The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1902-08-21

who thought he had had q falr trlal!,
one lawyer asked another.
But Alpheus had had no thought
of fair trial when he spoke; hi
would not have known a fair tria
from an unfair one.
His mind had gonesfar, far back Il
the days Of This ehildh06d, to thu
little mud-chinked log cabin in the
Isclearipg where heghad lived with his
father and mother. He remembered
his thin, sickly mother, who worked
50 hard and had so many aches and
painsgayet was nevertheless always
''kind-spoken." There were many
little mounds in a rude inclosure
which, in more civilized region
would have been considered none toe
good to serve as pig pen, for of all
the children she had borne, Alpheus
alone survived. His father, too,, was
kind to him, and when he took his
cotton into town, in the autumn
would bring Alpheus stick OF
striped candy"
But the mother died, and after
trying to :'do for himself" Alpheus'
father brought home the widow Jor-
dan with her noisy, quarrelsome
brood Of children She took "a dislike
to Alpheus at first sight. 1t was not
Alpheus at first sight. It was not
jealousy-with her coarse, buxom
good looks, she would have thought
she had no occasion to be jealous
of her siclxly, faded predecessor, or
any of her belongings-but she de
clared that the ''young zen was jes'
too pizen ugly to live; as ugly rs a
yaller niger dog" AS she and all
her progeny were black-haired and
black-eyed, Alpheus' tow head was
naturally not admired by her. He
skunk out Of her sight as much as
possible, but she quickly appointed
him the drudge of the family.
'Mary Belle she would say, "don't
you Spite your skin over that fire.
Alpheus has got to stir that pot"
Or, "Here, you Alpheus, do you think
I'm goin' to let my Jim break his
back totin' them buckets o. water
from the springs?"
Alpheus' father had at first tried
feebly to protect him; but he was a
weak-minded man, easily reduced to
submission by his loud-tongued wife,
and though he might pity his son i'll
secret, he dared not raise his voice
to defend him.
The Jordans were all better looking
and quickerwitted than Alpheus, and
they were not slow to make him feel
this; tormenting him in various
ways.
.He amt none O. our kim" they
would explain to visitors.
Jim, who was the nearest his age,
was especially malevolent in his de-
vices for the discomfiting of Alpheus.
The only time Alpheus had ventured
to resent Jim's aggressions, Ids step
mothers heavy fist had hammered
into him the wisdom of suffering in
silence. AS their mother made a
drudge Of him, so the young Jortans
made him the butt of their clumsy
ridicule.. It was Jim who gave him
the name of "Fiddleneck" by which
he became known throughout that
piny woods settlement. The rural
sense ofgthe appropriate was ticklsd
blythe title. sDon't tit jes' hit of TINT
long, red neck O. his'n!" exclaimed
,Abram iBeechby. .'Jim shore is the
fellow to give names that sticks.''''
Yet Alpheus was good, harmless
creature. who would have asked moths
ing BETTER than to live on kindly
terms with his step-relations. AS he
grew older the settlement had no
definite grievance against him; but
when one is shy and awkward it is
easy to get the reputa ton #of being
'ssullen- like"-and the second Mrs.
White spared no words to make it
believed that her stepson asS'hard
to get along WITH y
Shortly after Alpheus reached man
hood his father died, and the larger
part of the little. farm fell to his
share. Mrs. White was indignant. that
the law gave her only a third, and,
in fact, went into Mysteries when she
learned that the whole farm was not
to be hers. 6 & e &
ooh, my po' paltry thirds! she
CALCULATED, with tears of wrath. IF
this Amt onjest, there never was on
jestice il the world. Here's me that's
worked ikea niger on this place,
an done for that man year in an
year out, an wore myself out tryin,
to raise his brat ittin1an' here I'm
put off with. thirds!" sssssfs 81 sEs Il
{ But the law Is law. Alpheus glad
~ gave up the cabin to his step
mother and built himself another
as far removed as possible from the
old one. He began to plant on his
own account and became modestly
successful, owing to his industry. All
of which did not endear him to tHs
~Jordans. 81
/ Jim had, also reached mans estate,
and in gala attire, profusely scented
with cinnamon draps," with his
black, curly hair well oiled, he was
a typical piny-woods lady-iller. "a
addition, he was hard drinker, 8
poker player, and an idler-in short,
thOronphlv worthless. hut his mother