The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-26
ELIZA SAN.
By MARY E. WILKINS.
copyrighted, 1900. by stephen Hexter.I

- 70 be men enough years ago when I
boy and a young man. but they
- all died out or moved away. Now
-, car go I'D and down the street, n
80 nothing but women except in q few
- And some OF the men that's left
!. travelling week in and week out. and
high as we'll not live here. And some are
IA and feeble. like old man Ames, and
Abraham Jones, that they don't count for
o,cs Sometimes when L think of il, it
CONS to me just like an Indian village
that I've read about, when the men are
al Of hunting. and fishing, and fighting.
7 ,spose I'd have TO do most of the defend
,,q hearth and home If the enemy came,
a. there was an enemy. although 1 suppose
7 could count some on Eliza Sam.
Her real name amt Eliza Sam; it is
rl,za Hunt. She's called Eliza Sam to
distinguished her from other Eliza Hunts
There arc three in this village. and they
have 10 have their fathers and husbands
names tackled onto theirs to tell 'em apart.
Eliza Sam wasn't never married and her
fathers name was Sam. He died about
Eve years ago, he kept the sawmill. Be-
eide Eliza sam there is Eliza John and
EILa 1GAtU. GAA6 oOAAA - A ~ ~ a
man BY the name of John. and Eliza Caleb
amt married. never was, and was never
IKE 10 be. but they nave tackled Caleb onto
her name TO tell her from the other ELIAS.
Nearly half this village is made up of
Hunts. I am a Hunt, but l amt related
10 the ELIAS near enough to say so.
I don't believe anybody could trace out
the relationship betwixt Eliza Sam and
me. | know her father used 10 try to.
He had a picture of a genealogical tree
hanging up in his parlOr, hangs there now
though he's dropped off it in his grave,
If ever a tree grew in a graveyard it's
a genealogical one. He used to be fond
Of trying 10 point out to me whereabouts
l came in, but he couldn't make out much.
Its here or here, or here. Caleb" he
used to say. pointing to one little twig after
another. but he never knew which / was.
de lost the trail at the divide of the
branches somewhere back, where an En-
mons come into the Hunt family. 1t
never seemed much account to me, and L
miss my guess If ii did TO Eliza Sam,
but it pleased the old man, and we used
TO stand there and let him talk. j trimmed
a long birch stick fog him to use for q
pointer when he talked about his tree.
never see that tree now but it seems
as if he must be standing in front of it,
only there's something the matter with
my own eyes.
However / don't go in there very much,
row the old man is gone. Eliza Sam lives
there alone and folks might talk, if we
amt as young as we might be. 1 guess
there amt any age-limit TO tongues. 1
want to be careful for l nave always
thought a good deal of Eliza Sam. She's
too big and up comm lookin' to suit some
and don't mind her being outspoken and
wanting TO have her owr. way. Women
folks always want to have their own way
and / don't know as they are any the worse
for owning right up TO it. the way Eliza
Sam does, han to sort of mince around
and get at il sideways. 1 believe in broad
sides, and open assaults, and no ~sneakinS
under cover OF bushes. whether it is a man,
or a woman, or a nation. don't like the
Injun way of doing things. Whenever
Eliza Sam has wanted anything she has
always taken a Decline for it, chin up
and petticoats flying IL tie wind. And most
ly she's got ii, but no. always. There's
things that can't be got in this world,
whether you work by hoo.S or crook.
There's pricks for kickers and pricks for
sidlers, and Eliza Sam has met hers as
well as the rest of us. But she amt cried
out nor made any fuss about it, she ain't
lost a pound of flesh nor an atom of the
handsome red color in her cheeks. Eliza
Sam is a heavy woman. She must weigh
a hundred and seventy odd, though she
amt exactly stout. She has a large frame,
and she has enough bone and muscle TO
take the wind out of a good many men
IN the village-and she has done il. too.
i know one man who used to get up and
side out OF the grocery store of an evening
whenever Eliza Sans name came up.
He's moved away now out West, and all
his folks He's married out there. I've
heard. and they're talkin' of runnin' him
for Congress. Well, he'll get there, If
sticking TO it. whether or no. without con-
sidering If folks want him or not has any,
thing to do with it. 1t never made any
difference TO him what other folks wanted,
as Ions as he did. and generally he got
his way. but once he didn't because he
reckoned without Liza Sam.
II was after her father died, and she was
N-pNA 70 OWN the place clear, ana nave
a nice sum in bank beside some Old Col
ony Railroad shares He had never married,
and had his mother and two old maid
sisters on his hands,. and ii struck him he
would do well to get Liza Sam. So he
begun counting her. Liza Sam didn't want
hiia ana acted dreadful offish from the
Very first OF il. but that didn't make any
olDerence TO him. II wasn't what she
wanted. but what he wanted. He'd made
up his mind to marry her, and wasn't
going to be stopped by any such little
hing as her not wanting to marry him.
re lay in wait for her everywhere she
went She couldn't step into the postof-
nee nor the store. but there he was run
nng along side her. looking up in her face
with thai everlasting smirk of his which
seemed dreadful mild and gentle. but COW
cred grit as hard as needles. He was a
good deal smaller than Liza Sam, and he
wore his hair rather long. and his coat
tails lengthier than common and they had
a way Of catching the wind, and waving
when everything else was still, and his
har always waved on account of a queer
little teeter in his walk. Liza Sam, when
ne used TO appear beside her. would scarce
" lock ar him, not treat him decent, and
any man with a mite OF Self-reSnect would