The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1903-01-28
THE BOOMHOUSE
MANS STORY

,:.,lc lumber hamlet of the hill re-
ZION of kentucky. For a moment
= least it was quite thrilling-rath-
er TOO thrilling indeed to be useful
:: material to me with my straight
and simple art standards. 1 have a
rroyelins fondncss for reproducing
9nly the usual features of life, and
hi: little episode, though it was
n;tifully commonplace in its setting,
lad about it something that was not
nnly unusual, but nearly sublime.
had gone down to the village
IN question with the ambitious de-
SON OF seeing a "tide" in the river.
Tides are peculiar to wintry months.
THEY arc useful to lu.nbermen and
incidentally to writer's, but they
have their unpleasant features. My
little hill hamlet, having dotted it's
Green livery, was cowled in dark
m1,d. Rain shected the air. The
inn seemed to be saturated, and the
roar of the river on the skirts Of
the town corroborated the innkeep-
er:s assurance concerning the mag
nitudc Of the special "tide'i' which
was in progress.
"Shc's booming for all that's in
her." declared the innkeeper, en- eld-
erly man, who had enjoyed during
tho nrcyious summer the hapnv
privilege Of being useful to me in
many ways. 'They look for the
boom to bust tonight. Thousands
Of dollars afoat. You see that man
BY the stove? He's one of the big
timber fellers up north. Just come
down. He'll lose heavy if she busts.
say, miss, take a look at that teller.
You remember me telling you about
the boomhouse mans daughteE?
Well, that fcller-he was the man
he was Idy's beau"
l remembered the story. On q
certain day in the previous June I
was standing at the head of a mill
shoot looking down at the sunken
river. Suddenly q dugout shot round
the bend. The man in the rude
thing seemed only half human. He
was bent and shrunken, with a clay
colored skin, matted red hair and
such ii wocbegone vacuity of face as
startled one. The innkeeper had e
lated that this poor creature lived
alone in the boomhouse, a shed on
the river cliff, and that his duty was
to cook for the loggers in time of
tides.
"Hc's seen trouble" said the inn
keeper. used to own a nice little
farm up yonder and live we'll. He
had an only daughter. Pretty as q
peach, Idly was-slim WASTED, with
kinkv red hair and big eyes. He set
store by Idy. Nothing was too good
for her. And one summer q son Of
ore Of the mill owners was down
here settling up the mill books, and
lie took q fancy to Idly, and folks
said it'd be a match. The boom
house man was proud as a peafowl,
and after the young teller went
north again, why, Idy's paw he mar
rated around that the wedding was
to comc off on Christmas day and
how't Idly was going up north to
live in great style. But the young
Teller never came back. He never
came back" repeated the innkeep-
er, with q graphic sort of pause.
"And Idy-well, I always said if
she'd Of had a mother things would
have been different. I always said
she took the best way out Of it, for
bout the time tongues was begin
ming to wag Idly was missing one
day, nd they found her tangled up
in the river drift yonder where the
sand bar reaches across the shall
lows"
"And what did her father do?"
"Do? Oh, he acted like he'd got
1t between the eyes-kind Of daft.
Amt been Just right ever SINCE"
This tragic narrative, which tho
mnkeeper related with the equanim-
ity OF an epic poet, required to me
wildly as 1 observed the man by
the stove.
He was middle aged. The story
lay fifteen years behind him, but he
mad a chin which made me believe
Inc lnnkeeper an honest chronicler.
lie was stolid and well fed. APP
parently life had laid 10 heavy pen
atty upon him.
He seemed too vulgar and heavy
type of humanity to invite excep-
tional treatment Of fate, yet 1 saw
MN that night in rather a notable
situation.
Just after dark the innkeeper and
MS daughter and I set out across
the cliff path to see the river in &C.
I'VE operation. We walked in the
Winds teeth, with a splitting rain
y, our faces. It was cold and bleak.
Then in an instant the river flashed
ID sight. It's whole freshet swollen
II nR~--I