The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-11
rANrnrr eAr,s roopcnucNa
Their Fun in Reducing Fat Results in the
Formation of an oil Company, Limited.

~ "ONNNAAuNhbs baAN DikV W y
crowd of hunters and squatters at old Jake
Lipscomb's store at the corners under Kings
Mountain, blame my cats II 1 won't bet ny
spotted coon dog Lickem agin' q yearlin' caf
tibet thar's mob woodchucks an smarter
ones ct tibet in Painter Gap than thar is in
any county in ole Nawth Cah'in'."
"Ef you-uns was ~projoLin bout '~possums,"
said Uncle Caleb. Col. T~honpson's factotum.
"'Possums be burned" calculated Bige. "A
'%possum's nowhar 'longside a nice. fat young
woodchuck. ~nigGerl"
"They-uns amt neither nowhar when you
kin git a young coon" said Pete Blinks. along
limbed. red-headed denizen OF Bear Run. But
they's nuther hy'r nor thar. What we all
want to know OF what Bige kno's bout tho
woodchucks NV Painter Gap"
You fellers won't believe me. know"
said Bige. but / kin git a 'davit ur a Elias
Capus from Jim Vinum an Sol Akers tibet l
amt stretchin' tho blanket a inch n half
when 1 say them's the cutest varmints in the
Ole Nawth State"
Go ahead. Bige!' said old Jake Lipscomb.
III set up the white liker myself fur a good
story. It's almity durn trim settin' here
tnlkin' bout nothin'."
Jess ez you say. Sol.' replied Bige. Me
an Jim Vinum an Sol Aker was down In
Painter Gap six weeks ago huntin' will hogs.
They's bout the only foh-legged critters they
amt no close season on JUS now. We had
awful poh luck tibet day. an ole Sol was
a-cussin' the hard times an slackncss OF game
when Jim Vinum cum a-lopln' into camp ez
full of excitement ez q viii boar IL full of fight.
Cum rite along. boys said he. when he
cud talk. I've seed the durndest sight l
ever laid eyes on. Over thar in the gap thar's
u big cliff Of rocks bout a hundred foot high.
an durn my boots eff thar amt a thousan'
woodchucks a playin' circus right up an down
| fhat oliff Won ol neadn't look of ma zif I
was a gosh burned liar. amt told you hat
what / seem
Bout a mile from camp we cum out in n BUNCH
OF laurel on the mo1ntln side: Across the
rocks Waz the biggest crowd Of wqodchucksff
ever seed. Thar wuz moren u HUNDRED In
ddiis sapipearin' al. the time. ~ Over to the left we
tin on a big Hat stone which 'peaEed to, be
moyin' up am down. Presently that thar
a~-rollin' down the mountain. 1t didn't,
though. but them groun, hogs did GO a sailin'
minute or two was the fact that them groun,
hogs was strung out one after ANOTHER JUS
a-skitterin' an a-slidinTti till they struck the bot
tom OF the little valley, an then they shot up
S %as one the SIDE bia il6tyd ass' t Ri1fe / fh eye s'G seed. am maj /
WIS redSdy to bust ont in a biz Ian, a.thinkin'
what a funny thing 1t was which sent them a
an seed another batch OF chucks a teeterin'
up an down on that same pig nat stone 1t
about it was them chucks seemed TO know it
"Jes' then ole Sol whispered an said, 'Durn
critters is a.slidin' on We looked. an sure's
top NV the Gift iii to the bottom and nifty feet
VI, on the other side was hollered out. The
holler 'peared to be bout a foot wide an half
a dozen inches deep. an it run from the place
whar the big teetGrrin' stone dipped ped along the
the bottom. The holler, was brown an dark,
an, from whar we sot, 'P.eared 90 be greasy.
1t he'd e%R E fr in fha sh n d does I. f Il mSSnY' said Vi
num. But bef9h anybody, could guess the
big stone tipped love over an 'an9fh Gir, batch piGh.t nv
clip. down the chutei"
l n5iiEa9' went tH up f into a big. high i'b6iI ldin', whar
vi! White enf iik Pftof they %F could pG git iiHSSi e thing thet
looked like q Johpboat an go like Iiightnin,'
they. went splash into a big pond Of water;
But it gets me how them chucks could a heerd
Tibet amt it, said Jim. I kin see what
they're, a-doin''
" Don't you 'uns see they's lots Of hog fat
"'Bowlegged with fat said Sol.
q" !Jes', So, an over on the right ''you-unsn
notice a lot tibet are thin as u bar in the spring.
N9AES; a2s sb an, yo%%7SH sn ths se next lot landed an,
the chucks started back up the cliff we could
see Seit th sni fSm n T%eerrse so rat th they ~ could on 1dr s sSacHa
hogs, We watched them go, up an line the
crowd an then we saw the ,thinnest chucks go
Off by themselves an lay down in a bunch in
the sun while the fat ones gathered about the
%teeterin' stone agin.
wasn't one NV the funniest. things ever seed.
ness with pleasure with the critters; BY, this
a-glintin'in the sun an we could see that it was
puthin, more nor less then grease thet dun 1t
critters wasn't deliberately ,a-slidin' Of their
fat. The stone gutter was hot from, the sun,
an between USn TIN the m heat e an tht th ft ff iea 6hcber 2t
oozed out'n their hides: Et, wuZ all plain ez
day. They'd got too fat in tibet land OF prom:
slidiq' business. Wal. we watched them
thng'ryS was asi right fouWViRR Wien a chuck had slid down
the chute an cIimbfd back q dozen times or SO
at least one-haf an then they'dd, quit an fatter
chucks'd, begin, an, SO ON. III all NV them
ringer ringer nh Then fnei after 18th they'd ali rested. they he
trotted Off into the woods. -,
The next day an the day follerin' we hid
in the same place an saw the same program,
an, tibet al, thet come were ft ez they could
i iSI; On the 10Th he day after the circus me an
Sol, an Jim, climb,d down the mountin an
li2RS aSsht at The the s si5as' w Es S E5S E 'sdit out sT T Sf th I'll
way from top to bottom, an away up the other
side. an the holler at the bottom wuz hat full
Of as purity woodchuck lie ez you ever seed.
The grease WIZ clear ez lamp lie. except here
an thar a hdir wuz mixed into It,, Ole Sol,
you know. is a genyus. All at once he busted
boys, we kin make q pile out'n this thing
Flows thetP' said Jim.
I'VE kin save this lie, run It thro' a hair
seeve to git rid Of the hair an dirt. an sell it
How'll we ketch it? said jim. When the
holler gifts full ct the bottom IT. all splashes
over; You all kin see fur yourselves thet is q
was as greasy ez the floor ny a oil-well derrick,
Easy 'nuff;' said Sol, We kin bore two or
troff, an let the grease run into a kaR. When
one ez full, we kin take it away an put in an
'The more we thought Of the plan the better
we liked it.. an we went right into Q hustle.
an In leos'n "a week we wuz back with three
aln- nallnn kans nm In lnsSln ten lnYA eNerY