Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1903-05-22
WHY JOB WAS ANGRY.

3 a
"'If 1t hadn't "a been for that dod darn /
bear, says Job, Chat black shoat O Simeons /
mowt "a follered me in, some time or other. !
ecnsarn himr says Job
"lt waa o leete inconsid rit in that bear. /
that's SO" said the man from the Knob 1
country cause in the first place, bears /
had KEEP shet O. that distric for more'n /
| Eve year, and folks wasn't countin on
bears as ben' part an parcel O. things
amongst EN-, but sort O. depended on job |
TO keep 'em on their taps. So ] said then,
and ! say now, that it was a ieetle incon-
sid'rit in that bear and sl1eercely fair to
! Job, for IL to eome mixin' in things the
way It did
"simeon come in one day, loolsin' as il he |
was chief mouruer to a funeral, and / says
/ 70 HIM
Some o your folks dead ~ ] says.
No, he says. That black shoat o.
mine turned up missin' this morniu, he
/ says
Well I says, why don't you &c up to
| Jobs and git itY | says.
been up to Jobs, he says. i Jest come
/ from jobs he says
Why didn't you bring the shoat back
with YOU theng I gays
Job didn't have it, says Simeon
Job didn't have itg I says, thnkin'
/ that / hadn't heerd Simeon right Job
! didn't have it' ] says
No says Simeon He didn't have It,
/ Leastways, says he JOB don't think he's
got IT,
"That Jest knocked me criss-cross Here
was a shoat missih' and job didn't have
i'll job lived somethin like four miles
back on the ridge and bears havin' KEEP
shet o that ridge deestric for five year and
better, folks sort O depended on Job to
keep 'em on their taps.
"rhey didn't never come right out and
say that Job'd walk off with things but
they sort O. limited that things somehow
had a way O. stiekin to him or follenn'
him. Whenever somebody's sheep or
chickens or pigs was missn' from the
premises where they'd by rights maturity
ought to belong, why the owner Of 'em
jest went up to Jobs and brung 'em back.
So, when Simeon says TO me that he'd been
to Jobs to git his missin' shoat and Job
didn't have it, l was jest knocked criss-
cross and all could say was;
Simeon, you don't mean to say itl'
"And Simeon said he did.
'Leastways,' says he, JOB don't think
he's got it,
"And after 1 had got enough breath to
make it worth while for me to begin, l
says:
Simeon, I says, tell me why
'Danl, says he, it was this way. As
soon as | missed my pig this mornin', says
he, i was put out tremendous, cause l
was busy as bees and hated to spend the
time to hook up and drive to Jobs to bring
the pig back. But we was 'spectm' to kill
in day or so, and as we needed the pork
/ didn't see no way out of goin to Jobs
+ So ] hooked up and drove to his place on
the ridge.
+" Job was home, and / says to him that l
had come after my black shoat, and that
as it was a pesky contrary critter to drive,
says to Job that I'd have to ask him to
help me home with it. Job he scratched
his head minute, and looked as if he was
tryin' like all-possessed to think O. some
thin Then by and by he says to me that
he didn't think he had my black shoat.
g 4 says to him that he must have the
shoat, and he says to me that he like to
know what made me think so, and | says
TO him that he must have it cause it wasn't
to home.
''Why, is that soT says job, and he
thunk some more, puckerin' his forehead
all sorts, and scratchin' his head and lookin'
up to the sky as if he was tryin' to get things
/ L
to me that he'd be darned if he remembered
the shoat follerin' of him in, but he d go an
look.
6 so we went over to Jobs pigpen, but
the shoat wasn't there. We looked high
and low all over the premises, but not
sign of a black shost was anywhere to be
seen.
Then had an idea, and | says to Job,
/ trying to jog his memory, that maybe
he had run the sholt over the ridge, down
into the Pocono country, and sold him there.
Job scratched his he'd and looked more gum
, fuddled than ever, and by and by he says to
me that he mowt a. done it, but it didn't
seem to him, he says, as if he'd had time to
do it and git back home and he hoers to
his wife and asked her if black shoat had
, follered him home last night and so on over
the ridge to Pocono.
Jobs wife she stuck her head out o the
door and thunk while and then she
hollers back that there wasn't no shoat
folered him home last night, neither black
: or white and that there hadn't nothin'
, folered him home since Moses two sheep
had tagged him in, and that was day afore
I yesteddy, she says.
! That's jest what / was thinkin', !"
says Job. mo, Simeon" he says, "a don't
4
night. He mowt "a, but don't think so, 4"
: says job.
q And that's as far as l got track O. my
rnissin' pig says Simeon Where do you
7 s'pose he kin be, Danl? says he.
Z "The dee that anything could turn up
Q mssin' in that deestric and not be at job s,
where it was sent for, was more than
could handle, and ! told Simeon that his
shoat must a. been swallere6 up by an
earthquake OF took wings and hew-'carse
] never for minute thunk that an incon-
Y sid'ri bear had come along TO unsettle
! things.
II guess we'd never a. got on to the mys-
terry OF it if along to'ard noon Capt Joe,
5 from the Eddy, hadn't come ridin' in to look
, over lumber job he had took, and be says:
" Has anybody round here lost a black
shoatY
! E" Twasn't a minute fore he knowed all
!, about that missin' shoat o. Simeon's, and
!, Simeon hollers:
~" And job hain't got him, neitherp
g Good reason for why, says Capt Joe
"A bear took that shoat, for / came square
out on him not long ago eatin' Of Il over
4 yonder in the edge o. the woods He had il
half eat up, but hewent sc0otin' away ana
left the rest when be see me, says Capt. Joe
"We started to run that bear down, bui
be got away and never came back for IT,,
rest o. Simeon's black shoat When Jol
came down day or so afterward and heerd
about il he was madder than snakes
III.