The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1893-06-10

Queer FOLKS ono Meets while Travelling
over Stretches Of Prairie.

ouoer Folks One Meets while Travelling
over Stretches Of Prairie.
Jourueying across the prairie In which
sver way the road runs, we at length
overtalSe the strangest looking cavalcade
Imaginable dilapidated wagon with
dirty, ragged cover, drawn by an i'll as
sorted team of very small horse and an
diversified mule long since fit subjects for
the boneyard. The driver is a dirt be
grimed, tobacco stained, low visaged
man, while his wife and family, which
last is much too numerous for even a
wealthy man. are II anything more
dirty. more ragged and more dishevelel
than himself. On a tall, gaunt mule
rides the eldest son and heir o., driving
before him herd Of two cows, a calf,
one sheep, a goat and an old blind, lame
horse. while two NANCY, mongrel ours
trot in the rear as If only too fully aware
of their miserable existence. Occasion
ally the iadod team essays to move out
Of walk, but as quickly relapses into
the pace which for many weary months
has been its accustomed gait
As we rode up the following dialogue
ensued:
"Howdy."
"Howdy."
"TravelingY
"Travelin rite smart"
"Come far?'
"Come from the bottom lands Of old
/ Missoury."
AT which point there is a lull in the
conversation, during which each surveys
the other. Suddenly the knight Of the
tobacco quid turns interrogater:
"Say, stranger, what might yer name
beY"
At this an insane desire takes posses
sion Of us to reply like the schoolboy,
"It might be Jones, but it amt but we
| tell him our name, after which the way
| is open for an endless string of inquiries,
the first Of which are invariably;
"What might your business beI"
"Where be you going"
"Where'd you come fromY
"How's crops thereI"
This sort of thing is bad enough to go
through once, but when one passes a
dozen such each day in the week, with
each of whom he is expected to go
through the same performance, 1t be-
comes terror by day and nightmare
4 in our dreams Moreover. one is ex-
pected to stop and 20 through it, and ]
have more than once heard myself char
acterized as "too high toned to talk to
common folks" and merely because ]
had no time to stop and talk with them.
The absurdity of this is at once apparent
to those here in the east. where to mind
ones own business is the universal Gus.
tom. As a matter of fact, live, ener-
getic man has no time to talk or fool
with people by the way. 1t matters not
a picayune whom he meets, what theii
business is, where they are going or any
thing else concerning them.
! At night we camp at the only water
hole we have seen during the day ant
are soon Joined by three bands of NOV
/ ers. Presently as many fires are burning
} and as the darkness gathers the scene il
by no means unpicturesque Children
are playing about, women are cooking
the men are tending the horses and stalk
ing them out for the night, while thl
fickering of the campfres, the harsl
I talk and coarse laughter of the men len(
certain something hard to describe
c If everything we possess is not borrowe,
: by our neighbors we are lucky, even Il
, provisions, which last of course ar
/. borrowed with the mental understand
:. ing on both sides that they are not to b
: returned. Supper over, the siege begins
Visitors pour in from all sides, mostl
b from the male element, and for hour
we are entertained with a complete his
tory of each. We cannot ask them /
i go, for are they not gentlemen" an
Z as good as we? SO there we sit, unit
Il finally one by one they drop off an
leave us to ourselves.
This is fair sample Of a ride owe
Texas roads, and the same may be n
peated every day in the year. In fact
y was during my stay until hated tn
II sight of a wagon on the same road
Washington Post.