Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-05

stand and talk to anything, a dog, cat,
a tree, a oad-frog-anything., Heap o.
times I've seen him limpin' up the road an
he'd turn round sudden an seemed to be
talkin' to somethin' that was followin' him,
an when he'd git tired he'd start on an
maybe every minute look back over his
shoulder and laugh. They was only one
thing Proph was to say, good for. Proph
was capital AL hunter-shorest shot in
the state, in my opinion, and when he'd
take notion he could go out where no
body wouldn't sight a bird or a squirt all
day long, an he'd fill his game bag.
We'll, sir, the children round town, they
was all afreed of i'm, and the niggerS-
th'ain't a niger in the county tibet don't
b'lieve to this day that Proph would cunjer
EN- eff he'd git mad.
An time he takin' to fortune-tellin, the
school child'en thet'd be feerd to go up to
him by themselves, they'd go in a crowd,
an he'd call out fortunes to 'em, an they d
give him biscuits out O. their lunch cans.
From that he come to tellin' anybody 8
fortune, an so the young men, they got
him to come to the old year party one
year, jest for the fun of it, an time the
clock was most on the twelve strike, Proph
he stood up an called out events of the
comm year. An, sir, for crack-brained,
fool niger, he'd call out the smarteSt
things you ever hear. Every year for five
year Proph called out comm events at
the old year party; an matches that no
body suspicioned, why he'd call EN- out,
an, shore enough, fore the year was out,
the weddn's would come off. An babies !!
He'd predic' babies a year ahead-not al
ways calm out full names. but jest in
sinuatin' so that anybody that wasn't decf
in both ears would understand.
But to come back to the story of May
Meredith-he amt in it, no ways in par
ticilar. It's only tibet sense she could walk
an hold the OF mans hand he dotted on
her, an she was jest ez wropped up in
him. Many time when she was a fodder
he's rode into town, muleback, with her
settin' up in front of him. An then when
Ia Of i~r& <,F c1H1
the queen to him-thats ALL He saved her
from drowndin' onc't, jumped in the creek
after har an couldn't swim a stroke, an
mos drownded fisself-an' time she had
long ez she was sick enough to be Sc. up
with-set on the flo by her bed all night.
That's all the way Proph is mixed up
In her story. An now, sense they're both
to the other.
AN May Days story? Well. I hardly
like to disturb it. Don't rightly know how
to tell it, nohow.
Il dor.'t doubt folks has told you she went
wrong, but that's mighty hard way to
tell the story OF May Meredith.
We can't none of us deny, reckon, tibet
she went wrong A red-cheeked peach tibet
don't know nothin' but the dew and the
sun. and to grow sweet and purty-it goes
wrong when it's wrenched off the stem
and ct by hog. That's one way O. goin'
wrong.
Little Daisy Meredith didn't have no
mo idee O. harm than that mockin' bird
O. Rowton's in its cage there. tibet sings
weekday songs all Sunday nights
She wasn't but jest barely turned seven
teen years-ez sweet a little girl ez ever
taught Baptist Sunday school class
when he come down from ST. Louis
an some says Canada-lookin' after some
ST. Louis land mortgages. An. givin' the
devil his due. he was the handsomest man
tibet ever trod Simpknsville streets-that
iS Of on'c fo,-
first time on her way to church, an looked
after her-then squared back direct an
followed her. Walked into church -
lib'rate. an behaved like a gentleman, le-
ligiously inclined. eff ever a well-dressed
city person behaved that way.
We'll. sir, from that day on he froze to
her, and, strange to say, every mother of
a manageable daughter in town was jeal-
Gus exceptin' one. an that one was Hays
own mother AN she not only wasn't jeal-
ous-which she couldn't "a been, of co Sc
but she WASN'T pleased.
She seemed to feel a dread of him from
the start, and she treated him mighty
shabby. but of co'se the little girl, she
made 1T up to him in politeness, good as
she could. an he didn't take no notice of
it. Keep on shown the old lady every
'tention. an when he'd be in town, NEST
any evenin' you'd 60 past the Meredith
gate you could see his horse tied there
everything open and above board, SO it
seemed.
well. sir, he happened to ne here the
time of the old year party, three year
ago. You've been here year and over.
amt YOU. parson?'
Yes; l was stationed here at fall con-
ference year ago this November, you
recollect."
''Yas; so you was Well, all this is about
two year befo' you come
We'll, sir when 1t was known that May
Days city beau was gon' to be here for
the party, everybody looked to see some
fIn. cause they know'd how free OIL Proph'
made with names. an they wondered eff
he'd have gall enough to call out May
Days name with the city fellers. Well.
eZ luck would have it, the party was at
my house that year. an I tell YOU, sir
folks tibet hadn't set up to see the old year.
out for ten years come that night jest for
fear They'd miss somethin'. But of co'se
We saw through it. We knowed what
fetched 'em.
well, sir, that was the purtiest party I
ever see in my life. Our Smpkinsville pat
tern for young girls is a toler'ble neat one
eff 1 do say it, ez shouldn't, bein' kin to
forty-leven of 'em. We amt got no, to
say, ugly girls in town-never had many,
though some has planned down considerable
when they got settled in years, but the
girls there that night was ez perfec a
bunch of girls ez you ever see-jest cz pur-
ty show o beauty ez any rose arbor
could turn out on spring day.
Have you ever went to gether roses,
parson, each one seemin' to be the pur-
test tell you'd got handful, an you'd
be Startln to come away, when away up
on top O. the vine you'd see one shat was
enough pinker an sweater'n the rest to
make you climb for it, an when you'd git
it, you'd stick it in the top of yore bouquet
a little higher'n the others?
Il see you know what mean. We'll, that
was the way May Day looked that night.
She uas that top bud
Il had three nieces and wife and she had
sev'al cousins, there-all purity enough to
draw hummin birds-but l say little Daisy
Meredith she jest topped 'em all for beau
ty and sweetness an modestY that night.
AN the stranger-well, I donno jest
what to liken him to, less'n 1t is to one of
them princes tibet stalk around the stage
an give orders when they have play actin
in show tent
"They wasn't no flies on his shape, nor
his rig, nor his manners, neither. Talked
to the old ladieS-ricollect my wife she had
a finger wropped up, an he asst her about
it and advised her to look after it an give
her a recipe for bone-felon. She thought
they wasn't nobody like him. An he jest
simply danced the wall flowers dizzy, give
the fiddlers money, an'-well, he done ev-
eTything tibet a person O. the royal family
of city gentry might be expected to do.
An everybody wondered what mo- Mrs.
Meredith wanted for her daughter Tell
the truth, some mistrusted, an lowed tibet
she jest took on that way to hide how