The Opelousas courier., 1895-11-23
with me-. Count it cat lad sake your

with me-. Count it cat lad Jake you,
note"
| So he counted out the stuff, put the
note in his pocket and rode Of toward
home.
Now it so come to pass that old tnan
jeremiah Jernigan was over to my
house that day when old man Billy
come fors a settlement. Old man Jere'
| niah was way yonder the most richest
man in the county, and had lots OF
| money loaned out on short time and
long interest. He was already feeli1
| tolerabie skittish about Confederate
money, though he couldn't keep from
! takin it as long as it went with every
body else. But he was powerful anxious
for somebody to refuse it, so he cooia
! follow suit and call for nothin bat gold
and silver when people he had loaned
to come to take up their notes. He
looked at me with n nervous, dont-you'
take-it sort Of Il look that day when
Uncle Billy shovel down with his Con
federate money. But ! could see some
further ahead than the end of my nose,
and so the wink didn't work worth a
rent with me. | didn't 60 and forget
that lobe Crittenden was holdin my
note for 60. 800, and I wanted to bring
that note homo with me and put 1t
away good before the whole country
broke away from Confederate money.
w.. --- -@- l.r, - ,Y.ac thot aN;JlHnf
make tho first break and say myself.
OF After That Hartshell Nots.
The very next day my note 30 lobe
Crittenden fell due, SO bright and early
that mornin | saIdled up and mounted
my nag and started off after it. The
road to Tobe's place took me right by old
man jeremiah Jernigan's, and when !
got along there the old man come out
and hailed me and wanted to know
where / vas bound for. t told him
where l was goin and what | was goin
after.
You would better let your horse
swap ends for home right here" says
the old man. "Tobe Crittenden amt
goin to take your Confederate money
We'll, if he don't take It," says /, sit
will be because you have been down
there and put him up to refusin. and If
you want a heap older than me would
give you my plain. personal opinions of
man that would play a game like that
amongst his friends and neighbors. I
I'm on my way to lobe ~Crittenden's,
and l am goin after that note"
s"And Ill jest bet my mare mule Kit
egin the s~crriest steer calf on your
place hat you don't git IT." says old
man Jeremiah.
an take that bet If [ loose" says /,
shakin hands with him to clinch it.
''Good mornin, Uncle Jerry"
When I hove in sight OF the Critten-
len place lobe he was walkin fast up
and down his front plaza, and smokin
and putin with his pipe like a steam en-
CINE.
Good mornin, Tobe," says l.
Good mornin, sir" says he.
"You needn't too make out like you
don't know me-" says !. ''cause I was
up at his cold and highferlutin
Eyes, I do know YOU" says be. 'That
s Rufus Sanders. Light and git down
come in"
| went in and let him know from the |
Jump that l had come after that note.
You can git it," says he, "providin
f you have come heeled with the right |
'ort of rocks, but let me tell you now, l
I'M not goin to take any of your durn
money!
"What was old man jeremiah Jerni-
gan dom down here yesterdays says /.
HE was down Ore on business says
lobe, "but that amt got nothin to do
With your durn Confederate money. I
wouldn't touch it with a forty-foot
well and good, Mister C~rittenden,"
avs !, "but you have got &c sign a
'aper refusin to take it. A man that
alks as big as you do ought to be
sillin to put it in black and white.'
lobe lowed he was willln to sign mis-
anne, and we Went in the house to fix
p the paper.
That "Durn Dictionary Document"
Sorry spellin has always been one
I my maincst weak pints. / al
'ays would spell a word accordin to the
'ay it sounds. My spellin is done
by car, as it were, and il the
stters don't run along with the sound
t the word / am more than probable to
lake a mess of it.
Now lobe Crittenden was good and
but at the same time he
as one of these nervous, restless, sus-
lcious sort OF men. He wouldn't be-
eve his W dear daddy on a Bible
ath, and he wouldn't trust his best
lend as far as you could throw a camp
'eetin by the tail. And besides that,
ODE vas monstrous dull in books. The
'hool teachers use to say that the
way to put any learnin in Tobe's
bad was to split the thing open, put
le book in it and sew the whole bust
ess up.
1t was my job to write the paper, and
didn't go so very far before l struck a
not and called for a dictionary. lobe
emit and got the book and then wanted
know what | was goin TO do with it.
81 have struck a hard word to SPELL"
VS. ], land / need the book to pull me
rough"
"Look a here, Rufe Sanders" a Y
}, don't you go and put nothin in that
per which I can't understand" I