The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-03-10
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES s955;SSS53S
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4 Uncle WaSh's Escape !
II BY NED HUTTON. d
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way county the conversation lam
guished, and we dropped into reverie
as the logs burned down to glowing
Goals. A 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"
l asked: is Hazel the rats name?'
at shore is, sonny" replied the old
gentleman with a chuckle, IAN the way
he comes by it is all on account of his
liking for hazelnuts as an article Ov
grub. I've knowed the little varment
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 a barrel. After select
ing an iron from row on the shelf,
lie sat down in front of the fireplace,
clasDed the iron between his knees and
began cracking them with an old wagon
tongue pin, pcering over his glasses at
the hole in the easement after each nut
When the click of the iron on the nuts
began, the gnawing ceased, and pres
emily the rat appeared at the hole. His
shiny eyes surveyed the room carefully
and finally settled on the old man.
Then he came out on the floor, and adj
vancing to the old gentleman's side
climbed up his trouser leg and sat on
his knee and waited, watching every
move of Uncle Wash's hands with his
little, beady eyes.
Uncle Wash cracked a nut and gave
the rat the kernel, which the rat quick
ly disposed of, holding it between his
paws while gnawing it. His capacity
for nuts seemed unlimited.
BY accident I overturned chair
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 and was smOkin"
again. "IIe shore likes hazelnuts, an
will quit eatin' up the house any time
fer a mess Ov m, 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 a fidget fer to leave an he
does it in hurry"
Il recollcCt once when he comes rae
I'm in here lookin' fer nuts like he did
ies' now, an he run up aginst more'n
he bargained fer an raised a racket
that fetched your Uncle Wash outen a
difficulty that was pinChin' him might
lily, an | reckon the rat recOllects it,
too. 1t was mighty cmbarrisin' to the
rat, an to another party who was here
present, but it shore ticlIles your Uncle
Wash, an that's why l think so much
Ov him"
'Yaas, sir" continued the old gentle
man, chuclling to himself. 'Yaas, sir,
that pore leedle insignificant animal
shore saves your Uncle Wash from git
tin married to a wilder woman onct
on a time, an on that account | kinder
takes pains to look out fer him now an
sorter, comfort him when he gifts
skecrcd at chairs or the dogs movin'
round under the house an growlin' in
their sleep.
"This here wilder woman I'm gOin'
to tell YOU about was called Mis- Sile by
all the neighbors round here. Her
name | dun forgot now, cause | never
was much interested in this female no
how, but she ulster sign it up at the store
as Mis- Sias Madden, after her husband
an so everybody knowed her as Mis-
Sile.
she was jes' wilder woman fer a
lcedle 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 hdr husband
was drowned one spring trYin' to cut
ice on the river when they was a thaw
goin' on. The ice dun cracked when
he was a-sawin' ov it, an Sias fell in
an was drowned, along with n ice saw
that ole Eli Gaines had bought in St
Louis an had loaned to him. They
never found Silas, ner the ice saw
neither. an | guess before Silas had
VI illtNl " WV llI'h'li VI bhN llFNl bll't
cir woman was chasin' over the county
lCOkin' fer aRothcr man.
''She looks over all the avaylable fel'
Iers in this nail< Ov the woods, an il
looks like she finally decides ter settle
down on your Uncle Wash as a fitten
victim fer matrimony; at least | knows
that after that she devotes all her at
tentions to that end.
st was about the time that the wild
der was manOovcrin' most an was a
weakenin' that | forms the acquaint
ance of this rat. He was kinder like
the wilder woman; he jes' drapt in, an
fndin' the surroundings congenial, ma
fully he stayed here.
81 first notices him one night wheI
I was a-sittin' here like we air now, an
was ies' passin' the time away crack
in hazelnuts when | sees. him stick hi:
head outcn the hole down thar in the
casih' an look up at me like he wanted
some hazelnuts, too. | rolls a couple
along the floor over to him fer to see
1t didn't take him two seconds to squa
down on his hind legs an gnaw off :
corner of the shell an reach in will