The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1900-05-12

window, his lat legs on the SIN. AS
he talked, his hearers in the big bare
room drowsed, nodded or stared at
him with lack-luster eyes. He usually
held forth on Sundays when the law
and the Lord prohibited work and there
was nowhere 10 go.
On this sultry afternoon his theme
was his own misfortune in being bur
dcned with n family that contributed
nnught TO his desires. He 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 il 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
impeachment 10 activity and cncourager
OF sloth, they had come honestly by a
combination of their fathers tow-col-
ored and their mothers red hair, which
little suited their florid compilations.
They had, also, freckles as big as pock-
marks, which n 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
Tiers plan, but with a more cheerful
face, was lying on the high-postcd bed
I'm the corner of the room. He always
hurled into his fathers Trades against
his family comments in favor OF his
brother, whom he admired intensely.
"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. Gle 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. lie
lowed Ron paid every dollar he CON
tracted 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.
Il
"but you won't ever be ashamed OF
i'm, II you are OF the rest OF us. He's
been readin' and studyin' every spare
minute sence he was knee high TO n
grasshopper. For the last six months
Mr.. Redding, the best lawyer in Dam
ube, has been providin' i'm with books,
an my idea is that he is goin' TO make
lawyer out'n hissef. You cayn't
hold i'm down; he'll rise like n cork;
an as fur good looks, geewhililSins!
Did / ever tell you-uns what happened
ut campmeetin'? i was settin' I'M
der the bush arbor about four benches
from the front last Sunday was a
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 snld he wasn't
certain, but he lowed IL was some
chap visitin' Mt Col. Hasbrooke's From
Boston or New York. Then IL was my
put in. bent over an informed 'cm
that IL was Ronald Fanshaw, the old
est son OF Jason Fanshaw. An you
ort to a-heerd 'em gigglc. Then the
man that had axed the question come
back at me fairly slobborin' in the
mouth TO keep frum laughin' out loud.
"'You're away Oft, my friend SCI
Re; you shorely amt acquainted bout
heer. Old Fanshaw is the daddy Of the
sorriest 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 / jest punched my face over
TO his yeer an said, | dds Il ort 10
know i'm says, tetchin' the butt
O. my pistol. He's my brother. an
when meetin' is over men you'll 90
into the sideshow fur a 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. / was akin the Lord "a
bless my purpose when them two ri2
an poled 10 out over the straw. hall
way got up, but the preacher broke
of in his prayer an begun TO tail,
about the law agn disturbin' public
worship, an / sunk down on my knees
an seed them two mount an gallop of
like the woods was ahre."
"You ort TO a-mashed is teeth down
his throat" said Mrs. Fanshaw
"Folks has poked too much fun at MS
10 suit me. In war times YOU wouldn't
a-stood II. Jade" She called her hus-
band Jade, not because he was tired
OF wns horse, but because IL was thu
only abbreyiation of the name she
knew.
An expression of hot fury lay on
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 OF
the watermelon the family had just
eaten. "My Lord" he grunted, "ef
took folks 10 taw ever time they jolSed
about you-uns. I'D have my hands full. f"