The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1896-12-17
A BARN THAT GREW.
1t Was Still 7~in-Sing When the Smar
Man DsaDpeared.


Man D-aappeared.
Say, stranger, how high mought
that building be?'N asked countri-
fled looking individual as he stood
at Broadway and Ann street, gazing
up at the towering structure there.
The man Of whom he asked the
question evidently thought he would
have some fun with the farmer. He
looked at the latter moment and
then said: "Oh, that little house
there. Oh, that's about 800 feet
high. But that's nothing to several
buildings that are going to be put
up farther up the street
"Shu, you don't say so!'' exclaim-
ed the farmer. "How high mought
some of them buildings going to
be?"
"Six to eight hundred feet, not
counting the towers" replied the
smart man.
"Shu, you don't say sol' ejaculat-
ed the farmer.
But, say, stranger, how's the
people to get up to the top of them9"
ooh, that's easy enough" said
the smart man, thinking Of the fun
he was having. They're going to
have pneumatic tubes in them. You
get into box, and they shoot you
up to the roof in two seconds.
"Shu, you don't say sol" once
more remarked the farmer. "Your
houses don't cover much ground,
stranger, do they2 Now, out in my
part of the country we go in for
more land than high buildings My
brother started in to build a barn
once, and that barn covered about
as much land as all the buildings in
your town put together. F"
"Oh, say, old fellow" replied the
funny person, you're talking
through your hat. No man could
build as big a barn as that"
"That's all right" said the farmer,
"but my brothers barn wasn't no
ordinary barn, b'gosh. 1t wasn't so
big at the start, but, you see, it took
a-growing, and before it stopped it
covered his whole farm-a whole
! section, sir, about one square mile. -
1T took a-growing, did it9" re-
marked the puzzled person who had
been having the fun. Say mister,
what are you driving at anyhow?
Who ever heard of barn growing?"
We'll, there's not many people,
I'll admit, stranger, proceeded the
farmer. 1t was the first time that
ever heard of one; but, as l said
before, my brothers. barn wasn't
no ordinary barn. You see, he built
, it of green hemlock, and as he was
in hurry TO get it built before har-
vest, he couldn't wait for the wood
to dry out Now, that wood was full
of sap when my brother slapped
that barn up, land when the weather
began to get warm the sap began
to run, and that set the wood to
growing. Well, sir, you never saw
anything grow like it before in your
life. Talk about your big houses in
this town! Why, they can t compare
with the way my brothers barn
growed. he would go to bed at
night thinking he had located the
door of his barn all right, but whep
he got up in the morning he would
have to walk a quarter of a mile
farther to get into the barn to feed
the horses. 1t got to be monoto-
nous, sir, but he stood it all right
until the barn began to run off his
farm and go over Bill Johnson's
wheatfield. You see, Bill set great
store on that wheatfeld. He had a
big mortgage on his farm, and he in
tended to sell the wheat and pay
off,
But the farmer stopped and found
that he had been talking to himself.
The man to whom he had been tell
ing the story was a block away, and
he was walking as if he had letter
to post for his wife or an extremely
important engagement to keep
New York Tribune.