Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1889-08-30
Enoch stood in the doorway, shufled his

7
then"
Luke said nothing. Placing the glue il
his breechcs pocket, he walked rapid.
across the green toward his barn.
Hes smart calculated the undertak
er 'tand no mistake; but / cal'late the new
cimetery's smarter'n him. 1t ken wal
longer'n he ken, and he knows it l cal
late did them folks a good turn when
put in a word about the brass band and th,
Grafton Luke kinder pricked up his ears
| See."
Enoch shook his head mo; he'll bea
you folks yet" he said He'll trick Y,
some way" Shading his eyes with hi
hand Enoch looked down the road 'Darr
me ef his dorg amt come back home agin
Theirs one smarter'n Luke to East Village
'Tain't no man; its a dsrg, Vas, Luke:
cute, but his dorg-he' cuter'n Luke. But
both on 'em are a pair. Land! see tibet
dorg sneak home, hidin behint thet hedge
knowing, sure as guns, he's bin sold agir
fer five dollars-the bill We see Luke hey
and coming home fer to be sold agin. Why
Lukcs made forty dollars outen thet pin
| ter inside o. three months, to my sartin
knowledge"
The undertaken laughed. make mol.ey
outen dorg7 No! G'way!7
YEP
| 1.-The same dorgt'
Yep. l see i'm sell the pin;er ycstid-
dy to Hank Sphinx. Hanks a felIer as
won't stand no nonsense neither. Hank
druy off with the dorg in his buggy, him a
looking kinder knowing at old Luke, and
a-wagging of his tail ez tho he knowed
what to do without being told. Now he's
back, and Luke'l try and sell i'm agin to
| some fool afore the weeks out"
| II swan. Thet's cheating
"Cheatings Luked cheat the store teeth
outen his gran'ther. Why, he's the cuss
they renegaded into the war fer palming
off shoe-pegs on government hosses fer
oats. And We ought to hear him brag o
them war times. ! shouldered a gun, but
he never saw Dixies land 'cept as sutler,
and now he's a-living off pension as he got
cause he claimed he was injured in the
Wilderness, being throwed heavy in a
wrastling match-he war allus wrastling-
ana spraining a shoulder blade, which he
gets ten dollars month fer ever sence.
Per'aps thet five dollar bill was dorg mon
ey; per'aps it guv'ment money; guess like
ly dorg money! dun know"
''Pour me out gallon o molasses, y
said the undertaken rs he rose TO go. Guess
ef Luke's reskill we don't want ter open
our new cimetery with no such carrick-
ter. We'd better be looking around fer a
corpse as we ken praise up without lying
about. Sho! The village is so dern healthy,
and we've waited an waited, and spent our
money" and the undertaken heaved deep
sigh
''Wall, better look fer another corpse as
amt a reskill, and hasn't sold dorg over
n dozen times" laughed Enoch, as the mo-
lasses slowly drained from the hogshead
into the undertaker's jug. 'Iuke would
spile any cemtery. Guess folks to Weston
won't thank Luke much fer his choosing.
Guess likely he'll be forced to try the new
enterprise arter ALL"
An empty farm wagon drove by in the
dusty road, m aking a great clatter, and
obscuring Luke's house and barn across
the green in a cloud of dust.
When the dust rose and they could see
beneath it, Luke could be seen leading his
pointer into the barn. He seemed to be in
somewhat of a hurry, and the dog proving
unwilling, he led the animal quickly back
into the house. At the same moment a
horsoman rode furiously up to the store,
threw himself off his horse, and shouted to
Enoch, who stood on his doorstep, scarce
ly ten feet away: "H'lo, Enochl Seen any
thing of my p'inter bought o. Luke Jud-
kin fer five dollars"
''Cheap dorg!' grinned Enoch, in re-
ply.
Bought i'm last Thursday, and here
It's only Tuesday, and the dog run off. |
suspect Luke's got i'm back. Eff the CON
sarned raskill has gone and done me, I'll
II hC spcdhcl, Il TALL dIHlcllc youllS
farmer, gave quick swing to his arm as
he spoke, Indicative of the punishment he
would inflict upon old Luke Judkin if
| found delinquent.
"Hank Sphinx, you'd orter know better'n
to try an buy thet dorg Menny hez tried
it," said Enoch, ''an' not one on ems ev-
er he'd much success. You carrn't buy
thet dorg, Hank; you carr;.'t do it! The
dorgs too smart. Yes see thet dorg not
few minits ago Guess he's to Luke's
barn now"
''Well, | guess | boughten the dorg; an
I'll hev the dorg, or I'll hev the law onter
Luke!'
The undertaken smiled. "Mebbe as you
ken Arrest dorg!" he said ''As for Luke,
he amt done nuthin'; it's the dorg's fault "
Hank Sphinx scratched his head II amt
no lawyer shark, but guess l know 'nutf to
know thet dorg's boughten an paid for; an
he's my dorg, an I'll get i'm outen Luke $
barn, or Luke gets q lickin' one or t'other!"
said Hank, angrily, striding across the
and dingy gray barn.
The others followed. Enoch was alto
gether too much interested in the event of
the ''dorg" matter to hesitate moment
about the need of 'tendin' his store. Per-
ceiving his departure, half a dozen young
urchins, strollng homeward from bath
and swim in neighboring stream, stole
into the store and slyly helped themselves
to Jackson balls" and 'lasses cakes in the
window. Not content with these sweets
they daubed their faces with -four, and ar
rayed themselves in the yellow tarpaulin
suits which hung over the counter.
But if the urchins were having a good
time, the i'll concealed look of amusement
in honest Enochs face as he crossed the
green also showed that he toe was enjoy
ing himself, perhaps equally well. "Pd
like to see how Hank'll 60 to work." he
laughed. "Hank's mad, an Luke amt no
match for him bare stand-up fight. But
Luke's tricky. Hank'll get the dorg!7 You
see, Mr.. Staples, it'll take sheriff an a
pussy W ietSh Cho uoi Z a"dy-dH was IL
goin' to say hull iedge an jury to hold
inn Luke is game, he is. Guess he's got
the dcrg hid away by this time. Sho here
he comes Now what's he a-doin off,
Enoch's genuine admiration for old
Luke's shrewdness found vent moment la
ter in hearty slap upon his thigh. Luke
advanced toward Hank Sphinx with hearty
treble ..Uow- ter-doof and n hand shake