The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1899-12-28

In front of us. Some of them fer
safety sake and some fer shame sake, "
and Jim Furthermore said we ought to
wear the memory of them disgraced
and wicked days about us as an an
cient sailor or some old salt, wore a
dead goose about his neck as a keep
sake that he had been low down and
sinful.
But drunkards as we all certainly
was. and what is more, vergin' clost
onto, bein' bar-fer-keeps, old drunk
ards as was no likely salvation for, we
want any of US SO very happy and
comfortable and easy into our minds, at
the beginnin' of that night year ago
in Hank Harmon's blacksmith shop
In the alley, jist off the Rudy-some-
thing, bullygard in the city of sardin-
apolis, where we boys lived. We put
the boss blanket over the gapinest
cracks to keep the wind frum farm
out the smutty lamp that stood smokin'
and wobbly on an old table where
Hank writ his accounts, amongst lot
Of nails and bolts and rivets and small
6SA3AA WAlA q Jug VI JUG 11oWo 81 .
cheapest, hellishest whisky in the mid
die as kind Of devil center piece. o,
can't !, and can't all of US cronies jist
remember exactly, how that jiggly,
trembly, dirty old table looked and l
am bound that it had the delirium
tremens, if anything in the world bar
rim a man can have them. can smell
the oil that Hank spilled when he
filled the lamp with his nervous,
shaky hands and it run along amongst
the old iron and under Hanks day
book and dropped over the edge onto
the floor and went down crack. And
there was the white jug with the blue
letterin': II gal.," with sheaf Of blue
wheat below to make it look tasty and
sell.
And this was our New Years table!
Four men-made in the image of God!
And men for their folks and neigh
bors to be proud of-except they was
,drunkards. There was Jim Cameron,
one; me, two; Jim Green, three
whose father had been preacher
and Hank Harmon. as owned the shop.
AS said we want over happy and
comfortable that night, considerin' we
had such a reckless layout and an
early start. l have frequent noticed
that you can't always kick conscience
under the table or settee as you can
an unruly dog that whines and barks
when he has no call to. And some
how conscience has habit Of gettin'
around and in the way on such dom
| days as New Years, Christmas and the
| like. And four consciences as hadn't
had their just deservin's nor innings
for many month. slipped their halters
that night year ago and managed tc
make things unpleasant for their own
ers. suspect the troubled waters
mentioned in the scriptures means
somethin' like this. But any way WI
was troubled onaccountably.
Not SO onaccountably either, for W,
wasn't so old and hardened and crustet
in sin and drinkin', but what we al
could think when we give ourselves
chance, which we made sure not to d.
over frequent, because it was no
agreeable.
One thing that made us feel trif
down and dismal was that the keepe
of the Happy Home saloon, Joe How
ard, had jlst moved day or SO back
out Of his old house down by the ga
works and the tannery, into his hand
some new residence frontin' the par
and the library bulluin'. 1t was tn
prettiest, fastest, imposin list house il
the Circle and he had made every dol
lar Of it out of such fellows as me an
the rest of US.
| And then Jim Cameron had move
that very day-New Years day-fror
the home his father had given hin
and every brick and board in it wa
like livin', lovin' thing to Jim-ha
moved into little old untidy frows
house with bowed in roof and anglin
shutters, in part of the town wher
self-respectin' folks didn't generall
try to get. And Jim knew, and we al
knew that he and the rest Of us and
lot more had built Joe's house in tn
park. and that every nail in it If
was counted dozen times, wouldn'
count up as many ner tenth as man,
as the tears shed fer Its putin up!
We callated that one of us had hand
ed enough hard earned money over hi
counter to pay for the grand stairway