Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-06-11

14Ct uEHo tCOuu CUT OIOuW LGm luz o
neck"
sort out everybody in the house, old en-
young, big en- little, male en- female,
clean down to leetle Charley Marvin,
the humpback.
"Things got so quiet We could hear
the men a-chawin' they're terbacker ez
the gals en- the purfesser begun to fig
ger up the p'ints. They commenced at
the head of each line. Sallie had the
fust choice, en- size took ole Ben Swalc
fer 1t.
'Whayre wuz We horned, Mr..
SwaleF asked the purfesser. In Yir-
ginny,' Ben answered; en- Sallie's side
got credit fer forty-siX pints, en- her
father. who wuz a-stan'in' by me,
whispered whit remarkable penetra-
ton tibet gal had. fer one SO young.
"Dollie had taken Mrs. Swale fer her
fust choice; en- Mrs. Swale wuz axed
the same question. In Arkansaw,'
she answered. en- big laugh went up.
en- Dollie got credit fer only four
p'ints.
"En so they went on, whipsawin'
down the lines, en- acrost from one to
the other, en- some amusin' things a.
happenin' right along all the time The
women 'ud say Indeed! jist ez sur
priced like. en- oh, my! ez eXcitedly,
en- the men folks 'ud smile en- keep on
chawin they're terbacker. Some curl
GUS combinations come to the light Of
the community fer the fust time, en-
reckon they're owners even wuZ consiG-
erably surprised themselves. Thayre
wuz ole Joe Biggers, with his wife ell
seven Children. They wuz all on Sal
lies side, en- the way they're birthplaces
wuz scattered all over creation wuz
ginyouine eye opener. Bill wuZ horned
in South Carlinee; his wife in Michi-
gan, the oldes' gal in Eelinoi, the oldes'
boy in Ioway, they're mex child in MiZ-
zoory, at which Ed Swank, with his
hospitable face, seemed mighty ticlsled
| (ole Ed wuz from Mlzzoory), the mex
child In Newbrasky. the mex in Kan
sas, the mex in the Injun nation. en-
the mex in Oklahomy.
"Thnyre wuz several families scatter
ed aroun' somepin like tibet, only not
quite SO bad. En- thayre wuz Jim Swo-
boda' from Bohemia en- Carl Schmidt
from Germany en- so en- so forth. A
man 'ud be horned in Californy en- his
| woman in Massachusetts en- they're
| children gethered up on all the roads
between the two. found tibet my
neares' neighbor wuz horned in New
York en- his wife In Texas. The one
on the mex quarter wuz horned In Yer
mont, while his woman wuz from Flor
idee. En- of all the mixed up messes
you ever seed our deestrict shorely WIZ
when we got through. The whole
United States en- dlsunited territories
en- several foreign countries WIZ repre-
sented by folks with the proper ere.
dentials; on ez the countin' of p'ints
went on we saw tibet the match WIZ
to be jist nip en- tuck ez to which Of
the gals won out, fer several Of us wuz
a-keepin' tally on the p'ints.
"Tom Liscomb wuz the last Teller
on Sallies side. Pm from the free
state Of Van zandt!' says he; en- we
all helt our breaths, fer none of us
knowed fer shore whayre tibet wuz
| II Vi q aiihulS Vi GU w Z tllOlI uc WuL d
foreigner. but he didn't have aney
brosue to his talk. But the purfesser
relieved the strain In less'n minute
fer he knowed whit 1t wuz. free
state of Van Zandt-Van Zandt coun-
ty-Texas,' says he. En- forty-three
,uighty big p'ints went down to snllie's
credit.
"Dollie's last choice wuz Mrs. Dugan,
the wilder woman Twin down on the
school section. EN- whayre wuz We
horned, Mrs. DuganY said the purfess-
er. Sure, an wuZ boarn In ould Ore.
land said she, imitatin' the Irish
brogue, although she could speak Unit.
ed States ez well OF n native of Arkan-
saw. En- hundred pints went down
on Dollie's side, en- when they flggercd
'em all up Dollie had won by three
p'ints!
"Arter the cheerin' en- congratulatln'
had gone down the purfesser said
they'd try 1t on more complicated
system. They'd not try 1t on the state
whayre one wuz horned, but on the
states whayre he had lived En- aney
one could count aney state In which he
had lived cr had been at aney time, en-,
of course, 1t would be the right thing
fer him to count the one tibet 'ud make
the most p'ints So they chose up ag'in
en- tried 1t tibet way, en- the surprises
wuz wuss than afore, cf tibet WIZ pos
sible. Many u Teller horned In Ar
kansaw who I'D move into Texas In
the spring Ell then back agin to Ar
llansaw fer the winter. dividin' up his
time about half en- half between them
states, claimed Texas fer his big num-
bers In this deal. 1t wuz rally be-
wilderin' whayre some of the folks had
lived. Some funny things happened
| too. One Teller made mistake en-
said, 'Cowley,' meanin' fer Cowley
county, Kan, whayre so many of the
.:olks come from. Fellers 'ud make q
ten strike with Pennsylvany er South
Carliny, er Whyoming err Texas,,er nney
place they'd been thet'ud count up big
p'ints, en- when they had 1t all fingered
up Sally won out on this deal by sew
enteen whole p'ints. But 1t wuz rally
1nterestin' en- educatin' Ell cntertaInin'
en- mighty good scheme all aroun'.
"En about this time In the evenin' n
leetle episode begun to be noticed en-
made things look kind of tragic fer
spell. When Lem Hull on the first deal
said he wuz horned in Newbrasky, l
happened to be a-lookln' right square
at Lew Mulllcks' wife (she air a real
purity woman, en- noticed tibet she
took to lookin' at lin ell a-watchln'
I'm like everything. Seemed to me tibet
she never took her eyes often i'm the
rest of the evenin'. VI thort 1t rather
pleged Lem leetle, seein' how she