The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1898-05-13
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! Uncle Wash's Escape
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BY NED HUTTON.
nNE night when l sat with old Wash
inrton Burns in front of the big fire


way county the conversation Ian
guished, and we dropped into reEerie
as the logs burned down to glowing
Goals. 4 rat began gnawing in the
easement of the mantel, and the old
man, rousing himself and reaching for
the tobacco jar. said:
"Thar's Hazel at it again"
| asked: rs Hazel the rats name?"
1T shore is, sonny" replied the old
gentleman with a chuckie, "an' the way
he comes by it is all on account Of his
liking for hazelnuts as an article ov
grub I've knowcd the little yarment
fer long time an fer TO kill time I'll
jest call him out an show you his leedle
pecooliarity with them nuts"
Uncle Wash crossed TO the corner of
the room and drew forth a handful Of
hazelnuts from barrel. After select
ing an iron from Il row on the shelf,
lie sat down in front of the fireplace,
clasncd the iron between his knees and
began cracking them with an old wagon
tongue pin, peCring over his glasses at
the hole in the case :lcnt after each nut.
When the click Of the iron on the NUS
began. tie gnawin% ceased, and pres
emily the rat appeared at the hole. Lis
shiny eyes surveyed the room carefully
and finally settled on the old man.
Then he came out on the floor, and ad-
vancing to the old gentleman's size
climbed up his trouser leg and sat on
his knee ard waited, Watching every
move of Uncle Wash's hands with his
little, bccdy eyes.
Uncle Wash cracked a nut and gave
the rat thcsJerncl, which the rat quick
ly disposed Of, holding it between his
paws while rnawirg it. His capacity
for nuts seemed unlimited.
BY accident | overturned chair I
had been twirling, and the rat jumped
from his perch and scampered to his
hole in apparent great terror.
''Hazel is mighty pecooliar thata-
way" said Uncle Wash when he had
finished the nuts AID was smoking
again. ''He shore likes hazelnuts, an
will quit eatin' up the house any time
fer mess ov IN, but fallin' chairs
makes him nervous, kinder. Jes' the
minute what he hears me crackin' nuts
here in front of the fireplace, that air
rat'll quit the most important piece of
gnawin' he's got on hand an come polk
in in here fer his sheer, but when a
racket like that happens, the leedle var
mcnt gifts in fidget fer 70 leave an he
does it in a hurry"
Il recOllect once when he comes rae
in in here lookin' fer nuts like he did
jes' now, an he run up aginst mOre'n
he bargained fer an raised racket
that fetched your Uncle Wash outen
difficulty that was pinchin' him might
lily, an / reckon the rat recollects it,
too. 1t was mighty embarrisin' to the
rat, an to another party who was here
present, but it shore tickles your Uncle
Wash, an that's why I think so much
ov him.
"Yaas, sir" continued the old gentle
man, chuckling to himself. "Yaas. sir
that pore leedle insignificant animal
shore saves your Uncle Wash from git
tim married to wilder woman Cnct
on time, an on that account kind~~
takes pains to look out fer him now, an
skeercd at chairs or the dors movin'
round under the house an growl;n' in
their sleep.
This here wilder woman I'm goin'
to tell you about was called Mis- Sile by
all The ncighbors round here. Her
name l dun forgot now, cause never
was much interested in this female no.
how, but she ulster sign, up at the store
as Mis- Silas Madden, after her husband.
an so everybody knowed her as Mis-
Sile.
''She was jes' a widder woman fer
leedle while, when the rat averts a
catastrophe an saves your Uncle Wash
a-marryin' her. She lives perty near
over on the county line, an her husband
was drowned one spring tryin' to cut
ice on the river when they was a thcw
goin' on. The ice dun cracked when
he was a-sawin' ov it, an Si'as fell in
an was drowned, along with a ice saw
that ole Bill Gaines had bought in ST.
Louis an had loaned to him. They
never found Silas, ner the ice saw,
neither, an 1 guess before Silas had
drifted to the mouth of the river that
air woman was chasin' over the county
lCOlkin' fer another man.
"She looks over all the available fell
lers in this naill ov the woods, an it
looks like she finally decides ter settle
down on your Uncle Wash as a fitten'
victim fer matrimony; at least knows
tentions to that end.
1T was about the time that the wild
der was manooverin' most an was a.
weakenin' that I forms the acquaint-
ance of this rat. He was kinder like
the wilder woman; he jes' drapt in, an
findin' the surroundings congenial, ma
fully he stayed here.
II first notices him one night when
[ was a-sittin' here like we air now, am
l was les passin' the time away crack
in hazelnuts when l sees hin, stick his
head outen the hole down thar in the
casin' an look up at me like he wanted
some haZelnuts, too. I rolls couple
along the floor over to him fer to see.
1T didn't take him two seconds to SQUAT
down on his hind legs an gnaw off a
corner of the shell an reach in with
one paw an git the goody out an sit
thar eatin' it, hstenin' between bites to
the dogs movin' round under the house.
"Natully takes up with the critter.
more especially since ] had heerd the
wilder say she didn't like rats an I
feeds him hazelnuts till he's so swelled
up he KANT skacely git back in his hole.
an the next night ne comes back agin'
an sits thar eatin' nuts an liStenin, to