The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-11-25

u
'em! When fairs begins TO give double.
headed calls the go'by in this lsentry,
shurff, agricultur' mowt cz we'll go an
but say, shurff, mebbe they had a
root-histin' tushwobbler out there;
Tha's some hope fer agricultur' II they
had one o them root-h'istiu' tushwob.
ble.s at the fair. They had so many
durn curious critters an things, raked
m scraped from ev'ry hole an corner
o. the 'arth, 'cordin' to your tell, that
they must had n ttishwobbler An
If they had tushwobbler, course they
must a had II flock o. bbsnoolss. They
couldn't had one without t'other, for
the tushwobbler can't git along with
out the bibsnoolSs no more'n the bib.
snooks kin git along without the tush.
wobbler. ! hope ye seen jist one root.
h'istin' tushwobbler, anyhow, shurff,
with it's flock o. bibsnoolls, at the fair.
If ye did, agricultur' may git over il
yit Did yep
The sheriff seemed to be too much
amazed to answer the Old Settler ,nd
the latter resumed bis subject.
"Tha want nuthin'," said he. "ez
give ung.agricultur' in the fust days
o. the Sugar Swamp deestric' bigger
shove forrid than the root-h'istin' tlsh.
wobbler. But he were an oncoinmon
curious critter, an showed how natur'
uscty lay herself out, b'gosh, to make
things handy fer Sugar Swamp. The
root-h'istin' tushwobbler were twenty.
seven foot long, not countin' his nose,
which were nine foot long, made o,
horn harder'n iron an built for usin'
cz u scoop or pry or n crowbar. He
were shaped e'zacly like seegar, an
his eyes an his ears was sot on his
body jist about where ye mowt say his
| tail fined 1t. The tushwobbler's bust.
ness were to dig down clean to the
lowest roots o. trees an hist the trees
out, roots an all. fer the only thing he
! lived on were the roots o. trees; so il
his eyes an ears had been in his head
| they wouldn't Il ben no use to him.
cause they'd been stuffed full o. dirt
all the time. So natur' fitted 'em up
| high an dry on the critters rump, an
consistently he know'd all that were
goin' on under ground an 'bove ground
though he mowt be twenty foot down
in the airth, diggin' an pryin' an
seoopin' the roots loose SOS he could
| hist 'em out-an' tha want no hu:ri.
cane ez ever gallivanted through the
woods could do it quiclier'n he coiild
or half cz proper. About six foot o
the tushwobber's hind end were stuck
full o the cur'ousest holler things
that looked like spiles, an they was
spiles, too. They was mebbe four
inches long and had quarter-inch
hole runnin' clean through 'em. Bat
w'at'd Il knocked ye the fattest were
the raisin' O the tushwobblers hide.
all over his back. inter sorter loops,
jist e'zac'ly like handles on yer carpet
bag. Tha must ben hundred a.
them handles on the tushwobblers
back, an, havin' not even a sign of n
leg, he We're pooty nigh the funniest
lookin critter that ever was. He
hadn't no legs, an he hadn't no wings.
He couldn't walk, he couldn't fly nor
he couldn't creep nor crawl, yet he
didn't live in the woods, but five mile
away, in the big rocky hollers on top
o Squawkee hill, a thousan' foot high
an he went home ev'ry day.
''Ie mowt wonder leetle about how
the tushwobbler nav;gated, but natur'
knowed her business when she built
the tushwobbler. She know'd that if
She stuck legs on him or sprouted wings
on him, SOS he could travel jist as he
wanted to, he'd eat hisself outen house
an home the fust thing he know'd, for
he had an all-pcrvadin' appe tite, an
would h'isted ev'ry tree tina were in
all that hull kentry up by the roots SO
durn soon that his pastur would a-ben
gone an he'd starved. So natur'
rugged him up jist ez tell ye, an then
she built the bibsnook. The bibsnool,
were torable queer specimen O
Sugar Swamp nat'ral hist'ry, too. He
looked sumpin' like an owl, only he
didn't hev no feathers nor no wings.
Tha want bone in him nowhere,
'cept his two legs, which was sat square
where his tail d ben if he'd had
one. He had long claws, strong ez a
blacksnith's vise He he'd bill about
two inches long, shaped jist like them
funny spiles in the tushwobbler with a
hole in it big enough to fit right over
them spiles. Tha WANT nuthin' else
about the bibsnook that We're funny to
look at, not till he sot down to bust
ness. A flock o. bibsnoolss allus went
along with ev'ry tushwobbler.
''Tha hain't no use me tellin' We how
the tushwobbler h'isted agriculture
ahead in Sugar Swamp, fer Yer orter
know that clearin' the timber often
now deestric is the work that keeps
agricultur' back; and the way the tush-
wobbler cleared it by his root h'istin'
beat all creation. Thn's clearin's in
the Sugar Swamp deestric that'd ben
a howlin wildernests to-day ii it hadn't
ben for the tushwobbler clearin' of the
timber off. Course, he didn't lseer fer
agricultur', but he wanted them roots
to eat The bibsnook want rugged up
to get anything to eat fer hisself. but
natur' had fixed that. Tha's more sap
in the roots o. trees than tha is any
where else, and as the tushwobblcr
stuffed hisself on the juicy roots he
took in gallons o. sap. The sap run
along an come out o them spiles o.
hiS'n in streams. Sap was the nat'ral
fodder o the bibsnook an all he had to
do We're to Fl his holler bill over the
tushwobbler's spiles an jist let the
sap run inter him jist like film
bucket.
when it came time to go home to
roost way upon OF Squawkee, ye'd "a
see an amazin' thing if ye'd ben
there. The flock o. bibsnooks ID climb
up on the tushwobbler an cy'ry one on
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