The Lamar register., 1892-08-20

'he dark fir trees on the hill : do
.os-phus the short for Jossphs',
aske1 the long, slim and bonv man
VINO iay there with his bio bent and
sno,sy ieer sticking far out from nm.
.er .ne blankets and over the polo
Ina. az served Tor a foot board.
lis, yis, sorr; Josephus In th.
'norruc forr Joseph, Z.ke. moi how -
rs its Well, by puml Saw Lnav
ell about that ere bool so-t y,
nS'09s IKE; Just suit you. see now;
anu d IKE to hear 1t again; just suit
YOU see now" and he looked long
ana neiiiatively Mt his queer, twisted
toes, that were all trying to climb
VI on top OF one another away down
yonder beyond the other end OF the
narrow little bed of fir boughs and
blankets in tho dark corner of the
cabin; then fer the third time he said,
talking IN whisper to those curious
and multitudinous toes, "Jist suit
you. See now"
And so rend and read from Josep-
hus; and the next day I wrote let
Ter or m to his little sister at hcme;
to Savannah Landing, Mo-, and
signed Ezekiai Wells; .or although he
had two brothers with him, young
b Others, W were busy cleaning
mp IN the claim, and faithful, loving
brothers they were, too, not one OF
t1em knew even so much OF books as
the alphabet.
Let IT be noted as we go along that
nearly all these men were eternly
honest, and hey all had more or less
Knowledge of the Bible; many OF them,
90 per cent more than now, bad
Bible names. IL il very curl us, n
thing worth nothin .. else | would not
bother TO set it down; but reckon
they must have brought these names
and this tradition OF Holy Writ nll
the way, through generations, from
Virginia and the aroinas.
IN about a week the two younger
brothers got all cleaned up in tae
cain down in the corce under the
cabin. and their friend Flanagan
weighed and brou tht them back their
dust. clraned OF black sand AMI stray
bit of clinging quartz and pyrites OF
true. for three men. But the long,
slim creature in the corner, who by
tn $ time was pretty wrll doubled up,
all except the persistent and ever
moving feet; stopped coughing long
enough, As they set the dust in the
g1id pan by his bedside, to say,
Boys. divide up and 90 home"
And here was the example Of anoth-
er tradition that had come down all
the way. even from beyond old Virgin
1.-THE old English loyalty "a obed
ience to the head OF the family 1t is
TO be sincerely resettei that this has
so entirely pvrished from among us
now.
The two young men held their heads
silently for SECOND, then el,ncing at
each other, they came forward.
"Ys~. put her in, three pi es here on
the table hy the bed, an H~z he'll
turn his back nm III touch one pile
with the pint Of my lacknife that
Pat give me to peel my toe nails with
when | get well next week, an he'll
say, who e7"
The poor fellow was tied in knot
coughing for n timr, and then he
$ -rm-d to take up some thr ad o
conversation with thoss remote and
muItitudino1s tlUe Hcqua ntanc $
d ,wn yonier bey ond the foot pole
tai E dust was diyi Ell. Tn he
turned his h. How eyes and looked on
the rlittering little heaps. nn he
= tiled to see thEt ueariy all the big
pie es were heaped on the big est
heap. And n vHs glad, for that
would go to little Hez-little Hez, who
had worked rht ard day all the
time that he lay ther. in the corner
talkiit to his toes. SIM the oth-r
brt thrr, was ood. but lie had n
beard on MS chin; an he had baby
At home, too. but this boy was as
Benjam n.
"l'urn your back. Hez; whose?"
brother Zeke's."
Ii was n minute or two before Ieke
C ,uld sec straight enough to touch
a iother pile with any precision. But
w zen it was all divided they came up
smiling and propped him in bed.
Say, Hez.' ne said, as he took the
largest piece on his pile in his slim.
blue fingers, say. want you to take
this and buy 81 a pirote. Oh. wont
she cavot to hear it screecb and
scream and cussl"
H tossed the nugget into his youn,
brothers heap, and then utter tying
up and untyin. himself he took mp
anotter piece. and tossing it into the
o her brothers heap, said: Say, you
g her another pirote. Boys, let her
rec pirotes when you get to the
/ ;hmusl One mi ht die, and then he
o her one would be lonesome like.
Yes. one m ght die. That happens
sometimes"
He pushed his gold all over and
a way from him and then, with the
b blade of the Jack knife he divided
is in two and made them put it into
their long buckskin bags as they
stood there before him.
"An' now you ait; you git to'nirft
an Won git now. Provisions is short,
an i need I'm. ow as lam gittin' well
Col go. 20 O. night. I ere! Good, by.
One hand to each in long. hard
clasp: and as they hurried out-ioi
their hearts we're full and they w uld
not weep, these men OF old, in the
presence of anybody-they heard
pipins CHEEKY Vol call ng after hem
.Say, don't forget the pirotes Tor Sis
boys"
/ tried to read some more to hin
right away to keep him from talkin.
to his toes about Sis and the "pirotes,
and was ri hit in the midst OF th'
Gsn,or and .Innn