The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-11-14
DICK J0IINS0N'S REVENGE
A SKETCH OF MORMON LIFE.

They were the most contented family
in the world. The father was by turns
a prospector, trapper, or a rancher, but
he never succeeded in making "a good
living any way. lie was a remarka-
bly, handsome mountaineer, tall and
strong, and he looked on honest labor as
quite beneath him. His word was his
bond; he contracted no debts that he
could not pay yet he often cut up fat
steer and divided the meat among his
neighbors, who sent him vegetables and
groceries in return, and never asked
where the fat steer had come from. Per.
haps they knew. When a herd passed
along the dusty high-road the women
smiled at each other and said: 81 guess
well hey some fresh meat to morrow"
Sometimes he would drive into town
with a team OF high-stepping, smooth
coated horses attached to his rusty old
blackboard. Then his friends crowded
about him, stroking the glossy necks,
examining the white teeth, but no one
in this little Mormon settlement ever
thought OF inquiring where he got them.
Dick Johuson was the kindest of men
to his friends aud family, yet he had his
record. lie would be lynchel promptly
II he should ever return to Montana he
had shot bridgelleeper who demanded
toll of him, and, altogether, the deaths
OF ha'f dozen men were caused by the
weIl-known fact that sole Dick wuE
mighty lively with his pistols when he
got 'nuif VIII sky aboard"
His wife did not always have a good
print dress to wear to town, the chill
dren were seldom provided with shoes,
but she always seemed contented and
lazily happy, and there was not mer-
rier set OF little ones. The mother was Il
fair haired, blue.eyed woman, and the
children ali looked like her.
''The chi dren mostly awl look like
me- she would say, with an amiable
smile; "awl of 'em 'cept Caddie, and |
guess she looks more like her pa"
"Gou kin Jest bet | do, and Pm
mighty glad | haven't no tow head like
these here young 'uns,' Caddie would
answer. She was remarkably hand
some girl, and people who admired her
delicate, dark face, were always shocked
when her coarse yo &C and cOarser lang
uage were heard, OF course, this ener-
getic girl ruled the whole family; the
man, who, in spite of his strength and
ferCc ty was as tender-hearlel and simple
minded as a child, the indolent. amiable
woman, and the swarm of tow headed
children.
Caddie had dreams of something diff
ferent from the vagrant life that salts
fed the rest of the family. Sometimes
she saw herself busy wife and mother,
moving about the two or three rooms of
a log farm house, with a few hardy
flowers struggling for existence in the
small front garden, with current bushes,
strawberry vines, and tlourishing vege-
tables surrounding the house, and with
waving fields of gram stretching away TO
the dark mountains that bound these
Western valleys.
She confded these visions to her
mother once.
~ tell yer what, maw," she said,
''when git married haip't goin' TO
hev no sech ferlorn 'doby shanty ez
this here. lt'll hev 10 te log house,
and well plastered an whitewashed in
side an out. An there'll be the purtiest
rag carpet on the front room floor you
ever see, an good board floor in the
kitchen, too. An I'll hev a likely colt
to ride, an some cows, SOS to hev lots of
MIN ah buttCIi an yer btl ACl me IL
be boss o. the hull ranch"
"Yew've always he'd fine idees in
yew're head, Caddie," drawled her
mother, ''an' ef yew marries Bishop
Burns, like yew're pa wants yew tew,
maybe he'll Civ yew a big house, but
yew knew well enulf that Dan Williams
can't do no sech thing fer ye."
"Huh :" observed Caddie. "Ef that
bull headed ole Burns ever comes
a-shinin' round me he'll get sech a crack
in is jaw III make him see stars, or else
my name hain't Cad Johnson
'Wall, l guess he'd better not risk it,
then" sand the woman, with feeble
laugh Yew're pas a-hitchin' up the
hosses, Cadd.e, an reckon yew'd better
pack thet there BIT o. butter in a box,
an mebbe ole Burns ull give yew some
shoes fer it eff yew're real nice tew him. a"
"All right" answered Caddie, "Look
a-heTe, you Tom, l'll Kick you into the
middle of next week if you don't stop
tryin' to lasso that there pig Come
along here now, an git yer face washed
We're goin' to the Coop, au' mebbe
you'll git some candy Of you'll behave
yourselves.
There was only one seat in the wagon,
and on il sat Dick johnson and his wife,
who held the baby in their arms
Caddie sat on the box in the back of the
WAGON and the children rolled around