The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-01-12

popular namcsalSe of the hatt, Zcbulou
Q. Somerindych, Esq.-an illustrious
A trinity of merchant, mayor and post
mastcr-and there enliven the passing
hours with incidents of homcly pathos
I and thrilling adventures, from their
own experiences, on the western from
4 tier To be sure some of these Incl
dents were entirely fresh to the narra-
tors, as well as to the audience But
in such cases the freshness belonged
entirely to the story-teller and his tale,
and not to his audience; and somehow
spurious yarns were seldom repeated.
When each man was settled into his
familiar place on box, barrel or chair,
and the magnetic circle of fellowship
became fully established, each passing
circumstance would revive the memory
of some experience, and the current of
rccollections would remain unbrolxen
until the small hours of the night
On one occasion of this kind, as
few of the earliest arrivals had
dropped in," faint squeal was heard
from q remote corner of the room, and
the 'store cat" emerged from behind
n pile of boxes, with big mouse in
her mouth. She proudly marched be-
fore the spectators, to display her
prize. After rubbing her sides affcc-
tionately against such boot-lcgs as
were within her reach, and receiving
many admiring strokes, she deposited
her victim on the floor and began to
tease and torment it by allowing il to
almost cscape-only to be drawn back
again by a sharp and crafty paw.
ftnr vyatrbir,, fbaco ,,,a,,a,,-.n,e TO-. ,
time an old guide broke the silence lie
was universally known by the express
sivc title of Lonesome Lively" in cell
ebration of his abnormal desire to es-
cape from cverybody's society, and of
his phenomenal deliberation.
How'd We like to hev grizzly play
with We like that?" said he, watching
the cat Silence is commonly supposed
to give consent; but MS no one acqui-
csccd in the proposition. he seemed to
take it for granted that he was called
upon to defend and prove that the cir
cumstances suggested were not desir-
able.
"A lot of us fellers had worked the
SOLITAIRE pocket till there wasn't a
solitary speclS o. dust in her pocket,
nuther in ours,-an' we perceeded to
pack our duds and make fur t'other
side NV Jordan creek. The rest on 'em
were soured on the kentry and swore
ez they wouldn't eat nor drink till
they'd crossed over onto t'other side.
Eff they'd made the last part o. thet
resolooshun sometime aforc, an stuck
to ct, they'd punished mighty
sight less o. poor whisky on this side o.
Jordan, l rccallcct
$50 it war late that night when we
snatched bit o supper an stretched
ont ez tired dozen legs rs ever made
spolses around camp fire.
I'D made up my mind that the back
end o. the next day would find us with
more to eat er fewer to eat it. 'Kord-
ingly, next mornin', when we struck n
big patch of chaparral, | switched off
from the party an told 'em ter keep
straight ahead fer clump big pines,
tother side tn chaparral; an if didn't
jine 'em in five hours they might back
track an hunt me up. Meantime was
about to try my luck fer game. They
agreed, an we parted.
''The chaparral were mighty solid
growth, sort o. tunnelcd through here
an thar by the trails. l pegged right
along fer al hour or more, all the time
keepin' my eyes an ears open fer signs
o game. The trail l was follerin'