The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1898-01-05
SQUAN CREEK TALES.
JEP JONES' STORY OF A MAN WHO
WAS WRONGED.

The Fishermen Were All Sure Joe Brad
What Ho Had Sawn, and Stuck to 1t.
The Gigantic Lobster.
never Ito think of what happened to
poor Joe Bradshaw without bein cut up
about it. Every man at Squan Creek
who had IL iishboat was liar and
knowcd he wis, and when Joe Brad
shaw cum up from Absecom and fined
the feet we 'sposcd of course he was IL
liar like the rest of us. He was a hum
bic man who didn't do much swcarin
and was soft spolleis but we thought it
his way and didn't praise him fur it.
What we hoped fur when he j'ined US
was some new lies, as we'd got purity
tired OF the old ones, and he didn't dis
app'lnt u.s. One day, when he'd bin ont
To take up his lobster pots, he comes
back to the wharf to say to half dozen
Of us:
Il should like to tell you of lobster
run across out thar, but I'm afeard
You ii think I'm lyin. "
"Of course we WILL says Phineas
Green, "but what of it? We ar all liars
here, and you amt no better nor wuss
than the rest Of us. Jest draw u long
breath and tell us II whopper "
But JOo Bradshaw wouldn't do it.
He seemed to he hurt in his fcelin's and
refused to say a.word. We thought it
was mighty queer i'll him, and next day,
when met him alone, says:
Joe, if you'll tell mo about that lob
ster won't say nuthin 70 the rest of
the crowd. We'll swap lies on the quiet.
You tell me about your lobster and I'll
tell you about my shark. -
But Pm no liar" says Joe. ST
never told a lie i'll my life. and I would
not tell one fur all the fish in Suuan
bay. If I'm to tell you about this lob
ster, you've got to believe it. %
promised would, though I didn't
intend to, and he told me that he saw
lobster as big as cider bar'I-a reg lar
ole socller, who must hev bin crawlin
around when the battle of Bunker Hill
was fit. 1 tried to get him to take off
some and to say the lobster was no big
germ beer key, but he stuck right to
the size and wouldn't abate jot. You
never saw man more airnest, and I al
most believed he was tellin the truth.
When I told tho gang about the big lob
ster. they was nightly pleased.
"That's the biggest kind of lie,''
says Plato White, "but it's new one,
and we orter rejoice. Well incourago
him to keep on.
That's what we did. Every time no
went out to his pots we anxiously in
quired after that lobster and appeared
to be powerfully interested. We made
it up to run across the varmint our
selves and to be amazed at his size, and
Bradshaw didn't exactly know how to
take us. Now and then he'd come in to
say he'd seen the lobster ag i'll, and we'd
wink at each other, and Dan'l Webster
Brown would say:
Yes, l seen him myself yesterday
AFTERNOON, and of all the sockin ole lob
STEERS i'll this Atlantic ocean he takes the
cake. Why, boys, the claws ON that crit
ter are longer'n my arm and Jest about
as big around, and his eyes stand out
like peeled onions. AS to how old he is,
the Lord only knows, but if he hain't
seen 200 Vars hope to never bring up
another lobster"
AhSi W. u Win All around aP III, ana
Noah Wilkins would heave sigh and
add:
And when l was down TO the bell
buoy last Chewsday must ~ seen that
Same lobster but he was so powerful
big that took him fur two dead por-
poises dashed together started to git
n cluser look at him, but he thrashed
around till he sllecrt me Off Inever was
afeared of nrthin that walked or swuIn,