Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1899-09-19

there has seemed to be good many
things to call me away from home.'
He made up arrants!' put in his
wife in her low, heavy voice.
'Waal, didn't so no more than the
other fellers l was getting acquainted
with all roundabout l didn't wanter
be different from them"
You'd always been different from
'em in the way that you had owned
your farm an had money in the bank
an staid ter hum an minded your own
business while they was alvin on
their wits or their credit
'Well, never'd hea my fling as you
might say. an when l went a-sherifiln
gittin away from it. 1 did buy new
clothes an a new hat an new hoss
an buggy an all the fixins"
+The fiXin's was a gold watch an
chain an n gold ring, jest as true as
you live, an kid gloves-drivin gloves
he called 'em-an he driv' in 'em no
doubt, fur he rid an he rid. caryin
them fellers he he'd got in With around.
he went off with 'em to politics con-
vention year ago an left the hay all
down, a rain blew up-I told him l
felt i'll my bones thet twas comin-an
it rained, an it rained, an when he got
home the hay was spilled. He got it in,
but twas musty, an the critters
! wouldn't eat 1t, an cum winter he he'd
ter buy hay. He was so ashamed he
wouldn't buy it around hum. for never
before since the Lord set 'em apart in
to families did a Staples ever buy hay.
So he drove u miles to the city an
got baled hay and brought 1t hum in
ther night an hid it in the haymow an
fed it out to the COWS in the barn.
Waal come spring there was dunnin
letters comm in every day, for not on
ly he'd he spent all lie had laid by
in the bank, but he'd got trusted be-
sides. After awhile city man he
owed for his black beetle winged tail
coat an his high silk hat come dunnin
an said he'd take up with COW for
family use, an what did he do but mp
and sell him Betty, the best COW in the
barn! tell you. that struck mo
spunky, but l didn't say nothin or net
so very much"
Didn't say very much?" echoed
poor Staples, bracing his shoulder
anew. "'Twan't nothin but kersher-
iff, kersherifT, kersheriff, from mornin
till night"
"Waal, you came near being kerr
sheriffed yourself when that man came
after you that iriv' off Bet to pay for
buzz beetle tailed coat, razor toed
Why, he even had his linen he called
dow, ~, 81
'He did make rapid progress" laugh
ed the lawyer
Progress! 1 thought so when them
men came an said Bet had got tu-ber-
co-lo-sis. l said 1 didn't know what
kind of tubers they had been givin
her She hadn't had nothin on the
farm but potatoes an carrots, an they
agreed with her well enough. Then
he said we must have the herd inocu-
lated, an l said we'd all been vaccinat-
cd, an guessed that would do for the
COWS an all. So we jawed till Staples
dressed up an hitched up an drove off
with them. Day an night he was gone
for two or three weeks, an / thought
l should hev a-went crazy. Farm work
sufferin, old Betty a-dyin, an said she
should be brought home. So they load
ed her on to n drag an brought her
back one night an put her on some
clean straw in the sheep shed, so the
other critters shouldn't ketch it.
Il went out to see her an didn't be-
lieve in any of their newfangled talk.
She's pizened or else she's a-swaIlow-
ed something l said, an they kept up
their talk about prosecutin us for sell
in COW that hadn't been tested, an /
said we'd been a-testin her milk an
cream for years, but all the talk didn't
save the COW. She died.
'Then l set up that she should be
cut open, an one o them men said, as
pompous MS big dictionary: Very
well. We'll have post mortem exam
ination, my good woman ! said
didn't feel jest then as If l was any
body's very good woman, but wanted
| that COW cut open. post mortem or rail
mortem, it didn't matter to me, She
never was unruly. An one of the men
said, kinder laughin, We will pro-
coed with the autopsy an I said
didn't care what kind of Topsy they
proceeded with, she was black enough
to be n Topsy or n Dinah. l knew
what they meant, but l didn't mean to
let them know it. So they went on
with the examination, an what do you
think they found but a piece of Ca
madam wire a foot long. That poor
HAA "A AA~