Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-01-18
4 TROUBLESOME TOOTH.
BY JAMES BucKnAM.

on gettin' much bigger you'll hev to
wear peck measure stead of hatp'
Mrs. Tottenham turned from the sink,
where she was peeling potatoes, and
looked pityingly at her husband. Josiah
sat near the kitchen stove, holding his
head sidewise' to the heat, with most
dolorous expression on his swollen face.
"Why don't y go and hev it hauled?"
continued Mrs. Tottenham, as Josiah sat
.groaning aud swaying in the old calico
cushioned rocking chair. "Seems to me
II was man wouldn't set and suffer
as you be 4 there was pair O. pinchers
and doctor anywhere within ten miles.
Sakes alive! how you be a squirmin'!
Hev it out, / say. Hain't y got the
curridgel"
Josiah Tottenham looked up piteously,
twisting his long, lank body in the
rocking-chair until his stiff aud swollen
face squarely fronted his wife. 81
daresn't" he groaned. Lord it jumps
wus'n a grasshopper ev'ry time think
ont. couldn't bear to hav no pinchers
scrunched into them tender gums. Oh,
Lord! Oh, Lord Ugh-h-h-hw
With long, signing groan Josiah
Tottenham dropped over the stove and
stared blankly at the teakettle before
him. Mrs. Tottenham stood in perplexed
thought for moment Then definite
line of argument seemed to suggest itself
to her, and she broke out, with apparent
irrelevancy:
'Josi', do you remember the time you
cut the Durham bulls taill"
Iosiah proaned affirmatively
"How he started off on the jump m
snaked " all round the barnyard, m
slowed y int the fence N dragged y on
yer back, but y never let go-just hung
oil like a plarster-'n' finally got yer
knife to the right spot m sliced the crit
ter's tail jest where " wanted to?"
For moment Josiah forgot his trouble
some tooth under the spell of his wife's
vivid narration of a well-remembered
triumph. He even attempted to smile.
but the twinge of pain that shot through
his nerves brought him back to the
doleful present and he groaned aloud.
al SEE to myself that day." continued
Mrs. Tottenham, automatically, 'there's
mighty few men en- compare with JOSH
Tottenham for pure grit" She turned to
for minute, then resumed:
"Member the time y kotched tramp
asleep in the lower barn last spring n
hauled him out by the coat an ducked
him in the troughi"
Josiah nodded 1t was pleasant to be
entertained with "reminiscences of ones
personal proves, even though the pleas
ure were punctuated with twinges Of
toothache. "Y' know seq TO you then,
continued Mrs. Tottenham, ''that
reckoned you wuz cut out FIR soldier I
some outdoor employment requirin' BRAY
eryr
Mr.. Tottenham grunted complacently
"But the best OF ALL" exclaimed hi
wife, with triumphant climacteric fervor
"wuz when the old mare kicked yer in
the stall and broke yer leg, an y jes
| hoped around and hitched her up an
druv FIR yer own doctor without sayin' {
word to nobody call that genooin'
hee-roism, nowW
Josiahs eyes glowed. He began Il
realize that he really was man of un
common fortitude, and he innocentl!
and unexpectedly rejoiced in thu
thought. Being neither logician no
diplomat, he did not see the point a
which the wife was driving; and whel
she finally turned upon him, exclaiming
"Josi', ef wuZ such q man as you b
I'd feel ashamed to knuckle down to
leetle snub of tooth" he was too as
tonished and bewildered to reply. Th
situation did seem Ridiculous; he wa
obliged to admit that. But, OIL thos
| -. o~II Ortrn0hinrr ekninNh
ersl" Suddenly compromise occurre
to him. "Why couldn't you pull il
Marthy" he asked. IL seen you pu
one of Eben's teeth. onct, with string.
''P'raps couldp' cried Mrs. Totten
ham, whirling with readiness that mad
Josiah start. "Lemme hev look /
your mouth, JOSH"
The oddly assorted couple went to tn
window--Jos six feet four in hi
stockings, and Martha four feet six
hers. Martha Tottenham was the small
est woman in Willowtown and Josia
Tottenham was the largest man. Josia
sat down in a chair facing the windo'
and opened his mouth as widely as h
could under the circumstances. His vii
} looked into the dark cavity with IL
compressed lips aud frowning brow
one whose attention is taxed to the u
most. "There's two or three angr
lookin' ones, JOSH" she said. "Whic
o. 'em do you s'pose 'tisp'
"The for'ard one o. the lot. carlate
replied Josiah. 1.-THE pain seems
kinder creep that way"
"Wal, now you jest set right whe
you be ELL get q string" said Mr.
Tottenham, moving away briskly I
ward the pantry. Josiah's hands, gri
ping the chair back, as he sat facing
we're bloodless with the intensity of b
|, grasp. Eben, the eldest boy, had con
in from the barn aud stood stupidity sta
ing at his father. :,
ssGoin' to have IL hauledr he asked
an awestruck tone. His father mold,
couvulsively, looking straight out OF y
window up into the sky, his head tilt'
back and his mouth open IN anticipate
agony. Mrs. Tottenham came out OF :
psntry with piece Of fne braided 81