother
as she sat down beside him.
The father and sat down upon log at the
door, and while he was clearing his voice to
begin, and reaching out a stick to white
while he talked, the woman suddenly broke
down and sobbed ont;
"Just look around see how I've had to live
fur the last fifteen years."
'Thar's them as lives wuss," replied the
husband.
"What hov we got? she demanded, starting
up and looking around "You could tote our
goods on yer back. We've ,ist squatted yere,
and we don't own nuthing."
tits agin the law to own niggers," he calmly
| observed.
"Niggers? What do we want with niggersl
Niggers would starve with usl We'uns is Mig
| gers huff"
| "We'll hev muel some day.
The children cheered.
"a mu-el! Some day. OH yesl A real, live
| mu-el! And kerridge! And We'll feed him on
| sivers and Splinters! That's bin the talk fur
the last dozen years and whar's the mu-el!"
''Muels is high, Nancy"
"Kin 1 wollop kim, dad?'' anxiously in
| quired the oldest child.
"Shet called the father and mother in one
voice.
ITS like this, stranger" continued the
| wife, after wiping away her tears. eve don't
git along. It's all his fault. He's lazy, and
he don't keer fur riches. He's allus gwine to
| do sumthin', but it never comes. Yere we
squatted when we got splced, and yere we
are today. Them young 'uns has 9owed up
| like heather, and I've forgotten all L ever
knowed. I've got clean pushed out''
"Mam's a-bawling!" snickered the Oldest
"Shetl" exclaimed The father, as he reached
| over and cuffed the youngsters head.
81 purfess that we hevent got rich," slowly
replied the husband, "but tain all my fault.
Wasn't claw'd by bar? Didn't fall fun
| q tree? Wasn't the young 'uns down with the
measles and thngs?"
"But you hain't used me right" sobbed the
woman. Look at these duds-the best l hev!
I've worked and toled and saved, and what
have | got for it? Who be | but ram-Shackle
squatter's wife, a heyin' chills all summer and
goin' barfut in the winter? Whar be we and
what be we?"
The children set in and began crying with
| their mother, and the mountaineer drew his
J. sleeve across his eyes and whispered:
Stranger, talk to her soothin' like. She's
powerful good hearted, but liable to spells.
She's got spell on Just now"
"Perhaps things will soon mend" 1 said as
the woman controlled her emotion a little.
"Whar' did ye find me, Samuel Jarvis % sho
suddenly exclaimed.
"At yer pops"
eyes; at my pops, whar' was brung up
like lady, What did you promise?"
pnn
$50 you did. / was to hev muels, and ker-
ridges, and niggers, and silks Whar' be
they?"
"We've bin misfortunate Nancy. The
stranger will fetch with me that a man hain't
to blame fur his misfortunatcs. Come, wife,
take off yer things"
"What fur?"
"To stay, Of course. See them young'uns
weepin', and see me a-askin' it of YOU"
"You said could 90 if L didn't like your
II was only funnin', Nancy"
"Ma's a-gittin' the upper of dad!" snickered
young Hiram.
"Shet!" called the father, getting in dou-
BILE cuff this time.
"Well, might stay on account of the chill
dren," said the wife.
Eyes, they are poor things"
"And mebbe you'll do "a turn better"
~ will, Nance--durn my buttons If l don'tn
but the stranger must fetch with me that
| I'm a-doin' it to please you and the children"
Eyes," | said, your duty lies here. You
must not desert your family"
''Ma dasn't go, and pop dasn't let her"
called Hiram from behind q stump, and then
we went inside. We had Smack" Of bears
meat and coin-bread and as evening came
| down they gathered in front of the fire TO hear
of the wonders beyond the Cove Rail
roads? Neither mother nor chill
dren had ever seen track. Steam
boats They could hardly comprehend. New
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago! They
had never heard the names. Tclcgraphs and
telephones-pianos and organs-reapers and
mowers--steam engines and electric lights.
Each was a wonder to them. Neither man nor
wife could name five states, They had no
names for oceans. They could name only
three large rivers. We talked and talked,
and when midnight came the squattcr reached
over for my hand and said:
Stranger, don't u make scr head ache 10
carry all them knowledge aroundU
And the woman added:
"Dog-gone my shoes Sam Jarvis, but we's
got to g aristocrats purity soon, or III hang
myself"
H.. i. y. G.
Don't suffer any longer, but use Tanners
InfallDle Neuralgia Cure, the only iufallbic
cure on earth for all forms Of neuralgia and
nervous headache, Raugum Root Medicine
q IL