The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-09-19
DEACON JOSH'S VISITOR.

DEACON JOSH'S VISITOR.
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Joshua Stebbins was certainly tho
most unique and grotesque specimen
OF the Jonathan" that II was ever my
good fortune TO come across. will
endeavo} TO portray the old fellow as I
saw hind first, but words are hardly
equal tothe task. In order To appre-
ciate ain his peculiariues IL "a necssr
sary TO actually see and hear} himSit
his own bome--as did
Imagite a little, short, dried-up old
man with handy legs crooked enough
for croJuet. wicketS, and 90, hnmpe
backed ibat his baStcrSd xtrdw,h
seemed bhlI u ,thatehsd ro6h f6sJhis
shouldeIblaae His hon and leath-
cry face was 'wrinkled and sun-scorch-
ed till j looked like shriyeled-up
chunk OF dried beef. A shibbt hedge
OF whiteI whiskers about an inch in
length r4n around under his chin from
ear to chr, sticking. ont--in.r al disec-
.ions liie thd teathers I'm afturt1g,
gobbler'i tail Low doWh onltha end
OF his hooked nose hung. a pair Of
huge. ir3n-bow spectaclcs that Noah
probably wore when he was running
out towb lines over the top iof MI
Ararat. Oscr the top Of this ponder
Gus ornk ment, whose round glasses
were abbut as zig, .aroupd as silver
dollars. feered two greenBh-a GRAY ey %
twinkiink with al lock- OF shfewd lin-
quiry.
A new iduck frock OF dark brown
hue nirasted oddly enough with his
blue drilling overalls These last
were rather the worse for wear, for. one
mourning knee was covered with a
huge blaS patch; while their seat$had
also beer repaired extensively, appar-
entity with breadth out OF some red
flannel pftticoat. One suspender was
dangling bnd tapping about his heels
like the forked tail of his Satanic
Majesty besides. -.- ..a.s y 49,.
One trdlsers-lcg was tucked into the
top OF an|old cow-hide boot, the exact
size of thiclr ths ,Afabicr syste}ny OF,
notation RrobSbly Tbds1 10 aumbet suf
ficiently Urge to designate; while the
other fot was enclosed in rubber
shoe lika Jersey ferry-boat.,,, The
hiatus between it and hiss high-watcr
pants was bridged over. by stocking
Of as brilliant u yeiiowlasTone OF his
own pumbkins. Such was the comical-
looking Old codger who stopped work
and leanep upon his hoe-handle when
he saw mf approaching.
Fearing he might take the alarm and
refuse toi talk II / declared myself a
newspaper correspondent the first
thing. | simply inquired II / could
board witt him fora day or two.
A curiobs quicker that with him did
duty4bfH ,sffiiie convulsed his featheryy
lips.s sand :His grey eyes twinkled with
goodhpmSr as he answered with
voluSaity at-showed- fears TO. hts
being disinclined to talk were utterly
groundless. In fact / only found
chance 70 sip in ATTIC ford 4cea>
the whY6 ti@ eMAs rtsuLg old ~
following 81 miniscenco:
Wall, I dunno. Ye see it ponds
mostly on heow big holler there is in
ye, an the state o. the old woman's
cupboard. Some o these ere city
fellers that wanter wrastle hash with
us summers air like the snake that
swallowed the woodchuck, bigger in
side than they air oout.
IL remember one chap that kim
deown from Bostin ter make us visi-
tation some tew year ago, pooty toll
erble well. He tells us his uncle's faith
er's swiies sisters fust husband was a
sccont cousin ter my son Johns wife's
step-mother; an as he warn't very
well an hadn't no appetite he kind
er lowed as heow he orter kim deown-
an see his relashin an cit erquaiuted.
when fodhd 9o6t rs WIS soTaish
related tew me- course n tuck hm hn
an tried ter fin him ip. But didn't u !
make havoc. and devastashin in, the
old woman's buttery! Land o. Goshen!
b'lieve the feller was only skin
enny-heow, and had to stuff hisself full |
or else collapse like u busted wind bag. !
Even then IL was u mystery where the |
grub went ter A poor appetite in
Decd
He'd eat an eat an eat till he |
swelled up like striped snake full o.
raw frog an when he'd completely |
cleaned of tho table he'd look wish
fully at the cupboard with eyes brim-
min over with }elyer3 An he KEEP it
up day Met Hay ,Sh Hever said a soli-
tary word .peopt 'goins1sssk ter BqE /
ting. - i.srI.-x. -"
SFinaHs'1 stssup 'tefr{ht a loetle
mite onst when. hDswas goin' for the
'leventh biscuit one meraia -srtsrle,s !
been with us a fortnit
"Tb9t aQlT,s ,ypth, six dollars, ",
barl, vs4l ter,him seys l. AZ. \
"4s24ghSAgS% -four san,S'wpGa 4
cost as much as seven and a half In i
Bosting.' says he. Guess I'll fill up
as wells can on account o. my appe- |
tite, where it's cheap An then he |
reached for the twelfth biscuit---
.'But sass was my son Johns wifc's
stepmothcr's ssc6hd Cousins Eife's sis-yt
ter's husband'ss-ucxy's best hoft9 (B4
would pitch 1t in.er.him aruazfr ~~Itl
tuck more'n quart on 1t to- stuff. his
face every single meal, an, he, u -eAeSel-l