Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-05-30

We KANT see INT.
"Hit air dim in hyar allus," said the
prisoner, '.tell fer leetle taste o. sun
shine, pears like I'd perish"
"Ye'll git better now,' said the father,
taking the invalid's thin hand in his
brown, horny one, and awkwardly strok-
ing it. "Why, yer hand" said he by
way of a joke, sis so thin an white hit
looks eenanos' like streak o light"
81 low | looks like afternoon shad-
der. anyhow" said the invalid, feebly.
II kaint hold out much longer"
"Ier mouths dry, honey" said the
anxious father rnconsciously going back
to his childhood's way of speaking to
him. "Hyar, let pap gin ye a lettle sup
o water ter wet it,.
But the prisoner closed his eyes and
slightly shook his head.
"Jest drap," coaxed the father; ''ies
the matter o drap, Jackie, honey.r
"Not thet thar water" said the pris-
oner rousing up. "Thet thar prison wa
ter makes me heave Oh, fer q drink
outer the spring at home! seems like |
could drink hit dry"
Old Bigby felt frightened; he was no
part of nurse, and the changed appear
ance of his son still shocked him.
Hit looks like good water" said he,
shit does. Try sup"
But the sick man refused, and his
father welcomed the entrance of the
jailer.
"Here, Jack" said that official, "my
wife'S sent you some soup; try and take
it,"
But the invalid still refused. Il kaint
eat hit, he said.
"What do you crave?' asked the jailer.
Sunshine an fresh ar" cried the pris-
oDer, rousing up. ''Ef l could only git
out whar the sun'd shine on me, an the
mountain a'rwould blow on me, an whar
l could see the peak o old Baldface,
a-rollin up benin pap's house, seems like
could git up an run a mile"
you should ha' thought of all O that
afore you went to monkeying with the
revenue" said the iailer.
Il never thought ez how I'd be
cotched," said the prisoner, sullenly.
''But hit does seem hard" said old
Bigby. apologetically, ''fer man ter
suffer so much-eenamos' pay with his
life fer maxim few gallons o. wild cat
liquor liker that"
THE government don't want it, said
the jailer, undertaking to explain the
revenue system, "but it don't want you
to have it, neither.
{. l,+
said old Bigby. "What kahn hit matter
ter the gov'ment? En- what" he con-
tinued, as the jailcr was unable to an
swer that question, zen what's a man to
do with his eXtry crap o corn when he
KANT git hit to market? We uns lives ON
the side o old BaIdface, en- ter haul oul
crap ter market costs purity nigh ez
much ez the crap is wuth En- this year,
OWN ter one accident en- another, the
crap piddled out o the small cen o the
horn. Hit didn't pay ter haul thet leetle
bit ter market fer the mite o money
they'd pay fer hit. En- we uns war hard
up; we had nary sugar nor coffee-ies'
bread en- a little bite o meat; en- Jack
sez, sezzee, 4 haint agwine ter stend
hit, l hain't; III ies haul the corn over
ter Stilingers still en- turn hit inter bug
juice. IIit'll fotch nuif ter buy sugar
an coffee.
so he hauled hit over thar ter the
still, every bit o our crap we had to spar,
en- the stillcrs stilled hit on sheers. The
shotes. they followed Jack, en- the rev'nue
they followed the shotes en- busted up the
STILL en- throwed out the mash en- the
beer en- the whisky Ell away went our
years crap at lick. En- wussur an all,
they cotched Jack. Stillinger he got er
way-hes $ a ole hand at the business-en
the rev'nue took en- brmg Jack Ter At
lantv."
"Then you didn't git no sugar nor cof.
fee?' said the jailer, as old Bigby paused.
Mary drap," said he mournfully, shak-
ing his grizzled head, zen we lost our
leetle crap besides. But what's sugar en-
coffee ter Jack bein' tuck? Me en- his ma
en- the gals wish we uns never heared tell
o. sugar en- coffee. What's sugar en- cof-
fee ter Jacks lynn thar a-perishin'
away, weaker AN a baby?" cried the old
man in tremulous voice.
Here the sick mans nerves gave way
under flood of self pity, and lie began
to weep.
ar-thar-honey, cried his father,
trying to soothe him, don't ye cry" He
thrust his hand into the pocket of his
copperas jeans coat and drew out a gaudy
red and yellow cotton handkerchief.
La! Lar he calculated, ''ef | hain't
clean disremembered all bout hit Why,
honey, ef hyar hain't anew henkercher
yer ma sent me. She saved up all o
ole Speck's aigs en- sol 'em Chris smas, en-
buyed hit fer ye fer a present, Ell she's
been a-keepin' hit fer ye ever sence."
But the gaudy handkerchief, far from
comforting the prisoner, overwhelmed
him with home sickness.
"Take hit awayw he sobbed. "Take
hit away Oh, ma! Oh, ma! I'll never
see We aginw
The staiwart mountaineer dashed the
gay handkerchief under the bed, and
kneeling beside his son, Graded him in
his arms as if he were baby.
"I.har, now; thar, now; don't ye take
hit so ter heart. Yen git well en- see her
yit. Papll nuss his boy tell he sees her.
Don't! don't, my Jackie, my babyl Oh,
my Lord!" he moaped in sudden terror
at his helplessness to comfort. The un-