The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1894-11-29
ne ROADS At BRACKETS CORNERS
I Days OccurreDces Which Have Mora
Hidden In Them Somewhere.

\ Days OccurreDces Which Have . Moral
Hidden In Them Somewhere.
Enoch Brown stood on the tavern
stoop at Brackets Corners, gazing re-
entfully at the down pour of rain which
-lad been falling steadily for three OF
four days and had changed the roads
INTO rivers of mud. His horses hal
;lesse.t. but with no wagon hitched tc
ne harness. stood under the taver!
sheds BY and by old Bill Gordon drov
Sowly up with horses jaded by a fiv'
allie pull over sticky roads and VII.
wagon literally plastered with ma.
iordon climbed down.
.Mprnin. Enoch." he said to th.
gloomy occupant of the stoop. How
the goin down north?"
Bad. Powerful bad. lgot stuck in e:
holler there an had to unhitch and bril-. =
my team up here till en- git some OF
10 double mp an 20 down an help me on,
broke two traces tryin to git out alon,
oefore give up.
"Waal Enoch, s'pose en- hitch q
with you: but let's 60 in an warm L
irst.
The landlord was . jolly chap. YES
siree. be said. The goin is JUS awful;
Hear about old Handcrs' son Jim? No;
Waal. you see Jim he made up his mind
to git married to 81 Slocum's daughter
Mary. Tho Slocums thought they'd
give the young folks good send off an
asked houseful O folks. But the par
son be didn't show up Bymeby, when
evenin come. they begun to git anxious
about I'm and made up their minis to sen
somebody after i'm. Jim was tarnation
narvous. an finally he said he'd go i'm.
self. So he took his horse an buggy an
started out.
'Waal. they waited an waited fer i'm
10 come back Nine o'clock came an no
linn an no parson Ten o'clock. an still
hey didn't git there The women folks
was mostly all Of 'em cryin by that time.
IN old Slocum imself started out. There
vas blood in his eye. I'm told | guess
re thought jim had put up a job on EN-.
lesarted Mary an cleared out.
1T was 2 o'clock in the mornin be-
fore be got back. but he had Jim an the
larson with lin. Some o the folks had
gone to bed-they wouldn't let none of
EN- go home-but they had to git right
Up. an Jim an Mary was married then
IN there"
What was the natter asked Enoch.
IVY the parson got stuck in the mud
.lown by the girls mill When Jim drove
up, a-lookin fer i'm. he tried to pull i'm
out an got stuck imself. An there they
mad to stay. wetidin or no weddin. till
old Slocum come along. Then they all
three hitchcd together an finally got
out"
By and by the two farmers. plodding
along behind their horses. started out to
rescue Enochs wagon.
That was kind o hard on young Sand
ers to have the bad roads put off is we'd
din. wasn't it," said Gordon.
'''Twasn't so bad as Lem Walkers
luck. though" answered Enoch. LENS
little girl got fishbone in 'er throat.
The folks couldn't git it out, an Lem
started after the doctor. The roads was
pretty bad, an it took Lem an the doctor
couple of hours to git back. although
they pretty near killed LENS horse
When they got there the little girl was
lead. She'd choked to death. II the
ioctor could a got there prompt she
might a been alive today"
When they reached Enoch's wagon
hey found it hub deep in the mudhole
After nearly an hours work they pulled
t out. but they broke another trace in
,ioing it. When this had been accom-
olished their te1npers were gone com
pIetely.
''Doggone such business said Enoch.
'Farmin amt what it used to be. 1t
seems to me gets worse an worse every
year. don't believe there's a farm in
he county that amt mortgaged.'
Guess there amt" said Brown.
And somethin s always turnin
up." went on Enoch. Ito cost money and
Tut down profits. Now. today. there's
NY harness all smashed to pieces. It'll
cost five dollars to fix it up"
But after ALL" remarked Brown, as
they dislnounted from Enoch's rescued
out disfgured and strained wagon at the
tavern. we're better off than some.
There's plenty of men hereabouts that
couldn't get their crops to market before
this rain had softened the roads mp. Of
course they can't pull any load through
this mud. and they're losin the benefit of
good prices. ls'pose it'll everlastin1y
knock out young Peterson. Hes only
oeen married little while an seemed
To have a pretty good start too" By
md by he added thoughtfully, If it
wasn't for increasin the taxes. believe
I'd help along this move that they're
talkin about to put down broken stone
roads.
Good graciousl" said Enoch. as he
finished examining his strained and
damaged wagon and started to go across
to the harness shop with his broken har-
ness. don't let that craze get hold of
you We work on the roads. all Of Us,
two or three days every year. ~ it is,
though 1t don't seem to make 'em much
better. an We can't afford to have our
taxes increased They're too big a.
ready"
And yet, II the county in which Enoch
Brown lived should issue bonds and
build good roads in place Of the mortar
bed denominations" that now prevail, his
yearly share of the taxes would be less
than his loss in wear and tear on bar
nesses. wagon and horses for that one
day. II the roads were improved young
Peterson could save his farm, no more
weddings would be delayed and the doc
tor could answer the calls of his patients
There is a moral in it a6
which it will pay every farmer to stud,
cut. EDWARD MARSHALL.