The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1896-08-14
A LITTLE HEATHEN.
BY MONTGOMERY NJ. FOLSOM.

Jack was a heather. Oh, the little
imp, how tough he was! 1 was model
boy. 1 was, for a fact, you may be
iieve it or not; l used to hold down my
mead when grace was being said; L
knew the Ten Commandments and the
Lords Prayer by heart, and 1 was a
child of many virtues.
Jack was as mean the old scratch.
lie would cut his eye around at me and
try to make me laugh while the blessing
was being asked; he would stick pins IN
the little boys as they kneit at prayers;
ne would roo birds nests, and when
demonstrated with would say:
why, my gracious, let the old fool
bird go lay some more aiggs, she's got
the whole summer and 'tain't much
trouble to lay few little old aiggs like
them"
We used to read tales in our reading
books about how bad boys came to bad
ends, and Jack would laugh at them.
''Shucks!" ne would say, them old
book men can't fool me. What makes
gran'm kill chickens on Sunday, if ITS
u sin to go in washin'? / notice one
thing: oil brother Kicklighter alus eats
mighty hearty, and if it wus sin to Kill
'em it'd be a sin to eat 'em. They can't
scare nobody"
All, the dear little old freckled face!
Worlds would 1 give to have it come be-
tween me and the sun again ere L reach
the vale of shadows.
He would whip the stuffing out of
boy for my sake. | remember once a
fellow called me ''wormy." We were
coming home from Sunday-School, and
l had resolved not to resent any insult
a very convenient way of resolving, by
the way-and the big boy would have
gone unpublished but for Jack
What did he do? He lit onto that fel-
low, and he pelted him in the burr of
the and got him down and such a
thrashing that boy never toted before.
That was Jacks style. No foolish
ness about him. He was of that par
ticular type of ugliness that denotes
cussedness and original sin.
/ used to pray for Jack when the
preacher would tell to pray for all
those whom we thought needed our
prayers. Jack was cutting jagged
~ on the back of the seat while L was
praying for his conversion.
All. the days, the golden days, when
the summers seemed 50 long. won
der if the summers of paradise viii not
possess that same sweet, delicious
lingering when the pathos and the pas
sion of mortal life are past?
Sometimes l dream of Jack, now.
The other night, don't know what got
into me. but L dreamed that we were
rambling along the banks of one of
those winding southern rivers, whose
languid waters We're murmurine, whis-
pering, Hsping among the reeds and
rushes.
Aach af hi
around the bend, and we came to place
where there was a thickct OF cypress
sapiings. l saw one that would make
the finest sort of a fishing pole, and
Jack went TO cut it for me. Ii grew
right on the bank of slough OF black
water, on whose sheeny bosom the
tupelo gum berries were afioat.
L was timid-good boys are not al
ways brave boys-anh Jack went to cut
the pole for me. l saw him open the
little old rusty barlow knife, and he
reached far over the treacherous bank.
He had cut ii most in two, when
there was crash.
splash"
The spray flew upward in a shower
and blinded my eyes, and when 1
opened them-Jack was gonel
L sitting up in bed gasping,
struggling, choking, in my efforts to
call help. Such dreams are our lives
made up Sometimes as sit gazing up
at the summer heavens l am startled
by the illusion that 1 see that boys
face through rift in the clouds.
Jack was bad boy. Pepper Joe
used to shake his head and mutter:
L tell you, dat boys sho' ter come ter
some bad end"
Then he would point TO me and re-
mark:
But dar's chile W at'll be somebody.
OATS er good chile, de Bawd knows he
is, an folk'll make much er him w EN- he
gifts ter be a growed up man"
| was SO pitifully pious in those
days The fact is, / think L was not
well. The chariot wheels of time rolled
noiselessly on, and poor old blind Fate
sat in the doorway of the future,
with her palsied fingers untangling
the skein of destiny, her withered lips
oil the while grooming those weird
Gitties whose echoes now and then
thrill our souls with the warning of
prophecy.
Jack was as tough as lightwood
knot, and nobody ever thought about
him getting sick. He was too full of
devilment to stay in bed, but they weIe
very careful about me.
One winter we had an awful spell of
weather and the stock suffered severe
iy, for we had no shelter for them in the
country IN the days when L was boy.
Jack had Iavorite COW that had
little calf, and one cold drizzly after
noon the cow and calf failed to come
I home. Jack went in search of them,
and it was late when he came back. He
lad brought the little calf in his arms
Il good portion of the way, and he drove
the COW into the lot and gave her big
basket of shucks and nubbins, and put
the little, weakly calf in warm place.
1t was dark when he came in cold
and tired, but he was joyous and
li9ht-hearted as ever. He went over the
rigmarole about
Amo daree my, romp stomp domi-
nicker, shuck back, penniwinkle instep
nipcat, sing song kitty kin you kimee,
o." and he cut a shuttle and turned n
| handspring as he came through the
passage.
before the fire and took the wet rags
| of his toes and tied them up with some
dry cnes, jokingly calling his big toe
big Ike" and the little toe little Ike -
| as he fixed them.
| During the night he woke me up tell
l. L. a tlrar Rod