The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-03-24
HOW WCKERS REFORMED.
BY DAVID A. CURTIS.

had given a sample of his skill as a po-
k~er-player in old man Greenhut's saloon
There is times when Arkansas City
don't seem to be no place for a North
American white man to stay into.
Pears k there wasn't enough dom
here, specially food times, for to jus
tify a man in spendin' his life here"
We'll, 1 don't know" said Jake
Winterbottom. Arkansas City's to'able
lively, some spells. I've saw you stir
things UP afore now"
YES" retorted Joe with some scorn.
IF 'twa'n't for somebody breakin' loose
now an again you uns d all take root.
I kin see you standin' like big cotton
woods all up an down b levee, uaitin'
for somebody to chop you down for
firewood."
There was no immediate response to
this biting sarcasm. One or two Of the
younger men in the room o as it
they would like to say something but
were doubtful lest they might say the
wrong thing, and the silence soon be-
came oppressive. It was evident, how
ever, that old man Greenhut was think
ing. Taking q fat, black cigar from his
vest pocket, he lighted it carefully and
walked around tt his favorite seat by
the window. Then, placing his feet on
the sill, he smoked vigorously for a full
minute before speaking.
There is them" he said at length,
"that'd grumble if they lived right
alongside O. the greet white throne. Eff
they had haloes they'd swear they didn't
fit, an chances is they'd have EN- off
half the time, pickin' holes in 'em.
"Similar, I've heer'd men afore now
find fault with Arkansas City, but them
same mend find fault with any other
place they might happen to be in.
'Tain't the town that's out o killer.
It's the man. It's just as the Good
Book says: 'Honors an trumps in no
location stays. Play u cards right.
That's where your duty lays.
Arkansas City is good enough for
me. an 1 reckon it's good enough for
any man as knows enough to be a nan
"Tain't where y'are, it's what y'are that
counts. n I must say. I'm s'prised at
you, Joe Bassett. FIR havin' so little
pride in ynr own community as for to
talk tn way you does"
well" said Bassett,: somewhat
abashed, but not disposed to submit
without protest to such a rebuke. II
d'know but what I've did my part in
maxim Arkansas City what it's. There
amt any man that 1 knows on that does
more"
THAT'S just It," said Greenhut. Its
cause you're one o the citizens that
has a right to talk, that makes it all
The wuss for you to be heavin' dornicks
at the fair fame o the community"
ct amt been heavin' no dornicks,"
said Bassett, sulkily, but it is damn
dull here sometimes"
What of it?' demanded the old man.
'"Tain't fittin' that a man sh'd live on
possum an pie all the time. Eff he
don't eat corn pone oncet in awhile he'll
ruin his stomach. There's excitement
enough here, now an again, to keep
goin' on.
You make me think of a Teller nam
ed Wickers that lived over to Green
Vile when I was a young man an tend
ed bar in Joe Slocum's place over there.
He was a likely young Teller enough,
an stood to be one o the leadin' citi-
Zens o the town in time, for he played
a good game o poker an cd whip any
man o his own age an weight in the
county. His ole nan had a good plan
tation O. five or six hundred acres, an
owned niggers afore the war. He
hadn't lost all his money in the war,
neither; but he had enough to leave
young Wickers tolable we'll off, an
most any O the young gals round that
part o the country'd ha' been ready
enough to marry him if he'd been will
lin to settle down where the Lord lac
put him.
But no, he want never contented
with nothin'- 'Peared like he were like
the p~rodigious son the Good Book tells
about, that got a stake FIN his old man
an started out to see things. The on'y
thing he RELY did was to blow hisself
till ne was broke an then go Whimp-
erin back to his dad for a grub stake.
I amt a sayin' that Wickers was quite
As ornery as he was, but he made the
same mistake that I'm talkin' about, O
thinkin' it's where a man is, instead o
i what he is. that sends him to the Leg
i~islatur' or the p~oorhouse. My own no
ton is that a man as is goin' to the
| poorhouse will get there sooner or later,
whether he lives in Arkansas City, or
New Orleans, or Jenkins's Four Cor
ners, up in tn Ozark Mountains.
We'll. this here Wickers, he thunk
different. bein', as I said, young. He
were as skittish as a mule that's swal-
lowed a live humble bee. an there
want no holdin' of him. till finally he
broke loose, an nobody knowed what'd
come of him fr six or eight months.
Il herd the hull story quite a spell
after. I'm a friend o mine that runs
the bar on the City O Natchez, runnin'
FIN New Orleans to Memphis.
Pears this Wickers come aboard
the boat one night at G%reenville with
three parts of a jag on, but very gen
teel II his manners, him bein' arays a
decent sort O. chap an come Of a good
family as I was sayin'. Had a good
sized wad with him, too, an paid for
his state room. regular and correct, but
paid more attention to drink n he did
to mis- pillow till he struck New Orleans.