Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-19
AUNT HAMMERS PRESCRIPTION.
A Pleasant Old Lady, With q Pipe and 9
Bible, Tells All About 1t.

Bible, Tells All About 1t.
Harnmondsport Letter in New York Sun.
had occasion not long ago to stop at back
woods farm house, am in the Pennsylva-
MIA lumber region-to ask for information. A
pleasant looking old lady sat on the back stoop.
She was putting away at black clay pipe and
was so intent on reading big Bible she held in
her lap that she did not notice my approach
until placed my foot on the step. Then she
looked up and, taking the pipe out Of her
mouth, said:
praise the Lord, stranger, and good mornin'
to ye! This here hain't terbacker! It'sazmy !!
Set down"
Then the pleasant-faced old lady put the pipe
back in her mouth and pulled away as vigor-
ously as before.
'"Tain't zac'ly AMY, nuther," she continued,
'but it's a stumblin' block an o snare to Amy.
Do v know wat believe the Amy is2 Mebbe
yuv read about how they use to cast devils out
o folks in the way back times. Wat do y
spose them devils was? Nothin in the world
but Amy! The way they went whoopin' n
a whoopin' out o. folks showed th't it was the
Amy n nothin' else Them devils gifts inter
folks nowadays jist the same ez they use to,
but there hain't nobody ez kin cast EN- out n
so the Amy has things its own way, n " en-
ever y see any one a whoopin n a wheezin
n, grabbin' fer breath. y kin say to yerself:
He's possessed of a devil" m yull hev it
right. If person with the Amy hain't pos
| sessed OF a devil then there never was any
devils to possess anybody. l ben forty year
tryin to cast one out o me, but hain't got it
all cast yit. This here oil pipe is doin of it,
though! It's a snare n a stumbliu' block to
'em. THERE said the old lady, knocking the
ashes out OF her pipe and placing it on the
window SILL 1--WE got the best Of him fer jist
now, anyhow Where be y p'intsd ter, stran-
ger?''
''Hammersley's Forks"
"Hammersley's Forks, hay!" said the old
lady. Il lived there wen / was gal, n
there's where fust got possessed OF it. Right
at Hammersleys Forks was where the Amy
fust clutched ON to me. Twas over there where
Sam fust kim kittenin' round me, n was
bound to make 1t regular II take me to all the
Goin's, n set up Sunday nights a sparkin' n
me half the time strugglin n snortin' n
wheezin' n a whoopln' away with the Amy.
Sam he was breathin' love all the time, N
wasn't scarcely able to breathe at I'LL. Then
wen he asst me to marry him l said:
" Sam l said W ats the use?
"'W'at's the use of watY said Sam.
90 me a marryin' you,' l said.
wy notr said Sam.
""Cause I'm possessed O this here devil
said, n tn hain't no use o me marryin' you,'
l said
cit away! said SAM I've bought some
land up on Little kittle,' said he, N you We
got to jine me n help me git it in shape to
grow sumpin' on it, said he, N if that hain't
enough to skeer any devil away th't you've
got. said he. then there never was any swine
rushed inter the deep sea n drownded theirn H.
said he. i tell y there is usen said he.
so me n my devil married Sam, but even
the goin' to live on Little Kittle n diggin' n
pryin a farm out o the land Sam had bought
didn skeer the devil away, N he stayed right
by me, through thick n thin, whoopin' II
whoopin. Say, stranger, did y know th't the
agony never tastens on to idyits N fools n
sich!'
/ assured the pleasant-faced and garrulous
old lady that had ne yer noticed that remark
able idiosyncracy on the part of asthma.
But it 30! che exclaimed. The fust /
know d it Sans sister Mchitable toll me it, 30
ez to kinder console me, oh, years n years
ago, n We alluz noticed it sence. Wen l
think o Sans sister Mehitable hef to think
O that oil foxskin cap tint Sans father give
him ez a weddin' present Sam thort heap
OF it, n the day arter we was married we put
it away keerfu! in a ban box, n bein' feared
o moths my sister Sally told me tn the best
thing i'll the world to keep moths out Of it was
to scatter niggerhead terbacker, cut fine.
IN the cap. Sans sister Mehitable, she said
thu moths d git fat on niggerhead-y' see
Mehitable never liked Sally sence the time
tn Sally cut hec out with her Teller at the
Widder Blakes apple cut, the winter afore.
So Mehitable she said th't moths d get lat on
niggerhead, n th't there wasn't no,hin in the
out o fur. so. not wantin to hev a fuss In the
family right at the start, got some Niger
head n some gum camtre both, n was gIItin
ready to put EN- both i'll the ban box, W en-
Sam 3 mother. she said th't gum cumfre
good, n SO was niggerhead terbacker,
but it she was goin to put fur away, she said,
an waIRed it to keep, sne'd put good Sphinx
lin o kyann pepper on 1t. so got some ky
ann pepper n put The hull three o the COM
FUNCTIONS in the box, SOS to be sure. Wen
SON, ...nk ont fnyG XIV INT IN.
wear it, there wasn't nothing left of it but a big
horn button th't had sot On top OF it. Tho
moths had eet the cap, n The niggerhead n
the gum camtre n the kyann pepper, n Sam
said bed leave the button n mebbe they'd
come back arter that, but they never did. But
it's true W at Mehitable said about the AMY.
1t don't never bother fools, idyits, an SIGH.
Jist see my two boys, Abe and Joe. Both on
ON S got the AMY. There hain't two better
log choppers or bark poelers or log drivers in
the hull o Pine Creek county tn n they be, n
wen it comes to b ar or deer, there haint no.
body anywhere kin fetch EN-. Then. look at
Jim Brown two boys, jist the same age n had
jist ez many chances. They hain't never had a
fetch o Amy, n the best they kin do fer
themselves is th't one on EN- is clerkin' down
in the tan'ry store n t'other un is over to the
county seat steddyin' law. That's one thing
about AMY. 1t only gifts into folks th't has
stuff IN en-.
"r,t don't kcer fer it no more, ez long ez
VIC hCN thS OoSh pooe0i AOt IL PApco OOI run
out. / guess it s mebbe five var ago wen
Sans Aunt Hammer from Westconsint kim
visitin of us. The day she kim l had ben
down to the back pastur' lot, where we hadn't
ben able to grow nothin' but mullen stalks
from the time 1t was cleared, n every time l
took look at that lot 1t made me feel SO dis
kerriged tht the Amy jist whooped an
howled in me fer joy. II made me wish I'd
ben born in the days W en- they could cast out
devils. Well, the day Aunt Hammer kim the
agony was injoyin' itself with ME bettern it
had in good while, cause I'd ben takin'
look at the back pastur' n was more disker-
riged til IL ever.
Way says Aunt Hannah, Watts ticklin'
yer Amy 50 umazin, JaneY' says she.
Its the mullens in the back pastur' says
l, like the steam engine over the tam ry
whistliE fer EN- to knock of fer dinner
The mullensn Aunt Hannah says, why,
mullens is the las thing on top O the 'airth
tht Orter make Amy ieel good says she.
Mullens orter make Amy down in the mouth
the wust kind" said Aunt Hannah.
II could actu'ly hear the amy grit its teeth
" en- Aunt Hannah said that about the mullens,
an it gimme such a throttle ez thort d be
my last breath this side o Jordan.
Aunt Hannah, says, ez soon ez could
snatch some wind from the Amy. You dom.
tell me ! says l.
lis the mullen stalks blossomin'2' says She
Il said they was.
Then gether peck or two O. the leaves
says she, n dip em in strong saltpeter water,
says she, IN then dry 'em by the heat OF a
t.sz tha.,a Al,