The times., 1897-06-27
SQUAN CREEK FOLKS.

Thar wasn't any more iyin', steaiin'
and baek-bitin goin' on than usual In
| squan Greek, when the preacher stevd
| up one Sunday moTnin' and said be waI
1 goin' to hold revival meetin's In hopes
| to better the town. Q wasn't long be
| fore he begun, but nobody excepun' Aunf
1 Sally Davis attended the first five OF
| six meetin's. She had bin a member
| OF the church fur thirty vars. but, TO
| obleege the pastor and start things off,
she went ford on the anxious seat and
| told how wicked she had bin and got
| converted over agin. She did this four
| nights runnin', and tsen she told Jim
1 Crueso, her hired nan. that IL he didn't
| help things along she'd discharge hiTa.
| Jim got converted to keep her company.
and then two or three more dropped ia.
| and, finally, the meetin's got a good start.
| by and by. the pastor came down to
| the wharf and begun 20 talk TO US and,
arter he bad gone, Joe Taylor speaks up
| and says:
I've aiIus bin as innercent as a year
i'm babby, but I'm willfn' to go TO the
meetin' S and help save the rest o. ye''
| Josephus Harmon scratched his head fur
\ awhile and looked off over the marsh.
and then he said
| If | was TO die tonight I'd go straight
TO Paradise and hev golden wings, but
thar nuthin' mean about me- I'm wiIlin'
TO attend the meetin's and see that the
rest of ye git a ia r show"
! Half dozen other old sheli-backs spoke
In the same way, and that night about
twenty of us showed up at the meetin'
None OF the crowd got hit very hard that
night or the next, but on the fourth night
Joe Taylor begun to hitch around on the
seat and look pale, and purity soon he
stood up and begun TO talk Everybody
knowed he was an old liar and a. stingy
as grease, but no one had suspected tnat
ne was anything wuss. It Jest took Us all
Dy surprise when he got up and confesed
20 sJeaiin' seventeen bushels OF oysters
nom solomon Tompkins bed, and OF
| chopppin' up Tim Smiths dory, and of
KILN the widtler Harper big dog Owned
| night up 60 ali OF it and more too, and
said he was wtliin' TO pay all damages.
That started the gang When Joe Taylor
sot down Jim Renfew got up and wept
and said:
| I'm feelin' that I'm the meanest rep
| tile on the face OF this airthl I've pur-
| TENDED all along to be a decent man and
| abide by the law, but I'm a scoandreI
or the deepe st dye. twas me that burned
Henry Soott's bOathOuse two years agu,
! aud IL was me that robbed the postoffice
last ar. / ar also the miserable heather
who chopped up TIM Smiths dOry, and
I'm VIII n to 20 to prison fur my
| crimes"
When jim Renfew sot down Tom Doty
| got up and shed tears and wobbIed his
| chin and said:
''Of all the iow-dowp villains in this
| world or OURS I'm the wust. and l want
to be tooken right from here and sent
TO prison fur the remainder o. my days
1t was me that ham strung Uncle Tar
Dell me8l; IL was me that stole Joe
BARRIERS fifty hens; it was me that begun
| all the lynn In SqUan Creek And / also
want 70 own up that it was me that
! chopped UP Tim Smiths dory, and IN
/ ready 70 git down on my knees and beg
| ais pardon and pay damages
1hat was three different men WHO had
confessed to chopin up that dory, and
the pastor 'peared to be sorter puzz led
over IT. He didn't say nuthin', however.
and when Tom Doty sot down Jason Jack
son got up and humbly said:
| ITS q wonder l heven't bin struck by
! hghtnin' or bit TO death by shark, fur
m nuthln' but a mass o. wickedness Fur
I'VE ,ars We bin tryin' to see how wicked
could be I've lied and stole AMI bore
iaise witness. I've cheated and waonged
| and robbed Nobody never did suspect me
| OF murder, but killed a tin peddIer back
| on the hiil road three years ago and sunk
| ms body in Shark Inlet. III 20 with the
| oifleerS tomorrow and produce the bones
| while Fl ownin' up and wiIIin' TO be hung,
| might as Well say That it was me who
| chopped up Tim Smiths dory. Tim is
here, and I'm askin' il he'll take my hand
| and furgive me-
Thar must be some mistake about that
| dory says the pastor as Jason sot down
Il remember about it's beln' chopped I'D.
but four Of you couldn't hev done it, The
| next man up better leave the dory OUT
| The next ono to git up was TIM Smith
| hiSself He'd bin eryin' softly fur half an
| hour, and it was two or three minutes be-
| fore lie could find his voice to say:
| Thar hev bin folks here who said they
| was bad, but they didn't know me- I've
| laid awake nights TO be bad. Thar amt a
| crime but what I'm guilty of. and don't
expect I've got any soul to be saved. I
| want to he tOoken out and hung this very
| night, and / want everybosivfn this meet
| in'-house 10 spit on my grave when I'm
| buried Before I'm hung, however.
want 10 say that chopped up that dory
myself did it TO git sympathy and 10 De
mean. Now go ahead and call the hang
man"
| ''Thar's bin heap o lynn about that
| dory," saws the pastor, land 1 don't like
it. -Four of the five of you must hev lied,
and if you don't own up this meetin' house
| EIay crumble in on us"
| Every one of them five stood up and said
over agtn that he chopped up that dory.
and the pastor said it was no use % CON
| unue the meetin' sif liars was to come thar
| and lie. Harrison Ponseroy was goin' TO
/ git up ard tell how bad he was and how he
chopped up that dory, but the pastor choked
| him off aid closed the meetin' Next day
everybody was gabbin' and seandalizin' q MI
/ calm everybody else liar. and the fuss
1 was Kept up till all strangers dod sed
| Squan Greek, and even the fish wouIdn't
| come into the bay no more Bout four
| weeks arter the meetin's we cotched a
| tramp stealiu' a net, and he owned I'D to
chopin Tim Smiths dory TO git wood To
| make q fire.