Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-12-31
EZRA BRIGGS
REVENGE J, ;. i.
TALMADGE
Copyright, 1903. by 7. c. Mcclure.

My friend the postmaster and gen
eral storekeeper of Harleyville was sit
ting on the front porch of his establish
ment lazily putting small clouds Of
blue smoke into the air and blinking
comfortably at his slippered feet,
which were resting against post on
level with his face. spoke to him,
and the feet slipped down with thud.
"Howdy,'' he said "Some warmish.
amt it?'
! nodded, wiping from my face the
perspiration engendered by an i'll adj
vised walk of two miles over road
unshaded from a merciless July sun.
The family at the farmhouse where,
from motives of economy, | was spend
ing my vacation had gone to funeral,
and / had wearied of my own compa-
ny. Wherefore, the afternoon being
too hot for fishing, | had come to Har-
leyville to seek companionship.
I'D have went to Ike's funeral my
SELF" said the storekeeper when had
explained thus to his understanding,
"only the rest of the folks wanted to
go. and didn't like to close up the
place on account of the postoffice. /
was down to Ike's when the great
damp breath blew his lamp out / set
up with him two or three nights along
at the last"
.He was a close friend of yours?"
asked.
well" signing explosively, there
amt much doubt he was considerable
close, and we was always friends. him
and me. / had feeling of sympathy
for him during the last years of his
life. too-sort of an admiration for
him, because he took lis medicine like
man. 'Tain't every male human that
does''
"Then he had long been an invalidf
mo; that amt the idea. He wasn't
sick a great while. The story dates
back nigh on to twenty years, when
him and Ezra Briggs was rivals for the
hand of Martha Telford Twas nip
and tuck between 'em, but Ezra finally
won the match. Ike was fool enough
to get mad about it, and when his pa
died, leaving among his other effects
mortgage on the old Briggs place where
Ezra was living. his parents both being
defunct, he foreclosed the thing and
made regular dickens of bad mess.
Ezra could have paid if he'd had an
other six months, but Ike wouldn't
wait That was the beginning of
mighty hard time for Ezra Nothing
he touched after that seemed to pros
per. Him and Martha-there wasn't no
children come at last to live in house
not much better than a shanty down by
the mill yonder, and the woman's love,
so my wife and daughter say, sort of
took sick and died. I've heard tell there
amt much female love that's proof
against poverty long drawn out. and
heaps of what passes for real honest
affection leaks away through the worn
out places in woman's clothes.
Its my opinion that Martha wasn't
a real comfortable person to live with
during the last two or three years of
Ezra's life. I've got a suspicion. more
or less founded on fact. that she was
sourer than the dregs of vinegar and
that her patience sort of shot off like a
Calling gun once it had busted Ezra
took sick finally with somebody or 9TH
er's disease of something or other that
the doctors said was incurable. and he
didn't keep up after that, just poked
around and groaned till the trouble
knocked him down into bed.
4He kept his own counsel pretty
much, but I've got notion he was
nursing a feeling of bitterness against
Ike most of the time then. | said to
myself 'twould be a blessing if the old
death angel would only flop down and
carry him off before he done anything
that would shock the community.
"But was worrying unduly. How
ever much he may have been figuring
on revenge. there wasn't no bloody vio-
lence mixed into his figuring. He did
give the community sort of shock.
though. such as twas. Most of us
couldn't understand then why he done
as he did, but it is as clear as molasses
to me now
'''The river yonder five years ago
last March got on a ripping tear owing
to a sudden thaw. and among other
things it done it swooped down across
Ike's barnyard and carried off a lot of
live stock and things, including Ike
himself. who was trying to rescue
valuable ram he'd paid a big price for
at the state fair.
'.de went along with the food and
never stopped till be stuck in the
branches of small tree about seventy
or eighty feet from shore near where
Ezra's house stood And as chance
would have it Ezra heard him yelping
for help and dragged himself out of