The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-01-05
THE CYCLOPEEDY.

HnVin lived noXt door to tho Hobart
place fer goin on 30 years, I calo'lato that
1 know jest about OF much about tho caso
OF anybody else now on airth, exooptin,
perhaps, it's ole Jedgo Bakor, IA hos so
plaguy olo N so powerful feeble that no
don't know nothin.
1t seems that In tho spring NV 1877
tho year that Cy Watson's Oldest boy wuz
drowned in West rivcr-thero como along
book agent sellin volyumos n tracks for
the diffusion Nv knowledge, III havin got
the recommend NV tho minister II NV tho
seleotmon he done an oil fired big business
In our part Nv tho county. His namo wuz
Lomuol Higgins, n no wu3 OF likely
talkor OF I ever heertl, barrin Lawyer
Conkey, N everybody allowed that when
Conkoy wuz round no talked so fast that
tho town pump'd hnvo to DO creased evory
90 minutes.
One NV tho first Nv our folks TINT this
Lemuel Higgins struck wuz Leander Ho-
bart. Leander had jest marr'd ono NV the
Peasley girls N hnd moved into tho olo
homestead, on tho Plninvillo road, ole
Deacon Hobart hnvin give up tho place to
him, tho other boys hnvin moved out west
like u lot Nv darncd fools that they wuzl
Leander wuz feelin bis oats jest about this
time, n nuthin wuz too good for him.
Hattie" sez no. IL guess I'll have to
lay in u few books fer readin In tho winter
timo, II I've notion 20 subscribe fer n
oyclopeody. Mr.. Higgins hero says they 70
invalorablo in family, N that we orter
have 'cm, bein as how wo'ro likely to have
the family bimoby."
'Lor's snkes, Leander, how you talk"
sez Hattie, blushin all over, or brides allus
does to hoern tell Nv SIGH things
Wanl, to mako long story short, Lean
dor hn-u po1 With Nfr e.,
NV them cyclopoedies, n he signed his
naIno to long printed paper that showed
how no agreed to take q cyolopeody oncet
In SO often, which wuz Co be eh ofton az a
now ono NV the volyumes wua printed. A
cyclopcedy isn't printed all at oncet, bo-
cause that would make 1t cost too much,
consistently the Lnen that gets 1t up has ii
strung along fur apart, SO as to hit folks
oncot every year or Two, n gin rally
about harvest time. So Lennder kind NV
liked tho idce, N he signed tho printed
paper n made his afiidavi5 to it aforo
Jcdgo Warner.
Tho fust volyumo Nv tho cycopccdy
stood on n shelf In tho old seckortary in
tho sottin room about four months before
they had any use for it. One night Squire
Turner's son como over to visit Lcander
N Hattie, n they got to tnlkin about
apples N tho sort Nv apples TINT WIZ the
best Leandor allowed TINT tho Rhode
Island Greenin wuz tho best, but Hattie
n the Turner boy stuck up fer tho Rox-
bury Russell until at last happy idee
struck Loander, III, SCI he: won lenvo it
to tho cyclopeedy, bgosh Whichever ono
the cyclopcedy ser Is the best will settle it."
but you can't find out nothln bout
Roxbury Russets nor Rhode Island Groom
ms in our cyolopcedy," seq Hattie
tWhv mt III lika to EpOxvpb oa, Joo,
der, kind Nv indiSnnntliko.
Cause ours hnin't got down to the r
yet " soz Hattie. 'All ours tells about is
things bcginnin with Az
well, amt wo tnlkin about npplcs2"
SEE Lcnnder. You aggervnte mo terrible,
Hattie, by insis.in on KNOWN what you
don't know nothin bout"
Lcandcr went to tho seokertnry N took
down tho cyclopoody ~ hunted al! through
it for apples, but all no could find wuz,
"Applo-soe pomology."
"How in thunder kin eco pomolosy,"
SEE Leander, "whon there amt no pomol-
ogy to sec? Col durn oyclopeedy my
howp'
N he put tho volyumo back on to the
shelf n novor sot eyes into 1t ngin.
That's tho way tho thing run fer years
N years Lcandor would'vo gin up the
plaguy bargain, but no couldn't He had
signed printed paper N had sworc to it
afore justice Of the peace. Higgins
would have had tho law on him IL he had
throwcd up the trade.
Tho most aggervatin feature NV 1t all
WIZ that now ono NV them cussid CYCLIC
poedicS wuz allus sure to show up ut tho
wrong time-whcn Lcander wuz hard up
or had jest been afflicted some way or
other His barn burned down two nights
afore the volyumo contninin the letter b
arrived, II Leander needed all his chink
to pay fer lumber, but Higgins sot back
on that affidavit N dofled tho life ont nv
him.
Never mind, Leander, +" sez his wife.
soothin'l like; tits good book to have In
tho house anyhow, now that we've aot a
baby"
That's SO" sez Lcondor. "Bab!es does
begin with d, don't it?''
You sec, their fust baby had been born.
They named him Pcasley-Peasey Hobart
after Hattio's folks. So, seein as how It
wuz pnyin fer book that told about ba-
bies, Leandor didn't begrodg6 thatf SIS so
very much after oil.
"Lcandor," sez Hattie ono FORENOON.
"that B cyolopeedy amt no account,
There mint nothin in 1t about babiA. az
cept See maternity"
WAL, I'll b'gosh durnedl' sez Lean.
dor. That wuz all he said, N no couldn't
do nothin at all, fer that book agent,
Lemuel Higgins, had the dead wood on
him--tno mean, sneakin oritteri
So the years passed on, one Of them cy-
olopeodies shown mp now n then, some