The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1896-12-24

l0HBfv NV%iHA# Dorothy Jane, as
NIA,h VIZ they stood by the
~ kitchen table of a
December night pairing and cutting up
u great, knobby, sweet pumpkin, for
pies. "Tll be dinged to gosh eff l
wouldn't give milkin' of the Jersey
cow fer ther eyester stew termorrer
down ct the church Jest ter know what's
ken over thet boy Jake of ourn. He
bain't seemed like hisself fer year
past; not thet / am perticalor anxious
thet he should, fer eff ever youngster
he'd change of heart and manners
withouten the help of revival l be-
lieve cts him. He hessant given me
sassy word fer weeks end l Almost git
lonesome and humsck to hear him saw
me off short er snatch me up sudden jest
ter hev the chance ter say sumthin' ag-
gravatin to him and call him an ongrate-
full scamp thet don't know when he's
well off and continner riling him end
not low him ter sass back, cos I'm his
father. | reckon the boy hain't always
he'd picnic and frosted cake and linn
ming aid livin' end workin' fer me eff
] am his dad, end me es should be his
best friend end show him thet l love
him the best next ter you. lie made me
ashamed o. myself end Jake's honestly
greater then he thet talSeth 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' S kun over him-there's
no blindn' yer eyes ter thet. He seems
ter be livin' outside of hisself-fer other
foxes like--fer me end you most per-
ticulerly--es if ct were a pleasure for
gettin' of his own wants and notions.
You've noticed, Dorothy-of course you
hev-fer I've hearn you thank him
dozen times-how yer wood-boX is al
lus filed 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, eD1
a sEarl 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 it yerself,
end liker es not you'd hev ter then when
alls said'n done.
He's cheerful end chick about his
work es a cat bird cheemering round
her nest in n alder bush, es if he were
gain continually onto Christmas din
ner, end he had n seat next to the turkey
end brown gravy. 'Tother night l hearn
him tall<in' ter the cows when he didn't
suspicion there was nobody aroun', end
he told old Boxy thct he'd never kick
her again eff shed fergive him end said
a lot o. things to the 'tother ones T. It
j cudn't hear, ner didn't want ter hear,
fer felt like / was stealin' list'nin'.
"Yer night 1 saw him end the Eaton
boys end the schoolmaster settin' on
the bridge over Sogger run. They was
power busy talkin' 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
Their two-hoss wagin onto the top of tfer
barn termarrow mornin', er her smoke
house onto ther front stuop. But hain't
a-worryin' now. Them youngsters he'd
sumthin' onto ther minds besides lark
in end cussedness, end we shell see,
mcbbe, what we shell see, es some cute
fcller sed."
III h.a la CT rim nf Iii IN,
pared and cut up and put to stewing in
The big pot on the kitchen stove Uncle
Sliman took down the wooden boot
Jack, drew off 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
at Plunkettville. 1t was prone to dead
levelness in events. A monotony of
situations was the rule. a funeral.
marriage with it's attendant chivaree, a
barn raising or a corn husking or par
ing bee were the dizziest heights its oc-
currences attained, and between these
events and designations there were likely
TO be long intervals of unbroken quiet,
and SO this recollection of mine par
takes more of the pastoral than story.
1t would be pleasant as well as profit
able to write good deal about this
schoolmaster that Uncle Sluman Able
saw on the bridge over Massogger run
talking with the Eaton boys and Jake,
but space forbids but one line of
thought now. He was sort of all
around prophet to the neighborhood
who led the rather commonplace peo-
pie into land of better and wider liy-
ing. Especially to the boys and the
young men Of his school had be been