The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1899-09-09

took special occasion the other day
to inform him that his affection was
the result Of old age. Beg pa'don., he
replied, with a flourish of both hands,
dat lef' laig hain't nc oldah dan de
right one, boss, an dey's no rheumatic
in it, sab. 1t I'm de debil, boss, jes' I
done tole you, an de way to fight de
debil is VIII fab, sab. Lemme git down
side dat cookin' stove an I wouldn't
glib a cent a bottle TO- all de med'cin
ebeh concoctified, sah.' Daddy's an
tipathy to cool water is as strong as
to cool air. I urge him to go in bathing
frequently, just to watch the cunning
with which he will avoid following my
advice. He can look the picture of
health when 1 advise him to take a,
plunge and inside of three minutes
have a pronounced cas- of fever and
ague that would fool any doctor who
did not know him. He will shake at
regular intervals, complain Of racking
pains, and take quinine with avidity-
also with a slight allowance of whisky
and go to bed Stimulating the weak
ness of a baby rather than jump into
the water. He alternates these ague
fits with 'neuralgey,' %'toofache.' gone
ness in de stomach and a ringin' in
de head like a sawmill way off, One
night when we were anchored of Au
Sable I told daddy that he must take
a swim. The peremptory order gave
hs- III hfe oi1roonfc of onno hnf 7 in.
sisted, and the contortions through,
which he went while going below sug-
gested acute pain in every atom Of his
being. Presently I heard a great
splash in the water. Quickly there
aoated in the air, in daddy's unmistak-
able tones: Laws a massey, but dis am
fine! Jes' like de watah in de ole
James ribber. Reckon I kin dibe yet,'
and there was another commotion,
which suggested that daddy was turn
ing turtle as he went. A brief silence
was followed by a s%puttering, a CUR
Cling, and a final wow which indicat-
ed that the 'dibe' had been successfully
accomplished. All this puzzled me, for
I had long since decided that I could
never get daddy into the water unless
I threw him in. I slipped down the
passageway, through the cabin and
into the cooks domain. How I ever
restricted myself to internal laughter
without s%uffocating is more than I will
ever be able to explain to myself. There
was daddy with his head out through
a bulrs-eye. Tied to the end Of a rope
he had a block Of wood. With this he
had made the plunge and the dive.
With this he had kept up the noise OF
some one padding about in the water.
Daddy's ready tongue was doing the
rest. He would make the noise Of blow
ing out water, pulled. announced to
the night air that It was funny he
could swim better on his left side than
on his right, despite his rheumatism.
and made a noisy dive about every
minute, always giving forth, the appro-
pirate sounds afterward. But what
caused me to retreat with q rush was .
balfsmothered scream, followed by q
.wagh! wagh! wagh! Dat wah a crab
got me by de toe. shuh.' Have q nice
swim, daddy?' I asked a little later. as
I found him rubbing his dry head with
q big towel. Magnificent. san, mag
nif,cent! I wah jess sayin' to NAH
self dat It minded me OBJ de ole James
ribber. whar I ulster swim when I wah
. pickaninny, sab. I 'spect I'll be
kwin in reg'lah, boss. Bout eb'ry
night'll ketch me swimmin', now and
that's the way the matter has stood
from that time to this. It's a cold
night when Daddy doesn't have his
block Of wood out repeating some
such an occurrence as I've tried to pic
ture. It never fails to make q great
hit with my guests when the cook
"goes a swimmin' at night"