Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1889-06-10

eyes, she rose up with "howdy' and
tried 10 smile welcome.
~ hope you are not in trouble--the old
man sick or one OF the children deadW |
queried.
She sat down and began to weep again,
and II was two or three minutes before
she could control her voice to reply:
lts he'un-all on account OF he'un"
And who may he'un' be!"
"The ole man."
"oh, your husbandi l hope he isn't
sick "
'He'un never gifts sick. He'un is dun
well all the time and abie to tote all he
kin eat"
"Then what il II !"
AT that moment "he'un" came upon
the scene, having been in hiding behind
brush heap. He bad a small bundle in
one hand and q shotgun In the other.
lie was man Of 80, grizzled and gray,
with weak, helpless look as his promi-
nent characteristic. lie came forward
slowly and gave me II "howdy," and
at the sound OF his voice the woman
began to "hoo-hoo" in vigorous manner
aud walled out.
"Pve dun tod him, jim, all about your
fussingP'
"Who's fussiuF'
"You bep'
"Stranger," he said, as he turned to
me, with his chin quiverlng, ppm dun
glad to meet up with yer. want you to
talk with she'un. It's a-talS!ng of my
heart outer me the way she is taking on.
I've dun carried her to town, over to her
brothers, down fishing, and all over,
and yet she's syearring. She's a scold-
In and a-fussin' and a-try!n' all the time,
aud Jest dun tod her was going away
| couldn't walk up to 1t no mo-.
Ieaw that 1t was domestic I'D, and
experience had taught me the easiest
way to diesipate 1t. l unstrapped my
Rnapsack, gave him plug Of tobacco
and = pipe, handed her pins, needles,
thread, comb, and cheap handker-
chief, and by the time we had got seated
on log for talk the thunder had died
away and the blackness had gone out OF
the cloud.
"Now, then, the trouble is this: You
arc squatters. You are poor. You don't
gee u dollar In cash week In and week
out. You, Jim, raise few potatoes and
little corn, hunt the fish, cut few
| cords OF wood Tor somebody, and that's
about all you can do. Am right"
"Righter nor the Bible, sab. That's
iiet exactly the case"
'And you, Mrs. Thomas, have little to
do with 10 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 bit You
have always been poor.
"Pore au' ehuckless an untitled"
"You never had better home, nor bet
7 tnE nI,NlI M IN not hnEt
have now?"
"Never."
"Well, then, you must have got used
to it. 1t isn't as If you had been rich and
| lost all. /"
an = o 'spect not. "
"You are pretty comfortable for poor
folks. can ilnd many worse of within
ten miles of you"
"You king she exclaimed in great sur
prise.
"Certainly. That's the best calico
dress I've seen in two days.
stranger" she gssped, sprlnsing NJ
| In her excitement, "answer me honest
Andrew Ar there folkses wuss oil mol
| we'unsi"
"Heaps of them"
"Rght yere in this state?"
eyes, and all around YOU"
"fhen, Jim, hain't got another whin-
| ny (complain) to make. / thought
| we'uns WAS the dOwnest of all. Let's
| make up and shet."
threw in another plug of tobacco and
| a card OF shirt buttons to bind the bar
| gain, and as l moved oil they sat OH the
log with Their arms around each other
and their tears falling together.
Two or three days Later, thirty miles
away, came to a pretty thsifty-looking
farm which had about thirty acres in
corn, potatoes and cotton. A white
woman was welding hoe in row close
to the roadside, while four or fye col
ored people were beyond.
"Man home?" / queried, as halted.
mot II my eyesight is good, and /
reckon kin see as fur as most anybody"
she replied.
"Ahi Excuse LIE. You arc widow. "
"SOrter."
"Crops look thrifty"
iSartin. The sile Is all right If you
keep the weeds down. Come up from
the Co'nersl"
Eyes"
"Stop to smackp'
~ :don't want to make you anytrou-
BILE.
"Reckou you hadn't better want to!
Come in"
IL uluh' I lake long 10 discover tDab fne
was strong-mindtd aud "sot" in her
ways. She put on dinner, and as we sat
down 10 the table she thaWed out little
and said:
"You were AKIN If the ole man was
home. He's dun got no business around
yere no mo-. Pm a.apeakin' OF the last
one. Pye hal three"
"Ahp' was all dared rep'y.
"The iust one died Right smart good
thing that he did, as he was tryin' to he
a preacher and l was agln it and flxin' to
stop him. Second one played on the
fiddle and hunted tur bars. i stood
1t fur about a var aud then hunted fur
him. Which ] treed him he had to cum
down."
"How?" l asked as she waited for me
to say something.
"Walked him out aud jumped him of
| the bank over yau, and lac jumped SO fur
| he's never got back. Went down into
Ilintuck and fell dead one day. lie was
TOO lazy to be sick like other folks"
Sand the third, medamp
"He was great on trajin' mules and
| raisin' dogs. When he got his TO- mules
traded down to u sick Ii iler and tame
fox logged him. Didn't meet up with
anybody back thar who looked like him,
did ye"
GLOW did he look3'
"When he went artcr yer he was tryin'
| to fly, hair on eand, eyes bulgin' out and
his breath comm shortly. That was five
months ago. lie nay have got over his
| skeer by this time"
"And so you are running the fatml