The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-16
A MAZING LUCK
n OF ABNER.


store Just few miles from Norwich, Conn,
was that Of a newly o inc that come
to me for q lob when he wa mt much more'n
knee high TO a grasshopper
II didn't have much more use for him
n a dog has for two tails, f'r / couldn't
more n get Twin for myself out o this
here store. hain't never done no better'n
that, nor don't guess never will. but he
was own son to my sister that was dead
an gone, an I'm what he told me, II didnt
seem like he'd never had no gre't show
O. gettin' on, bein' az there want nobody
to give him boost after his ma died, his
pa bein' shift sort, which was mainly
the reason why I'd sort O drifted out O.
KNOWN much about Sallie a'ter she up
an got married.
$50 told him I there want no more to
do round the store n ! cd do myself
an there want much more comm from
il than what victuals C d eat myself, 'ithout
feelln' TOO fed up, but says 10 him il he
was mind to come along with me, an
do what chores there was, an be content
to live like lived. on whatever come in,
he might come. | figgered that he cd
pick up an eddication at the district school,
without interferin' none with what work
there was, an II cd live of'n the store
alone. likely two OF us cd live about as
we'll az ono. 30 he come.
he was a comical little runt when he
come, but he want no comicaler, nor much
littler, n no was when he left me, elk or eight
year after. He never had much to say, an
he was a most unpromisin' shoat TO look
at, but he had one talent that stood by him.
Maybe If I'd had less Of 1t myself. wouldn't
ha kept this store so many year az have.
He did most nightly hate to give up
anything he tried to do, no matter what
twas. An he'd stick to il till he done IL,
no matter what happened 'Cordin' to
the way / look at it twas a mighty good
thing for the community t he never sot
his mind on bein' Governor nor President.
nor nothin' like that, f'r I'm blamed II
don't think he'd ha got there II he'd started
to do Il.
But all t he seemed to care for was to
get money. Well, now, money amt none
too plentiful round this part o. the country,
an Just naturally there want no great
show for him to gether In no millions round
here, 80 'twa'n't no ways surprisin' Z he
should ha' left me afore he was fairly
growed up.
-Ihey say he's down to York some
where's, now, runnin' some sort of an Office
where folks go to spekilate in stocks. He
sent some of his circulars up here to some
o the folks that he knowed was sort o
sporty like. tellin' EN- how they cd get
rich In little while II they'd ony send
him some o their money to spekilate with,
II seen one on e IN once that fiji Doc
little showed me, for he never sent mo
none on EN-. He knowed well enough
t hadn't no money 10 put into no Wall
Street Specifications, an he amt ore to
waste postage stamps sendin' EN- to folks
that amt likely to send him no money back.
II guess likely that was the rec son they
didn't more O. the circulars come to folks
round here. Hi was sayin' so me that If
no hadn't known Abner so well-l didn't
tell you that my nevvy's name was Abner.
He was named after his pa, Abner Wither-
spoon, that was one o the shit Jesse st g.,
ornery specimens you cd find all through
Connecticut, an how Sally En- come to-
but there's no use talkin about that
well, III Doolittle, he's good deal Of
O sport. I've knowed him TO lose thirty OF
forty dollars In one week, playin draw
poker, an never make no complaint, Hi
said he couldn't expect to win all the time,
an he cal'lated to make it up before the
end O. the year, an amt sure but what
he did. for no had almighty streaks o luck,
sometimes.
well, Hi said he didn't know but what,
II he hadn't knowed Abner as we'll as no
did, he might ha' sent ten or twenty dollars
down to York on the stren'th O. that cir
cuar. an there was others said pretty much
the same thing, for they said there was
some pretty alick talk in 1t, about how
other folks was sendin him money, an
dom we'll at it,
-But Hi, he seemed to have the general
sense O. the community, when he said he
knowed Abner well enough to know that
If there WAS any money made on any o
them Specifications. Abnerd be pretty
likely 10 hold on to the most on II HIM
self, an somehow, nobody didn't seem
to care about helpin' him along to that
extent You see they didn't seem to like
him none too much, nor trust him none
too well. N d'know but what that was
natural, too, for he didn't never seem TO
make himself real well liked:
.'Twa'n't because hs hadn't faculty
enough. There want no gettin' away
from II, he certainly was smart.
-'Twa'n't no time at all, after he went
TO the district school, afore he spelled the
teacher down in a spellin' match, an he
cd tiegeF almost natural without study
in no book But when he'd learnt all he
could at the school, he didn't seem to take
no more interest into his sddication, an
lust went in for schemes TO make money
Il d'know where he got IL from. for his
pa w'n't that way, nohow you cd hgger
Il, an Sally want none too forebanded,
But Abner was always contrivin', He
used to play marbles when no first come
with me. till he had every marble In town,
or might ha' had If he hadn't been forever
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