The times., 1897-09-12
SQUAN CREEK FOLKS.

stoves and benches, and sent over to Phil
adelphia for a teacher. There was over
forty Of US in the class and next 70 the
teacher Moses sort o bOssed the lob.
amt tell anything but the solemn
trut3 when say that Moses Barber had a
voice on him which would jump a cow offher
feed. 1t was Il mixture OF fog horn hurri-
cane, COncb shell, bray and erOwl. When
he was oft ON the bay you could hear
him two miles away. Some nights, sit.
ting by his own fireside. he would sing,
! and when he did so the rest Of squan
| Creek would sit and shiver. There wasn't
a silgin' voice in the hull crowd, but that
voice OF Moses took the cake over all
! The teacher asked him 10 sing sumthin',
so as 10 git line on his voice, and Moses
drew a long breath and let 'er go. Is
seemed as if every shingle on that old cooper
shop FILTERED, and the teacher turned
pale. AMI backed off, as he asked
Mt Barber. is that your own material
voice?'
'of course . said Noses
Row long have you had it2r
"oyeI forty years. what's the matter
| with my voice2''
Il don know. Did building ever fall
on to it2''
Newell"
Ever hit OF the chist by cannon baH?,'
No. I've allus taken mighty good keer
of nv voice, and I've orung i here To be
trained tC sing. What 1 want 10 learn To
sing is Yankee Doodle and The Sweet
| Bimehy' 1 kin use Yankee Doodhe' 20
ruck the Young 'uns TO sleep, and the other
to soften up the ole woman when she gifts
mad. Lemme try agin.''
He put on a leetle nsJre power this time.
and tie lamps went out and the door
busted wide open. If seventeen plaInin'
mills bad all started up at once the noise
couldn't hev bin wuss- II was wo ninits
before the teacher got breath huff to ay:
Mr. Rarber, l don't want TO discourage
you, but IL 7 was you I wouldn't turn TO
( sngin.' Your voice is what they car
sot'."
How sos?" asked Moses.
Its tein' coin hfzness in one line fur
forty years past, and it'H be powerful
| hard to make change. II I hal sich
voice as t1at I'd hire out fur a govern
Enent fog horn, or I'd walk around scaria'
| toughs and prize fighters TO death"
| But / want TO learn 10 sing Soprano"
says Moses. feelin' hurt and mad
Then I'!I be guin back home SAYS the
| teacher. Thar ar some things in this
world which no man kin do, and one OF
them Is t. teach you to sing"
| Thdt made Moses hoppin' ma d, and he
| said if lie Couldn't sing nobody else should
J As he was a purity good man, and aIIus
| wiliin' to lend his jackknife or a ehaw
OF terbacc"r. some of the folks took sides
with him, and as a ons equence that
| singin' scnCal didn't &c or He busted
up the hull thing inside Of a week, and
| when he sOt dow ID sing Yankee DOO-
| Ole" t. Ills last born the sPIinters and
| shavin's flew all over Sauan Creek Three
or four weeks later he got another idea.
| One night, when the gang of US was In
Parker's grocery. sumthin' was said about
how TO spell whale" and Moses riz up
and says:
1T don't make So much difference
about singin', but We orter know how to
| spell whatever comes along. I've bin
| ketchin' crabs and Holsters fur The last
| TWENTY-FIVE years, but I couldn't spell one
OF 'em to save my neck. When I'm sendin'
a box up TO New York them feliers don't
know what's IN it 'tin they rip the
Eivers Off 'Twant Ioug ago that nag
crate 0f crabs got mixed up with some
body's eeIS cause I couldn't spell EN-.
What l say is fur Squan Creek To heve u
spelhn' sc nool."
1t 'peared To be a good idea, and we all
went III FUR it and we repaired up the
cooper shop agin aud turned out one
evenin 10 spell Jasper SpOOner, the town
clerN, was appointed to hold the spellin'
book, and afore the performance started
off, he saws;
We Lev started in To boost Squan Creek
out o the quagmire OF desolashun by
learnin' tc speH. ard nobody must git mad
and disturb the meetin' cause he can't Thit
things the fust time. Nero couldn't spell
cat to the day OF his death, and thar hev
been kings and queens who was Jest as
bad off. The fust word given out is
clam and as Moses Barber is ar ehe
head OF the line aud ashe shipped over 400
bar'ls OF clans TO New York last sezun, he
kin hev the fust 90 at it"
What sort Of clam?" asked Moses.
Any SORT
But thar's var'us sorts o clans, you
know, and I amt tryin' to spell hard
shell fur soft shell or Httle-neck."
Thar may be var'us sorts o clams,''
says Jason, but thar's only one way to
spell her. list take a long breath and
start Off.
I'm spellin' it kahn. clam
which amt right, and III pass to
the eneXt.
That word went TO leven different men
afore Isaac Harper spelled it right. He
kinder thought it would be given out,
and so he bought a ca of clam chCwder
ih the AFTERNOON TO study up omit. Eimeby
Moses was given show on the word
crab, and he says to Jason:
You mixed up them clans on me and
put me out. Now I'm wantin 10 know
if this IS a hard-sheH or soft-shen crab?''
'It's jist crab
"A big one or little one"
Cant sayas to that. Thar amt Duthin'
down in the hook except crab
Then l don't Try 10 spell it, says
II the man who writ that SpelIin'- book
didn't know thar was several kinds o
crabs ! amt to hlame fur it
Jasci. said the word would pass to the
next. 1ut 1t didn't. Moses felt that he
was bein' throwed do wn on crabs, and he
got 50 plunIr mad that he smashed the door
and broke winder, and the spellin school
broke up Ia Tow. Some wanted it TO go
on without Moses, and some eontended
that he urteF ba given a show, and betwtxt
the two SQuan Creek slipped hack into that
Quagmire of desolashun and despair, and
ey eryhody went around spelIin list as he
pleased. It's that way, now. We
spell oyster seven different ways. and one
as good as 'tOther. and W hen il Comes 70
s.Ie.bstsr'' some folks tries to spell il and