The leader., 1897-01-20
JIM WEIGHTS COURTSHIP
Related by Silas Hawkins, P. M.
and Storekeeper.
lCoPYRIGHT, 1897.


amt much of story teller, but
guess | can give you the straight facts
about Jim Wright's courtship and mar
riage as well as anybody. 1t happened
about 20 years ago, and 1T interested
the folks around Barkley's corners so
much that for four or five years there
wasn't 10 auiltin' bee, nor mite So
ciety, nor apple cut, nor raisin', nor
stump pullin' that somebody didn't tel,
something new about it, and | guess
they're talking about it yet at the tea
drinkin's. 1t was all brought back
fresh to my mind one day last week,
when / found out my oldest boy, Sile.
was kind o. shinin' up to Jim's oldest
girl, Sarah, named after her mother.
Jm's pretty prominent citizen now.
He's the manager of the Barkley place
and member of the county board of
supervisors. and some do say he's got
his eye on the legislature for next term.
Yes; that's him goin' by now. You see,
he's big, tall feller and looks kind Of
imposin' like. When he was young
ster he wasn't exactly what you'd call
handsome, but he looked as solid as a
rock, and his eyes was always wide
open, only when he had to face girl.
then he used to weaken. That's what
made his courtship and marriage so
curious.
A good talker? Well, yes, he is, now.
Not very polished, maybe, but he can
speak to the pint, and that's more than
some of your college educated fellers
can do. But he never was much of a
speaker till after he got married to
Sarah Anderson.
Jim got well acquainted with Sarah
when he was nothing but hired man,
workin' on the Barkley place, when old
man Thompson was manager. Sarah
was workin' there, too, then. She was
Mrs. Thompson's. hired girl. No; you
couldn't call 'em servants, the way you
city folks look at it. Sarah S father was
as well in the community as old man
Thompson did; maybe better, because
Deacon Anderson owned his own farm
and Thompson was kind Of o hired
man for Barkley. The Barkley place,
you know is about 500 acres. It's the
biggest farm in this town, and Barkley
himself spends most of his time in New
York and Boston and Europe, and other
far-away places, where folks has more
money than brains, and has coachmen
TO drive for 'em and puts on different
coats at different times of the day and
all that. Sarah Anderson used to eat
at the same table with the Thompsons,
of course, and SO did Tim. Why, If
either Of them had been asked 10 eat sep
arate from the family they'd have quit
right off and everybody around the cor
ners would have backed 'em up in it, too.
Why. the Thompsons would have been
run out of the neighborhood il they'd
set themselves up to be too good to
have Jim Wright and Sarah Anderson
set with them when they ct their meals.
Jim Wright's father, you know, was
the doctor here for good many years.
end he wanted to send his boy to col
lege, but Jim wouldn't go. He liked
workin' with his hands better. than
studyin' books. He said he could make
more money in the long run his way,
and when he hired out to old man
Thompson he declared that he'd be
manager of the big farm some day.
and so he is now, as / told you little
while ago.
Maybe I'm getting off the story
little bit, but just wanted to. explain
how Jim and Sarah stood in this neigh
borhood in the old days. Sarah Is
fine-lookin' woman even now, and when
she was girl she was about the best
loolin' OF the hull lot. No; she wasn't
slender and willowy nor anything like
that, but she was tall and healthy and
red-cheeked and bright-eyed. and she
held her head up and looked as though
she was glad to be alive all the time.
As said before, Jimswas good talker
only when he was lookin' girl In the
face. Then be was about the bashfulest
eritter you ever seen, and he used to
set and say nothing at all. meal times,
at old man Thompson's, where his chair
stood just across the table from
Sarah's. Thompson and his wife. they
used to joke Jim good deal about
Sarah and 30 did the other hired men.
No; they didn't all feed at Thompson's s
table, but they all knew how bashful
Jim was. There was q hull lot OF 'em
and some Of 'em was married men and
lived in the tenant houses that are
scattered over the place. and them that
wasn't married--Sll but Jim-boarded
with the tenants. Jim lived with
Thompson because he was kind OF a