The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-14
THE MOOJER.

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 tification. The Moojer was the best bark peeler on Wildcat Point in spite ot his deformity. He was also handy with his fists and enjoyed wide reputation in the campus as a pugilist. He was one of the few men who could life a barrel of whiskey by the chimes and dring from the bung hole, which eXhi- bition regret to confess he was too willing to make when opportunity off, fered. Yet the Moojer was not dissi- pated fellow. He was attentive to his work, and while the short leg might have hampered another man, he was of such activity that he scampered about on his feet as well as any man without his deformity.
 As boy the Side Hill Moojer gave promise of growing up to be veritable Apollo, but he fell from chestnut tree and the crude surgery of the mountain left him with one leg shorter than the other. As old Yankee" Jackson re- marked, Jest built him right for run ming round on these here side hills. Short leg standing on the upper side of the hill and long leg on the lower side and he's as properly propped up as a side hill moojer," So the Moojer got the name which always stuck to him.
 In the thickets and among the pine tops where every man is always at a disadvantage the Moojer found his de- formity no hindrance. Frequently it was a gain to have his legs of different lengths in climbing over the brush piles, and on level ground he hopped along so actively that anybody could see he suffered no inconvenience from his aff1iction. His enormous strength and his agility made up for all that he lost.
 The Moojer was an affiuent ellow mentally also. Out in the world he | would have been leader. He was a leader among the rough fellows of l Wildcat Point. The Moojer was always at the head Of the jam when the log ! drive went down in the spring. Com mon consent had made him place at the head of the table in the camp, He was the first one up in the morning and ! it was usually the Moojer who called the dinner hour in the woods. He had a sense of fair play. and that love of ] justice made of him a self-appointed and generally preserver of the peace on the job.
 The Moojer was something of stu dent. Before he came into the woods he he'd been employed about the farm of old Dr. Ingalls,, a man of considerable culture and refinement. From the old doctor he had absorbed studious habit ! and unlike most of the hired men, he | delighted to finger among the doctors books. They were such as 'Ivanhoe" and Cooper,s stories and the heroic nov els, from which the Moojer imbibed in more or less crude style some sentiment of action of logic and rude eloquence. At the mountain debating society the Moojer's side invariably won the dis cussion. Although such men. as San dy'' Patterson, Bill" Young and other silver-tongued orators were usually ar dayed against him the Moojer had a glibness of tongue and a breadth of 1 judgment and such a fund of native sense that he was too much for them. l The woodmen used to say that the l Moojer should have been, a preacher. l The duties of Man of God were not lvery clearly comprehended in the moun- i tain lumber camps. The Moojer him. self laughed at the idea. for he was far from being pious. The influences of the l church were so little known on the
 mountain that the qualifications for a lpreacher were not very well understood.
 One day it was announced that a Methodist preacher would hold week of revival services at the Fox Mountain . school house. That was the event of the winter in the Wildcat Point district. From the mill settlement and from the camp the whole population turned out
 every night in the week. On foot in cutters, in bob-sleds they crowded to
 the school house and packed it to it's limit. By the second night the mourn
 CTS bench was an active scene and by the end of the week it was filled with penitents, some of whom recovered in a few days, others in a longer period,
 while some remained steadfast perma- nently.
 Adeline Parker was the daughter of
 mill foreman. comedy and vivacious
 and healthy, a suitable product of Il I1OulltdHl dII anu IilOuHtail udDlAS' The Moojer took to Adelne and Adeline took to the Moojer and had it not been for his game leg they would have made an ideal pair. It is useless, however, to seek any place for absolute perfection
 and Adel!ne and the Moojer came as
 near it as the average.
 While some of the woods people
 thought the Moojer should be a preach
 CT he showed none of the real symp-
 toms. To be candid, was rather dis
 posed to make likht of the preachers
 style and to travesty the preachers ap-
 peals. This was a point of difference
 between Adeline and her Hercules
 She had the devoted faith of her sex ir
 the missionary and was troubled ir
 mind when the Moojer spoke lightly o1
 sacred things,
 But" said the Moojer, "the mar
 doesn't know his game. He goes spear
 ing around the slashing and gets tan.
 gled up in the pine tops when he could
 go spank, straight through and have a
 c1ean-cut road all the way. He had got
 old Brown and Jake Tucker and Ike, 1 Wallace and Malinda Doverspike anC
 that kind scared with helu-fire and jus
 as soon as they see it ain't coming right away they forget all about it. He has
 overlooked the heal points of his play altogether. can go up there and make a spear at preaching at these people | and eice them sonetf1inpr they will talL