The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1903-09-17
A LONG LOST UNCLE.

"A lIONU ltJoI u NtBE.
Speaking of Strawberries" said the
pickle and preserve drummer. Il. hum
bic as am, once had long-iost uncle.
I'm not exactly sure how ne got lost
1r whether, in fact. he lost our family
Dr our family lost him. Perhaps mis-
laid would be the proper word. lie had
been missing or We had, for about 20
years. On consideration. | don't think
that We had missed him or he us
'lf you had devoted n few hours to
consideration before you spoke you
would have saved yourself time in
.errupted the man in the leather-End-
.ngs line. Did you find your uncle, Of
lid he lind you? II he found you, he
must have been pleased with his lucr,
at was what you might call "A mutual
discovery" replied the pickle and pre-.
serve drummer. Il found him first,
hough, strictly speaking. You see he
vas as rich as mud and as odd rs shoe
lis abode was that II was somewhere IN
Kansas, near Wichita or Fort Scott or
Leavcnworth or somewhere else. one
lime when the house gave me some Kan
sas territory | made up my mind that
IA hunt the old fellow mp. made in
luiries for over month and finally,
IS | was taking n drive between two
small towns to clean up and mako the
night train, happened on little cross
roads grocery with II bunch of yOkeis
decorating the soap boxes out In front
whistling and talking over the grass.
hopper prospect Right there and then
something came over mc-a sort of n
feeling don't know exactly what you
would call it."
"a lunch" said the leather findings
man.
Yes. lunch. that here was to learn
something of my long-lust uncle Well,
| pulled up and aaLcd the crowd If
any Of them knew of an old boy named
Parkins who had q stcpbrothcr james
who III ont for Chicago som, where in
the late COS or thcrcahorts. They all
stopped whiting and prinned and
turned to an olS chap with whiskcrs like
an Angora tippCt. who was smoking n
corncob pipe aud looking as II II disa-
greed with him. Why yes. says the
old fellow. i reckon that must be- old
Silas Parlins He had n stcpbruthcr
that went to Chicago some sor, Of Il
no-accounl, trillin frllcr. by has tcll.'
"Thc gang haw-hawcd right out. and
If there was any merry jest going
wanted TO be In on Il. hut they wanted
It all to themselves. they could direct
me to parkns' aud let II 20 ut that
Then they sniCRcrod worse than ever.
81 gathered up the lines and vas jas'
starting of when the old man called
to me to stop.
IF you want to 70 ont an sec old
man Parkins, he said. i reckon can
show you where he lives. It's on m,
own way an can ri in an ride piece
with you
"Wcll. didn't Lupw whether I'd ro
ont of NV way or not ut FIRST II meant
a day lost To mo. hui then | tbouruf
old lnmily differences ought ia he for.
gotten and Uncle Silas might need
some relation to leave money TO-
hated to hear malice so tbonlcd ola
lambrcluins and made room for him
on thc seat What did Won want with
nld SIP ne asked
".Irs ronc nr vour hueipose c,iJ
.Urt G,,,'t mind tcIliro v,, thot /
wont in y,rn h,r tcors nf ian. AN bis
hosnp, and fnr,,iyo him I'm .htsr,,,ho,.
from Chirorn ram, nm, o,rrorsr,. T., no
A., ,o,,,r,,.t ia lia dncririr..yc,rs WIZ,
s,rt nj nm aid dnrk 10 hno.
...Nc,ror.r ,.,ci,,, Ia s,id ,,ri,