Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-10-05
uSt as pitful as a broken-wing bird,

just as piful as a broken-wing bird,
! How about the girl: Wei, it was all
: right Tor Abe-and all wrong for Ephe
: l-au wrong for Itphe. But that's all
past and gone-past and gone Folks
come IUr miles and miles to see cross
eyed Abe with his eyes as straight as
!. la looms leg. DR.. Bramard was a
great man forever after in these parts.
Everywhere else, too, by what L heard.
i When the doctor and the Squire
come to go Abe spoke up, blinfolded as
he was, and says he
doc, how much do vc.1 charge a fei-
Ter for SaYin' his life-making Il nl:u
out OF a poor Wreck-doin' what he
never thought could be done but by
dyln' and goin' to kingdom Gomez" 90
says Doc Brainard, says he, that amt
what we look at as pay practice-you
didn't call me in-I come Of myself as
though it was what we call a cline. Ii
all goes well, and if you happen to
have barrel Of apples to spare you
just send them up to Squire Cations
house in Chicago and I'll call over and
help eat EN-"
/ What did Abe say to that? Why, sir.
he never said a WOrd-but they do say
the tears started out again, out from
under the bandage and down his
cheeks. But then Abe he had 5-year-
old pet mare he'd raised from a colt
pretty as a picture, kind as a kitten
and fast as split lightning-and next
time Doc came down Abe he just
slipped out to the barn and brought the
mare round and hitched her to the cate
post, and when Doc came to be going
says Abe:
Don't forget your nag, doctor, she's
hitched at the gate
Well, sir, even then Ace had the
hardest kind Of time to get Doc
Brainard to take that mare; and when
he did ride off leadin' her it wasn't
half an hour before back she came,
lickety-split. Doc said she broke
away from him and put for home, but
L always suspected he didn't have no
use for boss he couldn't sell nor hire
out, and couldn't afford to keep in the
village-that was what Chicago was
then. But come along toward fall Abe
took her right up to town, and then
the doctors practice had grown so
much that he was pretty glad to have
her-and Abe was glad to have him
have her, seeing all that had come to
him through havin' eyes like other
folkS-that'S the SchOolma' am, [ mean.
How did the Schoolma'am take it?
Well, it was this way. After the cut
tin Abe didn't show up for a few days,
till the Inflammation got down and he'd
had some pratice handlin' his eve, so
to speak. He just kept himself to
himself, enjoying himself He'd 60
around dom the chores, singing so you
could hear him a mile. He was always
great on singn', Abe was, though
ashamed to go to singin' school with
the rest. Then when the poor boy
began to feel like other folks, he went
right over to where schoolma am hap
pened to be boardin' round and walked
right up to her and took her by both
hands and looked her straight in the
face and said
DO you know me?'
Well, she kind of smiled and blushed,
and IL the corners of her mouth
drew down and she pulled one hand
away, and-if you'll believe me-that
was the third time that girl cried that
season, to my certain acknowledgement
all for nothin' either time!
What did she say? Why, she Just
said she'd have to begin all over again
to get acquainted with Abe. But Ephe's
nose was out of joint, and Ephe know
ed it as well as anybody, Ephe did. 1t
was Abe's eyes to Ephe's nose.
Married? o yes, of course, and lived
on the farm as long as the old folks
lived, and afterwards, too, Ephe stay
ing right along, like the fool he has
always been. That Teller never did
have as much sense as a last years
birds nest
Alive yet? Abe? Well, no. Might
have been if it hadn't been for Shiloh.
When the war broke out Abe thought
he'd ought to go, old as he was, so he
went into the Sixth. Maybe you've
seen book written about the captain
of Company K. Of the Sixth. 1t was
Company X he went into-him and
Ephe. And he was killed at Shiloh
just as it always seems to happen. He
got killed and his worthless brother
came home. Folks thought Ephe would
have liked to marry the widow, but
Lord! she never had no such an idea!
Such bait as he was, compared to his
brother. She never chirked up to speak
Of, and now she's dead, too, and Ephe
he just toodles round takin' care Of the
children-kind of he dry-nurse; that's
about all he ever was good for, any
how
Ny name? Oh, my names Ephram-
Ephe they call me, for short Ephe
Dodge. Abe was my brother.
WHEN A BOOK IS IMMORAL.
The Kind Of Literary Trash That Is