The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-07-21
THEIR STREET WAS pAw
OeeA lnte.ssoss. Rs~s~ss. Was -
Principal Astesaaa 1AaA -
Deoa UoaA

Dye ever hear about tAe time we h~o
gfttin' Main street paseds Nebbe yea
didn't know II ever wus paved Wen
u wuz. an them hsisan - - ~
around out In the road = IN the<S ~
Of It II wuz like thiss About two
Year, ago Jonesboro bed . Kind of .
boom. an we thort Il wus goin' 70 be
Q metropolis. So people begun to TAN
about gittin' the streets paved SOS -
mako things look moro citifed.
Iguess it wuz the editor Of tho Jopes-
boro Bugle thet started the idee. Any
way II wuzn't long before ev'ry num-
Der Of the Bugle he'd two or three COL
umns about the burnin' question Of the
day. ez he called It. Most ev'rybody
seemed to be In favor Of the scheme.
an purity soon the city council appoint
ed . committee 70 look into the mat
ter an find out what h would cost TO
pave Main street.
Jest abous 49, - -
from Chicago came 10 town. He wuz
. slick talker, an he gave the COM
mittee all the information they could
hold. He told 'em thet brick pavement
wuz the best kind. an said he'd put It
in fur us dirt cheap, becuz he wanted To
work up q good trnde in this section Of
the state. Bein' e. they wuzn't nobody
in town knew the first thing about
PAWN. we took his word fer II an the
council give him the Job.
Well, the contractor went to work
right away. an It didn't take him long
to finish the job neither. It's lucky fer
the town itdidnttake long, becuxa all the
time he was st work nobody done nothin'
but loaf around an wetch the paven.
II he'd s-kept on week longer busi-
ness would a-beeI clean dead. It's 20
wonder he got done quick, fer all he
done wus to level the street an then
lay the bricks right ON top Of the
ground. The cuss knowed thet we
didn't hev sense to 80 tibet be wuEn't
doin' II the right way.
They might hev been one or two
people In the town thet he'd their doubts,
but they didn't dare 70 say nothin' fer
feo< of showin' their ignerence.
Fer about . week after II wus I'm.
ished we wuz ez proud OF our new pave.
ment CT Q boy Of his first pair Of pants.
Then heavy rain como up, an our trou-
bic begun. The first wagon thet went
over the pavement after the rain sunk
right in. an II wuznt long before the
street looked e. II . brick house he'd
fell on II.
II got 10 people would drive out Of
their way TO git to street thet wuxnt
paved. OF course ev'rybody wuz wild
TO git holt Of thet contractor, bat he'd
dawed his pay es soon ex the Job wus
doDe, an nobody knowed where he wuz
Well, we he'd to lay the blame on some
body, 20 mass meetin' wus called 70
discuss the matter.
Tho sense Of the meetin' seemed TO
be thet the city council wuz to blame
They got roasted right en- left an
some Of the langwidge thet w,u used
thet night wuxnt At fer publication by
. long shot
Finally Alderman Smith got up TO
speak In defense OF The council. he
snsd they wuz wilfln' to admit they'd
made Q mistake, but he didn't think
they wus to blame. becux thovt rr.v
done whaA the people wuz ear IL '~-'
on to DO. Then he went on 70 say 'h~t
their intentions bed been perfectly hon
orable, an he hoped the citizens would
give 'em credit fer thet.
When Smith got through 81 Barlsw
Jumped up on remarked thet he'd
heard tell Of place where good inten-
tions WIZ used fer PAWN material, an
he thort II would be mighty good idee
fer the council to 60 there. You orto
hev heard the crowd lan. lthort they
never would git through. The mem
hers Of the council won't hear the last
Of that Joke en long es they ii~r.-et.
Louis rost-Dispatch.