The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-09-04
UNCLE JED AND JAMIE.

He was neither tramp, a drunkard,
nor a pauper, though stranger encount-
cring Uncle Jed might, at casual
glance, have easily mistaken for either
the grizzled, slouching figure in garments
much the worse for wear, frayed and
ragged hat-brim, and broken shoes often
bound about and held together with
twine and withes of bark. But closer
Inspection would have noted that the
lines on his face were not those which
dissipation leaves, and that despite his
unkempt appearance there was about him
an air of sturdy independence, as of one
who felt right 20 his own place in the
world, while the small troop of children
that, mixed with shaggy dog or two,
unusually followed close at bis heels,
chubby and robust as to face and form,
though somewhat Gsheveled and dilapi-
dated as to garments and hats, showed
that, whatever his circumstances, he was
decidedly man of family.
e.. In fact, Uncle Jed, or more correctly
Ipeaking, Jeduthan Cranston, was both
householder and landowner, and his
excursions, so frequent as to almost seem
continuous, along the quiet country road,
through the bit of woodland, over the
long hill, and between the rolling fields
were in the nature of a progress from the
weather r-beaten, little old house that
formed his residence to his "other place"
something like mile distant. To be sure,
neither estate was of great extent, yet
sufficient in the hands of IN energetic,
thrifty man to have rendered him in
farmer phrase ''free-handed. But Uncle
TJed's industry was never of the violent
kind. In desultory sort of way he
managed to raise enough to fill the
mouths of the flock who filled the old
house till it seemed in danger of bursting.
For the rest if pane of glass chanced
to get broken there were plenty of
hats lying about with which to replace it
and if the b2rRdoor threatened to part
Ifrsm its hinges rail propped against it
could keep it in position, all of which
seemed to tEopble the plump, placid wife
of his bosom as little as it did Uncle Jed
himself. Perhaps had his farms been ad-
jacenthis working hours might have been
less intermittent, but his jaunts from one
to the ether were apt to be broken by
periods of repose, if the weather invited,
under the shade of a roadside tree or q
perch on the rail fence that enticingly
bordered the way and long conoeuy
with whoever chanced to be working
within conversation range or would spare
the lime for discussions that ranged in
.ubject from national politics to local
gossip.
Withal he was good citizen and neigh
bor-honorable, honest, kindly, proven
bially slow in the payment of his own
debts, but always ready to become Sc
curity on the note of a friend. Children
and dogs grayitated to him naturally, and
his horses and cattle, never any of them
lean from overwork, rubbed around him
unafraid. He was supposed to hold some
nebulous theories as to paternal govern
ment, fragmentary memories of the stern
rule of grim old father. He had even
been known to exhort neighbor with
cause of complaint against his numerous
youngsters to "Get good gad and sock
lt'ight to 'em," but under no circum-
stances was he himself ever known to prac-
tice Solomon's advice. And having lived
a lifetime in one locality the people, most
of whom had known him as boy and
man, were so accustomed to his easy going
ways, hismany oddities and eccentric
tiles that they regarded him hardly more
of criticism than natural feature of the
landscape. With years the sturdy boys
ind girls grew into sturdy men and
women and from sheer force of necessity
swarmed out from the old home-hive.
But Uncle Jed, little more stopped and
grizzled and slower of step than of old,
and with garments that seemed never to
wax older, yet gave no sign of renewal,
still took his leisurely way between his
farms and held still more extended con-
versations across the fences, as one who
was relaxing the cares and anxieties of