Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-05-27
FEB WHITE.
He Tells Abont a Lost Child and .
Wildcat.


copyright, 1900. BY c. B. Lewis.)
zone evenin," said the possum hunt
or Of Tennessee, 'sas me an the old wo-
man sot smokin' ourpipes on the doah-
step an feelin at peace with The
world, she suddenly says to me:
"sZeb, do yo' know why the preacher
didn't stop with us when he was long
yere two weeks ago."
Bekase he stopped with Jube Tay-
lor.' says l.
"tHe stopped thar, but he wasn't
gwine to till he heard what yo' had
said. Then he got mad an wouldn't
step foot over the doah.'
IAN what did / say?'
"sYo' was BLOWN round that yo'
didn't believe that whale swallered JON
err. Feared that yo' wanted to start a
fuss with somebody. What's that
whale an Jonar got to do with yo'?
What's the matter that what's good
huff fur Elder Hopkins an everybody
else round yere amt good 'nuf fur
yo'?'
but | amt a-believin the story.
How's a man gwine to live right on
arter he's bin swallowed by a whale?
THAT'S none of our bizness,' she
says.
"sBut I'm maxim it my bizness,' says
|. What don't seem likely to me !
amt gwine to believe in
But yo' might keep shet about it
an not raise a fuss. Who air yo', zeb
White, that yo' disputes the Bible?
'sThat started the row. said the old
man. IAN we had some purity hot words.
I said l didn't believe the story, an she
said she didn't keer whether | did or
not. and we was sassin away when we
heard a cry up on the hillside. 1t was
sunthin like the cry of a child, an the
old woman gifts up and listens and
says:
'Zeb, thar's a leetle child wanderin
about in the bresh. Jest boot two or
three boots to draw it this way
"The cry come ag'in, an then know
ed what it was. 1t wasn't no lost child.
but a prowlin wildcat. l hadn't heard
one fur two vars, but l was dog suah
of the game. I'd hey told the old wom-
an, but she got mad bekase l wouldn't
boot an called me names. When the
third cry comes, she says to me:
".Zeb White, that must be Joe Box
er's leetle boy Jim, an he's wanderin
two miles away from home. If yo've
got a heart in yo'r busum, yoll go up
the mounting an find him an bring him
down in yo'r arms
~ amt huntin fur lost boys says /
as I fills my pipe.
Then l am. I'll go up thar my
lclf.'
Better not
but will. Befo' the Lawd, hut 1
Cont know what's come over yo', Zeb.
Fust yo' go an deny that the whale
swallered joiner, an then yo' won't
>a-Aand-or foot to save an innocent
child from perishin. Mebbe yo' air git
tin ready to turn Mormon an run away
from me?'
a amt takin wild varmints fur lost
boys says l, as the scream come ag'in.
Its no wild varmint. It's the voice
of leetle jim Baker, an he must be
cxaort almost m death NJ tho darkness
No sot right yere like an old mewl, an
I'll go up an find him. I'm thankin
the Lawd yo' hain't got no children of
yo'r own.
With that she grabs up a stick an
starts UP the hill. While knowed that
a wildcat was roamin round, l didn't
think the old woman would come to
any hurt. l hoped the cat would yell
out an skeer her, an so it was ten min
its befo' l follered on. She went rush-
in through the bresh an calm to Joey,
an now an then the cat cried out in an
ger. | was dom a heap of laughin to
myself when the old woman calls back
to me:
Come on, Zeb, I've dun found the
child
Then bring him along says I.
Il can't. He's up a tree. Zeb. did
yo' ever hear of a lost boy climbin' a
tree?'