Smyrna times., 1889-07-10
LOWLAND FOLKS.


farmers wives, north and south. 1 was
close on to her before she was aware of
my presence, and then, hastily wiping
her eyes, she rose up with a "howdy"
and tried to smile welcome.
q hope you are not in trouble-tho
old man sick or one of the children dead?'
qucried.
She sat down and began to weep again,
and it was two or three minutes before
she could control her voice to reply;
cts ho'un-au on account of he'un"
"And who may 'he'un' be-"
''The ole man.
ooh, your husband? I hope he isn't
sick"
"He'un never gifts sick. He'un is dun
well all the time and able to toto all no
kin eat"
"Then what is it,"
At that moment "he'un" came upon |
the scene, having been in hiding behind
a brush heap. He had a small bundle in |
one hand and a shotgun in the other. He |
was a man of 80, grizzled and gray, |
with a weak, helpless look as his prom
inent characteristic. He came forward |
slowly and gave me a "howdy," and at
the sound Of his voice the woman began
to ''boo-hoo" in q vigorous manner, and
walled out:
eve dun told him, Jim, all about
your fussing"
"Whos a-fussin'?"
"YOu bew
stranger" he said, as he turned to
me, with his chin quivering, ''Im dun
glad to meet upwth yer. Iwant you to
talk with she'un. It's a-taking of my
heart outer me the way she is taking on.
I've dun carried her to town, over to her
brothers, down a-fshing, and all over,
and yet she's a-yearning. She's a-scOld-
in and a-fussin and a-cryin' all the time,
and Jest dun told her I was going away.
I couldn't walk up to it no mo-"
saw that it was a domestic cloud, and
experience had taught me the easiest way
to dissipate it. 1 unstrapped my KNAPP
sack, gave him a plug of tobacco and a
pipe, handed her pins, needles, thread, a
comb, and a cheap handkerchief, and by
the time we had got seated on a log for
talk the thunder had died away and the
blackness had gone out of the cloud.
"Now, then, tho trouble is this: You
are squatters. You are poor. You don't
see a dollar in cash week in and week
out. You, Jim, raise a few potatoes and
q little corn, hunt and fish, cut a few
cords Of wood for somebody, and that's
about all you can do. Am I right"
Brighter nor the Bible, sah That's
jist exactly the case
"And you, Mrs. Thomas, have little to
do with in the house, little to wear, and
the prospect of ending your days in this
lonesome place makes you impatient and
cross. Is that right
''Befo' the Lawd it ar'l My own daddy
couldn't hev put it better"
'Well, now, let's reason a bit. You
have always been poor"
"POre an shuckless an unfitten."
"You never had better home, nol
better clothes, nor more to eat than yor
have now?'
"Never."
"Well, then, you must have got uset
to it. 1t isn't as if you had been rich ant
lost all.
"N-o, 'spect not"
you are pretty comfortable for poo
folks. can find many worse off within
ten miles Of you"
''You kim" she exclaimed in grea
surprise.
I Certainly. That's the best Gallo
J dress I've seen in two days"
'STanger?" she gasped, springing u
in her excitement, "answer me homes
Andrewl Ar there folkses wuss off no
we 'uns?"
"Heaps Of them"
Right yere in this state2"
Eyes, and all around YOU"
'Then, Jim, l hain't got anothe
whinny (complaint) to make. though
we'uns was the downest Of ALL Let
make up and shet."
threw in another plug Of tobacco an
a card Of shirt buttons to bind the ba
gR.in, and as 1 moved off they sat on Il
log with their arms around each 9th
and their tears falling together.
Two or three days later, thirty mil
away, came to a pretty thrifty lookir
farm which had about thirty acres
% corn, potatoes and cotton. A viii
woman was welding hoe in a row clio
to the roadside, while four or five color'
people were beyond.
"Man homer" queried, as halted.
''Not if my eyesight is good, and
\ reckon I kin see as fur as most anybody
J she replied.
"Ahl Excuse me. You are a widow
'SOrtar."
"Crops look thrifty"
- "Sartin. The sile is all right if y,
keep the weeds down. Come up fro
n the Coners?"
u eyes"
"Stop to smack"
'I don't want to make you any trC
ble."
"Reckon you hadn't better want
Come in"
It didn't take long to discover Il
she was strong minded and "sotp in
ways. She put on dinner, and as we
down to the table she thawed out q lit
and said:
"You were AKIN if the ole man v
! home. He's dun got no business arou
yere no mo-. I'm a-speakin' Of the
one. I've had three"
"AhT" was all / dared reply.
"The fust one died. Right smart g
thing that he did, as he was tryin' to
ok a preacher and I was agin it and f1
A., to stop him. Second ono played on
ne fiddle and hunted fur bars. I stood
re fur about var and then hunted
him. When treed him he had to c
he down."
II "How2" asked, as she waited for
III to say something.
"Walked him out and jumped him
the bank over yam, and he's jumped
fur he's never got back. Went dc
into Kintucl and fell dead one day.
was too lazy to be sick Like other fol
"And the third, madam
N. ''He was great on tradin mules
raisin' dogs. When he got his fo' m
traded down TO a sick heifer and a Il
fox logged him. Didn't meet up y
anybody back thar who looked like /
l. did YEP
''How did he looz?"
"When he went arter yer hewas &
to fly, hair on eand, eyes bulgin' out
his breath comm shortly. That was
. months ago. He may have got over
~ skeer by this time"
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