Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1896-12-19

5-iR, ~ Uncle Sluma n
s5tV( eVsiHfEiF Dorothy Jane, as
Mn. NG>N" they stood by the
M kitchen table Of n
December night pairing and cutting up
u great, knobby, sweet pumpkin, for
pies. I'll be dinged to gosh Ell i
wouldn't give a miliin' of the Jersey
cow fer ther eyester stew termorrer
down ct the church jest ter know what's
KEN over tibet boy Jake OF ourn. lie
hain't seemed like hisself fer year
past; not tibet mn perticalor anxious
tibet he should, fer ef ever n youngster
he'd a change OF heart and manners
withouten the help of revival 1 be-
lieye cts him. He hessant given me
sassy word fer weeks end l Almost git
lonesome and humsick to hear him saw
me Off short er snatch me up sudden jest
ter hev the chance ter say sumthin' ag-
prayatin to him and call him an ongrate-
full scamp tibet don't know when he's
well of and continner riling him end
not low him ter sass back, cos I'm his
father. reckon the boy hain't always
he'd q picnic and frosted cake and linz
ming aid Twin end worlin' fer me Ell
] am his dad, end me es should be his
best friend end show him tibet love
him the best next ter you. He made me
ashamed o myself end Jake's honestly
greater then lie tibet taketh city, es
the Scripter says. fer when he ken gov
ern his temper round me, es ! see myself
now, he's got the stuff in him wuth hev-
in. Somethin' IS kun over him-there's
no blindin' yer eyes ter tibet. He seems
ter be livin' outside of hisself-fer other
foxes like-fer ME end you most per-
ticulerly-es IL ct were pleasure Tor
rettin' of his own wants and notions.
You've noticed, Dorothy--of course you
hev-fer I've henrn you thank him q
dozen times-how yer wood-box Is Ill
lus filled without yer askin' end the
water drawed, end the back stoop swept,
and the chickens drinkin' crooks kept
full, end the aigs fetched in, end the
sour milk kerried outen the cellar, end
o snarl O. things done fer you what
afore you alters he'd ter do yerself er
nag Jake and argy end coax till you'd
druther ten times over do 1t yerself,
end liker es not you'd hev ter then when
alls said'n done.
'He's cheerful end chick about his
work es q cat bird cheemering round
her nest in a alder bush, es II he were
gain continually onto Christmas din
ner, end he had seat next to the turkey
end brown gravy. 'Tother night l hearn
him talkin' ter the cows when he didn't
suspicion there was nobody uroun', end
he told old Boxy tibet he'd never kick
her again ef she'd forgive him end said
O lot o. things to the 'tother ones tibet
] cudn't hear, ner didn't want ter hear,
fer felt like I was stealth list'nin'.
eyer night / saw him end the Eaton
boys end the schoolmaster settin' on
the bridge over Sogger run. They was
power busy tallkin' about sumthin,
specially the teacher, and when KEN
up they looked kind Of upset like end
dandered off about the crick end the
crops end corn husl;in', end eny gump
could see ct wasn't what was onter their
minds.
"a spell back-end not long spell,
either, I'd a sed they's a-plannin' some
onruliness, some chico mischief that nd
make folks swear es air in the habit OF
swearin'. Some one would like es no find
ther two-hoss wagin onto the top Of Their
harm termarrow mornin', er her smoke
house onto Their front stoop. But ! hain't
n-worryin' now. Them youngsters he'd
sumthin' onto Their minds besides lark
in end cussedness, end we shell see,
mcbbe, what we shell zee, es some cute
teller sed."
And with the last ring Of pumpkin
pared and cut up and put 10 stewing in
The big pot on the kitchen stove Uncle
Hluman took down the wooden boot
Jack, drew OF his dusty, wrinkled
stogies, hung up his wammus and vest
and retired, leaving Aunt Dorothy Jane
10 undisturbed thought Of her boy Jake
and her PIES.
Nothing very startling ever happened
nj Plunkettville. II was prone to dead-
levelness in events. A monotony of
situations WINS the rule. A funeral, a
marriage with its attendant chivaree, q
barn raising or n corn husking or par
ing bee were the dizziest heights its &C.
currences attained. and between these
events and designations there were likely
10 be long intervals Of unbroken quiet.
and 90 this recollection of mine par
takes more of the pastoral than story.
II would be pleasant as well rs profit
able to write good deal about this
rchoolmaster that Uncle Eluman Able
snw on the bridge over Maasogger run
talking with the Eaton boys and Jake.
hut space forbids but ono line OF
thought now. He was sort of-ail-
around prophet TO the neighborhood
who led the rather eommonplace peo-
BE- into land Of better and wider lIV-
ine. Especially to the boys and the
Y6nng ere pi ~ r1hpOl had b been