The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1895-12-20


took down the cyclopeedy nd hunted
all through it FIR Apples. but all he
could find wuz apple - See Pomolo-
Ogy."
How in thunder kin l see Pomolo-
gy." seq Leander. when there aint no
l'omology To see2 Col durn a CYCLIC
Pedy, anyhow"
And he put the volume back onto the
the shelf nd never sot eyes onto il agin.
That's the way the thing run FIR
years nd years. Leander would've gin
up the plaguey bargain but he could
mt; he had signed printed paper nd
had swore TO il afore justice of the
peace. Higgins would have had the
law on him IL he had throwed up the
trade.
The most aggervatin' feature NV it
all wuz that new one NV Their cussid
oyclopeedies wuz allus sure to show up
at the wrong time-when Leander wuz
Lard up or had jest been afflicted in
some way or other. His barn burnt
down twonights afore the volyume con-
tainin' the letter Il arrived, nd Leander
needed all his chink to pay FIR lumber,
but Higgins sot back on that affidavit
and defied the life out NV him.
''Never mind. Leander," SEE his wife,
soothin' like, its good book to have
If the house, anyhow, now that we've
got baby"
That's so" SEE Leander. babies
does begin with Il don't it?"
You see their fust baby had been
born; they named him Peaseley-
Peaseley Hobart-after Hattie's folks.
So, seein' as how it wuz payin' f'r a
book that told about babies Leander
didn't begrudge that five dollars SO
much after all.
'Leander." SEE Hattie one forenoon.
that u cyelopeedy amt no account.
There amt nothin' in it about babies
except See Maternity"
''Waai, I'll be gosh durnedl" seq
Leander. That wuz all he said, and he
couldn't do nothin' at all, FIR that book
agent, Lemuel Higgins, had the dead
wood ON him-the mean, sneakin' crit
ter!
So the years passed on, one of them
cyclopeedies shown up now nd then
sometimes every two years nd some
times every four, but allus at time
when Leander found it peslxy hard to
give up flyer. 1t warn't no use cussin'
Higgins; Higgins just LATED when
Leander allowed that the cyclopeedy
wuz no good nd that he wuz bein'
robbed. Meantime Leander's family
wuz increasin' and CROWN. Little
Sarey had the hoopin' cough dreadful
one winter, but the cyclopeedy didn't
help out at all, cause all it said wuz:
"Hoopin' Cough = See Whoopin'
Cough"-and, Nv course, there warn't
no Whoopin' Cough to see, bein' as how
the w hadn't come yet!
Oncet when Hiram wanted to dreen
the home pasture, he went to the CYCLIC
peedy to find out about it, but all he
diskivered wuz: "Drain-See Tile"
This wuz in 1859, and the cyclopeedy
had only got down to G.
The COW wuz sick with lung fever
one spell, and Leander laid her dyin'
to that cussid cyclopeedy, cause when
he went to readin' bout cows it told
him to "See Zoology"
IDQb W lidt AiiG NNG Nv lidiIOAln up
ones feeln's talllin' nd thinkin' about
these things? Leander got so after
awhile that the cyclopeedy didn't wor-
ry him at all; he grew to look at il ez
one Nv the crosses that human critters
has to bear without complainin'
through this vale NV tears. The only
thing that bothered him wuz the fear
that rnabba no xvouldp'+ live 10 COO Tho
last volume-to tell the truth, this
kind NV got to be his hobby, and I've
heern him talk bout it many a time
settin' round the stove at the tavern
nd squirtin' tobacco juice at the saw
dust box. His wife, Hattie, passed
away with the yaller janders the win
ter w came, and all that seemed to rec
oncile Leander to survivin' her wuz
the prospect NV seem the last volyume
NV that cyclopeedy. Lemuel Higgins,
the book agent, had gone to his ever
lastin punishment; but his son, Hiram.
had succeeded to his fathers business
nd continued to visit the folks his old
man had roped in. BY this time Lee
ander's children had growed up; all on
'em wuz marr'd, and there wuz numeris
grandchildren to amuse the oil gem
tleman. But Leander wuzn't TO be
satisfied with the common things NV
airth; he didn't seem to take no pleas
ure in his grandchildren like most men
do; his mind wuz alters sot on some
thin else-for hours md hours, yes,
oil day long, he'd set out on the front
stoop loollin' wistfully up the road for
that book agent to come along with
cyclopeedy. He didn't want to die till
he'd got all the cyclopeedies his con-
tract called for. he wanted IN have