The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-10-08

MS WlnnlnS away De1Ore ne le1U
Things was gettin' purity low at his
house, they was almost in need. But
through it all Sue never blamed nor
scOlded him.
TRY an come home without stoppin',
father" she used to say. An he'd go
off in the mornin' promisin' faithfully
"to do it." But his road home run
right past the tavern an he jest he'd to
stop in fur minute, an thet minute
ud stretch out to nigh next mornin'.
Nobody interfered, cause it wasn't no
body's business.
One night the oil man failed TO show
up at the usual time; half-past seven
come; eight; half-past eight. Eyes be-
gan to turn in Custer's direction an he
seemed kinder oneasy. But jest five
minutes before the clock struck nine
OF 81 Rogers shufflin' step was heard
in the entry. 1t sounded little quick
ern usual. Custer frightened up all of
sudden as he heard it an took step
toward their table. But the minute
the oil man struck the room every body
could see thet somethin' was wrong.
His face was haggard an pale an there
was skeered look in his eyes.
Boys" says he, in husky voice, "is
there one of you thet'll lend feller a
little cash in an emergency" The men
looked up questionin'ly from their
cards. "Sue's down sick" he went on,
IAN Pm clear out O. money"
Every hand went down into its own
er's pocket, an silver, gold an bills
come up, but Jack Custer was before
us all. He was at the OF mans side in
about three shakes, and, pressin' roll
O. money into his hand, he said" think
I've got right to help you" The rest
wanted to chip in, but Rogers said he
he'd enough, and we could only hold
him long enough fur him to tell us part
o. the story. One O. Mike Jasper's kids
met him on his way from work to tell
him that Sue was sick; hurryin' home, he
found her ragin' with fever. Some o.
the neighbor women was workin'
with her, but he wouldn't leave her
side until he was jest compelled to go
fur doctor. Thet was why he dropped
in there; cause as the doctor would hev
to come some distance, he might
want to see the color of his cash before
startin
He left as soon as he told us thet,
turrible worked up; an, in fact, he left
us purity much excited, not knowin
how bad sick Sue was.
But it turned out, arter all, thet it
wasn't nothin' serious, jest light
spell. But tell you OF man Rogers
was skeered purity bad. He straight
ened up an didn't gamble fur a week,
an fur time folks begun to think thet
he he'd really reformed. So did Custer;
an he packed up his things to leave.
He was standin' at the door one day
| when Sue passed, an he asked who she
was. When he found it was Rogers
darter Sue, he whistled long an low.
He took good look at her when she
| come back thet way. Thet evenin' he
unpacl1ed his traps an settled himself
to stay. The boys winlSed their eyes
an whispered to each other thet "Cus~
ter was goin to play fur higher stakes,
but 'twasn't no use, fur the cards was
stacked agin him dead sure" Custer
jest went right on maxim no secret of
his intentions but worEin' far an
squar'. He began TO try and draw Sues
attention, an every body looked on in
interest.
Jem Mace only laughed very quiet.
He reckOned he'd fixed them cards him
self an llnowed jest what chance the
gambler stood fur drawin' flush.
or 81 Rogers, arter his weeks spell
o goodness, come back to his table as
eager as ever an jest about as on
lucky. Thet is, at tirst later on he be-
| gan to sorter win,
Clusters luck has changed" some
one whispered. An thet's the way it
looked. But them thet tried to take
advantage o the change soon found
thet somehow he didn't lose to nobody
but oil man Rogers. 1t got clearer,
though, one night, when, arter the oil
man he'd made a big winnin', Custer
leaned across the table and said: rll
! be down to yorc house afore long. |
want to talk over some business with
YOU o. course Rogers couldn't re-
fuse, an Custers game showed out
plain; He'd been buytn' tie OF mans favor.
| a good deal of advice was whispered
TO Jem Mace, but he wasn't skeered,
an said thet he wouldn't interfere as
long as things went on straight an
honest An they seemed to be goin'
on thet way to very bad endin' for
pore Jem.
Clusters business with OF Rogers
must "a turned out mighty satisfac-
tory, cause he kept goin'.
In the meantime he m the oil man
he'd kinder quit playin' so regular, but
one night when they'd been talkin' to-
gether earnest like fur long time the
oil man got SO excited thet he Jest
bawled out without thinkin': "No!
won't try to persuade her to do nothin'
she don't want T. do"
They both shut up right away, but it
looked like the gambler was tryin' to
get oil Rogers to persuade Sue to mar
ry him, an every body looked at Jem
Mace. He was perfectly cool. Custer
went up TO him an said: "Ef q man
kin win the girl he loves, all far an
squar, why shouldn't hep"
"Why shouldn't he?" says Jem.
"Hev you any objections to bein' cut
out in an honest way?"
"Wall, no."
We all began to look at Jem an
wondered eff he hedn't got spliced on
the sly, but eff anything uncommon
was up he didn't show it.
Arter thet talk Jack Custer got more
desp'rate He commenced drinlSin'
harder an drawed the OF man back
again into the same OF ruts, arinkin'
an l0sin' his money. But it was all
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