Evening journal., 1898-06-01
THEIR STREET WAS PAVED.
Good Intentions, However, Was tifo
Principal Material That HDd .
Deen Used.

Dye ever hear about the time we he'd
gittin' Main street paved? Mebbe YOU
didn't know it ever wuz paved. Wei,
1t wuz, an them bricks We see layin'
around out in the road is all thet's Left
of it. 1t wuz like this: About two
years ago Jonesboro he'd a kind OF
boom, an we thort it wuz goin' to be
a metropolis. So people begun to talk
about gittin' the streets paved SOS to
make things look more citified.
guess it wuz the editor of the Jones'
boro Dugle thet started the idee. Any
way it NVuzn't long before ev'ry num-
Der of the Bugle he'd two or three coli
umns about the burnin' question of tho
day, ez he called it. Most ev'rybody
seemed to be in favor of the scheme,
an purity soon the city council appoint
ed a committee to look into the mat
ter an find out what it would cost to
pave Main street
Jest about thet time a contractor
from Chicago came to town. He wuz
a slick talker, an he gave the COM
mittee all the information they could
wuz the best kind, an said he'd put Il
in fur us dirt cheap, becuz he wanted 10
work up q good trade in this section Of
the state. Bein' ez they wuzn't nobody
in town knew the first thing about
pawn, we took his word fer it an the
council give him tho job.
Well, theN contractor went to work
right away, an it didn't take him long
to finish the job neither. It's lucky fer
the town itdidnt ttakelong, becuzall the
time he was atwork nobody done nothin'
but loaf around an watch the PAYERS.
II he'd a-kept on a week longer busi-
ness would a-been clean dead. It's no
wonder he got done quick, fer all he
done wuz to level the street an then
lay tho bricks right on top of the
ground. Tho cuss knowed thet we
didn't hev sense to see thet he wuzn {
doin' It the right way.
They might hev been one or two
people in the town thet he'd their doubts,
but they didn't dare TO say nothin' fer
fear Of shown their ignerence.
Fer about a week after it wuz fin
ished we wuz ez proud Of our new pave
ment ez boy of his first pair of pants
Then heavy rain como up, an our trou-
Bile begun The first wagon thet went
over the pavement after the rain suuk
right in, an it wuzn't long before the
street looked ez il brick house he'd
fell on it.
II got so people would drive out of
-, 4r,r . },
paved. OF course ev'rybody wuz wild
TO git holt Of thet contractor, but he'd
drawed his pay ez soon es tho job wul
done, an nobody lrnowed where no wuz
Well, we he'd TO lay the blame on some
body, so a mass meetin' wuz called &c
discuss the matter.
The sense of tho meetin' seemed tC
DO thet the city council wuz TO blam .
They got roasted right an left, an
some of the lnngwidge thet wuz us6
thet night wuzn't fit fer publication b,
"A long shot
Finally Alderman Smith got Up Z,
speak ia degnse Of the council. ~
Raid they wuz willin' to admit thoy
made a mistake, but no didn't thirl
they w-uz 70 blame, becuz they'd onll
enns what tho people wuz eggia' Sel
Rn 70 Do Then he went On 60 say thel
hseir intentions hod boon perfectly hon
orable. an he hoped the citlsens woul,
give 'em credit fer tibet.
When Smith got through 81 Barlow
jumped up an remarked thet hc't
heard tell Of a place where good inten
tions wuz used fer pawn material, an
he thort it would be mighty good ide,
fer the council TO go there. You ort'
hev heard the crowd laff. thort the,
never would git through. The mem
bers- of the council won't hear the las
of that joke ez long ez they live.-St
Louis Post-Dispatch.