Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1900-05-25
CHAPTER 1.

room drowsed, nodded or stared at
him with lack-luster eyes. He usually
held forth on Sundays when the law
was nowhere to go.
On this sultry afternoon his theme
was his own misfortune in being bur
dcned with family that contributed
naught to his desires. lie had never,
in exact words, voiced their shortcom-
ings, but in his secret soul he would
have had them perhaps less like him
self, certainly less like his wife, who
weighed 200 if she weighed pound.
The two girls, Mary Lou, aged Is,
and Ann Josephine, 20, threatened, as
their bedslats continued to break, to
surpass their mother In the flesh they
were heir to, and in addition to this
tmpediment to activity and encourager
of sloth, they had come honestly by
combination of their fathers tow-col-
ored and their mothers red hair, which
little suited their forid compilations.
They had, also, freckles as big rs pock-
marks, which diligent application of
stump water" had failed to dim.
Fanshaw had two sons. Ronald, the
eldest child, was not in the room.
David, lusty fellow built on his ia
theirs plan, but with a more cheerful
face, was lying on the high-posted bed
in the corner of the room. He always
hurled into his fathers Trades against
his family comments in favor OF his
4, \ ~, ~
you cayn't complain of Rom" he
said this afternoon, as he famed the
flies from his face with his big straw
hat lined with blue calico. HE looks
after his own business. Mr.. Hague
said Saturday before last that he'd
ruther have Ron rent land from i'm
than any man in the country. He
lowed Ron paid every dollar he con-
traeted to pay an that the niggers
liked i'm so much that they'd work
twice as hard for i'm as they would for
anybody else"
THAT don't do me no good" snarled
Fanshaw.
mo, l reckon not" admitted Dave,
but you won't ever be ashamed Of
I'm, If you are of the rest of US. He's
been readin' and studyin' every spare
minute sence he was knee high to q
grasshopper. For the last six months
Mr.. Redding, the best lawyer in DAN
ube, has been providin' i'm with books,
an my idea Is that he is goin to make
hold i'm down; he'll rise like cork;
an as fur good looks, geewhilikins!
Did ever tell you-uns what happened
at campmeetin'? I was settin' I'M
der the bush arbor about four benches
from the front last Sunday was q
week when Ron come in dyked out
In his best Sunday clothes. You ort
to a-seed how the folks turned their
heads. A young dude behind me axed
a man next to i'm who in the thunder
that was, an the fellow said he wasn't
certain, but he lowed it was some
chap visitin' at Col. Hasbrooke's from
Boston or New York. Then it was my
put in. bent over an informed 'em
that it was Ronald Fanshaw, the old
est son of Jason Fanshaw. An you
ort to a-heerd 'em giggle. Then the
man that had axed the question come
back at me ia ~ slobberin' in the
mouth to keep t1um laughin' ont loud.
"Iou're away off, my FRIEND seq
he; you sl,orely amt acquainted bout
heer. Old Fanshaw is The daddy of the
sorricst layout on the face of crea-
ton. hain't never been to his side
show myself, but know heap O folks
that has paid Their way an never axed
fur the money back, nuther.'
Then l jest punched my face over
to his yeer an said, did: 1 ort to
know 'im,' says. tetchin' the butt
o. my pistol. Hes my brother, an
| when meetin' is over men you'll &C
into the sideshow fur minute; the
tents stretched right out thar in the
bushes an the latest addition to it is
| a Buffalo Bill dead shot
He wilted an got as white as the
inside of cucumber, an then the
| preacher aXed everybody to kneel down
and pray. l was akin the Lord tc
bless my purpose when them two riz
an poled it out over the straw. hall
way got up, but the preacher broke
| off in his prayer an begun to tall
about the law agin disturbin' public
worship, an / sunk down on my knees
an seed them two mount an gallop of
| like the woods was afire."
| You ort to a-mashed is teeth dowr
| his throat" said Mrs. Fanshaw
"Folks has polsed too much fun at Ii.
| to suit me. In war times you wouldn'
a-stood it, Jade" She called her hus
band Jnde, not because he was tired
or was horse, but because it was TIL
| only abbreviation of the name sh
| knew.
An expression of hot fury lay o,
| Fanshaw's wrinkled face as he looked
out Into the yard where half hundred
ducks, turkeys, guinea-hens and pea
cocks were feasting on the remains o
the watermelon the family had jus
eaten. my Lord" he grunted, "ef
took folks to taw ever time they joke
about you-uns, I'd have my hands full
well. they'd better not let me hee
'em THROWN off on u.s." declared Dave
and he stood up and stretched himself
"Butwhen you come to think of 1T, Ro
Is SO different from the rest of us tina
It's no wonder folks take I'm for ont
o. that highfalutin' crowd. l tell you
he's no slouch!"
Dave went out into the back porch
where stream OF water shot from
the end Of hollow log into trough
| the water came from spring ON Hill
side half mile distant. The inventor o
this crude aqueduct was Ronald Fan
shaw; he was only boy when he con