Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-02-22

! come to so, Abe spoke up. blindfolde,
as he was, and saws he:
Doc, how much do you charge +:
Teller for sayin' his life, making a MAJ
u of Il poor wreck-doin' what b,
never thought could be done but b,
dyin' and goin' to kingdom Gomez"
oh" says Doe Bra;nard. saws he
that Amt what we look at as pay prac
t1ce. You didn't call me in; 1 come OF
myself, as though it was what we call
a clinic. If all goes we'll, and if YOU
happen to have a barrel of apples to
spare. 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 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 a 5-year-
old pet mare he'd raised from a colt
pretty as a picture, kind as a kitten
and as fast as split lightning; and ne,
time Doe come down. Abe he lust
slipped out to the barn and brought the
mare round and hitched her to the post,
and when Doc come to going. says
Abe:
Don't forget your nag, Doctor: she's
hitched at the gate"
Well, sir, even then Abe had the
hardest kind of Il time to get Doc
Bralnard to take the mare; and when
he did ride off, leadin' her. it wasn't
half an hour before back she came,
ickety-split. Doe said she broke away
from him and put for home. but 7
always suspected he didn't have no use
for a boss he couldn't sell or hire out,
and couldn't afford to keep in the vii
lage-that was what Chicago was then.
But come along toward Fall Abe he
took her right up to town, and the Doc
tors practice had grOwed 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, 1 mean.
How did the scholma'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 practice handlin' his eyes, so
to speak. He just kept to himself. en-
joying himself. He'd go round dom
the chores, singing SO you could hear
him a mile. He was always great on
singin', 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 happened 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 then the corners of her mouth pull
ed down, and she pulled one hand
away, and-if you believe me-that was
the third time that girl cried that sea-
son, to my acknowledgement all for moth
in either time!
What did she say? Why, she just
said she'd have to begin over again to
get acquainted with Abe. But Ephe's
was out of joint, and Ephe knew
it as well as any body, Ephe did. 1t
Abe's eyes to Ephe's nose.
Married? Oh, yes, of course; and
lived on the farm as long as the old
folks lived, and afterwards, too; Ephe
staying right along, like the fool he
always had been. That Teller never did
have as much n 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 a book written about the Captain
of Company X of the Sixth. It was
Company K he went into-him and
Ephe. And he was killed at Shiloh
just as it always seems ITO happen.
He got killed, and his worthless broth
er come 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 toddles round, taking care of
the children-kind of a he dry-nurse;
that's about ali he ever was good for,
anyhow.
Ny name? Oh, my names Ephraim
-Ephe they call me for short; Ephe
dodge Abe was my brother.