The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-07
KICKING IN S%INNEMAHONE
HoTMHNG LIKE THATFETBR BITMBR
BEFORE OR SINCE.
~ RsEed AnopE the Bsst CitireBs with Hrre-
sistisie Force ana Hrnd Depiarabis Conse-
auences rav PraSiteiea Petttscne nc the
House or Deacon Pealer's Dnnghter.

ouenCNn fur PrnJttetHa befttnOne nj TN
House OF Deacon Pceier's DnHEhter,
ROULETTE, Pa, Nov. CT wonder II AM
q you on this side tho mountain remember tn,
strange ailment that visited us folks on thu
other side when I was a young MANI said tn,
man from over Sinnemahoning way. "a strange
ailment It was indeed. Sort Of an uncontrol.
liable arrangement Of the muscular tissues Of
the leg, tho doctors called II, but 1t wal
known as tho kicking fever of the sinnema
homo 1 wonder il any of you remember It =
Maturity, IL amt likely that anybody does
said the man in tho red. blue, green, pink, yel
low, and purple Mackinaw jacket, but any
fever that ever got mixed up with folks on the
6innemahone an didn't kick must a been oil
setch q mild an ~forsivin' n disposition as to
mako II q shame to feed quinine to It,"
Thanks, Mackinaw,' said the man from over
Binnemahoning way. "Your gentle humor goea
far toward dissipating o certain sadness and
tendency TO abstraction and q at Of tho blues
that always assail mo when I think Of that
kicking fever OF the S~innemanone, and I thank
youi When / SEQ tho fertile ncres Of the Jeph.
eniah Biffkins estate spreading along tho SHINE.
mahoning's classic bottom and think how they
would now all DO mine but for that kicking
fever ] am promo to sadness. But you've
knocked 'em silly this time, Mackinnw.
'~Yes, yes. Those rich Jepheniah BiRkins
acres would now be mine but for that kicking
fsver that came to tho Sinnemahone country.
These acros then belonged to Deacon Judd
FEEDER, and tho Deacon's daughter Nancy had
promised to DO my wife, and Nancy was heir to
all tho wide Poeler estate. So when I think
but let that pass. It Is all over now.
wherever that most singular ailment could
have come from no one ever knew, but II cor
family cut o wide swath along tho Sinnema-
hone ] was OF down the river whom IL began
its attack, and consequently I didn't know
anything about IL until l got back homo q
couple Of weeks later. Tho first person Il struck
was Uncle Billy Topo. Uncle Billy was q mild
and easy-goins citizen that no one would have
thought had any lifein himyat all. and he was o
strict teetotaler. Consequently you may i'm
agino the astonishment Of Squire Bunker, who
owned tho sswmiD whore Uncle Billy worked,
TO zee the old man coming up the road one
day, giving q tremendous kick every two or
three steps he took, sometimes to the right and
sometimes to tho left, as IL no might have
started out to kick all creation into the middle
Of next week. Squire Bunker was scared, and
no edged OF to one side of the road as Uncle
Billy came along, kicking. and ~scufing. and
looking as wild as an Indian. Tho Squire ven.
tured to say as the old man was cavorting by:
"FWhat's up, William
"Uncle Billy only shook his head, and giving
o kick that didn't miss tho Squirrels jaw by
more than. half an inch. went on his way toward
home, kicking as he went.
"Astoundingl' exclaimed tho Squire. Z
never thought I'd live long enough to SEQ Unclo
Billy Tope turn out to DO q drinkerl'
"Then the Squire started for home. He
hadn't gone q hundred yards before he began to
feel o little mulish himself, and the first thing
he knew he was kicking away as unreasonably
as Uncle BLY,. he couldn't stop |; any more
: threeinsh plug, The Squire e didn't Hhi fi have s far
e 60. and before he could reach out and open
h his d ES5r he rsm haa kicked kicked II open witt q bang, and
PEG what was the matter.
Clear the way, mother!' the Squire hollered.
make a wldoWer Of myself at one %y sw wss, Or III
The ,Squire's wife, scared almost to death,
t ficked his hSr way out op Of OF the { ' saef do oGa an 1e' bF Sa i
up In the garden. where he yelled for some one
: q .s so . en lot WI Whe el% h s0 could II hs slss f se5n him into
BILE h e&i aSI fever 1n stared wsI along ians the SeS s sinnsGsoSons.
baiiisstc ik.fff h e11 Kicking MiH% was e only G the pr re shae
lad fSaRedd0RR is e a sns 1 ficfcd A io%. a ind t 70 ths
wtndward and to the leeward, for half an hour
or co. the the fit a.s would nita pass .Tny but %s. II would
stage Of the epidemic lasted two days, and then
the second stage came on. This was a scorch-
tack, declared that his fever WAC so hot that his
wife had 10 keep the sheets wet to prevent their
sinnemsnonins country. He was from this side d
Of the mountain somewhere, and folks didn't
believe him. The fever lasted a day. and left
behind 1t a consuming longing for something to
arink-not water nor coffee nor tea nor milk,
s sSs Fa anai e ease ftp to Is. jT TSis s a%tnyshtn syn that had ID
Dominic ,Dihble was the frst victim that Il
Of bis flock were mingline their sorrow with tbe
dominis.s over his a~fiiction he suddenly
Giy me rum, Fetch mo some scorching
The bTsthfen, and sisters were shocked, but
Dominic Dlhble kept on hollering for rum. No
10 sprang out Of his chair. rushed out Of the
pap running to a fire. BY and by he can came
back Singing:
Home again, home again,
From a foreign shore.
He had a bottle of rum under his arm. and
me brethren and sisters hurried horne, feeling
that the end Of all things couldn't be far away'
simply suffering from the third stage of Inc
licking fe,e r, they excused, him and rejoiced.
bad such.a pleasing antidote for pain. Then
II began to be noticed that this last peculiar
stage, OF the ailment seemed to have no regular
period OF existence, and 1t ID noted as a fact
that the afflicted district wasn't entirely able
70 DO out and around as usual until the tavern
anything left that the last stage of tho kick
ing fever called for.
curing Iho lln0 tn0 lever lasted tlr0o
leading, citizens of the sinnemahone were carried
pm In their bloom by 1t, not one of whom even
had the consolation Of enjoying the treatment
for the last stage. First, there was ADRIAN
Hinkle. When the kicking fever first struck
the district, the doctor said that the harder the
Victims had 70 kick the better 1t would be for
them, for II they couldn't kick hard il would
strike in and t at would be tho end of EN-.
The Kicking always came in the right leg. Now
ADRIAN Hinkle didn't have any right leg, il
haylng been taken of clean in the saw mil.
When tho attack seized him he couldn't kick
1t struck in and away he went.
Next was Simon Shelly. Simon swore by
Eli5sh Pink, the horse doctor, who. could cure
SnStning. according TO Siinon's belief. Elijah
bty rigging him to some SOFT of a contrivance
that threw him every time the horse kicked.
Simon made up his mind that he was just as
apt TO have the kicking fever as his neighbors
were, so he sent for Elijah to provide aeainst
x, lie had Elijah 1T him with n rigging some
{hlng Ike the one that had cured tie Kicking
bGrse. Inc very next day the ailment seized
PIN. Simon was standing by a window in his
house. he gave one tremendous kick. The
figging worked. IT threw Simon. IL threw
pun out Of the window and head first into a
66a sdni 81 rain w9ler that stood beneath II. They
TWO fellow citlzeDs the epidemic carried away,