St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-02-15
aTHE CYCLOPEEDY."
N EUGENE FIELD.

~ EUGENE FIELD.
Havin' lived next door to the Hobart
place f'r goin' on 80 years. calc1ate
that know lest about ez much about
the case ez anybody else now on airth.
exceptin' perhaps it's Of Jcdge Baker.
and he's 50 plaguey old md 30 powerful
feeble that he don't know nothin'.
It seems that in the spring Nv ~
the year that Cy Watson's Oldest boy
wuz drowned in West river-there come
along . book agent se;lin' volyumes
nd tracks r. the diffusion NV knowl-
edge. md havin' got the recommend
Of tho minister nd Nv the select men.
he done An ALFRED big business In our
part Nv the county. His name wuz
Lemuel Higgins, nd he wuz e likely
Z talker e. ever hcerd, barrin' Lawyer
Conkey, md everybody allowed that
when Conkey wuz round he talked 20
fast that the town pump nd have to be
creased every 20 minutes.
One Nv the first Nv our folks that this
Lemuel Higgins struck wuz Leander
Hobart. Leander had Jest married ono
nv the Peasley girls, md had moved
into tho old homestead on the Plain
viIlo road-old Deacon Hobart hasin'
give up the place to him. the other boys
havin' moved out west (like . lot o
tlsrned fools that they wuz!). Leander
wuz feelin' his oats Test about this
time, nd nuthin' wux too good f'r him.
Hattie" sez he, II guess I'll have
10 lay In ! few books fr readin' In the
winter time. md I've . half notion to
subscribe r. . cyclopeedy. Mr.. Higgins
here says they're invalerable In fam
ily, and that we orter have EN-. bein'
as how we're likely to have the family
Dime by"
"Lor's sakes, Leander, how You talk!"
seq Hattie, blushin' all over. es brides
alters does to heern tell NV SIGH things.
Waal, to make long story short,
Lcander bergained with Mr.. Higgins
for q set nv them cyclopeedies. nd he
signed his name to . long printed paper
that showed how he agreed to take
cyclopeedy oncet In 30 often. which
wux to be rs often ex . new one Nv the
volyumes wuz printed. ! cyclopeedy
isn't printed all 1t oncet. because that
would make It cost too much; conse-
kently the man that gets It up has It
strung along fur apart, % - to hit
folks oncet every year or two, and
Rin'rally about harvest time. 80 Le-
snder kind Nv liked the idee, and he
signed the printed paper nd made his
afiidavit to it before Judge Warner.
The fust volyume Of the cyclopeedy
stood on q shelf In the old seckretary
in the settin' room about four months
before they had any use f'r It. One
night Squire Turner'S son come over
to visit Leander nd Hattie. and they got
to talkin' about apples. md the sort Nv
apples that wux the best. Leander a.
lowed that the Rhode Island greenin'
wuz the best, but Hattie and the Iur-
ner boy stuck up r. the Roxbury rus
set, until 1t last happy idee struck
Leander. and sex he: "Ne1l leave 1t
to the cyclopeedy. b'gosh! Which
ever one the cyclopeedy SCI Is the best
win settle it!''
.But you can't find out nothin' bout
noxburv russets nor Rhode Island
rreenin's in our cyclopeedy." sez Hat
tie.
"Why not, I'd like to know?" SEE Le-
ender, kind Of indignant like.
.'Cause ours haint got down to tho
r vet" SEE Hattie. "All ours tells
about il things beginnin' with A..
"Well, hain't We talkin' about AP-
ples7" SEE Leander. 'You aggervate me
terrible, Hattie, by insistin' on KNOWN
what you don't know nothin bout.
Leander went to the seckertary and
took down the cyclopeedy md hunted
all through It fr Apples, but al he
could find wus apple Sec Pomolo'
ogy."
allow in thunder kin / see Pomolo'
~" sex L1eander, 'when there amt nc
Fomology to rec? Col durn . CYCLIC
pedy, anyhow!
And he put the volume back onto the
the shelf nd never cot eyes onto it agin.
That's the way the thing run II
years md years. Leander would've gin
M the plaguey bargain but he could
mt; he had signed printed paper md
had svvore to It afore . justice OF the
peace. Higgins would have had the
law on him II be had throwed up the
trade.
The most aggervatin' feature nv Il
Ill wus that . new one Nv Their cussid
Cyclopeedies wux allus sure to show up
at the wrong time-when Leander wuz
lard up or had Jest been afiicted in
some way or other. His barn burnt
down twonights afore the volyume con-
tainin' the letter b arrived, md LeandeI
needed all his chink to pay r. lumber
but Higgins sot back ON that af3davit
and delied the life out nv him.
.sNever mind, Leander," sex his wife,
roothin' like. ATS . good book to have
ir the house. anyhow. now that we've
got baby"
That's 20" sex Leander. "babica
does begin with b don't it?"
You zee their fust baby had been
born; they named him Peaseley-
Peaseley Hobart after Hattie's folks
So, SEEM - how It wuz payin' fr Q
book that told about babies Leandel
didn't begrudge that i've dollars "
much after al.
aLeander." se1 Hattie one forenoon
"that b cyclopeedy amt no account
There aint nothin' in Il about babies
except See Maternity"
sWaal I'll b gosh durnedl" 81
Ieandef. That wu1 al he said. and II
couldn't do nothin' at Ill. tr that booa
aGsnt. Ismual Higgins, had 10 dead
WOOD a 6m-$he mean. Gneokin' crit
tar!
So IL years panosd q. On e tAsu
cyelopssdies ahowtp' up now I'D thsn-
eoqnsolmap every tWo yooxo ID oomo