St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-02-26
Heaps Of Fun for a Beat.
!. THAT IS RI WAS UNTu. hrs. PIN
LEY BREATHED HARD.

stub-and-twist of boy, about ten
years old, with a very moist and much
turned-up nose, came in, shifted, ran his
nose over the whole length of his sleeve.
and piped out:
Aunt Thankful now - mother
wants to know if YOU won't-now-lend
her one o. your-now-milk pans till
pap kin-now-go to town an git her
one.'
Then the boy shifted again and
swabbed his nose once more with his
sleeve.
.tOne o. my milk pans!' said Aunt
Thankful. .Sakes, alive, Benny.
What's come o. your mammy's?"
Sniff, swab. by the boy, and then:
whats come of it? Well, 1 Won
der if the bear didn't scrunch it? (Sniff.
swab.) An mothers got to have milk
pan till pap kin-now-go to town an
git her one
The bear scrunched it, said Aunt
Thankful. getting up and moving in
dazed sort of way toward Benny. who
simply bobbed his head. said huh. huh,
and shifted and swabbed. Aunt Thank
full went and got milk pan, handed it to
Benny as if she didn't exactly under
stand why she was doing it. put her
hands on her hips, and, in solilsquy, re
peated:
"sThe bear scrunched it,
"sHuh, huh,' said Benny. and went
out of the door, shifting and swabbing.
Aunt Thankful gazed at the door, still
dazed, when it opened again, and in
came Benny.
can you ought to see how he serum
bled the beeskip. Gosh.'
sThen he went out and didn't come
back. Aunt Thankful returned to her
place at the table by and by, but still!
not at her ease.
"sDrat that boy!' said she. What's
he drivin' at, anyhow?
sDrivin' at?' said Uncle Potts, who
hadn't lost second during all this con-
versation between his wife and Benny.
but had kept right on with his dinner
without apparently hearing either of
them. Driyin' at? Why nothin' par
tic'lar, except that s'pose there's been
q bear. havin' some fun with 'em down
Il
things little
THAT was the end of the incident for
the time. but after dinner was through
and Uncle Potts had lit, his pipe and
walked out to the barn and back a
couple of times, he said:
"tCome on, John. Well go down to
Pimley's and see how good time the
bear actu'ly had with 'em. Pimley an
his folks amt used to bear. an it
wouldn't s'prise me none if bruin had
been havin' reg'lar Fourth o. July
celebration with 'em.'
SO we went down to Pimley's, a mile
distant. Pimley was home-a thin,
gawky, stoop-shouidered man with the
inevitable hemlock belt yellow whis-
kers.
".Hullo, Pim.' shouted Uncle Potts. I
don't see nothin' of your beeskip. What
you done with it?'
..Pim raised himself up on his toes,
craned his long neck and gazed off
toward field that stretched away be
low the house. Then he got off his toes
and turned to Uncle Potts.
Git up on the fence an you kin
zee it, said he. It's kind o. skittered
about some, though. Down yender in
the turnip patch.'
DO you think that's a better place
for it than up here in the yard?'
ss'The bear 'peared to think So re-
piled PIN. I didn't have no say about
1t, not in partic'iar.'
".Bearr said Uncle Potts, as il sur
prised.
..Potts.' said PIN, there's been the
consarndest commotion on these prem.
ises durin' the past few days that
there's been anywhere sence Pharaoh s
hosts was swamped in the Red sea. My
wife is mebbe the peacefnfest woman
there is i'm the hull len'th an breadth
o. the belt; consistently, she WASN'T
'spectin' trouble when she took her
tablecIoth to the back door to shake i,
t'other day; but there it was. Least
ways, she had an idee that it was, for
it was smollickin' big bear, an it was
swaggerin' right t'ord her from the
lane yender, 'twixt the house an thf
turnip field. My wife's the politest
woman there is anywhere in the belt
but she was just onpolite enough t.
slam the door almost plum in that
bears face an run to the front door
on t'other side o. the house yender an
holler to me, Benny bein' to school. Mi
wife's got the best lungs of any woman
'twixt here an Little kittle. an con
sckently / heard her holler, though
was in the buckwhit field, clean OF
t,other side O them woods yender.
...It's either the house afire o.
lightnin' rod peddlers." / says to my
self. .or Samantha wouldn't never oper
mn like that. an so struck it livel,
for home. l never thunk o. bear, 'caus,
/ only come here last year, an hadn'
no idea that the country was SO fer
tyle in bear. / wasn't long in gittin
home. could hear Samantha yelpin
every foot of the way, but the fust thin.
/ see when I hove in sight was bea
xtandin' 'twixt them two apple tree
vender. snifin' at the beeskip, whicl
was standin' on bench there at tina
time. he havin' changed his mind abou
calm on Samantha after she was $
onpolite as to bang the door in his face
The bees was buzzin' about him an dip
min, him, but he jest seemed to like il
NY wife's the sensihlest woman ther
Is from Pine Greek to the Sinnamahont
nnd consekently when she see me com
in she quit strainin' her lungs Ididn'
know then how the bear had come O
the premises, but as had reasons TO
thinkins 4 had a better claim on the IN
nArds g. that beeskip than he had.
PICKED up q lot q stones an begun bon
hardin him, advancin' rs fred.
..Mv wife's got more grit than an,
other woman on the Susquehann
snread o. waters. an when she see m
.dyancin' on that bear an peltin' 9
h}m With stones she come out Al
charged on him ike an army with bar
r~r.. she come at him armed with
milk pan. which she thumPed with he
,t.fEr masher. What with the bes
-.